Chapter 92

The laboratory was very quiet. Ji Fu raised her eyes and met a pair of blue, moist eyes.

She paused slightly and withdrew her hand.

Her fingertips brushed against his hoodie. With a gentle tug, he obediently stood up, following her lead.

Noticing her approach, he looked up, his gaze burning as he watched her.

He watched her eyes move slightly, watched her lower her gaze, watched her lips lightly brush past the corner of his mouth.

Just such a light touch, like a feather brushing by, yet it made his breathing chaotic and left him completely flustered.

On his porcelain-white skin, a fiery red blush spread.

Clearly, he looked like a shrimp cooked through, yet he was still reluctant to tear his eyes away from her.

Ji Fu immediately let go. When she realized, her hand was still gripping his hoodie.

Because they were so close, she could even hear his pounding heartbeat.

Ji Fu: …

Oh no, her experimental spirit might be a bit too thorough.

Being stared at like this by him, she couldn’t help but cough lightly and turned her head away. In doing so, she saw the rapidly climbing numbers on the monitor.

… Honestly, this method was indeed simple, rough, and effective.

But right now, she didn’t have the courage to look at his face. She said seriously, “Hmm, it seems to be working.”

“I’m going out to check.”

Who knows what she was going to check.

When she stepped out, she ran into Qin Chu Yue.

Qin Chu Yue glanced at her and asked curiously, “Is the heating on the starship turned up too high?”

Ji Fu: ?

“Then why is your face so red?”

… She couldn’t exactly say she just kissed someone, could she?

Ji Fu: “It’s too hot.”

Qin Chu Yue: Huh?

She looked outside. They were traversing outer space right now, where temperatures were nearing absolute zero. How could it be hot?

She was momentarily confused. When she entered the laboratory, she saw Wei Lan lying in the medical pod.

His elbow covered half of his face, but the exposed part of his face and his entire neck were burning red.

Qin Chu Yue: …

She immediately got the gist. These two kids were up to no good here, weren’t they?

Later in the evening, when she checked Wei Lan’s treatment records, she was startled.

Qin Chu Yue knew Ji Fu had been working on Wei Lan’s talents recently but had made no progress, so she hadn’t asked much.

Who would have thought Ji Fu had pulled off something big without a word?

With such a short-term spike in the numbers, she suspected Ji Fu had given Wei Lan some powerful drug!

And it wasn’t just a brief spike.

It had reached a peak at one point and hadn’t dropped since.

Listening to her data analysis, Ji Fu sat on the sofa drinking milk and almost choked.

… Could the aftereffects be this strong?

Qin Chu Yue finally understood. She asked, “So, is it possible that Wei Lan has an especially strong reaction to you?”

Ji Fu: …

What kind of question was that?

She didn’t respond, and Qin Chu Yue took her silence as confirmation, unable to hold back a laugh: “Then it’s simple. Just be decisive, sleep with him once, and he might shoot straight up to superstar level.”

“Compared to Fang Yanli, it’s simply way too easy.”

Qin Chu Yue had no filters and could joke about anything.

Sleep together.

Listen to these suggestions.

Ji Fu took a sip of milk and said slowly, “The increase in numbers is still very far from Ultra Star+. Using this method to upgrade to Special Star level isn’t realistic.”

Qin Chu Yue was about to bring up the sleeping topic again, but Ji Fu interrupted her directly: “Even with your suggested method, it won’t achieve immediate upgrade results.”

Their talent data was excessively exaggerated, far higher than the average data Ji Fu had seen.

Wei Lan’s explosive power was strong, but if they really did what Qin Chu Yue suggested, Ji Fu estimated it would take several months of doing nothing but sleeping together.

… That didn’t sound like something decent people would do.

So she deduced there must be other ways to improve.

Of course, this method was definitely useful. After all, just a kiss on the corner of the lips had caused a talent increase greater than the natural growth over the past few months.

But this method was too strange.

It made Ji Fu feel like she was some kind of succubus in a story, absorbing life force.

The only certainty was that the source of Wei Lan’s stimulation was indeed her.

Upon reflection, this conclusion wasn’t surprising.

Wei Lan had grown up in an environment where he rarely encountered people with good intentions towards him. This world had not treated him kindly, so naturally, he was indifferent to it.

Before Ji Fu picked him up, he was barely alive, lying in the wilderness waiting to die.

To Wei Lan, Ji Fu, who was penniless and could only offer him a poor-quality nutrient solution, represented a whole new world.

In a way, this was akin to his rebirth.

Unlike Fang Yanli, who came from a good background and, despite his parents’ early deaths, still lived without worries and was carefully nurtured by his grandfather, Wei Lan’s reconnection to the world was through Ji Fu.

His world was centered on her, but it wasn’t smaller than Fang Yanli’s, who bore many responsibilities.

A wild weed that grew without love or care.

