Toxic Bond

Chapter 4: Release from Prison

Three years later

The gate of the women's prison in City S opened, and after a while, a woman slowly walked out.

The woman was extremely thin, wearing the white dress she had been sent to prison in three years ago. Now it hung on her like a large burlap sack.

She walked very slowly, step by step, toward the platform a hundred meters away. In her hand, she carried a black plastic bag containing thirty-one dollars and an identity card.

It was a hot summer day, and the sandy road seemed to be rolling with a layer of white heat waves. The temperature was at least thirty-three or thirty-four degrees Celsius. The woman walked under the blazing sun, her body dry without a single drop of sweat.

Her pale skin was covered with bruises, and even on her face, near the hairline, there was a three-centimeter-long scar on her forehead, which was very conspicuous.

The bus arrived, and the woman got on. She carefully took out a coin from the black plastic bag and put it into the bus fare box. There were not many people on the bus, and the driver glanced at her before retracting his disgusted look... After all, those who got on the bus here were prisoners from the prison; they had committed crimes—how could they be good people?

The woman seemed not to notice the driver's gaze and walked to the back of the bus. She chose a corner seat at the end of the vehicle, trying to avoid drawing attention to herself.

As the bus moved along, she looked out the window... Three years had passed, and so much had changed.

A faint smile tugged at the corner of her mouth... Yes, three years had passed, and the changes were not only in the world outside the prison but also in her.

When the bus reached a bustling area, she suddenly jolted... She was out of prison, but where was she supposed to go?

In a daze, she realized a pressing fact—she had nowhere to go.

She opened the black plastic bag and carefully counted the remaining thirty dollars three times... What would she do from now on?

Not far from the roadside, a job recruitment notice from a business caught her attention.

"Driver, I need to get off. Could you please open the door?" Three years in prison had worn away her pride, and she always lacked confidence when speaking to others.

The driver grumbled but opened the door. She thanked him and got off the bus.

She walked to the large recruitment notice and stared at it for a while, her gaze falling on the word "cleaner" and then on the phrase "provides accommodation and one meal."

She had no home, no records, no education, and had been to prison... Perhaps even a cleaning job would be hard to find. But... She clenched the remaining thirty dollars in her hand, gritted her teeth, and walked into the nightclub called "Zero International Entertainment Club." As soon as she entered, Lisa shivered; the central air conditioning made her feel cold all over.

……

"Name," the person said impatiently.

"Lisa Moore," a hoarse voice slowly replied, startling the attractive woman who was writing down her information. The woman's pen almost fell to the table, and she discontentedly asked, "Why does your voice sound so unpleasant?"

After three years of hellish prison life, Lisa had grown accustomed to being calm. Even though someone had bluntly criticized her voice to her face, she still spoke in a slow and seemingly temperless manner, "It's been smoked."

The attractive woman was slightly surprised and looked at Lisa's face with an inquisitive gaze, "Fire?"

"Yep, fire," Lisa replied indifferently, lowering her eyelids... It was just a fire that someone had deliberately set.

Seeing that Lisa was unwilling to talk more and seemed uninteresting, the woman frowned and clicked her tongue, "No way, Zero isn't just any entertainment club, and the guests who come here aren't ordinary either." She then scanned Lisa up and down again, her disgust unmasked. Clearly, she didn't think much of Lisa, who was dressed in a white dress that had turned yellow from being worn for so long and looked like a burlap sack.

Zero International wasn't a place for ordinary people to afford. Even a regular waiter here had to have a good-looking appearance and a curvaceous figure. How dare someone like Lisa come to apply for a job?

The attractive woman stood up, waved her hand, and flatly rejected Lisa, "No, you won't do, not even as a waiter." She turned to leave.

"I'm applying for the cleaner position."

The hoarse voice echoed in the small office, successfully stopping the woman's steps. The woman paused, turned around, raised her eyebrows, and scrutinized Lisa again with suspicion, "Never seen a twenty-something willing to endure hardship as a cleaner."

The youngest cleaning lady here was in her forties. This girl had a scar on her forehead, was as thin as a bamboo pole, and looked no more than twenty years old. There were plenty of twenty-somethings here—models, hostesses, and waiters! Of course, there were also waiters.

Never heard of a twenty-something cleaner.

The woman expected this unremarkable girl to start complaining about how hard life was and how difficult it was to make a living. If she really started saying such nonsense, the woman would immediately throw her out.

Life is hard, huh? Zero has so many such stories that they could be published into a book and fill an entire library. Who would care about a stranger's life?

Unexpectedly, the excessively hoarse voice spoke calmly, "If I could sell my body, I'd be happy to spread my legs and welcome you. Before coming here, I examined myself and realized I don't have the capital to sell my body, so I'll sell my labor. Do what I can do."

...She was just a prisoner with the number "926." What's the point of having dignity after entering that place and coming out? A trace of self-mocking smile flickered in Lisa's eyes.

The attractive woman was slightly surprised again and looked Lisa up and down once more before walking back to the desk and picking up the pen to fill out the form, "Lisa Moore?"

"Yes."

"Really?" The woman looked Lisa up and down again, "Your parents must have loved you a lot to give you such a name."

Lisa's eyes were as lifeless as a stagnant pool... Loved a lot?

Yes, they did love her a lot. If she hadn't been so malicious as to harm Anna, if she hadn't brought disaster to the Moore family... Well, perhaps they did love her.

"I have no family," Lisa said calmly.