"Brother, Does It Hurt?"

Cang Qi rummaged through the toolbox and finally picked out a mechanical modification knife he had made himself.

"Warden Lu, you can question my height—because I do sometimes wear height-boosting insoles—but you can't question my abilities."

As Cang Qi spoke, he got to work, directly dismantling the modified knife into scattered parts.

Then he raised his hand and reassembled it. In the blink of an eye, the modified knife had changed form in his hand, becoming a small pair of pliers with a pointed hook on one end.

"It's just an Energy Lock Ring."

Cang Qi moved the pliers twice in his grip. "Commander Yu Tu, please lower your head."

Yu Tu lowered his head, his long white hair falling against both sides of his face.

Cang Qi took an iron clip from his pocket, intending to casually clip up Yu Tu's long hair.

Before his hand could touch Yu Tu's hair, Lu Mi had already swept it all up. He then took the pen tucked into his breast pocket and used it as a hairpin, twisting Yu Tu's hair into a bun.

Cang Qi stared at Lu Mi strangely.

Lu Mi's obsessive-compulsive tendencies kicked in as he straightened the pen-hairpin. "What are you looking at? Is it strange for me, as a warden, to know a little skill like this?"

Cang Qi: "..."

He did not ask anything.

Cang Qi turned his attention to the Energy Lock Ring around Yu Tu's neck. "Commander Yu Tu, hold this position and don't move, or I might accidentally hurt you."

The pointed hook of the mechanical pliers carefully found the filled-in keyhole of the Energy Lock Ring. The two different materials collided, and the hook was clearly superior. Though slowly, it did indeed begin to sink in.

Once the hook had pierced inside, Cang Qi tilted his head slightly, listening to the sounds while controlling the force in his hand. Soon, his eyes lit up.

"I found the gap! Commander Yu Tu, this might hurt a little. Bear with it."

At the center of the Energy Lock Ring was an anti-opening mechanism. If the ring was opened without a key, it would automatically contract and tighten.

Yu Tu quickly felt discomfort. He instinctively let out a muffled groan, the tips of his exposed ears beginning to redden. Beneath the Energy Lock Ring, bulging veins faintly emerged.

Cang Qi instinctively leaped far backward. "He's not going to slaughter me, is he?!"

Yu Tu was too uncomfortable to speak. The veins in his neck showed no sign of fading. Lu Mi bent down before him, lifted him into his arms, then turned and sat down in the interrogation chair himself.

Yu Tu straddled his lap. One arm wrapped around Yu Tu's waist, while his other hand pressed against the back of his head.

"Cang Qi, continue."

The veins on Yu Tu's neck immediately subsided. They were pressed so close together that if he did not take the initiative to cuddle up, it would hardly make sense.

Yu Tu turned his head and pressed his lips to the skin of Lu Mi's neck, pouting hard as he kissed him. After kissing him for a while, it still was not enough, so he opened his mouth and gave him a light bite.

Lu Mi sucked in a sharp breath.

"Warden Lu, what's wrong?"

"...Nothing. Come over."

Only then did Cang Qi dare approach.

Warden Lu really was sacrificing himself to save him.

Cang Qi continued working. The Energy Lock Ring was not difficult to undo, but it took time.

Twenty minutes later, with a click, Cang Qi raised a hand to wipe away his sweat. "Done."

Cang Qi gripped both sides of the Energy Lock Ring, then gently pulled them apart.

The Energy Lock Ring slowly opened, gradually revealing the snowy-white neck it had covered.

"This... this..."

Cang Qi's face slowly turned pale. He stared at the back of Yu Tu's neck, his eyes filled with disbelief.

Lu Mi's brows furrowed. He glanced sideways, and his expression changed drastically!

From the moment an Energy Master awakened, their Energy Crystal was embedded in the center of the back of their neck.

A Diamond Energy Master's Energy Crystal was like a diamond.

Lu Mi had kissed Yu Tu's Diamond-grade Energy Crystal at the back of his neck countless times. It was the most beautiful Energy Crystal he had ever seen. Every touch made Yu Tu unable to suppress a slight shiver and tremble.

But now, Yu Tu's Energy Crystal was gone.

In its place was an extremely ugly, stitched-up wound, like a centipede.

The area around the wound had already reddened. It had also been pressed beneath the Energy Lock Ring earlier; the pain was easy to imagine.

No wonder a voice in Yu Tu's memories had said that he had "lost his Energy Crystal."

Cang Qi's eyes widened. "In the Blue River System, forcibly digging out an Energy Master's Energy Crystal is a grave crime punishable by exile! Should we report this?"

The Blue River System strictly prohibited every means of taking an Energy Master's Energy Crystal. Even doing so voluntarily would result in punishment.

"Report it to whom?"

Cang Qi opened his mouth, then fell silent.

Lu Mi picked Yu Tu up with a cold expression. "Remove the Energy Lock Rings from his wrists and ankles too."

There were four Energy Lock Rings. It took Cang Qi nearly an hour.

He was so exhausted that he nearly collapsed.

"You've worked hard," Lu Mi said, feeling as though the skin on his neck had almost been chewed off. "Cang Qi, don't tell anyone about what happened today."

Cang Qi packed up his toolbox. "Don't worry. I know what to do."

"Thank you. I'll have a Three Hamsters Nut Gift Pack sent to you later."

"Wonderful! I'll be leaving first."

Cang Qi opened the door and left, his exhausted expression startling the two prison officers.

"Deputy Warden Cang, was it... very brutal inside?"

"How could it not be brutal?" Cang Qi gasped as he left. "If it had gone on any longer, half my life would have been gone."

The two prison officers exchanged glances and shuddered in unison.

Could it be... that Warden Lu had interrogated the First Commander to death?

Inside the Special Interrogation Room, Lu Mi pried Yu Tu's head apart. "Yu Tu, this is the person you were willing to take my life for, the person you insisted on being loyal to?"

Yu Tu sat upright and looked down at him. "Huh?"

"..."

Lu Mi really wanted to kill someone.

He slowly closed his eyes. "Can you heal the wound yourself?"

Yu Tu nodded. "Yes."

He raised a hand and touched the back of his neck. "Before, while I was wearing that thing, I couldn't heal this place."

"Good." Lu Mi stood and placed Yu Tu in the interrogation chair. "I'll remove the stitches."

"Oh."

"Lower your head."

Lu Mi stood up. Energy patterns instantly appeared across his face. He removed the leather glove from his right hand, and the nails on his five fingers suddenly turned black and sharp, like the claws of a fierce leopard.

His fingertips slowly reached toward the stitches on the back of Yu Tu's neck. He carefully severed the threads one after another from the middle, then gradually removed them.

The wound here was too deep, and with the Energy Lock Ring added to it, once the threads were removed, the wound split open directly down the middle.

It was no longer bleeding, but the bloody hollow in the center was glaring and piercing.

Lu Mi clenched his fists tightly. The energy patterns on his face disappeared, and his nails returned to normal.

His fingertips gently brushed over the edge of the wound.

"Brother, does it hurt?"