This story is set on a parallel plane, in the time following the world’s predicted destruction in 2012. Should any resemblance to reality be found, it is purely coincidental, and this is hereby declared.

"Whose home holds gold, whose home holds treasure, I'll pass through the wall, snatch it, and run..."

This is a line of lyrics from the 1980s Chinese animated feature, The Taoist of Mount Lao. Wang Qi, a poor scholar obsessed with the mythical world of The Legend of the Immortals, longed only for the divine life of ascending to the heavens and turning lead into gold. Yet, once he managed to find an immortal teacher and learned the art of "wall-passing," his first thought was to become a thief.

Perhaps it was due to the popularity of this animation that in certain regions, a specific nickname was given to burglars who specialized in breaking into homes: the "Wall-Passers."

Gong Jun and Zhang Shengnan were a married couple engaged in the business of wall-passing. They had been in the trade since they were eighteen, and after ten years, they had never once failed. In recent years, their skill had reached an apex; even the most tightly secured residential compounds could not thwart their phantom touch. They had long since achieved a comfortable, middle-class life, complete with cars and houses—truly successful in their career.

They say even the craftiest fox cannot outwit the old hunter, but this particular pair of foxes had never been seen by the same hunter twice. They changed locations after every job, traveling north and south over the years. Their pattern of theft was as elusive as an antelope’s horns leaving no trace. Many of the cases they committed had long since been pinned on other petty thieves caught locally; even if Gong Jun and Zhang Shengnan were to turn themselves in, the local police probably wouldn't accept the hassle.

However, a month ago, they finally stumbled.

Like hidden masters in many films and television dramas, the couple suddenly grew weary of their life of thievery. They decided to execute one last, massive score, after which they would wash their hands clean and become law-abiding citizens forever. This time, they set their sights on a massive catch, a veritable whale: Wang Zhuo, the King of Wealth.

This highly skilled couple possessed talents far beyond mere lock-picking. They were experts in community surveillance, building access controls, every manner of indoor and outdoor anti-theft alarm, and even every visible and invisible anti-theft device on the market. Furthermore, they possessed an uncanny ability to gauge the psychology of their targets. In many completed jobs, days would pass before the victims realized anything was missing. When they finally reviewed the surveillance footage later, they would discover that the community's monitoring system had conveniently malfunctioned on that specific day!

This time, the male and female master thieves targeted Wang Zhuo’s title of the "Jade King." They spent half a month meticulously surveying, staking out, and observing, learning the routines of Qi Fei and Guan Yingying. They then devised an extremely detailed plan. On a scorching hot afternoon when the sun was baking the asphalt until it softened, they quietly infiltrated the couple's mansion in the "Upper East Elite" compound.

Each mansion in Upper East Elite was valued at over a hundred million, and its security measures were undoubtedly top-tier in the nation. But where there is a superior skill, there is always a countermeasure. Gong Jun and Zhang Shengnan found the security loophole. Moreover, fortresses that appear impregnable from the outside often suffer from a lack of internal precaution; people fall into the cognitive trap, believing the compound is protected like a wall of bronze and iron, thus lowering their everyday vigilance.

Zhang Shengnan was petite, only 1.55 meters tall, slender and agile. During her first infiltration, she only managed to locate a few million in cash. After communicating with Gong Jun via their specialized walkie-talkie, they both agreed to wait; they would wait to reel in the big fish before closing the net.

But the couple never expected that during Zhang Shengnan’s second infiltration, the mansion—which should have been empty—held a young man seated calmly, a playful smile fixed on his face. Zhang Shengnan was instantly startled, her entire body breaking out in a cold sweat. Could this be Wang Zhuo, the very man she had glimpsed through the binoculars just a few days prior?!

Zhang Shengnan and Gong Jun were thus caught. They were sent to a place called Jiangbei Prison—no paperwork, no interrogation process, just thrown directly into a cell block.

In the days that followed, they finally experienced what it meant to live in perpetual darkness, what it meant for time to drag on endlessly, and what it felt like to wish for death. Zhang Shengnan’s female block was slightly better; she was beaten an average of about three times a day. The job of scrubbing the latrines naturally fell to her. The communal sleeping space was just enough for the twenty women in that cell, but the "Big Sister" required two spots for herself, forcing Zhang Shengnan to sleep on the cold concrete floor.

Fortunately, it was summer.

Poor Little Fatty Jun had it much worse. Beatings were commonplace, likely because the inmates lacked entertainment. "Eating, sleeping, and hitting beans" was the monotonous daily routine. Being soft-skinned and delicate, he immediately took over the previous occupant's role as the "bean," becoming a punching bag for everyone's amusement. Among them was a drug addict who was somewhat neurotic; he wanted to beat everyone except the "Big Brother." He struck with a vicious, life-threatening force. On his third day inside, Gong Jun lost two of his front teeth to him.

The pitiful Gong Jun, despite possessing a fortune in the outside world, couldn't even get replacement teeth. Moreover, he was clearly receiving "special treatment" here. Other inmates could have family send in money to buy dishes like "Home-Style Tofu" for fifty-eight yuan a plate or "Street-Style Roast Chicken" for one hundred seventy-eight yuan a bird. Gong Jun was completely undocumented; he even had two of his three daily allotted steamed buns snatched away by the other inmates!

