"Since you’re already here, won’t you meet her? She was quite worried when she saw you were hurt." 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

"Forget it, we stand on different grounds, meeting her will only add to the trouble."

Brother Lei sighed, a touch of helplessness in his breath.

A soldier is a soldier and a thief is a thief; meeting in private would clearly violate discipline.

If it goes unreported, it’s dereliction of duty, and while reporting it might not do much good, it damages relationships and always reflects negatively on one’s public service.

After considering it, it was indeed better not to meet.

Lu Ping’an? It was hard to say whether he was a soldier or a thief; his moral and legal baseline was too flexible. Right now, he really didn’t care either way.

"Hiss, hiss!"

Lei Huoren left as if he had never been there, but the hostility was at full throttle from the little snake in the cage he handed over.

"Ouch, Didirona, we haven’t seen each other in a while. Why the long face?" Lu Ping’an didn’t indulge her, immediately starting with a taunt.

"Mortal..." Didirona, not getting the joke, was somewhat upset.

But the next moment, she bared her fangs and claws, instinctively trying to intimidate.

"I am Lu Ping’an, your Master now; better remember that."

Lu Ping’an smiled, bowing his head, teasing the little snake.

At the previous inquiry, he hadn’t lied; the Abyss Lord/the Snake King Didirona was indeed finished, and the myriad of snakes that split from her were destined to devour until the end of everything.

"If she were truly rational, she would have split off a part of herself early on and spread it everywhere, attempting to plant the seeds of a potential resurgence."

"As long as she reacted quickly enough to deny herself as Didirona, deny she was the snake, she might avoid the dire fate of being devoured by the myriad of snakes."

Lu Ping’an had realized this possibility, but he also knew it was tantamount to ’denying’ everything about herself.

If not the snake, and not a ’fragment’ of Didirona, what else could it be?

The little one before him, was she a clone? Or a part of her? To Lu Ping’an, there was no essential difference.

As long as it was certain she couldn’t rise again anytime soon, Lu Ping’an had ways to handle her... in his "Cage," even Didirona at her peak was not the most dangerous.

"Leave it to me, I’ll teach her some etiquette for prisoners..."

The most dangerous one, dressed as a nun, came over with a smile.

Every time a new resident appeared in the "Courtyard," it was the time Chris smiled the happiest.

"Alright, alright, just don’t play her to death."

In this regard, Lu Ping’an was quite at ease.

No matter what, she was still once an Abyss Lord, even if she no longer had the power to rise anew... she might still possess the wealth to do so.

If all else fails, being a descendant of the one-eyed Duke’s bloodline, contributing to the zoo, maybe breeding, has its uses.

"...Or maybe, go to Changping Zoo and buy some of Didirona’s descendants, get more males, and lock her up with them to see what happens?"

Lu Ping’an’s casual muttering instantly petrified the snake with fright.

Don’t go overboard when killing, for Didirona, who had human aesthetics and dignity, this was probably more tragic than being killed outright... Imagine what it feels like for a man to be locked up in a cage of female gorillas in heat.

Chris nodded at Lu Ping’an with a smile, thinking that his vicious banter actually worked, as such intimidation would be very helpful for her upcoming work.

"...Hello, Changping Zoo? Do you sell snakes in your Snake Museum?"

But the next moment, Chris was a bit stunned, as she hadn’t expected Lu Ping’an to be serious.

"...Let’s wait a few days, who knows, she might have other uses." Chris stopped Lu Ping’an, but not because she couldn’t stand it anymore....

"Your method of randomly picking some snakes is very amateurish, a complete waste of her bloodline....when I’m free, I’ll arrange a list of quality snake species for you to purchase some common ones, and then use connections to acquire some from exotic species."

This time, Didirona, trying hard to feign death, finally couldn’t contain herself; even the tip of her tail stiffened.

"Alright, alright, I trust you with this. If things don’t work out, making Dragon and Tiger Fight (a famous dish) isn’t a bad idea either."

