The cafeteria in the Broken Lake Prison.

Perhaps because he came early today, Asho found that the entire cafeteria was filled with prisoners who came to eat breakfast. Upon closer observation, he was amazed to find that there were many other species in the prison besides humans, orcs, and goblins. Some crawled on the ground, some had two horns, and some had four arms…

Asho even saw a female with exposed body parts, hooves, and furry ears, but he didn’t know what race she belonged to. This made him develop a strong interest and wonderful fantasy about the healthcare industry in this world.

He wasn’t a Furry, but…

“Do you want some food?”

The cafeteria aunt’s questioning brought Asho’s gaze back.

Asho ordered a few dishes that could fill his stomach, and he saw some unique food at the window with a sign that said “one portion per person,” which looked particularly tempting.

“Auntie, what is this?”

“Signature seafood Lalafell, a seasonal delicacy with a very limited production.” The aunt said, “If you’re late, it’ll be gone.”

“Okay, give me…”

“Give me five portions!”

A loud shout interrupted Asho’s words. He turned his head and saw a green-skinned orc serving himself. The aunt on the opposite side took the remaining five portions of seafood Lalafell and poured them all into its huge bowl.

“Huh? Why can it take five portions?”

Asho was stunned.

“Because it’s an orc.” The aunt said matter-of-factly.

“Why can orcs take five portions?”

“Orcs can always take five portions. It’s always been like this.”

“If it takes five portions, then I won’t have anything to eat. How can this be…”

Asho’s words suddenly got stuck in his throat, and a screen popped up with a series of red warnings filling his vision:

“Warning: You are attempting to make racist remarks! This is a prohibited item! In the Blood Moon Kingdom, racial equality is the first rule! Please be aware!”

I said orcs eat too much, and it’s considered racist?

Asho was frustrated as he carried his tray to find a seat. He found that all the seats were taken, and finally found an empty one, only to find a big blue-skinned monster sitting next to it, looking even more ferocious than an orc, occupying two seats.

In his past life, Asho would have turned and left, but this was Broken Lake Prison, and the other party couldn’t do anything to him. So Asho walked over confidently.

“Hey, you’re taking up two seats, move over.”

The blue-skinned monster, who was using his hands to shovel food, turned his head and glanced at him, then lowered his head to continue eating.

“I’m an ogre.”

“Oh, so what? Even if you’re an ogre, you can’t occupy two seats…”

“Warning: You are attempting to make racist remarks! This is a prohibited item! In the Blood Moon Kingdom, racial equality is the first rule! Please be aware!”

Saying that your butt is occupying two seats is also considered racist?

Asho wanted to curse, but he couldn’t. His words were stuck in his throat. He wanted to overturn the tray, but he couldn’t because his hands were frozen.

Under the control of the chip in the back of his neck, every prisoner was the most loyal follower of the law. As long as they didn’t violate any laws or morals, they had the greatest freedom. But once they touched the boundary of law and morality, even a word or a look would bind them with invisible shackles.

Suddenly, his shoulder was tapped, and a muscular man with a tray stood up and gestured for Asho to take the seat.

“Desmond.” He introduced himself and glanced at the ogre and goblin with disgust. “I’m going to the Deathmatch Society first. If you have a chance, come and fight with me.”They heard that they were from the Deathmatch Society, and the others looked up and moved their butts away a bit. Asho sat down, listening to the ogre next to him chewing like a tractor, watching the goblin opposite him squatting on a chair eating crumbs everywhere. A strong desire to escape arose from his heart.

Unlike escaping from prison, he wanted to leave because he hated this environment.

The last time he felt this way was when he encountered a stupid boss during his internship. If it was a stupid colleague, he could resist and do something about it, but if it was a stupid boss, he had no choice but to endure, and he couldn’t even resist verbally.

He could endure and suffer because endurance was for a future where he wouldn’t have to endure.

But if it was a stupid boss, it meant that he would have to endure forever in the future. What was the point of working then? He could work overtime anywhere else, so he might as well say goodbye and find a better boss.

The current situation was much worse than having a stupid boss – the entire environment was full of stupid people.

You were clearly angry, but you couldn’t say anything. You wanted to resist, but your body wouldn’t listen to you.

Asho suddenly had a moment of enlightenment.

He thought the Broken Lake Prison was really treating the prisoners well.

But in fact, locking a group of death row inmates who were hated by the gods together, not allowing them to have any transgressive actions between them, and making them compete with each other to create value for the prison in order to escape the Blood Moon Trial, was actually a kind of spiritual torture.

Extinguish their anger.

Shatter their hope.

Destroy their courage.

Break their spine.

Plant the seeds of despair, frustration, regret, and fear in their bodies until they were completely broken and appeared as “perfect abusers” at the Blood Moon Trial, welcoming their inevitable tragic end.

Asho could also understand why there were so many people in the Deathmatch Society.

That was the only place where death row inmates could vent, the only existence of this prison, and a dog hole where they could breathe fresh air temporarily.

