Lin Xi showed no reaction upon hearing this, simply crossing her arms as if waiting for a show to unfold.
“Well? Still not telling the truth? Then it’s solitary confinement for you!” Li Ming’s voice rang out like a death knell.
“Waaah! Warden! I confess! It was me—I spat in her food! I just couldn’t stand her fawning behavior, so I… But I never badmouthed you, Warden! I only said those things earlier to frame her! Please, have mercy! I know I was wrong!” 1746 wailed as she confessed to Li Ming.
The guards and the inmates watching the spectacle were all stunned. No one expected 1746, a known troublemaker, to actually come clean. After all, every prisoner in this facility was far from ordinary, and conflicts—big and small—were endless. It was rare for an inmate to confess to the guards; most cases ended as unresolved miscarriages of justice.
Over time, grudges between prisoners festered, leading to frequent outbursts of shouting and fighting.
But 1746 seemed genuinely terrified of the seven-day solitary confinement. To avoid it, she spilled everything.
Some inmates sneered at her, silently mocking her lack of spine.
Li Ming paid no mind to what the others thought. The notification in his head confirmed the task’s completion—1746’s confession was truthful.
Nodding, Li Ming pulled 1746 up from the floor.
“Good. Admitting your mistake is the first step. Solitary confinement isn’t just about punishment—it’s about teaching you a lesson so you can reform. Since you’ve owned up, I’ll give you a chance. Apologize to 3057, and we’ll consider this matter closed. No confinement this time. But if it happens again, don’t expect leniency.”
The female guard inwardly admired his approach. The warden really knew how to balance discipline with mercy—a true masterstroke!
“1746, hurry up and thank the warden, then apologize to 3057!” The female guard nudged 1746, urging her.
“Y-yes! Thank you, Warden! I won’t do it again! 3057… I-I’m sorry.” 1746 wiped her tears and hastily thanked Li Ming.
“Forget it…” 3057, seeing that Li Ming had spoken, didn’t dare push further and let it go.
“Good. Get 3057 a fresh meal. Everyone, back to eating—no more gawking!” Li Ming clapped his hands, drawing the inmates’ attention.
The crowd, realizing the show was over, returned to their meals—though their eyes still flickered toward Li Ming, each harboring their own thoughts.
Satisfied, Li Ming resumed his rounds. Another task smoothly handled, and the rewards had been issued. Though he didn’t feel any different yet—probably because no one had lied to him so far, so the effects hadn’t kicked in.
Batch after batch of inmates finished their meals. Finally, once the last prisoner was done, Lin Xi led Li Ming out of the cell block.
“Let’s grab some food too. Next is the inmates’ free time in the yard—the guards can handle that. Since it’s not a workday, there’s not much to do. After eating, I’ll show you around a bit,” Lin Xi said.
Li Ming nodded. “Yeah, sounds good. Honestly, being warden isn’t as hard as I thought. The inmates are pretty obedient—not bad overall.”
Lin Xi snorted. “Don’t get cocky just because you’ve barely started. This job isn’t as easy as you think. In the two years I’ve been here, we’ve gone through six wardens. Think about what that means.”
“Six in two years? Why?” Li Ming was genuinely shocked. That averaged four months per warden—was this place really that tough?
“Why? You’ll find out soon enough. And let me tell you—of those six, three resigned and went home, two died in ‘accidental’ car crashes, and one committed suicide. In your room.”
“You did change the bedding, right? That was the last warden’s. She was the one who killed herself. After that, no one used that room—just occasional cleaning. The bedding was never replaced.” Lin Xi spoke casually.
“What the hell?! Why didn’t you tell me sooner?! I thought it was prepared for me—I didn’t change it at all!” Li Ming’s eyes bulged as he glared at Lin Xi, outrage written all over his face.
“Uh… Oh! Haha! Just kidding! My mistake! The bedding was changed last time—the previous warden never even slept in that bed! Don’t worry, it’s clean! Totally clean!” Lin Xi forced an awkward laugh, brushing it off as a joke.
Li Ming was about to press her for the truth when a strange sensation surged through him—his newly acquired skill, Heart’s Intuition, had activated.
