Chapter 79

After she drank the Sheng You Lotus, the speed of her
talent recovery was not as expected. She had wondered if there was a problem
with how the potion was used.

After advancing to the star level and seeing the changes in
the mark, she considered another possibility.

This mark was likely not caused by the influence of Lie
Russell and Lan Russell but was her original talent mark.

The state of the mark also partly represented the extent of
her talent recovery.

When her talent first emerged, escaping from the highest
monitoring, the mark covered by Lie Russell and Lan Russell was barely visible.

After detoxification, the white mist faded, revealing a
faint gold mark almost invisible to the naked eye.

Now, Ji Fu looked down at the increasingly radiant mark on
her wrist.

As her talent gradually recovered, this mark became more
vivid. She confirmed that her current physical condition was excellent, all
toxins in her body had been cleared out, and after using the various improved
talent recovery potions she had formulated, her body’s strength had slightly
increased.

This indicated that the mark was harmless to her.

This recent advancement also confirmed the connection
between the mark and her talent.

The potion absorbed through the mark had a recovery effect
tens of times greater than the potion she drank.

Upon hearing her analysis, Qin Chu Yue was exceptionally
excited: “Does this mean we’ve found the most suitable method for
recovering your talent?”

Ji Fu took her hand out of the water and applied ointment
to the wound, replying softly, “Yes.”

Wei Lan had already returned to the Black Sea Laboratory.
Seeing the wound on her hand, he paused slightly.

He walked forward slowly, took the ointment from Ji Fu’s
hand, and carefully applied it to her wound.

Ji Fu handed him the ointment, as he had always been the
one to treat her wounds back when they were on Purgatory Star.

With one hand, she operated the control panel and opened a window.

Long strings of code scrolled continuously on the window,
with the current progress showing 98%.

It was taking longer than expected.

Ji Fu thought quietly, while Wei Lan, having finished
treating her wound, took a restorative nutrient solution from the side, opened
it, and brought it to her lips.

She took a sip at his gesture, then waved her hand to
indicate that it wasn’t necessary.

Such a small wound didn’t require a restorative nutrient
solution.

Wei Lan paused, his bright eyes staring at her, and then
drank the remaining half of the nutrient solution in one gulp.

Ji Fu didn’t find anything unusual about this from start to
finish.

They had always been like this, especially when they were
on Purgatory Star, barely scraping together enough interstellar coins.

【Didi】The control panel in
front of them beeped.

【Tracking completed】

“The results are in.” Ji Fu paused and opened the
window.

The window revealed a detailed map with a red dot flashing
in the center.

This tracking program was something she had set up after
obtaining Shen Qinglan’s light brain.

Although she managed to recover some of the destroyed data
using technical means, the self-destruct program in the super light brain was
extremely aggressive.

Thus, the recoverable content was very limited.

One of the messages had clear relevance to the talent
extraction issue and was sent recently.

Given all the conditions matched, Ji Fu wrote a tracking
program.

This automated program had been tracking since the day the
Shen family incident occurred, and after several days, it finally yielded a
result.

The indicated location surprised Qin Chu Yue a bit.

“You said the message was sent from where?” she
paused her task of moving items and asked softly.

“Interstellar Prison.”

The same interstellar prison where both Qin Chu Yue and Wei
Lan had been held.

Qin Chu Yue put down what she was holding, her face
changing slightly, “Does this mean the talent extraction base we’ve been
unable to find could very well be the interstellar prison?”

If so, it would all make sense.

Because Ji Fu’s talent had also been extracted in prison.

Although she was in the highest-security prison, it was
still part of the Alliance’s prison system, right?

Moreover, conducting experiments in prison provided both
secrecy and minimal risk of exposure.

Among the three of them, Qin Chu Yue had stayed in the most
normal prison. After a moment of recollection, she said, “The prison I was
in wasn’t of a high level, and it was under An Zaiyang’s jurisdiction.”

“In prison, they could indeed act with ease. Prisoners
lack personal freedom and have limited contact with the outside world, making
it easy for them to conduct whatever operations they wanted without being
easily discovered.”

Wei Lan asked softly, “Should we visit the
prison?”

“Yes,” Ji Fu confirmed, then after a brief pause,
she added, “But not this one.”

She turned to look, then said indifferently, “Evidence
that’s so easily obtained.”

“Seems like a trap.”

The other side knew who she was and was aware of her
excellent hacking skills.

In such a case, why would they use their real IP address?

Instead of a talent extraction base, this seemed more like
someone deliberately leaving a trace.

Qin Chu Yue was shocked: “This message was received by
Shen Qinglan before she died. Could it be that this person anticipated we would
act?”

“I don’t know,” Ji Fu said calmly, “Too many
people are involved in this matter, and the other side can’t account for all of
them.”

