"Hello, passenger. You have arrived at your final destination, Black Star. Thank you for flying with Interstellar Airlines."

The interstellar spaceship’s hatch opened, and a young woman carrying a handbag slowly disembarked.

Outside the ship, a biting wind howled through the heavy fog. The planet’s weather was much colder than her home star’s. She couldn’t help but tighten her beige coat, letting out a long, cloudy breath.

Just then, a middle-aged man with a full beard and a world-weary look on his face walked over, looking overjoyed. "Hello, you must be Miss Shi Lan, right?"

Shi Lan nodded. The middle-aged man let out a sigh of relief, biting back the urge to burst out laughing. He immediately pulled a file from his briefcase and handed it to her, speaking rapidly. "I’ve marked all the important matters for prison management in here. The key points are underlined in red."

"If you have any problems, you can contact the Space-Time Battleship. They’ll try to get here as fast as they can to rescue you..."

The man rattled off a long list of things. Shi Lan stood there holding the file, her round, almond-shaped eyes filled with bewilderment. Then she watched as the man, having said his piece, boarded the ship behind him. Just as the hatch was about to close, he finally couldn’t hold it in anymore and burst out laughing. He waved at Shi Lan and shouted, "Oh, and you have to remember this: if they ask you to open the prison doors, whatever you do, don’t do it!!!"

With that, the hatch sealed shut, and before Shi Lan could even react, the interstellar spaceship departed.

Shi Lan: "..."

"What’s the big rush? I still have so many questions..."

Shi Lan was full of questions, but the most important one was that the man hadn’t told her how to get to the prison!

She looked up at the pitch-black sky and shivered in the howling, cold wind. Finally, she decided to follow the road marked by the streetlights.

In the dark of night, a graceful black shadow flitted across the sky from a towering ancient tree, then turned into a transparent phantom and melted into the darkness.

Although Black Star was a major prison zone, it was sparsely populated. She’d heard that its prison was the most secure in the entire interstellar space, so it didn’t require human guards.

Shi Lan walked alone on the unfamiliar road. The air was so quiet that only the sound of her own footsteps could be heard. Even though this was a world that revered science, as a transmigrator, she was still on edge and couldn’t help but quicken her pace.

Thankfully, she was going in the right direction. After a few minutes of walking, she saw the imposing, magnificent, and somber prison.

The prison was a semicircular structure, completely enclosed by a thick fence. "High Voltage" and "Danger" signs were everywhere. Surveillance cameras were visible wherever she looked, and numerous patrol robots were on duty. It certainly looked heavily fortified.

The night on Black Star was hazy. The top of the prison was half-shrouded in the thick fog, making it look like a terrifying, gaping maw that could devour a person whole. Standing before the prison gates, Shi Lan felt incredibly small. A nameless sense of terror washed over her, leaving her deeply unsettled.

But, when she thought about her status as a transmigrator, she felt that this place might just be her ideal sanctuary.

She pursed her lips, walked to the prison’s scanning area, and after her identity was confirmed, she went inside.

As soon as she entered the prison, the room temperature suddenly became warm.

Shi Lan sighed in comfort. She didn’t rush to inspect the cells, instead heading first to the director’s quarters to settle in. She took a Space Bag out of her handbag, then pulled out her furniture one by one. After tidying up her quarters, washing up, and lying down on her bed, she finally allowed her whole body to relax.

She took out the file the previous Prison Director had given her and flipped to the first page. Her eyes immediately stung.

’If I remember correctly, the middle-aged man said the important parts were marked in red.’

’He just failed to mention that the red markings cover over 90% of every single page!!!!’

AHHHH!

Shi Lan was on the verge of a breakdown, but to do her job well, she buckled down and continued reading.

「Meanwhile, inside the prison block.」

A transparent figure passed through the cell’s protective barrier and then slowly materialized. At the same time, the steward robot in the room, which had been frozen as if coated in a thin layer of ice, slowly started moving again.

Several voices echoed from within the cells.

