Chapter 1 The Cold Feeling

That icy feeling of being watched slowly dissipated, and after a few seconds, the outside of the window suddenly went dark, and the surroundings became quiet.

The train seemed to have entered a narrow tunnel.

In an instant, the surroundings seemed to have changed. The ground, originally soaked in blood, became smooth, and the burnt smell mixed with blood disappeared.

"Who? Who touched my butt?" Pi Ruan exclaimed.

"Brother Pi Ruan?" In the darkness, the fatty's voice was full of doubt, "When did you come next to me?"

Before the carriage went dark, he remembered that Pi Ruan was still some distance away from him.

"I didn't move. Brother Fugui, didn't you come over here?" Pi Ruan asked.

"It's not our problem," Luo He said. "The space in the carriage has shrunk."

Luo He's voice sounded almost behind the fatty's ear, which showed how close they were.

"This isn't the same carriage as before. I touched the wall. It's metal, and... it feels like there are rivets on it," Linghu Yong said. He reached out and felt a series of regular bumps on the metal wall behind him.

The ceiling had also been lowered a lot; you could touch it just by reaching out.

In just the brief moment of darkness, they had gone from a train carriage to a secret room like this, surrounded by metal plates.

"Where is this place?" Pan Du asked.

Obviously, no one could answer this question.

There were vague noises outside, starting small but gradually growing louder, and they realized it was people talking.

Unfortunately, the environment was noisy, and it was hard to make out what they were saying.

At the same time, there was a violent shaking, and everyone was squeezed together, creating a chaotic scene. It seemed like they were on something moving.

It didn't feel like a train; the shaking wasn't as strong.

It felt more like a car turning a corner.

Finally, after being thrown together by one last burst of inertia, they stopped.

A scraping sound came, and a metal plate was opened, letting in light. Before their eyes could adjust, they were dragged out one by one.

Then their wrists felt a chill, and everyone had a pair of cold handcuffs on their wrists.

After their eyes readjusted to the light, they noticed several people standing in front of them, wearing big brimmed hats and ill-fitting black uniforms, looking just like the puppet soldiers in TV dramas.

"All of you, be honest!" The short, fat man who spoke seemed to be the leader of the group, with triangular eyes looking askance at people, and a leather whip in his hand. "You should know what kind of place this is. The Grey Stone Town Police Station is the biggest police station for dozens of miles around!"

"Don't think you're anything special. Even the most notorious bandits have to be obedient when they come here, or my whip won't be so forgiving!"

After speaking, the short, fat man seemed to want to make an example of someone, and he cracked the whip on the ground with a "smack".

After listening to the short, fat man for a while, everyone had a better understanding of the current situation. The setting for this instance was Grey Stone Town a long time ago, during the Republic of China period, or even earlier.

They were currently in the Grey Stone Town prison, with the vehicle that had brought them here behind them.

It was a strange-looking car with a sheet metal-covered compartment in the back, completely enclosed. It must be a prisoner transport vehicle.

They had traveled through time and immediately become prisoners, and prisoners who had already been caught and sent to prison at that. This wasn't a very auspicious start.

Pi Ruan swallowed and said obsequiously, "Officer, have you arrested the wrong person? I'm a law-abiding citizen."

Seeing Pi Ruan's behavior, the fatty thought that if they really went back to that era, Pi Ruan would definitely be a traitor.

"Enough nonsense, or I'll whip you!" the short, fat policeman said fiercely, raising his whip.

At that moment, a policeman dressed in the same uniform ran out of the building behind them, with a baton stuck in his waistband. "Captain Qian, Director Qiao is asking if the prisoners have arrived?"

So this short, fat man's surname was Qian, and he was a captain in the police station.

"They're all here," Captain Qian said, pointing at Jiang Cheng and the others with his whip.

"Director Qiao said he wants to interrogate them personally."

And so, the group was quickly escorted into the police station building.

Although it was called a building, it was just a fairly imposing three-story building, neither Chinese nor Western in style, with a rather strange appearance.

A tall, thin man with a parted hairstyle received them in a large office.

Based on Captain Qian's address, this man in his forties was the director of the police station.

"My surname is Qiao," the man said in a drawn-out tone. "I'm the director of the Grey Stone Town Police Station. You can call me Director Qiao, or Qiao Hanhui."

"Director Qiao," someone responded.

Everyone tacitly refrained from addressing Director Qiao by his given name.

"Very good," Director Qiao said, squinting his eyes as he sat across from them in an imposing chair, with his hands clasped together. "You all know what crimes you've committed, right?"

This... they really didn't know, considering they had only been in this world for less than half an hour.

But unexpectedly, Director Qiao seemed to have anticipated their reaction, and he waved his hand. Soon, a young policeman brought a stack of papers and distributed them to everyone.

They were all accusations of the crimes they had committed.

Everyone's crimes were serious, and the final result was invariably death.

Zhao Xingguo and the other two were accused of colluding with bandits, while Lin Wan'er and Fu Fu were suspected of running a black shop, using sleeping drugs to rob and kill passing merchants.

Luo He was a schoolteacher, but secretly involved in child trafficking.

Huai Yi and Chen Qi were accused of conspiring to poison someone.

The tone changed when it came to Jiang Cheng, whose crime was seducing several of the warlord's concubines, as well as their daughters.

Jiang Cheng glanced at it, put away the indictment, and uncharacteristically didn't try to defend himself.

"They're all normal, but what about me... what's going on with me?" The fatty suddenly became anxious, stood up, waved the indictment, and said excitedly, "It says I committed r*pe. When have I ever done such a thing? I... I'm still a virgin, I haven't even held a girl's hand, I..."

But before the fatty could finish, he was interrupted by Pi Ruan, who was wailing, "It's bad enough that they say I committed r*pe, but it was against an old man who was almost a hundred years old. Okay, he's old, but he's also an old *man*. I can tolerate that..." Pi Ruan pointed at his indictment and asked loudly, "Come on, someone explain this to me. What does the last sentence mean, 'Unsuccessful due to personal reasons'?"

"I've long heard that the evil old society didn't treat people as human beings, but could you please be a little more careful when you make up these crimes?" Pi Ruan said in anguish.

"Also, I was unsuccessful, shouldn't my crime be a little lighter than theirs? Why is it also a death sentence?" Pi Ruan pointed at the fatty and said, "I'm not convinced, I want to appeal! Is there any justice here?"

"I am the law here," Director Qiao said meaningfully.

"Alright, let's not beat around the bush," Jiang Cheng said, tearing up the indictment in his hand page by page. "You've brought us here, what exactly do you want us to do?"