It was because of Ji Fu’s presence that his world became vibrant and bright.

Without a more effective method and given that her actions were faster than her thoughts that day, Ji Fu had to pause the experiment for now.

After the second research institute fell, the alliance deployed troops to relentlessly track them down.

Ji Fu decided to steer the starship to a remote outer planet.

These areas were savage, with many black seas and pollution zones.

These places were teeming with fierce exotic beasts, and she needed a lot of top-tier materials to enhance talents, so it was also a chance to replenish supplies.

After three days of travel, Ji Fu and Wei Lan killed seven Ultra Star+ level top-tier exotic beasts.

Due to Wei Lan’s unique physique, they even dove into the deep sea of the Black Sea and killed three ferocious Black Sea beasts.

They had gathered almost all the materials Ji Fu needed.

Only one last material remained, which required a beast of an extremely high level.

It was nearly at Special Star level.

In the entire star system where that beast roamed, there was no other life.

Back on the starship, Ji Fu took a short rest, then, with Wei Lan, piloted the mechas to that star system.

To prevent accidents, Qin Chu Yue kept the starship parked outside the system, beyond the reach of that beast.

This starship had sustained some damage from traversing the pollution zones.

Although it was also at Ultra Star level, it probably couldn’t withstand a single critical hit from that beast without being destroyed.

The starship itself wasn’t a big deal, but the supplies and the three hundred black mechas inside were valuable.

Qin Chu Yue stayed to guard the starship and to provide support for the two of them.

In the vast space, the two mechas moved like arcs of light, quickly penetrating through.

Halfway there, an extreme danger red alert popped up.

[Alert! A top-tier mecha is approaching]

Almost simultaneously with this alert, the mecha appeared in front of them.

Seeing this speed, Qin Chu Yue, who was watching the synced perspective from inside the starship, felt her heart skip a beat.

She quickly stood up and said, “That mecha is…”

Ji Fu paused and said slowly, “Fang Yanli’s Silent Extinction.”

In the pitch-black space, a crimson-gold mecha stood tall, with three white marks on its right arm.

These were the scars from the final battle years ago when Ji Fu had used seventy black mechas combined to violently bombard and wound it with enough force to destroy a planet.

Even after all these years, the scars remained.

… It seemed Fang Yanli really didn’t know about Qin Yebai’s existence.

And seeing this familiar mecha, Wei Lan’s face also turned grim.

He looked coldly at the Silent Extinction, and at the moment it approached, he initiated Berserk mode.

Wei Lan rarely displayed such violent emotions.

His hand clenched by his side, veins bulging on the back of his hand, his eyes dark as the sea.

He and Ji Fu had gone through countless battles on Purgatory Star, some of which had even threatened their lives.

He had never taken any of it to heart.

Except for Fang Yanli.

Wei Lan always remembered the last scene he saw before he fell unconscious from severe injuries four years ago.

It was this crimson-gold mecha, unleashing a barrage of bombardments upon Ji Fu.

During his time imprisoned in the interstellar prison, whenever he thought of that scene, it felt like he was falling into a bottomless abyss.

Endless Danger flashed with a menacing red glow, and in its explosive state, the mecha emitted a low, humming roar.

Ji Fu paused briefly, momentarily unable to focus on Fang Yanli, who had suddenly appeared.

She opened the shared data panel and immediately saw Wei Lan’s skyrocketing talent levels.

After Silent Extinction approached, the numbers soared to an unimaginable height.

Even his explosive power was on the brink of an alarming level.

It was an extremely intense combat state.

Ji Fu glanced at Wei Lan’s wildly fluctuating numbers, then looked forward.

Wei Lan’s numbers continued to rise rapidly, with a short-term potential to break into Ultra Star+. Coupled with the shared traits of these two mechas, it shouldn’t end in a disastrous defeat like four years ago.

She looked up, gazing at the motionless mecha opposite them, and said calmly, “Director Fang, long time no see.”

This was her first time seeing Fang Yanli since she resumed her Yun Chi identity.

Inside the mecha’s cockpit, Fang Yanli’s eyes were deep, his face expressionless.

He spoke, his voice as steady as ever, “We aren’t on speaking terms.”

Ji Fu didn’t deny it; she just smiled. “Then why hasn’t Director Fang made a move yet?”

Fang Yanli fell silent.

Through the black cockpit of the mecha, Ji Fu couldn’t see his expression.

But she guessed he probably didn’t look too good at the moment.

From the announcement of the Porcine Plan to today, six days had passed.

The Imperial Star Alliance had laid a vast net to capture her, yet there had been no movement from the top office.

Ji Fu had heard from Zhang Huan that Fang Yanli had cut off all communication and had not returned to the Fang family in Imperial Star.

He was in a semi-missing state.

This missing person had suddenly appeared in the pollution zone.

