BS 1

TN: Hello! just wanted to say that I don´t speak Chinese, I´m completely mtling this novel, if there´s any error or if you have any advice, please leave it the comments, I hope you enjoy!

Becoming stronger in the empire (1)

The last ray of light in the evening sinks into the horizon while also taking away the only trace of temperature in the air. The empire at night is filled with a cold and ruthless atmosphere. The buildings made of steel are like prisons, confining everyone in their own right.

But that is not the real prison. No one knows what the empire’s only and most rigorous prison is. Only when people chat after a meal, they will guess that it must be colder than ice and steel. In this solid place, no one can escape from it.

The battle between the top leaders of the empire has been going on for nearly a hundred years. Everyone is wondering which side will ultimately determine the future of the empire, and when everyone feels that this battle will never end, the variables appear fast. The Shen family, which has always remained neutral, colluded with foreign races to attack the empire, trying to take advantage of the chaos to take the core of the empire. Fortunately, the conspiracy was quickly discovered by the conservatives. This was the time to prepare for the battle and avoid the empire from being hit hard.    

This war is coming and going fast. Everyone is fortunate that the conservatives discovered the conspiracy of the Shen family ahead of time, so that the empire did not suffer huge losses, but it also caused many people’s homes to be destroyed by foreigners and needed to be rebuilt.    

All the Shen family members were called out for a fight.    

Under the pressure of the imperial people, the imperial management soon held a trial. Within three days, the results of the trial came out. The Shen family was convicted for treason at the highest level and all sentenced to death. The two children of the Shen family were also sentenced to death. But as a minor, the death penalty was changed to life imprisonment, requiring life-long labor in the imperial prison.    

The imperial system is tolerant and cruel. How long can two underage children live in prison? The so-called life imprisonment is just another form of reprieve. Even if this is the case, many people feel angry and dissatisfied with this. No one thinks that these are just two children. In their eyes, these two children are also accomplices with the same blood as the traitors.    

“Bah! What to look at!”

The man’s voice was rough and low, as if he saw something dirty, he kicked the boy who was already unsteady, and the boy’s shaky figure was suddenly kicked to the ground. A dark color oozes out of the colored prison uniform, and it can be seen that the original wound has opened again.

When the other man saw him, he quickly pulled his companion.

“Don’t mess him up!”

“Who knows if the Wei family wants to see him being tortured to death here? Why else have them cut off the Shen family and left such a trash?” The man sneered and said sarcastically.

But he didn’t dare to really do anything to him, who knows what the Wei family thinks, saying they are minors, but if the Wei family really wants to eradicate the roots, how could these two children survive?    

He said and looked at the young man who fell silent on the ground to made sure that the other party was not choking. Then he threw his what was on hand to the ground, the nutrient solution sealed in the glass tube fell on the ground, cracking a hole in it, soon the green liquid flowed down the broken gap to the ground.

This is the cheapest kind of nutrient solution in the empire. It is specially used for prisoners in the empire prison. One can maintain a week’s basic nutrition.    

When the man saw this, he even laughed, “You are lying on the ground now, if you lick it you might live a few more days.”    

Seeing that the boy hadn’t reacted for a long time and that he still kept the appearance of being kicked to the ground by him, as if thinking about it. The man suddenly realized, “Oh, Master Shen looks down on low-grade nutrient solution? Yes, how could Master Shen lick the ground, Master Shen is not a dog, don’t you think? Hahahahaha! Dogs don’t eat anything that touches the ground!”    

He smiled, and the man who came with him also laughed, but the boy who hadn’t moved since he was kicked didn’t react at all. They laughed for a while. They felt boring and left soon.     The cell of the imperial prison was all made of metal, and the cold touch of metal pierced his already weak body through the thin prison uniform, but it also made him more sober at this time.

He propped up his body and slowly opened his eyes, his ink-colored eyes contained unstoppable hatred and anger, just like a violent storm in the dark night and then sank to the bottom of the sea to return to tranquility.   

I am afraid that no one in the empire does not know his name. He is the eldest son of the two children left by the Shen family. The name is Shen Moyan, and the other child is his sister, Shen Jing.    

As the outside world guessed, no one in the imperial prison regarded them as a fifteen-year-old and a nine-year-old child. They were the blood of traitors, and everyone thought they should follow their parents on the road.   

