Warden of the Beast World: Everyone is a Hakimi

Ye Tang nestled on the living room sofa with Qi Xuan in her arms, staring blankly at the huge holographic screen on the wall for a long while.

The Beast World is technologically advanced, possessing holographic projection, optical brain communication, and energy weapons—many things are even more advanced than those on Earth. But there are no TV dramas, no short video platforms, and no form of online entertainment here.

She was so bored she was practically growing weeds, so she pulled out a deck of cards from the shelf of her spatial supermarket. Just then, Chi Heng finished washing the dishes and came out of the kitchen, drying his hands. Ling Shou was carrying a new set of bedding from his storage ring, intending to stay there permanently; it would make a perfect three-person household.

"What is this?" Chi Heng asked curiously, picking up a card of the Ace of Hearts and examining it from all angles.

"Playing cards, I'll teach you how to play Dou Dizhu." Ye Tang's shuffling technique was smooth and effortless.

After several rounds of instruction, the three of them were fully engaged. Chi Heng had a great hand and was so proud that his tail wagged behind him. Ling Shou had terrible luck with cards and kept trying to become the landlord, losing repeatedly but winning again and again.

"Three to three."

"I can't afford it."

"Hahahaha, I won again!" Chi Heng slammed the cards in his hand onto the table, and his wings popped out from under his robe and flapped several times.

"I refuse to accept this, let's go again!" Ling Shou gritted his teeth and slammed the cards on the table.

"I'm telling you, you have to be a landlord. If you're a farmer, you can still win by lying down with me." Chi Heng crossed his legs and smugly said, his tail practically wagging in the air.

"I, the young master, will fight you to the death!"

"Playing cards requires using your brain, you brute," Chi Heng sneered.

Ling Shou's smile froze on his face. Here we go again, this brute Chi Heng calls him a brute, this is unbearable. The two glared at each other, as if invisible sparks were crackling and exploding between them.

Ye Tang was already used to this. These two birds argued from Prison Zero to the shopping mall in the capital, from the dinner table to the card table. She would be surprised if they didn't fight one day.

Qi Xuan, perched on Ye Tang's shoulder, tilted his head, his icy blue vertical pupils fixed intently on the colorful playing cards on the table. He understood the rules completely after only two readings, and tugged at Ye Tang's collar with the tip of his tail: "Sister, Qi Xuan wants to play too."

Ye Tang's eyes lit up. She put away the playing cards and brought out an automatic mahjong machine from the space supermarket. The four of them made up a table, and she explained the rules to Chi Heng, Ling Shou, and Qi Xuan respectively: bamboo, dots, winds, and the rules of eating, ponging, and konging. Qi Xuan memorized the rules completely after listening to them once, and his icy blue vertical pupils revealed a intelligence that did not belong to a cub.

"bump!"

"Damn it!"

"Nijo!"

"I won!" Qi Xuan pushed the mahjong tiles in front of him forward, and his little paws precisely placed the last tile into the wall of tiles, his posture so perfect that it looked like he had practiced it countless times.

"Give me the money, give me the money." Ye Tang spread out her palms, grinning from ear to ear.

"Again!" Chi Heng slammed his fist on the table, clearly unconvinced. Ling Shou, standing to the side, was already seeing stars from losing so badly.

Before leaving get off work, Lu Yu, as usual, turned on the surveillance cameras for one last check. His gaze instinctively swept over observation area number five first, but it was empty.

The cushions were empty, and the pool was empty except for the water. The tiny dragon, no bigger than a palm, was nowhere to be found.

Lu Yu's pupils contracted sharply. He grabbed his coat and rushed out of the office, his leather shoes clicking rapidly in the corridor. He ran through the empty corridor, burst into the living area, and pushed open the door of Ye Tang's detached house.

In the living room, four people were engrossed in a game of mahjong around an automatic machine. To Ye Tang's left sat Chi Heng, to her right Ling Shou, and opposite them was Qi Xuan, who was leaning over the mahjong table, using his tail to arrange the tiles. An invisible tension filled the air; everyone's expression was extremely serious, even Qi Xuan's brows were tightly furrowed.

"What are you doing?"

"Playing mahjong, huh? Want to join, boss?" Ye Tang looked up and gave him a bright smile.

Lu Yu's gaze fell on Qi Xuan. The palm-sized little dragon used the tip of its tail to push over the wall of tiles in front of it, its icy blue vertical pupils clear and focused, and it clearly uttered two words—"I won."

His expression was clear and his movements were fluid. Although he was still in cub form, his calm and composed demeanor was completely different from that of the mad dragon who had gone berserk and crashed into the wall in the Imperial Sanatorium.

When he received Qi Xuan's transfer notice, he specifically reviewed all the surveillance footage from the sanatorium over the past three years: indiscriminate attacks, self-harm by banging his head against the wall, a mental outburst that shattered the glass of an entire floor, and an incident where he almost tore down the foundation of the sanatorium's main building. And now, he sits quietly at the mahjong table, using his tail to arrange the tiles, and even shows a small, smug smile when he wins.

"How did you do that?" Lu Yu pulled Ye Tang aside and lowered his voice. He remembered that catnip had no effect on Qi Xuan.

"Pure suit, self-draw. Huh? What did you say, boss?" Ye Tang was still immersed in the joy of winning, her mind hadn't yet returned to the mahjong table.

"It's alright, you guys go ahead with your work." Lu Yu silently closed the door, leaned against the wall, took off his gold-rimmed glasses, and rubbed his temples.

Lu Yu pinched the back of her hand. It hurt. It wasn't a dream.

Even through the door, the clatter of mahjong tiles echoed in the living room, and the frantic flapping of Chi Heng's wings as he lost could be clearly heard through the door.

Ling Shou's voice, which proclaimed "This young master is not convinced, come again!" was as penetrating as ever, interspersed with Ye Tang's crisp laughter as she won the game. But amidst this cacophony, it was the childish yet remarkably calm voice announcing "Pong," "Kong," and "I've won!" that truly sent his mind reeling.

Three years. The Imperial Sanatorium spent three years, sparing no expense and using all its best resources, inviting every S-rank or higher therapist in the entire empire to take turns treating patients. Even Teacher Anning personally visited the sanatorium dozens of times.

Each time Anning finished treatment and walked out of the sanatorium, she would silently shake her head. All her attempts over the past three years had ended in failure.

Qi Xuan's mental field was too deeply corrupted by the fallen beasts, and his consciousness was completely swallowed up by the berserk state. The only thing that could be done was to regularly inject him with large doses of sedatives to keep him in a coma and pray that he would not silently exhaust his last bit of life force while in a coma.

When the military sent him to Prison Zero, they didn't say "treatment," they said "detention." He was sentenced to death, but they chose a dignified way for him to complete his final journey.

Now, this war god, who was sentenced to death, is sitting at a mahjong table, using the tip of his tail to arrange the tiles, and proudly wagging his tail when he wins.

Lu Yu turned on his personal terminal, hovering his fingertip above An Ning's communication channel, hesitating for a long while. Should he tell the teacher now?

In terms of lifespan, Anning, at 147 years old, is only just entering middle age among the land-dwelling orcs. However, her teacher is an S+ level healer, whose daily exertion is extremely high, working more than ten hours a day, and whose mental energy is constantly under high load.

He turned off the computer screen. The catnip incident had already greatly upset the teacher, so it would be better to wait until she woke up to report Qi Xuan's recovery in person.