Delta: Who are you saying has suffered a loss of strength?

Chapter 335 Trust

After leaving the warden's office, Shi Ding walked along the corridor toward the training ground.

He walked at a moderate pace, his face expressionless.

He felt a strange emotion stirring within him; he sensed it but couldn't quite put his finger on it.

The training ground was bustling with activity as two teams did physical training on opposite sides of the field.

The prison guards, dressed in dark gray uniforms, and the prisoners, dressed in yellow overalls, lined up in three rows and performed push-ups in unison at the command of their leader.

Shi Lei stood in the middle of the two teams, with his back to the door, correcting a prison guard's posture. He gently touched the guard's waist with the back of his foot, and the guard quickly adjusted his position.

Shi Lei caught a glimpse of someone coming in through the door, paused his work, turned his head to look, and saw that it was Shi Ding.

He gestured for the people next to him to continue training, and then jogged from the side of the team to Shi Ding. After stopping in front of him, he wiped the thin layer of sweat from his forehead.

"How are you? Are you alright?" Shi Dingxian spoke first, his gaze sweeping over the two rows of people who were doing push-ups.

"No problem," Shi Lei replied quickly. "The resurrected prison guards and prisoners are all normal, have returned to their posts, and are in good spirits."

After he finished speaking, he looked at Shi Ding's expression, his gaze lingering on his brother's face for two seconds.

Shi Ding's face looked the same as usual, calm and expressionless, but he could sense a slight difference.

"What's wrong, bro?" Shi Lei leaned closer, his voice lowered. "You don't seem right. Is there some trouble with the warden?"

"Huh?" Shi Ding was slightly taken aback, as if he hadn't expected to be seen through.

He subconsciously touched his face, and only put his hand down after confirming that his expression was indeed no different from usual.

"No..." He looked at Shi Lei's serious eyes, sighed, and slumped his shoulders. "Nothing happened, or rather, it should be a good thing."

Shi Lei didn't interrupt, he just stood there waiting for him to continue.

"The warden and Raven have changed since they returned from the player world." Shi Ding carefully chose his words, lowering his voice slightly.

"Actually, their relationship was already quite good before the last time I went to the player world."

"But when I was standing guard at the office door just now, I saw the way the two of them were talking, and it was completely different from before."

"Just now at the warden's office, I was worried that Raven would take advantage of the warden's rest to harm him, but now it seems that I was overthinking it. Seeing the interaction between Raven and the warden now, they should trust each other more."

Shi Lei understood what Shi Ding meant. He was silent for a few seconds, then asked, "Won't there be a problem?"

Shi Ding shook his head. "The warden knows what he's doing." Then his gaze swept over the prisoners training with the guards.

"We'll just have our subordinates keep an eye on any risks; let's not put the warden in a difficult position over something like this."

"If the prisoners can truly fight alongside us, it's essentially a good thing for the prison."

Shi Lei nodded repeatedly, mentally reviewing Shi Ding's words.

Then he hesitated for a moment before speaking, "Brother, is it really necessary for me to be in charge of these things? You're more suited to directing; I can just assist you."

"I feel like I'm not really suited for this job. Sometimes when I'm planning tactics, my mind goes slowly, and I'm afraid of making things difficult."

Shi Ding patted Shi Lei on the shoulder, "We need you to do this. You also need to be able to hold the line for the warden."

He looked into Shi Lei's eyes and said, "If I were to die in a battle, at least the prison wouldn't be thrown into chaos."

Shi Lei's expression stiffened for a moment; he was, of course, aware of the situation Shi Ding was referring to.

Recently, the warden has been spending less and less time in the prison, and Shi Ding has been taking care of almost all the big and small matters in the prison.

When that group of American players stormed in last time, if Shi Ding hadn't reacted quickly and mobilized manpower to block the passage to the core area, the consequences might have been much more serious than they are now.

Shi Ding's concerns were not unfounded; if something really happened to him, no one in the prison could immediately take over the situation.

"Don't say anything unlucky," Shi Lei raised his voice slightly, "The warden will resurrect us. You just need to plan ahead, and we can carry it out step by step."

"Things will always change..." Shi Ding muttered to himself, though it was unclear which sentence he was referring to.

Shi Lei didn't hear clearly and was about to ask further when Shi Ding suddenly turned around, glared at him, and raised his voice sharply: "You're talking so much nonsense, are you trying to slack off?"

"Hey, no! I didn't!" Shi Lei was startled by his words and subconsciously took half a step back, waving his hands wildly in front of him.

"Come on, stop talking nonsense. There's so much to do." Shi Ding chased him away. "That group over there is all messed up. Go keep an eye on them."

Shi Lei responded reflexively, then turned and jogged back to the center of the field.

He took a couple of steps before he came to his senses and looked back at Shi Ding. Shi Ding had already walked to the other side of the field and was talking to a prison guard. His back view seemed to have returned to its usual calm and composed appearance.

Shi Lei withdrew his gaze and continued to watch the movements of the two rows of people on the training field.

The next few days passed peacefully.

Every morning, Shi Ding would report to the warden's office on time, knock on the door, and go in to tell him about the day's arrangements and duty schedule.

Han Che was always in the office, sometimes writing or drawing on documents on the desk, sometimes leaning back in his chair and gazing out the window in a daze.

Raven was always there; he somehow got a chair and sat right next to the edge of the desk.

The two of them did their own thing, occasionally exchanging a few words, and neither of them felt that there was anything inappropriate about it.

As a subordinate, Shi Ding naturally wouldn't say anything since the warden himself hadn't said anything.

He would leave after each check-in, closing the door behind him without asking any questions or looking at him much.

During training, Han Che and Raven appeared together at the training ground.

Shi Ding was leading his team in obstacle course training when he was slightly taken aback when he saw the two people walking side by side from the end of the corridor.

The two walked to the edge of the training field and stood still. Han Che raised his hand to signal, and Shi Ding blew a whistle to make everyone stop and line up.

Two rows of people quickly stood in place, with prison guards and prisoners in separate lines, standing ramrod straight, their eyes fixed on the warden.

Han Che's voice came from behind the mask: "I've read the debriefing report of the last battle. Some aspects were done well, while others still have room for improvement."

"Today, Raven and I will demonstrate a few moves for you. Watch carefully, remember them, you'll need them next time."