Warden of the Beast World: Everyone is a Hakimi

Ye Tang worked at Zero Prison for half a month and learned the dietary preferences of the five patrons very well.

Jingyao is the easiest to raise. Marshal Baihu is not picky about food; he will eat whatever you give him. He will eat roasted lamb chops, fried steak, braised pork, and even the garlic broccoli and stir-fried vegetables that she occasionally makes.

Every time Ye Tang brought him food, he would lower his head and start eating without saying a word or being picky. After finishing, he would look at her with his amber tiger eyes and slowly sweep his tail on the ground twice, as if to say, "It tasted good, continue tomorrow."

But precisely because he wasn't picky about anything, Ye Tang couldn't figure out what he actually preferred. She tried putting three different kinds of meat on his plate at the same time, and Jing Yao ate them all without showing any particular preference. She even wondered if the marshal's taste buds had been destroyed by nutritional supplements during his years of marching, making everything taste the same.

Hanzhou's preference was something she discovered by chance. Commander Black Panther remained as indifferent as ever, always waiting until she had left the observation area and turned her back before coming out from a corner to eat.

But Ye Tang has a habit of secretly observing the reactions of the big spenders to the dishes from the corner of the corridor; this is her professional quality as an excellent zookeeper.

She noticed that Hanzhou had a clear preference for sweet and sour flavored food. He would eat several bites of sweet and sour pork; he would carefully gnaw on the honey-glazed chicken leg, alternating angles between its two front paws; and after finishing the sweet and sour pork with pineapple, he unusually looked up towards the corridor—his way of saying "I'd like some more." But he ate braised, spicy, and cumin-flavored dishes rather perfunctorily.

Ye Tang kept this discovery in mind and labeled Han Zhou in her head: he liked sweet and sour flavors, and had a child's palate. A chief commander of the Imperial Strategic Command, an S-class combatant named Black Panther, a killing god who struck fear into the hearts of enemies on the battlefield, had a taste for food similar to that of a kindergarten child. This unexpected charm made her unable to resist glancing at Han Zhou a few more times every time she brought him sweet and sour dishes, only to be coldly swept back by Han Zhou's light golden panther eyes, after which she would nonchalantly look away.

Cangming's preferences are the simplest—seafood, seafood, and more seafood. He loves salmon sashimi, garlic-roasted oysters, salt-roasted prawns, steamed grouper, butter-baked lobster, and seafood porridge. He especially loves shellfish and crustaceans.

Once, Ye Tang tried to bring him a plate of braised pork from Lu Di. He only took one bite and put it down, then looked at her silently. The meaning in his deep blue eyes was very clear—"Don't try to fool me with this next time."

The next day, Ye Tang made him a dish of steamed sea urchin and egg. His fish tail slapped gently in the water, which was a sign that he was in a good mood.

Chi Heng wasn't picky about meals; he'd eat any meat he was given. However, his enthusiasm for snacks and desserts was noticeably higher than any of his sugar daddies'. Ye Tang noticed this because one day she casually brought Chi Heng a bottle of cola. The beverage section of the space supermarket was automatically restocked; she just thought that since the temperature in the Suzaku Observation Zone was high, drinking some iced cola would be refreshing.

Chiheng pecked open the pull tab of the can, took a sip, and then froze. The stimulating sensation of the carbonated bubbles exploding on the tip of his tongue, the sweetness of caramel, the slight bitterness of caffeine, and the coolness after being chilled—several experiences simultaneously assaulted the sensory system of a Suzaku who had never been exposed to modern beverages before.

After finishing a whole can of cola, he chased after Ye Tang, tapping the empty can with his beak, begging for a second one, his tail feathers wagging like a helicopter propeller. From then on, soda, milk tea, cake, and ice cream became Chi Heng's daily staple.

Every day, Ye Tang would bring him different snacks—one day it was bubble tea, the next it was a strawberry sundae, and the day after it was a mango mille-feuille cake. Every time, Chi Heng would express his joy with an exaggerated reaction of "Oh my god, there are such things in the world," which greatly satisfied Ye Tang's sense of accomplishment as the feeder.

As for Ling Shou—Ye Tang thought casually as she flipped the lamb chops on the grill—Ling Shou's hobby was probably arguing with her.

The silver-gray peregrine falcon in Observation Zone 3 seemed to find its only joy each day in ringing its call bell when she brought it food, then exchanging barbs with her through the glass wall. From calling her a "free-range chicken" to calling her an "illiterate bird," from "no meat if you don't pay" to "you wait until tomorrow I'll throw money in your face," the story hadn't progressed at all in the past two weeks. The daily conversations were highly repetitive, with the only variable being the increasing number of new nicknames she invented.

Ling Shou never gave her a single penny, nor did he ever bow his head once, but he always rang the bell on time every time he delivered food. When they argued, he was full of energy, but after they finished arguing, he would fly back to the top of the perch in a huff and sulk with his back to her.

Both have flat hair, but the red pheasant is much more appealing.

This afternoon, when Ye Tang brought Chi Heng a strawberry sundae, Chi Heng lowered his head—not to eat, but to bring the softest patch of light red down on his chest, which was always covered by feathers, to the feeding opening in the glass wall, and gently tapped the glass with his beak, indicating that she should reach out.

