Chapter 34

“Marvelous!” Qin Chu Yue clapped her hands and laughed, “Now it depends on whether these people value Li Zhihui’s life more, or if they value the monopolized medical technology of the Li family more.”

“However,” Qin Chu Yue’s eyes flickered, “Someone like Li Zhihui, once it comes to that point, I’m afraid he might voluntarily hand over the goods to seek a way out.”

Ji Fu chuckled at her words, “It depends on the conscience of the higher-ups in the alliance he’s attached to.”

Qin Chu Yue was momentarily taken aback, then burst into laughter.

Indeed, both Li Zhihui and the people behind him were cunning and deceitful individuals.

If Li Zhihui doesn’t voluntarily hand over the medical technology, perhaps he can still survive. But once he does, it’s like seeking his own death.

He made deals with the tiger, binding himself with interests. Once he loses this primary source of interest, he becomes useless.

By then, his life and death would just be a matter of the other party’s word, wouldn’t it?

And would the people who partnered with Li Zhihui in these matters be morally upright individuals?

Qin Chu Yue couldn’t stop laughing for a moment. “Darling, you’re truly a marvel.”

Ji Fu paused.

Three years had passed, and she had also matured.

If these things had happened three years ago, she would have taken more extreme measures for sure.

Perhaps the downfall of the Li family would still be unclear to others.

Three years ago, most of her actions were driven by venting frustration and dissatisfaction, stubbornly opposing the other party.

But now, it was different.

Since the day she left the highest monitor and learned that her talents were being extracted, she understood that venting frustration and opposition were futile.

What she wanted was to overturn this broken ship called the alliance.

“But after this incident, Fang Yanli will probably be even more suspicious of you,” Qin Chu Yue said after a moment of contemplation, “You must be careful.”

Ji Fu hesitated. Instead of directly answering Qin Chu Yue’s words, she said, “Actually, there’s still a way for Li Zhihui to survive.”

Qin Chu Yue hesitated, “What?”

“Convince Fang Yanli to intervene and protect him thoroughly,” Ji Fu’s voice was very calm.

In terms of combat power, Fang Yanli was currently the strongest in the alliance.

As long as Li Zhihui could persuade him, even if others wanted to take action, they would have to think twice.

“Ah…” Mentioning Fang Yanli, Qin Chu Yue’s mood wasn’t very good. “That rigid character, would he really protect Li Zhihui?”

She sneered, “In the entire alliance, apart from our highest executive who believes in enforcing justice, does he really know that someone like Li Zhihui, if judged according to the laws of the alliance, would definitely escape punishment?”

Putting aside his aristocratic background, even a camel that starves is larger than a horse. Even if Li Zhihui loses the medical technology, he should still have some assets.

Given the current level of decay in the alliance, even small players like An Zaiyang dare to be corrupt, let alone others?

Ji Fu’s guess was not wrong.

After the slaughterhouse incident that was broadcasted live that day, Li Zhihui, after a brief emotional fluctuation, immediately thought of one solution: finding Fang Yanli.

After Yun Chi was captured, Fang Yanli was seriously injured for three years, and his influence in the alliance gradually weakened.

But everyone knew that it was because Fang Yanli was injured.

As long as Fang Yanli reappeared, his influence would be sufficient.

After all, the Sky List was the only list after the widespread use of brain lights, and Fang Yanli was the person who possessed the first mech on the Sky List.

“Executive,” Cheng Hao walked in quickly, glanced at Fang Yanli’s expression, “Li Zhihui is here again.”

Next to him, Wen Fang couldn’t help but frown. This Li Zhihui was really too scheming.

He knew that the safest place for now was to stay in the highest office.

Neither the Alliance nor anyone outside had the capability to kill him in front of Fang Yanli.

But the things Fang Yanli had done made him feel disgusted whenever he thought about them.

However, Wen Fang and Fang Yanli had been friends for many years, and he understood better than anyone how stubborn his friend was when it came to upholding justice.

So, while he detested Li Zhihui’s actions, he didn’t voice any demands to Fang Yanli.

However, Fang Yanli’s response was different from what he had expected.

He raised his head and asked, “Have you found it?”

