"It seems Officer Zhou's situation is indeed quite troublesome," Li Ban murmured.
The cat-woman curled her lips. "Troublesome? I'd say his cultivation stops at the third rank for life."
Li Ban didn't like hearing that. This directly affected whether he could obtain a fine-grade element for free.
"You're knowledgeable and capable. Isn't there any other solution?"
"Who can decide matters of innate talent?" The cat-woman scratched her already disheveled hair. "From what I know, he can only find the most compatible element for fusion. How many times has he failed?"
"Once at second rank, twice at third rank."
"What type of elements does he currently have?"
"He said his first-rank was a living-type, second-rank was energy-type. But I'm not entirely clear about all the categories yet."
"Elements are generally divided into four types: living, construct, energy, and mental. Some elements contain characteristics of multiple categories. Energy and mental types are particularly rare."
The cat-woman briefly explained to Li Ban.
"When you advance to second rank, they'll likely teach you this knowledge."
"His current two elements include one living-type, meaning fused elements become part of the body. The second is energy-type. For his third element, I'd suggest choosing another category—either construct or mental-type. Though mental-type elements are extremely rare and expensive."
"Zhou Gu... probably only has one last chance. Failed fusions affect the body's adaptability to elements. Too many failures means no more element fusions possible."
"How can one determine an element's compatibility?" Li Ban asked.
"No real method. Did you feel anything special about the former jailer's eyes?"
Li Ban recalled. When he obtained the former jailer's eyes, he'd been at death's door—hardly in any state to consider whether the eyes suited him.
Drawing from his own experience, Li Ban had a new idea. "What if we gamble with life?"
"Hmm?" The cat-woman didn't understand.
"When I fused the eye element, I was at the point where I'd die without fusion. When Zhou Gu fails fusion, the element might become waste elements, but he himself faces no real danger. As you said, it affects spiritual essence absorption—something that doesn't create immediate crisis. Can't get the adrenaline pumping."
"Ah? What adrenaline?"
"Adrenaline is... an attitude," Li Ban dismissed casually, standing up. "I'll go make a suggestion. Whether he listens is his business."
The cat-woman gripped the bars, watching Li Ban leave. His words seemed reasonable, yet she still didn't quite understand. "What exactly is adrenaline...?"
Li Ban gave Zhou Gu two suggestions. Even as he spoke them, he wasn't sure Zhou Gu would take them seriously. Currently, Li Ban was merely a first-rank menial worker, while Zhou Gu was a third-rank jailer. Most people wouldn't value advice from someone beneath them in status.
But Zhou Gu, perhaps truly desperate, listened attentively.
Li Ban's two suggestions were:
First: Preferably choose a mental-type element for fusion.
The Ghost-Head Saber element was construct-type—reportedly standard equipment for jailers. Yet Zhou Gu couldn't even fuse this standard item. Li Ban suspected he was incompatible with construct-type elements. Mental-type abilities represented Zhou Gu's currently undeveloped spiritual essence potential, offering higher success probability.
Second: Gamble with life—do or die.
Adopt the attitude of never giving up, even if it means death, to endure the most painful rejection phase. Li Ban had never experienced rejection himself but heard that those who survived it succeeded, while those who gave up midway failed. Of course, those who didn't survive were also failures. Li Ban advised Zhou Gu to endure with absolute determination, never surrendering halfway.
After hearing the suggestions, Zhou Gu remained silent for a long while before speaking. "Did the cat-woman tell you this?"
Li Ban hesitated. His meat-bribing of the cat-woman was hardly secret anymore—he'd brought her food often enough that her improved condition made it obvious someone was feeding her extra.
"The first suggestion somewhat came from her. Though she said mental-type elements are extremely rare and precious, hard to obtain. So her actual suggestion was fusing a construct-type element. But I know you failed with the Ghost-Head Saber. Fusing another construct-type would have lower success odds than choosing the rarest mental-type."
"As for the second suggestion... you know I fused the eyes when I was nearly dead. At that time, I knew nothing about rejection or fusion failure—failure just meant death. So I suspect that with a do-or-die determination, fusion might succeed."
Li Ban glanced cautiously at Zhou Gu, fearing he might think Li Ban was telling him to die. But Zhou Gu said nothing more, clearly torn between two difficult decisions.
With his current status and abilities, Li Ban could only offer suggestions—substantive help was impossible. His only responsibility was growing tongues for Zhou Gu. Unfortunately, Zhou Gu had kept no records of previous tongue-growing attempts, leaving Li Ban unable to analyze past failures.
After receiving Li Ban's advice that day, Zhou Gu didn't make an immediate decision, sending Li Ban away first.
In the following days, Li Ban continued growing tongues. With Prisoner Seven's death, his feeding targets became Prisoners Four and Ten. A few days later, Prisoner Four also died—the female prisoner expired suddenly right before Li Ban's eyes. He sat staring at her corpse for a long while before fetching someone to collect it.
This time, Liu Mu came. Unlocking the cell, he ducked inside. "Already dead, though we still need Officer Zhou to confirm, correct?"
"Yes." Li Ban opened his mouth, hesitating before asking, "Can you tell... her cause of death?"
"Poisoning," Liu Mu answered without hesitation. "Long-term toxin erosion. Death Prison meals contain lethal poison—you know this." Seeing Li Ban's dazed expression, he asked amusedly, "What's wrong? Too many prisoner deaths frightening you?"
Li Ban raised his hands and slapped his own cheeks sharply. "Impossible. How many deaths have I witnessed since entering Death Prison? I've even killed someone myself. I just can't understand—Brother Liu, why does Death Prison serve poisonous food to second-level prisoners?"
Having spent longer in Death Prison, Liu Mu showed no curiosity about this. "Why overthink it? This is Death Prison—everyone here is condemned anyway."
"Keeping them alive means they have living value. Letting them die means dead ones are more useful."
"As for poisoning them? Must be because this method extracts their value."
"Otherwise, why waste resources maintaining worthless trash?"