The man in the suit looked her up and down and asked, “What crime did she commit?”

The warden immediately picked up his notebook and flipped through it, quickly replying, “She committed murder.”

The man in the suit was a bit surprised, as if he couldn’t believe that such an honest-looking, thin woman could kill someone. “Her? Murder?”

The warden added, “Yes, she killed three people: a well-known university professor, a business owner, and a somewhat famous actor. She severed their hands, feet, and heads, and their bodies were stabbed many times. She’s a vicious murderer.”

“Good, then just her.”

Ethan Clark was taken out alone by the warden. Soon after, she saw the man in the suit select three more people, making four in total including herself—two men and two women. They were taken to wash up again, changed into new clothes, and then led out of the prison.

Seeing the main gate of Yulin District Prison, the gray-white walls, and the bright red roadblocks, Ethan Clark felt as if she were in another world. She had never thought she would walk out alive; it all felt too unreal.

A high-end, spacious car she had never ridden in before took them away, gradually leaving Yulin District Prison behind and merging onto a main road. The bustling high-rises and crisscrossing roads were chaotic yet orderly, and everyone living here followed the rules. On this street, usually the most crowded and congested, their car had special privileges, never stopping for a single traffic light, passing smoothly through the city center.

The car drove for a long time. No one spoke, and a suffocating silence filled the air. Finally, another female prisoner sitting next to Ethan Clark couldn’t help but ask, “Where are we going?”

Besides the man in the suit from earlier, there was another man in the car who looked quite young, also dressed in a suit, smiling as if he had a good temper. Hearing the question, he glanced at the four uneasy prisoners and chuckled, “For you, it’s a great fortune.”

One of the male prisoners’ eyes lit up and he pressed, “What kind of good fortune?”

The first man in the suit impatiently interrupted their conversation, “Shut up, you’re so noisy.”

The smiling man shrugged innocently and fell silent. The others didn’t dare ask further, but hope began to grow in their hearts. Since it wasn’t bad news, but good news, what kind of good news could it be? Only Ethan Clark still felt uneasy, but she didn’t dare speak, quietly sitting in her seat, waiting for whatever would happen next.

As dusk approached, the car slowly entered a forest, the crisp, decaying scent of the woods drifting in through the slightly open window. Ethan Clark silently watched the scenery outside, uncertain if this was still the Yulin District where she had lived for over twenty years. Yulin District had been fully developed; there shouldn’t be such a large expanse of forest left.

Along the wide, clean mountain road, there was a gatehouse every so often, arching over the road. The car was moving too fast for Ethan Clark to see the details of the gatehouses clearly; she only noticed that each one had red lanterns hanging on either side, the two points of red light glowing in the dusk like the awakening eyes of a monster.

The car finally stopped in front of one of the gatehouses. Ethan Clark and the others got out and looked up at the structure before them. The three-tiered, upturned eaves were supported by red-painted stone pillars, which were carved with many strange, shapeless patterns. The intricate, interwoven designs made one dizzy after staring for too long, and the weathered, mottled red marks looked almost like bloodstains, slowly trickling down the pillars.

The two men in suits, who had seemed arrogant and flippant in the car, also got out. When they saw the two elderly women waiting by the gate with red lanterns, they quickly bowed deeply, behaving as obediently as grandsons.

The two old ladies had white hair and wore white dresses. Their faces were different, but their similar attire and expressionless faces made them look almost identical at first glance. One of the old ladies beckoned to the four of them, then turned and led the way into the gatehouse.

As for the two men who had brought them here, they said nothing, their expressions respectful and solemn. They quickly returned to the car, turned around, and drove away, like deliverymen who had finished their job.

A strange place, strange people. In this twilight hour, the four death row inmates looked at the departing car, then at their guides ahead, hesitated, but had no choice but to follow the two old ladies into the gatehouse, as if willingly stepping into the jaws of a monster.

The buildings inside the gatehouse shocked the four of them once again.

Most places outside had already been filled with modern high-rises, but these wooden and tiled structures seemed to be from hundreds of years ago, or even earlier—a relic from centuries past, long vanished from ordinary life. Even in TV dramas and movies, they had never seen such a large, luxurious, and exquisite old mansion.

Standing inside, they felt as if they had traveled through time, the world itself thrown into confusion, their fear and doubt growing ever stronger.