Ever since Lin applied to the Imperial Military Department for all of the Empire's death row prisoners, the Empire's largest death row prison was built not far from the Seventh Legion's station. Criminals sentenced to death from all over the Empire would be transferred here.
Among humans, there is no shortage of deranged individuals blinded by desire, engaging in arson, murder, and pillaging without cease. When all the Empire's death row prisoners are gathered together, the number is astonishing. In less than two months, fifty thousand "residents" arrived here, and one can imagine how many more are yet to come from afar.
However, compared to the typical death row prisons known to the world, this one lacked the dirtiness, dampness, and putrid smell of other prisons. In contrast to other prisons, the environment here was quite good, well-ventilated, well-lit, clean, and tidy. Although the food and water were not rich and delicious, they were clean and harmless, without mold or spoilage.
It wasn't that Lin was kind enough to give preferential treatment to those death row prisoners. After all, social scum itself is not worth pitying. It was merely to prevent them from falling ill and dying without a cure in overly harsh environments, ultimately dying in prison, which would be a waste.
Their lives must serve a sufficient purpose for Lin's Seventh Legion 28... "Click, boom—!"
The sound of a heavy prison iron door falling to the ground was quite noticeable in the empty prison. In this cell, all the death row prisoners in their separate cells were surprised to find that a prison door not far away had fallen! A guy wearing the same prison uniform as them ran out from inside!
"Damn it! I've been stuck in this broken prison for almost two months, and it turns out this broken prison is just a shoddy project!"
A death row prisoner, heavily shackled at the wrists and ankles, yelled breathlessly in the prison corridor, his voice echoing far into the empty prison. Soon, all the death row prisoners began to tentatively try to ram the iron doors in front of them. For a time, the previously deathly silent death row prison became as noisy as a blacksmith's workshop.
Before long, all the cell doors holding prisoners in the entire death row prison were forced open, and over fifty thousand death row prisoners gathered noisily in the prison. Among them were intelligent individuals who quickly realized something was wrong.
"Where are the Empire's jailers? The soldiers? Why isn't there a single guard?"
"Something's not right. Even if one or two cell doors had problems and could be forced open, it shouldn't be that all of them could be forced open, right? There must be a trick here."
"From the great improvement in food this past week, I already felt something was about to happen. The current situation is definitely the Empire playing tricks!"
Soon these questions were drowned out by the same voice.
"Who cares if there's a problem or a trick, are we supposed to run back into our cages to wait for death now that we're out?! Look at our faces, what's there?! It's the branding of a death sentence! We're already dead either way, I don't care anymore. Those who don't want to wait for death, run with me!"
As soon as these words were uttered, the entire death row prison erupted! These were people already destined to die, and at this moment, they suddenly saw a glimmer of hope, however faint. Even if they knew there was a trick, they would inevitably rush towards it without hesitation, because their lives were no longer their own. No matter if that sliver of hope had a problem or not, could the outcome be worse than death?
Those who were still pondering the problems here stopped thinking. At this moment, it was only right to risk their lives for that tiny, faint path to escape.
The death row prisoners began to flee from all exits and gates in all directions of the prison. However, no matter which direction they faced, they were met by arrays of soldiers, armed with swords and blades, standing ready. Over thirty thousand new recruits of the Seventh Legion had completely surrounded the death row prison, making it impenetrable.
New recruits and death row prisoners, one side surrounding and the other being surrounded. One side fully armed with swords and blades, the other in simple cloth prison uniforms, unarmed, with heavy shackles on their hands and feet. The superior and inferior positions were clear at a glance.
What to do? Surrender? They were already death row prisoners, there was no way out from the beginning. Even if they begged for mercy, it was already a capital offense!
Despair, a complete sense of despair, enveloped all the death row prisoners. But despair can not only lead to collapse, it can also lead to madness! The tiny glimmer of hope they had just seen was instantly replaced by despair. This reality of being toyed with and mocked further stimulated their hearts, which had already been utterly desolate.
