Shen Ying looked at his eagerness to change the subject and couldn't help but feel a bit exasperated.
She said, "While I'm still speaking nicely, don't interrupt."
"Of course, I’ll find the hidden ch, but right now, I’m dealing with your little escape plot."
"I’m curious—whose idea was it back then? The Crown Prince wouldn’t hesitate to sell you out, but he wouldn’t co up with such tricks either."
"Was it you and Lu Yu? You seed surprised too—was it Lu Yu’s doing?"
She smirked. "Then I’ll have to thank him for his hospitality."
Lien nearly exploded with anger. What was wrong with this woman? Every other word was either about the Crown Prince or Lu Yu.
How could he suffer such a massive loss only for Lu Yu to take the credit? Was she seriously going to owe Lu Yu a favor for this?
That would be unbearable.
So Lien growled in a low voice, "Lu Yu isn’t qualified to order around. Everything I did was my own choice."
Shen Ying’s smile turned teasing. "Oh? So it was you? The cat-like modifications, the pleasure-doll body—all your idea?"
Lien’s face flushed red with anger, and he glared at her, speechless.
She was cornering him. If he admitted it was Lu Yu’s doing, she’d owe Lu Yu. If he admitted it was his own—then he’d have to confess he willingly sold himself out.
Either way, it was humiliating.
Shen Ying stayed silent, waiting for his choice.
Seeing no way out, Lien finally gritted his teeth and muttered, "My people were idiots. They ssed up the paraters."
Shen Ying: "Didn’t you say you tested it yourself?"
Lien: "Then you must’ve entered the wrong code."
Shen Ying: "Didn’t you input the code yourself?"
Lien: "Are we done here? It was obviously a machine malfunction. Definitely not my fault."
"Doesn’t the system always glitch during login? Your equipnt’s just trash."
Shen Ying nodded. "Fine. So, Lu Yu had nothing to do with it, right?"
Lien scowled. "Right. What’s it got to do with him? It was all my idea."
Shen Ying sighed. "Then I suppose I have no excuse to punish him this ti."
"How fortunate."
Lien’s expression twisted. Logically, the three of them were still allies. Since he and the Crown Prince had already been disciplined by the warden, dragging Lu Yu down would only harm their cooperation.
But hearing that the idiot who ca up with the worst ideas got off scot-free still pissed him off.
Just as he stewed in frustration, the warden spoke again. "Now, let’s move on to confiscating the hidden items."
Lien tensed—was it starting? The test of his endurance?
But the next mont, the warden said, "First, take off your shirt."
Lien froze, a mix of confusion and electric tension surging through him.
"W-what did you say?"
Shen Ying replied calmly, "You’re a repeat offender when it cos to smuggling. I’m tired of searching you myself, so you’ll do it."
"Follow my instructions. Don’t miss a single spot—I’ll be watching."
Lien’s eyes burned with anger. "You want to search myself?"
Was this a joke? It was outright humiliation. He wasn’t so incompetent that he couldn’t hide things from a self-search.
He warned, "You’re underestimating ."
Shen Ying grabbed his hair and slamd him against the wall, forcing him into a position for a pat-down.
"Relax. By the ti you leave this office, that ch will be in my hands."
Lien seethed with sha and disappointnt, but soon, he found himself too distracted to dwell on it.
He knew his own body best—would touching his left hand with his right even feel like anything?
But how did this woman have so many search techniques? Her scrutiny was ticulous, like combing through a cri scene.
At tis, Lien felt like he was discovering himself for the first ti. His body beca unfamiliar under her relentless, mortifying inspection—far more intense than the seduction of the pleasure-doll body he’d worn.
Compared to her, he felt like a clueless, slow-witted fool.
By the ti the search ended, Lien was dazed, his gaze unfocused as he slumped on the couch, looking much like he had in the simulation pod.
He’d thought everything that happened in the pod—those soul-shaking mories—had been influenced by external factors.
Like the deliberately altered pleasure-doll body. In reality, he wouldn’t be so weak.
But now he knew he was wrong. Still, even so, Lien refused to back down.
He smirked defiantly at Shen Ying and sneered, "See? You didn’t find anything."
Shen Ying, unfazed, pressed a button on her desk and called out, "You can co in now."
The office door opened.
Lien couldn’t let anyone see him in such a disheveled state, so he quickly straightened up, pretending nothing had happened.
Footsteps approached, and a hesitant female voice spoke. "Warden, you wanted to see ?"
Shen Ying looked at Zheng Yanhui and said, "Earlier, I tasked you with confiscating Prisoner 3077’s smuggled items—"
Before she could finish, Zheng Yanhui blurted, "I’m sorry, Warden! I failed. I didn’t retrieve anything."
