When the system evaluates the progress of the task repair, there are two standards: first, the facts must have truly occurred; second, the original body must be aware of the matter. So, as soon as the progress notification sound rang, Shijing Xuan understood that Lin Na’s tragic death was indeed true.

He asked the person who was trembling with fear just from recalling the event, “Did the裂齿果 only attack Lin Na?”  

“Yes… no, no,” the person spoke in a somewhat incoherent manner, “The裂齿果 also wanted to eat us, but it was blocked by the restrictions… It guarded us outside the restrictions for a long time, and everyone was driven mad…”

No wonder they were so afraid of the裂齿果; they couldn’t even stand hearing its name. Shijing Xuan thought to himself.  

He took out a few more bottles of healing potions and calming agents and handed them to Lan Luohai’s subordinates to take care of these pharmacists. This unexpected gain from the裂齿果 saved Shijing Xuan the trouble of seeking revenge on Lin Na.

Ji Xuanran had been adopted by the royal family since childhood. Due to the disparity between his talent and status, he had often been bullied by the eccentric Lin Na. The royal family’s two marriage proposals to Yuan Xiao also made Lin Na hold a deep grudge against Ji Xuanran.  

Later, Ji Xuanran’s physical strength was exhausted, and he became almost useless. Country A didn’t want Yuan Xiao to be poached by the core country, so they repeatedly urged Yuan Xiao to return. Yuan Xiao himself didn’t move, but he sent Ji Xuanran, whom he nominally loved the most, back to Country A, allowing the royal family to feel somewhat at ease for the time being.

When Ji Xuanran first returned to Country A, the royal family treated him with a bit of courtesy for Yuan Xiao’s sake. However, as Yuan Xiao grew closer to the core country, the royal family realized that Ji Xuanran seemed to be just a shield, and their attitude towards him became increasingly worse.  

During that time, Ji Xuanran not only had to endure physical pain but also various criticisms and accusations. In the end, the usually arrogant Lin Na even deliberately threw Ji Xuanran into the裂齿果 thicket and mocked him, “Aren’t you supposed to awaken your healing ability after being bitten by the裂齿果? Come on, show me a performance!”

Ji Xuanran was bitten by the裂齿果 and ultimately bled to death at the hands of Yuan Xiao.  

And now, Yuan Xiao and Lin Na—these two who directly conspired to harm Ji Xuanran—had both been killed by the裂齿果.

Although Lin Na didn’t die as part of Shijing Xuan’s plan, she perfectly followed the principle of cause and effect. After dealing with these two culprits, Shijing Xuan received another piece of news.  

Lan Luohai’s subordinates were very efficient and quickly searched the entire underground research facility. On the second floor of the research facility, someone discovered two patients who were so swollen they were barely recognizable. After carefully verifying the information, they finally confirmed the identities of these two individuals.  

—It turned out to be Yuan’s father and Yuan’s mother, who had been brought here by Yuan Xiao to hide.

“We asked the caregiver responsible for taking care of them. She was an ordinary person who had been captured. She said that Yuan’s mother’s edema had been going on for a long time, and not only had it not subsided, but it had also infected Yuan’s father.”  

The subordinates quickly reported the collected information to Shijing Xuan and Lan Luohai.  

“They needed medication for their edema, but ever since Yuan Xiao left Country A, the two of them have been controlled by the royal family, and the supply of medicine has been quite insufficient. Later, when Yuan Xiao escaped back to Country A, he brought them out of the palace and forced those captured pharmacists to make medicine for them, which slightly improved their treatment.”

Shijing Xuan didn’t go upstairs, but from the crystal video, he could see the distorted images of the two individuals swollen beyond recognition.  

He raised an eyebrow, “Since they were on medication, how come they still look like this?”  

The subordinate replied, “These pharmacists could only make medicine when they were first captured. Later, as Yuan Xiao kept experimenting and drawing blood, their bodies couldn’t take it anymore, and the supply of medicine was cut off.”

