Warden of the Beast World: Everyone is a Hakimi

Ye Tang slept exceptionally soundly. The previous day had been filled with acting, settling accounts, and breaking up fights, consuming energy comparable to working three consecutive days of overtime on Earth.

When she groggily woke up, sunlight had already squeezed in through the gaps in the curtains, drawing several golden stripes on the bed sheet.

She rolled over, habitually reached under her pillow for her personal computer, and with her eyes half-closed, made a random swipe—and then she sprang up from the bed as if she'd been electrocuted.

There was a long string of zeros in her account balance. She rubbed her eyes hard and counted them again.

Ones, tens, hundreds, thousands, ten thousand, hundreds of thousands, millions, tens of millions—ten million Star Coins. The transferor is Lu Yu, and the remarks read: "A gift from the Vermilion Bird Clan, as a token of gratitude."

Holding the personal terminal, Ye Tang's brain, still half-asleep, muttered, "So this little firebird is that valuable..."

As soon as she finished speaking, a very light, almost inaudible breath came from the foot of the bed. Ye Tang looked in the direction of the sound.

Ghost Hunter was lying on the carpet at the foot of the bed, still in his beast form, his silver-gray fur gleaming coolly in the morning light.

His grey-blue eyes were fixed on her, filled with an indescribable resentment.

"Thinking about other male beasts so early in the morning?" His voice was low and hoarse, with the lazy nasal tone unique to someone who had just woken up. His tone was calm, but his eyes were full of resentment.

"No, I didn't," Ye Tang quickly turned the computer screen towards him, like an employee caught red-handed rushing to prove their innocence to their boss. "It's that. The Vermilion Bird Clan transferred ten million to me, saying it was a thank-you gift. Look, it was transferred by Lu Yu, and it's written in the notes."

Youlie didn't look at the personal computer screen. His gaze remained fixed on Yetang's face, his tail slowly sweeping across the carpet. He hadn't won last night's battle for the floor mat easily.

Chi Heng fought with Ye Tang from the living room to the hallway and then to the yard over ownership of the rug at the foot of the bed in Ye Tang's bedroom. Feathers and wolf fur were scattered all over the ground. In the end, Chi Heng was forced to take the rug to the living room sofa to sleep, with Ye Tang pressing down on his neck with a paw.

He had thought that once he woke up, he would have the first words, the first look, and the first smile from Ye Tang. But the first thing she did upon opening her eyes was to talk about that feathered bird.

"Ten million makes you this happy?" Ghost Hunter rested his chin on his front paws, his ears slightly tucked back, his tone so sour it could spit out dumplings. "I'm worth more than that. Do you want to say my name too?"

Ye Tang paused for a moment, then burst out laughing. She tossed the personal terminal onto the pillow, rolled over, and lay down on the edge of the bed, reaching out to rub the tips of You Lie's perked-up ears: "Alright, alright, our big dog is the most valuable, okay?"

Chi Heng had been holding back his energy since he woke up early this morning. He lost the battle for the floor to You Lie last night and was forced to curl up on the living room sofa all night. He woke up before dawn this morning and squatted in the living room, thinking about how he could get back at Ye Tang.

He couldn't beat Ghost Hunter in a fight, and he didn't have Ghost Hunter's naturally cold and endearing demeanor when it came to playing the victim, but he had a clever mind—at least that's what he thought. So he decided to take the initiative and do the work.

As soon as Ye Tang brought out the ingredients she needed for the day from her space, Chi Heng rolled up his sleeves and came over.

"Little warden, let me be your assistant today!" He patted his chest, his bright red eyes sparkling, his tail held high behind him. "I'll take care of everything, from starting the fire to chopping vegetables. You can just sit and rest."

Ye Tang glanced at him suspiciously. Why was he being so enthusiastic today? But Chi Heng's expression was so sincere that she felt it would be a crime to refuse him.

