At this moment.
「In the backyard.」
Huo Zhanting stood before a massive iron cage.
Inside, a Silver Giant Wolf, three to four meters tall, was thrashing and tearing at itself, letting out one agonized howl after another. Blood dripped intermittently from its self-inflicted wounds.
This creature, like a maddened wolf, was none other than the Empire's Genius Lieutenant General, the pride of the commoners, Su Xingye.
This was the scene that greeted Yu Lan as she rushed over with the matched soothing agent.
The commotion she made alerted the Silver Wolf in the cage. It whipped its head around, its massive head glaring viciously at Yu Lan.
Its deep green eyes held a chilling killing intent.
The moment it saw Yu Lan, it was as if the very air began to heat up, growing scorching and agitated.
The giant wolf lunged madly toward her, sending the high-grade steel cage clanging with a tremendous noise.
Terrified, Yu Lan stumbled back several steps, nearly collapsing onto the ground.
She had no doubt that if not for the cage, the giant wolf, having lost its mind to a berserk rage, would have charged and ripped her throat out.
Suppressing the tremor in her heart, Yu Lan shakily walked up to Huo Zhanting and held out a small hand. In it was a vial of dark blue liquid.
"The… the soothing agent."
"If we give it to him now, will it still work?"
"I… when I first bought it, the seller said the induction agent wouldn't take effect this quickly."
Yu Lan gazed at Huo Zhanting's cold, sharp profile and explained incoherently.
'She really couldn't understand it.'
'Even in the original plot, Su Xingye wasn't supposed to have a mental breakdown so quickly from not being soothed.'
'But now she was the one facing this scene.'
Yu Lan's heart clenched tight.
Before Huo Zhanting could speak, the surrounding guards watching the scene huddled together and whispered amongst themselves.
"What's the use of bringing out the soothing agent now? Major General Su has already transformed into his beast form."
"The end result is that he'll completely lose his mind and become a wild beast."
"But someone as proud as Major General Su might just end his own life before he loses his sanity completely."
"Actually, there is still a way."
One of the guards spoke up. "If the soothing agent is injected within five minutes of the transformation, it can still work."
"But in his beast form, a male beast's territorial instincts are extremely strong. Other than a female, anyone who goes in will be bitten to death."
"None of us can get close to him right now."
"It's too late to find a female now. Besides, no delicate and precious female would be willing to risk her life to go in and inject Major General Su with the soothing agent."
"What a waste of Major General Su's rare SSS-level talent, for it to come to this."
The guards didn't lower their voices.
Perhaps they were speaking out of a sense of injustice on Su Xingye's behalf.
Yu Lan listened to the entire exchange. She looked at Su Xingye, who was still roaring madly in the cage, drool dripping from his sharp fangs. Her face instantly paled, and the hand holding the soothing agent trembled.
Seeing this, a flash of undisguised mockery crossed Huo Zhanting's golden eyes.
Yu Lan saw it clearly, and her face immediately flushed red.
'In Huo Zhanting's eyes, she was the culprit behind all of this. She couldn't exactly tell everyone that a different soul was now in her body, that she hadn't done anything.'
In the next second, Yu Lan looked at Su Xingye. He was ramming himself against the bars in agony, slamming his head against the cage again and again, his once sleek, silver-white fur now a dirty, tangled mess.
She pressed her lips together, summoned her courage, and spoke:
"I'll go!"
"This happened because of me. I'm willing to go in and inject Su Xingye with the soothing agent."
"You're willing to go?"
Huo Zhanting gave Yu Lan a smirk that wasn't a smirk, his golden eyes filled with distrust.
But the more he distrusted her, the calmer she became under his gaze. She took two deep breaths to steel herself.
"I'm willing to go. Besides, there's no time to find another female."
"Didn't you say that male beasts are naturally unable to harm females? If I try, it should be fine, right?"
Yu Lan probed quietly.
Huo Zhanting didn't answer. His beast-like golden eyes looked down at the cage. He lifted his chin, and his cold, merciless voice rang out.
"Open the cage. Let her in."
"Marshal!" a guard instantly cried out in alarm.
"She's…"
Yu Lan was a princess, after all. Even if she was now a useless female with no Healing Power, she was still a princess.
If the Queen found out she had been sent into such a dangerous place…!
Besides, the rule that male beasts don't harm females only applied to ordinary male beasts.
When an Advanced male beast went berserk, only a female of the same Level could soothe them.
And Major General Su was an SSS-level male beast.
Huo Zhanting's expression darkened instantly. His voice rang out, as cold and dark as ink.
"Open the cage. Let her in."
"Yes, sir!"
A few guards apprehensively approached the cage and opened a small door on the side.
It was only large enough for a person to pass through; for Su Xingye in his current beast form, it would only serve to keep him trapped inside.
The closer she got to that door, the faster and more frantically Yu Lan's heart beat.
A dense layer of sweat had already formed on the palm holding the soothing agent.
At that moment, the giant Silver Wolf in the cage seemed to sense someone approaching.
It lay at the cage entrance, its deep green eyes fixed on Yu Lan's approaching figure, heavy breaths snorting from its nostrils.
Each breath was heavier than the last, seeming to puff against Yu Lan's own heart, making it beat faster and faster.
Yu Lan chanted silently in her mind: 'Male beasts don't harm females. I'm not scared. I'm not scared. I'm not scared at all.'
Standing not far away, Huo Zhanting's golden eyes were fixed on Yu Lan's slender figure as she was about to step into the cage.
'She's the culprit who caused all this,' he thought with no small amount of cruelty. 'If she saves Su Xingye, we'll consider the matter dropped.'
'If she can't, and she dies here, then she deserves it!'
Under everyone's gaze, Yu Lan drew closer and closer to the iron door.
The Silver Giant Wolf's snorts grew heavier. Its rough tongue flicked idly over its sharp fangs, its forelegs were planted on the ground, and its back was slightly arched—a clear sign of an impending attack.
Only Yu Lan, who had never owned a dog, let alone a wolf, had no idea what this meant.
The moment her foot crossed the threshold and she stepped fully inside, the Silver Giant Wolf let out a deafening howl that shook the heavens, bared its fangs, and lunged straight for Yu Lan.
"Ah!"
Yu Lan let out a terrified scream.
All the guards on the scene squeezed their eyes shut, unable to watch.
'So fragrant!'
'So fragrant!'
'It smells so good!'
From the moment Yu Lan appeared, Su Xingye's wet nose had been twitching madly, his instincts screaming for him to get closer to her, to press against her, to devour her in one bite.
But the specially made high-grade steel cage blocked his path.
When he saw Yu Lan approaching him, the wolf grew impossibly excited.
'Closer.'
'Finally, she's closer.'
His jaws gaped wide, as if he could swallow Yu Lan whole, the tips of his sharp fangs glinting.
'But…'
'Looking at her up close…'
Reflected in those deep green, cold, and ruthless beast eyes was Yu Lan's beautiful, delicate face.
A palm-sized face, thick black hair like seaweed, a perfectly sloped nose, and rosy lips. Right now, her eyelashes were shut tight in fear, fluttering like a butterfly's wings.
Her body was slender and frail; he could pin her with a single paw.
'Weak, beautiful, fragrant—a female.'
The Silver Wolf changed its mind.
The next second, a rough, barbed tongue shot out and quickly licked Yu Lan's face.