If the cat-woman wanted to die, she didn't need Li Ban's iron hook - her own claws could tear open her throat.
But if she became a prisoner on the second level and ate that poisonous gruel-like substance, she would eventually turn into a pile of rotten flesh too.
What Li Ban promised was this: when the time came that nothing could be done, if the cat-woman wanted release, he would help her.
After the two prisoners from the first level moved to the second, Li Ban kept a low profile, focusing solely on growing tongues for Zhou Gu and barely participating in anything else.
His daily routine consisted of cultivation, work, tongue-growing, and tongue research.
Thanks to the second tongue Zhou Gu had thrown his way to process, Li Ban's first element had reached full spiritual essence capacity.
The only pity was that the wasted elements' excess spiritual essence didn't automatically transfer to the second element.
Instead, it simply disappeared somewhere.
According to energy conservation principles, the excess spiritual essence should have either been expelled from his body or remained inside him.
The loss of over ten percent spiritual essence made Li Ban smack his own thigh in frustration.
He resolved never to absorb wasted elements when nearing full spiritual essence capacity again.
What a waste!
After nearly a month of additional cultivation, Li Ban's second element had also accumulated just over ten percent spiritual essence.
Then he finally witnessed the maturation of the third tongue.
This time, however, the situation differed completely from the previous two instances.
The new prisoner who had been moved down and placed in cell number one... didn't die!
It was Zhou Gu who discovered the tongue's maturation.
Ever since finding new hope, he occasionally came to check on the tongue's progress.
So after examining Prisoner One this particular day, Zhou Gu called over Li Ban, who had been keeping watch nearby, barely containing his excitement.
"Li Ban, come here."
Li Ban jogged over. "Sir?"
"This man..." Zhou Gu stood up, suppressing his delight, "...should die."
"But... given his physical condition, he might not die anytime soon."
Zhou Gu turned to stare at Li Ban.
Li Ban instinctively shrunk his neck.
"I'll handle it. You just keep working as usual."
In the end, Zhou Gu didn't assign this task to Li Ban.
He needed Li Ban to remain safely on the second level - not get punished or transferred over such a trivial matter.
Li Ban successfully dodged the trouble.
On the third day, while distributing food, he discovered Prisoner One's corpse.
After quickly distributing food to the others, he turned to find Liu Mu.
But Liu Mu wasn't available, so he had to seek out Tree-Person B instead.
"Another death? So soon?" Since Tree-Person A's death, Tree-Person B's temper had worsened, and now he eyed Li Ban with suspicion.
"Officer B, I only discovered it this morning during food distribution. He probably died last night."
Li Ban had no idea what Zhou Gu had done, but his best move was to act completely uninvolved.
Tree-Person B remained unconvinced.
"You, bring the body and come with me."
To Li Ban's surprise, Tree-Person B led him straight to Zhang Baishan.
Zhang Baishan had been cultivating in his quarters.
Seeing Tree-Person B and Li Ban standing outside with a body bag, he frowned but allowed them entry.
"What's the problem?"
Normally, bodies went straight to Zhou Gu.
"Officer Zhang, another second-level prisoner has died - a recent transfer. I suspect foul play. Would you examine him?"
Li Ban kept his head lowered.
Tree-Person B had watched him too closely during the walk over to notify Zhou Gu, but when passing Zhou Gu's door, he had adjusted the slipping body bag.
If Zhou Gu was inside, he might notice their passing.
"Set the body down first," Zhang Baishan instructed.
Li Ban quickly complied, even helpfully opening the body bag.
He didn't know whether Zhang Baishan would inspect the tongue.
The newly grown tongue was small and hidden beneath the original tongue - unnoticeable unless someone looked carefully.
As for the green insect eggs, they'd disappeared after three days.
This was precisely why Zhou Gu had chosen to act after three days.
When the body bag opened, the room immediately filled with blood and decay odors.
Zhang Baishan produced a handkerchief to cover his nose.
Unaccustomed to handling corpses, he used his scabbard to nudge the head and limbs.
Prisoner One had been the mentally disturbed man from the first level.
After moving down, he'd often cried and raved, but always ate heartily - never refusing even the green insect eggs.
Though the meals caused him agony, by the next feeding he'd forgotten the pain and devoured everything again.
Thus his corpse appeared merely emaciated, not yet fully decomposed.
After a brief examination, Zhang Baishan stood and tossed his handkerchief into the body bag.
"Overate." He looked at Li Ban. "Did you feed him extra?"
Damn. Zhou Gu had set him up.
Li Ban's jaw dropped before he hastily explained, "N-no sir! Everyone gets three spoonfuls - exactly as Officer A instructed. I've always followed the rules strictly."
Tree-Person B glared darkly. "Are you trying to reduce your workload by killing prisoners?"
Li Ban's mind raced. "Perhaps the officers could examine other second-level prisoners? See if any received less food?"
"What's this attitude?" Tree-Person B raised his arm threateningly.
"Enough." Zhang Baishan raised a hand. "I haven't concluded anything yet."
"Of course. I acted rashly, sir." Tree-Person B showed far more respect to Zhang Baishan than to Zhou Gu.
Zhang Baishan turned back to Li Ban. "Just asking. If no extra food was given, then the prisoner simply couldn't tolerate the toxins. He'd been on the second level... about a month?"
Li Ban nodded vigorously.
"No other wounds on him." Zhang Baishan delivered his verdict. "Take him straight to Zhou... to Zhou Gu."
"Yes sir." Li Ban quickly bundled the corpse and carried it to Zhou Gu's room.
After Li Ban left, Tree-Person B grumbled, "Sir, too many second-level prisoners have died recently. It's abnormal. And this one hadn't eaten the gruel long enough - might not meet Officer Du's requirements."
Zhang Baishan lit incense to dispel the stench.
"Officer Du hasn't intervened so far. Only he can authorize any investigation."
When Tree-Person B seemed ready to argue further, Zhang Baishan snapped, "What would arresting a menial worker accomplish? The replacement would produce identical results."
Only then did Tree-Person B grumble, "True. Killing a menial worker would just mean getting a new one."
This displeased Zhang Baishan.
Even after mentioning Officer Du, Tree-Person B kept complaining.
Though tree-person jailers lacked complex political connections, their stubbornness made them troublesome.
"Return to your duties. Don't you have work to do?"
As Tree-Person B left, he spotted Li Ban exiting Zhou Gu's room with the body.
"Officer Zhou finished his examination already? No issues found?"
Li Ban smiled at Tree-Person B. "Officer Zhou said since Officer Zhang already examined him, a second inspection wasn't necessary."
Tree-Person B stormed off, his branch arm smacking the ground with a sharp "crack."