Chapter 35

When Meng Li returned with an A-level crystal core and two severed A-level hawk claws, Xu Qiao had just dissected the heads of a dozen low-level tiger-patterned hawks, while around the cave entrance lay about a hundred hawk corpses waiting to be dissected.

There weren’t many usable materials on the flying beasts. An A-level crystal core could be exchanged for two thousand points, and a pair of C-level claws might only be worth three hundred points.

However, there were too many tiger-patterned hawks—there were probably around three hundred. Half of them had already been burned to the point that only their crystal cores remained, while the other half were still waiting to be harvested.

Xu Qiao, with sore hands yet feeling happy, remarked, “Did the second school’s graduates poke the nest of this group of tiger-patterned hawks?”

Meng Li replied, “It’s possible that an S-level beast showed up, and the tiger-patterned hawks are afraid of being affected by the battle and are relocating.”

Xu Qiao tossed her two crystal cores, saying, “They’re both wind attribute; you should absorb them first. Otherwise, I’m worried that someone might pop up later and try to snatch them from us.”

Meng Li caught the four thousand points and paused for a moment, absorbing one core in one hand while gripping a dagger to dissect the other.

The hot forest was devoid of any breeze, and the battle aura left by the A-level tiger-patterned hawks and S-level power users made other beasts wary of approaching carelessly.
—-
After over twenty minutes of hard work, Xu Qiao once again plunged her dagger into the head of a C-level tiger-patterned hawk, revealing a hint of black amidst the blood.

Among all the attribute crystal cores, only the space crystal core is black!

Suppressing the urge to scream, Xu Qiao quickly dug out the crystal core and whispered to Meng Li, “Look!”

Meng Li looked up to see the black crystal core between Xu Qiao’s blood-stained fingertips, and a hint of joy appeared on her calm face. “How big is it?”

Xu Qiao infused her spiritual power into the core and discovered that it contained only one cubic unit of space.

But this was still a cause for excitement; even if it was only one cubic, it could bring a lot of convenience to life and could even save lives in critical moments.

Meng Li glanced at Sun Fushan, who still showed no signs of waking up, then took off her A-level battle armor and had Xu Qiao store it away, along with the large pile of crystal cores and hawk claws.

Once they finished everything, the two buried the remaining tiger-patterned hawk corpses in a pit and set them on fire, to avoid providing food for other mutated creatures.

Looking at the time, it was already two-thirty.

They stripped off Sun Fushan’s armor and took turns carrying their heavy teammate, who, though only slightly overweight, stood over 1.8 meters tall, back to the aircraft.

The three of them turned out to be the last group to return from the danger zone.

They laid Sun Fushan horizontally in the middle of a row of seats, with Xu Qiao and Meng Li sitting at either end, covered in dirt and sweating, looking quite disheveled.

A curious mercenary asked, “Did you encounter high-level beasts?”

Xu Qiao wiped the sweat from her brow and replied, “Yes, we almost died. Fortunately, the base sent a powerful person in time.”

“Right, I saw that too; it was an S-level powerhouse with dual wind and fire abilities!”

“Dual wind and fire? Could it be someone from the Lin family?”

“I didn’t see their spiritual entity, but it should be someone from the Lin family. Marshal Lin rarely goes into battle, and Lin Jing’an was on the news recently for killing an S-level sea beast at the coastal base. Today, it should be Lin Zheng, as he looks quite similar.”

The three Lin family members were well-known S-level phoenixes from the Southeast Base, spanning three generations.

“This generation of the Lin family has produced two S-levels. Although the little phoenix is only sixteen, she is also Lin Zheng’s cousin.”

“Could it be related to the fact that the two siblings do not share the same grandmother? The current marshal’s wife is his second wife.”

“By the way, little phoenix’s father seems quite low-key. He hasn’t been in the news much over the years; I’ve forgotten his name.”

“I remember, it’s Lin Wengui. Because he’s only A-level, there are tens of thousands of A-level power users at the base, so he doesn’t stand out much despite having a special phoenix spiritual entity.”

