Warden of the Beast World: Everyone is a Hakimi

After seeing Hanzhou off, Lu Yu thought he could finally relax a little, but it turned out he relaxed too soon.

Military documents flooded his personal computer like snowflakes, at least three a day, each one more stern in its wording than the last.

From "Please report on Marshal Jingyao's latest recovery progress" to "The commander of Hanzhou has fully resumed military duties, but why has the Marshal, who was detained at the same time, not seen any results yet?", and then to yesterday's "The military will send an inspection team to Prison Zero in three days to conduct an on-site assessment of the Marshal's mental state."

After reading the last letter, Lu Yu turned off the computer screen, leaned back in his chair, and closed his eyes to rest for a full ten minutes.

He knew better than anyone why Jing Yao's breakdown value had "not yet yielded results"—that marshal was doing it on purpose. When Han Zhou was around, the two of them even put on a show of acting, keeping their breakdown values ​​together at 74, making it seem like a real performance.

Once Hanzhou left, Jingyao stopped pretending altogether. He brazenly kept his scores below the release threshold and spent his days eating and sleeping in the observation area. He ate whatever Yetang gave him, and when he was in a good mood, he would even transform into human form and read a book. His life was a hundred times more comfortable than in the military.

On one hand, the military demanded that he hand over the person within a specified period, while on the other hand, Jing Yao remained unmoved and stayed in prison.

Lu Yu found himself in a classic dilemma: he couldn't afford to offend the military, and he couldn't afford to offend Jing Yao even more. He could only grit his teeth and stand at the entrance of Observation Zone No. 1 every day, trying to influence this stubborn marshal with his perseverance.

However, every time he approached the security door, a heavy pressure would seep out from the crack, making it hard for him to breathe and chilling his back. He couldn't utter a single word of the prepared speech and could only silently retreat.

As Ye Tang pushed the food cart through the corridor, this was the scene she saw: Lu Yu stood at the entrance of Observation Zone One, his military uniform impeccably tailored, his antlers standing upright on his head, but his expression resembled that of a miserable worker who had just been harassed by both his boss and a client. She had seen him like this for several days in a row, growing more gloomy each day, and today it was especially so.

"Boss Lu, what's with that long face all day?" Ye Tang parked the food cart by the corridor, took a mint from her apron pocket, and handed it to him.

She now only needs to prepare meals for Jingyao, cutting her workload in half. Chiheng has been handed over to Youlie for training, and the two male beasts put on a full-blown fight in the yard every day. She is happy to have some free time and is radiant, which is in stark contrast to Luyu.

Lu Yu took the mint, and whether he was infected by her leisurely attitude or pushed to his limit by the pressure from the military, he actually told her about his predicament in detail.

The marshal refused to leave prison, and the military set a deadline for his release. He couldn't afford to offend either side, and he was stuck in the middle, almost being crushed like a meat pie.

After saying that, he realized it was pointless to talk to Ye Tang about it. She was just a young female who had just come of age; how could she possibly control the Imperial Marshal from sleeping in?

"I think," Ye Tang tilted her head and thought for a moment, recalling countless classic cases she had witnessed in her previous life at the company, "that a male tiger still needs a female tiger to tame it."

Lu Yu's hand, which was unwrapping the mint candy, froze in mid-air. He looked up, his amber pupils behind his gold-rimmed glasses widening slightly, as if he had been struck on the head.

His expression underwent several changes in that instant. First, confusion, then contemplation, then sudden realization, and finally settling on a strange kind of pleasure.

A tigress. How could he not have thought of that? Jing Yao, the marshal of the Third Legion of the Empire, a peak S-rank White Tiger, a killing god who strikes fear into the hearts of enemies on the battlefield. No one in the military dares to breathe loudly in front of him, but there is one person he dares not disobey, one person who will never go west if he tells him to go east. That person happens to be someone Lu Yu knows.

"I understand." Lu Yu popped a mint into his mouth, pushed up his gold-rimmed glasses, and turned to walk towards his office.

His steps were much lighter than when he came, and the rhythm of his leather shoes on the floor was unlike that of a different person.

Before leaving, he turned back and nodded to Ye Tang, his eyes clearly saying, "As expected of the prison warden I recruited."

Lu Yu returned to his office, hovered his finger over the computer's address book for a few seconds, and then accurately found the name—Jing Ying.

He had saved this number for almost ten years but had never dialed it, because for someone of his rank, directly contacting the marshal's mother would be an extremely presumptuous act. But now the situation was different; if the male tiger couldn't handle it himself, then he had no choice but to ask the female tiger for help.

The communication was established quickly. A half-body image of a female White Tiger Clan appeared on the holographic screen. Jing Ying was over a hundred years old, but high-ranking beastmen aged much more slowly than ordinary beastmen, and she looked more like she was in her early forties.

Her long, snow-white hair was piled high, revealing a sharp jawline and a pair of amber eyes that were exactly the same as Jing Yao's.

Behind her was the background wall of the Third Army Corps' headquarters office. She wore a marshal-style dark blue military uniform coat draped over her shoulders. Jing Ying had served in the Third Army Corps for many years. Before retiring, she was one of the few female generals in the Empire. The soldiers she had led were spread throughout the entire army. Now, half of the middle-level generals in the Third Army Corps were trained by her.

"Lu Yu?" Jing Ying was clearly surprised, raising an eyebrow. "You called personally, what trouble has my troublesome son caused you this time?"

Lu Yu recounted all of Jing Yao's "glorious deeds" over the past month in detail. His mental strength had already dropped below the safety line a month ago, but he deliberately refused to leave prison. After Han Zhou left, he didn't even bother to pretend anymore. When the military gave him a deadline to hand over the person, he was pushed back by the pressure every time he approached the observation area.

He spoke in great detail, including the timeline, data curves, and Jing Yao's demeanor and tone at the time—he didn't miss a single detail.

"The military has issued an ultimatum; the inspection team will be stationed at Prison Zero in three days. The marshal told me, 'What if I say no?'"

Lu Yu repeated the last sentence verbatim, his tone still calm and restrained, but a barely perceptible smile flashed in his amber eyes behind his gold-rimmed glasses.

Jing Ying was silent for a moment. Then she smiled. The smile was faint, the corners of her mouth just slightly raised, but even through the screen, Lu Yu could feel a familiar sense of oppression, the same aura of a high-ranking member of the White Tiger Clan as Jing Yao.

"Understood," Jing Ying's voice was neither loud nor soft, carrying an undeniable certainty. "Leave this to me." She paused, then added, "Colonel Lu, thank you for your hard work these past few days."

After hanging up the phone, Lu Yu took off his gold-rimmed glasses, wiped them with a cloth, and put them back on. He leaned back in his chair, his mind replaying Jing Ying's last smile.

That was the composure of a hunter locking onto his prey. He picked up the now-cold coffee on the table, took a sip, and a slow, pleasant smile curved his lips—the most pleased he'd ever been since he started working at Prison Zero. "Marshal, let's see how you handle this."