The underworld

In the midsummer of 2003, Chen Xuewen, just turned nineteen, was handcuffed and shackled, sent to Pingcheng Prison. A week prior, at a classmate's party, Chen Xuewen, under the teasing of his peers, confessed to the school belle he had secretly loved for three years, only to be mercilessly rejected. That night, feeling dejected, Chen Xuewen drank himself into a stupor. He woke to find the school belle, naked and battered, dead beside him, clearly violated before her death. Subsequently, several witnesses came forward, accusing Chen Xuewen of forcibly taking the school belle to a hotel that night. Based on their testimonies, Chen Xuewen was arrested and, within a week, convicted and sentenced to prison. Despite his cries of innocence, no one paid heed. Outside the prison gates, Chen Xuewen's parents held up a cardboard sign with the word "wronged" written in blood, kneeling and crying out for justice. On the other side were more than a dozen family members of the school belle, wailing in grief. As the prison transport vehicle arrived, the father of the school belle rushed over, pointing at Chen Xuewen and shouting, "Chen Xuewen, you have no conscience, you deserve to die!" "God, why didn't they sentence you to death?" "I will appeal, I will have you sentenced to death!" Chen's father, Chen Jianguo, indignantly declared his son's innocence, only to be met with a punch to the head from the school belle's father, who accused him of being the father of a murderer. The family of the school belle also pounced, beating Chen Jianguo on the ground. Fortunately, the guards intervened, separating the crowd. With a gash on his head and blood streaming down his face, Chen Jianguo shouted towards the transport vehicle entering the prison gates, "Son, don't be afraid!" "Dad knows you are wronged!" "Dad will risk his life to clear your name!" Tears streamed down Chen Xuewen's face as he watched this unfold. Once inside the prison and through the procedures, Chen Xuewen was led to his cell, which housed seven burly, menacing men. Seeing the slender Chen Xuewen, they all wore malevolent grins. As soon as the guards left, they surrounded him. The leader, a man with a scar on his face, scrutinized Chen Xuewen and coldly asked, "Kid, what are you in for?" Chen Xuewen whispered, "I... I'm wronged..." Before he could finish, the scarred man punched him in the stomach. Never having experienced such violence, Chen Xuewen felt as if his internal organs were about to explode, and he vomited on the ground. The scarred man stepped on Chen Xuewen's head and cursed, "Damn it, since you're here, you must have done something." "When I ask you a question, answer honestly!" "If you don't know the rules, you get beaten!" Chen Xuewen cried, "I really am wronged..." With a wave of his hand, the men pounced on Chen Xuewen, beating him mercilessly. Bruised and swollen, he was dragged before the scarred man again. The man, stepping on Chen Xuewen's head, asked once more, "Now, I ask you again, what are you in for?" Chen Xuewen, always stubborn, gritted his teeth and said, "I am wronged..." Enraged, the scarred man ordered, "Damn it, still defiant!" "Hang him up and beat him!" The men tied Chen Xuewen's hands with a bedsheet and hung him from the bed, taking turns beating him for over an hour. Chen Xuewen was beaten unconscious, still insisting on his innocence. The scarred man and his gang didn't dare kill him, but they let him go. From then on, they treated him less than human, slapping or beating him at the slightest displeasure. Chen Xuewen tried reporting the abuse to the guards, which resulted in punishment for one of the gang members. But this only led to Chen Xuewen being hung and beaten all night in the cell, nearly losing his life.After that, Chen Xuewen became more docile, avoiding the gang and not daring to resist. His only hope was that his parents could help him clear his name and get him out of this living hell. Unconsciously, three months passed. Recently, Chen Xuewen had been unusually restless because his parents hadn't visited him for over a month. They never missed a month's visitation, a time he and his parents counted down to, but this month, they were absent, leaving him uneasy. He knew his parents wouldn't give up on him; could something have happened to them? One night, Chen Xuewen mustered the courage to ask a more amiable guard, Zhang Dong, to check on his parents. The next day at lunch, Zhang Dong approached with a somber expression. "Xiao Chen, I just received news, you... you have to be strong." Chen Xuewen's hand trembled, sensing something, tears already brimming in his eyes. Zhang Dong took a deep breath and whispered, "Your parents, they had a motorcycle accident going to the city to appeal for you half a month ago, and unfortunately, they perished." Tears streamed down Chen Xuewen's face; his worst fears had come true. His parents had indeed met with an accident! Zhang Dong, looking at Chen Xuewen, sighed and patted his shoulder, "Xiao Chen, mourn in peace." Chen Xuewen sat there, dazed, completely numb, his mind filled with the voices and faces of his parents. Not long after Zhang Dong left, the scarred man and his gang sat down next to Chen Xuewen. The scarred man casually took half of Chen Xuewen's food and threw some food scraps from his plate into Chen Xuewen's. "Kid, today we're having meat, these bones are a gift from me, don't be shy!" The scarred man said, laughing with his gang. Chen Xuewen didn't speak; he was still immersed in grief, staring blankly ahead. The scarred man, thinking Chen Xuewen was staring at him, got angry, pointing at Chen Xuewen and cursing, "Who the hell are you looking at?" "What's the matter? You're not happy that I took some of your food?" "Fine, I'll give you some back then!" He spat into Chen Xuewen's plate and said, "Damn it, eat it all up for me!" "If you leave even a bit, I'll hang you all night again!" Chen Xuewen still didn't speak; instead, a gleam, or rather, a fierce light, gradually appeared in his eyes. He gradually came to his senses, his body trembling with either anger or grief, his blood rushing to his head. His right hand clenched the chopsticks tightly, looking at the scarred man and his gang, his whole body filled with a surge of blood. Wrongfully imprisoned, his parents now dead because of it, he felt utterly hopeless, losing the will to live. At this moment, he was no longer afraid; his heart was filled with a desire to die. But before dying, he wanted to vent the rage within him! The scarred man, seeing Chen Xuewen not eating, became even more annoyed: "Damn it, didn't you hear me?" "I told you to eat, you hear me?" As he spoke, he picked up the plate, ready to smash it into Chen Xuewen's face. And at that moment, Chen Xuewen also made his move. Clenching the chopsticks tightly, he suddenly roared and stabbed them into the scarred man's eyes!