Chapter 29

Meng Qiuyan couldn’t guarantee that her body wouldn’t beastify again, and Xu Qiao had no answers either. They could only agree that whenever Meng Qiuyan needed it, Xu Qiao would come over to take a look.

It was getting late, so Meng Li sent her two teammates out.

Before getting into the car, Xu Qiao remembered something and smiled as she reminded her, “Don’t forget to check the group chat.”

As the black sedan drove out of the villa area where the Meng family lived, Xu Qiao received a notification from the group chat.

Meng Li: [October is fine, @Sun Fushan]

Sun Fushan: [Ah, you finally replied! Okay, let’s schedule a specific task time in October!]

Meng Li: [Okay.]

Xu Qiao put down her wristband, and the bright morning sun streamed in through the car window.

Qin Chi said, “It might take about fifty minutes to drive back. You can take a nap.”

Last night was supposed to be a time to recover from mental energy depletion, but Xu Qiao had not only slept for a short time but also released her abilities. She really needed to seize the opportunity to rest to ensure she had enough mental energy when attending to patients.

“Hmm, thanks for your hard work.”

Xu Qiao sank deeply into her seat, her head tilted outward. She gazed at the unfamiliar scenery flashing by outside the window before closing her eyes.

Before allowing herself to drift off to sleep, Xu Qiao quietly reviewed the experiences of that evening.

She learned Meng Li’s secret, and Qin Chi voluntarily revealed his secret, so she followed suit.

It was quite strange; although the three of them weren’t very familiar with each other, the shared secrets suddenly drew them closer.

But Xu Qiao knew that just because someone confided in her didn’t mean she would do the same. She already had a good impression of these two teammates.

One was a seemingly cold person who kept others at a distance but would bravely rush to help during a confrontation with an A-grade mother lizard, filled with passion and fearlessness.

The other was a mysterious yet gentle and polite individual. Even though they were just a makeshift team, he would do his best to ensure the safety of each teammate.

Some people might take a lifetime to see through another’s true nature, while with others, even brief interactions could inspire deep trust.

Compared to the vast areas where humans of the old era operated, the Southeast Base felt small. For Xu Qiao, however, the Southeast Base was large—so large that she was only familiar with a few individuals.

As long as her colleagues and neighbors within the base maintained harmonious relationships, it wouldn’t matter much if they became estranged someday.

Teammates were different. When going out on missions, a bad teammate could lead you to your death, while a reliable teammate would strive to save you from danger.

A saying once popular on mercenary forums went: “Marrying the wrong person leads to mental anguish and soul loss; teaming up incorrectly can injure you and cost you your life.”

In the eyes of many ability users, trustworthy teammates were more important than partners who shared the same bed.

Xu Qiao felt fortunate that all three of her teammates were great.

As the black sedan made a smooth turn, Xu Qiao, who was asleep, unconsciously turned to the other side, facing Qin Chi.

Qin Chi took a glance before retracting his gaze.

But the fire dragon wanted to look again. It couldn’t come out and could only share Qin Chi’s eyes. If Qin Chi didn’t turn his eyes away, it wouldn’t be able to see.

The spiritual entity and the physical body began another round of struggle and suppression.

The fire dragon had just endured a round of “slander” and “humiliation” that it deemed seriously unjust, and this time it was particularly restless. Qin Chi looked at the road ahead and mentally asked it, 【Do you want to wake her up? Or should I cause a car accident, so she’ll never dare to ride in my car again? 】

The fire dragon replied, 【I just want to see her.】

Qin Chi responded, 【I thought you only liked the lotus. 】

The fire dragon answered, 【She is the lotus, and the lotus is her. 】

The spiritual entity is a manifestation of the enhanced mental strength of an ability user. At its core, it is still a part of the ability user, while the trunk and limbs manifest in a flesh form, making the spiritual entity a higher form of existence.

Just as Qin Chi attributed the reason for his beastification to the fire dragon’s spiritual entity, it was actually his own problem. It was his uncontrollable desire to kill that caused the fire dragon to become bloodthirsty and senseless.

At the red light ahead, Qin Chi stopped the car. After a two-second pause, he turned his head to one side.

The leather seats of the sedan were very comfortable, so his little teammate slept soundly, her upper body tilted over. The left cheek was pressed against the seatback, creating a ring of soft flesh, and her rosy lips were slightly parted.