“This message, specifically sent and easy to trace,
was likely left for everyone.”

In case someone fell into the hands of the Slaughterhouse,
their approach would definitely involve tracking the IP back to the source.

This way, they could catch them all in one go.

They were investigating the other side, and the other side
was also investigating them.

Setting traps was a perfectly normal tactic.

“Currently, there are 17 prisons of various sizes in
the interstellar realm. The prison shown on this map is one of the smaller
ones.” Qin Chu Yue quickly reviewed the information and then said softly,
“This prison is similar to the one I was in, and it holds prisoners with
very low talent levels.”

Qin Chu Yue’s talent was at level B, and the prisoners in
this prison were all below level B.

“Looking at it this way, this prison does indeed
resemble a talent experiment base,” Qin Chu Yue remarked.

Ji Fu paused briefly and asked, “Can you find out who
is in charge of this prison?”

Qin Chu Yue responded, “There is very little information
online about this prison. We only know it belongs to the Alliance prison
system; nothing more.”

“Is there a problem?”

Ji Fu calmly explained, “If this is a deliberate clue
left by the other side, it means that as soon as we step into that territory,
they will have a way to capture all of us.”

Qin Chu Yue was startled, “Even including Wei
Lan?”

Currently, Ji Fu’s talent had not fully recovered, making
Wei Lan their strongest combatant.

The other side was that confident?

“Yes,” Ji Fu paused.

“This means that the opposing team has a very powerful
combat force.”

“It is even highly possible that there is someone
whose talent level rivals Fang Yanli.”

Qin Chu Yue fell silent upon hearing this.

In the Alliance, military academy, and even across the
entire interstellar realm, very few people knew Fang Yanli’s true level.

Because Fang Yanli was never merely super-star level or
super-star+.

He was, as far as they knew, the only special-star level
individual.

He represented the highest talent level ever recorded in
human history.

This was why three years ago, they had no way or
possibility of defeating him.

A super-star+ level might be extremely strong, but still
within the realm of combat.

But special-star level…

They all knew that was an entirely different dimension of
ability.

Moreover, Fang Yanli’s severe injury three years ago was
not their doing, but rather the result of him using a lower-level mecha to
dismantle dozens of black mechas’ explosive devices, leading to his severe
injury.

The reason he didn’t use Nirvana was simple.

In subsequent investigations, Ji Fu found no mecha pilots
of equivalent level.

The destruction caused by Nirvana would have been
unbearable for both Fang Yanli and the Alliance.

So, he had to use a lower-level mecha for the operation.

…Fang Yanli was also the only one who successfully
defused the bombing crisis.

Originally, Ji Fu’s plan had been for the black mechas,
combined with the engines dismantled from the super-star mecha soldiers they
defeated, to create an explosion powerful enough to destroy the entire highest
star system of the Alliance.

But in the end, only Fang Yanli was injured.

This was why the Alliance’s attitude towards him was so
conflicted.

Ji Fu raised her hand, closed the current map, and pulled
up a new one, “We’re going here.”

Qin Chu Yue asked, “This is…?”

Ji Fu replied calmly, “The place where the Si family
previously held Wei Lan.”

“It is also under the jurisdiction of the Si
family.”

The Alliance High-Security Prison.

At the top of this prison’s mountain was a facility known
as the highest level of the interstellar prison.

It was actually a solitary cell, originally used to hold
Wei Lan.

After Wei Lan escaped, the highest level was abandoned.

The Si family dismantled the highest level and transferred
the guards back to the main prison.

Apart from Wei Lan, the prisoners in this prison were at
least at level A.

At most, they didn’t exceed S+, mainly because the current
Si family lacked a super-star level mecha soldier.

The Alliance believed that the Si family was not capable of
managing prisoners above the star level.

After Wei Lan’s escape, all main family members of the Si
family were withdrawn from the prison. The current head of the prison was
merely a star+ level mecha soldier.

Including all management staff, there were only five
star-level individuals.

Not even as formidable as the team that once guarded Wei
Lan alone.

As dawn approached, people were at their most fatigued.

The prison manager looked up, bleary-eyed, and checked the
time.

4:20 AM.

He yawned and lightly patted the monitor operator’s head,
“Wake me up at eight in the morning.”

The operator, struggling to stay awake, asked reflexively,
“Huh? Are you watching the joint exam live stream too?”

The manager chuckled coldly and patted his head again,
“Morning roll call.”

The operator nodded.

Bang!

A loud noise came from behind.

The operator, now slightly more awake, looked back.

What he saw was a shadowy figure in the darkness and the
manager collapsed on the ground.

Realizing the situation, he panicked and was about to press
the alarm button when Wei Lan punched through his heart.

Crack.

Wei Lan withdrew his hand and said softly, “There are
only three people here. The other two should be patrolling below.”

