Free Web NovelChapter 53: Chapter 53: Emotional Setback
She carefully reviewed everyone’s request several times over. They had even sent direct shopping links, so once she confirmed there were no mistakes, she suppressed her doubts and bought each item.
The delivery was even faster this time. She placed the order that night, and the very next morning, Shi Lan received a notification to sign for the packages while she was still in the kitchen eating breakfast.
She quickly finished the last of her black soymilk and went to the door.
A delivery robot was waiting outside, holding several packages. Shi Lan signed for them, following the familiar procedure, and then placed them inside her Space Bag.
She then returned to the kitchen, packed everyone’s breakfast, and headed for the prison block.
Early in the morning, the beasts in the prison were engaged in their usual daily activities: some were exercising, some were reading, some were playing with balls of yarn, and then there was Mu Tangfeng, who had developed a new hobby of poking the green mushroom on his mirror.
As a Bird of Paradise with a penchant for cleanliness and a touch of mysophobia, Mu Tangfeng needed to wake up every morning to a prison cell cleaned by the robots. He couldn’t tolerate a single speck of dust on his mirror, which he had specially decorated with his own fallen feathers. It looked exquisite and beautiful—the only thing out of place was the green mushroom growing on top of it.
At first, Mu Tangfeng was annoyed and tried to rip it off every day. When he found the mushroom was impossible to remove, he finally gave up and decided to live with it. He then discovered that the mushroom’s texture was actually quite nice—squeezing it was very stress-relieving. Over time, it even started to grow on him.
Today, life for the prisoners was as ordinary as ever, but in reality, everyone was distracted. They kept their ears pricked for any sound from outside and constantly checked the time on their chips, waiting for Shi Lan to appear.
When they finally heard familiar footsteps, He Hanshi nonchalantly spritzed himself with perfume. Mu Tangfeng did the same. Jiang Xia’s scent was still strong from spraying too much the day before, while Ye Ming just added a little touch-up.
Only Yan Huoshui chose not to use the perfume. He knew Shi Lan wasn’t particularly fond of him, and even though she had given him the fragrance, he figured she probably hadn’t paid much attention to the gift’s contents since it was her first time giving them.
He wasn’t interested in one-sided affection. Only a mutual connection could last.
He silently instructed a robot to place the perfume in a nearby storage locker. Then he waited for her to approach, his nine tails coiled lazily around his hind legs.
Shi Lan hadn’t made sandwiches today. Instead, she’d prepared meat buns and black soymilk. Since the buns were packed with meat filling, she didn’t prepare an extra bowl of meat for them.
The buns were about the size of a fist. Estimating their appetites, she had prepared ten buns for everyone, with an extra three for Jiang Xia.
Shi Lan distributed the food to each of them, then started digging through her Space Bag to find their gifts.
Unlike the magical spaces female protagonists have in many novels, her Space Bag had no auto-organizing feature. Things stayed exactly where and how she’d tossed them in.
Shi Lan’s Space Bag was a mess. She had stuffed it with daily necessities and snacks, and she still hadn’t gotten rid of the gun from Garbage Star. At a glance, it looked like she had enough supplies to open a small supermarket.
However, the gifts she had put in just this morning were easy to spot. The only problem was that they were in separate, discreetly wrapped packages with no product information on the outside, so she couldn’t tell which belonged to whom.
"Lord He, just a moment. Let me open the packages first to see what’s what."
"All right. Take your time."
He Hanshi watched her with a gentle expression, and Shi Lan felt too embarrassed to meet his gaze. She didn’t know why, but it felt like the men were looking at her much more softly than usual. Even the Black Panther, whose stare was normally fierce, seemed to have lost some of its cold, intimidating edge.
’Maybe it’s because I’m giving them gifts.’
’After all, it’s hard to be harsh to someone after accepting their gifts and food. They’ve done both, so they can’t very well keep glaring at me.’
