# Chapter 2108: Making the Best Use of Everything
Jiu Lan's heart was thrown into turmoil by Jiangnan's words. The originally calm lake of her mind had a stone cast into it!
She chose to escape, to stop listening.
Jiangnan smiled without speaking. No matter what choice Jiu Lan made, the seed of freedom had already been planted in her heart!
All that remained was for the right time to come for it to take root and sprout.
Looking at the tool room, Jiangnan's heart burned with passion once more!
The happiness he had been pursuing for so long was finally about to return, wasn't it?
It hadn't all been for nothing, right?
But just as Jiu Lan was about to unlock the door to the tool room, her movements froze!
The door handle had been completely destroyed. The strong-phase alloy lock had been twisted and torn apart like putty—no, like putty.
A small handprint remained on the door.
Jiu Lan's face darkened. A bad feeling stirred in her heart.
Jiangnan asked curiously: (๑•̌～•̑)ˀ̣ˀ̣ "What's wrong?"
Jiu Lan's forehead beaded with sweat: (꒪_꒪‧̣̥̇) "N-Nothing..."
Then she pulled open the door. Jiangnan couldn't wait to poke his head in and look.
But the expression on his face froze.
Inside the tool room was a mess. All kinds of oddly shaped tools lay scattered across the floor from the shelves.
It looked like a thief had ransacked the place.
Jiu Lan pressed her hand to her forehead: (ﾉ)´-﹏-`) "Just as I thought..."
Jiangnan: !!!
Unable to contain himself, Jiangnan rushed into the tool room and began frantically tossing things around, even lifting up floor tiles to check underneath!
∑(°口°๑) "Where did it go? What about my family heirloom? How is it not here? Didn't you say it was placed in the tool room?"
"What do you mean 'just as I thought'? Hey hey hey! You promised to return it to me! You have to take responsibility for this!"
At this moment, Jiangnan was completely panicked. He grabbed Jiu Lan's arm and shook it wildly.
Jiu Lan rubbed her brow:
(︶﹏︶٥) "I really did put it in the tool room before, but it's not here anymore."
Jiangnan: !!!
(#ᵒ̴̶̷̥́口ᵒ̴̶̷̣̥̀) "What do you mean 'not here'? Where did it go? I absolutely cannot be without it!"
"How could it get lost when it was placed here? The tool room is so messy—there must have been a thief, right? Who took it?"
"Are there thieves in Ming He Death Prison? Isn't there surveillance in the tool room?"
Jiu Lan looked extremely troubled:
(｡･ˇ_ˇ･) "No need to check the surveillance. I know who did it. It was one of the prisoners from our side."
Jiangnan's eyes widened: (Ő口Ő๑) "Huh? A prisoner? Does she have some nerve, daring to steal from the tool room? Don't the high-ranking officials of Ming He Death Prison exist?"
"This is outright rebellion! Tell me who it is! I'll go deal with her for you!"
Jiu Lan shuddered violently, then looked at Jiangnan with utter exasperation.
*You're* the one with the most nerve, aren't you? Look at everything you've done since entering this prison!
"Forget it. If she were to see you, I'm not sure you'd last the night here, let alone survive."
Jiangnan stumbled back two steps, leaned weakly against the wall, then slowly slid down to sit on the floor. His eyes were hollow, and he burst into loud sobs.
˚‧º·(˚˃̣̣̥᷄口˂̣̣̥᷅)‧º·˚ "Wahhh—my happiness!"
Of all the tools in the tool room, you had to take mine?
How unlucky can I get?!
Jiu Lan looked at Jiangnan with an unbearable expression. She took a deep breath.
"Don't worry. I, Jiu Lan, keep my word. It was because of me that your family heirloom was lost, so I will take responsibility for it."
"It's getting late. You go back and wait for news for now. I'll do my best to get your thing back from her."
Jiangnan cried even harder. You're the deputy warden! What kind of prisoner doesn't even give *you* face?
And what do you mean "do your best"?
Jiangnan grabbed Jiu Lan's thigh:
٩(꒦ິ口꒦ີ٩) "Don't just do your best! Please—*must*! You *must* get it back for me!"
Jiu Lan rolled her eyes and picked Jiangnan up by the scruff:
(꒪ͦ～꒪ͦ๑) "What kind of grown man cries like that? You're at least an Era Lord. Go back and wait for news."
Jiangnan was heartbroken. So what if he was an Era Lord? An Era Lord can't be without happiness either!
Without it, I'm incomplete!
(٥⋟益⋞)و "At least! At least tell me her name!"
Jiu Lan looked around, then said quietly:
(ﾉ)◔₃◔ิ) "Chong Feiyu. She must have taken it."
As she spoke, she carried Jiangnan toward the male prison block...
---
Meanwhile, on the other side.
Female prison block, Cataclysmic-level cell block. A hundred-star luxury cell.
Unlike Yakeli's cell, the door here was left half-open, and no one bothered to close it.
An ethereal humming sound drifted out of the room, making it seem exceptionally eerie.
The room's interior was lavishly decorated, but in an odd and unusually dim style.
Dozens of white cocoon-like ornaments hung from the ceiling, and in the corners of the room were piles of bones and dried corpses.
A figure was completely hidden in the darkness, with only a pair of crimson eyes visible in the gloom.
