Chapter 30

“At present, even if it’s an antidote, the damage to the body from this drug is still fatal. Even if the poison is removed, the person probably won’t survive.” Du Ming patted her shoulder, his expression serious:

“It’s better to try to persuade your friend not to use this drug anymore.” Du Ming looked at her cold and solemn expression and sighed lightly.

The poisoned person is Ji Fu’s friend, and if he can help, Du Ming won’t refuse.

But if it requires using this level of antidote, then the poison itself will become even more terrifying. At this level, Du Ming is truly powerless.

After hesitating for a moment, Du Ming said: “You can take your friend to the Imperial Star and try your luck there.”

The Imperial Star is the capital star system of the current interstellar alliance. Du Ming knows that there are several very powerful pharmacists there.

Maybe they can find a way to detoxify.

Ji Fu nodded lightly at the words.

Compared to seeking medical advice from advanced pharmacists under the Union, she had another idea.

In the evening, after Du Ming left, Ji Fu went straight to the infirmary.

The infirmary looked the same as usual, with several medical pods quietly placed inside.

It wasn’t the end of the term week, so hardly anyone was using the medical pods.

She walked up to the medical pod she usually used the most, and with Du Ming’s identity authorization, initiated a full-body medical examination.

Because her health was poor, and Du Ming was afraid she might get sick suddenly and need to use the medical pod without him around, he had given her his identity card a long time ago.

With this identity card, even without Du Ming present, she could still thoroughly examine her body using the medical pod.

The development of medical pods has become very advanced now.

Even a detailed full-body examination only takes thirty minutes.

Thirty minutes later, the medical pod sounded a prompt, and Ji Fu opened the operation screen of the medical pod and carefully examined it.

The displayed content was similar to the first time Du Ming had given her a full-body examination.

Incomplete talent, severe malnutrition, unstable vital signs.

The conclusion was very sloppy.

Ji Fu supported her chin, looking at this examination report with an inexplicable expression.

From the reactions of people like Ye Ping and An Zaiyang, it seemed that those who extracted talents from others had done this before.

She wasn’t the first person to have her talent extracted.

And how many people like her are there in the entire interstellar realm? She didn’t know.

But one thing is certain, since these people have been poisoned, why haven’t they felt anything for so long?

Of course, such dirty tricks certainly wouldn’t show up openly, so she speculated that the poison planted in them was most likely in a hidden dormant state.

It needs to be activated by this special ‘antidote’.

But how can it be ensured that they have not noticed anything before the poison is activated?

The answer lies in this medical pod.

To prove her speculation, before evening fell, she specially ordered a material online.

This is a relatively common B-grade material, and it is one of the toxic materials used in that special antidote.

Before she came, she had extracted the material, and now she dropped a drop of the refined reagent on her skin, then picked up the medical pod’s scanner and lightly scanned.

[Drip!]

[Highly toxic substance]

The medical pod almost instantly reacted, indicating that this thing would produce severe toxicity when applied to the body.

Sure enough.

Ji Fu put down the scanner, took a piece of paper from the side, and wiped off the reagent on the back of her hand.

The medical pod can indeed detect signs of poisoning, and even using a single poison can be quickly detected. However, in her case where this poison has been activated, the medical pod cannot detect any abnormalities at all.

This is the reason why the other party is so confident.

The hidden nature of the poison, which does not act until activated, makes people not feel that there is a problem with their bodies until it is activated.

And the medical pod cannot detect signs of poisoning.

If it weren’t for the other party actively preparing the antidote for them, they would never have noticed anything.

Especially for people like her, who were low-level species before and lived in poverty, they rarely used medical pods in normal circumstances.

And all the medical pods in the entire interstellar era are monopolized by one family.

The medical warehouse is actually a type of equipment, the creation of a scientist from a long time ago. At that time, the scientist received worldwide attention for creating the medical warehouse.

Later, that scientist passed away, and the technology of the medical warehouse was directly monopolized by someone. Up to this day, it remains entirely in the hands of the Li family, one of the Four Small Families.

