A warship landed, and a tall man stepped out.
His eyes were long and narrow, his black, slitted pupils holding the characteristic cold-bloodedness of a serpent. His black hair, which seemed to glisten like venom, cascaded to his waist.
"Female Master, long time no see." The man's scarlet lips curled slightly, his deep voice like the whisper of a viper flicking its tongue.
"Night… Night Abyss!" Su An'an's face turned pale, and a sharp pain suddenly shot through her collarbone.
This was Mo Flood Dragon Night Abyss: an Empire Executor, the Bloody Executioner, and one of Su An'an's Five Great Beast Husbands.
He was an extremely rare Evolutionary Beastman who had evolved from an Ink Snake into a Mo Flood Dragon through countless life-and-death battles.
He was just one evolution away from becoming a true dragon, but at the critical moment, she had ripped three Heart-protecting Scales from his chest, causing his evolution to fail.
A maddened Night Abyss had choked her, dripping his venom drop by drop into the wound on her collarbone, landing her in the hospital for a month.
For harming his Female Master, Night Abyss was sentenced to capital punishment. He only survived after enduring three days near death on a flaying rack.
Among the Five Great Beast Husbands, the mermaid wanted to gouge out her eyes and the White Tiger wanted to chop off her arms, but neither was as terrifying as the one before her now.
After all, Night Abyss's divorce agreement had been written on skin flayed from her body.
At the thought, Su An'an couldn't help but shiver. She shrank behind Ying Jiuyao, her nose bumping against his Tequila-scented combat uniform.
"Night Abyss, shouldn't you be out catching fugitives? What are you doing here?"
Ying Jiuyao shielded Su An'an behind him, his eyes fixed on Night Abyss.
Night Abyss's expression was blank as he said in a cold voice,
"Princess Su An'an is suspected of illegally using Forbidden Medicine and abusing her legal Beast Husbands. She is to be escorted to the Judgement Court immediately."
Su An'an braced herself and shot back, "I didn't!"
'I can't admit it, not even if it kills me. Otherwise, I'm finished.'
"On February 18th of the Star Calendar, at 20:00 hours, you purchased the Forbidden Medicine Mandala Alkaloid from the black market via the quartermaster and forced your Beast Husband, Lan Cangming, to take it."
Night Abyss's pale fingertip swiped across his terminal, and a light screen popped up, showing Su An'an's savage face as she held a syringe.
"Don't show that! Turn it off."
Su An'an's face flushed bright red, and she snapped, exasperated and furious, "Filming me without permission is illegal!"
"Hah! This is the surveillance authorization form you signed yourself last month, approving the installation of cameras in your bedchambers. You even requested the cameras be aimed at the main bed, the pool, the bathroom…"
Night Abyss flicked out an authorization form, on which Su An'an's pink, artistic signature glowed brightly.
A malicious glint flashed in his red, vertical pupils as he said in a low voice,
"Special enforcement powers allow for the display of adults-only content in court. Does the Female Master require me to present your collection of shock collars and whips?"
Ying Jiuyao's face turned ashen as he stared at the authorization form.
The memory of Su An'an walking him like a dog with a shock collar surfaced, and his tiger tail whipped out, shattering a nearby rock.
The Octopus Beastman, whose cheeks had been flushed and eyes sparkling just a moment ago, now looked at Su An'an as if she were a pervert.
'I've been framed!'
'Those sex toys…'
'Ugh, no! That criminal evidence was all part of the original owner's 'collection'!'
"The evidence is irrefutable. You'd better come quietly. Don't force me to get rough."
Night Abyss gave a light wave with his black-gloved right hand.
The Judgement Court's electronic shackles crackled in a soldier's hands, their metallic surface reflecting Su An'an's deathly pale face.
She was suddenly overcome with a feeling of suffocation.
'I just barely managed to save Lan Cangming. Am I still going to be unable to escape the plot where I'm stripped of my title as Princess and exiled to the Black Star?'
Her eyes rolled back into her head, and she promptly fainted.
'Oh, dear God, if this is a nightmare, please let me wake up now!'
Unfortunately, Su An'an's prayer did not come true.
When she regained consciousness, she found herself lying on the large pink bed in her bedchambers, the sound of Night Abyss, Lan Cangming, and Ying Jiuyao arguing reaching her ears.
