This is a bizarre rule, isn't it? It's supposed to grant me many children and good fortune

Chapter 195 Undercurrents

The corridor of the administration building was empty and quiet. Leng Meng's heels tapped on the polished marble floor, making a crisp and regular "tap, tap" sound.

The faint blush on her face had faded, returning to her usual pale, bloodless porcelain white. Only her deep eyes were more somber and colder than ever before.

The heavy double wooden doors of the warden's office were close at hand, with intricate and imposing reliefs of thorns and scepters engraved on the lintel, symbolizing the supreme jurisdiction of this prison.

Leng Meng paused slightly in front of the door, raised her hand, and tapped her knuckles three times on the hardwood.

"Come in." The voice from inside the door was hoarse and slow, with a metallic texture, yet strangely clear, as if it were ringing against your ear.

Leng Meng pushed open the door and entered.

The warden's office was spacious and luxurious, with dark brown and dark gold as the main colors. Outside the huge floor-to-ceiling windows was a leaden gray sky cut through the prison's high walls and electric fences.

Cyrus Mohn was sitting behind a large ebony desk, toying with a seal inlaid with a dark red gemstone, as if he had just finished reviewing some documents.

Right behind him, next to a dark bookshelf filled with ancient books and exotic collectibles, stood a magnificent standing bird stand of a different style, inlaid with mother-of-pearl.

A large macaw with bright, rainbow-colored feathers and a clever crest on its head stood quietly there.

It tilted its head, its black bean-like eyes staring unblinkingly in the direction of the doorway.

Upon seeing Leng Meng enter, the parrot suddenly flapped its wings slightly, emitting a short "click" sound from its throat, then raised its voice and clearly called out in an exaggerated tone:

"Hey! Look who's here! It's that stunning ice queen!"

"More bad news? Bang! Bang! Closing down!"

Several black lines appeared on Leng Meng's forehead.

Cyrus Mohn, behind his desk, frowned and whispered a reprimand towards the parrot: "'Talkative,' be quiet!"

His tone wasn't harsh; it even carried a hint of helpless indulgence, but it did carry an unquestionable commanding tone.

The parrot named "Talkative" immediately preened the feathers on its chest with its beak and mumbled an indistinct "Yes, sir..."

It buried its head under its wings, pretending to doze off, but its little eyes were still secretly glancing around.

Cyrus then turned his attention entirely to Leng Meng:

"Deputy Warden Leng Meng, what's the situation in Section Δ?" He pointed his fingertips at each other, his posture relaxed, yet he exuded an invisible pressure of scrutiny.

Leng Meng stopped about three steps away from the desk, her posture ramrod straight, devoid of any extraneous emotion.

"Warden, cell door number 0 has opened abnormally, and the contained object 'Blank' inside is showing unusually high activity, attempting to corrode and spread."

"I have led a team to the scene and activated the sealing reel to enforce the lockdown."

"During the process, one of the accompanying prison guards became mentally corrupted and became aggressive, but he was subdued in time."

"The cell door has been successfully closed, the seal is stable, and the 'blank' activity has been suppressed back below the baseline. The prison guards involved have been handed over to the medical and psychiatric evaluation department."

Cyrus listened quietly, his gaze falling on Leng Meng's slightly pale face, then sweeping over the fine wrinkles on her uniform, and finally settling on the depths of her calm, unwavering pupils.

"Which prison guard's spirit has been corrupted...?"

"Number K-77, belongs to the Δ District Emergency Response Team," Leng Meng replied quickly.

"Oh? K-77..." Cyrus tilted his head slightly, as if recalling something. "I remember him. His willpower assessment was always A-level."

"Even he was instantly corrupted... It seems that this disturbance in 'Blank' is extraordinary."

"When you activated the seal, how strong was its resistance? Did it... convey any special 'information'?"

This question carries a subtle, almost imperceptible probing element.

Leng Meng's heartbeat remained unchanged as she met the warden's gaze, her voice as cold as ever:

"The intensity of the resistance matches the characteristics of peak activity periods in historical records, and no resolvable, logical information transmission has been received. Its manifestation remains a chaotic aggregate of wailing souls."

A brief silence filled the office.

Cyrus's gaze seemed to pierce through Leng Meng, assessing every possible flaw hidden in her words.

Leng Meng's expression remained calm; beneath that icy "mask," not a trace of emotion could be seen.

Just then, the telephone on the desk suddenly started ringing shrilly.

Cyrus's gaze was instantly drawn to it, and he stretched out his pale, slender fingers to pick up the receiver.

As he answered the phone and his gaze shifted to the leaden gray skyline outside the window, Leng Meng's peripheral vision quickly swept across the interior of the office—

There, a quaint silver safe was silently embedded in the wall.

The surface of the case is etched with intricate patterns of vines and thorns, while at its center, a sophisticated mechanical combination lock composed of three nested gears gleams with a cold, metallic sheen.

Her gaze didn't linger; it seemed to have merely swept across the room's furnishings unconsciously before refocusing on the warden's cold, hard profile.

Cyrus gave a brief "hmm" into the microphone and hung up.

His gaze returned to Leng Meng, whose deep-set eyes resembled two deep wells.

"Excellent handling, Deputy Warden Leng." He spoke with approval, leaning back in his high-backed chair, appearing relaxed.

"With you in charge of the Δ district, I feel very reassured."

He paused, his fingertips tracing the edge of a document on the table:

"You used your source power this time, didn't you? Go back and get some rest. You don't need to attend the meeting tomorrow morning."

"You can submit the follow-up report after you recover."

"Yes, Warden." Leng Meng nodded.

"Go." Cyrus waved his hand, picked up the dark red gem seal again, and looked back at the document.

Leng Meng turned around deftly, opened the door, and disappeared into the shadows of the corridor before gently closing the heavy door behind her.

Silence returned to the office, and Cyrus stopped playing with the seal.

He slowly raised his head, his gaze falling on the tightly closed door. In the depths of his deep-set, azure eyes, a faint, elusive light flickered.

........................

At 10 p.m., the dormitory for trainee prison guards in Ward D was shrouded in a depressing silence.

Lin Feng lay on the hard bed with his eyes closed, his mind still processing the events of the day.

Under the bed, Vassim lay on the floor, doing push-ups, his strong muscles tensing and relaxing with each movement.

"Tap, tap, tap."

The knocking sounded suddenly, particularly abrupt in the silence.

Lin Feng and Vassim's eyes met in mid-air, both seeing the wariness in each other's eyes.

Who would come at this time?

"Who?" Wasim asked in a low voice.

A low, yet still clear and familiar female voice came from outside the door: "It's me, Deputy Warden Leng Meng."