He was referring to the star-level mecha soldiers.

“Mm,” Ji Fu stood at the prison gate.

Surrounded by surveillance equipment, she didn’t move,
waiting for Wei Lan to connect her system.

【Didi, fully invaded】 her light brain
displayed a prompt.

Ji Fu raised her hand and authenticated at the
high-security verification lock.

【Verification passed】

【Highest-level permissions】

There were many items still to be moved from the asteroid,
so Qin Chu Yue wasn’t involved in this operation.

Ji Fu had completely upgraded their unmanned mechas,
Canglan, in the Black Sea Laboratory.

The mecha now also reached star level, similar to the black mecha she had.

It could ensure Qin Chu Yue’s safety and, in critical moments, open the cockpit to carry Qin Chu Yue away.

The guards in this prison were not of high rank, so the two of them were enough.

With high-level clearance, Ji Fu’s entry into the prison was very smooth.

She avoided the cells holding prisoners and headed straight for the administrative area.

Wei Lan had already tapped into the surveillance in the cells, glanced at it, and said softly, “Two people, one in the office and one patrolling.”

“There is no surveillance in the office.”

Instead of entering the office immediately, Ji Fu chose another path, going further down.

The structure of this prison was quite complex, and the floor she entered was the first level.

The cells were on the upper floors, and the elevator indicated there was a B1 and B2 level.

Ji Fu found the emergency staircase and started descending.

“B1 level holds S+ prisoners, B2 level doesn’t show on the surveillance, it seems to be a staff rest area.”

Ji Fu reached the B1 level but wanted to go further down, only to find the path blocked.

Unable to proceed via the stairs, she took the elevator down and, as Wei Lan mentioned, found it to be a rest area for the staff.

As she entered, she was hit by a strange smell.

She paused, scanning the messy room filled with staff clothing and belongings.

 

But it wasn’t these items that produced such a smell.

She halted, activated her advanced AI for a scan.

[Abnormality detected]

As soon as the scan began, three red dots appeared.

Ji Fu paused, then raised her left hand, covered by the mecha arm, and blasted the wall where the red dots appeared into fragments.

“Who is it!?”

“Quick, someone’s broken in, notify the main house!”

As the wall exploded, two people jumped out.

Two star+ mecha soldiers.

The defense here was even more stringent than above.

Ji Fu’s expression changed slightly, instantly donning her armor.

After reaching star+ level, her use of armor was extremely powerful.

Before the two mecha soldiers could attack, she had already dashed in front of one, using the mecha arm to forcefully penetrate its engine.

The other soldier activated the cruise cannon, but before it could hit her, she was already in front of him, wielding a black curved blade, slicing the star+ mecha soldier in half.

 

Boom!

Both fell simultaneously, emitting a heavy thud.

“The first was a one-hit kill, the second took less than five seconds altogether,” Qin Chu Yue observed Ji Fu’s real-time data, though she wasn’t there.

She whistled, “Overall data shows it’s approaching normal super-star level.”

Ji Fu’s talent was more powerful than they imagined.

Despite being only star+, her high talent level gave her super-star strength.

And this was while her physical stats were still low.

Ji Fu didn’t retract her mecha, but violently broke open the door in front of her.

The two mecha soldiers guarding this door had appeared suddenly.

Rumble!

The massive door emitted a heavy sound.

 

As soon as it opened, the strange smell overwhelmed the area.

 

Ji Fu paused, then stepped inside.

 

Behind the door was another prison.

 

This place was very spacious, with three floors, each having four cells.

 

But now all the cells were empty.

 

The entire prison was deserted.

Only the lingering smell indicated it had once held prisoners.

In the center of the cells was an experimental operation table.

The table had not been used for a long time, and it required high-level clearance to access.

Ji Fu activated her AI, bypassed the verification, and hacked into the operation table.

 

Click.

As the screen lit up, a drawer at the bottom of the table automatically popped open.

Inside the drawer was a row of neatly arranged Blue Russell.

Ji Fu paused, took out one for testing. The instrument provided the result in three minutes: [Sample is a defective product]

The Blue Russell left behind were all defective products.

Ji Fu pulled up the operation table’s data. Most of the data had been erased, but some remnants remained, which she extracted.

The data indicated this was the ‘Pigsty Plan z-17 Laboratory’.

This meant it had indeed been one of the bases for extracting talents.

The aristocratic families had discreetly fragmented the experimental bases into several, to avoid detection through large-scale experiments.

The last data update was over eight months ago.

This timing coincided with Ji Fu’s escape from the highest security prison.

It even matched the timeline of the slaughterhouse incident, indicating the experimental bases began moving when they started their operations.

No relocation information was found in the stored data.

The operation table used a closed system, designed without internet connectivity.

