Chapter 25

The Highest Office is evacuating, and the Huang family is busy gathering materials.

Ji Fu boarded the starship of the Interstellar Academy, listening to Qin Chu Yue on the earpiece exclaim, “The Huang family is really tight-fisted, huh? They’ve harvested so many materials from this nebula summit.”

Huang Peilan personally led the team to find the Wuhai beasts. She didn’t care anymore. These days, she’s been rummaging through the Huang family’s materials repository as if it were Chinese New Year.

The starship was very quiet, and the eyes of those in Class A+ occasionally glanced at Ji Fu.

She calmly typed to Qin Chuyue: [That’s about enough. The Huang family still left several S-level mechas guarding.]

“Don’t worry, I’m just helping you get some rewards.”

Returning from G-730 to the Interstellar Academy would take several hours, and this time could only be spent on the starship.

Ji Fu sat by the window, gazing at the dreamy twinkling stars outside, her eyes flickering slightly.

During the intense shuttle of the starship, the IP would undergo significant fluctuations.

She opened the system again and, in this precise late night, after nearly an hour and a half of silent typing on the muted keyboard, finally found a tiny crack in the airtight system of the highest level of the interstellar prison.

She slid her fingers on the screen for a moment and sent out an emoticon.

After the emoticon popped up, the starship entered the galaxy where the Interstellar Academy was located. Its speed increased, and amidst this rapid travel, the connection she had opened was severed.

At the highest level of the interstellar prison.

Different from the desolate star-level prisons, this place possessed the most stringent defense system in the entire galaxy.

To enter the highest level, one needed to pass through at least three inspections.

Only after passing the two S+ mechanized guards at the entrance could one enter the inner chamber.

However, the construction of this inner chamber was unlike any concept of a prison.

The entire prison had a height of nearly 20 meters. Looking down after entering the inner chamber, one would see a mechanized steel moving prison.

The steel used here was all S+ premium material, assembled into a controllable steel behemoth.

Inside the double-layered cells was a movable mechanized prison that could rise and fall.

Looking down from this position, one could see the deep interior of the prison, with the black sea pulsating.

Simply press a mechanical button, and the mechanized prison would sink into the black sea entirely.

This black sea was sourced from the remote L-003 star.

Because the water in the sea was thickly black, it was called the Black Sea. The water in the Black Sea was dead water; one wouldn’t die sinking into it, but would endure endless erosion of the senses.

Unable to die, yet subjected to agonizing sensations akin to drowning and continually cooling sensations.

Alternating between normal environments and drowning in the Black Sea would magnify this torment.

Therefore, such a mechanized prison was also called a Black Dungeon.

It was a means of torment conceived when the Black Sea was discovered on a remote star many years ago.

However, such methods had already been strictly prohibited in the current Interstellar Alliance.

Yet, in the highest level of the interstellar prison, which few could reach, someone still employed the Black Dungeon, attempting to achieve their own ends.

Initially, when Wei Lan just entered prison, the Black Dungeon wasn’t used.

But as time passed, with the outside world gradually losing patience, they began to resort to means within this prison.

Just constructing this airtight Black Dungeon took nearly a year and consumed a great deal of manpower and resources.

Yet, not even his lips were pried open.

“…His mecha was destroyed long ago, he’s been in the Black Dungeon for over a year, yet he hasn’t uttered a word. I don’t know what those above are thinking, insisting on keeping him alive.”

These days, due to some internal affair within the Alliance, the majority of the management personnel had been summoned to the Imperial Star.

Though the interstellar prison wasn’t much affected, the high-level officials were all called to a room for a video conference. Several A-level prison guards were responsible for monitoring Wei Lan’s movements.

“Hey, what are you doing?” One of the guards, seeing the person in the monitor sitting on the cold mechanical bed, sneered and directly pressed the sink button.

The members of the Si family had been visiting frequently in recent months, and their attitude toward Wei Lan had been very enthusiastic.

For one reason: Yun Chi was dead.

They believed that with Yun Chi’s death, they could convince Wei Lan to work for them.

