Li Ban's palms were slightly damp.
Even though he had unexpectedly obtained a fine-tier element yesterday, who would complain about having too many?
It just felt a bit surreal.
He wiped his palms on his shirt hem before accepting the box from Zhou Gu with both hands.
He opened it eagerly, revealing a silver, thumb-sized bird resting quietly inside.
The tiny silver bird was exquisitely carved with a pointed beak. Every feather was textured so clearly it looked ready to take flight.
However, its head and claws bore scratches about as thick as a fingernail, suggesting it was slightly damaged.
"This is... an element?"
"It's an element, the Silver Kingfisher. It's a... mortal-grade creation-type element."
If Zhou Gu had offered him a fine-tier element after successfully fusing his own, Li Ban might have dared to accept it.
But if Zhou Gu handed him a fine-tier element before successfully fusing his third element, Li Ban could only assume the man was setting him up again.
"Thank you for the reward, sir," Li Ban said, accepting the Silver Kingfisher with a bright smile.
He knew that by accepting this mortal-grade element, the fine-tier element Zhou Gu had promised him was completely off the table.
Even so, he wasn't too disappointed.
He had always known the promise of a fine-tier element was mostly empty.
He had merely offered Zhou Gu some advice; he hadn't actually helped him succeed in his fusion.
Promises were easy to make but hard to fulfill.
Now that Zhou Gu had a chance at a successful fusion, his previous impatience had vanished. Calm once more, he undoubtedly felt that since Li Ban had only offered a few insignificant suggestions, there was no reason to give him a fine-tier element.
Giving him a mortal-grade one was generous enough.
Seeing Li Ban accept the Silver Kingfisher with a beaming smile, Zhou Gu knew the matter was settled.
Even if Li Ban wasn't truly satisfied, he had to swallow his dissatisfaction in front of Zhou Gu.
Zhou Gu's thoughts were exactly as Li Ban had predicted.
When you actually had a hundred coins, you couldn't bear to give them away.
"Alright, you can go. Work hard, and there will still be opportunities for promotion in the future."
Ultimately, Li Ban's current identity was simply too low.
A 1st Tier handyman had no right to speak in front of a 3rd Tier.
After all, the Death Prison still had Wang Hua, a 1st Tier handyman who had been working there for decades.
Though Zhou Gu said Li Ban had a chance at promotion, he didn't actually believe it.
Li Ban had been a handyman for less than half a year. Ahead of him were the much more senior Wang Hua, as well as Lu Qinghe, who relied on Chief Du's backing.
Even Gu Yueqi, who had recently become a handyman, was very close to Liu Mu and was often taken outside. Since Liu Mu was Zhang Baishan's man, Gu Yueqi could be considered part of the core faction in the Yu Province Death Prison.
With that in mind, the other three handymen all had a higher chance of promotion than Li Ban.
For someone like Li Ban with no backing or background, the best outcome would be to end up like Wang Hua, serving as a handyman for decades.
It simply wasn't worth Zhou Gu wasting precious resources to help him.
Li Ban didn't even need to look up to know what Zhou Gu thought of him.
He didn't want a high profile right now anyway.
Regardless of what others thought, the elements in his body were increasing, his spiritual rhinoceros was growing, and his strength was steadily improving.
Li Ban carried the Silver Kingfisher back to his room and carefully put the box away, pretending the element was still inside.
"Extract the element Silver Kingfisher, but do not fuse it."
[Mortal-grade creation-type element "Silver Kingfisher" has been extracted.]
Sure enough, as long as an element belonged entirely to him, the system could extract it effortlessly.
Storing an element in the system was much safer than hiding it in the handymen's quarters.
If Zhou Gu ever asked about it, he could just take out the Silver Kingfisher and say he had hidden it elsewhere.
...
Recently, Tree-Person B had been in a bad mood and had found an excuse to eat two slaves.
After Chief Du An left, Liu Mu specifically sought out Tree-Person B.
"While Chief Du is away from the Death Prison, don't pull any more stunts. It's inconvenient for us to go to the Black Market or White Market to buy slaves right now."
Tree-Person B, seemingly satisfied from his meals, agreed without hesitation.
The matter with Tree-Person A seemed to have passed, and for the last couple of days, Tree-Person B had been wearing that "hehehe" grin on his face again.
Seeing that Tree-Person B had finally come around, Liu Mu breathed a sigh of relief.
He had been truly terrified that Tree-Person B would keep his sights fixed on Gu Yueqi.
That would ruin... their plans.
The next day, Chief Du An hit the road with Lu Qinghe.
Following the chief warden's departure, the Death Prison wasn't officially locked down, but everyone consciously reduced how often they went outside.
After seven or eight dull days, Li Ban, who had been obediently cultivating all the while, finally took off his bandages.