The two, filled with malevolence, completed their exchange without casting a single glance at the beleaguered Snake King throughout.

"Mortal... Lu Ping’an, do you think these kinds of threats can intimidate me? Within the Abyss, torment is an art form, what do you lot amount to in comparison?"

The two exchanged looks, then smiled without taking seriously the little snake’s pretense of defiance.

Their behavior wasn’t actually meant as intimidation for the upcoming "coercion"; they were genuinely considering her remaining value.

If she couldn’t provide "value", then she would simply be an item of considerable rarity, a material to be digested if possible by the Beast Taming Path, or, if not possible, to be handed over to the "Chef".

As for whether she had value or was willing to cooperate, it made no difference to Chris who had countless methods to extract her secrets... If there were secrets to be had, naturally, that would be good; if not, well, consider it a bonus meal.

"Meow."

"Sorry, I can’t feed you just yet."

The least friendly to Didirona was actually Ah Jiu, who salivated at the sight of her.

Instinctively, she felt that the small snake Didirona had transformed into was an extremely valuable source of nutrition, one that could immediately initiate her next evolution if she could devour it.

Lu Ping’an rejected the idea with a smile, deciding to rear her for a while longer first.

If he wasn’t mistaken, this snake held exceptionally precious inheritance... such as the "King’s Right of the Abyss", secrets of the "Throne of Scales", and countless confidential reports and resource maps of the seven layers of the Abyss.

And these treasures... even if just copies of the "Abyss Lord-level Knowledge of the Abyss", were what Lu Ping’an currently needed most urgently.

The reason was actually quite simple...

"The Life Encyclopedia and the Abyss Beheading Sword have both gained obvious Abyss Transformation abilities; they need a bit of this kind of boost, as does Zhi Xi..."

Lu Ping’an’s Life Encyclopedia had evolved from the Quasi-rule level to the Rule-level, and naturally hadn’t just acquired a new "self-programming" ability.

"The Chapter of Enslavement, the Chapter of Creation, and the Chapter of Evolution, right..."

The originally open-ended Codex had been split into three parts.

And the "Chapter of Enslavement", which is to control beasts, this time included five "Cages"... Lu Ping’an calculated his current stock and needs, and it seemed for the time being there was no need for considering another Beast Tamer.

Zhi Xi’s evolution and cultivation were progressing rapidly, the stability of Ah Jiu’s evolution was still uncertain, and Little Flame was in urgent need of the next promotion adjustment... the current "Beastmasters" were insatiable, so new taming could wait a bit.

The Chapter of Enslavement also saw an increase in some commonly used and practical Beastmaster’s controlling abilities, no longer limited to the previous simple choice of "life or death".

And Lu Ping’an noticed that the Chapter of Enslavement now included properties for use on "non-self-tamed beasts"... This actually filled Lu Ping’an’s most obvious gap in the Beast Taming Path, where he could now truly step out as a pretender big boss of the Tamer’s Path.

However, these gains paled in comparison to the real treasures... The most crucial part was the new content that emerged in the final Chapter of Evolution.

[Chapter of Evolution: This module allows for reprogramming ’life forms’.]

This meant that Lu Ping’an could attempt to directly evolve his magic pets.

And the first such ability was precisely what Lu Ping’an had just experienced...

[Abyss Transformation (Mortal - Upper Silver): Enables stable and safe on-par Abyss Transformation of living beings, giving the majority of Abyss Properties and, depending on the material added, additional Abyss Properties and abilities.]

Honestly, if Didirona truly refused to cooperate, the likelihood of her being used as food was slim, yet the possibility of her being used as a material for synthesis was quite substantial.

It was also in the final Chapter of Evolution that Lu Ping’an acquired his own page, capable of bearing the properties and abilities of his magic pets.

But there was another new function that left Lu Ping’an pondering for a long time.

"What’s borrowed can be returned; there’ll be no difficulty in borrowing again, right? I can borrow my magic pets’ properties and abilities, and I can also lend my own abilities to them?"