After all, Wei Lan carried the bloodline of the Si family.

Because of this, Wei Lan had rarely been thrown into the Black Sea in recent months.

But today was different.

“He’s just a prisoner, why are so many people revolving around him? What gives him that right?” The guard who took action was full of resentment.

Upon hearing the beep signaling the fifteen-minute critical point and even hesitating for a long time afterward, unwilling to raise the prison, the other guard next to him, fearing trouble, directly pressed the lift button.

Swish—

The mechanized prison was once again lifted up, and countless black seawaters flowed down from all sides.

In this prison drenched in black seawater, the guard saw a pair of gloomy eyes sweep over.

His heart trembled, and he moved his lips.

The person confined inside, even in the dim vision of the Black Dungeon and amidst the thick black water, could still be seen with his deep blue hair.

During the past few months of coming and going, even these guards knew that this was a manifestation of extraordinary appearance.

This was also why the Si family had been unwilling to let him die just like that.

Although of questionable background and having been a fugitive for many years, he was likely the most talented individual of his generation in the Si family.

So, they preferred to take the risk for Wei Lan within the Alliance rather than let him die like this.

“What is he looking at?” Having monitored Wei Lan for a long time, these guards knew that he usually wouldn’t pay attention to them.

But something seemed different today as he suddenly looked in their direction.

“…I don’t know.” The guard who spoke still felt a bit frightened. He wasn’t without reason to fear. The person sent by the Si family to persuade Wei Lan last month was killed by him.

That person had presented a military order in front of the head of the Si family, and he didn’t understand the extent of Wei Lan’s danger. He even let Wei Lan open two cell doors, and across one door, attempted to converse with Wei Lan.

The result was walking in upright and coming out horizontally.

The guard glanced at the environment he was in.

Wei Lan’s hands and feet were all shackled with long chains connected to electricity. If he made any sudden movements, he would be electrocuted.

After he killed the negotiator sent by the Si family, he fell into a coma for over half a month. But under the strong electric current, he could kill without tools.

After that day, the guards here became even more afraid of him.

The guard who initiated the action was also afraid at first, but compared to fear, he cared more about the benefits promised by the Si family.

For such a large family, there were those who urgently wished Wei Lan to return, and naturally, there were those who wished for him to die in the Black Dungeon.

It would be best if he never uttered a word for the rest of his life, until the head of the Si family ran out of patience, and then had him executed directly.

The other party gave too much, so even though this prison guard was afraid, he wanted to take a chance for himself.

“It looks like the nutrient bottle is empty.”

Above, reluctant to let Wei Lan die, but also afraid of accidents, so a special nutrient device is used for Wei Lan.

The prison guard poked his head out and saw that the nutrient bottle outside the cell was indeed empty.

“I’ll go.” The prison guard who had previously taken action was eager to try.

The location for changing the nutrient bottle was outside the cell, and usually it was their job to do it.

He got up from the surveillance glass room, turned around, and walked to the side of the nutrient bottle.

For the convenience of prison management, the nutrient bottles here are all specially made. You just need to open the cap on the seat, and the nutrient solution can be infused.

The prison guard took a new nutrient bottle, left the glass room, and walked to the device outside the cell.

The nutrient bottle on the device was empty, and the prison guard touched it. Surprisingly, the bottle was scalding hot.

He was suddenly burned, cursed softly, and took off the red-hot nutrient bottle.

After the nutrient bottle was almost empty, the bottle would turn red to remind them to replace it.

But it usually wouldn’t be hot.

The prison guard’s attention was on Wei Lan, and he reached out to touch the nutrient bottle directly. Unexpectedly, his hand was burned by the temperature, even causing burns.

His hand was in pain from the burn, so he didn’t notice that there was an electronic figure appearing on the red nutrient bottle.

The color of the electronic figure was very faint, blending with the bottle, waving and shaking its head towards the person opposite.

If the prison guard had paid attention, he would have noticed that Wei Lan wasn’t looking at them in the surveillance room at all, but at this nutrient bottle.

The prison guard, angered by the burn, cut off the nutrient device directly.