Before the red light turned green, Qin Chi retracted his gaze.
—-
After driving for another twenty minutes, Qin Chi woke Xu Qiao when they were just one intersection away from the clinic.

The more she fought it, the sleepier she became. Xu Qiao rubbed her face to stay awake.

Qin Chi released the steering wheel with his right hand and immediately produced a can of strawberry-flavored juice: “Cold, to refresh you.”

Xu Qiao took it with delight; it was indeed as if it had just come out of the fridge.

Looking at her serious neighbor and teammate driving, Xu Qiao sincerely remarked, “My biggest luck this year is helping Xiao Yang rent the house to you.”

As a tenant, he was generous, polite, and easy to get along with. As a teammate, he was thoughtful and considerate in every way.

Qin Chi smiled and said, “There may be better things happening in the second half of the year. If we’re only talking about the first half, shouldn’t you be happier that Xiao Yang awakened an A-grade spiritual entity?”

Xu Qiao replied, “…That’s his good luck, but it’s you who’s my teammate and provides refreshing juice.”

Qin Chi said, “Thank you. Hearing you say that makes me happy too.”
—-
In mid-June, the Southeast Base officially welcomed the plum rain season.

Xu Qiao had grown accustomed to this annual occurrence. She had water-based abilities, allowing her to condense water and expel the dense moisture in her room from time to time. However, the vegetables in the small yard suffered from lack of sunlight, affecting their growth, so she needed to water them a few more times with her wood-based abilities.

That morning, Xu Qiao stepped into the Lu family’s small courtyard with an umbrella. After tending to a row of vegetable beds, she heard a window open from the north.

Xu Qiao looked up and smiled at her neighbor, who was wearing a white shirt: “Good morning.”

Qin Chi replied, “Good morning. Are you picking vegetables?”

Xu Qiao explained, “What about you? Are you getting used to things lately?”

Qin Chi said, “I’m fine, but my spiritual entity has become more irritable.”

Xu Qiao had already concluded that his spiritual entity was a kind of fierce bird. It was normal for the spiritual entity to resist the rainy weather since birds didn’t fly well on rainy days.

Xu Qiao said, “It’s a pity Meng Li lives too far away. Otherwise, we could ask her to warm up your spiritual entity.”

Qin Chi chuckled, “You can keep busy; I’ll just get some fresh air over here.”

Xu Qiao continued with her tasks, holding the umbrella as she moved to the next plot.

She was wearing a pair of black rain boots, the soles sinking into the muddy soil, with wet mud splattering around her feet.

When she bent down, the umbrella blocked her face, leaving only her fair arm visible as she reached out.

Qin Chi looked at the apple tree in the middle of the courtyard, where the green fruits had grown to the size of oranges and were now glistening with rainwater.

Qin Chi remarked, “I saw the weather forecast says this rain will last until the end of the month.”

Xu Qiao replied, “Yeah, and after that, it will be hot.”

Qin Chi said, “Once the weather clears, I’ll accompany this year’s graduates from the second school for a three-day field practice.”

Xu Qiao raised the umbrella in surprise, her expression hesitating: “The graduates from the second school mostly have to go to A-level danger zones, you…”

Qin Chi clarified, “I teach the course on mutated creatures. I have plenty of theoretical knowledge. The principal asked me to go primarily to provide on-site explanations for the students, while other instructors are responsible for safety. Besides, the students with me are all A-grade high achievers.”

Xu Qiao thought about the strength of the second school and felt reassured but still reminded him, “Remember to wear your combat armor.”

She had no doubt that her neighbor had access to A-grade or even legendary S-grade combat armor.

Qin Chi smiled, “Of course, since it’s an A-grade danger zone.”

Qin Chi had developed a physical training and swordsmanship practice plan for Lu Yang, who was on summer vacation. Lu Yang was extremely disciplined; even on rainy days, he would go to the middle school playground to train and only returned home wet in the evening.

A-grade ability users had such strong physiques that they wouldn’t catch a cold or get sick from all that.
—-
In just over twenty days, Lu Yang had already mastered a complete set of sword techniques. Before Qin Chi left the base with the graduates of the second school, he made an appointment with Lu Yang, saying he would personally guide him in controlling his spiritual entity to practice swordsmanship upon his return.