Lan Luohai also saw the crystal video, but he showed no reaction to the miserable state of the two, not even a hint of physiological discomfort.  

“Let them suffer for a few days?” he asked Shijing Xuan, “Or should we deal with them directly?”  

“Let them fend for themselves,” Shijing Xuan said, “Let nature take its course.”  

With the two of them in such a state, there was no need to add trouble for Ji Xuanran. Moreover, the long suffering would allow Yuan’s father and mother to reflect better before their end.

Shijing Xuan added, “Just notify me of their death after they pass away.”  

To avoid any complications.  

Lan Luohai nodded, “Alright.”  

Shijing Xuan then shifted his focus away from Yuan’s father and mother, “By the way, Your Highness, I just discovered a safe in the vicinity. Can you help me open it?”  

“Where is it?” Lan Luohai asked directly.  

“It’s in the hall where the pharmacists are kept,” Shijing Xuan said apologetically, “I didn’t mean to trouble Your Highness with this. The others in the team were afraid that they couldn’t control their abilities and would damage the contents inside, so I originally planned to ask the裂齿果 for help. But those pharmacists are too traumatized by the裂齿果, and I couldn’t let it in, so I had to trouble Your Highness instead.”

Lan Luohai initially wanted to say it was no trouble, but after hearing the second half of Shijing Xuan’s sentence, he retracted those words and instead said, “The裂齿果 is also hard to control; it’s better not to consider it for such matters in the future.”  

“Is that the safe in the corner?” He spoke casually, subtly revealing his versatility and reliability, “I’ll do it.”  

Lan Luohai kept his word and really broke the restrictions set by Yuan Xiao on the safe in front of Shijing Xuan in a second. He also used a sharp water blade to perfectly cut through the thick internal bolt of the safe, swiftly and neatly retrieving the contents without any damage.

Once Shijing Xuan expressed his gratitude and took out a few books from inside, he turned around to find Lan Luohai’s subordinates frozen in place, as if they had turned into statues. Those pharmacists who had been placed in chairs and fed calming agents after waking up simply fainted again collectively.  

Shijing Xuan was surprised, “What is this…?”  

The subordinates: “…”  

They were almost in tears; did they really need to use abilities for such a small safe?  

The safe was made of crystal, while they were made of flesh. The eighth-tier pressure from the prince was something they truly couldn’t handle…  

However, facing the only person who was unaffected by the pressure, Lan Luohai’s subordinates didn’t have the courage to reveal the truth. Seeing that they were not in serious trouble, Shijing Xuan shifted his attention back to the items in his hands.

Yuan Xiao had gone to great lengths to set up restrictions outside a high-level safe, but inside, he didn’t hide any crystal weapons; he only placed a few old-looking and seemingly worthless books. The value of these books was quite apparent.  

As Shijing Xuan flipped through them, he discovered that the books were all handwritten, with more than one person’s handwriting inside. They looked more like notes than formal books.  

Lan Luohai walked over and set up a protective shield around the two of them. He noticed that the content written in the books was all related to the reactions of potions, so he didn’t bother to look further and directly asked Shijing Xuan, “What’s written inside?”  

Shijing Xuan frowned slightly, “If I’m not mistaken… most of the content here is about ways to communicate with plants.”  

This task planet has vast territories and abundant resources, making it very suitable for human habitation. But humans have an enemy they must face—intelligent plants. Intelligent plants are highly aggressive, have strong defenses, and possess their own thoughts; in a way, they are the true masters of this planet.

This prolonged hostility has been ongoing since the origin of humanity. For thousands of years, humans have made countless attempts and struggles but have never achieved a decisive victory. They have considered taming or coexisting peacefully with intelligent plants, but all attempts have been interrupted due to the inability to communicate with them.  

Shijing Xuan used Ji Xuanran’s awakened ability to communicate with plants, but in reality, he had only learned to manipulate them without truly understanding the essence of this ability. He insisted on going to the place where Yuan Xiao was hiding, also wanting to figure out why Yuan Xiao could trade with the裂齿果.

