"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-increasing insoles—but you can't question my abilities."

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

Then he raised his hands and reassembled it. In the blink of an eye, the knife transformed in his hands into a small pair of pliers with a pointed hook at one end.

"It's just an Energy Lock Ring."

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

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

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

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 shirt pocket and used it as a hairpin, tying Yu Tu's hair into a bun.

Cang Qi stared at Lu Mi strangely.

Lu Mi's compulsive tendencies kicked in as he straightened the pen hairpin. "What are you looking at? Is it strange for a warden like me 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 on the mechanical pliers carefully found the keyhole that had been filled in on the Energy Lock Ring. The two different materials collided, and the hook was clearly superior. Though slowly, it did gradually sink in.

After the hook pierced inside, Cang Qi tilted his head slightly, listening for sounds as he controlled the force in his hand. Soon, his eyes lit up.

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

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

Yu Tu quickly began to feel uncomfortable. He let out a muffled groan instinctively, the tips of his exposed ears reddening as bulging veins faintly surfaced beneath the Energy Lock Ring.

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

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

Yu Tu straddled his lap. Lu Mi wrapped one arm around Yu Tu's waist and pressed the other 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 it would hardly make sense if he did not take the initiative to cuddle up to Lu Mi.

Yu Tu turned his head and pressed his lips to the skin of Lu Mi's neck, puckering hard as he kissed him. After kissing him a few times, it was still 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 to approach.

Warden Lu really was sacrificing himself to save him.

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

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

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

The Energy Lock Ring slowly opened, gradually revealing the snow-white long neck it had concealed.

"Th-this..."

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

Lu Mi frowned. He glanced over slightly, and his expression abruptly changed!

An Energy Crystal had been embedded at the center of an Energy Master's nape ever since their awakening.

A Diamond Rank energy wielder's Energy Crystal was like a diamond.

Lu Mi had kissed the Diamond Rank Energy Crystal at the back of Yu Tu's neck countless times. It was the most beautiful Energy Crystal he had ever seen. Every touch made Yu Tu unable to stop himself from trembling and shaking.

But now, the Energy Crystal at the back of Yu Tu's neck was gone.

In its place was an exceedingly ugly stitched wound, like a centipede.

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

No wonder there had been a voice in Yu Tu's memories saying 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 expressly forbade every method of taking an Energy Master's Energy Crystal. Even doing so voluntarily was punishable.

"Report it to whom?"

Cang Qi opened his mouth, then fell silent.

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

There were four Energy Lock Rings in total, and Cang Qi spent nearly an hour on them.

He was so exhausted that he was practically collapsing.

"You've worked hard," Lu Mi said, feeling as though the skin on his neck had nearly 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 three Three Hamsters Nut Gift Packs delivered to you later."

"Great! I'll be going, then."

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

"Deputy Warden Cang, was it... very brutal in there?"

"How could it not be brutal?" Cang Qi panted as he walked away. "If it had continued, I would've lost half my life."

The two prison officers exchanged a look and shuddered in unison.

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

Inside the Special Interrogation Room, Lu Mi pried Yu Tu's head up. "Yu Tu, is this 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 truly wanted to kill someone.

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

Yu Tu nodded. "I can."

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 your stitches."

"Oh."

"Lower your head."

Lu Mi stood up. Energy markings 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 a leopard's deadly claws.

His fingertips slowly reached toward the stitches at the back of Yu Tu's neck, carefully cutting the threads one after another from the center before gradually removing them.

The wound there was too deep, and combined with the Energy Lock Ring, once the stitches were removed, the wound split directly open down the middle.

It was no longer bleeding, but the bloody hollow in the center was still painfully glaring.

Lu Mi clenched both hands tightly. The energy markings on his face vanished, and his nails returned to normal.

His fingertips lightly traced the edge of the wound.

"Brother, does it hurt?"