She apologized instantly, without hesitation. Zheng Yanhui knew her mistake was exposed and worried the warden might use it against her.
But she wasn’t a prisoner—her status offered so protection. If she admitted fault, the warden probably wouldn’t go too far.
Yet Shen Ying smiled warmly, her expression approving. "What are you talking about? You completed the task perfectly."
Zheng Yanhui was stunned. "Huh?"
She imdiately asked her system, "What does she an? Did I miss so plot?"
The system hesitated. [...N-no, I don’t think so?]
Hearing its uncertainty, Zheng Yanhui scowled. Ever since entering the prison, the system had screwed her over multiple tis. Was she still out of the loop? Seriously?
Then the warden reached for her shoulder insignia and pulled out a coin-sized object from beneath the tal badge—a highly compressed ch.
Shen Ying smiled at her. "See? You flawlessly carried out my orders and brought Lien’s hidden ch straight to ."
"Your performance is comndable."
Zheng Yanhui gaped. She glanced at Lien, who clicked his tongue in annoyance when he saw the ch had been found so easily.
He didn’t say anything, but his expression made it clear he thought she was an idiot.
Reading his face, Zheng Yanhui realized she’d been dismissed as a useless fool.
Frustrated, she demanded of her system, "Did Lien hide the ch on to avoid the warden’s search?"
"Why didn’t you warn ? I could’ve hidden it better!"
"Two failures in a row—now he definitely thinks I’m a complete moron."
The system stamred, [I... I didn’t know he put it on you.]
Zheng Yanhui was furious: "What's wrong with you? Weren't you the one directing the operation? I trusted you completely and never questioned any of your arrangents."
"And now you're telling you didn’t even know this kind of information? Can you really outmaneuver your host?"
"Let make this clear—don’t expect to co up with any strategies. That’s not my forte. You said you wanted to fight, so it’s up to you to prove yourself."
"Don’t tell you’re so bronze-level trash dragging another bronze into a battle against a king?"
The system was speechless. Its competence was being doubted, and the backup’s confidence in it was wavering.
It felt a pang of despair, just as Shen Ying’s voice drifted over lazily: "What’s going on?"
"This girl’s face is all twisted, and she’s not saying a word. Her focus isn’t even in reality—must be arguing with you, huh?"
"Tsk, how inconsiderate. A host and system are supposed to be colleagues. How can she scold you like you’re so worthless mutt?"
The system was so angry it wanted to curse—or maybe cry. It was being torn apart from both sides.
anwhile, the chanical guards escorted Lien away, while Zheng Yanhui was comnded before being dismissed.
When they returned to the prisoners’ activity area, Lu Yu took one look at Lien and knew he’d been dealt a harsh blow.
With a sigh, he said, "Don’t take it to heart. At least the ch is still intact."
Lien scoffed, "Intact my ass. It got confiscated."
Lu Yu remained unfazed. "No big deal. There’s still hope."
He glanced at the Crown Prince and Lien. "Even though the warden won this round decisively, we didn’t co away completely empty-handed."
The two turned to him, and Lu Yu smirked mysteriously. "At the very least, we managed to send a ssage outside."
The Crown Prince was surprised. "What did you do?"
Lu Yu replied, "We have that young female investigator to thank for that. When she interacted with Lien, I slipped sothing onto her."
"She’s young but already a deputy, and for a special mission at that. Her background must be easy to trace. It’s not like I don’t have connections in the governnt—"
Halfway through his sentence, the Crown Prince shot him a sharp look.
Lu Yu shrugged, unbothered. "I’m sure soone will hand over her debriefing footage to my people."
Lien asked, "What did you plant on her?"
Lu Yu didn’t elaborate. "Nothing much. Just a cipher I designed using the arrangent of coffee stains."
"I tried sending out the coordinates from that mont."
The Crown Prince frowned. It seed this deer had far more influence inside the prison than expected—he’d even managed to get real-ti coordinates.
Still, he hesitated. "By the ti the report reaches the Imperial Star, the sky prison will have long since moved from that location."
"What’s the point of sending coordinates if the prison isn’t even there anymore?"
Lu Yu’s gaze darkened as he looked at them. "My people are probably already on their way to those coordinates."
"And as for the prison having moved—what if it lost a critical external component and had no choice but to return to retrieve it?"
Lien’s interest was piqued. "Oh? What could be that important?"
"Wait, no—how could sothing that important even go missing in the first place?"
Lu Yu answered his first question. "The sky prison’s cloaking reflector."
At those words, both the Crown Prince and Lien’s pupils constricted.
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