His stomach dropped.
Lin Xi was lying. The bedding wasn’t new—it was exactly what the suicidal warden had used. And he’d slept soundly in that very bed!
Damn it… He couldn’t even lie to himself now. The system had outright confirmed the deception.
Lin Xi was downright cruel. Who played tricks like this?!
Silently adding her to his mental revenge list, Li Ming swallowed his anger and followed Lin Xi, who had already changed the subject, to the staff cafeteria.
He’d sampled the chef’s cooking the night before—it was decent. Today, they were given a special spread, and the dishes looked appetizing. The two dug in heartily.
Once they’d eaten their fill, Li Ming circled back to the previous wardens. How could the job be so dangerous—car crashes, suicides? A fifty percent casualty rate?
But Lin Xi shook her head. “I don’t know why. I wasn’t always the deputy warden. If you hadn’t been assigned here, I would’ve been promoted to warden. My father was always worried—he never wanted me to take the position. I suspect your uncle didn’t just transfer you here to set us up on a blind date.”
ions, keeping it grounded and realistic】 After quitting his job, office worker Su Yang accidentally binds with the "Enjoy Life System." As the name suggests, simply by indulging in life's pleasures, he can earn random rewards from the system—no need to spend money on beautiful women or grovel before anyone. Just enjoy, and the money follows, making it all about effortless fun. The system comes with a scanning feature, allowing him to establish a favorability bond with women rated 85 points or above. Every 20-point increase in favorability unlocks additional rewards. After suffering through over twenty years of hardship, Su Yang trembles with excitement, his dull eyes suddenly gleaming with newfound hope. "Enjoy life? How hard could that be?"
uld barely embark on the path to immortality. Just as he was on the verge of death, his golden finger awakened. No matter whether it was poison, drained blood and vital energy, diminished lifespan, or any other physical debuff caused by paying a price—once midnight passed, everything would be refreshed. From then on, whenever someone asked what kind of person Chu Ran was, the answer was simple: Forbidden arts that other cultivators dared not learn? Chu Ran would learn them. Prices that even demonic cultivators dared not pay? Chu Ran would pay them. Lifespan that even righteous cultivators dared not burn? Chu Ran would burn it. All the blood essence in his body? Take it. Want both his hands and feet? He would cut them off and send them to you. You say he’s finished? He wasn’t built to sit idle. You think he’s gone mad? No—he was simply waiting for midnight. From that day onward, Chu Ran would respect neither Heaven nor Earth, bow to neither gods nor ghosts. He had only one wish: For midnight to arrive a little sooner.
m back to his original world. In the end, he realized he had overthought things. [Hey, why is Shen Manni, the female lead, acting strange? Shouldn't she be fawning over the male lead at this point?] [Zhou Qiaoqiao, are you sick? Weren't you supposed to break off your engagement today?] [Damn it! An Youyi, please do your job as an undercover agent and sell my information to the protagonist, you idiot!] ... At this moment, Xu Mo himself didn't know that these female leads had already heard his inner thoughts. Then they decided not to play by the rules. Xu Mo: Please respect my profession as the big villain!
he colors of other people’s emotions. Light red meant anxiety. Gray meant exhaustion. Orange meant excitement. Yellow... meant repression. At the same time, he could gain unlimited control over one of those colors. Pale cyan: relaxation. Using this ability, he started offering “two-yuan hugs,” spending an afternoon exchanging emotional-color experiences with others. Then came his final female customer of the day— a girl whose emotional color was pure black... —— A week later, Xu Chuan had become skilled at using pale cyan—Relaxation—treating it like a bottle of menthol balm whenever he needed it. That was when he discovered he had unlocked another unlimited emotional color: Purple, the color of fear. So these emotional colors refresh every week? Fine, I take it back—I’ll never call you useless again... —— Much later, after Xu Chuan had accumulated countless emotional abilities, one night, he suddenly found himself inside someone else’s dream. There, he could use the emotional colors he possessed to paint. And in her dream, he painted her a shower of pink shooting stars, spreading across the depths of the night sky...
