Warden of the Beast World: Everyone is a Hakimi

You'll find out in a moment.

Ye Tang took out the basket of mushrooms that Qi Xuan had picked from her spatial storage. The originally colorful poisonous mushrooms had been planted around the spiritual field in her spatial storage, but she didn't know if it was due to the spiritual spring water or some other strange buff from the space.

They all transformed into common edible fungi found on Earth—matsutake, termite mushrooms, blue oyster mushrooms, morels, and button mushrooms, each one fresh, plump, and still carrying the sweet scent of dew from being just pulled from the soil.

As she set up the copper pot, she marveled to herself that the magic of this space had completely surpassed the realm of ordinary cheat codes.

After the bone broth in the copper pot began to boil, Ye Tang added plates of chopped mushrooms one by one. The aroma of matsutake mushrooms exploded first, followed by the sweetness of termite mushrooms, the richness of morel mushrooms, and the unique wild fragrance of Boletus luridus, layer upon layer, filling the entire courtyard with an irresistible umami scent. Ye Tang served everyone a bowl of soup and poured a glass of iced cola, handing it to Luo Ling: "Here, have some."

Luo Ling held the glass of bubbling black liquid in both hands and carefully took a sip. The carbonated bubbles burst on her tongue, the sweetness and coolness simultaneously assaulting her taste buds. Her eyes widened, her amber pupils reflecting the warm yellow light from the courtyard. She took another big gulp, then picked up her chopsticks and put a slice of blanched bok choy into her mouth.

"Wow, this tastes amazing! I've never had anything like it before! So delicious!" Luo Ling picked up the soup bowl and took a big gulp of the mushroom soup. It was so delicious that she squirmed in her chair.

She lived for over ninety years, and from childhood to adulthood, she ate either bland and tasteless nutritional supplements or elaborate but tedious royal banquets.

She thought she had long been accustomed to the idea that food was simply for sustenance, until today she realized that eating could also be an ultimate pleasure. What a miserable life she had endured for the past ninety-odd years! Nutritional supplements and all that stuff could go to hell!

"Ye Tang, I want to stay with you forever!" Luo Ling hugged Ye Tang's arm tightly and wouldn't let go. She decided to stay in Zero Prison and never leave.

"She's mine! Get out!" Chi Heng reached out and pulled Ye Tang into his arms, his wings popping out from under his robe and spreading out to cover Ye Tang completely, as if afraid that someone else would take her away.

"Little Wild Tang, how old are you to have married a beast? And this brute?" After finishing her work, Luo Ling threw the rag into the sink, wiped her hands, and went over to Wild Tang to start gossiping.

She is over ninety years old this year. Although she is still considered young by the lifespan of a beastman, she is old enough to be Ye Tang's grandmother.

She knew Chi Heng; he was a notorious brute throughout the empire, a brawler since childhood, who had even injured a young female of the Phoenix Clan. Although Ye Tang said she wasn't afraid, she still felt that her sisters shouldn't be taken advantage of by a reckless firebird.

"What right do you have to talk to me, you good-for-nothing!" Chi Heng immediately bristled, grabbed Ye Tang's arm and pulled her closer to him, his crimson eyes glaring at Luo Ling.

"We, the females of our empire, must prioritize our mission. Although possessing high-level mental power ensures we have food and drink, we can never truly rely on male beasts."

Luo Ling spoke earnestly, trying her best to sound like someone who had been through it all, but unfortunately, she had lived for over ninety years without ever marrying a beastman, so her words were utterly unconvincing.

"And what about your career? Are you squandering your father's fortune every day, or losing all of your mother's treasury?" Seeing Luo Ling's attempt to sow discord between the couple, Chi Heng unleashed his full power.

"I..." Luo Ling choked, almost unable to breathe. Not only did she have no career, but she also owed hundreds of millions in losses. The fuel costs for the hovercar that brought her to Zero Prison were all paid for by her mother, since she had just lost all the additional start-up capital her mother had given her last month. Chi Heng's words had left her utterly devastated.

