Chapter 12

At that time, Ji Fu was already lying in the medical compartment of the starship that came to pick her up.

Her withdrawal from the exam caused a sensation throughout the Interstellar Academy.

After all, this was the high-score list. Once on the list, it meant becoming a rare existence in the whole school. The higher the score, the more privileges one would receive, and there was even a chance to become an S-class student, as the legend goes.

[Someone actually withdrew from the exam after already being on the list?]

[After all, it’s still an A-level exam. The content of the third round exam is too advanced for F-level.]

[Take a closer look, she withdrew from the exam before the start of the third round. She hadn’t even seen the exam content yet, so how could it be too advanced?]

Ji Fu’s straightforward withdrawal left the students in the forum confused.

Even long after the start of the third round of exams, they were still discussing this matter.

All this excitement had nothing to do with Ji Fu.

After returning from the exam room, she remained unconscious for three days.

Many things happened during those three days, including the end of the new student exam, where both Zhou Luhai and Wan Feng simultaneously made it to the high-score list.

The changes in their scores caused a ripple effect throughout the high-score list.

But regardless of the final changes, Ji Fu’s score was just at the bottom of the high-score list.

Furthermore, there was a reckoning in the Special A class. The original seven-person class eliminated three people directly.

Sun Yiming, who had spent a hefty sum on the sixty-point key, was on the verge of elimination. At this moment, he was thankful that he had bought the key from Ji Fu.

The third round of the exam was too difficult, and without those sixty points, he would still have been eliminated.

After the new student exam, there were many people curious about Ji Fu, an F-level student.

For several days, people hovered outside the F-class door, but they never saw Ji Fu.

The medical compartment operated day and night.

On the fourth day in the morning, the medical compartment finally opened.

Du Ming saw Ji Fu sit up, finally letting out a long sigh of relief.

He handed over the things that had been prepared long ago.

“Here, this is what you asked for.”

Before Ji Fu fell unconscious, she had asked Du Ming to request something from the school for her.

This was the reward for being on the high-score list. According to the difficulty of their exam, they could choose any A-grade material they wanted.

What Ji Fu wanted was the Coiling Cloud Grass.

“Be careful, this thing is highly toxic.” Coiling Cloud Grass was an A-grade exotic plant that was highly poisonous but non-aggressive, and it grew exceptionally beautiful.

Under the sunlight, the Coiling Cloud Grass in the flowerpot stretched out its branches and leaves. Purple branches coiled together like brilliant clouds.

Du Ming could understand why she chose such a strange exotic plant. Those of them who studied pharmacy tended to like quirky things.

However, the Coiling Cloud Grass was exceptionally rare. When he applied for it, the teacher in charge of the material library was in pain, saying that there was only one of its kind in the entire Interstellar Academy.

“What do you plan to do with this?”

Ji Fu, wearing gloves, tinkered with the leaves of the Coiling Cloud Grass and chuckled, “The teacher will know soon enough.”

“Oh, by the way, I need your help.”

From Sun Yiming, Ji Fu received three hundred thousand interstellar credits and gave Jiang Wei one hundred thousand.

Originally, Jiang Wei refused to accept it. Without Ji Fu, she wouldn’t have passed the exam. How could she take her money?

But Ji Fu’s money wasn’t just given for nothing. She had Jiang Wei make a set of experimental equipment for her, and the money was her reward.

Jiang Wei worked for a week, failed three times, and finally made something according to Ji Fu’s requirements.

Ji Fu was somewhat satisfied.

“There’s still fifty-seven thousand left…” Jiang Wei wanted to return the remaining money to her.

But she waved her hand, “I’ve been busy these days, don’t look for me.”

Jiang Wei was slightly stunned, her eyes reddening.

But Ji Fu wasn’t lying to her; she was genuinely busy.

In the morning, a group of people stood in the main square of the academy.

It was the four members of the Special A class who remained after the new student exam, and… S class Tang Xi, and S class Li Yunyi.

Tang Xi and Li Yunyi had just returned from an external mission and happened to encounter the Special A class while they were in class. So, they stayed to observe for a while.

They all knew Zhou Lu Hai and understood that he would definitely enter the S class in the future. But compared to Zhou Lu Hai, Li Yunyi was more interested in another person.

“What about that F class student? Why isn’t she here?”

Tang Xi looked at him coldly, “You said it yourself, she’s in the F class, this is the Special A class.”

“I’m just curious, you know? The school forum hasn’t been this lively in years. This Ji Fu is quite interesting. It’s said that she’s not in good health, but since she woke up…”

Li Yunyi leaned against him, still talking incessantly, when suddenly, they heard a loud noise.

Boom!

The intense sound not only interrupted the Special A class’s lesson, but also made many students who were in class poke their heads out to look at the source of the noise.

“What’s happening?!”

“Did a beast attack the academy? Do we still need to attend class?”

“Look at that direction… it seems to be towards the laboratory.”

“Huh? Did someone blow up the lab?”

Amidst the commotion, some students even used binoculars to look over there.