Cheng Hao was briefly stunned but then responded, “We’ve confirmed. Ji Fu hasn’t left the Interstellar Academy in these past few days. We checked her daily entries into the laboratory from the school’s administrative system.”

“And there’s surveillance footage.” He handed the screen over to Fang Yanli.

Wen Fang paused. “From this incident, it’s clear that if someone wants to create such an alibi, it’s as easy as pie.”

Cheng Hao nodded. “The system used by the Li family is currently the most secure in the interstellar realm. The fact that the other party could easily infiltrate it and manipulate the surveillance footage is concerning.”

It was indeed Ji Fu’s doing. She probably had hundreds of pieces of such surveillance evidence.

Fang Yanli remained silent for a long time. His gaze was cold and intense as he looked at Wen Fang again. “Are you sure that lower species cannot possess any talents, no matter what methods they use?”

Wen Fang nodded solemnly. “This isn’t just my opinion. The appearance of black holes has been around for thousands of years. In the interstellar realm with so many lower species, have you ever seen an exception?”

Fang Yanli said nothing.

The data report he received reiterated this point in every aspect.

He tossed the screen onto the table with a ‘clatter’ and said in a deep voice, “Continue to trace the IP of the slaughterhouse and Qin Chu Yue.”

He should have personally verified his suspicions, but the results of the investigation in the past few days weighed heavily on his mind.

From An Zaiyang to Yan Cheng.

The methods used by the other party were indeed different from those of Yun Chi three years ago.

Coupled with the current situation of the Li family.

Fang Yanli raised his gaze and said coldly, “Go ask Li Zhihui if he recognizes the drug that disappeared from the scene of An Zaiyang’s death.”

Cheng Hao agreed and was about to leave.

Then he heard Fang Yanli behind him add, “Tell him that his answer will determine the attitude of the entire highest office.”

“I’ll give him only one chance.”

Cheng Hao’s expression instantly became serious. “Understood.”

He conveyed Fang Yanli’s words to Li Zhihui.

Within a few days, Li Zhihui had visibly lost weight. His once well-maintained face now bore signs of fatigue, and there were many more gray hairs on his head.

After hearing Cheng Hao’s words, he seemed as if his soul had been drained, and he slumped onto the sofa in the reception room.

Seeing that he didn’t respond, Cheng Hao didn’t press further and simply left the room.

By the evening, when he returned after finishing his tasks, he was informed that Li Zhihui had left the highest office several hours ago.

Li Zhihui had left without saying a word, and this attitude was his answer.

After informing Fang Yanli of this, Fang Yanli didn’t say much, only instructing them to continue investigating Qin Chu Yue’s whereabouts.

But after everyone had left, Fang Yanli found himself engulfed in darkness, his gaze cold and intense as he looked out of the bustling window.

Li Zhihui, in the end, was unwilling.

He had worked for the people at the top for so many years, and the Li family had continued to grow and develop. Now, he still had people under his command.

Fang Yanli had cut off that path, and after leaving the highest office, Li Zhihui had gone into hiding directly.

For survival, it was also his last desperate move.

He had also posted a bounty on the black market.

As long as someone could track down the slaughterhouse or Qin Chu Yue’s location, he was willing to offer any reward they wanted.

Despite the Alliance’s investigations in recent days, they had still found nothing about the red-haired woman, but they had found some clues about Qin Chu Yue.

On the day of the Mechanic Assembly, someone intercepted a woman with short hair who was suspected to be Qin Chu Yue.

This also confirmed Li Zhihui’s speculation, so he put a bounty on Qin Chu Yue’s head.

“Tsk, this old bastard.” Qin Chu Yue could see her name hanging high on several black market forums these days.

Because of this bounty, several places where she had been hiding were exposed by the police.

This had made her hide like a hunted dog for the past few days, not daring to show her face anywhere.

So, a few days ago, an unmanned mech suddenly appeared outside the base where she was currently hiding.

Ji Fu chuckled over the earpiece, “Didn’t you complain about the low bounty the Alliance offered before? Now, it’s much higher.”

Qin Chu Yue couldn’t help but laugh out loud. “Don’t even mention it. With the current price, I’m even tempted to clean myself up and hand myself over to him.”

