Chapter 49

After the notification sounded, the nameplates of all the students from the Interstellar Academy lit up. This indicated that they were about to be transported, and the process had started, meaning they could no longer be eliminated.

The lit nameplates resembled countless bright stars in a dark night sky, exceptionally eye-catching.

In the distance, Shen Qinglan and his companions opened the overall leaderboard with grim expressions. They saw that the Interstellar Academy was at the top, surpassing the two major military academies, achieving first place in this initial exam with the superior record of only eight eliminations.

The entire internet was in an uproar.

[Eight eliminations??? Is this the best score in history?]

[Yes, the previous best team score had almost eleven eliminations.]

[It’s not just about the number of eliminations; this is a classic case of the small overcoming the mighty!]

[When the Empire and Vast Sea’s super-star mechs appeared, I thought they’d be wiped out!]

Who knew it could be played like this?

At that moment, the Interstellar Academy’s live stream was overwhelmed, especially on Ji Fu’s side, who directly faced the two major military academies’ super-star mechs. She, Shi Xueying, and a few others from the special A class saw their popularity skyrocket.

Exiting early is typically not good for building live stream popularity, but before the start of the joint exams, few believed the Interstellar Academy could actually win.

The gap in strength was too significant.

But who knew they would pull such a move, taking first place under the noses of several super-star mechs?

This is more thrilling than anything else!

Even those unfamiliar with the Interstellar Academy learned their names.

Especially the top three on the Interstellar Academy leaderboard.

Currently, in individual scores, Zhou Luhai is first, Ji Fu is securely in second, and Shi Xueying has risen to third.

Unlike before, only one high-level mech soldier is in the top three.

The second place is held by an apothecary, a rather obscure profession.

And that’s not all.

Before all the Interstellar Academy students were transported out, Ji Fu did something that instantly skyrocketed her attention.

She looked up, and just before her figure disappeared from the exam venue, she activated her communicator and connected to Yan Yan.

Using the mech device carried by Yan Yan, she sent a message to everyone in the exam venue.

She said: [Thanks, Boss Shen]

The barrage was full of question marks.

[What? Thanks for what?]

Even those who stayed in the Interstellar Academy from the beginning were baffled.

When did she have any contact with Shen Qinglan?

Or did Shen Qinglan help the Interstellar Academy get first place?

The Interstellar Academy members were equally puzzled.

After they were all transported to the battleship and the live stream had not yet been closed, someone asked Ji Fu the same question.

Ji Fu blinked innocently: “I don’t know him.”

She didn’t even have the other party’s contact information.

Anyway, she just said it, and others just heard it.

What the Empire Military Academy people thought wasn’t something she could control.

Those present: ?

The barrage: ???

[Alright, alright, I get it, she’s worried the Empire Military Academy might go easy on them.]

[Lol, the little girl looks harmless, but she does such ruthless things.]

Not only that, but when some keen individuals made a compilation and posted it online, many realized what had happened.

They thought she did it on a whim, but who knew all the bold moves of the Interstellar Academy were her doing.

From capturing the Seven-Winged Dragon to every subsequent step, she had planned everything.

Even taking on the two major military academies with a small force was part of her plan.

Ji Fu became famous in one battle.

The day the Interstellar Academy clinched first place, they topped the hot discussion list on the interstellar network, making her one of the most prominent students of this session.

Qin Chu Yue watched the lively discussions on the interstellar network and almost couldn’t hold back.

This was just the beginning. If people knew Ji Fu had deployed three unmanned mechs to intercept energy stones monopolized by the Si and Han families during the joint exams, they’d be speechless.

And that’s not all.

Before Ji Fu left the exam venue, she did one more thing.

She found the culprit who, during training, used ultrasonic waves while a wormhole was consuming space, sending her and Shi Xueying to the star layer crevice.

The person who appeared on the field driving a dark green mech.

The opponent was cautious; since she and Shi Xueying survived and participated in the joint exam, he changed the mech’s color to avoid exposure.

Changed it to light silvery-gray.

He thought no one would suspect him since the mech’s appearance was different.

But Ji Fu didn’t rely on visual identification.

She used the mark she placed on him before falling into the star layer crevice.

That mark remained, and because the opponent’s mech was high-level, it stayed hidden without emitting signals to Ji Fu.

But in the joint exam venue, where everyone was in the same network, finding her mark was easy.

On the first day of the joint exam, she activated the mark and infiltrated his system, gaining complete access to his identity and information.

