The Forbidden Area

Zhang Yong's hand reading skills had also improved a lot.

As a matter of fact, Yang Yi's eidetic memory wouldn't offer him much of an advantage if the playing cards they were using had no markings on them. In a game like Texas Hold'em, winning relied more heavily on hand reading skill. It was a skill which involved a sharp observation skill to take note of the players' expression and smallest movements to determine the cards they had in hand. Yang Yi's stronger memory gave him a slight edge over Zhang Yong but not one which was decisive.

Zhang Yong's card playing skill had improved significantly now especially when it came to Texas Hold'em. Although he was much more skilled now, it was absolutely impossible to achieve absolute victory. Who would be willing to gamble with someone who would only win but never lose? Not only that, even the Casinos would blacklist such a person from entering their premises.

As such, skilled card players won when they had a good hand and they would fold decisively when the odds were against them. The biggest losers were the players who relied on their luck and hoped to obtain a winning hand.

Nowadays, Zhang Yong could make accurate judgments whenever he played. He would bet small when the odds were against him and would only go big when he had a favorable hand. At times, he would just check to make those with poorer hands follow along. As a result, he managed to improve his winning odds to above 60% which was an impressive achievement.

Zhang Yong was laughing happily as he collected his winnings. He then took one of the cigarettes and started smoking. In this game, Rodriguez and Geller played all the way to the end and lost big as a result. The outcome caused Rodriguez to look rather vexed but Geller actually remained indifferent.

So far, there were two people who were ahead in the winnings. Zhang Yong and Hammond Phil. In fact, Hammond Phil as a professor who taught acting was a very good gambler and was also one of the biggest winners.

Geller lost most of the time. As a chemist, it would seem all his skills in mathematics were chemistry related. Towards the end, it turned into a face-off between Zhang Yong and Hammond. Yang Yi was the card dealer the whole time because he was prohibited from participating.

By the time free activity period ended, the match had come to a draw between the two of them. Zhang Yong collected his winning cigarettes and returned to his own cell. He was no longer sharing a cell with Yang Yi and had moved to a single-person cell usually used to punish inmates. Yang Yi was now sharing a cell with Geller instead.

Zhang Yong seemed to be very happy whenever he laughed. But after knowing him for more than ten months, Yang Yi finally found out that there was a deeper meaning concealed within those laughs. If you analyzed it logically, the very idea of coming into the prison to have an idyllic life was ridiculously absurd.

Yang Yi believed Zhang Yong all this while and never doubted him even once. As such, it could be said that there was no correlation between high IQ and being gullible. There was so much going on in Yang Yi's mind that he was still absent-minded even when he returned to his cell.

"Boss, today I will teach you how to synthesize some of the poisons."

Yang Yi raised his head to look at Geller who was standing there like he was getting ready to give a lecture at the university and said, "Not now. It can wait for the time being. You don't have to rush to start the lesson."

Geller was quite surprised when he heard Yang Yi's words. Yang Yi was after all the best student he had ever taught. He might not have been the most intelligent student due to his poor foundation in chemistry and toxicology, but without a doubt, he was the best student.

Geller didn't teach Yang Yi the basic principle of toxicology because Yang Yi wouldn't find it very useful. Instead, he was teaching Yang Yi how to identify what poisons would cause what sort of effects under varying dosages. He also taught him about the commonly available materials which could be made into lethal poison.

Because they were in a prison, the teaching progress was slow due to a lack of teaching aids and chemistry laboratory equipment. Thus all the practical experiments could only be explained verbally. As a result, it was only today when Geller could finally teach Yang Yi how to synthesize poison.

Yang Yi was waiting for this lesson for a long time now. That's why Geller felt it was rather odd to see Yang Yi being absent-minded when the day of the lesson finally arrived, "What's up? Are you not going to learn today?"

After coming to a decision, Yang Yi stood up and solemnly said, "Yes. I won't be taking lessons today. There's something I need to do." After that, Yang Yi moved towards the cell door and yelled, "Guard! Guard! I'm not feeling well. I would like to visit a doctor."

A guard soon arrived and asked Yang Yi, "What is it? What do you want?"

Yang Yi lowered his voice and said, "Can you inform Officer Owen I'm not feeling well and I would like to visit a doctor?"

"Just give me a moment."

The guard walked aside and spoke over the walkie-talkie. He then returned and instructed, "Follow me."

The prison guard then opened the door and handcuffed Yang Yi before he escorted him to Owen's office.

*****

Yang Yi hadn't seen Owen since the last time they came to an agreement and today would be the first time since then.

"Why do you want to see me? Is there something important?"

Yang Yi answered without hesitation, "Yes! I want to know is there another block here where the most dangerous inmates are held?"

Owen seemed rather troubled when he rubbed his head. He then bitterly smiled, "I thought you already knew. Since you didn't ask, I thought you had no interest in it. Yes, they're all kept in a small compound isolated from the other areas. You'll never be able to see those inmates since they are some of the most dangerous criminals in the world."

"If I want to get in there, is there a way I can enter that area?"

Owen just shook his head before he answered Yang Yi gravely, "There's no way you can enter that area. It's an area where that has no contact with the outside world. There is a reason why Pelican Bay State Prison is a Supermax with the highest level of security. That area was never intended for common criminals. It is a place with the highest level of security for holding some of the world's most dangerous criminals."

Yang Yi solemnly said, "One other question. Is there someone called Wayne the Beast inside?"

"I have never heard of anyone by the name of Wayne the Beast." Owen just smiled before he nodded and said, "Do you know why this prison has the highest level of security in the country? It is because those inside are terrorists and serial killers whom the FBI caught after much difficulty. Those inmates have no future. They're being kept alive because they're all persons of interest. So, it's best for you not to provoke them or even have any contact with them in the first place. As for me, I don't even have the slightest interest in finding out who they are."

Yang Yi then cautiously asked, "Since you didn't mention that you can't enter that area, can I assume that you can enter that area and can even bring someone along with you there?"

Owen just chuckled again before he answered, "I can but there's no way I will allow anyone to mess with the inmates in there. If your intention is to kill one of those inmates, then I can only tell you that it's impossible. That is a restricted area under strict FBI supervision."