In front of her sat a large cardboard box, filled with all sorts of odds and ends she had just stolen from the tool room.
The Mosaic was mixed in among them.
The humming continued. A pair of fair little hands emerged from the darkness, rummaging through the box.
These hands were different from human hands. The joints were like those of a delicate puppet, yet the skin was as smooth as congealed fat.
After searching for a while, she grabbed the Mosaic from the box, tapped it, and it gave off a clear metallic sound.
She brought it to her nose and sniffed.
"What is this? Never seen it before. Strange..."
She rested her chin on her hand, deep in thought. Then, as if remembering something, she stood the Mosaic upright on her bedside table.
Then she picked up a luminous crystal in the shape of an oval from the box.
A *crackle-crackle* sound came, like an insect chewing. Fragments of the luminous crystal fell to the floor.
Soon, the luminous crystal was carved into the shape of a cloud.
She grabbed it and pressed it against the Mosaic.
*Clang-clang~*
And just like that, she had made a small bedside lamp with a soft, glowing cloud-shaped shade!
She seemed very pleased with her creation. She patted the lamp, then went back to rummaging through the box to tinker with other things...
---
In the male prison block cell, Hei Gang was squatting in a corner, unable to sleep.
୧(●ꆤ‸ꆤ)୨
Sigh. Nan Shen was taken away by Jiu Lan for a private session. Who knew if he'd make it back alive?
If he didn't come back, his own days wouldn't be easy either.
As for why he was squatting in the corner instead of sleeping in bed—it was just because it felt safer. He was used to it.
Just then, footsteps echoed from the corridor. The cell door opened.
Jiangnan walked in, now wearing four quark balls again.
Hei Gang stared at Jiangnan in shock.
What the—? Nan Shen came back? And without any injuries?
Jiu Lan: "Get some rest. You must be tired, right?"
Jiangnan smiled bitterly: "How could I not be tired? We fought for so long. My legs are still weak, you know?"
Hei Gang: (●･ˇ口ˇ･) ???
Jiu Lan rolled her eyes, then whispered: "Let's pretend tonight never happened. We'll continue next time."
"Next time you get into trouble, remember to choose me. I feel like you still have a lot of good things on you that I haven't squeezed out yet. I can't let you off that easily."
She still hadn't mastered quite a few techniques from the Eight Youming Forms, and she was even looking forward to the next private session.
Jiangnan grinned: "Of course! It's always better with you than with Bing Chacha. Don't forget what I asked you to do!"
Jiu Lan locked the cell door: "Don't worry. Wait for my news. Be good tonight and don't cause any more trouble."
Then she left.
But Hei Gang stared wide-eyed at Jiangnan, looking at him like he was a god.
∑(❍ฺ口❍ฺlll) Holy crap!
So Nan Shen and Deputy Warden Jiu Lan had that kind of relationship? No wonder he chose Jiu Lan!
This wasn't suffering at all—he was clearly enjoying himself!
Jiangnan frowned at Hei Gang:
(ꐦ°᷄～°᷅) "What are you staring at me like that for? Is there something on my face?"
Hei Gang looked at him with worship:
(ʃƪ✧∇✧) "Yes! The radiance of a god! Awesome! You even got Jiu Lan! That's incredible!"
"With this connection, you can walk sideways through Ming He Death Prison!"
Jiangnan's mouth twitched. Did this guy misunderstand something? What was he even talking about?
But even though he got beaten this time, and didn't get his happiness back, the gains were still substantial!
He had obtained the Eight Youming Forms, his combat power had skyrocketed, and he had earned some goodwill from Jiu Lan.
Now all he had to do was wait for news from Jiu Lan.
Three days. If there was no news in three days, he would go find that female prisoner named Chong Feiyu himself!
No matter how impressive she was, she couldn't just take his happiness!
Little did Jiangnan know, his happiness had already been repurposed as building material for a bedside lamp stand.
He stretched hard: "About time, right? Let's go... find Da Zhi and clock in for work!"
Hei Gang's face darkened. Damn it!
Was this guy really that dedicated? He just finished a fierce battle and was exhausted, and he still wanted to clock in?
"And they say tomorrow we have to go down the river for mandatory labor. Our good days are about to end. Shouldn't we really rest?"
Jiangnan rolled his eyes: "Rest? Rest for what? The card is right there waiting for me to punch it. How can I sleep?"
"Let's go, let's go! By the way, what does this 'going down the river for mandatory labor' mean?"
A new round of clock-in operations began, and on the way, Hei Gang explained the mandatory labor to Jiangnan.
It turned out that every so often, Ming He Death Prison would organize prisoners to go down into the Styx together to dredge for Styx crystals.
Each prisoner had to collect enough Styx crystals to hand over before the labor could end.
And those Styx crystals that prisoners secretly kept—those were all smuggled out during mandatory labor.
Since going down into the Styx was extremely torturous, after each round of labor, prisoners were given a period to recuperate.
Otherwise, no one could withstand such torment.
Jiangnan's eyes sparkled. Going down the Styx to dredge for Styx crystals, huh?
The Youming Clan sure knew how to make money.
As they talked, they had already met up with Da Zhi and Da Qiang. The group skillfully made their way toward Xing Luo and Carl's room.