[BEEP! Marshal Huo and the First Legion have successfully rescued the civilians of Thirteen District. A large number of males suffering from spiritual power collapse are on their way.]
[Please prepare for intake at the Mad Hero Institute.]
[Please prepare for intake at the Mad Hero Institute.]
"Mad Hero Institute?"
Yu Lan looked puzzled, her expression full of confusion.
"What is that place?"
She was still in Shen Zueran's office, where he was explaining the procedures that followed the Advanced researcher selection process.
Hearing Yu Lan's confusion, Shen Zueran immediately began to explain, his expression perfectly composed.
"It's exactly what it sounds like."
"The Mad Hero Institute is a place specifically for males who don't have a female yet and whose spiritual power has collapsed."
"After their spiritual power collapses, males lose their sanity and regress into beasts."
"But they aren't truly beasts, so we can't just release them into the wild. They need to be confined in a dedicated facility."
"And the Mad Hero Institute is that place of confinement."
"Then what does that have to do with our Science Research Institute?" Yu Lan quickly made the connection, her pretty eyes blinking.
'Isn't the Science Research Institute just responsible for R&D?'
But the announcement had been broadcast throughout the Science Research Institute, and judging by Shen Zueran's casual attitude, this had clearly happened many times before. He didn't look surprised in the slightest.
"Because every male who enters the Mad Hero Institute automatically consents to accept and cooperate with the Science Research Institute's experimental research."
In short: every male who entered the Mad Hero Institute automatically became a test subject for the Science Research Institute.
The Science Research Institute has always been dedicated to the research of soothing agents.
Every new medication must undergo countless experiments before it can be released to the public.
The color drained from Yu Lan's face. She had never expected such an answer.
"Some of them... they were soldiers who fought and bled on the front lines."
"Couldn't you find some females to try and soothe them?"
'How could there be such a kind and naive female?'
Shen Zueran sighed, his expression calm as he looked at Yu Lan and laid out the facts:
"In the Empire, the male-to-female ratio is a terrifying 1,000 to 1. For every thousand males, only one female is born."
"However, if an adult male's mating season isn't soothed, the frequency will gradually increase from once a year, to once a month, then three or four times a month."
"On top of that, females are delicate, and their Healing Power is limited."
"A D-level female can only soothe three times a month, a C-level six times, a B-level nine times. The number is a bit higher for A-level and S-Class females."
"A female's soothing is like a smear of honey on the tip of a sharp knife."
"It is exceedingly rare and expensive. Not everyone is qualified to receive it, and obtaining it requires paying an immense price."
"Some males might go their entire lives without a single chance to be soothed. They have to climb desperately, to reach a high position just to attract a female's attention."
"Some males can win this war, but many more will die along the way."
Shen Zueran's words were not only shocking and cruel to Yu Lan, but they also filled her with a pang of guilt.
'So that's why people like Su Xingye and Huo Zhanting hate me so much.'
'They originally had the chance and the ability to form relationships with other High Level females.'
'But they were forced into a marriage with a useless person like me, someone with no Healing Power.'
'It was undoubtedly too cruel for them.'
'If I were in their shoes, I probably wouldn't be able to get along peacefully with the culprit either.'
'And yet, the original owner of this body shamelessly tried to get close and mark those males.'
Lanlan sighed, her little face scrunching up into a pained expression.
"Can I go see the Mad Hero Institute?"
"You want to go see it?"
This time, Shen Zueran was genuinely surprised.
After their spiritual power collapsed, males regressed into beasts.
But their powerful bodies and strength didn't fade, making them extremely aggressive.
'Females should be terrified of them.'
'Why would she want to go see them?'
'Yu Lan really is different.'
The tense atmosphere, which had grown cold when Shen Zueran mentioned the Mad Hero Institute out of sorrow for the fate of his kind, instantly eased.
"Yes, I want to go see it."
Yu Lan nodded seriously.
"Didn't you say it's a place designed to confine them?"
"I'm sure they have proper security measures in place, right?"
"Since there's no danger, what's the harm in taking a look?"
In fact, Yu Lan was thinking about Su Xingye, whom she had seen lose his sanity and turn into his beast form right after she transmigrated.
'Since Su Xingye was able to return to his human form and regain his sanity with an injection of soothing agent...'
'...then isn't it possible to find a way to help these males who've completely lost their minds recover as well?'
'There must be similarities between certain components in the soothing agent and a female's Healing Power.'
'Maybe if I can find what they have in common, I can achieve that goal.'
An idea had already formed in Yu Lan's mind. She wanted to try it herself.
Right now, the first step toward achieving that goal was in Shen Zueran's hands.
Yu Lan looked at Shen Zueran with a burning gaze.
Letting a female go into an asylum to see males who had lost their minds and gone feral...
According to the Female Protection Law, Shen Zueran was supposed to refuse.
But, meeting Yu Lan's gaze...
...as if possessed, he nodded.
Like a butterfly gently flapping its wings, perhaps fate, at this very moment, was about to take an unexpectedly drastic turn.
"Alright. Since you want to go, I'll take you."
Shen Zueran stood up and led the way.
He led Yu Lan on a winding path, and they soon arrived in front of an elevator.
He swiped a keycard, and the elevator began to descend rapidly.
Soon, they reached the third basement level.
A floor that wasn't even on the Science Research Institute's elevator button panel.
Noticing Yu Lan's inquisitive gaze, Shen Zueran turned and explained.
"The mad males require extremely strict management, but the human heart is soft and irrational."
"To prevent any researchers from going soft and letting them escape, the highest level of clearance is held only by the Scientific Research Institute Director."
Yu Lan nodded in understanding.
The next second, the elevator doors opened.
Yu Lan followed Shen Zueran into the corridor. Only after seeing the scene before her did she truly understand what he had meant earlier.
The corridor was lined on both sides with one iron-chained cage after another.
What was locked inside were not the animal-like figures Yu Lan had imagined.
They were all in human form, shackled at the hands and feet with cold iron cuffs. They huddled in their cages—sad, numb, and hollow—quietly waiting for the moment they would completely lose their minds and turn into beasts.
Despite their sudden appearance, the people sitting in the iron cages remained just as numb and hollow as before, from beginning to end.
"How could it be like this?"
This was completely different from what Yu Lan had imagined.
"What did you expect, Lanlan?"
Shen Zueran said, "Did you think this place would be full of beasts with glowing green eyes?"