The crowd began discussing the Lin family, with no one paying attention to the trio who had just survived the ordeal.
—-
Xu Qiao wasn’t particularly concerned about the identity of the S-level powerhouse. Her gaze drifted to the unconscious Sun Fushan.

To her surprise, her water abilities had also leveled up.

Given that her spiritual entity had experienced an upgrade, she speculated on the circumstances that might trigger each level-up. Referring to Meng Li’s example, could it be that quantitative changes led to qualitative ones, combined with a certain emotional stimulus?

During her three years at military school, Xu Qiao primarily focused on honing her wood-based healing abilities. Life in military school was busy yet stable, and it wasn’t until her practical training that she truly realized the dangers of survival.

Not long after the practical training concluded, Xu Qiao’s lotus spiritual entity reached B-level.

For the following two years, Xu Qiao applied her wood abilities during the day at the clinic and practiced her water abilities secretly at home every night, hardly taking a break. In two years, Xu Qiao completed four basic tasks, and this weekend, she had used her water abilities frequently to kill beasts. Leading up to this upgrade, she had even encountered a life-threatening crisis.

Was it her strong desire to survive that stimulated the mutation of her spiritual entity, or was it the spiritual entity’s wish to protect her that catalyzed her power increase?

Without academic support from researchers, Xu Qiao could only indulge in her own wild speculations.

The aircraft went to several other safe zones to pick up a large number of mercenaries, landing at the base right at six in the evening.

Sun Fushan still hadn’t woken up.
—-
After discussing it with Meng Li, they decided to wait until Sun Fushan woke up and let him, the idle librarian, directly report the mission to the mercenary association in the central area. Xu Qiao had a pile of crystal cores and hawk claws in her small space that she needed to hand over to Sun Fushan; otherwise, it would be too conspicuous for them, two C-level part-time mercenaries, to suddenly produce three hundred C-level crystal cores.

The setting sun was glaring. Meng Li placed their heavy captain on a nearby bench by the association and looked questioningly at Xu Qiao.

Xu Qiao said, “…Send him home? I haven’t been to the central area yet.”

Meng Li replied, “I haven’t been there either, but we should be able to find the vice marshal’s address.”

Xu Qiao fell silent; searching was one thing, but visiting the vice marshal’s residence directly was daunting.

Meng Li seemed even less keen to go to the Sun family’s house. Staring at Sun Fushan’s chubby face, she whispered, “Can pinching his philtrum wake him up?”

Xu Qiao replied, “…You can try. Even if it doesn’t wake him, I can restore his philtrum.”

The words of her healer teammate eliminated Meng Li’s hesitations. She bent down and pressed her thumbnail firmly on Sun Fushan’s philtrum.

The skin she touched was indeed very tender, but the next second, something shell-like pushed her thumb away.

A dark green turtle shell spirit suddenly appeared below Sun Fushan’s nose, and after a moment of no further attacks, the shell vanished again.

Xu Qiao and Meng Li exchanged glances, speechless.

At that moment, Xu Qiao received a call from Lu Yang, and Meng Li took the opportunity to inform her family that she was safe.

Both calls were brief. After hanging up, Xu Qiao sat on the chair, continuing to share silent exchanges with Meng Li.

A notification sound came from her wristband, and she opened it.

Qin Chi: [Are you back? I just got off the aircraft from the second school.]

Xu Qiao: [Yes, did something happen over there?]

Qin Chi: [We encountered an S-level black snake, but it has already been dealt with. It’s said that some A-level beasts have escaped to other danger zones. Did you encounter anything in An County?]

Xu Qiao: [We encountered a group of tiger-patterned hawks! Fortunately, there was support from a powerful person, but the captain’s mental energy is exhausted, and he’s still unconscious.]

Xu Qiao casually took a picture of Sun Fushan’s sleeping face and sent it over.

Qin Chi: [Are you still at the association? I’ll come find you.]

Thinking of his mysterious connections, Xu Qiao curiously asked: [Your connections wouldn’t be related to Vice Marshal Sun, would they?]

Qin Chi: [My connections know Vice Marshal Sun, but I haven’t dealt with him directly.]
—-
Meng Li suddenly pointed to Sun Fushan’s communication wristband, which was in silent mode and flashing on the screen.

