Free Web NovelChapter 20: Chapter 20: Cooling the Fire
"My apologies, Your Highness. I’ll be more careful next time."
Leo realized he’d gotten a bit carried away. After the warning from His Highness, he immediately fell silent.
A moment later, he received the two blood collection vials. He noticed that some of the fur on He Hanshi’s front paw, where the blood was drawn, was stained red. "Vice Admiral He, are you all right?" he asked with concern. "Your paw should probably be bandaged."
He Hanshi’s ice-blue eyes swept over him coldly. "It’s nothing."
Leo scratched his head, confused. ’Why does it feel like Vice Admiral He’s temper has gotten worse after spending some time on Black Star?’
’It must be the effects of his spiritual power collapsing!’
At this thought, he sighed inwardly. He didn’t press the matter and simply said, "Well, I’ll be leaving now."
Ye Ming instructed, "It’s a nine-hour trip at most from Black Star to Capital Star. Get the blood samples to Dr. Ai as quickly as possible."
"Also, don’t come back here until Dr. Ai has finished preparing the potion. If anything comes up, contact me directly through the communicator. We need to save time."
"Huh?"
Hearing that last part, Leo’s face fell with disappointment. ’Does this mean I probably won’t get to see Miss Shi Lan for the next year or so?’
He wanted to say something more, but Ye Ming cut him off. "Go!"
"...Alright."
Hearing this, Leo fell silent.
He carefully stored the two vials of blood in the encrypted compartment of his Space Bag. Thinking he probably wouldn’t be able to come to Black Star for a long time, he took the opportunity while Shi Lan was seeing him off to ask, "Miss Shi Lan, can we add each other on our communicators?"
Adding a contact wasn’t a big deal, so Shi Lan didn’t refuse. "Sure."
Just after they’d exchanged contact info, Shi Lan brought him a meal. Given the time he arrived, he surely hadn’t eaten dinner yet.
Leo couldn’t help but feel a comforting warmth at being thought of. "Miss Shi Lan, you’re so kind."
Shi Lan gave an awkward smile. ’It’s just basic hospitality.’ Besides, Leo had brought her a gift, so packing a dinner for him was really nothing.
It was just... The pink, diamond-studded bracelet inside the gift box still felt far too valuable. Shi Lan was trying to figure out how to bring up returning it when the chip on her wrist suddenly began to vibrate urgently.
This was the alert from the Emergency Bell, which was internally linked by the Prison Director. It meant one of the Lords inside the prison had rung for her, and she had to arrive within six minutes. Ever since she was late once, she’d discovered that being one minute overdue resulted in a deduction of one hundred Star Coins, two minutes meant two hundred, and so on.
Having her pay docked was a world apart from spending money on herself, and Shi Lan was definitely not okay with it.
There was some distance between the main prison gate and the detention area, so six minutes wasn’t a generous amount of time. Realizing this, she had no time for pleasantries and hurriedly said, "Leo, something’s come up, so I have to go. Have a safe trip!"
"Okay, thank you, Miss Shi Lan."
Holding the meal, Leo watched the main gate slowly close, once again seeing nothing but the back of Shi Lan as she ran off.
Six minutes really was a rush. Shi Lan ran the whole way and managed to arrive on time. The vibrations from her chip stopped once it sensed she was at the location of the alarm.
She was breathing heavily. After tapping her chip, she discovered that the one who had rung the bell was, surprisingly, Ye Ming—who had never actively summoned her before.
Confused, she walked toward Cell Three. Her breathing was still ragged, making her words come out light and airy. "Wh-what is it, Lord Ye?"
Ye Ming was hidden in the darkness. His deep green eyes swept impassively over both her wrists before he asked, "Has Leo left?"
Shi Lan thought he had more instructions for Leo and immediately grew tense. "He just left. If you have more business with him, Lord Ye, we can still catch him in time."
It was about a ten-minute walk from the prison to the Teleportation Spaceship’s landing site. She had just parted ways with Leo, and it had taken her six minutes to get to the detention area. She estimated that Leo was still on his way and hadn’t boarded the ship yet.
Hearing this, the look on Ye Ming’s face unconsciously relaxed. "It’s fine. Since he’s already gone, just let it be. If there’s anything, I can just contact him through the communicator."