"Did the director change?"

A majestic White Lion spoke in a human voice.

"Yeah. For some reason, it’s a female this time."

The large bird, which had just returned from a flight, was preening its beautiful orange-red tail feathers. Its muffled voice was tinged with sarcasm.

A Pallas’s cat, coiled up on a treasured throne atop its own personal snowy peak, flicked its fluffy tail. "A female? Heh. Even those useless males couldn’t stand it. A female actually dares to come now?"

"Looks like we’re in for a good show."

The corners of a red fox’s mouth lifted slightly, its crimson eyes narrowing.

Just then, a pair of phosphorescent green, vertical pupils lit up in a pitch-black cell, and a cold whisper drifted out. "Let’s see how long the new director can last."

"I bet three days."

"Heh. One of the Empire’s high-and-mighty females? I doubt she’ll last half a day."

"I’ll put my money on one hour, then."

"It’s a female this time. Know when to stop."

The White Lion in the first cell spoke, and the noisy chatter within the prison gradually died down.

...

"Shi Lan, you useless piece of trash with a Fertility Value of zero, how dare you covet the Second Prince? Go to hell!"

A pair of hands shoved Shi Lan, and in an instant, she was swarmed by the massive, densely packed Insect Clan behind her...

"AH!"

Shi Lan woke up screaming from the nightmare. She sat up in bed, gasping for air, and touched her face and body, still shaken.

Ever since she remembered that she had transmigrated into a cannon fodder character—one who was pushed into a swarm of the Insect Clan and killed by the female lead’s followers because of her adoration for the male lead—she’d been having this nightmare frequently.

The original owner of this body shared her name, was an orphan, and was considered a "useless female" with a Fertility Value of zero and F-rank spiritual power.

In this world, males far outnumbered females. And because it was difficult for many males to produce offspring, females with high Fertility Values were sought after by everyone. Furthermore, the higher one’s spiritual power, the greater the probability of giving birth to exceptional children and the stronger their Comforting Ability toward their partner.

Unfortunately, the original owner had neither. However, as a female, she still enjoyed the Empire’s excellent welfare benefits, including free education at a top-tier school. It was there that she became classmates with the male and female leads.

The original owner was actually a very insecure person and had little contact with the male lead during their school days. It was only after graduation that the Empire, in a show of democracy, announced a lottery to select a consort for the male lead, and the original owner won by a fluke.

Even though she knew the male lead, as the Second Prince, would never choose a "useless female" like her, the original owner still held out hope. It even grew into an obsession, and she decided to take matters into her own hands and sleep with him first.

However, before she could act on her plan, she was taken to the Insect Clan District and murdered by the female lead’s followers. When her body was recovered, only her head remained.

Every time Shi Lan thought of this ending, she was terrified. What’s more, when she transmigrated, the original owner had already won the lottery. Afraid she would suffer the same fate as the character in the book, she immediately gave up on the idea and quickly searched the Star Network for a job on a remote star, hoping to get far away from the male and female leads and avoid becoming collateral damage to their crazed followers.

Unfortunately, since the original owner’s spiritual power and Fertility were both very low, she searched for days without any results.

Just as she was about to give up, she received a job offer. Not only did it meet her requirements, but the benefits were also excellent. After confirming multiple times that it came from a legitimate source, she happily followed the address to Black Star.

Before this, all Shi Lan knew was that Black Star was a prison and that she was taking over as the Prison Director. She knew nothing else. But after doing some research on the ship, she finally understood that the position of Prison Director here was notoriously difficult. That’s why no one dared to apply, allowing her to snap up the opportunity.

Especially after seeing all those dense red markings last night, Shi Lan was once again certain this was not a good job.

Still, she sighed. She was a useless, cannon-fodder female now. For the sake of her life and livelihood, she had to cherish the job she’d finally managed to get.

Shi Lan pushed aside her melancholy thoughts, rubbed her face, and found the file that had put her to sleep last night. She immediately got herself ready to face her first day as Prison Director.