“Look at these pages,” Shijing Xuan pointed out the content to Lan Luohai, “This is the method used by the Fan faction when manipulating the裂齿果 before. Because it requires a large amount of energy to maintain, he had to keep holding the crystal.”  

Lan Luohai nodded and asked, “Are all the communication methods recorded in these books?”  

“Not just that,” Shijing Xuan focused on one of the thin books he had just flipped through, his brow furrowing tighter, “This one describes the effects of mixing裂齿果 toxins with the blood of pharmacists.”  

“Mixing effects?” Lan Luohai quickly reacted, “Isn’t that the advancement method Yuan Xiao mentioned before?”  

“Right, he must have seen this content, which led him to make such attempts.”  

“Then who would be the author of these writings?”  

“There are no clear markings or identity information inside, so the source is still unclear for now. However…”  

Shijing Xuan hesitated for a moment and opened one of the books.  

“I just felt that the handwriting in this book looked somewhat familiar, as if I had seen it somewhere.”  

Lan Luohai glanced over and saw that the page Shijing Xuan had opened just happened to have a cross-section diagram of the裂齿果 fruit.  

Lan Luohai reached out, using his finger to flip that page, covering the裂齿果 and letting the densely packed text on the next page fall into Shijing Xuan’s view, which made him satisfied.  

“Don’t rush; take your time to think.”  

Shijing Xuan was deep in thought and didn’t notice the other person’s small action. He stared at those words for a while before suddenly having a flash of inspiration.  

“I remember now!” he said, “It’s the handwriting from Teacher Fendelin’s note!”  

Back at the research facility in the east of the city, after reading Fendelin’s notes, Shijing Xuan had found clues related to ability awakening. The most crucial content at that time was a somewhat casual note, and Shijing Xuan had been curious about how Fendelin, with such a temperament, would discuss things with others.  

“There were two types of handwriting on that note, one was the teacher’s, and the other was just like the one in this book,” Shijing Xuan said, “The teacher should have finished his experiment by now; why don’t we go back and ask him?”  

Since it was a significant matter, after instructing the team to continue clearing the research facility, Lan Luohai took a few subordinates and returned to the research facility in the east of the city with Shijing Xuan.  

They arrived just in time; Fendelin had just completed an experiment. After hearing Shijing Xuan’s description, his expression changed immediately.  

“Where did these books come from?”  

“We found them from Yuan Xiao,” Shijing Xuan asked, “Do you know who the owner of this handwriting is?”  

Fendelin didn’t answer immediately.  

He had always had a strange temper, and his gaze was sharp when looking at people, making one feel as if they were completely seen through. However, now, Shijing Xuan read a sense of melancholy from his complex expression.  

He looked at Shijing Xuan again, as if he wanted to see another person.  

Fendelin remained silent for a long time, and when he knew Shijing Xuan was about to ask again, he finally said, “I know.”  

Shijing Xuan was about to follow up with another question when he heard him say, “But he is already dead.”  

“These things,” Fendelin pointed at the few books in front of him, “should have been buried in their family’s grave.”  

Shijing Xuan thought to himself, Yuan Xiao really is a scumbag, even daring to dig up someone else’s ancestral grave.  

“Do you know anything about their descendants?”  

“I don’t know,” Fendelin’s voice was low, and even his orange hair seemed to have lost some luster, “I only know where their grave is.”  

Shijing Xuan hesitated.  

Asking for the grave’s address seemed a bit impolite.  

Fendelin saw through Shijing Xuan’s thoughts: “It won’t help if I tell you; you won’t be able to find it. That place is a maze area, and only the descendants of their bloodline can enter.”  

He gave an address, which was indeed a well-known maze area.  

However, upon hearing this address, Shijing Xuan paused.  

—That place Ji Xuanran went to.  

Back when he was studying at the military academy, Ji Xuanran had been to that maze area, and this trip was actually Yuan Xiao’s suggestion.