Shi Lan didn’t dwell on it. After delivering the food, she went back to eat her own meal.

In her modern life, she had been independent since childhood. She had left her misogynistic family early on, and with no one to rely on, she could only work hard on her own. It was just that in her early years of making money, the long hours had given her stomach problems. Later, when she had money, she hired a housekeeper to ensure she had three meals a day, and her health slowly recovered.

As someone who had come up the hard way, Shi Lan’s cooking skills were not bad at all.

She took a bite and felt a little moved. ’Indeed, food is heaven. Delicious food really does have the power to heal the soul.’

Worried that He Hanshi might not be used to her cooking at first, she had packed her own lunchbox with an even larger portion than his. She finished it all in no time, feeling that her appetite had grown considerably. She even felt like having some dessert.

Act on a whim. Technology truly did liberate the lazy.

Shi Lan only needed to place the ingredients into the robot’s ingredient basket and adjust the parameters. After that, all she had to do was wait to eat.

In just five minutes, she had a high-temperature baked strawberry cream cupcake. It was still hot from the oven. Shi Lan licked a bit of the cream, and her eyes lit up. The robot whipped it even more finely than a person could.

The ingredients she had prepared ultimately made twelve cupcakes. She unceremoniously kept seven for her own afternoon tea and planned to let the men in the prison have a taste of the rest.

Shi Lan took the cupcakes and the butler robot to the prison. While delivering the cakes, she could also retrieve the lunchboxes.

It seemed He Hanshi had the good habit of not wasting food. She retrieved two sparkling clean lunchboxes.

Seeing he had finished everything, Shi Lan felt a sense of joy, as if she had been acknowledged. ’Looks like He Hanshi wasn’t lying. He really did like it.’

Perhaps because he was full and content, he was coiled up and lying on the bed. His long, white tail was sweeping lazily and leisurely across the bed. His eyes were shut tight, only opening his glass-like blue eyes when he heard her approach.

"Prison Director, you’re here."

Shi Lan returned the smile and placed the cupcakes at the delivery slot. "Mhm, I brought you guys some dessert. Give it a try. If you like it, I can make it for you again next time."

He Hanshi heard her say "you guys," and he understood that this time, it wasn’t just for him. However, he didn’t feel unhappy about it. Instead, he was grateful that Shi Lan was thinking of them.

This was something the previous prison directors had never even considered.

He looked curiously toward the window. Perhaps out of concern that they might harm the Prison Director, the delivery slot was positioned higher than their beast forms. It wouldn’t be an issue in their humanoid forms, though.

At this height, Shi Lan also had to look up to deliver food, but she could still reach it.

That was why the butler robot usually retrieved the food inside the prison.

He Hanshi saw the pinkish-red strawberry on the white cream. It seemed he could smell the sweet aroma of the cake even from this distance.

"Thank you, Prison Director. You’re very thoughtful."

As he spoke, he had the robot carefully bring the cake over to him.

The small cake was about the size of a cupcake, and it looked even more minuscule in front of the White Lion’s enormous beast form. It seemed like one bite wouldn’t even be enough to get stuck in his teeth.

Shi Lan watched him lower his head to sniff it. The cupcake wasn’t much bigger than the White Lion’s pink nose. He Hanshi accidentally got a little bit of cream on his nose, and he instinctively licked away the sweet taste from its tip.

Belatedly remembering Shi Lan was at the door, a flash of embarrassment crossed his ice-blue eyes.

Fortunately, Shi Lan hadn’t seen it clearly. She just suddenly felt that this cake was a bit shabby.

’It’s too small...’

She felt a bit embarrassed and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, quickly changing the subject. "By the way, my name is Shi Lan. You don’t have to call me Prison Director. Just call me by my name."

"Okay."

The White Lion lowered his head, hiding his flushing ears, and gave a small nod with his large head.

After delivering the cupcake, Shi Lan collected the clean lunchbox and went to Cell Two.

This time, Mu Tangfeng hadn’t wasted any food either; the lunchbox was eaten clean.

When he saw her arrive, he couldn’t help but let out a cold snort, clearly still holding a grudge about the morning. Shi Lan wasn’t going to indulge his unreasonable antics. She put down the cake, offered a perfunctory, "Dessert," and left.