Despite the jest, Ji Fu also knew that if things continued like this, Qin Chu Yue’s situation would only become more difficult.

“So, take this opportunity to release another announcement,” Ji Fu said softly.

Finally piqued by her words, Qin Chu Yue bit into her apple and sat up, her eyes shining brightly. “What announcement?”

She heard Ji Fu’s voice on the other end saying softly, “Within seven days, if Li Zhihui is still alive, the slaughterhouse will be publicly auctioned off.”

She didn’t say what was being auctioned, just whispered, “Starting price, one billion interstellar credits.”

Qin Chu Yue exclaimed, “Is this old turtle Sun really worth that much?”

Ji Fu shrugged, noncommittal.

The scope of Li Family’s involvement was extensive, including but not limited to a pig project. She didn’t say what was being auctioned; how the other party perceived it was their own business.

She didn’t care about this matter, but this announcement had indeed become Li Zhihui’s death knell.

As soon as the announcement popped up, the Alliance announced Li Zhihui’s death within twelve hours.

It was said that he committed suicide by taking poison.

The head of the Li family, who had been influential in the Alliance for many years, unexpectedly died in the slums, reeking when found.

However, the news clearly showed Li Zhihui’s face and brainwave information.

The news was written in an interesting manner, stating that the Alliance had rectified discipline and captured dozens of Alliance elites, including senior members of the Li family.

Based on the serious crimes committed by the Li family, these individuals would be sentenced to death.

Moreover, there would be an interstellar live broadcast.

This move happened to allow the Alliance, which had been repeatedly criticized, to regain public trust.

The Star Network was filled with cheers, celebrating the downfall of parasites like the Li family.

When Ji Fu received the news, she was still sitting in Li’s pharmacy.

“…It is said that everyone in the Li family, except Li Qingqing, has been executed.”

Ji Fu raised her eyes from the pharmacy’s narrow window,

Just happened to see an A-level mech soldier knocking down a drone at the door.

While the Alliance was executing the Li family, they didn’t give up on capturing her and Qin Chu Yue.

At present, there were only two people in the slaughterhouse, both of whom were on the Alliance’s wanted list. Qin Chu Yue’s level had been raised from B to A.

And the red-haired woman representing her was on the top of the wanted list for the first time, listed as an S-level wanted criminal.

In addition, after the downfall of the Li family, several groups of people had already come to this galaxy to inquire about the news.

It was only a matter of time before Ji Fu’s current whereabouts in this pharmacy were discovered.

Her physical condition was very poor, and she had stayed in this treasure trove for several days before recovering.

The medicines hidden in Li’s pharmacy were extremely extravagant, including the potions and refined materials, almost at sky-high prices.

And Ji Fu had been staying here without leaving, also because of a bold idea.

Her body had temporarily recovered, but as long as the toxins remained, she could never fully recover.

No matter what medicine she took, it only treated the symptoms and not the root cause.

Coincidentally, there was such a treasure trove in front of her.

She planned to make good use of the potions in this pharmacy to detoxify herself.

She still had the formulas for Lie Russell and Blue Russell in her hands. If detoxification was truly impossible, perhaps she could still use resources to produce Blue Russell.

Although her body could only withstand the toxins of Blue Russell once, it was still a way out.

After all…

For the past few days, she had run simulations on the system in the pharmacy at least tens of thousands of times, and the conclusion was that she couldn’t be cured.

It was basically the same as the advice given by the special treatment chamber.

But she still didn’t want to give up.

And during these days, she had looked through all the information about the two poisons in Li’s system, leading to a new idea.

She intended to try it herself.

But before that, she needed to transfer the materials of this asteroid’s potions.

Returning to the Interstellar Academy was definitely not an option.

If it were just a couple of rooms’ worth, she could manage.

But the potions and materials here occupied an entire asteroid.

Qin Chu Yue’s current identity wasn’t suitable for walking outside, so Ji Fu planned to buy another asteroid herself.

But before she could act, she received an even better piece of news.

The news came from Huang Peilan.

She had already found the heart of the Black Sea Beast.

Huang Peilan: [The materials are ready. When can we prepare the Black Sea Steam Cloud Formula?]