Night Abyss demanded sinisterly,
"Lan Cangming, she nearly killed you. Why are you still helping her hide the matter of the Forbidden Medicine? Are you really bewitched by this Evil Female?"
"I'm not!"
Lan Cangming replied coolly, "It's just that when I was in my berserk frenzy, she saved me with her Spiritual Power Tentacles."
Ying Jiuyao's tiger ears shot up in shock.
"She awakened her Spiritual Power Tentacles? What Level are they? S Level?"
Su An'an's eyelashes trembled as fragments of memory suddenly surged through her mind.
When the original owner was sixteen, she had tested as having S Level potential.
Her Majesty the Queen had personally selected the Empire's strongest Beastmen—like Lan Cangming, Ying Jiuyao, and Night Abyss—to be her husbands.
But on the night of her coming-of-age ceremony, her evolution failed, and she dropped to F Level, not even managing to grow Spiritual Power Tentacles.
Eventually, she gave up on herself and began to take pleasure in abusing her Beast Husbands.
Night Abyss sneered, "Impossible. In every test since she came of age, she's always been F Level."
Lan Cangming said calmly, "True or not, a test will tell."
Ying Jiuyao said excitedly, "Someone, test her at once!"
Su An'an kept her eyes shut tight, suppressing her excitement.
'This test is my best chance to turn the tables.'
This brings us to the importance of a female's spiritual power Level to a Beastman.
Beastmen are naturally warlike.
The Energy of a Beast Core is like boiling water. The female is the cup that holds the water, and the Spiritual Power Tentacles are the conduit that connects them.
If a Beast Core were left to steep in that boiling Energy, it would explode. The Energy must be channeled through the conduit into the "cup," where it cools before being returned to nourish the Beast Core.
The higher a Beastman's Level, the more boiling water he has. The higher a female's Level, the larger her cup. Therefore, high-Level Beastmen are always matched with females of a corresponding Level.
The reason Lan Cangming had previously refused to bond with her was because, as an F Level female, her "cup" was too small. Trying to pour an ocean into a teacup was simply courting death.
The Spiritual Power Tentacles, as the conduit linking a Beast Husband and his female, were also crucially important. Their Level could be raised through kissing, hugging, and rolling around in bed with a Beast Husband.
The higher the Level of the Spiritual Power Tentacles, the faster they could absorb a Beast Core's Energy, and the better the quality of the Spiritual Power Potions they could produce.
However, using too many of these potion "tea bags" would leave a residue on the Beast Core, affecting genetic evolution.
After Su An'an's evolution failed, the Five Great Beast Husbands had intended to refuse the marriage. After all, the Level difference between them was too great.
But the Queen dangled the possibility of Su An'an recovering to S Level as a carrot to keep them in line.
She also promised that if Su An'an couldn't recover to S Level within a year, the marriages would be automatically annulled. Only then did they agree to marry Su An'an.
Unfortunately, not only did Su An'an fail to appreciate Her Majesty the Queen's painstaking efforts, she abused her Beast Husbands to the point that their own genes began to degenerate.
Su An'an secretly clenched her fists.
'Night Abyss will definitely not let me off the hook.'
'This spiritual power test is my best chance to turn the tables.'
'As long as I can recover to S Level, no matter how much Night Abyss hates me, he'll have to kneel at my feet and grovel to save his own life.'
At that moment, medical personnel in white coats entered in a single file, carrying testing equipment.
The moment the electrode pads were placed on her forehead, Su An'an began to summon her Spiritual Power Tentacles.
'Come on, my little darlings. Come out and give these guys the shock of their lives!'
But no matter how she called, her Spiritual Power Tentacles remained completely inert, as if dead.
Cold sweat beaded on the back of Su An'an's neck, and her fingertips dug deep into her palms.
She clearly remembered how fierce those two sprout-like Spiritual Power Tentacles had been in Lan Cangming's sea of consciousness.
'Come out!'
She screamed in her mind, her nails nearly breaking the skin of her palm. 'You saved the mermaid! I know you did!'
The machine's red light suddenly lit up, and a mechanical voice, cold to the bone, announced: "Spiritual Power Level: F."
"Impossible…"
Su An'an's eyes flew open, and she found herself staring right into Night Abyss's mocking, vertical pupils.