All Chapters of The Hidden Game: Chapter 31 - Chapter 40

"Why wouldn't I?" Marcus tilted his head, staring directly at Caleb. "Or did you actually hope I would still come, Officer Johnson?"Caleb shifted uncomfortably under Marcus' gaze and replied stiffly, "No, whether you come or not is up to you."Marcus chuckled softly and asked, "So, do you prefer obedient or rebellious people, Officer Johnson?"Before Caleb could answer, Hector interjected, "Hey, can you two save the flirting for the library?"To Hector, Marcus was still an inmate. Caleb felt Hector's delay in speaking was already showing a lot of restraint. He was about to clarify that he and Marcus were not flirting, but Marcus dropped his playful demeanor and adopted a serious tone."Actually, there's another reason I haven't retaliated."The sudden shift in Marcus' attitude made Caleb realize something—Marcus only spoke casually in his presence."What is it?" Caleb asked."Samuel didn't put much force into it," Marcus explained."He didn't?""He did it like this."Marcus

It seemed that a new consensus had formed among the inmates—don't provoke Marcus.The inmate sitting in the front row by the window stood up and offered his seat to Marcus, who was unfazed. He took his usual comic book and settled into the seat as if it were a given that others would make way for him.What a typical demeanor for a big shot.Caleb sighed softly as he read his newspaper.Logically, inmates who were wrongfully imprisoned spent their days thinking about clearing their names. Meanwhile, Marcus, who was indeed wrongfully imprisoned, was busy establishing his dominance in prison, ignoring his actual purpose.If Caleb didn't know Marcus was innocent, he might have thought the man was quite suited to prison life.On the bright side, since Marcus was off-limits, then Caleb, as the man rumored to have slept with him, would likely be left alone as well.Just as Caleb was considering this, an inmate walked into the library and approached his desk."Officer Johnson, I'd like

Caleb pretended not to understand Marcus' innuendo. After all, if he wasn't embarrassed, then the embarrassment fell on someone else.Hector and the patrol team arrived at the recreational room quickly. Since Marcus had been too violent, Hector couldn't handle the treatment. They had to call an ambulance and send Mikey to an external hospital.The investigation was straightforward.An inmate had distracted the correctional officer stationed at the stairwell, and another had lured Caleb to the recreational room. Then, Mikey had revealed his lewd intentions. During the ensuing fight, Marcus heard the noise of the filing cabinets crashing and came to help Caleb.With this little interlude during yard time coming to a close, the warden would decide the specific rewards and punishments.Once the excitement in the library had died down and the clock struck two, the inmates were ushered out by the correctional officers to begin their work in the factory area behind the administration bui

So, Marcus' idea of seduction was just kissing him directly? Wasn't that a bit too straightforward and crude? Or perhaps Marcus was simply that aggressive by nature.Caleb's eyelashes fluttered as he fought the urge to close his eyes.But just as their lips were about to touch, Marcus suddenly changed direction. As his lips brushed against Caleb's cheek, he whispered in his ear, "Officer Johnson, could you check if I got bitten by a mosquito?"After saying that, Marcus pulled back slightly, tugging at his collar to expose the area around his collarbone.The warmth of Marcus' lips still lingered on Caleb's cheek as he mechanically shifted his gaze to the spot Marcus indicated. With Marcus leaning forward and tilting his chin up, Caleb could see not only his collarbone but also the prominent Adam's apple above it.Mosquito bite, his ass—that was the thought that popped into Caleb's mind.Marcus' smooth, tanned skin was completely unblemished. There were no signs of a mosquito bite.

Some well-behaved or low-risk inmates were assigned tasks to assist the correctional officers, such as distributing supplies or cleaning.Caleb suspected that Lucas' so-called "undercover work" was just him helping out in the administrative department. But what puzzled him was how Lucas had connected him to the Chess Wizard."I tracked the IP address of the Chess Wizard from the stock trading forums, and it led me to Southern Prison," Lucas said, raising his right index finger and pretending to push up imaginary glasses on his nose. "Then, I filtered through the people in the prison who have access to computers and found out that they're all administrative correctional officers."In terms of computer access, the patrol team could be completely ruled out, so the search was narrowed down to the administrative building.But that wasn't the key point.Caleb quickly zeroed in on the most crucial piece of information from Lucas' story—the Chess Wizard was in Southern Prison."Next, I w