She glanced at it and replied with two words: [Now]

Huang Peilan didn’t expect her to be able to prepare the potion so quickly and immediately replied: [Do we need to prepare anything?]

Ji Fu glanced at the pharmacy in front of her: [An asteroid, an assistant]

Three days later.

Ji Fu returned to the Interstellar Academy and asked for a month’s leave from the teacher of Class S.

It had been over half a month since the end-of-term exam for Class S, and during this time, Ji Fu hadn’t appeared at all. The first time she appeared was to ask for such a long leave.

Not to mention the teacher, even the students below were bewildered.

The teacher of Class S had already heard of this C-grade student who had skipped a grade, and now, she came up with such a thing at once.

The teacher gritted his teeth and said, “I want to see what reason you have for taking leave.”

He opened the leave slip handed to him by Ji Fu and saw written on it:

Personal leave.

Reason for leave: To assist Colonel Huang Peilan in preparing S-grade potions.

Teacher: …

Fine, fine, fine!

Zhang Huan again gritted his teeth and slapped the leave slip on the table. Huang Peilan had applied to the school earlier, and indeed, it was a reason he couldn’t refuse.

But!

“Do you know that the end-of-term exam is in a month?” Zhang Huan looked up at her. “I checked your attendance records. Since the beginning of the semester, you haven’t attended many classes properly.”

“According to the regulations, if you fail the Class S exam, you will be directly demoted! What, are you planning to skip class and then drop out directly?”

Ji Fu looked serious: “Teacher, I haven’t missed a single class. Look, isn’t Pharmacology a full credit course?”

Zhang Huan: “…Are you planning to take Pharmacology for the final exam?”

“Yes.” Ji Fu nodded, her white hair particularly soft in the sunlight. “Don’t Pharmacists take Pharmacology?”

Zhang Huan: …

Pharmacists also have to take the final exam for Class S!

It was all in vain for him to anticipate her performance in class since the last promotion exam.

Zhang Huan waved his hand, directly dismissing the person: “Go!”

Ji Fu left as soon as she said she would.

The students of Class S watched her leave all the way.

Li Yunyi sighed lightly, “Young people, always impulsive.”

Still, they hadn’t experienced the devilish assessment of Class S.

That said, in this class, he and Tan Xi were the only two star students, and they had to give their all in exams.

Zhou Mo said lightly, “After she fails the final exam and gets demoted back to Class C, she’ll realize her mistake.”

Ji Fu’s talent didn’t match Class S. Once she failed the exam, she wouldn’t regress to Class A but would directly return to Class C, which matched her talent.

Just as he finished speaking, he saw Zhou Lu Hai stand up behind him.

Zhou Lu Hai, with Li Yunyi beside him, hesitated and asked, “You’re still in class. Where are you going?”

Zhou Lu Hai didn’t look back, just waved to him: “Going to see someone preparing medications.”

Zhang Huan:?

They were really turning things upside down!

Zhou Mo beside him darkened his expression, while Wan Feng, sitting not far away, had a faint glint in his eyes.

Coincidentally, the recent events in the Li family had caused a stir throughout the galaxy.

He happened to have something to attend to and went to the laboratory.

Before he went, he heard from Wan Die that Ji Fu had been in the laboratory these days.

But when he arrived at the laboratory, it was empty. Not to mention Ji Fu, even the instruments weren’t set up.

He thought Ji Fu might have had something come up that day, so the next day when he passed by, he glanced again.

Still no trace of her.

Since the laboratory verification door was right there, he checked.

There was a verification message from Ji Fu at 5:30 in the morning.

Which meant, Ji Fu wasn’t in the laboratory, but her verification message indicated daily entry and exit.

Wan Feng looked up and glanced in the direction Ji Fu had disappeared.

It was also possible that she had something going on during this time and couldn’t be bothered to take leave.

Meanwhile, Ji Fu left Class S and was intercepted by Zhou Lu Hai.

She looked up at the person in front of her. “Classmate, what’s up?”

Zhou Lu Hai assessed her, a somewhat ambiguous smile on his handsome face.

He asked, “Did you access my neural network last time?”

The sensitivity of a mech soldier far exceeded what ordinary people could imagine.