The nutrient device in the cell had always been on because the consumption was high after being submerged in the Black Sea.

The Si family also feared Wei Lan’s death.

The guard cut off the device and did not replace the nutrient bottle immediately.

He didn’t care whether Wei Lan lived or died, as the Si family who gave him money said it was best to die in prison.

He just vented his frustration by taking out the cooled nutrient bottle and then… slammed it on the ground.

Bang!

The nutrient bottle shattered into pieces, and the electronic figure that was originally jumping on it disappeared completely.

The guard was still muttering angrily, only paying attention to the injury on his hand, and didn’t even notice that he had unintentionally moved closer to the cell.

He didn’t notice…

The colleague in the surveillance room shouted at him.

“Behind you! Behind you! Run!” The person in the glass room saw the moment when Wei Lan erupted and knew it was going to be bad.

Someone had already pressed the sink button in the first moment.

But because the Si family was afraid of accidents, there was a program written in that when the nutrient bottle was broken, the cell couldn’t sink.

As a result, the sink button malfunctioned.

The guard in the glass room finally opened the volume button in panic: “Behind you!”

But this shout was ultimately too late.

Wei Lan was electrified all over, under the high voltage and high frequency but non-lethal strong electric pressure, he actually forcefully slammed the entire cell.

Boom!

At the moment when the two cell doors collided, the guard finally woke up as if from a dream.

Before he could see clearly, the hand entangled with electric chains smashed into his chest.

“Puff!” The guard was hit hard and flew out, spitting out a piece of bloody flesh.

“Raise the voltage! Quickly raise the voltage!” The person in the glass room was scared out of his wits, but no one dared to go out of the control room at this time.

They could only watch helplessly as the guard breathed his last.

As Wei Lan was hit hard by the electric shock, blood flowed from his eyes and dripped from the corner of his lips.

He stood in the boundless darkness, but still reached out his hand and picked up a piece of nutrient bottle shard from the ground under the intense electric shock.

There was nothing left on this shard.

But it still had warmth when held.

Wei Lan clenched the shard in his palm, revealing the first smile since being imprisoned in the dark prison.

The Si family’s people came to inform him every day that Yunchi was dead.

But he seemed to have not heard.

No matter who said it, he only believed her.

Finally.

After one thousand one hundred and seventy-five days, three years apart.

He received her message again.

She didn’t reject him.

That was enough.

Ji Fu has always been a good sleeper.

But today, she had a rare dream.

She dreamed that an arm was wrapped around her waist, and the other person buried their head on her shoulder, the deep blue hair trailing over her shoulder, causing a slight itch.

He just buried his head and didn’t want to lift it, his voice muffled as he said, “Don’t reject me.”

She lowered her head and only saw his deep blue hair.

The day she picked up Wei Lan was a rare good weather day, and he still had deep blue hair, so she named him Wei Lan.

Beep, beep, beep.

The medical compartment was opened from the outside.

Ji Fu woke up from her dream, she raised her eyelids and met the probing eyes of Zhou Lu Hai.

Early in the morning, disturbing her sweet dream.

Ji Fu only glanced at him and then closed her eyes calmly again.

Zhou Lu Hai saw her lying there so comfortably, couldn’t help but say, “Are you here to study or to enjoy life?”

The special class A course was intense, but since returning from the Nebula Summit, he hadn’t seen Ji Fu once.

She didn’t come, and the teacher didn’t ask, as if there wasn’t such a person in this class at all.

He thought she didn’t like the A class courses, but he didn’t expect that besides potionology, she didn’t attend any other classes. Every day, she was either in the laboratory or lying in the medical compartment.

Zhou Lu Hai even went to the girls’ dormitory to wait for her several times, but didn’t see her.

He could only find her here in the infirmary.

Unexpectedly, she was really here, and even when he opened the medical compartment, she was still sleeping peacefully.

Zhou Lu Hai squinted his eyes slightly, “Ji student, did you forget something?”

Ji Fu opened her eyes, “Eat?”

Zhou Lu Hai: …

He smiled ambiguously, “My Abyssal Beast hasn’t been repaired yet.”

