With Tree-Person B's assistance, Li Ban delivered the corpse to Zhou Gu's room.
Zhou Gu wasn't on duty at the moment. He dismissed Tree-Person B and kept Li Ban to help with the work.
It was common for menial workers to assist jailers and prison officers.
After Tree-Person B left, Zhou Gu stepped forward and opened the body bag, exposing the corpse's upper half.
He used a small knife to slice open the body from the jaw down to the abdomen.
Though the person was already dead, the metallic scent of blood still permeated the air.
Li Ban stood behind Zhou Gu, frowning as he watched the man first examine the internal organs.
Li Ban had seen organ models before - these clearly weren't normal.
Each organ was abnormally enlarged, crammed into Number Seven's originally emaciated frame like they belonged to a different person entirely.
Li Ban suspected he was checking for green insect eggs inside.
There were none.
Five days had passed since the last egg feeding.
After the examination, Zhou Gu tossed the stomach back into the corpse and checked the prisoner's mouth.
Then Li Ban saw Zhou Gu's grip tighten around the knife.
"Another failure!"
Zhou Gu's voice carried suppressed fury.
He suddenly turned to Li Ban, eyes bloodshot.
The intensity of his anger made Li Ban retreat two steps.
"Were there any issues during the egg feeding? Are you certain all eggs were swallowed?"
"I'm certain," Li Ban answered quickly.
Zhou Gu took two deep breaths before calming down.
He carefully pried open the dead man's mouth and cut something out.
"Take this through the main gate to the Research Hall."
Li Ban stepped forward to prepare the corpse again.
While adjusting Number Seven's mouth, he noticed a fresh incision under where the tongue had been.
With the man already dead, there was little bleeding.
He closed Number Seven's mouth and returned him to the body bag.
The Research Hall wasn't underground. Exiting through Death Prison's third level main gate led to Yu Province Death Prison's secondary courtyard.
The main building in this courtyard was the Research Hall - also the residence of Warden Du An.
As Li Ban carried the body bag outside, snow began falling again.
His boots crunched through the fresh powder in complete silence.
Just like Number Seven - dead without a sound, his remains still subjected to violation.
Arriving at the Research Hall's main entrance, he knocked.
Lü Qinghe opened the door.
An unfamiliar smile graced her face, vanishing the moment she saw Li Ban.
"Delivering a corpse?"
"Yes."
"Give it here."
Lü Qinghe took the body bag from Li Ban and shut the door without another word.
Not even a flicker of emotion crossed her face while handling the bloodstained bundle.
Sometimes Li Ban wondered if she viewed all the menial workers - even the jailers and officers - as no different from corpses.
After delivering the corpse, Li Ban immediately returned to Zhou Gu.
The tongue cultivation in Number Seven had apparently failed.
Though Zhou Gu had contained his anger, this matter wasn't over.
"Sir." Back in Zhou Gu's room, Li Ban closed the door. Despite his apprehension, he decided to address the issue directly. "Though this failed, we still have Number Four. I'll take special care with her."
Zhou Gu had finished washing his hands and was drying them with a white towel. His movements slowed at Li Ban's words.
"This makes three failures now."
He exhaled heavily.
"We had two successes before. But nothing since."
Seeing Zhou Gu's frustration wasn't directed at him yet, Li Ban relaxed slightly.
But if failures continued, he'd inevitably become the scapegoat.
"Sir, do you recall the circumstances of those two successes? How many feedings? What intervals? The prisoners' reactions?"
Zhou Gu answered somewhat awkwardly, "This must be done discreetly. I could only feed eggs when opportunity allowed. Intervals varied, and I couldn't stay to observe."
He turned to Li Ban, suddenly defensive.
"That's why I'm entrusting this to you. You're assigned to the second level - no one will question your presence there."
Zhou Gu admitted his cultivation knowledge was limited:
Feed every five to ten days
Five to seven eggs per feeding
Minimum three feedings before results appear
If no new tongue forms after five feedings, abandon that subject
No other guidelines existed.
That Zhou Gu had achieved two successes through such haphazard methods was remarkable.
These instructions couldn't be written down. Li Ban mentally repeated them until certain of memorization.
Zhou Gu then produced a wine jar and placed it before Li Ban.
"A failed tongue specimen. Study its properties, then dispose of it properly - either minced into gruel or burned and buried. If anyone sees this, I'll cut out your tongue."
Threats from Zhou Gu had become routine for Li Ban.
He accepted the jar with little fear now, peeking inside before quickly resealing it.
"Understood, sir. I'll handle it appropriately."
After the threat came the carrot.
"Apply yourself to this. Ten silver taels per success."
Li Ban didn't hide his eagerness. "Thank you, sir. I won't disappoint you."
Tucking the jar into his robes, he cleaned the bloodied floor before leaving.
Li Ban went straight to the menial quarters without stopping, entering his bedroom and shutting the door.
He reopened Zhou Gu's jar.
A shriveled grayish tongue lay at the bottom.
Simultaneously, his mission assistance system activated:
[Detected waste element: Misleader. Non-fusible. Absorbable. Absorb?]
The Witch World had no official classification for "waste elements" - the term denoted useless elements.
Extracting elements from corpses was notoriously difficult.
Rumor claimed Eternal Tower possessed methods to improve extraction rates.
Of the few extractable elements, most became non-fusible waste.
This was Eternal Tower's closely guarded secret - outsiders could only rely on luck.
Li Ban knew what waste elements were, but "absorption"?
Neither the cat-woman nor anyone else had mentioned elements being absorbable rather than just fusible.
Unaware of this previously, he couldn't have asked during his last lab visit.
Yet his system clearly stated absorption was possible.
Should he try?
"Will absorption kill me?" Li Ban mentally asked the system.
No response.
Gritting his teeth, Li Ban decided: "Absorb!"
[Absorbing waste element "Misleader"... Absorption complete.]
That's it?
Li Ban scratched his chin.
He felt... nothing?
Looking down, the tongue had vanished from the jar.
Suddenly, his expression changed. He hurriedly sat on his bed and closed his eyes.
Two seconds later, they snapped open, filled with elation.
Spiritual essence!
Absorbing waste elements increased spiritual essence!
Li Ban's spiritual essence had jumped from roughly 45% to nearly 80%!
This single absorption saved him three months of cultivation!
He nearly rushed out immediately to ask Zhou Gu if those two other failed tongues still existed!