The Abusive Novel System Pleads with Me to Resign

Shen Ying followed Secretary Zhu in a hurry toward the prison while grumbling at the system.

"Look at this, just look at it. You ignore me all day, thinking you're doing me a favor."

"But managing a prison with tens of thousands of inmates isn’t easy. How many days has it been since I arrived? I barely dozed off, and now there’s a riot."

"Do you have any idea what a riot involving thousands of people means? In a small country, that’s practically the scale of a war."

"Which tragic romance heroine has to deal with trouble beyond just some scumbag man?"

The system was nearly driven mad by her nagging and couldn’t help but retort, At least wipe the drool off your face while you’re saying all this.

The way she looked right now was downright embarrassing—her eyes practically sparkling with excitement.

With that delightfully eager expression and the stunningly beautiful face of a tragic romance heroine, if she’d just channeled that energy toward the male lead, it would’ve been perfect.

But no, all she ever thought about was beefy, handsome men brawling.

As they spoke, the warden and her entourage arrived on the second floor of the cafeteria.

The prison guards, already instructed by the Crown Prince, had been half-hearted in their attempts to stop the riot. Now that the warden had arrived, they finally started putting on a show.

One of the head guards banged his baton loudly against the railing and shouted, "The warden is here! Stop this now, or you’ll regret it!"

Unsurprisingly, no one paid him any attention.

Meanwhile, the Crown Prince, Lien, and Lu Yu, standing at the edge of the riot, all turned their gazes toward the second floor.

Given their understanding of the warden, despite her lazy and carefree demeanor, she was a woman with a strong need for control. She wouldn’t tolerate prisoners disregarding her rules.

Lien and the Crown Prince finally turned to Lu Yu and asked, "Alright, what’s the point of all this?"

Lu Yu replied, "I’ve incited three riots before, each one larger than the last, so I’ve pretty much figured out the crisis response levels."

"Small-scale or location-specific riots aside, when it’s on this scale—with nearly half the prison involved—there are only a few possible countermeasures."

"But no matter which one they choose, they’ll need to incapacitate the prisoners en masse in an instant. Once tempers flare this high, even if they suppress it temporarily, the anger can reignite in multiple places at any moment."

To put it simply, once people were truly riled up, mere physical suppression wouldn’t be enough to calm them down. Even during the aftermath, fights could break out again without warning.

Lu Yu continued, "In an open space like the cafeteria, the first response would be to spray sedatives."

"But that would mean thousands of people temporarily immobilized, bringing most of the prison’s labor operations to a halt."

"Not only that, but relocating thousands of prisoners individually would require every guard—human and robotic—to be pulled from their posts."

Lien nodded. "Meaning the entire prison would be in a state of temporary paralysis, with plenty of blind spots in surveillance."

Of course, the warden had access to all the prison’s surveillance feeds, but even the Sky Prison wasn’t without its blind spots. And there was no way she could monitor tens of thousands of camera feeds alone.

Hearing this, the Crown Prince also thought it was a decent opportunity and asked, "What’s your plan after that?"

Lu Yu smiled. "Even then, we can’t underestimate the Sky Prison’s security level. Besides, at that point, all of us would be immobilized too."

"So this isn’t something we can pull off alone. I need Your Highness’s help—can you command the research department?"

The Crown Prince nodded. "Yes. The highest-clearance research team entered the Sky Prison under my orders."

Lu Yu’s face lit up. "Perfect. There are certain materials in the research department that can’t be recycled within the prison’s internal system."

After all, some of them contained extremely hazardous or non-degradable elements.

"The research department schedules weekly waste disposal into space—and it just so happens the next one is in an hour."

"Your Highness, can you order the research team to mix a certain element into the waste before disposal?"

The Crown Prince studied Lu Yu intently. This guy… If he hadn’t been limited by his prisoner status, he’d probably have escaped long ago, wouldn’t he?

Every step of his plan was meticulously calculated. And the Crown Prince was certain this wasn’t Lu Yu’s only scheme.

He asked, "What does this element do?"

Lu Yu grinned. "Nothing much. It’s just expensive—so expensive that even the most advanced detection satellites are programmed to scan for it."

"The Sky Prison jumps randomly, but for safety reasons, every jump coordinates near at least one habitable planet."

"If we’re lucky, within five minutes, a nearby satellite will detect it."

"And my company happens to have an exploration division dedicated to tracking this element. I’ve bought out the exploration data, so the moment it’s detected, my company will react."

Lien scoffed. "Probably a division you set up last minute."

Unlike them, Lu Yu had time to arrange certain matters before being sentenced to the Sky Prison. No doubt he’d laid countless plans back then.

Of course, Lien and the Crown Prince had done the same, but in their rushed circumstances, they couldn’t have prepared as thoroughly as this guy.

Once the element was detected, Lu Yu’s ships would rush over. If he was willing to pay the price, they might even intercept the prison.

And with the prison in a standstill, an attack wasn’t entirely out of the question.

Even if that failed, just secretly transmitting coordinates wasn’t impossible.

Ignoring Lien’s sarcasm, Lu Yu turned his gaze back to the warden on the second floor. "Now we just wait for the warden to do her thing."

Sure enough, the situation below had escalated beyond the guards’ control.

But the guards made sure to express their outrage at the prisoners’ blatant disregard for the warden. Just as one was about to bang the railing again, the warden stopped him.

"What are you banging for? The noise is right next to me—I can’t even see what’s happening with all this racket!"