"...Oh. O-okay, then."
Shi Lan exhaled a few warm breaths, her breathing still not quite even. She wiped the fine beads of sweat from her cheeks and glanced at the time. "My shift is about to end. Is there anything else the Lords need?"
’If not, I’m clocking out!’
The unspoken words hung in the air. Shi Lan had thought she would have an easy time getting off work, but who would have expected Mu Tangfeng to suddenly pipe up, "It’s boiling in here. Get me an iced drink."
His tone was aggressive, as if someone had provoked him, and his words were laced with frustration.
’He doesn’t need an iced drink,’ Shi Lan thought. ’Going to Jiang Xia’s cell for a quick snow shower on his head would probably cool him off faster.’
However, she was in a hurry to get off work and didn’t want any more complications. "Alright," she agreed. "Please wait a moment."
Just then, Jiang Xia chimed in, "Get me one too."
Ye Ming and He Hanshi then chimed in, "I’ll need one as well."
Shi Lan: "..."
’What’s gotten into everyone? One after another, they’re all asking for iced drinks tonight?’
’I haven’t been mistreating them recently, have I...?’
Full of questions, Shi Lan figured that since she was making one or two anyway, she might as well make more. She turned to Yan Huoshui in Cell Five. "Does Lord Yan need one?"
Yan Huoshui’s fox-like eyes curved into a smile. "In that case, I’ll trouble you."
"...Alright."
Utterly bewildered, Shi Lan found herself heading back to the kitchen right when her shift was supposed to end, all to make iced drinks for everyone.
Fortunately, technology liberated her hands, so it was still an easy task. But thinking of Mu Tangfeng’s burning rage, she followed a recipe, adjusted the parameters, and made a pot of herbal tea as well. fгeewёbnoѵel.cσm
Ten minutes later, she returned to the prison with five iced drinks. After giving one bowl to each of them, she asked Mu Tangfeng, "Would you like a cup of herbal tea?"
Mu Tangfeng had never had herbal tea before. He downed the iced drink in one gulp, his throat practically steaming with cold air, but the fire in his heart hadn’t subsided one bit. He said menacingly, "Yes!"
The others, one after another, also said they wanted some.
Thinking of the taste of that herbal tea, Shi Lan’s scalp couldn’t help but tingle. ’I never would have thought the Lords in the prison would be so enthusiastic about it.’
’Good thing I made a whole pot. There’s enough for everyone!’
Two minutes later, Mu Tangfeng spat it out. "What is this stuff? It’s disgusting!"
Jiang Xia: "BLECH! So bitter!"
He Hanshi and Ye Ming forced themselves to swallow the mouthful they had taken. Yan Huoshui sniffed at his, then silently pushed the untouched herbal tea a little further away.
Shi Lan explained with a pleasant attitude, "It’s herbal tea. It relieves dryness and cools internal heat. Bitter medicine is effective medicine, you know. You’ll feel better after you drink it." fгeewёbnoѵel.cσm
Young Master Jiang, who had never experienced much hardship, was the first to believe her. He took another sip, and the bitterness made his fluffy face twist into an expression of deep-seated hatred. He gagged again, splattering dark brown marks all over the pristine white snow.
Unit Four, under orders not to move without a command from its master, suppressed the urge to start cleaning.
On the other side, Mu Tangfeng was half-convinced, but since the fire in his heart simply wouldn’t go down, he decided to chug it all in one go.
And then, he also threw up.
It was a rare sight to see them like this, and Shi Lan almost couldn’t suppress the smile at the corners of her mouth.
In contrast, He Hanshi and Ye Ming, being more disciplined, listened to its supposed effects and finished their cups without a change in expression.
Yan Huoshui hadn’t touched his. Shi Lan even asked, "Aren’t you going to try it, Lord Yan?"
He calmly sipped his iced drink and shook his head. "I’ll pass. Unlike certain people, I don’t have that much fire in my belly."
Shi Lan felt a mix of confusion and regret, but she was still anxious to get off work. Fearing Mu Tangfeng would recover and start trouble with her again, she didn’t dare to linger any longer.