She hesitated for a moment, then took off her apron and handed it to him: "Just start a fire, I'll chop the vegetables, don't touch the knife."

Chi Heng took the apron, tied it around his neck, and walked proudly to the stove in the open-air kitchen.

As he passed a hunter basking in the sun on the lawn, he deliberately slowed his pace and muttered to himself in an extremely loud and penetrating voice: "Some male beasts don't know how to be considerate of the warden at all. They lie there all day like they're royalty, having food served to them and fur laid out for them, acting like they're pets. Unlike me, I feel sorry for the warden."

Ghost Hunter lay on the grass, the sunlight warming his silvery-gray fur. Hearing Chi Heng's words, he didn't even lift his eyelids, only slightly curving the corners of his mouth.

Stupid bird. Its brain is only the size of a walnut. Before Wild Tang appeared, which orc in the entire empire didn't grow up on nutritional supplements? The skill of cooking simply doesn't exist in the beast world—roast meat sprinkled with coarse salt is a feast, and being able to cook a pot of soup is considered god-level cooking.

Youlie had followed Yetang for so long and had seen her knead dough, stir-fry, make soup, and bake. The process was so complicated that he was dazzled just by watching.

He knew he couldn't help, and the greatest consideration he could show was not to cause trouble for Ye Tang. But Chi Heng clearly hadn't considered this.

Chi Heng was full of confidence at this moment. He rolled up his sleeves in front of the stove, looking at the pile of ingredients and cooking utensils in front of him, his heart filled with great ambition.

Starting a fire—he's an expert at that. The Vermilion Bird Clan are born to play with fire, and he can control real fire with unparalleled skill. Lighting a wood-burning stove is a piece of cake for him.

He snapped his fingers, and a cluster of golden-red Vermilion Bird True Fire shot from his fingertips, landing precisely on the woodpile. The flames licked the dry wood, burning fiercely, the orange-red flames leaping merrily in the hearth. Chi Heng clapped his hands, looking at his masterpiece with satisfaction. "Little warden, look at this fire—"

Before he could finish speaking, he realized something was wrong. The temperature of the Vermilion Bird True Fire was far too high, far beyond what an ordinary wood-fired stove could withstand. The dry firewood burned to ashes almost instantly under the lick of the true fire, and the flames spread along the edge of the stove, first igniting a nearby bucket of cooking oil. The oil bucket exploded into a mushroom cloud upon contact with the flames, and the flames splashed onto the wall, setting aprons and towels hanging there ablaze. The whole process happened so fast that Chi Heng didn't even have time to make a gesture to extinguish the fire.

The open-air kitchen turned into a sea of ​​fire. The golden-red Vermilion Bird True Fire spread rampantly across the stove, walls, and floor. The ingredients that Ye Tang had just brought out from the space were quickly charred in the high temperature—the lamb chops shrank into charcoal, the lettuce turned to ashes, and even the bag of flour was burned into a hard, black lump.

The worst off was the small vegetable patch that Ye Tang had planted on the edge of the yard. The scallion, ginger, and garlic sprouts that she had carefully nurtured for almost a month withered into a few charred, withered grasses the moment the flames swept across the area.

The fire continued to spread, burning along the walls to the outer walls of the living area. The gray walls were charred black, and the plaster peeled off in the high temperature, revealing the red-hot bricks and stones underneath.

Chi Heng froze on the spot, his crimson pupils reflecting the leaping flames, large beads of sweat rolling down his forehead. "Little, little warden—this was an accident, do you believe me?" He turned his head to look at Ye Tang, a smile on his face that was more like a grimace.

Ye Tang stared blankly at everything burning in front of her—her kitchen, her ingredients, her vegetable garden, her scallions, ginger, and garlic sprouts, and the walls she had just painted clean yesterday.

Those eyes, which usually held a smile or a sly glint, were now eerily calm. She turned her head, and the corners of her mouth slowly, little by little, curved upwards, forming an arc that made Chi Heng's hair stand on end.

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