The mecha still bore traces of battle.

Ji Fu zoomed in on the marks on Silent Extinction and analyzed them, finding they belonged to the beast they were planning to kill.

Judging by the time, Fang Yanli must have intercepted it about five minutes ago.

They had indeed left many traces while hunting beasts over the past few days.

But Fang Yanli couldn’t have predicted their movements in advance.

The reason he was here…

Ji Fu raised her hand and zoomed in on the nearby map.

She quickly marked a point and sent it to Qin Chuoyue.

With such a formidable enemy in front of her, Ji Fu still had the presence of mind to mark a location and reminded her, “Release a satellite to investigate; there should be a hidden research institute nearby.”

Fang Yanli must have followed some evidence, tracked it here, encountered the near-Special Star-level beast, and eliminated it.

Before he could leave, he ran into them.

Quite a coincidence, really.

After a long while, Fang Yanli said, “So, when you escaped from the highest office, you already knew about this?”

His stomach churned, and the icy, nauseating feeling from recent days surged back to his throat.

He looked up, his eyes dark, and said, “Why didn’t you tell me when we were on the Wan family’s starship?”

Ji Fu laughed at his words.

Not for any other reason, but because she simply found Fang Yanli’s question amusing.

“Tell you?” Ji Fu tilted her head and asked, “Do you mean to say I should tell you, the Alliance’s lapdog, about the Alliance’s filthy deeds?”

The word “lapdog” pierced Fang Yanli’s heart like a poisoned arrow.

He sat silently.

Ji Fu, however, continued bluntly, “Calling you a lapdog is putting it nicely. Truthfully, aren’t you just a well-trained dog for the Alliance?”

Her words were harsh, yet she spoke without any emotional fluctuation, merely stating a fact.

But the more indifferent she was, the more suffocating it felt.

“Just like my mechanical dog, Yan Yan.” Ji Fu laughed lightly, “Obedient, loyal, and protective.”

Ji Fu clapped her hands. “Director Fang, you’re even more useful than a programmed mechanical dog.”

In the past, Fang Yanli would have dismissed such remarks.

But now, every word she said, every syllable, stabbed into his heart, entwined with the entire Porcine Plan.

Though there was no physical wound, Fang Yanli felt his heart was already riddled with holes, bleeding profusely.

The discomfort in his stomach multiplied.

At that moment, he felt he could clearly recognize a person’s face.

It seemed not a mecha but Ji Fu’s cold eyes stood before him.

Fang Yanli closed his eyes briefly and asked her, “…Who is behind Qin Yebai?”

“Still haven’t found out?” Ji Fu smirked. “Who do you think it is?”

“Yun Chi.” Fang Yanli called her name, his gaze as deep as the polluted black sea.

Wei Lan, upon hearing this name, stepped forward.

He was on the brink of erupting, but Ji Fu, despite his violent emotions, calmly grabbed his hand.

Wei Lan turned to look at her.

Unlike Fang Yanli, he could see her face and eyes through the shared visuals.

The violent emotions in Wei Lan’s eyes calmed in an instant.

He stood quietly beside her, no longer looking at the golden mecha, but his skyrocketing talent numbers showed no sign of stopping.

Ji Fu leisurely turned her head.

She never expected that one day she would personally witness Fang Yanli’s world collapse.

“Aren’t you always fully aware of who that person is?” Ji Fu raised an eyebrow slightly. “Someone who can wield such power within the Alliance, establish so many research institutes, shelter Qin Yebai, and suppress other prominent families within the Alliance.”

“Isn’t the answer glaringly obvious?”

Because of this, Ji Fu never overly pursued the person behind Qin Yebai.

The ridiculous part was that Fang Yanli still came to ask her.

But of course, in Fang Yanli’s world, that person was a highly respected elder.

Ji Fu’s curiosity got the better of her for a moment. “Fang Yanli, do you truly not know, or are you just pretending?”

She ripped apart the facade without any mercy: “Or is it that deep down, you know the truth but are deluding yourself into denial?”

“This is interesting. You think resistance against oppression isn’t justice, but closing your eyes to it is?”

“If that’s the case, then it’s not just your face that’s blind, but your heart as well.”

In the silence of outer space, every word Ji Fu uttered was crystal clear, her voice soft but almost deafening to Fang Yanli’s ears.

“Only a blind heart can’t see the widespread suffering below. Only a blind heart can’t see all the deeds of your grandfather.”

“Tell me, who else in the entire interstellar space, other than the Fang family with the only Special Star-class mecha warriors, could control the entire Alliance? Your strength was precisely Fang Yukun’s most useful tool.”

“He used you, his sharpest tool, to build his authoritarian regime. You turning a blind eye from beginning to end made you an accomplice and a key enabler of the Porcine Plan.”

