PRI Chapter 1: Lind Edward

Within the United States or anywhere subject to its jurisdiction. Slavery is prohibited. Unless you're wearing striped prison clothes. —The Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution

December 11, 1999. Texas. Border Prison.

Lind Edward rubbed his temples, awakening from a long, groggy dream.

"Cough, cough."

His mouth was bitter, his throat felt like fire, and the corners of his mouth were somewhat cracked and peeling.

It was as if he hadn't had water for a long time.

"What happened?" He felt his head was somewhat heavy and instinctively reached back to touch the back of his head.

The next second, he couldn't help but hiss from the pain.

"Hiss, damn it."

Lind quickly brought his hand in front of his eyes.

Dried blood had congealed into ugly streaks across his palm.

"Shit."

Lind couldn't hold back the profanity, and immediately began recalling what had happened last night.

Massive and complex memories suddenly flooded his mind, allowing him, who had been somewhat confused, to understand his current situation.

He had transmigrated.

On a stormy night, Lind, who had been playing a prison simulation game for 25 hours straight, closed his eyes and opened them again, traveling from the 21st century to the end of the 20th century, transforming from a working man into an American rich second generation.

It sounded quite wonderful.

But after Lind sorted through the original body's 27 years of life, he couldn't help but curse, "Shit, this is a goddamn catastrophic opening."

Lind Edward was a bankrupt negative second generation.

His father, old Edward, had borrowed 7 million dollars during his lifetime to purchase this abandoned military base located at the U.S.-Mexico border beneath his feet, and converted it into a private prison.

Old Edward had planned to grow big and strong, making a fortune from the illegal immigrants at the border.

As a result, just as the prison opened its doors, he was found hanged to death in his office.

And the rich second generation Lind Edward, who usually only knew how to smoke, drink, and play with women, had no choice but to inherit his father's business, becoming both the owner and warden of this prison.

However, after the second batch of prisoners was transported over, a riot broke out in the prison that very night.

Young Edward, who was giving an impassioned speech in the dining hall, was pushed down from the third floor by the prisoners during the chaos.

He fell head-first and was on the verge of death.

If they could have found a doctor at that time, perhaps young Edward could have saved his life.

Unfortunately, this brain-dead rich second generation, on the day he took over the prison, had fired the prison doctor to cut expenses.

The guards were afraid he might have problems from the bumpy journey, so they could only place him in the office and send someone to find a doctor in the nearby county.

As a result, young Edward didn't wait for medical treatment and died before dawn arrived.

After understanding all this, Lind got up and came to the mirror.

Black curly hair, rugged features, neat eyebrows matched well with his black eyes, very much fitting the elite appearance seen in TV dramas.

It was just that his face was now stained with blood, making him look quite disheveled.

Lind looked at the back of his head. Although his hair was matted into clumps by the blood, his skull hadn't deformed.

It seemed he didn't need to worry about having a flat spot on his head later.

Taking a long breath, Lind finally had the mood to survey the office environment.

The air here was permeated with a stale woody fragrance mixed with the lingering scent of cigars. A faded American flag hung on the wall with slightly curled corners. Next to it was a yellowed black and white photograph showing an elderly, kindly man with peaceful eyes.

That was his cheap father, old Edward.

A huge mahogany desk stretched across the room, its surface piled with messy documents and several thick legal tomes whose page edges had worn down from countless readings.

An old-style desk lamp sat at the corner of the desk, its brass base the same color as an old radio.

Behind the office desk was a large wooden window.

Several slanted rays of light cast through the iron bars outside the window, cutting the floor into irregular geometric patterns.

Standing at the window, one could see the towering prison walls and the main gate.

Lind turned around and sat in the chair, originally wanting to rest for a while and wait for the doctor to come bandage him up.

But he suddenly noticed the black safe hidden under the desk.

"What's in here?" After thinking for a moment, Lind realized he wasn't clear about what was stored in this safe.

In fact, he had only arrived at the prison yesterday to take over old Edward's business.

He hadn't even had time to stay long in the office before experiencing the prisoner riot.

Fortunately, he knew the password. Old Edward liked to use young Edward's birth time and their house number as passwords.

It showed that he loved his family very much, loved his son very much.

Then presumably the two would be very happy when they met down below.

Lind grinned and entered the password.

"Beep."

The safe door opened, and Lind looked inside.

There were no banknotes as he had expected.

Inside was only a red notebook and several pages of documents.

Lind took them out of the safe.

The several pages of documents were the operating license contract that this private prison had signed with the state Department of Corrections (DOC).

Besides that, there was also a service contract signed with the state government, which clearly specified prisoner numbers, daily fees, service standards, and other detailed terms.

There were also insurance agreements, supplier contracts, guard labor agreements, and so on.

Of course, the most glaring among them was the bank loan contract.

Back then, old Edward had borrowed 7 million dollars from the bank to build the prison.

Of that, 2 million dollars was used to purchase this abandoned military base covering 50 acres.

The fact was that the base itself wasn't worth that much money, but government officials insisted on not backing down, so old Edward had to pay a large sum in lobbying fees.

After that, he spent another 4 million on base renovation and prison construction.

But due to insufficient budget, old Edward only renovated one-third of the military base, which could currently accommodate about 300 prisoners.

The remaining money was used for hiring employees and prison management, as well as purchasing insurance and guard equipment.

According to old Edward's estimates, referencing CCA, currently America's largest publicly listed private prison corrections company, they would pay off the loan within two years, achieve profitability in the third year, and seek to go public within five years.

But for some unknown reason, shortly after the prison was built, old Edward mysteriously died in his office.

Leaving behind only a mess.

After briefly flipping through these items, a line of text suddenly appeared in Lind's vision.

[Actual control of Border Prison acquired, system activating]

[Border Prison (BP)]

[Level: F (upgrade requires meeting various numerical values and completing tasks)]

[Staff: 11 people (maximum number: 30 people)]

[Prisoners: 42 people (maximum capacity: 300 people)]

[Profit value: -$700,000/year]

[Deterrence value: 100 (calculated based on guards' loyalty and prisoners' fear value)]

[Extract (items, blueprints, characters, skills)]

[Tasks (upon completion, prison level can be upgraded, rewards unlocked)]

Lind saw the text on the panel and excitedly whistled.

"I knew there'd be a cheat."

This panel was almost identical to the system in the prison simulation game he had played before.

So he quickly got the hang of it and understood the basic logic of this system's upgrades:

To improve the prison level, you need to achieve the corresponding profit value.

To improve profit value, you need to exploit prisoners and make them create value.

And to exploit prisoners, you need sufficient deterrence value to ensure the prison's stability.

As for how to get deterrence value?

Naturally through loyalty (benefits) and fear (firepower)!

Be more ruthless than ruthless, be harder than hard!

Driven by benefits, with clear rewards and punishments!

This was the prison management motto that Lind had summarized from playing games.

As long as he could subdue the prisoners completely, he could rapidly accumulate wealth and achieve the goal of becoming one of America's elite.

"When a prison's stock code gains exceed the NASDAQ index, this is the true American Dream."

Lind threw the contracts back into the safe, crossed his legs, and opened his task list with full enthusiasm.

Unexpectedly, the first task objective gave him a big "surprise."

[Current Task Objective: Within 30 days, survive the prison's liquidation and bankruptcy crisis]

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