Xu Qiao lifted the captain’s arm and found that the screen displayed an incoming call from “Big Brother.”

She looked at Meng Li.

Meng Li took two steps back.

Reluctantly, Xu Qiao answered on Sun Fushan’s behalf.

A deep voice came from the other end: “Since you’re back, why didn’t you say anything?”

Xu Qiao replied, “…Hello, I’m his teammate. The captain exhausted his mental energy while fighting off the beasts and has been unconscious, but don’t worry, he’s fine.”

Sun Fushan’s older brother was definitely in the military, and an A-level ability user would have a commendable rank, so she felt it necessary to be respectful!

“Thank you for taking care of him. Could you send me your current address? I’ll come to pick him up.”

Xu Qiao sighed with relief: “We’re at the mercenary association in the West District of the Second Ring.”

“Alright, I should be there in about forty minutes.”

Though he said forty minutes, Sun Xuan arrived in just over twenty minutes from the central area.

He was a robust man, as tall as Qin Chi but twice as muscular, wearing a black casual outfit. His sun-kissed face held the authority of a senior officer and an undeniable sense of trustworthiness.

Standing before the two twenty-year-old girls, Sun Xuan extended his hand, shaking hands with each of them: “I’ve heard Little Mountain mention you both. Thank you for not minding his stutter.”

Xu Qiao smiled and replied, “It’s our honor to have such a great captain.”

She briefly explained the situation at the time.

Sun Xuan said, “Unity and mutual assistance are the essence of teamwork. You all are very talented. Today isn’t convenient, but feel free to visit our home when you have time.”

Xu Qiao could only nod in agreement.

Sun Xuan tucked his brother under his armpit, said goodbye to the girls, and strode toward the parking lot, his upright posture making Sun Fushan look like a human-shaped sack under his arm.

Xu Qiao was dumbfounded. After all, he was his older brother—couldn’t he find a more comfortable way to carry him?

Just as Sun Xuan’s car was leaving the parking lot, a familiar black sedan drove in.

Seeing this, Meng Li said to Xu Qiao, “You go find Qin Chi. I’ll take the subway.”

Without giving Xu Qiao a chance to protest, she ran off.

Xu Qiao had no choice but to walk over to Qin Chi’s car alone.

Qin Chi was already waiting in the passenger seat, his short hair looking neat, and his white shirt unbuttoned at the collar, giving off a relaxed vibe as if he had just finished teaching.

Glancing at Meng Li’s retreating figure, he asked, “Are you going to chase after her?”

Xu Qiao replied, “Forget it. She doesn’t like to be a bother, even to teammates.”
—-
Qin Chi then shifted his gaze to the dust and blood on her battle armor.

Xu Qiao hurriedly explained, “I’m worried that people might suspect we left the dirt and blood on purpose because we gathered too much.”

Not wanting to dirty his luxury car seats, Xu Qiao went to the back of the car. After putting on her helmet, she used her water abilities to carefully wash the entire set of battle armor twice.

Although she was wearing battle armor, it felt a bit odd to wash it in front of him, so Qin Chi turned away to admire the sunset.

The sound of water splashing was refreshing, and the fire dragon in her mind was eager to help her dry off the water.

Of course, Qin Chi wouldn’t let it out.

Xu Qiao handled the water droplets on her armor herself and returned feeling dry and refreshed.

The golden sunset enveloped her, and while her pale cheeks were obscured by the helmet, her clear, bright eyes were still visible.

Qin Chi opened the car door for her.

Xu Qiao thanked him with a smile and lowered herself into the seat.

Once inside, Qin Chi noticed that his teammate didn’t seem inclined to take off her helmet. He asked with a smile, “Aren’t you hot?”

Xu Qiao replied helplessly, “My hair is soaked with sweat.”
—-
After thinking for a few seconds, Qin Chi pulled out a packaged white towel from his space, tore it open, and laid it on the seat back behind her: “Take it off. Otherwise, I’ll feel like we’re in a hurry to go on a mission.”

Xu Qiao: “…”