Here, Gong Jun and Zhang Shengnan cried out, but no one answered; they prayed to the earth, but it remained unresponsive. Every time they tried to confide in someone, they were met only with a barrage of kicks and punches. The guards treated them as if they were invisible. When Zhang Shengnan tearfully begged for mercy while clinging to the leg of a female guard, the only response was a cold glance before she was dragged back by her cellmates and pinned against the wall, where they exchanged "pleasantries" using slaps and flying kicks.

After waiting half a month, a message finally got through, passed along by someone through a guard: "You shouldn't have touched the donations meant for the Hope Project at Hongxing Primary School."

The couple desperately wanted to explain that even if they hadn't touched the money, the local Bureau of Education director would have misappropriated it the next day to purchase an oversized official car, but no one listened to their explanations.

Gong Jun felt his doom was sealed. Zhang Shengnan regretted ever setting her sights on Wang Zhuo.

But just as they sank into despair, feeling regret was too late, the situation suddenly took a turn.

In the dead of that night, Gong Jun, who had been coughing up blood for seven consecutive days from the beatings, quietly got up. He fished out a small cigarette butt stub from a tear in his tattered prison uniform. He carefully dismantled it, shook the tobacco onto a scrap of newspaper, and re-rolled it into a thin cigarette. He crept toward a corner, intending to briefly alleviate his agonizing nicotine craving.

This cigarette roll was probably no thicker than a toothpick, but Gong Jun treasured it immensely. He quietly took out the matches he had risked a beating to steal from someone else. Just as he was about to strike one, he suddenly heard the distinct sound of leather shoes walking in the corridor outside.

Gong Jun flinched in alarm. Footsteps that audible would certainly wake up a few of the lighter sleepers. His location—a corner near the door where inmates often snuck cigarettes—meant that as soon as they looked up, they would spot him. It seemed another severe beating was unavoidable!

In this cell block, the other inmates generally had some sort of background: the person responsible for a fatal car accident, a white-collar criminal, a local gang boss, petty thieves, or someone temporarily detained on a trumped-up rape charge. Gong Jun’s background, however, was summed up in three words: "Offended Someone." People of his type were the easiest to bully, implying that the offended party must be powerful enough to have engineered their being sent to this purgatory. The guards had already been bribed, and the inmates used him as a punchbag for sport, pretending not to see anything.

Cold sweat instantly drenched Gong Jun’s body. He probably wouldn't sleep tonight. If the Boss gave the order, this bunch of flesh-and-bone-chewing individuals could work him over in rotation until dawn!

"Click, clack."

The sound of leather shoes drew closer. Two inmates on the beds sat up, fixing Gong Jun with hostile gazes.

The shoe sounds finally stopped—right in front of Gong Jun’s cell block. Several prison guards stood with faces as blank as poker cards. One of them glanced at Gong Jun through the iron bars and asked expressionlessly, "Are you 'Offended Someone'?"

Gong Jun managed a weak nod, his heart in turmoil.

In the cell block, they didn't address each other by numbers or names, but by their alleged crimes: those responsible for traffic incidents were called "Car Accident," swindlers were "Fraud," robbers were "Robbery." Only Gong Jun and Zhang Shengnan were unique; nearly everyone who referred to them by their nicknames knew instantly—this person could be beaten freely.

With a clear, sharp sound, the guard opened the cell door and gestured toward Gong Jun: "Out. Come with us!"

Did Gong Jun dare refuse? To stick his head out was to invite a blow; to ask one more question would earn him a few more slaps and kicks. He quickly nodded and bowed repeatedly, hitched up his loosely tied trousers, and hurried out past the iron gate.

The Boss sidled over with a fawning smile at this moment: "Officer, is this kid finally being moved out?"

"Go back to sleep!" The guard gave him no pleasantries, slammed the iron door shut, and locked it smartly.

However, once the guards led "Offended Someone" away, the other inmates knew he wouldn't be returning, because the Boss was now holding two packs of Yuxi cigarettes. This was considered a "reward" from "above" for the inmates' attentive care of "Offended Someone" during their recent tenure!

Gong Jun nervously followed the three guards downstairs, through corridors, and out of the building door onto the prison's wide, open yard. The area was brightly lit by floodlights. A strange man in a gray suit was standing by an unplated Toyota SUV, smoking. Seeing the guards bring Gong Jun out, the man dropped his cigarette butt, stepped on it, and extinguished it.

Gong Jun’s nose instinctively took a subtle whiff—it was the familiar yet long-absent, light, elegant scent of Yellow Crane Tower smoke...

The man in the suit approached. The three guards turned and left without a word. This scene gave Gong Jun a feeling of déjà vu, reminiscent of how the warden disposed of an unlucky child in The Shawshank Redemption!

As he got closer, the man in the suit regarded him with a playful look and asked with a smile, "Had enough of your stay?"

Gong Jun was both shocked and delighted, nodding rapidly like a pecking chicken.

"Then get in the car," the man in the suit said flatly. "You only get one chance; you better make the most of it."