Warden of the Beast World: Everyone is a Hakimi

Offend her on her turf? Who does this shameless snake think she is?

"You scoundrel, who do you think you are?" Ye Tang's voice was clear and powerful, without the slightest hesitation. "My appointment document was officially issued by the Imperial Military Ministry, and the contract bears the Ministry's electronic seal in black and white. If you're not satisfied, go find the Military Ministry. What are you trying to prove here?"

She untied her apron and draped it over the armrest of the food cart, took two steps forward, and scanned the middle-aged investigator from head to toe. A perfectly standard mocking smile appeared on her face. "Oh, or rather—you dare to question the military's appointment? You think you're bigger than the military?"

The middle-aged investigator's vertical pupils suddenly contracted. He opened his mouth, his face turning from white to green and then back to white again, his lips moving several times, but he couldn't utter a single word.

Her rhetoric was incredibly cunning—she didn't mention a single word about whether his mental strength level met the regulations, but instead directly invoked the military. If he continued to question her qualifications, it would be tantamount to questioning the military's authority. And he, a mere investigator in the Ministry of Security, no matter how favored he was, wouldn't dare challenge the military.

Ye Tang didn't give him a chance to catch his breath, and took another step forward: "Also, you just said that my mental strength is weak and I can't withstand the pressure of an S-class beastman. Then tell me—do I look like I can't withstand it right now?" She opened her arms, her posture was calm, and a composed smile was on her face.

"I've been working here for half a month. Everything at Prison Zero is running smoothly. All five inmates' breakdown levels are below the standard. You, a field investigator who doesn't even have your name tag properly on, come to my territory and start pointing fingers. Who gave you the right?"

She Qing was choked by Ye Tang's words, "You are bigger than the military," and her face turned ashen. Her vertical pupils shrank to slits, and a fine layer of cold sweat appeared on her forehead.

He dared not directly question the military, but he could not accept this piece of trash, discarded by the barbarians, swaggering in front of him. His gaze swept across the observation areas on both sides of the corridor, and suddenly he found a new breakthrough. His voice rose sharply, taking on a somewhat impassioned tone.

"What makes a piece of trash—a female who hasn't even outgrown her juvenile stage—qualify her to be the warden of Prison Zero? This place holds the Empire's most powerful orcs, its heroes! Their safety is a matter of life and death for the Empire! Letting a piece of trash with negligible mental strength manage them is like pushing them into a fire pit! I'm asking these questions entirely for the safety of the prisoners! For the safety of the Empire's highest fighting force!"

He spoke with righteous indignation, portraying himself as a loyal minister who was not afraid of power and spoke out for the heroes of the empire. He even took half a step forward, straightened his chest, and a faint glint of tears appeared in his vertical pupils, as if he were truly heartbroken for the heroes of the empire who had been "harmed" by Ye Tang.

Lu Yu frowned slightly, about to step forward and take over the conversation. Although She Qing's words were disgusting, they were disguised as "for the good of the detainees." If he didn't respond directly, it would seem as if he was admitting that Ye Tang was unfit for the job. He opened his mouth, but before he could speak, a deep, resonant voice came from Observation Zone One.

"So you guys knew the young warden wasn't out of infancy yet."

Jing Yao had somehow walked up to the glass wall. Under the cold white lights of the observation area, the massive white tiger's body resembled a snow sculpture. Its amber tiger eyes calmly watched the farce in the corridor. Its voice was neither loud nor soft, yet it carried the oppressive aura of the king of beasts. Every word struck She Qing's heart like a war drum.

"Abandoning female cubs," Jing Yao took a step forward, his tiger paw landing silently on the ground of the observation area, yet the air in the entire corridor seemed to vibrate. "According to Imperial law, abandoning or abusing female cubs is punishable by up to life imprisonment. Does your Ye family intend to be above Imperial law?"

The color drained from She Qing's face in an instant. He opened his mouth, his vertical pupils contracting and dilating sharply in terror, and the righteous indignation in his voice instantly turned into fragmented panic: "Marshal, that's not what I meant—"

"Then what do you mean?!"

A crimson figure burst out from Observation Zone Four. Chi Heng transformed into human form, his dark red robe billowing behind him, his crimson eyes practically spitting fire.