Others, including Ji Fu herself, have actually attempted to produce medical warehouses.

But the core of the medical warehouse is not mechanical; it’s various medical technologies.

A medical warehouse without medical technology is just ordinary machinery.

And the vast majority of medical technologies are held by the Li family.

The Li family is also the family with the most pharmacists in the entire interstellar alliance.

In recent years, occasionally there have been new medical technologies emerging, but before long, they will be absorbed by the Li family.

However, because the Li family’s main research direction is in pharmacology, it has caused other aspects of their family to lag behind.

This is also the fundamental reason why their family, despite controlling the core medical technology, is still only one of the Four Small Families.

Before she was captured by the highest authority, she wiped out half of the two former Four Small Families. The ones she didn’t touch were the Huang family and the Li family.

The Huang family is because Huang Peilan still somewhat resembles a decent person, as for the Li family…

At that time, it was not that there was no thought of taking action, but suddenly the Si family, one of the Three Great Families, jumped out.

And with the matter between the Si family and the Wei Lan, they concentrated their firepower on dealing with the Si family.

In the later stage, the Si family was mostly wiped out by them, and as for the Fang family represented by Fang Yanli, they each ended up in prison, and that matter was left unresolved.

Now thinking about it, a family like the Si family, who rises early for every little advantage, wouldn’t suddenly come out to cause trouble for no reason.

The reason they would do so is most likely because the Li family exchanged something they held for their participation.

Families like the Li family, who hold important technologies, can continuously be tolerated by the top three families of the interstellar alliance, certainly because they have made important concessions in some aspects.

It’s just unknown whether the Si family is also involved in this matter, whether Wei Lan in that prison cell has also had their talents extracted…

Ji Fu’s eyes slightly darkened.

In any case, the extraction of talents must have involved the Li family.

All the medical warehouses in the entire galaxy are monopolized by the Li family, and they also employ the most pharmacists. If they still claim innocence, that’s simply unacceptable.

[Ding ding]

The sky has already shown the first light of dawn, and Ji Fu has been sitting quietly in the medical room all night.

When she heard the notification sound, she opened her light brain, it was a message from Qin Chu Yue.

“What? A medical warehouse?”

“These things have always been graded, ordinary people use general medical warehouses, medium-sized families have intermediate medical warehouses, and there are special-grade medical warehouses exclusive to the Three Great Families and Four Small Families.”

“I heard that the special-grade ones cost hundreds of thousands of interstellar coins for just one use, tsk tsk tsk.”

“What, do you want one? You should’ve said earlier, I saw a medium-grade one in the Huang family’s material warehouse before, and I was hesitating whether to take it or not…”

Ji Fu paused slightly, interrupting her: “Can you get a special-grade medical warehouse?”

Qin Chu Yue replied quickly: “Special grade? That’s a bit tricky, and when I was lurking in the Huang family before, I heard people say that special-grade medical warehouses require the Li family to unlock higher permissions to use.”

“Go ask Huang Peilan to borrow it?”

It’s also a way.

But Huang Peilan had just led a team out to find the Black Sea Beast months ago, and a few days ago, she sent a message to Ji Fu saying that she hadn’t found any traces of the Black Sea Beast yet.

Calling Huang Peilan back at this time would only waste time for no reason.

Moreover…

Ji Fu casually typed: “Since it requires unlocking high-level permissions, as long as there is any movement in obtaining this thing, they will receive a notification.”

High-level security defense systems are all established like this, without exception.

Given her physical condition, she was afraid that as soon as she lay in the special-grade medical warehouse, the Li family would receive a notification.

It’s hard to say whether they would be able to detect the poisoning situation by then. It’s likely that after her identity is exposed, Huang Peilan would turn against her directly.

“So, what should we do?” Qin Chu Yue asked.

Ji Fu paused for a moment. She remembered something that Jiang Wei had been mentioning these past few days and asked, “Has the Li family had any recent activities?”

