Free Web NovelChapter 83: Chapter 83: The Most Pitiful Person
After lunch, Shi Lan received a notification about a delivery.
Thinking about the things she’d bought, she eagerly went to retrieve the package.
Back in her office, she took out a book about the general knowledge of this world and began to read.
Perhaps because the book’s target audience was children, its pages were filled with cute illustrations, making it lively and interesting—not at all boring.
Not only that, but it also introduced the origin of interstellar Beastification.
It turned out that the era before the Star Calendar Year was called the Ancient Lunar New Year. During that time, technology was developing at high speed, and the world was flourishing. To extend human lifespans, scientists began to consider combining human genes with those of long-lived animals.
After more than a decade of research, the potion was successfully developed. The wealthy scrambled to buy it, but unauthorized resellers got involved. They created their own modified versions and sold them cheaply to the common people. Unexpectedly, the potion produced an unforeseen side effect: Beastification.
Because the cheap potions spread so quickly, it was too late by the time the government tried to intervene.
And so, during this process of Beastification, the human gene pool underwent constant selection and evolution, death and rebirth.
This process lasted for nearly two thousand years until the world stabilized into a truly transformed beast-kin world. It was then that the calendar was changed to the Star Calendar Year, a homophone for "new," signifying a new beginning...
Compared to the Prison Director’s manual on her desk, which was covered in red marks, Shi Lan read this book with great relish. Paired with the afternoon tea and dessert she had made for herself, it was a true indulgence.
’This was all information I had never learned from reading the original novel. Perhaps the world in every book is another parallel universe, with its own set of rules.’
After reading for about an hour, Shi Lan decided to take a short afternoon nap.
She lay down on the folding bed in the Prison Director’s office, hugged her blanket, and closed her eyes, feeling at ease.
A dozen or so minutes later, Shi Lan turned onto her side, and the blanket in her arms fell to the floor. The housekeeper robot in the corner approached her with light steps, picked up the fallen blanket, carefully tucked her in again, and then retreated to its charging port.
Shi Lan slept for about forty-odd minutes, during which she dropped the blanket three times. Each time, the housekeeper robot would pick it up and cover her before quietly returning to standby mode.
When she woke up, Shi Lan stretched, grabbed the new bird feather care products she’d bought, and immediately headed for the detention area.
Hearing Shi Lan’s footsteps from a distance, Mu Tangfeng alertly shifted back into his human form.
His collapse value had dropped significantly. It had even gone down by two points before his treatment, so he could now maintain his human form for much longer. ’I can’t let Lanlan see my beast form.’
Regarding the drop in their collapse values before treatment, everyone had experienced it. The few of them had discussed it in the prison afterward and guessed it was because of the spirit body Lanlan had previously left in the prison.
They had indeed overthought it before. Lanlan hadn’t left her spirit body in the prison to monitor them, but to help treat them.
But now, that was a luxury they no longer had.
Mu Tangfeng looked at the empty spot on the mirror’s surface and felt the prison had grown much emptier. ’Still, it’s a good thing Lanlan is here. We have hope of leaving this prison because of her.’
His ink-black pupils brightened slightly, and his gaze drifted involuntarily toward the door where the sound was coming from.
It wasn’t just him; the others also instinctively put aside what they were doing, waiting for her arrival.
Shi Lan walked in, went straight to cell number 2, and placed everything she was holding onto the food-pass slot.
"Mu Tangfeng, come get this. I bought you a few things."
Mu Tangfeng’s eyes grew even brighter, but his expression remained carefully neutral. He pursed his lips reservedly, yet his strides were large. He lifted his chin slightly before he had even gotten close.
"What’s this? Shi Lan, did you buy me another gift?"
"I’m a male, how could I let a female like you buy things for me? Even if gifts were to be exchanged, I should be the one giving them."
Shi Lan’s hand paused as she set the items down. "...Don’t you want to see what they are first?"
’Shi Lan is starting to give me special treatment,’ Mu Tangfeng thought, still feeling smug. ’It must be because I left the prison to save her last time. She must like me a little more now.’
’She might not be ready to accept me as her Beast Husband yet, but I’m sure that one day, she’ll fall for the charm of my Paradise Bird Clan.’
He snapped out of his thoughts and followed her suggestion, his gaze sweeping over the items.
Feather-protecting balm, anti-shedding cream, avian feather-growth spray, avian care spray...
The barely perceptible smugness on his face instantly froze. He subconsciously thought of his ragged beast form, which even he himself couldn’t bear to look at.
According to Vice Admiral He, when he had passed out from a spiritual power collapse, it was Shi Lan who had taken him back to the Treatment Pod.
In other words, even though he deliberately hid his beast form every day, Shi Lan had already seen it—and she had even bought him these things for it.
His lips tightened into a thin line, the corners of his eyes drooping with a hint of grievance. His voice was laced with shame and anger. "Shi Lan, do you think my beast form is so ugly you can’t even stand to look at it?"
"A clan as beautiful as my Paradise Bird Clan has no need for such care products! We are uniquely blessed by nature. Our feathers grow in perfectly on their own."
If Chen Xiong were here, he would have definitely called him out for making him buy so many bottles of feather balm.
In fact, He Hanshi, who was in the opposite cell and knew the truth, also found his words grating.
From his perspective, Mu Tangfeng was just showing off.
’I lost feathers when my spiritual power collapsed, too, but Lanlan didn’t buy anything for me.’
The thought made He Hanshi feel a little hurt.
He didn’t want to watch anymore. His ears drooped silently, as if trying to block out the sound of Mu Tangfeng’s voice.
Of course, Shi Lan was oblivious to all of this.
All she knew was that Mu Tangfeng was very particular about his image. Ever since his feathers were damaged during the Insect Clan incident, she had barely seen his beast form. For the past two days, he had only appeared in his human form.
She felt that she might have accidentally hit a sore spot and looked at him apologetically. "I’m sorry, I didn’t mean anything by it. I just remembered that you lost your feathers because you were saving me, so I was thinking of ways I could help."
But that wasn’t what Mu Tangfeng really cared about. He stared intently into her eyes.
The two of them were separated only by the food-pass slot; the protective screen was gone. He could see her face—her eyes—more clearly than ever.
Her eyes were black, just like his. They were round, almond-shaped eyes that held a delightful tenderness and innocence, and deep within them, he could see his own reflection.
’It was as if she held me in her heart.’
The words Mu Tangfeng had been about to say caught in his throat. His heart gave a sudden, heavy thump, and a burning heat spread to his ears beneath his short, close-cropped hair.
He couldn’t help but turn his head away, his voice suddenly losing its earlier bravado. "So, you... you don’t think my beast form is ugly?"
"Of course not."
Shi Lan answered quickly and firmly.
"Alright, then. I’ll accept these creams."
Mu Tangfeng stole another couple of glances at her from the corner of his eye before gathering the creams from the food-pass slot into his arms. frёewebnoѵel.ƈo๓
Across from him, He Hanshi wore an imperceptible look of envy.
But the one who was truly heartbroken was Ye Ming in cell number 3.
’Vice Admiral He’s spiritual power collapsed, and Lanlan cooked for him.’
’Mu Tangfeng’s spiritual power collapsed, and Lanlan brought him medicine.’
’But me... I got nothing...’
