Conspiracy

"Are there any other symptoms?"

In the infirmary, Aiden frowned at the prison doctor.

"No, there aren't any other specific symptoms, just a slight fever." The prison doctor gestured towards the inmate lying on the bed behind him.

"But didn't they also complain of diarrhea?"

"They claimed it, but I checked and everything seems fairly normal. Even though they all say their stomachs hurt, when I asked about the pain, each person described it in a different location and interval. It's practically impossible to diagnose if they're actually sick." The prison doctor shrugged.

Aiden understood the doctor's implication.

Experienced prison doctors often suspected that inmates were feigning illness. In the prison, it wasn't uncommon for inmates to pretend to have a headache or stomachache to avoid work, and the seasoned doctors had a bit of an eye for this.

To the prison doctor, these patients with abdominal pain and diarrhea were no different from those pretending to be sick.

"But there is indeed a fever, right?" Aiden furrowed his brow slightly.

"Yes, that's why I find it strange. Usually, there would be some other symptoms."

"How about the blood test results?" Aiden inquired further.

"So far, I haven't found anything conclusive. At least I can confirm it's not a known infectious disease."

"What about the food testing result in the cafeteria?"

"No issues found there either. I'm afraid it's unlikely to be food poisoning…" The prison doctor pondered for a moment.

"All the inmates in every block eat from the same cafeteria. There's no reason why only the inmates in the core area would be collectively affected."

Aiden thought for a moment, then lowered his voice and asked the prison doctor, "Could it be a reaction to drug ?"

"Drug?" The prison doctor looked surprised for a moment. "It's possible, but with our resources here, we wouldn't be able to detect it. And… the inmates shouldn't be able to get hold of that kind of drug in the prison, right?"

"That's hard to say…" Aiden immediately recalled the incident of finding drug in Room 13.

"So, what should we do about these inmates?" The prison doctor sought guidance from his superior.

"Apart from giving them some fever-reducing drug temporarily, I can't think of any other solution at the moment."

"Let them stay here for now. After all, they do have symptoms. Even if we suspect something, we have to follow the protocol," Aiden shook his head.

"I'll bring some people over to help you keep an eye on them."

"Alright."

After briefing the guards, Aiden turned to Franda and instructed, "Go to the core area, organize a surprise room inspection!"

Fifteen minutes later—

Franda and Veronica returned to Aiden at the end of the corridor, shaking their heads.

It meant they didn't find anything.

Aiden wasn't particularly surprised.

If so many inmates were simultaneously affected due to a drug reaction and caused such commotion, anyone even remotely cautious would have hidden the drugs somewhere else in advance, or at least disposed of the remaining drug in a timely manner to avoid getting caught.

"Weren't we just searched not long ago? Why this again?" one of the inmates grumbled in dissatisfaction.

This remark ignited a spark, and soon complaints erupted among the inmates.

"Yeah, isn't this an abuse of power!?"

"Exactly, acting like a king in his castle here…"

…

The inmates were clamoring in protest. Aiden listened for a few seconds, then finally spoke up, "Do you think you're in your own homes?"

In an instant, the prison fell silent.

"The prison has the authority to search inmates' rooms, and there's no frequency limit in the regulations," Aiden said expressionlessly.

"Not finding contraband is the norm. Are you trying to challenge me with this? Did Each one of you thinks you can teach me how to do my job?"

…

Less than an hour ago, these new inmates were hurling insults at Aiden, but now, none of them dared to challenge him.

Anyone with even a bit of insight could see that the current Aiden wasn't as tolerant. Although they took pleasure in provoking the warden on normal days, there were actually no people who dared to repeatedly test the boundaries of death.

Aiden felt a bit restless as well. The intuition developed over many years of experience told him that someone was causing trouble in his prison.

The most likely suspect was undoubtedly Inmate 3340, but this time he hadn't been able to catch the person in the act.

The duty of the prison guards was to maintain order in the prison, which often left them in a passive position when dealing with inmates attempting to challenge that order.

That night, he could only let the feverish patients continue to stay in the infirmary, achieving nothing. He then instructed Franda to strengthen supervision in the core area.

The next day, in the prison's gardening workshop, the female inmates were gathered to repot flowers and deal with pests in the greenhouse.

"Yesterday, those who fell ill, was that your doing?" Vampire Ophelia approached Meirujinu, holding a flowerpot and speaking in a hushed tone.

"Yeah," Meirujinu replied as she worked on the transplanting. "I gave them a special medicine that causes a fever without any other symptoms."

"It's quite satisfying to see Aiden unable to find anything," Ophelia smirked. "But using the drugs we worked so hard to get for something like this?"

"The infirmary is far from the core area, and the security there is relatively weak. It might be a suitable point of breaktrough," Meirujinu said calmly.

"I have my people among the patients. I had them take this opportunity to gather information about certain parts of the prison's layout."

"By the way, how did you manage to bring the items in?" Ophelia asked.

"At the greenhouse entrance, there's a guard named Megan. She's someone who's open to a little extra income. Besides the workshop, she also handles the inspection of materials brought in from outside. Give her some money, and she'll turn a blind eye to what ends up in my hands."

"Bribing a guard? That's not exactly a creative approach."

"Regardless, it works. Look here." Meirujinu carefully pulled out the flower branches along with the soil from the flowerpot, showing Ophelia the bottom of the pot.

Ophelia quickly spotted various small packets without a doubt containing the drugs Meirujinu brought in. After learning a lesson, she had discreetly distributed them in the greenhouse.

"Do my things happen to be in there too?" Ophelia asked her most pressing question. Meirujinu had promised her a magical potion that would restore her strength.

"They're not here, they're somewhere else. Stop looking at me like that… I'm not playing you. When the time is right, I'll naturally give them to you."

"How much longer do I have to wait?" Ophelia grew a bit impatient.

"Don't rush. I still don't have enough of the drugs I need at the moment," Meirujinu said in a low voice.

"Once my next batch of drugs arrives, I'll distribute all of them. To succeed, we need to cultivate more inmates willing to cooperate with us…"

"What exactly do you intend to do?"

"I heard that about ten years ago, the warden of this prison died in a riot caused by the inmates," Meirujinu hinted at something in her words.

"You're not thinking…" Ophelia's eyes widened slightly.

"It's time for another one,"Meirujinu said, extending her hand and flicking an ant off the flower leaf.