Even though she was repairing the mech in his control, he could capture every move she made.

The person in front of her responded readily, “Yes, I checked your balance.”

Zhou Lu Hai raised an eyebrow slightly.

She had better.

He remembered that day she seemed to unconsciously glance at his contact list, but he hadn’t paid much attention to whom she looked at specifically.

Then, something interesting happened.

The Li family fell from power, and the culprit was his cousin.

Zhou Lu Hai lowered his head and met Ji Fu’s gaze.

Ji Fu’s eyes were clear; she knew Zhou Lu Hai would know when she looked.

But Zhou Xi Ran’s identity information wasn’t just in his neural network.

It was on the star network, in the news, and even on the official website of Hanhai College under the column for new student representatives.

In the interstellar era, it was quite convenient to find someone’s identity characteristics, especially for these scions of prestigious families.

It was just that the information closest to Zhou Xi Ran in his contact list, which allowed her to mimic him so well, even including the accessories and earrings he usually wore, was why the Alliance couldn’t find her.

“Leaving.” She turned to leave, but Zhou Lu Hai’s reaction surprised her.

He stood under the shade of a tree, wearing a simple white shirt with his hands in his pockets, his gaze fixed on her.

“Need any help?”

Ji Fu turned back to look at him.

She had a lot to do, and after entering Hanhai College, she had indeed thought about adding some new companions.

However, he, Zhou Lu Hai, had never been among her choices.

Because he was Zhou Lu Hai, his background being one of the best among the three major families and four minor ones.

In terms of background alone, he was no less than Fang Yan.

He was not Wei Lan.

As Ji Fu turned to leave, Zhou Lu Hai remained silent.

What echoed in his ears was her joking remark.

“Sure, then I’ll be avoiding the Zhou’s.”

Avoiding the Zhou’s meant avoiding Zhou’s main star, which was Zhou’s family’s home.

Ji Fu left Hanhai College and returned to the asteroid prepared by the Huang family.

According to her request, this asteroid was not in the G-730 galaxy of the Huang family but not far from it.

In addition, she was provided with an assistant.

Upon opening the door, Ji Fu saw Qin Chu Yue lying on the sofa. Hearing the sound, she smiled and looked at her, “Welcome home.”

The most dangerous place was often the safest place.

Everyone in the galaxy was looking for Qin Chu Yue.

It was probably unexpected that Qin Chu Yue would actually appear in the jurisdiction of the noble families.

And she even stayed here openly as an assistant.

When she said she needed an assistant, Huang Peilan didn’t even bother to ask who the other party was.

And because of the drug distribution, Qin Chu Yue always wore tightly protective mech suits when she came and went.

She swaggered around G-730, transferring the drugs brought over by Ji Fu one by one into the asteroid.

The drugs in the Li family’s pharmacy were all emptied out by Ji Fu using unmanned drone mechs and Yanyan, and transferred over here.

In addition to the drugs, she also bought a huge bathtub.

At this moment, the bathtub had already been filled with the diluted drugs.

Ji Fu took off her clothes and entered the bathtub.

From the conclusions given by pharmacology, the toxins in her body couldn’t be cleared.

But after looking at the ingredient lists of Lie Russell and Lan Russell countless times, another idea popped into her mind.

Everyone in the interstellar world knows that talents are spread throughout the body, and normal people with talents will slowly recover after using them, and the higher the talent level, the faster the recovery.

But the extracted talents seem to be different from everyone’s understanding.

After quietly observing the two extremely complex formula tables for a few days, Ji Fu found that there was no way to understand these two toxins from the perspective of pharmacology.

So she tried to interpret them in a mechanical way.

Unexpectedly, this interpretation felt quite fitting.

Interpreting it mechanically, both of these things were essentially for remodeling the human body.

Originally, talents were spread throughout the body, and talents themselves could be restored.

The reason for this situation was that these two drugs remodeled her body into a container for holding talents.

Lie Russell had been lurking in her body for many years, just to squeeze her talents to the maximum and concentrate them in one place.

Lan Russell, on the other hand, when applied, stimulated the activity of cells throughout the body, changing the talents from a scattered and uncatchable state to a condensed and extractable state.

