Southern Indonesia, Taoxiao Island, Yelhala Research Institute, inside Lab No. 1’s Li Lang Room
“Jian, Jun Nuanhe, can you hear me?”
“I can hear you, but it’s not too clear, there’s some static in my ear.”
Having crossed from that strange place @ to reality, Huang Mao Hong felt light and floating, with a strange sense as if he had just reincarnated under a yellow cypress tree. He clung to a stick, drank some water, and it took him several minutes to recover.
“How is it,” that unfamiliar Leader asked him, “do you remember anything from over there?”
Huang Mao glanced around, but he could no longer spot the old man who had once forced him to think so hard.
“Don’t look around, speak up!”
“Ah, yes, my head is a bit dizzy… but yes, I still remember a little.” Huang Mao wiped the sweat from his forehead.
That mysterious white-haired girl had given him some instructions: if anyone questioned him after coming back, he should pretend his head hurt, stall for time, and gather his thoughts before answering with caution.
As for what to say, he could share some useful information.
“Over there, I felt very sluggish, couldn’t use Spirit Power, it was like dreaming—couldn’t walk fast, couldn’t move quickly… The whole place was filled with thunder, couldn’t see things clearly from afar, but occasionally I’d run into some very strange humanoid creatures. I tried talking to them…”
“You managed to communicate with them?” the Leader asked urgently, “What did they say?”
“They… they…” His head throbbed, and he struggled to recall. “Right, they said that place is called Bai Lei Realm.”
Bai Lei Realm?
The unfamiliar Leader turned around, exchanging a glance with someone behind the curtain, then handed Huang Mao a pen and asked him to write those three characters down.
“That’s enough. I’ll come see you later. You’ve been promoted this time, and it’s for real.”
Huang Mao’s hand trembled, nearly messing up his writing.
He knew that once he got this promotion, he wouldn’t escape being sent to Bai Lei Realm often. He really would have to play the undercover role now.
Mi Xiaoshuang didn’t say much.
Night had fallen. Her roommate had suddenly brought her girlfriend back to the dorm. At first, Mi Xiaoshuang thought it was another drama about grudges and revenge, but after a closer look, something seemed off about classmate Shen Ning.
Of course, that cold face as usual wasn’t surprising, but today, it looked slightly stiff, and the snow-white long hair and her hair ribbon looked a bit frazzled.
Xu Chuyao had her girlfriend sit on the edge of the bed, opened the drawer, and took out a small comb (actually pulled from the System’s inventory), gently combing her girlfriend’s hair and smoothing it out.
“Alright, don’t be mad anymore. Really, you sneak up on people without a word, and now you’ve got yourself shocked. Look at you, zapped like that… Hehe.”
She couldn’t help but laugh in the end.
Shen Ning didn’t speak. She just exhaled heavily, like she’d fogged up a mirror.
Random Daily Task completed, but she got shocked all over—her whole body numb. It was just…
“Trying to steal the knife but lost the rice.” The System’s self-deprecating tone echoed.
A bit awkward, but it was close enough.
Xu Chuyao explained that she’d been fooling around and accidentally triggered a skill called Emergency Surge. She’d never actually experienced its effect before—it’s designed to prevent sneak attacks, and apparently, that counted too.
“Why don’t you just turn it off usually? Who are you trying to guard against in school?” Shen Ning said, clearly displeased.
“There’s no need to turn it off. It only triggers once every ten minutes.” Xu Chuyao shrugged, “Besides, the cooldown has already been used up.”
So the cooldown’s over.
“I see.”
If the time’s up, then…
Seizing the moment when her girlfriend wasn’t paying attention, Shen Ning reached out and boldly touched her again.
“Enough already! What are you doing—what are you doing?”
“Just asking.”
“What’s there to ask? It’s not like it’s your first time.”
The two girls tumbled onto the bed, wrestling, while the short-haired girl on the side sighed quietly.
“You two have fun. I’m going out to buy something.” Mi Xiaoshuang got up and said, “Anyway, no matter what, I’m coming back to sleep here tonight.”
That was her bottom line as the little tyrant.