 Who doesn’t want to? If possible, he would also be willing to accompany his family to be tortured, instead of standing under the execution stage, holding his sister’s eyes and watching his family’s life be taken away by a shot.    

Shen Moyan has never believed in the imperial sentence from beginning to end. No one knows what his family is like better than him. When his sister looked up and asked him innocently if his parents were really the bad guys they were talking about. He could only shake his head. The imperial prison was full of surveillance, and any speech would be recorded. He could not express his thoughts. If he was used by someone with a bad heart, he would even hurt his sister.

Shen Moyan has never been as isolated and helpless as he is now, and even every move must be cautious. The Shen family has always been an absolute neutralist. Shen Moyan has never worried about anything since childhood, and there is no intrigue around the high-level factions of the empire. In the dispute, he only occasionally heard from his parents a little knowledge. After all, he was a carefree child who grew up in a happy family.   

He doesn’t know what to say or what not to say now, so he doesn’t say anything at all. The irony is that this is quite appropriate to his name.¹    

Most of the nutrient solution on the ground flowed out, and a small part remained in the glass tube.    

Shen Moyan picked it up, drank the rest, patted the non-existent dust on his body, and leaned against the corner to rest.

The empire is absolutely cruel to criminals. Who knows how many frail criminals eventually froze to death on the iron bed in the cell. There is no season in the empire. Whenever the wind blows, there is a gloomy chill. The blanket provided in the cell barely wraps around his back, which is warmer than sleeping on an iron bed.

He has to maintain his strength, and tomorrow he has to complete the labor arrangements arranged by the imperial prison. His sister is too young, and he has to help her to complete her labor, in order to ensure that two people can receive a minimum amount of nutrient solution every week.    

He forced himself to sleep hard, but the mental pressure and the cold environment made him unable to sleep peacefully after all. Until the next morning, he slept in a daze for only two or three hours.    

When he was dizzy, his prison door opened. It should be said that the prison doors of all criminals were opened. The high-configured supervision system of the Imperial Prison allowed them to ensure that no criminals would escape, regardless of disputes between criminals.    

The empire does not care about the life and death of criminals. After some time has passed, the human nature of this world has not been better sublimated. Everyone is living under repression. As for those criminals, no one believes that they will really change their minds through labor reform and that their essence will be different when release form prison. It´s better to die in prison.    

Shen Moyan is very clear, because he himself is a resident of the empire, and he once had such thoughts, but that is based on the fact that he believes that he will never be such a person, and Shen Moyan has the pride that belongs to a teenager at his age. 

It’s just that now only some powder is left of this pride, and if there is a gust of wind, it will disappear completely.    

He wants to live not only to find evidence of his family’s slander, but also to protect his younger sister, even if there were many close friends around her sister, now, no one but him will protect her.    

Shen Moyan calmed down, stood up, folded the blankets, and walked along the prison corridor to the place of work. Someone happened to pass by and sneered when he saw his folding blankets, but the Shen Moyan didn’t react.

This corridor connects three areas, one is a factory, the other is a farm, and one is a mining area. Shen Moyan is going to the mining area, even if his current body does not seem to be very good, the physical examination results of his new jail are healthier than ordinary people. After all, his family conditions are excellent, and the cost of food and clothing is excellent.

His younger sister, Shen Jing, was assigned to the farm, saying that most of the farms were actually mechanized cultivation, and it would be easier to do some simple work there.    

The route of the imperial prison is quite complicated, but even then, there will be a unified intersection before going to the place of work.    

Shen Moyan stood at the intersection and waited for a while, no one would rush him, even if he didn’t go to work, he would just starve to death in the cell.    

It didn’t take long for him to wait for his sister who trot over to him. She was so small that she could only reach his chest on tiptoe. The prison uniform was gray and too big, like someone who had fallen into the garbage. 

Shen Jing, who is only nine years old, still smiles innocently, as if nothing has happened, as if she hasn´t stayed in this prison for nearly a month. As soon as she saw him, she hugged his waist happily and leaned back.

She yelled sweetly “Brother!”    

Shen Moyan subconsciously wanted to squeeze her face as intimately as before, but after a night his hands were probably colder than ice cubes, so he paused for a while and finally touched her head.

