Part 55: Concrete Death

_{content warning: mention of sexual assault, mutilation (it's not detailed/gory, but it IS explicit what part of the body is being cut off), gruesome method of murder}

[BGM: Friend of Mine]


Concrete Death

Days spent in prison could be boring.
At noon, while the sun was right in the middle of the sky, Jin and Qiang got into an argument with each other in the yard, yet again.
In a couple of minutes they would start a brawl and everyone in the yard, inmates and guards alike, would become spectators.
It had turned into a daily routine.

I sat under a tree far away from the ruckus.
I wore my hat low and put my hands in my pockets, hoping to hide my nervousness from the guards and other curious inmates.



I had been in prison for almost half a month.
At first I thought that I might have been arrested for wandering the streets in women's clothing.
It was a strange reason to be arrested in Hong Kong, but I simply couldn't think of any other possibilities.
Never would I have ever imagined that another possibility could exist.
They finally told me that I had been arrested for “murder”.

This was beyond ridiculous.
In the Ten Commandments of the Catholic church, the Fifth Commandment ---- Thou shalt not kill.
How could I possibly have committed murder?
And the person that they accused me of killing? I had never even met him before.

Ren used to tell me stories about how gangs would sometimes send some of their own young boys to confess for the crimes of the bosses.
But usually they would at least get the stories straight first. Why hadn't I heard anything in advance?

I tried to send a message outside, hoping to get in touch with Mr. Kuan or any of the other people in the group.
But I hadn't heard anything back.
Just when I was starting to lose hope, an unexpected visitor came to see me.

It was so brave and nice for Ye to visit.
She was wearing a light green cheongsam, even more beautiful than the one I remembered.
Her hair hadn't all grown back yet, but she still looked good.



Ye told me that after I had saved her from the auction house she had been worried about me. She had even sent someone from the Blood Gang back to Pitt Street 99 to ask about me.
They found out that I had never been back there ever since.

Coincidentally, the man Ye had sent ran into Ren.
Ren had been worried about me too, and he also happened to know Ye's man. So Ren went with him to the Blood Gang and told Ye everything he knew.

I was arrested by the police on the same day that I helped Ye escape.
Mr. Kuan heard from the auction house about what I had done.
He was outraged. But before he sent people to come after me he got a phone call from the secretary of Mr. Lin.
In the phone call, he was told that it had been “arranged” for me to stay in prison. From then on, whatever happened to me should not concern Group Loyalty anymore.
Mr. Kuan and the others didn't know for sure how I had offended the bosses so much.
Based on the instructions they heard, they suspected that I wouldn't have much longer to live.



Ren gave Ye all of my personal belongings that I had left with the group, hoping that she could bring them to me when she visited.
Ye's finger accidentally touched my phone when she was showing me my things; it lit up.
A woman with curly red hair appeared on my screen.
One of the Blood Gang members with us immediately recognized her.

“What? Do you know my sister?!”
I couldn't contain my excitement and jumped up from the chair.

“Stay quiet!” The guard behind me stepped forward and pushed me back down.

[BGM: Silence]


Ye unlocked her own phone and turned the screen towards me after a few clicks.
I saw a list of people, some without a name but only a photo, followed by a string of digits.
I read through the list one by one, and stopped at the fifth person.
She looked so much like my big sis.
But her name was labeled “Dragon”.

“Huh, that was quite a coincidence. Your sister last contacted you from Hong Kong, right? Well, she has never left. She is now one of the top assassins in the field. There's an 8 million dollar bounty on her head. 'Dragon' is her code name.”

Jin and Qiang finally started fighting. Cheers erupted around them.
All of the other inmates and guards were gathering around them.
I snuck into the storage room at the corner of the yard while no one else was watching.



I had long noticed this one locker inside the storage room. It was full of random things that had not been claimed in a long time.
I opened the door with one hand and pulled my other hand out of my pocket. I had been holding some tools in my palm, which was completely wet as I had been sweating nervously the whole time. The tools had been brought in by Ye. She had hidden them inside of the toiletries that she gave me. She told me to use these tools to break out of the prison.

Ye also said that my being “arranged” into going to prison probably had something to do with my sister.
Someone might be using me as leverage to blackmail Alicia.
Or it could be a revenge on her by punishing me.