She brought the Golden Rock Giant over, causing his mech to malfunction after just one use, while she seemed completely unaffected.

“Oh,” Ji Fu paused, “That’s truly unfortunate.”

Zhou Lu Hai was almost amused by her. He directly adjusted the medical compartment in front of her, forcing her from a lying position to a sitting one.

“I remember, where the Golden Rock Giant appears, there will be a lot of materials scattered around. When the Golden Rock Giant approached S-class last time, I didn’t see its favorite food, the Golden Agate Stone.”

Zhou Lu Hai looked at her leisurely, “I heard that the materials collected by the Huang Family for the Starry Peak Summit do not include Golden Agate Stones. Where do you think these things have gone?”

Ji Fu blinked, “Who knows, probably swallowed by the Golden Rock Giant.”

“How about you dissect it?” Zhou Lu Hai stared at her, seeing her innocent expression.

Alright, alright, it was eaten, right? Just don’t know if it was the Golden Rock Giant or her.

But although Golden Agate Stones are rare, they are only A-level materials. Zhou Lu Hai had seen all kinds of treasures, so he didn’t intend to interrogate her about it.

Just felt that she used him as a target and took away the most valuable Golden Agate Stones.

Regardless of the reason, she should feel a little guilty towards him.

It turned out he was overthinking.

Zhou Lu Hai was momentarily speechless, and could only directly explain his purpose, “The promotion exam will be held next Monday.”

Ji Fu, who was completely unaware of this, asked, “So?”

What does the promotion exam have to do with her?

She’s not promoting.

In fact, this promotion exam doesn’t have much to do with most of the interstellar academy students. It’s only for the S-class promotion exam.

Zhou Lu Hai’s talent is above S-level, just like Wan Feng.

In theory, they only need to stay in the interstellar academy for a year, earn enough freshman credits, and they can directly enter the S-class.

But this year is different.

The first year has not even been four months, and the school is already holding a promotion exam.

Zhou Lu Hai calculated that it should be because of the upcoming three-school joint exam.

So the promotion exam is advanced.

But although the exam is early, the difficulty remains the same.

Only he and Wan Feng, both mecha soldiers from Special Class A, are preparing for promotion this time.

Both of them are mecha soldiers, and Wan Feng plans to promote with his sister.

Zhou Lu Hai was really dissatisfied with the mecha masters of Class A. After much thought, he decided to invite Ji Fu.

He said with deep eyes, “If you pass this promotion exam, you can also enter the S-class together.”

The S-class is the true elite class of the interstellar academy.

In theory, such a proposal should not be refused by anyone. Zhou Lu Hai’s strength speaks for itself, and it’s relatively easy to promote with him.

But Ji Fu refused without hesitation after just listening to one ear, “I refuse.”

She didn’t even give a reason.

Zhou Lu Hai hesitated for a moment, he guessed that this person doesn’t play by the rules.

After a moment of hesitation, he said softly, “A portion of S-class Phantom Sea Cloud.”

The S-class Phantom Sea Cloud is the precious material second only to the Wuhai Beast Heart in the prescription Ji Fu is going to make.

Ji Fu opened her eyes, Ji Fu thought, and Ji Fu still refused.

“No.”

Huang Peilan handles the matter of finding materials. Why bother with it?

Being rejected again, Zhou Lu Hai didn’t get angry, instead he raised his eyebrows lightly, “As far as I know, there are currently only two portions of Phantom Sea Cloud on the market. One is in my house, and the other…”

“In the Alliance Si Family.”

Ji Fu raised her gaze to look at him.

Among the major families of the Alliance, the Si Family belongs to the three major ones.

And currently, the young generation of the Si Family are all studying at the Imperial Military Academy. Not to mention whether they can get their hands on it, Zhou Lu Hai is sure that Ji Fu probably doesn’t even know them.

The interactions between the Huang and Su families are also rare.

To get a Phantom Sea Cloud in a short time is not much easier than killing a Wuhai Beast.

“That’s right.” Ji Fu looked at him calmly, “I’ll give you Huang Peilan’s contact information and let her buy it from you.”

