Chapter 117

Shen Yue and Ma Sha sat on the elevator and pressed the button for the first floor.

Shen Yue thought for a bit and also pressed the button for the fourth floor, realizing the elevator could reach it. However, when she tried the thirty-fifth floor, it wouldn't work.

Ma Sha saw Shen Yue's actions and explained from the side, "The elevator can go freely from higher floors to lower floors, but to go from lower floors to higher floors requires iris identification or temporary access granted by someone on a higher floor. However, all temporary access will be recorded and passed along to the guards."

Shen Yue asked, "Can the guards access every floor?"

Ma Sha shook her head. "The guards can only access the floors where their assigned inmates reside. Oh right, what's your guard's name?"

Hearing this question, Shen Yue realized the guard who had brought her here hadn't told her his name at all, only saying he was Guard No. 14.

Number 14...how unlucky.

"He said he was Guard No. 14," Shen Yue replied.

Ma Sha didn't seem surprised by this title. "Mine is Guard No. 4. What a coincidence that even our guard numbers are similar."

But Shen Yue fell silent. According to superstition, neither 4 nor 14 were lucky numbers.

As the two chatted, the elevator arrived at the fourth floor. When the doors opened, the people outside were clearly startled for a moment before making an inviting gesture.

Ma Sha understood, immediately closing the elevator door while explaining to Shen Yue, "People from different floors generally can't move together, otherwise the guards will report it outside."

"What happens if it's reported outside?"

"You should have seen the manual already. The criteria for living in Tower 1 is Value. Your value is determined by those outside people. If you do something you shouldn't and displease those outside, your value will decrease." Shen Yue vaguely understood something, but this was still only one side of the story. She would have to see for herself what the actual situation was.

"If people can't move together, then why were there people from the first floor coming up to use the bathroom?"

When Ma Sha heard Shen Yue's question, she froze momentarily before laughing. "I don't really mind those things. The people from Tower 1 have it hard enough already. If it bothers you I won't let them come up anymore from now on."

Shen Yue nodded. "Yeah, then don't let them come up. I don't like it."

Ma Sha clearly hadn't expected such a blunt response from Shen Yue. Shocked, she said, "You really are honest."

It was matter-of-fact to Shen Yue. "No need to lie."

If she didn't like something, then she just didn't like it. She didn't want to humor anyone anymore.

Ma Sha smiled and seemed about to reach out to pat Shen Yue's head, but upon meeting Shen Yue's gaze she silently retracted her hand. "You're still just a child... Come with me to the cafeteria, I can protect you there."

Calling Ma Sha's figure "slender" would be no exaggeration. Although curvy, her body didn't give off an impression of strength. Now wearing an oversized T-shirt, she seemed even more delicate. Hearing words like "protect" coming from her mouth felt utterly unconvincing.

But after the two left the private area of Tower 1, Shen Yue understood what Ma Sha had meant by protection.

Standing side by side right outside the private area were six people - men and women with all different body types, appearances, and skin colors. The only similarity was their uniforms marked clearly on both front and back with the number 2.

Seeing Ma Sha approach, they immediately greeted, "Your Highness, good afternoon."

Ma Sha smiled at them while wearing slippers and walked into their midst, cheerfully replying, "Good afternoon. Today my life is in your hands once again!"

Then she turned to glance at Shen Yue, who seemed to be observing, and added, "I'll be counting on you guys to keep little Shen Yue safe too."

"Yes ma'am!"

For a moment, Shen Yue saw in Ma Sha and the inmates before her vestiges of a princess and her knights.

Tower 2 was an annex of Tower 1. All the floors existed for Tower 1's sake.

"Let's go, little Shen Yue. To the cafeteria." Flightless Bird had three cafeterias total built near Tower 1 for convenience. It took Shen Yue and Ma Sha less than five minutes to arrive.

Ma Sha hardly spoke at all on the way over, flanked by her six bodyguard escorts and exuding an imposing aura.

She made straight for the centermost table and sat down. Shen Yue followed suit, sitting beside her.

As for Ma Sha's entourage from Tower 2, they took seats at the table next to them, occupying every corner.

There was a menu and service bell on the table. Ma Sha passed Shen Yue the menu to order.

But Shen Yue didn't take it. She simply said, "I'll have what you're having."

When unsure what the cafeteria served, going wrong with the princess' order seemed unlikely.

Ma Sha didn't say anything. She directly pressed the service bell and started ordering. "One serving of everything except seafood please."

Then she turned to Shen Yue, apparently to explain. "For your first prison meal it's best to try all the options to learn your preferences. By the way, what kinds of flavors did you like to eat before?"

Before? Shen Yue thought for a moment. She didn't seem to have ever considered what she herself liked.

She only knew what Shang Junyu liked, what her parents liked, and...what her sister liked.

But her sister didn't have favorite foods. She considered all food equally unappetizing.

"I'll eat anything. As long as it doesn't kill me," said Shen Yue. Her sole goal now was to stay alive until the time she was fated to die arrived.

Hearing Shen Yue's words, Ma Sha laughed softly. "You really are interesting. Don't worry, as important merchandise you and I are assets to the prison, so they definitely won't let us starve. We just have to watch out for the other inmates."

As they were speaking, a sudden commotion erupted not too far away in the cafeteria - the shattering of plates mixed with human shrieks continuously entered Shen Yue's ears.

She looked up. Not far away, a man was kneeling on the ground with his hands bound behind his back. Right in front of the kneeling man was another man, also kneeling, but unrestrained.

So it was the unrestrained, kneeling man ceaselessly pounding the bound one with plates. Some onlookers stood nearby, but they were positioned such that their presence didn't obstruct the view from Shen Yue and Ma Sha's angle at all - it was as if deliberately done for viewing purposes.

As Shen Yue shifted slightly, Ma Sha immediately spoke up. "I advise you not to go over there and interfere. In this place, don't casually try to help those weaker than you out of good intentions, because that will only bring them greater misfortune." Ma Sha had kept a close eye on Shen Yue's movements. New high-level inmates in Tower 1 often had some naivete initially and would even step in trying to stop incidents like this upon witnessing them. Ma Sha had seen plenty of cases.

So when she noticed Shen Yue's motion, she directly warned against it.

Yet Shen Yue paid her no heed, wriggling her feet, then wriggling them some more before clarifying, "My ankles were a little itchy. I'm scratching them."