The moment Shen Ying entered the cafeteria, her eyes were already scanning the crowd, picking out the best-looking and most muscular fighters to watch.

The guard’s incessant railing-banging was ruining her view.

Her expression was one of pure impatience, like an audience member annoyed by a disturbance during a movie.

Secretary Zhu and the surrounding guards were speechless. This is your prison! The inmates are rioting, and you’re just spectating? Like it’s entertainment?

Secretary Zhu couldn’t take it anymore—especially since he was worried about delaying the Crown Prince’s plans.

He urged, "Warden, to prevent further escalation, we should initiate suppression immediately."

But Shen Ying was thoroughly engrossed. The horned hunk had already knocked out over a dozen men.

More were charging at him, but those who could stand against him were no pushovers either. Niu Xi was fighting with exhilarating intensity.

As ​​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌‌‌​​​​​‌‌​‌​​​‌‌​​‌‌​​​‌‌‌​​​​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌​​​​‌‌​‌​‌​​‌‌‌​​‌​‌‌​​‌‌​​​‌‌​​​‌​​‌‌​​​‌​​‌‌​​​‌​‌‌​​‌​‌​​‌‌​​​‌​​‌‌​​​​​​‌‌​​​​​‌‌​​​​‌​‌‌​​‌​​​​‌‌​​‌​​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​‌​​‍a genetically enhanced strength-type, his physical endurance was extraordinary, his power unmatched by ordinary humans.

A faint flush spread across his dark skin—his metabolism was so efficient that he sweated easily.

Beads of sweat dripped from his silver hair, scattering with every movement.

But most trailed down his chin, along his neck, and pooled across his chest.

His clothes had been tugged open even more, now revealing the impeccably sculpted muscles of his upper body.

Like a melting chocolate ice cream cone, the sight instinctively made one want to take a lick before it completely dissolved.

It wasn’t just Niu Xi—there were plenty of good-looking inmates in the prison, and now, with most of them bearing injuries, they had entered a "battle-damaged" state that only made them more enticing.

Where else could you see something like this? Even if a private club could meet the requirements, it would never be this raw and real.

Shen Ying waved at Secretary Zhu. "Bring me a chair and prepare a drink."

This was pushing it—even combat sports events, out of respect, didn’t allow spectators to bring soda.

Secretary Zhu forced an awkward smile. "Warden, please don’t joke around. If this continues, things will really spiral out of control."

"If the death toll gets too high, even our clearance level won’t be enough to cover it up."

Shen Ying’s eyes remained glued to the fighting men, not even glancing at Secretary Zhu as she replied, "Relax, I’m keeping an eye on the handsome ones. They won’t die."

Secretary Zhu was stunned. "??? Warden?"

Only then did Shen Ying turn her head, offering a light chuckle. "Slip of the tongue, slip of the tongue. That’s not the kind of thing you say out loud."

"But a few hardened criminals dying really doesn’t matter. For example, I’d say most of the people here don’t deserve to live anyway. If they die, they die—accidents happen."

Secretary Zhu’s expression turned grave. "Warden, stop joking."

"You really should review your duty clauses. If the mortality rate gets too high, you’ll face consequences too."

Shen Ying waved a hand dismissively. "No worries. My father managed the prison for over a decade with an extremely low mortality rate. The goodwill he built up gives me some leeway to enjoy myself in office."

She looked utterly indifferent—far from suppressing the riot, she seemed ready to cheer it on.

Secretary Zhu was sweating bullets when he caught a glance from the Crown Prince below.

With a jolt, he immediately ordered, "Activate the sprinkler system!"

Before the words fully left his mouth, Shen Ying said calmly, "Sprinkler system locked."

Even manual override was now impossible.

The staff around them panicked, and even Lu Yu’s group, who had been confident in her reaction, now looked uneasy.

Shen Ying leisurely straightened up, glanced in Lu Yu’s direction, and smiled. "What? Is it really that shocking that I’m not cleaning up this mess?"

Her voice was low enough that only Secretary Zhu could hear, yet it felt like she was speaking to three other people.

Finally, when Secretary Zhu looked like he was about to lose it, Shen Ying drawled, "Open the sprinklers."

Secretary Zhu brightened—only to hear her add, "Mix in wound disinfectant."

Everyone’s expressions darkened. Medical technology had advanced to the point where painless disinfectants existed, but in prison, post-violence treatment was meant to teach inmates a lesson. Unless under special circumstances, the disinfectant used was agonizing.

The warden had no intention of incapacitating the inmates.

Sure enough, as soon as the sprinklers activated, the prison was drenched in a medicinal downpour. Screams of pain erupted—

"Fck, it burns!"

"Enough! Enough! I’m on fire!"

Those with more surface wounds felt like their entire bodies were being scorched.

Even someone as tough as Niu Xi clenched his jaw, muscles twitching from the pain.

Shen Ying watched, utterly enthralled.

The agony was the perfect sedative. A few still struggled to fight, but Shen Ying didn’t waste words—she pulled out her gun and fired at them, not even bothering to avoid vital areas.

That finally instilled real fear, and the chaos settled.

Holstering her weapon, Shen Ying ordered, "Take the ones who got shot to the medical center."

With modern medicine, they wouldn’t die.

"The rest of you, get back to work." She glanced at Lien and added, "Ten extra core tasks today. Miss one, and you’ll face punishment."

Lien felt cheated. "I didn’t even get to finish my dessert before they started fighting."