Xu Qiao was inspired by this atmosphere and felt that her practice of water-based abilities was still lacking. The space in her bedroom was too small; she could only improve her fine control over her abilities, but she had no way of confirming her attack intensity.

Then, on the first day the weather cleared, during the noon break, Meng Li sent Xu Qiao a message: 【I’m planning to go to a C-level danger zone to practice my abilities. It shouldn’t be dangerous, but I’m just informing you.】

In case something unfortunate happened and she encountered an A-level beast, Xu Qiao thought she could find new teammates if Meng Li didn’t return.

Xu Qiao understood that Meng Li wanted to familiarize herself with her enhanced fire and poison abilities, as well as quickly master the newly acquired wind abilities.

After rationally considering for half an hour, Xu Qiao replied: 【I’ll go with you. I also want to try killing a beast.】

All three of her teammates were reliable, but Qin Chi would leave the Southeast Base in three years or maybe two and a half years. Sun Fushan’s family was wealthy and could get tired of the team or be forced to end their current team game at any time. Meng Li was both her potential long-term teammate and an extremely strong ally.

With Meng Li accompanying her, Xu Qiao’s safety was basically assured, so why not take this opportunity to improve her own combat power?

Meng Li: 【I don’t need you to take risks to accompany me. 】

Xu Qiao smiled: 【Why do you always think our motivations for doing something revolve around you? While I do care about you, I trust in your strength. I just want to take advantage of your protection to improve myself. If one day you find me unworthy and look for other teammates, I won’t have to rely entirely on them for protection when I do tasks with another squad. 】

Meng Li: 【I will always team up with you unless you find me unworthy first.】

Xu Qiao: 【Then I really need to accompany you more to practice our coordination.】

Meng Li: 【Sure. Shall we set off tomorrow morning?】

Xu Qiao: 【Okay, I’ll let the captain know. Just tell him we’re going out to earn some extra income.】

Meng Li: 【Mhm.】

Outside the base, there was no signal, so the group chat couldn’t disturb Qin Chi. Xu Qiao tagged Sun Fushan in the group and concocted a little lie.

Sun Fushan: 【I’ll go too!】

Xu Qiao: 【… Do you still need to earn extra income? 】

Sun Fushan: 【I’m not short on points, but I want to improve my strength.】

Xu Qiao was curious: 【With your ambition, why be a librarian? If I were you, I’d just take a few bodyguards and go do tasks outside every day, only requiring them to act at critical moments. 】

There was a long silence in the chat before Sun Fushan sent a new message: 【In front of them, I feel embarrassed to act. I know they won’t mock me, but I’m just afraid they’ll look down on me.】

Xu Qiao thought about the captain’s stutter related to psychological factors and figured that although he was born into a wealthy family, he must have had some unpleasant experiences.

Sun Fushan: 【Take me with you; I promise I won’t hold you back. I can also provide three sets of A-grade combat armor and A-grade weapons.】

Meng Li: 【No need. 】

Sun Fushan: 【What do you want me to do to convince you to take me along?】

After Xu Qiao and Meng Li chatted privately for a while, she replied: 【Meng Li and I have a big secret in common. If you want to join us, you’ll have to share one of your big secrets in exchange so we can trust you won’t leak anything.】

Sun Fushan: 【Well, my family is wealthy and powerful. I’m not interested in anything outside of improving my strength, and I don’t need to exchange my friends’ secrets for any benefits. Besides, I don’t have friends; I can only gossip with you two. I wouldn’t even have anyone to leak secrets to.】

Worried that this explanation wasn’t strong enough, Sun Fushan added: 【Forget it; I’ll tell you. My grandfather is Sun Dagui.】

Xu Qiao: …

Sun Dagui, the one who is the vice marshal of the Southeast Base, the one whose spiritual entity is an S-grade turtle?

While she and Meng Li were shocked into silence, Sun Fushan sent a crying emoji: 【The Lin family has produced several S-grade phoenixes, and in our family, my grandfather is the only one with an S-grade turtle. My dad, along with several of my uncles and aunts, as well as my siblings, are all A-grade. The moment I was born, my grandfather had high hopes for me, naming me Fushan, hoping I could awaken a mythical Fushan divine turtle. But who would have thought that I wouldn’t even match my dad and brother? I only got a C! 】