She discovered that the person was Wu Yang, a student at Vast Sea Academy.

He was expected to graduate from Vast Sea next year and join the Alliance.

She also knew that Wu Yang and the Wu family were affiliated with one of the Four Minor Families, the Shen family. Wu Yang was Shen Qinglan’s right-hand man.

When Shen Qinglan appeared near the Empire Military Academy base, one of the star-level mech soldiers with him was Wu Yang.

But before that, she never faced Wu Yang directly or did anything to him.

The joint exam venue was heavily monitored, and everyone wore super-star level nameplates, making it unsuitable for action.

After discovering Wu Yang’s identity, she locked onto him.

…There are several days of rest after the first joint exam.

There will be a chance to settle accounts with this person and find out if the star layer crevice incident was Wu Yang’s doing or ordered by his superiors.

Moreover, the Shen family played a certain role in the matter of extracting talents.

According to the rules, there is a rest period after each joint exam.

As the first to leave the exam venue, the Interstellar Academy students had a bit more free time compared to the other two schools.

The exam battleship transported all the Interstellar Academy students to the rest area for the joint exams.

Upon arrival, they were free to move around as they wished, whether to stay or leave.

The students, exhausted from several days of exams, each went to the temporary rest cabins to rest.

Ji Fu opened at her communicator and was about to leave when Zhou Lu Hai blocked her path.

She lifted her eyes to look at him.

Zhou Lu Hai, with a deep gaze, met her eyes: “Are you leaving?”

During this break, students were free to come and go, but generally, most chose to stay at the rest area.

Before Zhou Lu Hai came, he heard Shi Xueying tell Li Yunyi that Ji Fu planned Wei Lan to go home.

…For some reason, when Zhou Lu Hai heard the word “home,” he instinctively felt it was related to the man who had held her by the waist that day.

But he knew he had no right to interfere.

Still…

Taking a step forward, Zhou Lu Hai, who was very tall, could enclose Ji Fu within his shadow with just that one step.

Though there was still some distance between them, his heart beat irregularly because of that step.

He kept a calm face and spoke softly: “Your performance in the joint exams was too eye-catching.”

He Wei Lan glanced meaningfully at Ji Fu’s communicator. Everyone now knew she had an excellent unmanned mech.

“Be careful when you go out.”

Ji Fu was well aware of the unscrupulous methods noble families used to gain advantages.

She nodded slightly but hadn’t said anything yet when she heard two soft coughs through the bone conduction device in her ear.

The barely audible cough brushed against her eardrum.

Her eyes paused; she hadn’t heard Wei Lan’s voice these past few days, and as soon as Zhou Lu Hai approached, Wei Lan appeared.

“Okay.” She acted as if she hadn’t heard it and said calmly to Zhou Lu Hai: “I’ll be back before the second exam starts. If you need anything, you can contact me directly.”

“Cough, cough.” This time, the coughs were a bit louder.

Ji Fu raised an eyebrow, and after Zhou Lu Hai left, she gently tapped her bone conduction device and asked, “Why are you up?”

Wei Lan replied softly, “Had a nightmare.”

“A nightmare where you didn’t want me anymore and wanted to send me away.”

Ji Fu was momentarily speechless.

If there was one thing she regretted from three years ago, it was deciding to send Wei Lan and Qin Chu Yue away when she realized they couldn’t defeat Fang Yanli with their current strength.

She had intended to fight Fang Yanli to the end alone.

But while she could decide her own fate, she couldn’t decide theirs.

They were her comrades who had fought life and death battles with her and would never abandon her at a critical moment.

Back then, she was too young and had gone through too much, with a bit of madness in her. She was reckless and even considered dying together with Fang Yanli.

Unexpectedly, that was the only time Wei Lan had red eyes in front of her.

Hearing him bring up old memories, Ji Fu coughed lightly: “It’s probably the dosage of the medicine. I’ll…”

“Ah Fu,” Wei Lan interrupted her attempt to change the topic, his voice gentle: “Say you need me.”

Ji Fu paused.

At that moment, the starship arrived, and she boarded it to return to the Interstellar Academy without saying another word.

As soon as she entered the starship, she felt several gazes on her.

Ji Fu remained expressionless.

After the first joint exam, many people were indeed watching her.

But she was no longer the low-level individual she once was. On the surface, she was now a student of the Interstellar Academy.

Those prying eyes vanished once she entered the Academy.

It was perfectly normal for a student to return to school, so no one would suspect her intentions, allowing her to leave the school without concern.