It’s like transforming her body into a jar containing blood in order to obtain the blood on her body.

And for the convenience of extraction, a mouth was left on this jar.

Ji Fu lowered her head and looked at the mark on her right wrist.

That was the mouth of the jar.

What she needed to do now was not detoxification, but… to smash this jar.

She picked up the nearby knife and made a cut on the talent mark.

This was close to the artery, and logically, there would definitely be bleeding when cut, but unexpectedly, when the cut was made, no blood flowed out.

Instead, a faint golden color appeared at the wound, similar to the fine golden thread on the mark.

She hesitated for a moment, then with this wound, she submerged her whole body into the medicinal bath.

After the wound touched the medicine, there was no reaction at all.

Five minutes later, she resurfaced.

The first set of drugs failed.

As expected.

She sat quietly beside, calmly recording the effects of the dosage.

Then she adjusted the drugs again.

…

Three weeks.

It had been three weeks since she entered the asteroid.

With the help of Qin Chu Yue and surrounded by all the finished drugs, Ji Fu had experimented a total of thirty-seven thousand, eight hundred and sixty-nine times.

The wound on her right wrist healed and cracked again, and cracked and healed again.

If it weren’t for the exquisite drugs stored in the Li family’s pharmacy, it would probably be a mess by now.

But even with the drugs, the pain was still real.

Qin Chu Yue couldn’t bear to watch anymore as they reached the final stages of the experiment.

She seemed like a machine in the experiment, constantly overturning and starting over.

She operated the light brain, calculating and recording the failures each time.

And at the same time, she was racing against herself with the system.

As the moon rose.

It was the third day of the fourth week, with only seven days left until the day she had agreed upon with Huang Peilan.

And she hadn’t even started preparing the Wu Hai Steamed Cloud Pill.

According to the experiences from previous attempts, if she failed again this time, she would be completely out of time.

Not only was she rushing to prepare the Wu Hai Steamed Cloud Pill, but also the consumption of medicinal materials was too high.

The entire pharmacy brought back from the Li family was almost exhausted in continuous experiments.

…One can imagine how much time it would take her to find these raw materials and refine them without this pharmacy.

Ji Fu surfaced and picked up a tube of fiery red medicine beside her.

This was the last tube for today.

If it failed again, starting from tomorrow, the remaining materials would all be used to prepare Lan Russell.

She silently looked at the medicine in her hand.

Then she raised her hand and poured all the medicine into the water.

She gestured to Yanyan not far away.

[Test 37870]

[Dive]

The moment she heard the signal, Ji Fu submerged into the water.

As soon as she entered the bathtub, the wound on her wrist began to ache.

This kind of pain was actually not as painful as when Lan Russell was injected into her body.

But it quickly spread throughout her body in a short time.

It even made it difficult for her to breathe.

[Life signs rapidly declining, should the experiment be terminated?]

Despite the intense pain, Ji Fu still waved her hand.

Yanyan, equipped with an intelligent system, hovered anxiously on the empty space in front of her.

It could detect that Ji Fu’s vital signs were plummeting rapidly, and it was a severe decline.

And this time was lasting longer than any previous time.

One hour, three hours… until the seventh hour.

The eastern sky had already revealed a hint of dawn.

Ji Fu’s body slowly floated up.

Just as Qin Chu Yue pushed open the door, she saw this scene.

She was stunned, quickly ran over, and exclaimed, “Fu’er!?”

But before she could say “Don’t die,” she saw the person in front of her gently raise her head.

The repeated experiments had completely faded Ji Fu’s hair color.

At this moment, her black hair was tangled around her frail shoulders. Qin Chu Yue glanced back at Yanyan’s prompt, and when she saw the [Life Signs: 1], she was almost scared to death.

Turning back, she saw Ji Fu weakly lying on the edge of the bathtub, her eyes shimmering with a faint light, looking at her.

She was clearly unimaginably weak, but Qin Chu Yue still saw a bright smile in her eyes.

In the midst of all the dull pain, Ji Fu lightly laughed at her, “It’s successful.”

That system had demonstrated countless times, and all the pharmacists in the Li family were at a loss, unable to solve the dual toxins.

But she had broken through it directly.