What did it mean to turn misfortune into a blessing? Shen Ning felt she had hit the jackpot this time.
Usually, if she kept groping like this, she’d be too shy and thin-skinned. But after being shocked by her girlfriend, she felt wronged but justified, so she could boldly keep touching. With that little guilt in her girlfriend’s heart, she didn’t dare resist.
Of course, what Shen Ning didn’t know was that her girlfriend’s lack of resistance wasn’t because she felt guilty—it was because that shock just now had given her eight hundred villain points.
“Alright, that’s enough, you’ve touched enough now. It’s about time.”
The girl didn’t speak, just continued to nuzzle into her embrace.
“My skill cooldown’s almost up, isn’t it?”
Shen Ning let go, sat back on the bed, tidied her hair, and checked the System notification she had just received.
[Congratulations ~ Successfully completed a Random Daily Task. Reward obtained: Crystal Shard x1]
She’d finally collected three shards. Now she was at the late stage of the third rank. Although there wasn’t any qualitative leap, her Spirit Power Limit and Spirit Power Burst had both increased to a new level.
“Xu Chuyao, back at the training ground, what were you thinking about while spacing out? Is there a problem with the location of the Research Institute?”
Shen Ning couldn’t admit that she herself didn’t really know the locations of those places, but Xu Chuyao was well aware of her lack of knowledge in cultural studies, so she explained.
“Indonesia is an archipelago on the equator, also the southernmost border of human territory in the Northern Hemisphere. What’s special about it is, across the ocean to the south, there’s a huge continent called Australia.”
The girl tilted her head: “What’s so special about Australia?”
“In ancient times, the animals on that continent evolved wildly. When Spirit Power flourished, it was like giving wings to a tiger. That region almost became lost territory, and even now, no one’s tried to reclaim it.” Xu Chuyao leaned in, using the creepy storytelling tone she usually used for Mi Xiaolu, “Who knows what those mutated animals have turned into after all these years? Luckily, there’s Haiyuan as a barrier in the middle. Otherwise, if anything happened…”
Shen Ning patted her girlfriend, putting both hands back on her waist.
Although her girlfriend’s explanation had a sense of drama, Shen Ning honestly didn’t feel much. All she’d been dealing with lately was a pile of rocks, so mutated beasts didn’t mean much to her.
“Mutated beasts… like the Treant we fought last time?”
“Treants are nothing. There are all kinds of strange ones. Anyway, tomorrow I’m going to report to Minister Long. I’ll make a detailed statement.”
Now the girl realized this was actually pretty important.
She’d thought it was just knowing a name and a location, not really significant information. She didn’t expect her girlfriend to be able to analyze so much from it—cultural studies turned out to be quite useful.
“By the way, last time I met someone inside, one of my Spirit Guardians, and he was the only one I met who could speak clearly. Plus, his name was…”
Shen Ning stopped mid-sentence, unsure if she should say it.
“Don’t tell her,” the System’s reflection appeared on the glass, “or Mi Xiaolu will use it as an excuse to pester that English girl again. This one you can keep to yourself.”
“His name was ff7,” Xu Chuyao said directly.
“Liu Ling, Fulcrox, probably some relative of that girl you know.”
Though she was a bit reluctant, Shen Ning still shared it, not wanting to mislead her girlfriend’s judgment.
“Really? I’ll message Beilian in a couple of days and ask.”
Why did she suddenly fall silent?
“It’s nothing. Send a message if you want, make a call if you wish,” Shen Ning gently brushed her neck, “go visit London if you want.”
“I don’t want to go anywhere for now. I’m staying put for this period.”
“Good, then. Anyway… I’m heading back to sleep.”
The girl got up from the bed, patted her clothes, and went back to her own dorm.
Mi Xiaolu returned soon after, glanced at the hallway, then looked at her roommate. “Xu Chuyao, what’s going on? Why did Shen Ning walk off looking all grumpy? Didn’t you say you’d coaxed her?”
Just another shock.
“I don’t know, really…” Xu Chuyao muttered, reading the System notification and pouting. “Don’t be fooled by her angry look. Actually, she’s not really mad.”