“Yes, the Mechanical Convention,” Qin Chu Yue scoffed, “They’re offering high rewards, saying they’re recruiting talents.”

In fact, they both knew that the Li family’s intention in inviting external mechanics was also to better monopolize their medical technology.

Ji Fu said lightly, “Then get ready and go give them a big gift.”

After receiving Qin Chu Yue’s response, Ji Fu turned off her light brain.

It was just dawn, and the morning sun filled the entire medical room.

In the morning light, Ji Fu played with the test tube in her hand.

After the first surprise attack on An Zaiyang’s private planet, the Alliance became more vigilant. This time, they were much stricter; his own private residence and the small planet under his name were all closely monitored.

An Zaiyang was shot directly by Qin Chu Yue, and at that time, there was no time to search his room.

One of the samples found on An Zaiyang’s body had already been used up.

Currently, she had no more antidotes in her hands.

She had obtained the list of ingredients and components, but most of the materials needed were of top quality.

It involves several star-rated materials, as well as materials of special grades.

To search for them in a short time is almost impossible.

Moreover, she still remembered what Ye Ping said before she died.

Ye Ping said that her body could only withstand two injections at most.

Counting her time in the highest prison, Ye Ping had injected her three times in total, extracting her talents three times.

She had already used the injection she got from An Zaiyang, it was the fourth one.

According to the two injections, if she were to take a fifth one, she might not be able to hold on.

Du Ming also mentioned that although this medicine is an antidote, it is highly toxic itself. When extracting her innate talents, it could also lead to her demise.

Regardless of whether all the ingredients can be found, this potion needs to be used with caution.

Compared to this, if we could identify what poison she has been affected by, considering other detoxification methods might offer a glimmer of hope.

The next morning,

Ji Fu left her student ID card to Jiang Wei, asking Jiang Wei to clock in for her in the laboratory every day.

Without a special access card, one cannot enter the laboratory.

Recently, she had been claiming to conduct experiments inside without much oversight.

Meanwhile, in her dormitory, she used a special hair dye to change her silver-white hair to red.

It was a short-term hair dye she recently developed that would fade back to its original color after a while, also helping to cover her white hair.

After changing her hair color, instead of taking the school’s starship, she left the star system where the interstellar academy was located on Flame, her own spacecraft.

Before entering the W-599 star system where the Li family was, she specifically changed into the uniform of Hanhai Academy’s female students.

With her British-style suit and short skirt, along with her flamboyant red hair, she attracted quite a lot of attention from the moment she set foot on the ground.

However, being one of the three major military academies, the noble academy still effectively deterred many from approaching her.

The W-599 star system was bustling.

For the past few years, the Li family had been hosting such mechanical conventions with generous rewards, attracting many participants.

It was not uncommon for people from the three major military academies to appear.

Everything went smoothly on her side, but Qin Chu Yue’s side was more troublesome.

Ji Fu had already arrived at the registration desk of the mechanical convention, while Qin Chu Yue, on the other end of the earpiece, was grumbling.

Qin Chu Yue wore a wig, changing her chestnut wavy hair to short black hair, and her earpiece was disguised as two large silver hoop earrings hanging from her ears.

She also wore black-framed glasses, covering half of her face.

However, even at the entrance, she was subjected to several checks.

After passing through the entrance without incident, Qin Chu Yue angrily muttered, “Who the hell issued the warrant?”

After Yan Cheng’s death, the Interstellar Alliance issued a warrant.

It contained detailed information and photos of Qin Chu Yue, making her very cautious lately.

Fortunately, she had prepared before coming this time, creating fake identities for both herself and Ji Fu.

These fake identities weren’t particularly sophisticated, and if encountered by someone as keen as Fang Yanli, they would quickly be exposed.

But Fang Yanli had been busy with imperial affairs lately, and this was just an ordinary mechanical convention. Identity checks weren’t that strict, so she managed to slip in.

“Do you know how much they’re offering for the bounty on me?” Qin Chu Yue rolled her eyes at the thought. “Three million! Insulting!”