Ye Tang paused for a moment, then carefully reached her hand into the feeding port. The moment her fingertips touched the downy feathers, she melted. The Vermilion Bird's downy feathers weren't cold, but warm, with the feel of a sun-dried down comforter—soft as a cloud, fine as silk. The moment her fingers sank in, she could feel the strong, powerful heartbeat beneath.

She stroked the soft fur, and Chi Heng squinted his eyes and made a comfortable purring sound, a low purr rolling down his throat that belonged to birds but sounded a lot like a cat.

"How come you're so well-behaved?" Ye Tang exclaimed from the bottom of her heart.

That evening, Chi Heng lost a tail feather while active in the observation area. The Vermilion Bird's tail feather was the most precious feather on its entire body, crimson like flames, with a golden-red halo at the tip, radiating a slight warmth even in the darkness.

For the Vermilion Bird Clan, tail feathers are tokens given to mates during courtship, and the meaning of a single tail feather is known throughout the entire empire. Chi Heng looked down at the fallen tail feather, picked it up with his beak, walked to the observation wall, and pressed the call bell.

Ye Tang thought he wanted an extra meal, so she pushed the food cart over, only to see the young chief of the Vermilion Bird Clan behind the glass wall holding a shimmering red feather in his mouth and solemnly pushing it out of the feeding bowl.

"You gave it to me?" Ye Tang took the feather, and the moment her fingers touched its surface, she felt a warm energy flowing through it. The tail feather glowed faintly in her palm, its crimson color like flowing flames.

Chi Heng nodded, his crimson eyes quietly watching her. There was no recklessness or impulsiveness in his gaze, but rather a calmness and seriousness completely different from his usual demeanor.

Ye Tang didn't know the meaning of the Vermilion Bird's tail feather, but her intuition told her it was a very valuable gift. She carefully put the feather into her spatial storage, smiled and said, "Thank you, little firebird," then pushed the food cart away, completely unaware that what she had just received was comparable to an engagement ring in the Vermilion Bird clan's tradition.

Chi Heng stood behind the observation wall, watching Ye Tang's figure disappear at the end of the corridor. His gift of the tail feather today wasn't a spur-of-the-moment decision.

He sensed the change in the Shadow Hunter. The aura emanating from that silver-gray wolf was completely different from what it had been half a month ago—the difference between S-rank and SS-rank was as obvious as fireworks in the night for orcs who also stood at the top of the combat power pyramid.

On the night Youlie broke through to SS rank, Chiheng was dozing on the stone mountain when he was awakened by a strange and powerful fluctuation of mental energy. He opened his eyes and, through several layers of walls and corridors, sensed a completely new SS rank pressure that did not belong to Cangming.

That power carried the cold, murderous aura unique to the Azure Wolf Clan, and he instantly understood—Youlie had broken through. That Azure Wolf, without the bloodline of a divine beast, had managed to break through the shackles of bloodline by acting as a dog for Ye Tang, eating the meat she specially roasted every day, and drinking the water she handed him.

Chi Heng lay on the rocky mountain, replaying his entire campaign from the Southern Frontier to the Western Regions. He had broken through to S+ at the age of fifteen, thanks to the Vermilion Bird Clan's innate divine beast bloodline and countless battles on the brink of life and death.

Everyone said he was the most likely fourth orc in the empire to break through to SS rank, and he himself thought so too. Then, Ghost Hunter—a gray wolf without divine beast blood—overtook him. The reason was simple: Ghost Hunter acted like a dog in front of Wild Tang all day long, and Wild Tang fed him something even more magical.

Although Chi Heng is known throughout the empire as "the number one brute," he's not truly stupid. Brutality and stupidity are two different things. Just because he doesn't like to use his brain when fighting doesn't mean he can't do calculations.

He mentally listed the changes before and after Youlie's breakthrough, the food Yetang delivered every day, and the changes in his mental breakdown value, and then he calculated the accounts very clearly.

His mental breakdown value dropped from 93 to 70—23 points—in half a month. The Imperial Research Institute spent over a hundred years and countless funds, yet they didn't even know how to save someone whose mental breakdown value exceeded 90, let alone reduce it to 70.

He pondered this matter every day while snacking and drinking milk tea in the observation area, eventually concluding that Youlie was able to break through because he held a special place in Ye Tang's heart. "Her dog"—that's what Ye Tang called Youlie. Chi Heng had no interest in being anyone's dog, but he could be someone else.

The young warden's mental strength was so weak as to be almost non-existent, yet she moved freely in this prison that held five S-class orcs with combat power of over 1000, without any mental pressure, and was never intimidated by anyone's mental field.

Everyone instinctively feels fear when they first see an S-class beastman, but she didn't. She looked at Jing Yao as if she were looking at a large ragdoll cat, and at Cang Ming as if she were watching a mermaid performance in an aquarium.

When Ye Tang touched the downy hair on his chest, Chi Heng secretly observed her expression—her face showed only pure joy and satisfaction, without any calculation, weighing of options, or the slightest thought of "this is an S+ level orc, I should please him."

She didn't see him as the young chieftain of the Vermilion Bird Clan, nor as a strategic weapon of the empire; she saw him as a large, fluffy bird, simply because of its beautiful feathers. He had never felt that way with anyone else.

He'd made up his mind. He had to be Wild Tang's beastly husband, no matter what. After all, he was the empire's number one brute. What might be shameful for others—did he have any shame to lose? He fought without regard for the occasion or the person, so why should he care about saving face when pursuing a female? Besides, even Ghost Hunter was acting like a dog, so what was wrong with him throwing a tantrum?