He had already exploded when he heard the word "trash," but Lu Yu had warned him beforehand not to cause trouble during the investigation, which was why he had managed to hold back. Now that he heard She Qing was from the Ye family, why should he be polite?

"You old scoundrel! Who gave you the audacity to come here and curse the warden?!" Chi Heng rolled up his sleeves, pointing at She Qing's nose. "Who do you think you are? You can't even get through the gates of a wild family, yet you dare to yell at me, Chi Heng!"

He took a step forward, and She Qing took a step back. "I've lived for over thirty years and I've never seen such a shameless old worm as you! At your age, you're still just a menial investigator, a piece of trash without even a title, and you dare to call others trash?!"

The door to Observation Zone Three opened. Ling Shou stepped out. He wasn't as aggressive as Chi Heng; he simply leaned quietly against the corridor wall, his long, silver-gray hair cascading over his shoulders, his eagle eyes coldly sweeping over She Qing.

Normally, if someone were to hurl insults at him in public, he would probably find it noisy, but today was different. Today, this old snake was cursing Wild Peony, the little sprout who was the only one he could bully. How dare a mere little rascal curse her in front of him?

"She's old and faded," Ling Shou coldly uttered.

Chi Heng immediately chimed in: "Old mudfish!"

Ling Shou: "Old serpent!"

Chi Heng: "You old reptile!"

Ling Shou: "You're so ugly, why are you out here scaring people!"

Chi Heng: "If you can't do something, blame the road for being uneven!"

The two birds, each uttering a single sentence, moved with perfect rhythm and coordination, displaying the skill of street shrewish brawlers. She Qing was forced to retreat, her vertical pupils flashing wildly, her lips trembling as she tried to retort, but each time she opened her mouth, she was silenced by the next insult.

He never dreamed that in the observation corridor of the Empire's highest-level prison, a group of the Empire's top combatants would surround him and berate him like market vendors.

Meanwhile, in Observation Zone One, Jing Yao had already returned to the stone platform, licking his front paws, having lost interest in the farce. He had already fired the first shot; the rest was up to them.

In a corner of Observation Zone Two, Han Zhou silently turned over, turned his back to the corridor, and continued sleeping, his tail lightly sweeping the ground—that was his way of saying "it's so noisy," but he never released a trace of pressure to stop it.

In the pool of Observation Zone Five, Cangming floated on the surface, his deep blue eyes coldly watching the corridor. He didn't speak, nor did he transform, but several scales gleaming with a cold light had appeared on the stone platform by the pool at some point—if anyone dared to touch Ye Tang, they would know what it felt like to be crushed by the mental field of an SS-level mermaid.

She Qing's back slammed into the wall at the end of the corridor, leaving him nowhere to retreat. His vertical pupils reflected the murderous faces of two birds in front of him and a deer feather leaning against the wall, watching coldly.

He looked at Lu Yu pleadingly, but Lu Yu merely adjusted her gold-rimmed glasses, her tone as calm as if she were reporting the weather. The accompanying investigators had already retreated to the other end of the corridor the moment Jing Yao spoke.

They were just an investigation team, with a maximum combat strength of only A-level, and were simply unable to withstand the mental pressure of S-level or higher. Moreover, there were six of them here now, and the residual power they released simultaneously was enough to make those lacking fighting spirit instinctively want to run away.

"Investigator She Qing," Lu Yu's voice was still gentle, but every word was sharp, "your remarks just now are suspected of insulting the staff of Zero Prison and disrupting the normal management order of the prison. I will report this to the Disciplinary Committee of the Security Department as factually."

He paused, then added, "Furthermore, regarding the matter of the Ye family abandoning underage females, given that Marshal Jingyao has already linked this matter to Imperial law, Prison Zero, as an agency directly under the Imperial Military, will formally submit an investigation application to the Imperial Supreme Court. Thank you for the clues you provided today."

She Qing's face turned completely ashen. He only wanted to make things difficult for Ye Tang and salvage some of the face he had lost by being scolded, how did it turn into the Ye family being investigated? His legs went weak, and he slid down the wall to the ground.

Ye Tang stood at the doorway, watching She Qing slumped to the floor at the other end of the corridor, a faint smile playing on her lips. It felt pretty good to have someone stand up for her and argue.