Ji Fu stayed at the Interstellar Academy for only fifteen minutes before piloting an S-class stealth starship back to the asteroid.

The asteroid was as quiet as ever.

Ji Fu quickly went to the medical room on the third underground level.

Wei Lan, who had been talking about having a nightmare earlier, had once again fallen into a deep sleep.

Ji Fu looked at the transparent medical pod, seeing Wei Lan immersed in dark red medicinal liquid.

She quickly pulled up the treatment records from the past few days. Wei Lan’s condition wasn’t great, but the medicinal baths were effective, and his various metrics were stabilizing.

The recovery was just slow.

With the addition of energy stones, the treatment speed would double.

She almost immediately immersed herself in the experiments.

Energy stones were quite advanced, and despite searching through all the Li family’s medical techniques, there was no precedent for using them in medicine.

Simply extracting the essence from the energy stones for Wei Lan to consume might cause a conflict with his current medications.

The best option was to incorporate the energy stone essence into the medication.

However, determining the quantity, method, and necessary additives was a complex task.

After multiple experiments and using nearly ten tubes of energy stone essence, she finally created a new medication.

Unlike before, this time the potion in the test tube displayed a gem-like pigeon blood red color.

It had a texture that subtly resembled flowing sand, somewhat similar to the Wu Hai Steamed Cloud Formula that Ji Fu had previously used.

However, the efficacy of the potion was still uncertain; Ji Fu could only be sure that it wouldn’t have a negative effect on Wei Lan’s body.

Wei Lan’s current treatment had just finished, so Ji Fu drained the original liquid and prepared to test the new potion on Wei Lan.

After the treatment, Wei Lan was in a semi-conscious state.

However, when Ji Fu pressed the operation button and the new gem-red potion flowed over his body, he suddenly opened his eyes.

At first, his gaze was unfocused, but then it settled on Ji Fu.

Ji Fu noticed his condition and their eyes met for a moment. She felt his gaze was somewhat strange.

She didn’t think much of it and turned to look at the operating interface.

After Ji Fu’s improvements, the operating system of this medical pod had become much more intelligent, processing data faster.

Wei Lan’s normal treatment time was three days.

This time, it only took half an hour to run all the data.

When the data appeared, Ji Fu noticed an anomaly.

She clicked on the detailed page, but before she could check it, Wei Lan, who had been lying quietly, suddenly opened the medical pod door.

As the door opened, the treatment was interrupted.

A red warning box popped up on the operating interface.

Ji Fu paused and was about to remind Wei Lan.

But then she saw him look up, the ends of his deep blue hair stained with a bit of the red potion, trailing down his back.

He was breathing heavily, his gaze intensely fixed on her.

Then, under her gaze, he reached out and wrapped his arms around her waist.

Only when he hugged her did Ji Fu feel how hot his body was, his skin temperature extraordinarily high.

She patted his head, signaling for him to let go so she could check what was wrong and adjust the potion.

But she didn’t expect him to press his scorching face against her palm, rubbing it continuously, his hot breath all on her hand.

She saw Wei Lan, unable to bear it, lift his head, his hands tightening around her waist.

He repeatedly buried his head in her waist, then lifted it, repeating this action without being able to alleviate his condition.

He could only look up at her, his voice hoarse, “Ah Fu, I want it.”

Ji Fu paused.

At this point, she couldn’t care less about Wei Lan’s abnormal condition and turned to check the anomaly on the data interface. One glance, and she saw the problem.

The energy stone combined with her specially formulated potion had indeed increased its efficacy by at least double, and the treatment effect was excellent, but there was one issue…

Ji Fu felt the hands on her waist tightening, his breathing becoming heavier.

How did these two perfectly normal ingredients, when combined, produce an aphrodisiac effect!?

Ji Fu: …

This was undoubtedly the biggest mistake of her career.

Yet Wei Lan’s strength was terrifying, holding her tightly and not letting go.

He kept pleading with her, “I want it, Ah Fu, give it to me.”

In his daze, he kissed her palm, leaving a trail of burning kisses.

Ji Fu: …

She couldn’t handle Wei Lan in his current state. As he moved his head erratically, even trying to stand up from the medical pod, she had to forcibly push him down.

She didn’t expect this patient to have such incredible strength.

Although she was now an A-level talent and had not undergone systematic training as a mech soldier, her strength was certainly not small.

Even so, she couldn’t restrain him.

She could only watch as he effortlessly stood up from the medical pod, pressing himself against her.