People around them gradually entered their respective working areas, and the door was about to close in 10 minutes. There were no others around them and only monitoring was left, and the monitoring would not care about the innocuous small actions between criminals.    

Shen Moyan took out the nutrient solution that he had been holding in his hand and hidden in the cuffs. This one was the result of what he saved this month. Even if he wants to save more, he is also an ordinary person who needs the most basic nutrition. After working hard for a month in the mining area, he only got the most basic four bottles. He drank the first two bottles for three weeks, which saved one bottle.

He shoved the bottle into his sister’s hand. Shen Jing was only nine years old. She could not meet her monthly labor quota. She could only get two bottles per month, he never heard her mention it to him. But he knew even if he didn’t ask. Those who humiliated him with nasty words would tell him.

“Don’t work too hard, there is an older brother.” These days are too depressing, Shen Moyan almost forgot how to laugh, and only when facing his own sister, his expression will be softer.

“Drink it while there are no people.”

Shen Jing held the unopened nutrient solution in her hand but did not drink it. She was too young and would put all her thoughts on her face. Shen Moyan looked at her and couldn’t help but calmly say “Your brother worked hard so they gave me one more. Today your brother just received a new bottle of nutrient solution. Don’t worry.”

He worked hard and didn’t get more nutrient solution. The bottle that he received today was also broken.

He learned to lie in order to make his sister’s life better.

“Brother drink too!” Shen Jing believed his words, but still shook his cuffs coquettishly, “half and half!”

The door of the working area was about to close, and there was no way to convince her, he took a sip, covered the transparent bottle of the nutrient solution with his palm, and fed most of the nutrient solution to Shen Jing. The nutrient solution is not large in volume, so people who drink more and less are don´t feel any obvious difference.

Before parting, Shen Jing waved to him cheerfully, Shen Moyan watched her enter the farm safely, and then he turned and walked into the passage leading to the mining area.

Shen Moyan has become accustomed to being ridiculed by people around him, which was almost impossible in the past. He took away his set of tools without saying a word and began to concentrate on working. He simply drank a little nutrient solution before, at least with the three his physical strength is guaranteed. On the fourth day, he will start to feel hungry. He only needs to last for three or four days to receive a new nutrient solution.

Working hours from morning to dusk, there will be a half-hour break in the middle of the day. After finishing the day’s work, Shen Moyan walked to the intersection when Shen Jing came out. The brothers and sisters only had the opportunity to meet twice a day. He needed to make sure she is safe so that he can sleep at night.

 But this time he waited for a long time and Shen Jing still didn´t come out.

Shen Moyan began to feel anxious, everyone else around was gone, and the uneasy feeling made him want to rush into the farm to find her immediately and see if she was safe.

He waited for a century before he saw a man walking out of the corner leading to the farm, a prison administrator in an imperial uniform.

The man saw him and then walked towards him.

Shen Moyan thought that he had stayed for too long, and the manager was responsible for rushing him back to his cell. His sister might have staggered with him, and maybe she would have gone back a long time ago.

Who knows that the man came over and looked at him up and down, and said, “Are you Shen Moyan? Your sister Shen Jing had a dispute with someone, you can go and see her now.”

Shen Moyan didn’t understand, “Look at her?”

“Yes, you are her relative. We will take care of it when you finish looking at her.” The manager finished speaking and understood that the teenager in front of him didn’t seem to understand what he meant, so he explained, “Your sister is dead, it seems to be a dispute with people. After all, there are many lunatics here, and they may be heavy.”

It´s normal for a person to die every few days in the imperial prison, and no one will care much.

Shen Moyan once thought about it.

He has his sister. As long as he survives, he will have the opportunity to find evidence to remove the charges and make justice for his family. Then his sister will be able to live a life that she likes. There is nothing for her to work hard.

But now his sister is gone.

Even if he finds evidence that his family is innocent, so what? The only person who is still alive and able to enjoy the future is himself.

What else can he do? What else does he want in the future?

There is.

At least for this moment, he wants the entire empire to be buried for his family.

He heard a voice asking in a rigid and formal way.

[Do you want to be stronger?]

Notes:

¹ Shen Moyan means Silent Words

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