Ji Fu chuckled softly. “Three million isn’t bad. The grand prize for this mechanical convention is only one million.”

Qin Chu Yue sneered, “The Li family is really stingy.”

Back to the point, Ji Fu said softly, “I’m going in now, be careful.”

Just as the line in front of her reached her, the receptionist handed her a registration form. She took it and meticulously wrote down three words on the form:

Zhou Xiran.

Zhou Lu Hai’s cousin.

When she helped Zhou Lu Hai repair his mech before, she connected his mech, which was linked to his brain, so she took a glance at his brain.

Zhou Xiran’s avatar was herself.

She really was a red-haired girl and indeed studied at Hanhai Academy.

All the information was correct.

When she handed the registration form over, the receptionist’s expression changed instantly upon seeing the “Zhou” surname, and she not only changed her attitude 180 degrees but also arranged a separate mechanical operation room for her.

Qin Chu Yue watched her enter the separate room from afar and clicked her tongue, “The power of a noble family’s identity is truly remarkable.”

Ji Fu raised an eyebrow but remained silent.

Entering the operation room, she could see the monitoring equipment above.

She remained calm, directly inserting the USB into the Li family’s brain interface.

Thirty seconds after the USB was inserted, all the screens in her area were covered, and the monitoring footage was transmitted to her brain. She didn’t look at it but sat quietly on the sofa, waiting for the convention to start.

This year’s mechanical convention was set up on a remote planet in the W-599 star system.

Although the Li family valued it, the head of the family had been called to the imperial capital a week ago due to recent alliance matters.

Fortunately, his two children were currently at home. They were the most talented individuals in the Li family, one S-level and one star-level, and had recently entered the Imperial Military Academy.

Because the head of the family was busy, he had let them come back to preside over the situation.

However, just as the mechanical convention was beginning, the young master and miss of the Li family did not appear. Instead, it was the family head’s younger brother, Li Quan, who was in charge.

Li Quan was an A-level mech pilot, relatively high in talent among the Li family.

This time, he was accompanied by an S-level mech soldier.

This was Li family territory, and the patrol ships around were all unmanned mech soldiers from the Li family. Plus, everyone entering here had to register and be recorded. No one would think that anything could happen on Li family’s turf.

That was what Li Quan thought too.

Before the start of the mechanical convention, he stood on the second-floor platform, looking down, and listened to the report of the participants below.

“A girl from the Zhou family also registered?” Li Quan frowned as he looked at the screen handed over by the person below.

“Yes, call Zhou Xiran.”

Li Quan nodded. He remembered this girl from the Zhou family; she seemed to be an S-class mech pilot.

Generally, mech pilots were interested in events like the Mechanical Assembly, which was understandable. However, regardless of her intentions, they had to give her face since she had already arrived.

Li Quan circled Zhou Xiran’s name and said softly, “As long as what she submits is not bad, give her the prize for the first round of auditions.”

He thought that the young lady from the Zhou family probably came just to have some fun, so after winning a prize in the audition, she probably wouldn’t continue.

The people around him acknowledged.

Li Quan nodded lightly to the people around him, indicating the start of the assembly.

Generally, the Mechanical Assembly would last for at least three days. The Li family would provide materials for making machines to the participants, but the completed machines would still belong to the Li family.

The rules were also relatively simple: the higher the level of the machine produced, the higher the score.

According to common sense, it would be considered very good if a B-class machine appeared in the first round.

Li Quan didn’t pay much attention to this first round. After the assembly officially started, he returned to his seat and listened to reports from his subordinates.

But he didn’t expect this Mechanical Assembly to be so stimulating.

On the platform where he was, there was a huge clock displaying the countdown for the entire assembly.

A total of five hours.

By the third hour, many people below were already showing signs of fatigue, and Li Quan himself was tired too.

He put down the screen and stood up, ready to go rest for a while.

“When the results come out, bring the items to the main residence of the Li family,” Li Quan instructed before intending to leave.

