“There were other academy students from different battle camps with Guan Kelai, they were very strong, and they discovered A Che.”
Yun Ruoxi looked at Yun Che, whose lips had turned purple, her face filled with distress.
At this moment, she only showed concern for Yun Che, with no trace of the coldness and cruelty she had displayed just moments ago in the noble’s house.
In a private room on the starship.
Dr. Forefinger, who had only arrived at the assessment site a few days ago, smiled happily as he watched this scene.
It was not in vain that he had spent months diligently using negative emotions like violence, hatred, and jealousy to nurture the seeds of the Mental Steel Seal in Yun Ruoxi’s mind.
From kindness to evil, from gentleness to cruelty and sadism, from affection to a desire for control, from honesty to deception ..
At this moment, this flower bud that had once been waiting to bloom had finally blossomed into the most brilliant flower of sin.
This was the ultimate distortion of values and transformation of thought.
In the long history of the Sacred Hand Society, only a few had undergone similar experiences.
But this was the only time it had happened right before Dr. Forefinger’s eyes.
And such an experience was of considerable help even to his academic research.
So Dr. Forefinger cared very much about Yun Ruoxi’s brainwashing.
On the monitor, the conversation between Yun Ruoxi and the others continued, but Dr. Forefinger no longer intended to watch.
Yun Ruoxi was already his, heart and soul.
No matter how much Lin Zhen or Zi Jiu tried to act out or escape, as long as Yun Ruoxi was by their side.
There was no possibility of their plan succeeding.
After all, it was impossible for them to know that the young girl they trusted and cared for the most was actually one of his people.
Dr. Forefinger turned off the monitor, stood up, and walked toward the laboratory without looking back.
He was going to conduct other experiments.
He hadn’t noticed it before.
But after coming here and seeing some of the surveillance footage.
He discovered.
There were some very interesting things on this planet.
They didn’t seem to be formed solely by the Star Core, but rather appeared to be transformed under the influence of some more obscure and powerful things.
He was very interested in this.
Now that he had resolved the hidden danger of Lin Zhen’s potential defection, he couldn’t wait to go and conduct some proper experiments.
“And then when I went over, I found that A Che had already become like this.” Yun Ruoxi continued.
“A Che has been poisoned!” Kaos pinched a darkened test strip between his fingers and held it up for everyone to see as he said.
This was a type of test strip that could detect most toxins in the Star Sea.
It was one of the few cheap and useful items available at the battle camp’s exchange point.
Since the location of this assessment was unknown and might involve toxic environments, Yun Ruoxi and the others had each exchanged for some to carry with them just in case.
“Thankfully I brought an antidote!“ Hearing this, Zijiu let out a sigh of relief.
Yun Che was a Star Energy user with strong physical fitness and high poison resistance.
As long as it wasn’t an extremely potent toxin, or a poison from an Yi Neng, it could be quickly neutralized with an antidote.
Taking the antidote from her bag and giving it to Yun Che, Zi Jiu continued to ask Yun Ruoxi:
“What after that? How did you handle them?”
“I …… ” Yun Ruoxi said vaguely, “Get rid of all of them.”
“Is that so?” Zijiu gave Yun Ruoxi a meaningful look, then suddenly asked, “No one got killed, right? I feel like you were a bit distracted, Xiao Xi.”
“Ah, what did you say?”
Yun Ruoxi was stunned for a moment and quickly shook her head, saying with a somewhat dejected expression: “I’m just worried about A Che, and I feel a bit guilty for not going to find him sooner.”
“Mm…” She pressed her lips together. “If I had decided to go find A Che ten minutes earlier, none of this would have happened, right?”
“Sister, it’s not your fault! You did your best!” Aili reached out and hugged Yun Ruoxi, her face full of concern, then turned her head and shot Zijiu an unhappy look.
Zi Jiu’s mind wavered under Aili’s gaze, wondering if she really was being a bit excessive, or overly sensitive.
Even Aili, who was closest to Yun Ruoxi, hadn’t noticed anything.
She bit her lower lip and fell silent.
***
Returning to ten minutes ago.
Just as Yun Ruoxi was uttering her harsh words and the battle was about to break out, the camera somehow quietly cut away and shifted to Lin Zhen.
Although the audience was somewhat dissatisfied with this cliffhanger and kept complaining.
But few people actually stopped watching and left.
Da-da-da-da!
On the boundless Gobi desert, the Earth Dragon ran swiftly.
Unlike the world above the surface which had already fallen into night, the visibility in the underground world had not changed at all.
Looking at the scenery outside the carriage, which was almost identical to a few days ago, Lin Zhen also sighed silently.
The journey from Ochre City to the Royal City was even further than he had imagined.
If the color of the ground hadn’t changed from brown to black, he might have even thought he had been running in place for the past few days.
To be honest, he wasn’t an impatient person.
But in a situation where eating, drinking, and everything else happened inside the carriage, traveling for three or four Imperial Days straight, where even standing up to walk a few steps was a luxury, he still felt somewhat annoyed.
Of course, more of it was the tension brought by the fact that the plan had not progressed an inch while time was becoming increasingly tight.
“If I had known it would take this long to get to the Royal City, I should have stayed on the surface a bit longer when I returned earlier.”
Lin Zhen lowered the curtain and thought silently.
Since landing on Samira-21, except for the first few days, he had been active almost entirely in the underground world and was in a state of being disconnected on the map.
The assessment had been going on for nearly a month now.
Zi Jiu and the others must have finished gathering and were likely worrying about his current situation.
Although Lin Zhen didn’t have any good way to contact them from a distance.
But if he had stayed on the surface a bit longer to let Zi Jiu and the others see his red dot appear on the map, it would have at least let them know he was still safe and had simply gone to a place where the signal was blocked.
But it was useless to regret it now.
Lin Zhen planned that once he reached the Royal City, regardless of whether there was progress in the plan, he would look for a path back to the surface nearby to reunite with Zi Jiu and the others; in short, he would let them put their minds at ease first.
Lest they truly think something had happened to him or that he had been eliminated, causing problems for the team.
As if what he thought was coming true.
Lin Zhen had just been feeling bored from staying in the carriage too long and was thinking about going down for some activity.
Not long after, the carriage suddenly jolted.
The Earth Dragon stopped.
Lin Zhen lifted the curtain; they had arrived outside a stone forest.
Thick stone pillars were everywhere like giant trees on the surface, connecting the sky and the ground of this underground world.
Shua!
At this time.
The soldiers who had hitched themselves to the side of the Earth Dragon unhooked themselves.
One after another, they jumped down and walked into the stone forest, not knowing what they were going to do.
Lin Zhen hesitated, not knowing if he could go down and move his rusty body a bit.
He wasn’t exactly a rule-follower, but he had managed to hitch a ride thanks to Randall’s help after all.
And Randall’s uncle, Damian, had also laid out the harsh terms beforehand.
If he were to knowingly break the rules now, he would feel somewhat sorry toward the two of them.