“What are you doing? Go back to class immediately! Anyone who sticks their head out again will come down with me to the training room!”

With this furious roar, most of the students were scared back.

Li Yunyi and Tang Xi exchanged glances and smirked.

They thought the excitement was over, but a few minutes later, a teacher from the academic affairs office ran over panting and said, “Director, you should go take a look. F class Ji Fu has set the lab on fire.”

The students upstairs instantly erupted.

Even those on the square became alert.

F class, Ji Fu, set the lab on fire.

Li Yunyi chuckled, “This new student is indeed extraordinary. Not only did she set the exam room on fire, but also the school, huh?”

Ji Fu was innocent, though; the composition of the concoction was too complicated.

Even with Du Ming nearby, mistakes were inevitable.

The formula was particularly domineering, often resulting in explosions.

She had spent seven days in the lab, experimenting hundreds of times, and exploding at least five times.

Fortunately, Du Ming had strong connections and managed to suppress the matter.

But because of the occasional explosions in the lab, the whole school knew she was developing a new drug.

There were also meddlesome people, like Li Yunyi from the S class, who somehow got her contact information.

He would occasionally send messages asking her: [Do you need help, junior?]

[Tell me, what explosive are you researching this time?]

[I heard you’re collecting exotic plants everywhere. I happen to have some. How about I sell them to you cheap?]

Ji Fu replied: [10 credits for a piece of Celestial Iron]

Li Yunyi: [?]

C-grade Celestial Iron sells for ten thousand outside. What did she just say?

He laughed at her response but still had someone deliver one to her.

[You owe me 9990]

Your message has been sent but rejected by the recipient.

Li Yunyi: ?

Alright, she wanted to play like that.

He didn’t know that up to this day, Ji Fu had failed nearly a thousand times.

Almost all of her money was spent on purchasing materials.

It had been almost a month since the new student exam, and the potion had not been successfully formulated.

Du Ming observed her vital signs every day, so they were all aware that Ji Fu’s life could only last another month at most.

In total, it was three months.

During her peak surveillance, Ye Ping had said she only had three months left.

So, she worked tirelessly on the potion.

This was a formula she had found after going through all the textbooks. However, it was clearly stated that since the appearance of the formula, no one had succeeded in concocting it.

Her continuous month-long failures also proved this point.

Du Ming sat beside her, watching her sit quietly and experiment, and couldn’t help but sigh softly.

Even he wanted to persuade her to give up, but…

Experiment 1087, adding Coiling Cloud Grass, failed.

Experiment 1088, blending reagents, failed.

…

At night, the bright light in the laboratory reflected on Ji Fu’s calm face.

The experiment had been going on for a long time. After many trials, Ji Fu no longer needed Du Ming by her side. Approaching three in the morning, Du Ming also went back to rest.

She continued to follow the formula she had familiarized herself with thousands of times, preparing the potion.

The final step of the Coiling Cloud Star recipe was to add the refined Celestial Iron.

She skillfully dropped the Celestial Iron into the mixture.

Plip, plip.

As the potion dripped into the test tube, it instantly fused.

The next moment, the entire laboratory was filled with a faint purple light.

Ji Fu paused and put down her arm that had been operating machinery all day.

It worked.

This time she had used up all the materials. If she failed, she would need to find another Coiling Cloud Grass.

But she succeeded.

She divided the potion in the large test tube into two smaller test tubes.

After countless experiments, she only obtained these two small vials.

In theory, she should be very excited.

But the moment she got the potion, for some reason, her heart sank slightly.

After keeping one vial of the potion, she fell silent for a moment, then directly drank the other Coiling Cloud Star potion in one gulp.

The potion in the test tube presented a beautiful scene of purple nebula.

But there was no taste at all when it entered her mouth.

It was as bland as water, and in reality…

Drinking this thing was the same as drinking water.

Ji Fu lowered her eyes slightly and turned her right wrist.

There was no reaction in the misty area, where she had drunk the potion, it was as if it had disappeared without a trace.

This result was within her expectations.

Since the day her talent was extracted, it had been completely deficient. For thousands of years in the interstellar, there had been no cases of curing a deficient talent.

She was not an exception either.

With time running out and the potion useless, she seemed to be stuck in a dead end.

After preparing for so long, facing such a major setback, her emotions didn’t fluctuate much.

Only at the moment of clearly being ineffective did she open her light brain.

It seemed that the normal methods were not going to work. From now on, she would use her own methods.

As she entered, her ordinary academy light brain transformed endlessly.

In front of her, a huge screen unfolded, densely packed with all the locations in the interstellar.

In the star system where the Interstellar Academy was located, a red dot was blinking.

Drip, drip, drip.

System prompt: [Target has entered the star system.]

Over two months ago, on the first day she entered the Interstellar Academy, she had infiltrated the Alliance’s law enforcement system and locked onto a person.

Ji Fu raised her head, and in the upper left corner of the pitch-black screen, the name of the target dot and a small line of abbreviation were displayed.

[An Zaiyang] has entered the hunting range.