However, as he walked out, the mech soldiers beside him suddenly changed their expressions and shouted loudly, “Be careful!”

The platform beneath them shook violently, causing Li Quan to almost fall.

Fortunately, the person beside him acted quickly and supported him.

But before Li Quan could react, he looked up and suddenly saw their own starships inexplicably entering the planet.

Li Quan’s expression changed drastically as he shouted, “What’s going on? Where’s Yu An?”

Yu An, mentioned by him, was the captain of the Li family’s guard, an S-class mech soldier.

The nearby patrol starships were all controlled by Yu An.

The sudden appearance of the starships caused the mech soldiers beside him to contact Yu An immediately. However, after pressing the communicator, there was no response.

Li Quan’s expression changed drastically, just as he was about to speak.

But as he raised his eyes, he suddenly saw the Li family’s starships losing control.

One of the patrol starships accelerated in the air and swiftly approached, dropping two cruise missiles.

The cruise missiles exploded near the building where Li Quan was located. As the bombs fell, alarms rang throughout the entire Mechanical Assembly venue.

The participants of the assembly immediately stopped their activities and hastily exited the control rooms. Seeing this scene, they were all startled.

In an instant, countless people began to flee, rushing quickly to safe locations.

“Aren’t those Li family’s starships?”

“The starships are out of control? How could such an accident happen in such a big family!?”

“Quick, come over here to take cover!”

But this was just the beginning.

With the starships out of control, the unmanned mech soldiers on board lost control as well.

As the hatches opened, countless unmanned mech soldiers holding guns appeared, their eyes glowing red.

When those eyes scanned Li Quan, the mech soldiers sounded the alarm:

“Target Li Quan detected.”

“Target identified. Mission command issued.”

“Current mission: Eliminate Li Quan unconditionally.”

What!?

Amidst the chaos, Li Quan raised his head in disbelief.

The Li family’s unmanned mech soldiers were ordered to unconditionally kill him?

Forget about Li Quan, no one here had ever heard of such an absurd thing!

Li Quan was completely panicked, shouting loudly, “Where is the control device for the unmanned mech soldiers? Quickly stop them! And Yu An? Where is he? What happened to him?”

The S-class mech soldier beside him, upon knowing that the unmanned mech soldiers had gone out of control, entered his mech.

But suddenly, there were too many unmanned mech soldiers that went out of control. Although these mech soldiers were only C-class, they all received the same command.

The unmanned mech soldiers didn’t operate like human-controlled ones; they neither knew fatigue nor retreat.

He dispatched a group, but another group quickly approached.

Moreover, his primary responsibility was to protect Li Quan. If he only focused on repelling these mech soldiers, he could use his full strength.

But considering Li Quan’s safety, he frequently looked back, inevitably falling into a passive position.

The mech soldier hesitated for a moment, loudly calling out to the now chaotic Li Quan, “Mr. Li, please enter my mech cabin to take cover.”

Li Quan finally snapped out of it. He hurried forward, trying to reach the mech cabin in front.

But as soon as he exposed his head, countless gun muzzles were aimed at him.

Being targeted by so many gun muzzles, Li Quan felt his heart pounding wildly.

He immediately activated his communicator and released the C-class mech he carried with him, preparing to enter the mech for cover.

But just as he reached for the communicator, he heard a shout beside him, “Mr. Li, be careful!”

Li Quan was slightly stunned. When he looked up, amidst the chaos in the control room below, he saw a red-haired girl sitting on the shoulder of an unmanned mech soldier.

She had somehow gotten there, holding a black laser gun.

From a distance, she aimed at him.

Ji Fu wore black goggles, and through the precise targeting system of the goggles, she aimed the barrel at Li Quan.

Before the S-class mech in front of Li Quan activated its defense system, the barrel shifted downward, then she forcefully pulled the trigger!

Bang!

The quantum laser cut through the crowd and the mechs, precisely severing one of Li Quan’s legs.

Crack, swish.

The loud sound of the leg snapping cleanly sent shivers down everyone’s spine.