Shi Lan pushed aside these messy thoughts and deftly opened the packages in front of her.
He Hanshi had bought a modular firearm kit. It came with a full set of components, allowing the user to assemble different types of guns.
Due to the constant threat of the Insect Clan, interstellar law didn’t restrict the purchase of firearms. Most guns available on the Star Network were designed to be highly effective against the Insect Clan but cause minimal harm to humans. The kit He Hanshi had purchased, when used against a person, would have an effect similar to a tranquilizer gun. fɾēewebnσveℓ.com
Shi Lan was a little confused about why he’d buy a gun while in prison, but that wasn’t what truly shocked her. What shocked her was that he had also ordered a DIY holster-making kit.
’Is he planning to make a holster himself?’
Shi Lan snuck a glance at him from the corner of her eye. Looking at the White Lion’s enormous body and furry paws, she couldn’t imagine how he would manage such a task.
But it was the gift he wanted, so she didn’t say anything. ’Maybe they’re just bored and buy these things to pass the time.’
Realizing they were all unable to leave the prison, her expression softened with pity and tenderness.
"Major General He, here is your gift."
Shi Lan opened the delivery slot in the door, and the White Lion drew near. The smell of the meat buns had been too overpowering before, but as he approached, a faint scent of perfume wafted out from the cell.
"Thank you."
The White Lion looked up at her. He was so massive that he was nearly as tall as Shi Lan, yet he kept his front knees bent slightly. His gentle blue eyes, like a vast ocean, reflected her image. It looked like a posture of submission.
Shi Lan found her own imagination absurd. ’How could someone like He Hanshi—a golden child of the heavens, a decorated war hero, a public idol, the famous Major General—strike such a pose for me?’
She shook off the unrealistic thought. ’Maybe he just feels like standing that way today.’
She collected her thoughts and watched as a robot came to take the items to He Hanshi’s usual spot. A small smile touched her lips. "This perfume smells really nice."
He Hanshi’s ice-blue eyes brightened. He nodded, and his tail gave a relaxed, happy wag. But who could have predicted that as soon as she said this, Shi Lan would turn and head to the cell across the way.
His heart plunged from a thrilling peak to a desolate valley, as if on a roller coaster. An imperceptible trace of hurt and disappointment colored his eyes.
’What does Shi Lan mean by this...’
’Did she not notice I put on the perfume?’
’Why doesn’t she seem to care? Is it true that females stop cherishing something once they have it?’
A thousand thoughts raced through He Hanshi’s mind. He had no idea that Shi Lan was completely oblivious to the perfume’s significance, leaving him to quietly nurse the first romantic disappointment he had ever experienced.
Mu Tangfeng’s gift was a projection and screen-recording device. It was a rather useless gift, though, since everyone’s chips already had a screen-recording function. In fact, recordings made with this device would still need a chip to be converted for projection.
Shi Lan had no idea what he planned to record in prison, but his request seemed more normal than the others’.
She handed over his gift as well. Mu Tangfeng was in his human form. He reached a slender hand out from within the cell, his faintly pink fingertips brushing lightly across the back of her hand. As he took the gift and drew his hand back, a fragrant breeze wafted past, and she once again caught that familiar scent.
Shi Lan was both surprised and delighted. She hadn’t expected them to like her gift so much. Even the normally fastidious Mu Tangfeng had put it on.
She felt a little thrill of happiness. Mu Tangfeng, though pretending to study the package in his hands, was secretly watching her from the corner of his eye. Seeing her smile, his slender, delicate chin lifted slightly in pride. frёewebnoѵēl.com
’Female, this is just a little taste of what’s to come. Don’t get too smug.’
’It’ll take more than a single bottle of perfume to win me over.’
As he thought this, he couldn’t help but gently rub his fingertips together. It felt as if they still held the residual warmth from the back of Shi Lan’s hand.
’Soft. Delicate.’
The ears hidden beneath his orange-red hair couldn’t help but grow warm.