It was like a garbage dump.

What was interesting was that Asho, who couldn’t tolerate the environment, was the garbage, and the death row inmates who could enjoy themselves were the model prisoners of this prison.

After quickly finishing his meal, Asho also went to the place where the garbage should be thrown.

There were no ongoing death matches in the Deathmatch Society, and it was bright inside. Asho saw Lorna lying in his boyfriend’s arms from afar.

Was it an illusion? Asho felt that his boyfriend seemed to have lost weight compared to yesterday.

Wasn’t Lorna originally on the side that drained others?

“Asho.” Lorna raised his hand to greet him. “You came so early. Have you just finished breakfast? Do you want to digest first? Wakas hasn’t come yet anyway.”

Asho nodded and found a place to sit down. Someone immediately sat down next to him.

“Xilin Dor.”

“Who?”

Asho looked at Igura next to him, his eyes somewhat wary.

Igura raised his eyebrows. “You don’t have to be nervous. I’m not interested in inviting you to a death match – I won’t participate in any battle that I’m not sure of, and I won’t waste time on something as worthless as face. I’m willing to admit defeat and accept it.”

“You have a dirty heart for playing tactics. I don’t trust you.”

“Then let’s skip the meaningless prelude and go straight to the oldest interaction between humans -“

“Mating?”

“Trading, trading!” Igura enunciated each word clearly as if he wanted to bite his tongue and bleed. “You answer me a question, and I’ll answer you a question.”

“I don’t have any questions to ask you.”

“Really? Do you want to know why Wakas, that elf, challenged you voluntarily?”

Elf?

Asho was somewhat surprised in his heart, but his face didn’t show it.”Alright, I’m a bit curious, but how do I know you won’t lie.”

“I don’t know if you’ll lie to me either.” Igura laughed, “We’re both taking the same risk.”

“What’s the point of this trade then?”

“Because I’m confident that I can tell if you’re lying or not, and even if you do lie, I can guess the truth. You can do the same-“

“I can’t.” Asho shook his head, “I’ve read fewer books, and you’ll definitely deceive me.”

Igura was speechless, seemingly encountering someone with such self-awareness for the first time.

After a moment of silence, he reluctantly said, “I’ll just tell you the news directly, and you can judge whether it’s valuable or not. If it is, then answer my question, okay?”

This tone sounded as if he was reluctantly agreeing to a hot pot… Asho thought about it and felt that he wouldn’t be taken advantage of, so he nodded.

“Wakas Ur used to be a research scholar at Camon University. He was imprisoned for allegedly stealing important patent technology, raising a child privately, and killing his colleagues. Due to his elven identity, he was the only criminal who didn’t participate in the Blood Moon Trial in the month he was imprisoned. He’s been in prison for five years and hasn’t participated in a single Blood Moon Trial.”

Asho sighed, remembering that Langna had said that every death row inmate had to participate in the first Blood Moon Trial. In prison, this was called ‘going through the motions’, only after which they were qualified to create value in the Broken Lake Prison. If they couldn’t make it through, they were only qualified to become fertilizer.

“Why was he able to avoid the Blood Moon Trial? Because of his elven identity? I thought racial equality was the first principle of the Blood Moon Kingdom?”

“Racial equality is, of course, the first principle.”

Igura’s face held a mysterious smile.

“But some races are more equal than others.”

Indeed, equality was like a horizon, existing everywhere but unreachable… Asho didn’t lament this, as he hadn’t been here long and didn’t know much about how ‘racial equality’ was implemented.

“Why did he challenge me?”

“This has to do with the crimes he committed. Although stealing patent technology and killing colleagues are serious crimes, they wouldn’t have landed him in Broken Lake Prison. The crime that really angered the higher-ups was his raising a child privately!”

Asho looked confused.

What the hell?

“Why is raising a child privately the most serious crime?”

“Because it’s not allowed. No one can raise children privately.”

Asho became even more puzzled.

“If no one raises children, then how did you… how did we grow up?”

“We all grew up in orphanages.” Igura frowned, “Socialized upbringing is the basic policy of the Blood Moon Kingdom. Are you trying to cause trouble by asking this kind of question?”

Socialized upbringing?

Asho tried to understand this unfamiliar term, “You mean, we’re all raised by the state, and everyone is…”

He wanted to say ‘orphaned without parents’, but the words got stuck in his throat.

This time it wasn’t the chip stopping him.

It was that Asho couldn’t find the words.

He searched Heath’s mind desperately but found that Heath’s native language dictionary didn’t contain words like ‘father’ or ‘mother’! The only remotely related term was ‘guardian’!

There was no stronger evidence than this.

The absence of words like ‘father’ and ‘mother’ was enough to prove that these two roles didn’t exist in the social relationships of the Blood Moon Kingdom!

Wait, socially raised orphans, neck chips that can control everyone’s words and actions…

Asho suddenly felt a hint of fear for the world outside the prison.

What kind of world have I been transported to?!