“So, even now, you want me to say your grandfather Fang Yukun is innocent, and you, Fang Yanli, have been defending the Alliance’s fairness and justice to the death!?”

Ji Fu chuckled. “Your Fang family is amusing, doing all sorts of vile deeds yet pretending to be paragons of virtue.”

Inside the mecha opposite, the person fell into a deathly silence.

His reaction showed that he had long suspected it—Fang Yukun was behind everything.

He just didn’t want to believe it.

In Fang Yanli’s eyes, Fang Yukun was the elder who had meticulously raised him, the one who had instructed his father to defend the interstellar safety at all costs, to bear the responsibility of the corps, and to uphold interstellar justice.

Fang Yukun had told his father this, and his father had taught him the same.

After his parents passed away, his father’s last words were the most influential thing in Fang Yanli’s life.

He always adhered to the soldiers’ code.

Protecting civilians and maintaining order were his duty and obligation.

Not just four years ago, even after the highest prison explosion and Yun Chi’s escape, he still believed he was upholding the necessary order.

When the truth was revealed and all illusions shattered, Fang Yanli suddenly realized.

What he had been protecting was an order built on others’ suffering and blood.

At that moment, it was as if the sky had collapsed.

Ji Fu was right. When Qin Yebai reappeared, he had already sensed it, but he couldn’t face the truth.

Over the past few days, he had been running around gathering evidence, essentially avoiding Fang Yukun, the Alliance, and the fact that he was the greatest accomplice in this vile event.

“Ugh…” Fang Yanli could no longer control it and bent over, retching violently.

There was nothing left in his stomach; he had already vomited everything out over the past few days.

Yet under the intense stimulation, he couldn’t stop retching.

This overwhelming nausea—he didn’t know if it was directed at the Fang family, Fang Yukun, or himself.

Wei Lan also noticed Fang Yanli’s intense emotional turmoil.

He paused slightly and asked Ji Fu, “Should we take action?”

Ji Fu replied calmly, “No.”

Fang Yanli was used to seeing himself as righteous. The truth behind the Porcine Plan would make every second of his life feel like he was being sliced to death.

Now was not the best time to act; their talent levels were still too low. Suffering injuries or losses now would be counterproductive.

Leaving him alive was the best retaliation against the Fang family.

“I found the research institute!” Qin Chu Yue’s voice came through the earpiece.

“Let’s go.”

Ji Fu turned and left with Wei Lan, but they didn’t head directly to the research institute.

Instead, they went to the location where the Special Star-class beast had been.

Fang Yanli hadn’t left long ago, and the area was still marked by signs of battle.

Amid the chaos, Ji Fu found the half-burned remains of the beast.

Sure enough, just as she thought.

Fang Yanli, preoccupied, had been distracted while fighting the beast.

He had burned most of the beast, and its highly mechanized bones and wings were now useless, rendered scrap.

But the core of a near-Special Star-class top-tier beast was not easily damaged.

She cut out the beast’s core from the remains.

With this, they now had almost all the materials needed for the medicine.

Ji Fu put away the beast’s core.

“Fang Yanli has left,” Qin Chu Yue’s voice came through the earpiece. “Judging by his direction, he should be heading to Imperial Star.”

Heading to Imperial Star at this moment.

Ji Fu smiled slightly. “Perfect, let’s send the Fang family a big gift.”

The gift she referred to was the Fang family’s secret laboratory they discovered a few days ago.

No one could have imagined that Fang Yukun would place the laboratory in such a location.

That place was the asteroid where Fang Yanli lived as a child.

It was also the memorial garden for his parents.

Fang Yanli’s parents had sacrificed themselves in a black hole attack, leaving no remains. To honor them, Fang Yukun transformed that asteroid into a memorial garden.

Buried within were the remains of their mechas.

Because of the special nature of this place, the frequent visits by Fang family members didn’t attract much attention.

Fang Yanli might not have known that during the years he was severely injured and unconscious, Qin Yebai lived on that asteroid, conducting numerous inhumane experiments in front of his parents’ remains.

Ji Fu deduced this information recently after collaborating with the Interstellar Academy and piecing together the clues they provided.

Fang Yanli had just arrived at the Fang family residence on Imperial Star.

Alliance leaders, who had been waiting in the main residence, almost wept with joy upon seeing him.

But this joy didn’t last long, as it was abruptly interrupted by a forced live broadcast from the slaughterhouse.

“Good evening, fellow allies. Today, we will introduce you to one of the main research facilities of the Porcine Plan.”

“This place, I believe, is very familiar to many of you.”

“Because it is an important location that appears in interstellar news every public memorial day.”

The screen unfolded, revealing the Fang family memorial garden.

In the next moment, a lightning bolt streaked across the sky and crashed down with a thunderous boom.

Bang!

The solemn memorial garden split open, revealing the familiar Porcine Plan laboratory.

And…a mountain of skeletal remains.