Mu Tangfeng had apparently also heard that she had prepared something for everyone this time. Although he was very satisfied with her thoughtful after-meal service, why did he only get one sentence? And he had eaten all his food too! Why did she only praise that short-legged beast and not him?

He got so angry that he started banging on the protective door again. BANG! BANG! Shi Lan stepped back. "What is it?"

Mu Tangfeng’s tone was full of dissatisfaction. "Just one?"

Hearing this, she just gave a faint "Oh." "If you don’t want it, then don’t eat it."

"Who said I don’t want it?"

Afraid she would take the cake away, Mu Tangfeng immediately shifted into his human form, popped the cake into his mouth, and then looked at her triumphantly.

’Childish...’

Shi Lan muttered under her breath, while Mu Tangfeng, savoring the sweet treat in his mouth, silently counted the number of exchanges they just had. His mood finally improved a little.

As expected, Mu Tangfeng and Jiang Xia were the main troublemakers. Ye Ming didn’t say much, just a word of thanks before having the robot take the cake and disappearing back into the darkness.

Shi Lan glanced at Cell Three out of the corner of her eye. It was darker the further in you looked. With Ye Ming, you could only hear his voice, not see his figure.

She withdrew her gaze and turned to Jiang Xia. After the morning’s incident, Jiang Xia had calmed down quite a bit. This time, after taking the cupcake, he licked it curiously, then couldn’t help but look at her with his crystal-clear, golden eyes. "Will there be more next time?"

Jiang Xia couldn’t even remember the last time he’d had dessert. Since coming here, he’d been so focused on tormenting the previous prison directors with Mu Tangfeng, living a boring, day-in-day-out life as if he were being kept in a pen, that he had almost forgotten how peaceful and happy his life used to be.

Jiang Xia had been frail at birth, so he had always been the doted-on and spoiled young master of the Jiang Family. Even so, his spiritual power had reached Level 2S. The Empire’s Four Great Families shared the responsibility of maintaining national security alongside the military. As it happened, his older brother was injured and in his heat period, so he had participated in that Insect Clan annihilation mission.

Mu Tangfeng, He Hanshi, Ye Ming, and Yan Huoshui were all there at the time. The Insect Clan invasion was severe, with a new, highly reproductive mutant species appearing. The battle was massive, and it was after this that the few individuals with spiritual power of 2S Level and above suffered successive mental collapses.

This new mutant species was the culprit that induced their mental collapses.

Jiang Xia pulled back from his thoughts and licked the cake absently, his eyes still fixed hopefully on Shi Lan.

Hearing Jiang Xia’s voice, she thought about how he was still just a boy, yet he was trapped in this small world, waiting for death to arrive. Her heart softened inexplicably. "Of course, there will be."

Thinking of the six cupcakes left in her Space Bag, besides the one she’d tasted herself, she couldn’t resist taking another one out.

Jiang Xia’s eyes lit up at the sight. But then, he belatedly felt embarrassed, recalling his own unsophisticated behavior just now. He silently turned his back to Shi Lan again, pretending to be reserved as he ordered the robot to get the cake. His tail, however, was wagging much faster than usual, like a happy puppy’s.

He unknowingly exposed his joyful mood right in front of Shi Lan.

Seeing this, Shi Lan didn’t feel the slightest bit pained about losing another piece of her afternoon tea. In any case, she could make whatever she wanted to eat whenever she was outside.

In the end, she couldn’t be too obvious about favoring one over the other, so she ended up giving everyone two cupcakes.

Yan Huoshui wasn’t a big fan of sweets. He saw the reluctant look on Shi Lan’s face as she took out the cupcake and said with some amusement, "Just one is fine for me. I don’t eat many sweets."

"Oh, okay."

Shi Lan happily took one back, then added, "Then I’ll make some other, less cloyingly sweet desserts for you to try next time."

"Mm, thank you... Shi Lan."

"Is it okay if I just call you by your name?"

Yan Huoshui asked in a soft voice. His crimson eyes seemed to ripple like water as they moved, and when his deep voice said her name, it carried a subtle hook that made one’s heart itch just from hearing it.

But after a few times, Shi Lan had developed a slight Immunity. She quickly came to her senses. "Okay."

A flicker went through Yan Huoshui’s eyes, and a deep interest bloomed within their slightly dark depths.