Zhou Lu Hai: …

He was almost amused by Ji Fu’s attitude.

Is he short of money?

The person in front of him leisurely closed her eyes again.

Seeing her yawn, Zhou Lu Hai lazily said, “Aren’t you supposed to need a mech soldier? What’s the point of always coming to me, a pharmacist?”

“Hurry up, I’m tired.”

Zhou Lu Hai didn’t argue with her about these matters anymore. Instead, after a moment of hesitation, his face sank, he didn’t say much, and turned and left the infirmary.

Once he left, Ji Fu opened her eyes.

She removed the treatment tube wrapped around her body, her expression indifferent.

“Now that he’s gone, come out.”

The infirmary was quiet.

At this time, all the students were in class. Except for Ji Fu and Zhou Lu Hai who had just come, no one would come to the infirmary.

But in this eerie quiet.

In the corner where the curtains were drawn, a person suddenly appeared.

The person was wearing a mech suit.

The mech suit was a specially modified suit that could provide certain bulletproof, fireproof, and even lightning-proof capabilities.

And after wearing it, it could amplify a person’s strength and speed to a certain extent.

Ordinary people usually use it for mecha training.

Occasionally, it’s also used in combat.

The sudden appearance of this person obviously indicates another situation.

Upon being discovered, the person emerged from behind the curtains, wielding a photon blade, and violently leaped up.

Thanks to the mech suit, he could almost jump to Ji Fu’s side in one leap.

The photon blade was aimed straight at Ji Fu’s neck and slashed down!

Zhou Lu Hai returned just in time to witness this scene.

His face changed drastically, and he was about to release his mech.

But then he saw Ji Fu’s right arm instantly armored with the mech.

The black mech shell covered her half-arm.

However, instead of using this mechanical arm to block the photon blade coming down on her neck, she turned it into a fist. Before the mechanical photon blade fell on her, she punched directly through the opponent’s mech suit, smashing his heart.

The whole process lasted only a short ten seconds.

By the time Zhou Lu Hai reacted, the person had already fallen straight down.

And Ji Fu, sitting in the medical compartment, turned pale in an instant.

She disarmed her right arm’s mech, covering her chest.

She looked up at the person on the ground.

An A-level professional assassin.

Professionals of this level are usually hired by others, and if they fail to make a kill with one strike, they will self-destruct.

There was also a self-destruct device on this mech suit.

This meant that if the opponent hadn’t been able to kill her with one strike, he could have activated the self-destruct device to take her down with him.

This kind of method was probably intended to directly take her life.

Zhou Lu Hai quickly walked over, looking at the person lying on the ground, his face ugly, “He doesn’t have a light brain on him.”

Ji Fu didn’t speak, she reconnected the medical tube to herself.

With that blow just now, her heart was pounding.

After connecting the medical tube, her complexion eased a bit, and she said softly, “I agreed to what you said just now.”

She had offended the An family at the Nebula Summit, possibly also because of treating Huang Yuwen’s illness, so she showed her face to the Huang family’s enemies.

However, the person who could lock onto her so quickly and dispatch a professional assassin to the school campus could only be someone behind An Zaiyang and Yan Cheng.

That is, the one who started the plot to strip her of her talent.

The opponent found her speed faster than expected.

Just right.

She also wanted to see if, in front of one of the three major families, the Zhou family, the opponent dared to act directly.

Thus, it was almost certain what kind of position the mastermind behind the scenes held in the Alliance.

Zhou Lu Hai was slightly stunned. He hadn’t expected Ji Fu to suddenly agree.

Before he could react, he saw her sway.

He hurriedly asked her, “What’s wrong with you?”

Ji Fu waved her fingers at him and smiled, “Nothing, I’m just about to faint.”

After saying this, she fainted directly.

Before passing out, she hadn’t forgotten to press the alarm button.

Within five minutes, the school security team rushed in.

Upon entering, they saw Zhou Lu Hai covered in blood.

Apart from that, there was one person fainting beside him, and another dead.

Zhou Lu Hai: …