Whichever the case was, I needed to get out of here as soon as possible.
Unfortunately, the Black Dragon Gang was in control of this prison, so Ye and the Blood Gang couldn't just break me out of here.
Therefore, I had to do that part by myself. Once I was out, the Blood Gang would assist me in any way they could.



So... a prison break?
Was I capable of something like that?
Never mind whether or not the guards would catch me if I tried.
My cellmate alone would probably ruin the whole thing before I even got started.

Nevertheless, I decided to hide the tools well in advance. Even if somebody discovered them here they wouldn't be able to trace them back to me.
As for my sister? I needed more time to think about this new information.
Maybe I could find out more while I was still inside.

I was just about to close the locker when I heard slow footsteps and wheels rubbing against the ground outside. They were getting closer and closer to the storage room.
Crap. Please don't be the guards...
I hastily hid inside the locker and closed it.

[BGM: No Escape from Here]


I could still see a little of what was going on outside through the door crack.
A blonde man in a prison uniform pushed a cart inside and closed the door.
There were a few bags of concrete in the cart.
I had heard that a new prison building was under construction. Lots of inmates were assigned to work on the site. He must be one of them.

He started to unload the bags.
One... two... three... hmm?
Another inmate was under the bags. His mouth was gagged and his limbs were tied up.



I finally recognized both of them.
The blond one was said to be an infamous serial killer. Everybody called him Pi, and he had been sentenced to life in prison.
The other one that Pi had just dragged out of the cart and tossed on the ground was Kai. He was a serial rapist who had been sentenced to 20 years for over 14 assaults. He was lying there, barely conscious.

It wasn't unusual for inmates to have a go at each other.
However, Kai seemed to have been completely knocked out.
Our yard time would be over in half an hour. If they stayed in here too long it might be too hard to sneak out.
If Pi found me hiding in the locker, that might be even worse...



Pi put on his gloves.
I swallowed nervously.
He pinned Kai to the ground and choked his neck...
...until Kai eventually stopped moving completely...
...and opened the locker.

He noticed me.
Pi grabbed me by the collar and dragged me out of the locker, then chopped me on the neck with his bare hand.
Unimaginable pain traveled from my neck to my head, and I could feel my brain being cut off from the rest of my body before I blacked out.



When I woke up I found myself stuffed inside a bulk bag.
Everything below my chest had been submerged in concrete, which had not completely hardened, but the pressure on my chest was making it almost impossible to breathe.
To stop me from making any sounds, he had also sealed my lips with a piece of cloth soaked with concrete.

I rocked my body as hard as I could and fell to the ground.
Then I saw another bag which had been filled with solid concrete right before my eyes.
The weird shape of the bag convinced me that Kai must be inside it.

It was late at night. Pi would probably come back early in the morning and finish the job.
Then he would throw these two bags with our bodies in them into the foundation of the new building, and pour some more concrete over both of our concrete coffins.
No one would ever know.



I had nothing to do with this...
I was just here to hide something...
How did I end up like this?

Carlos



It was technically spoiled in the profiles last update, but hey, looks like another connection between our cast has been solidifed- Pi was in Hong Kong, after all, so it makes sense he'd end up in the same prison Carlos is in; this also gives us a bit more understanding of when everything happens chronologically, as we know that Pi had been doing serial killings for at least two years before his showdown with Jimmy (and he hooked up with Kang before that started, so we know Kang was in Hong Kong at some point two years prior to this letter). Doesn't really help us with anything, but hey, it's nice to get some more defined specifics. Anyway, let's save Carlos from being killed as a bystander.



That said, there are still a couple of Bad endings, so lets get those done first.



Pi was still focused on Kai and paid no attention to this person who had just jumped out of the locker.

I heard that Pi was mentally ill, but his diagnosis had come back normal.
Some people said the diagnosis must have been forged, as there were plenty of people who hated him and wanted him to be sent to prison.
Nevertheless, seeing the twisted expression on his face right now, I was certain that the normal diagnosis must have been fake.

In any case, as long as he hadn't noticed me I figured that I should just sneak out.
I inched towards the door slowly and stealthily. Then I turned around very carefully.
When I was only two steps away from the door I felt a breeze on the back of my neck, and then my body stopped responding to anything.

When I woke up I found myself feeling itchy and cold, and stuffed inside a bulk bag.
Everything below my neck had been submerged in concrete, which had not completely hardened.
Next to me, there was another bag that had been completely filled with solid concrete.
The weird shape of the bag convinced me that Kai must be inside it.



