Free Web NovelChapter 13: Chapter 13: Give Me the Eldest Prince’s Food
Watching Leo’s retreating figure, Shi Lan thought about the consequences of spiritual power collapse, and a faint sense of pity welled up in her heart.
Spiritual power collapse was generally divided into three levels: low, medium, and high. Low-level referred to a collapse of under 30%. This was a common occurrence for most Beastmen. Even if they didn’t go to the battlefield, the physical mutations from Beastification were unavoidable. In this situation, regular soothing from a female was enough to heal them back to the normal level of under 10%.
Medium-level was the 30% to 50% range. At this point, a Beastman could still be healed, but it required a female with a correspondingly higher Spiritual Power Level. A low-level collapse only required a D-rank for soothing, but a medium-level collapse required a C-rank or higher.
The original owner of this body, however, didn’t even possess the most basic level of healing ability, which was why Shi Lan had hit so many walls when she was first looking for a job.
As for high-level, anything over 50% was considered high-risk. The more powerful the spiritual power, the more dangerous it was. If a Beastman couldn’t even revert to their human form, it meant they were likely incurable.
Therefore, of the men in this prison, it seemed that aside from Mu Tangfeng, the others were almost certainly doomed to die.
She just didn’t know when. Their lives could be lost during any given spiritual power collapse episode.
After spending a month with everyone, although she wouldn’t say they had deep feelings for each other, the thought of such an outcome was still lamentable.
’Ugh, I can’t think about this anymore!’
’It’s making my brain ache!’
Shi Lan felt her head starting to itch. She shook her head. Rather than dwelling on this, she should think about what to make for dinner.
With that thought, she headed back to the kitchen.
In a corner, a green mushroom that had been thrown into a pile of straw dizzily stood up. It then hopped deeper into the prison, following a scent.
Inside the prison, the Black Panther’s self-harming behavior hadn’t stopped.
The protective door was spattered with bright red dots of blood. In the corner, the robot had entered a self-preservation standby mode. A pained and frenzied roar escaped the Black Panther’s throat, landing like a heavy blow on everyone’s heart.
He Hanshi’s eyes narrowed sternly. "Number Three, I order you to use unauthorized means to knock His Highness unconscious right now."
Hearing the title ’His Highness,’ Number Three’s mechanical eyes flickered twice before immediately going dark.
Jiang Xia noticed Butler-Bot Three’s reaction and angrily banged his head against the door. "Great! Number Three is pretending it didn’t hear a thing."
"Ow, that really hurts!"
As he spoke, he belatedly sucked in a sharp breath and couldn’t help but bury his large, round head in the snow, digging a hole to ice it.
Mu Tangfeng stared at the butler-bot in his own cell and sneered, "They won’t listen."
"The robots here are the latest technology from R Technology Company. They possess the most comprehensive service protocols and are extremely expensive, so their chips have a primary coded directive to prioritize their own safety."
Mu Tangfeng had figured this out on his first day in prison, which was why he hadn’t asked the robot in He Hanshi’s room to knock him out last time.
Mu Tangfeng had always been interested in Mechas, robots, and artificial intelligence. When he first arrived and was bored, he had dismantled the robot in his cell to study it, but the safety protocols required a chip replacement to change.
It was just that there were no chips available in the prison, so the matter was dropped.
"Can you try to get out of your cell?"
He Hanshi asked.
Mu Tangfeng’s Invisibility Skill could sometimes make the protective doors ignore him. The doors actually sensed their physical bodies, so even the food delivery slot couldn’t be used as an escape route.
"Okay."
Mu Tangfeng just remembered this. His eyes lit up. He had Jiang Xia use his Ice Seal Skill, then immediately turned invisible, intending to pass through the door.
His Invisibility Skill could pass through walls, but the entire prison was equipped with an internal security system. What looked like just a protective door was, in reality, a full-wall barrier.
Mu Tangfeng gave it a try, then reappeared with a frustrated look. "It’s no good."
"It only works between ten and twelve at night."
That was the only time they could get out, as they had discovered through repeated trials. It was probably a window when the protective doors were automatically updating, allowing them to slip through the loophole.
"Then there’s nothing we can do..."
At this point, He Hanshi couldn’t think of anything else. They could only listen to the sound of the impacts with heavy hearts.
But the sound didn’t last long before it vanished, followed by the thud of the Black Panther collapsing.
Jiang Xia quickly pressed his face to the door, staring at the opposite cell. He gazed intently, rubbing his eyes. "Huh? Did the Eldest Prince’s head get swollen from the impact? Why is there a red patch on it?"
Yan Huoshui was speechless. "You have the mind to worry about that right now? As long as he’s okay, that’s what matters."
"Oh..."
Jiang Xia blinked. When he looked again, the red patch was gone. He wondered if his eyes had been playing tricks on him.
He shook his head, not having the energy to think about it further, and called for the "Number Three" robot.
At this point, the Number Three robot determined that Ye Ming no longer posed a risk and resumed its mechanical form, skillfully moving him to a Treatment Pod.
Having been through this once with He Hanshi, everyone was much calmer this time facing the unconscious Ye Ming. At least they weren’t so jumpy.
However, to be sure, Jiang Xia still asked Number Three about Ye Ming’s vital signs.
Once they confirmed he was still alive, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
「 」
Shi Lan only found out that Ye Ming had also suffered a spiritual power collapse when she went to deliver dinner.
This time, she had decided to treat everyone equally, making enough food for each person.
Holding a lunchbox, she looked into cell number three, which was rarely lit but now appeared chaotic and unrecognizable. A bitter feeling filled her heart.
Another one had a spiritual power collapse. Once it happens, it will happen again, and that meant death was drawing ever closer.
In cell number four across the way, Jiang Xia, still blissfully carefree, just stared eagerly at the lunchbox in Shi Lan’s hands. "Shi Lan, Shi Lan, I’m hungry."
"The Eldest Prince isn’t here anyway, so give his food to me, too."
Jiang Xia knew that Shi Lan had cooked today; he had just heard her talking to Mu Tangfeng.
Before, she only cooked for Vice Admiral He, which had made him very jealous and envious. Now that Shi Lan had finally noticed the rest of them, he could only say it was the Eldest Prince’s misfortune to miss out.
Shi Lan snapped back to reality and rolled her eyes in annoyance, but somehow, she couldn’t bring herself to be truly angry.
’Jiang Xia is still so young, but he can no longer return to his human form.’
At that thought, she lost the heart to argue and handed him two lunchboxes. "Here, eat up." ƒreewebηoveℓ.com
"Shi Lan, you’re the best! Thank you."
Jiang Xia looked happily at the two meals before him. Although his beast form was relatively small, he had a huge appetite, a fact Shi Lan had witnessed before.
But being able to eat was a blessing. Watching him clumsily hold a spoon and take big, satisfied bites, Shi Lan actually felt a sense of fulfillment, like a parent feeding their child.
As Jiang Xia ate, he stole glances at Shi Lan from the corner of his eye. He was both happy that this female was watching him and worried about the way he was holding his spoon to eat.
’He really wanted to just bury his face in the food and wolf it down, but the female was here. He couldn’t show such an unrefined side of himself.’
Jiang Xia let out a deliberately troubled sigh, but his fluffy white tail wagged excitedly from side to side.