Wei Lan wasn’t completely irrational.

His body was out of control, but his mind was clear; he knew exactly what he was doing.

…But the person in front of him was her.

He wanted to suppress his excitement, but the potion seemed to awaken something deep inside him.

It felt like a dam about to burst.

He could only press one hand against the medical pod door.

The veins on his hand bulged, nearly crushing the specially-made S-class door.

He barely regained some rationality.

But he didn’t realize that when he lowered his head, Ji Fu saw the overwhelming emotions in his eyes.

An intense, bottomless aggression.

A side of Wei Lan she had never seen before.

Fortunately, he seemed to retain some reason, only pressing his head against her, whispering, “Ah Fu, I feel so bad.”

Ji Fu knew he was suffering; the potion’s effect was stronger than she had anticipated.

But fortunately, she remembered that she had prepared for various situations and had placed a sedative at the bottom of the medical pod.

After some fumbling, she finally found the potion.

Quickly removing the treatment tube from Wei Lan’s body, she injected the sedative.

Once the sedative was administered, the person clinging to her finally began to calm down, his long eyelashes brushing against her shoulder as he gently closed his eyes.

He finally fell asleep.

After putting him back into the medical pod, Ji Fu came to her senses.

Wei Lan was two years younger than her. Until now, she had thought all his closeness and dependence on her were normal.

But today, she physically realized that Wei Lan was a man.

And not just a man, but an adult man.

That night, Wei Lan slept restlessly.

The effects of the energy stone extract were incredibly strong, keeping him in an extremely excited state even in his sleep.

And in every indescribable dream, she was there.

As a result, when he opened his eyes the next morning and saw Ji Fu, he was dazed for a moment.

“Awake?” she asked softly.

Wei Lan responded quietly, pausing before asking, “Yesterday…”

“It was the potion,” Ji Fu explained. She had tested it again last night, this time on a few low-level alien beasts instead of directly on Wei Lan.

It still didn’t work.

The energy from the energy stone was hard to balance. Even though she minimized the dosage while preserving the efficacy, it still caused a certain degree of aphrodisiac effect.

The beasts almost passed out.

And what she had used on Wei Lan yesterday was more than ten times the second test dosage.

It’s hard to imagine how Wei Lan endured it and stayed conscious…

Back at the interstellar academy, Du Ming had commented on Ji Fu’s dosage issues.

She had thought it was fine before, attributing the strong nutritional liquids to the high dosages.

Even when she applied it to herself, it only manifested different symptoms of pain.

To this day, her body still contained detoxifying agents, also due to overdosage.

Not fatal, but it caused significant problems.

“Until we find a balancing agent, we can’t use the energy stone,” Ji Fu said softly.

He noticed her avoiding his gaze, understanding that all the emotions hidden inside him had been fully revealed to her after last night.

But he had never hidden them, to begin with.

She just hadn’t noticed.

Or perhaps she had, but she had always indulged him.

Wei Lan pressed his lips together in silence, staring directly at her.

Ji Fu sensed his gaze but focused her attention on the page in front of her, searching for any exotic plants that could balance the energy stone.

Ordinary medicines wouldn’t work; the energy stone was such a top-tier material that ordinary substances couldn’t counteract it, let alone regular medicine.

So, she had to try exotic plants.

She had already identified several exotic plants and was running simulations on the system.

If she hurried, she should be able to develop a complete and usable new potion before the second round of entrance exams.

Unexpectedly, the person in the medical pod grabbed her hand.

After a night, Wei Lan’s body temperature had returned to normal. His hand was cool as he held hers, saying softly, “Ah Fu, are you angry?”

Ji Fu paused. “It’s my potion that caused the problem. Why would I be angry?”

He chuckled lightly. “You know that’s not what I’m talking about.”

Ji Fu looked up at him.

Before she could respond, there was a sound at the door.

Qin Chu Yue knew Ji Fu would return today and guessed she would be in the medical room, so she came straight over after waking up.

As she entered, she noticed a strange atmosphere inside.

It wasn’t just strange; the custom-made medical pod was closed from the inside by Wei Lan, and it was emitting a colorful light in broad daylight.

Qin Chu Yue: …

She quickly walked over and whispered to Ji Fu, “Did you have a fight?”

Ji Fu paused and glanced at her hand.

“No.”

Qin Chu Yue was relieved.

However, she glanced down at the floor and saw a faint red stain.

Qin Chu Yue was stunned and couldn’t help but blurt out, “Did you sleep together?”