Most of his wounds had already scabbed over. It looked like they wouldn't leave any scars once fully healed.
He could only attribute it to his cultivated body having a much stronger capacity for recovery.
Just as he removed the bandages, he received some news.
Zhou Gu and Huo Jiang had swapped shifts.
Huo Jiang was taking one shift for him, and Zhou Gu would pay it back later.
After that, Zhou Gu locked himself in his room.
Hearing this, Li Ban instantly understood.
Zhou Gu couldn't hold back.
Perhaps Zhou Gu saw how peaceful the Death Prison had been recently and managed to adjust his mental state. Driven by tension and anxiety, he simply couldn't wait until Chief Du returned.
He was going to take this chance to fuse his third element.
Li Ban smiled at Wang Hua, who had delivered the news. "Alright, then I won't bother Officer Zhou for the next couple of days."
Wang Hua vaguely sensed that Zhou Gu was about to do something major, so he had come to feel out Li Ban, Zhou Gu's "confidant," for any clues.
But Li Ban didn't reveal a thing. Snubbed, Wang Hua walked away rather displeased.
Li Ban didn't care whether Zhou Gu succeeded in his fusion or not.
The man clearly wasn't a reliable backer.
Li Ban was just glad that regardless of Zhou Gu's success or failure this time, he wouldn't have to risk feeding those green insect eggs to the prisoners anymore.
This matter wasn't exactly huge, but it wasn't trivial either.
It all came down to the same old principle: whether his superiors intended to pursue it.
If the higher-ups really wanted to hand out punishments, a lowly peon like Li Ban would absolutely not escape.
His only regret was that he no longer had waste elements to boost his cultivation progress.
However...
Back in his bedroom, Li Ban lay down on his bed, only to sit right back up.
Although he had stopped feeding the eggs, it hadn't actually been that long. That other prisoner brought down from the first floor should have already grown a second tongue by now, even if it wasn't fully mature yet.
If he cut that tongue off, would he be able to obtain a waste element?
Li Ban really wasn't lacking in elements right now, but he was seriously short on "experience packs"!
At that thought, he desperately wanted to run to the Second Floor of the Death Prison and test it out.
But he had already gone down to the Second Level once today to check on the prisoners' statuses. Going back again would seem too abrupt.
"I can't be as impatient as Zhou Gu."
Li Ban closed his eyes. Forcing them to stay shut, he settled his mind and sank into the vast Star River.
After lunch the next day, Li Ban went to patrol the Second Level as usual, taking the opportunity to clean up a bit while he was at it.
Passing by Number Ten's cell, Li Ban looked at the inmate lying weakly near the bars and slowly approached.
"Hey, are you dead?"
The prisoner, whom Li Ban had poked with a broom, weakly opened his eyes before quickly shutting them again.
Li Ban acted as if he hadn't seen a thing. "He's not actually dead, is he?"
He stepped closer to the bars and pulled the man closer still.
The prisoner didn't react in the slightest.
His body merely flinched instinctively.
Mimicking Zhou Gu's manner, Li Ban checked the prisoner's vital signs.
Most importantly, he pried open the prisoner's mouth. After glancing left and right to ensure no one was watching, he swiftly sliced off the second tongue, which hadn't even grown to a centimeter long.
Number Ten twitched in agony as fresh blood welled up.
Frowning, Li Ban smeared a little medicine on the wound.
It was the leftover ointment from his own injuries.
The medicine meant for Spirit Practitioners was quite effective, quickly stopping the bleeding.
Number Ten opened his eyes once more, looking at Li Ban with a trace of confusion in his gaze.
Li Ban said nothing.
Leaving any words behind would just become a vulnerability used against him.
As for the gratitude in the other man's eyes...
The growth of that second tongue was incredibly painful for the prisoners.
The fact that Li Ban was willing to cut it off right now, regardless of his motives, brought the man immense relief.
Li Ban took the severed tongue, scurried into a corner, and waited for the system's confirmation.
[Discovered waste element "Delusion". Cannot be fused. Absorb?]
"Yes!"
Li Ban whispered excitedly.
Whoosh!
Like riding a rocket, the spiritual rhinoceros capacity of his second element instantly surged to 30%.
"Huh? It didn't even reach forty?" Li Ban was slightly surprised, but then realization dawned. "It must be because it hasn't fully matured yet."
It seemed that different waste elements provided varying amounts of spiritual rhinoceros.
This was an underdeveloped waste element.
Li Ban sighed inwardly.
Suddenly, a massive boom shattered the Death Prison's days of tranquility.
Immediately following that, a loud, piercing whistle rang out.
Li Ban instantly jerked his head up toward the first floor.
That was... the warning whistle for an enemy attack!