Only about 20 villain points.
On the other side, the girl returned to her room, closed the door, climbed onto her bed, and stretched out her arms.
She really wasn’t very angry. After meeting that person today, Shen Ning felt an odd sense of wonder.
Her friend had long said that there were people who supported her. Last time at Freiden Academy, dozens had stood by her to fight others, but today was the first time she’d actually met someone who could really talk—someone whose every sentence was “Your Majesty the Queen” this, “Your Majesty” that. It was…
“Just a shallow reflection, that’s all,” the System’s voice said, “Don’t overthink it. We’re all just people, everyone’s the same. Take a look at the Disciplinary Group—if all this stuff hadn’t happened, it would’ve become a bustling spring long ago.”
Shen Ning didn’t reply, though the System’s words were true. Still, being thin-skinned as she was, she thought for a moment, pulled out her phone, and muttered to herself:
“Liu Ba said there’s a King’s Throne, but Mei Long insists there isn’t. Maybe it’s some special kind of place—different cultures call it different things. Maybe I should look up the English version…”
“Forget it, go to sleep.”
The next morning, after a late breakfast, Xu Chuyao went to the Office Building to find Principal Lü and asked him to help contact Minister Long, saying she had something to discuss.
“What a coincidence, Minister Long actually left me a message, said he wanted to see you. Come find him after you get up today.”
Principal Lü turned his laptop around. On the screen appeared Minister Long’s face, cigarette halfway to his mouth.
“Good morning, Minister Long,” Xu Chuyao greeted politely, “I heard you wanted to see me?”
“Yes, but you go first.”
Xu Chuyao suspected he’d only said that because his cigarette wasn’t finished, but that was fine with her. She’d just say what she wanted to say.
“Minister Long, about the new Research Institute, I’ve been thinking—could it be that the Leader’s haste could have unintended consequences?”
Minister Long had hoped to finish his cigarette in peace, but seeing Xu Chuyao get straight to the point, he had to put it down.
“With the lessons from a few years ago, nothing should go wrong. Even if something does…”
He cut himself off, knowing Xu Chuyao would understand. If another Jingshi Experiment went wrong, it would just be another Jingshi Burst. This time, the Institute’s location was far from the city, so even if there was an accident, the impact would be limited.
Worst case scenario, even if there was another Freiden Academy incident, the Research Institute would just bear the risk and keep going—that was the conclusion of the last hearing.
Xu Chuyao cupped her chin in her hands. “But what if it turns out even worse than expected?”
“How much worse?”
“I don’t know, honestly. I just have a bad feeling about the new Institute’s location.”
“Location?” Minister Long paused. “The new Research Institute is a Key Project led by Monrose. He chose his own team and took full responsibility. Even I don’t know the exact address, and you… know it?”
“Of course I know. Shen Ning told me,” Xu Chuyao said with confidence. “You know, she has connections on the other side—Lingmai, they told her the Institute is on a southern Indonesian island. I looked it up in the geography textbook, just below that is the Equator Defense Line and then the lost continent—Australia.”
Minister Long fell silent.
Xu Chuyao stopped there. She knew she couldn’t say too much with her current status. Just a little hint was enough.
“Since you know who’s really in charge, you don’t need to worry about it,” he said at last.
“Alright then, Minister Long, what did you want to see me for?”
“There was another Crystal Shard Burst incident yesterday—Xiao Ke was involved. It happened in a county town on the west side of Center City. The local security department lacks experience, so they hope you can help.”
Since the Crystal Shard incidents started, there hadn’t been many, just a handful so far. One was led by Professor Swina with the Supreme Society, targeting Freiden Academy, with almost no civilian casualties. Another was due to Wang Lin’s Happy Event incident, which only let off a Dalei with minimal impact.
But this one, happening in a county, was much more severe, with hundreds affected.
“Send me their contact info. I’ll hold an online meeting with them soon.”
“They hope you can come in person if possible. It’s not far—the county is within the Central District of Center City. No paperwork needed.”
Xu Chuyao hesitated for a moment, then nodded slowly, “Alright, but I want to bring Wang Ke along.”