"I wouldn't hire someone like you, the empire's number one brute."

"What's so great about you, the empire's number one spendthrift?"

"Stop, halt, cease your arguing." Ye Tang reached out and pressed down on their shoulders, separating the two irreconcilable enemies. She pointed to herself and began to refute Luo Ling's earlier remarks about career point by point.

"First of all, I'm a useless person with double F-level mental strength. Secondly, being the warden is my career, and my account balance is more than most nobles in the empire. Thirdly, I should be richer than you. Finally, Chi Heng is obedient and well-behaved; how is he a brute?"

"Did you hear that? You spendthrift." Chi Heng was so flattered that his tail was practically sticking out of his head.

"Sister, mine!" Qi Xuan leaped out of the water vat and landed steadily between Ye Tang and Chi Heng, separating the two. His icy blue vertical pupils stared straight at Chi Heng, while his tail wrapped around Ye Tang's wrist.

"Lord War God, stop messing around. Your ex-fiancée is still eyeing you covetously. Don't cause trouble for my little Wild Tang."

Luo Ling knew her ambitious older sister all too well. If Luo Selin knew how Qi Xuan was vying for favor with Ye Tang, that Thunder Eagle would immediately come from the palace to cause trouble for Ye Tang.

No sooner had she finished speaking than a jet of water accurately sprayed her face. She reached up to wipe the water droplets from her face, then sighed. Was it wrong to tell the truth? What had she done to deserve this? She had kindly offered a suggestion and yet she got sprayed with water.

"She dares!" Qi Xuan said confidently.

"No, Qi Xuan, are you even being reasonable?"

"I won't talk!"

"It's not like I'm interested in you!"

"She's your elder sister!" Qi Xuan said matter-of-factly, flicking his tail.

"A sister's debt is a sister's debt. We don't share the same father!"

"There's not a single good person in the royal family." Qi Xuan had absolutely no goodwill towards the royal family. Fragmented memories flashed through his mind from time to time. He had guarded the seal on a remote island in the South China Sea for hundreds of years, living a free and untroubled life.

One day, a group of old men suddenly came up to him with a marriage contract and asked him to sign it, saying that the current empress herself had decided that he should marry the fourth princess, Rosalind.

He refused, but the group of old men refused to leave the South China Sea, chanting scriptures every day and making it impossible for him to cultivate. In the end, it was only by the Empress's personal decree that the matter was barely suppressed, but the marriage contract was like a time bomb hanging over his name until three years ago when he was corrupted by a fallen beast, at which point the marriage was unilaterally dissolved.

"I wasn't even born when you signed the marriage contract! You can't blame it on me."

"What a spendthrift." Qi Xuan rolled his eyes.

"I..." Luo Ling looked up at the sky, deciding to shut up. This was her first time in Prison Zero in her ninety-plus years of life, and she was left speechless by the combined attacks of the God of War, Firebird, and her rising idol, Wild Tang.

Her father was the president of the Supreme Auction House, and her mother was the current empress. She had been pampered and spoiled since childhood, and was always the one who teased others. Now, in this small courtyard, she suddenly missed her father, who was also restricted in his allowance.

"Sister, Xiangxiang." Qi Xuan nestled on Ye Tang's shoulder and nuzzled her neck with his head.

Chi Heng glanced at Qi Xuan, then at Ye Tang. His wife was being held captive on the shoulder by an old gecko over five hundred years old. He clenched his fists, his nails digging into his palms. But he didn't make a move; he didn't want to become a bald chicken.

"Little Tangtang~" Chiheng held Yetang's hand, his voice carrying a hint of coquetry and grievance.

"Be good, no one's competing with you for attention." Ye Tang tiptoed and ruffled Chi Heng's hair, which was as dry and warm as ever, with the scent of sunshine.