“Since they have already relocated, why is this place still here?” Qin Chu Yue asked, looking at the restored materials Ji Fu had sent over, her face growing increasingly grim.

Ji Fu replied coldly, “Because the aristocratic families managing these operations think it’s just a temporary move and that they will reuse this model in the future.”

The relocation eight months ago indicated that the new talent extraction base had moved to centralized management.

For these people, keeping core interests in their own hands was paramount.

The more they read, the more shocking the information became.

Subsequently, they found personal data on individuals, with chilling content.

[Lu Yufan, female, 18 years old, original talent level: star level, Rosso Level 3, talent serum code k20477, deceased]

[Wei Xinghe, male, 19 years old, original talent level: S level, Rosso Level 2, talent serum code k20478, deceased]

…

Qin Chu Yue’s face darkened to the extreme.

She casually checked the information on some of these individuals. They were all children from remote stars, young, with many having lost their parents early or being outright orphans. their existence was perhaps just a tiny speck of dust. Even when they completely vanished, few remembered or searched for them.

Occasional missing person reports came from years ago, with relatives either deceased or having given up the search.

Feeling suffocated, she slammed her fist on the operation table in front of her.

“What kind of beasts are they? Why don’t they just die!?”

Qin Chu Yue came from an ordinary background, with average talent. She never imagined that her ordinariness would become her life-saving grace.

In the data they found, the lowest talent level was A level.

Lower-level individuals were beneath notice!

She felt a sharp pain in her forehead, struggling to find words for a long time.

In her fury, she heard Ji Fu say, “Wei Lan.”

“Who manages this prison for the Si family?”

Wei Lan replied, “Si Xun.”

“It’s now 5:10 AM. At 7:15 AM, use the prison’s communication to inform him that you’ve found the remains of the mecha Wei Lan used to escape.”

In recent months, besides searching for the batch of energy stones, the Si family had been looking for Wei Lan.

Qin Chu Yue paused, “The fourth joint exam starts at 8 AM. Will you make it?””Do you need to leave first?”

“I’m not leaving.” Ji Fu replied coldly. She wanted to settle the debt of extracting talents personally.

“We’ll make it.”

Qin Chu Yue asked no more questions.

In the early morning, the Si family’s super starship stopped at the high-security prison.

Si Xun, accompanied by Si Fan, who had an exam this morning, hurriedly entered the prison.

This prison was under the Si family’s jurisdiction, and the message was sent from a staff member’s AI.

The Si family’s status in the alliance had plummeted recently, with many being demoted. Si Xun was eager for news about Wei Lan.

Any clue would do, as long as he could find something and convince someone to bring Wei Lan back.

Once they had her, he wouldn’t hesitate to have her memory implanted with a chip.

He entered the prison without hesitation.

He hurried into the administration office, only to be confronted by a cold mecha.

A black mecha!

Si Xun’s face changed instantly.

[Activate annihilation mode]

The next moment, everyone who had followed Si Xun was mercilessly killed.

Ji Fu remained hidden. As soon as Si Xun took out his star+ mecha, she released her armor, violently punching open the mecha’s cockpit.

The mecha arm slammed down, smashing Si Xun’s head with a bloody blow.

She stepped into the cockpit, stepping on Si Xun’s head, and asked, “Who manages the Pigsty Plan?”

Si Xun looked at the armored figure before him, his eyes trembling with fear.

In his last moments, he recognized the person in front of him.

He opened his mouth, struggling to speak, but only managed a gasp before dying.

The sound was too faint, and without forming complete syllables, Qin Chu Yue, who was watching the synchronized footage, couldn’t make it out.

She paused, then urgently said, “It’s 7:45!”

It would take at least 20 minutes to reach the exam venue using the super starship.

“Don’t worry,” Ji Fu stood up in the cold sunlight, saying coldly, “Wei Lan.”

Activate the highest alarm in the prison.”

She stood in the cold light, listening to the piercing alarms echoing across the sky.

At 7:55 AM, many students had already arrived at the exam venue.

Zhang Huan paced at the entrance, frowning as he checked the time on his AI.

“Where is Ji Fu?” he asked.

The next moment, he saw the starship of the Interstellar Academy stop in front of him.

As the hatch opened, Ji Fu stepped out, wearing a light gray hoodie.

As she stepped out, she noticed a speck of blood on the right sleeve of her hoodie.

Ji Fu: …

Before leaving, when she interrogated Si Fan, he tried to bite her, and Wei Lan knocked out his teeth.

She paused, glanced at the chilly weather, and pulled a down jacket from her backpack, putting it on.

Just after putting it on, she saw someone rushing over in a panic and approaching Zhang Huan, exclaiming, “Something happened to the Si family.”

Ji Fu raised her head slightly. It was indeed getting colder.