After Shi Lan left, Yan Huoshui unhurriedly sipped his iced drink and let out a sigh. "That was quite a show tonight."

At his words, the other prisoners fell into their own thoughts.

He spoke again. "I originally thought this female had only gained your trust, but it seems to be much more than that. Even the Eldest Prince and Vice Admiral He have lost their composure."

Mu Tangfeng stared in disbelief at the White Lion lying quietly across from him. ’What did Yan Huoshui mean by that? Could it be that Vice Admiral He and the Eldest Prince also...’

Ye Ming frowned. "You’re reading too much into it. It’s just been hot lately."

He Hanshi was silent for a moment before saying, "I only see her as the Prison Director."

"Heh." Yan Huoshui chuckled. "Believe that if you want. I’m just reminding you—she’s definitely not some ordinary, useless female. The situation with her is likely far more complex than you can imagine."

Jiang Xia, still a bit lost, chewed on some snow to wash away the bitter taste of herbal tea from his mouth. "Are you guys talking about Shi Lan?"

No one answered him, but Yan Huoshui’s words had already caused a tempest in the others’ minds.

After a long moment, He Hanshi finally spoke, his voice hoarse with a sense of fatalistic release. "So what if the situation is complicated? My spiritual power collapse value is so high right now that I’ll be dead sooner or later. I’m no longer the Major General whose call once rallied thousands. What could anyone possibly gain from me?"

’He even wished that Shi Lan *did* want something from him.’

’But the truth is, she doesn’t visit the prison unless it’s for work, and she certainly doesn’t come just to see me...’

At this thought, a shade of melancholic despair once again colored his ice-blue eyes.

He Hanshi’s words struck everyone’s heart like a heavy hammer, leaving them with a swirl of complicated emotions.

Once, they had all been towering figures on the Capital Star. Now, they were powerless against their collapsing spiritual power, silently awaiting their own deaths, unable to even step outside their prison doors.

’In their current state, did they really possess anything worth Shi Lan’s time and effort to scheme for?’

Yan Huoshui carefully mulled over this question, and he, too, fell silent.

In the end, He Hanshi’s words were like a pebble dropped into the depths of their hearts, sending out ripples that awaited only the right moment to become a tidal wave.

「The next day」

The Beastmen had all returned to their usual states, while Shi Lan once again started her happy morning by petting her mushroom.

Today, however, as Shi Lan stroked the mushroom’s soft and pliant cap, she sized it up and asked with a confused look, "Xiao Du, why do I get the feeling you’ve gotten a little smaller?"

Xiao Du, resting comfortably in its master’s palm, replied in her mind.

’Don’t worry, Master. I sent out some seeds, so I’m temporarily a bit smaller.’

’Once I start receiving more nutrients, I’ll get bigger again.’

"Seeds? What are they for?"

’Um, well, it’s sort of like branches on a tree. All the nutrients the seeds absorb as they grow will be sent back to me.’

Shi Lan still didn’t quite understand. "Where do these nutrients come from? The soil?"

’No, it’s Spiritual Poison.’

’You’ll see when the time comes, Master.’

Xiao Du remained mysterious, ultimately not telling Shi Lan exactly what the "nutrients" were or where the seeds had been sown.

The answer, however, would come to light just a day later.

The next day, a fist-sized green mushroom had sprouted in the spots most frequented by the Beastmen within each prison cell.

Robot No. 1, confused, took an awl and began chiseling at the mushroom growing in a crack on the climbing wall, digging at it with great effort.

Robot No. 2 stared at the mushroom on Mu Tangfeng’s wooden mirror, clear confusion visible in its mechanical eyes.

Robot No. 3 was crouched beside the sofa, observing the mushroom that had sprouted from the genuine leather.

Robot No. 4 was tirelessly digging into the snowdrift beside the Snowfall Chair, searching for the mushroom’s roots.

Robot No. 5 struggled to pull at a mushroom growing beside the steaming hot spring.

On the same day, at the same time, all five robots shared the same bewildered thought: Why won’t this mushroom disappear?

The mushroom seemed to be caught in an infinite growth loop. Even when they thought they had successfully removed it, they would turn back to find it right where it was, completely untouched.

The Beastmen in each room noticed the robots’ strange behavior. Jiang Xia, seeing that the clueless Robot No. 4 had spent ages failing to remove a single mushroom, even tried to bite it off himself.

But he discovered he had apparently just bitten into thin air.

In disbelief, he tried biting it several more times, but the result was always the same. The mushroom showed no signs of being uprooted.

Finally, exhausted, he gave up. ’It’s just a mushroom, nothing special about it... yeah, right!’

’The temperature in his cell was always kept very low. How could a mushroom possibly grow in an environment like this?’

They all shared what was happening with the mushrooms in their rooms, but ultimately, none of them could figure out what they were. After concluding that the mushrooms were truly impossible to remove, they had no choice but to suppress their confusion and allow the strange fungi to take root in their cells.

Mu Tangfeng, however, leaned in to sniff it and faintly detected a familiar scent.

The scent was a bit like Shi Lan’s. He’d caught it twice before when she was delivering meals. But he suspected he was going crazy. ’To think I’m looking for a trace of Shi Lan on a mushroom.’

He gave a self-deprecating smile and didn’t let himself dwell on the peculiarity.

Shi Lan, for her part, discovered the new mushrooms while delivering meals. She hadn’t noticed them in the other cells at first, but in Jiang Xia’s Cell No. 4, the splash of vivid green in the otherwise snow-white world was so lush and vibrant it was impossible to miss.

Her eyes widened instantly, and she sent an urgent call through her mind.

’Xiao Du, Xiao Du, is that your mushroom?’

Xiao Du happily nodded. ’Yes.’

’So, the seeds you said you sowed... you sowed them in the prison?’

’Mhm.’

Shi Lan nearly had a breakdown hearing Xiao Du’s reply. ’What is going on? How did my own spirit body run off and plant seeds in the prison?’

She hurriedly tried to persuade Xiao Du to recall them, but Xiao Du started crying as soon as she began.

’*Sob...* Master, I’m hungry... I c-can’t leave...’

Shi Lan still couldn’t understand the connection between its hunger and planting seeds in the prison. But seeing that the men inside didn’t seem too alarmed by it, she could only temporarily abandon the idea of making it retract them.

The moment she returned after delivering the meals, Shi Lan asked, "Xiao Du, what will it take for you to not be hungry?"

’Having mushrooms grow inside the prison was strange enough,’ she thought. ’The other rooms are one thing, but for a green mushroom to sprout in Jiang Xia’s icy-cold cell? It completely defies the laws of nature.’

Xiao Du replied in a very serious tone, ’It’s simple, Master. Just let me eat some Spiritual Poison...’

"Wait, Spiritual Poison? Isn’t that the stuff that causes spiritual power to collapse?"

Shi Lan latched onto the key point. ’She suddenly realized her mushroom spirit body was anything but ordinary.’

Xiao Du didn’t know anything about spiritual power collapsing or not. All it knew was, ’The people in the prison have something fragrant on them. It’s delicious.’

Hearing this, Shi Lan’s heart gave a heavy thud.