Either erupt in silence, or die in silence. Death was already a certainty; the only choice left was to erupt!
"Ah ah ah ah ah ah!!! Damn Imperial running dogs! Even if I die, I'll drag one of you with me!!!"
The wailing, like that of vengeful spirits, incited the nerves of all the death row prisoners facing a desperate situation. They had only death as their path, and dragging someone with them in death became their only remaining wish!
All the death row prisoners, having lost their minds, launched a chaotic charge at the army. Unarmed, they swung their iron shackles and rushed towards the military formation. And these new recruits, who had never witnessed a true battlefield of war and slaughter, most of them, intimidated by the death row prisoners' momentum, subconsciously took a small step back, their faces showing fear.
In a battle between two armies, momentum is the first clash. Unfortunately, in terms of momentum, the Seventh Legion, mainly composed of new recruits, lost the first round. Those death row prisoners—who had once been mountain bandits and great thieves—immediately saw through the true nature of the soldiers before them.
"These are all greenhorns, new recruits who haven't seen blood! Break through the encirclement! We still have a glimmer of hope to live!!!"
In the end, it wasn't the Seventh Legion besieging the death row prisoners; instead, the prisoners were charging the legion's encirclement. In an instant, flesh, blood, swords, and blades intertwined, forming a chaotic mass around the walls of the death row prison.
The veteran squad leaders who had returned from the northern border battlefield didn't hesitate for a moment. Over a thousand swords and sharp blades precisely struck vital points, killing more than a thousand death row prisoners who were at the forefront. However, the new recruits behind and beside them couldn't react in time.
"What are you staring at!? Get to work! They are all criminals who deserve to die!"
There were, after all, only a little over a thousand veterans with battlefield experience. At this moment, facing a bloody battlefield, the inherent differences between people became apparent.
Some, though momentarily intimidated by the death row prisoners' aura, immediately reacted when the veterans killed the first batch of prisoners. They used their shields to block the swinging iron shackles and decisively swung their weapons at the prisoners in front of them. However, a larger portion found their limbs stiff, unable to move, feeling a chill in their hands and feet and a sense of nausea at the sight of the corpses and blood on the ground.
All the death row prisoners' eyes were bloodshot. Prisoner 503's eyes were like blood, as if he had an irreconcilable hatred for the soldiers; even if his hands were severed, he would still try to take a piece of flesh from a soldier's body.
When directly facing the madly charging death row prisoners, a new recruit, paralyzed by fear and with stiff limbs, suddenly reacted automatically! The sharp sword in his hand thrust forward abruptly, piercing the chest of the seemingly terrifying death row prisoner, who then died.
"So... so killing is just that simple..." The new recruit, having just experienced killing for the first time, murmured in a slight daze. He then saw a good friend from his own squad being tackled to the ground by four or five insane-looking death row prisoners, and immediately, without hesitation, he raised his weapon—
"Kill!"
A person's potential awakens in moments of life-and-death crisis; anyone will instinctively resist when truly facing such a moment. Death row prisoners fight to the death for a glimmer of hope, and soldiers will also unleash their potential in the face of crisis.
Death row prisoners, naturally, were all individuals who had committed serious crimes. The vast majority of them had experience killing, and some even had experience fighting against armies. The unskillful new recruits sometimes severed iron shackles with their swinging swords. Fierce death row prisoners, such as notorious bandits who had prior life-and-death combat experience, were then unleashed. They either snatched or picked up soldiers' weapons, further escalating the combat situation, and the rate of soldier casualties rapidly increased!
Corpses and blood danced together, blades and limbs flew. The bodies of enemies and comrades lay together underfoot; one had to step over them to continue fighting! Kill the enemy, preserve oneself—that was the only thing to do now.
At this moment, a true war was unfolding at the Seventh Legion's garrison!
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