Pi had come over with another bucket of concrete.
He saw that I was awake, but didn't even bother to knock me out. He just poured the concrete into the bag.
I wished that he would just punch me instead.

The concrete had gone over my nose.
I couldn't breathe anymore.
I was seeing all kinds of hallucinations, and hearing all kinds of noises.

Maybe I should have talked to him instead of trying to sneak out? Perhaps he would like me better then and let me live?
I felt so pathetic, dying like this...
I must have committed too many sins to end up like this.

Sister... where are you... I miss you so much.



There's one more Bad ending left.





Pi tied me up and tossed me aside after noticing me.
And then I watched Pi perform an unbelievable “operation” on Kai. He made sure that Kai would never be able to assault anyone ever again.

Pi must be a total psycho.

He still wasn't done.
Pi stuffed the mutilated Kai into a bulk bag and started pouring the concrete he had mixed into the bag.
Kai was soon completely covered in concrete.
Kai no longer existed in this world.

Then Pi grabbed another empty bag and started walking towards me.
Soon, I would no longer exist in this world, either.



With that, we can move on to the A ending. Let's try Carlos's suggestion and talk to Pi instead of trying to sneak out.





I made up my mind and opened the locker.
Kai looked surprised when he saw me, but he soon passed out because of the pain.

“Hey... don't you think that... he has suffered enough? He will be sixty by the time he can get out, and he will die alone for sure. I'm certain he will regret what he did in his youth. Killing him now is actually showing him mercy, right? You don't really have to do this.”

I inched closer to the door as I was speaking.
I needed to stay as far away from this lunatic as I could.

I didn't really have any sympathy for Kai. I heard that he had even assaulted some 50-year-old woman. By that count, he might still hurt people even if he was released at 60.



Pi seemed to be pondering my words.
Huh. Who knew that lunatics could think, too.

When I was only two steps away from the door, he spoke.
“You make a good point. But I think he should suffer a little more.”

What he did next paralyzed me. I just stood there completely stunned, watching Pi perform an unbelievable “operation” on Kai. He made sure that Kai would never be able to assault anyone ever again.



Kai was eventually sent into the medical office of the prison.
Both Pi and I were brought to the warden's office later. I suspected Kai had said something to the guards.

However, everyone knew that Pi was a “tough” character, so neither the inmates nor the guards dared to mess with him.
They were all afraid that Pi would one day mysteriously murder them. Therefore, he got out of trouble scot-free.
The same thing couldn't be said for me.
I was soon transferred to a solitary cell with higher security. Breaking out of prison was looking more and more unlikely.



The solution to get the S ending should be pretty obvious by now- we need to wait to have Carlos leave the locker until Kai passes out, so Kai can't implicate him as being there at the scene of his attack.



[BGM: My World]


I made up my mind and came out of the locker.
I looked at the unconscious Kai, hoping that he was still alive.

“Hey... don't you think that... he has suffered enough? He will be sixty by the time he can get out, and he will die alone for sure. I'm certain he will regret what he did in his youth. Killing him now is actually showing him mercy, right? You don't really have to do this.”

I inched closer to the door as I was speaking.
I needed to stay as far away from this lunatic as I could.

I didn't really have any sympathy for Kai. I heard that he had even assaulted some 50-year-old woman. By that count, he might still hurt people even if he was released at 60.

Pi seemed to be pondering my words.
Huh. Who knew that lunatics could think, too.

When I was only two steps away from the door, he spoke.
“You make a good point. But I think he should suffer a little more.”



What he did next paralyzed me. I stood there completely stunned, watching Pi take my brand new dagger out of the locker, and use it to cut off Kai's private part. He then rubbed some concrete on his wound.
Next, he covered the severed part with concrete, and stuffed it into Kai's hands. Kai was still unconscious the whole time.

This was something that a normal person would never witness their whole life. I was in such shock that I completely forgot about escaping.

After he was done, Pi asked me what I had been doing in the locker, while cleaning up the blood on the floor.
I still couldn't move, and I dare not lie to the psycho in front of me. I told him everything.



He finished his cleaning, walked up to me and put one arm around my shoulder.
The cloth in his right hand, soaked with Kai's blood, even brushed against my frozen face.

“A prison break... Sounds like fun. Count me in.”



...

[BGM: Lost Memories]






NEW MESSAGE: An Ace



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