Chapter 80 (1/3): S-Class Divine Artifact, Manten Guohai

Su Fu stood deep within the Peachtree Orchard.

Although Shen Yan had marked the status of every single immortal peach for her, the vast view was almost entirely a sea of green glows, with only one or two faint red glimmers here and there.

Overall, despite the orchard being densely packed with peach trees and branches heavy with fruit, truly mature Three-Thousand-Year Immortal Peaches were scarce.

She estimated that she might have to search through over a hundred peach trees just to gather ten fully ripe peaches.

No wonder the Great Fairy had said this peach picking would be a bit tough—”a bit tough” was an understatement; it was like finding a needle in a haystack.

Yet, squinting her eyes, Su Fu quickly locked onto the most vivid red glow in her line of sight.

That peach hung atop a tall tree about a hundred meters away, standing out strikingly among the sea of green.

“Got it.”

Su Fu’s spirits lifted.

After pinpointing the location of the ripe peach, she stepped onto her Wind Fire Wheels and flew straight over.

Soon, she arrived before that mature peach.

The peach was plump and round, its whole body a dusky red like rosy clouds, covered in a fine fuzz that seemed to faintly shimmer with golden light.

Truly worthy of being a mature immortal peach, it looked as if a gentle squeeze would cause sweet juice to burst forth.

Around the peach were lush green leaves, and nearby were delicate pink peach blossoms, their pink and white hues intermingling beautifully.

But the most intoxicating was the rich peach fragrance—sweet as honey yet fresh like morning dew.

Su Fu breathed it in and her mouth watered, “So fragrant… Just smelling this alone is worth it.”

But she quickly steadied herself, gently grasped the peach, twisted it, and plucked it from the branch.

“The first one, secured.”

Su Fu placed it into the bamboo basket given to her by the Great Fairy.

Though the basket appeared ordinary in size, it was far from simple—inside, it seemed to contain an entire other world.

Though the peaches were large, the basket’s bottom still appeared empty after placing one inside.

Not to mention ten, it could probably hold a hundred.

Moreover, once inside, the peaches automatically fixed themselves to the bottom, preventing any rolling or collision that might damage their appearance.

Su Fu’s eyes brightened, “This thing’s pretty good.”

She turned to scan other parts of the orchard, but most of what she saw was green glows.

So she continued flying forward.

The scenery of the Peachtree Orchard was truly beautiful—filled with rare and exotic flowers and plants, all colorful and vibrant.

As she flew, her eyes suddenly brightened.

About fifty meters northeast, she spotted two red glimmers.

“Not bad, found two at once.”

Su Fu sped over and repeated her method, plucking the two peaches and putting them in her basket.

Though the orchard was vast, with Shen Yan’s help, identifying mature immortal peaches was easy.

Before long, she gathered ten.

Having completed the task assigned by the Great Fairy, the rest of the peaches she picked now belonged to her.

But then a problem arose: how to take the peaches away without the Great Fairy noticing?

This orchard was indeed a treasure trove, but treasures are useless unless secured.

Otherwise, it was like seeing but never tasting.

She could carry them on her person, but she dared not risk being checked by the Great Fairy.

If discovered hiding the peaches, the consequences would be dire.

And someone like the Great Fairy was not easily fooled.

Just as Su Fu pondered whether to eat one immediately, the voice of the Shen Yan AI suddenly sounded:

[“User detected an item storage need. Would you like to enable the deposit service?”]

“Deposit service?” Su Fu blinked.

[“Yes. This system offers secure and reliable item deposit services. Your precious items can be stored in the system space.”]

[“Service fee: 20% of the item’s value as commission.”]

[“Note: This system space is independent from the Exam World. Even the highest-level anomalies in sub-levels cannot detect or access it. Security rating: 99.99%. Absolutely worth it!”]

Su Fu:”……”

She was stunned, “You even provide this kind of service?”

But thinking carefully, it made sense.

The entire Exam Paper Space was constructed by Shen Yan; storing something here was indeed simple.

“20% commission? That’s basically highway robbery.”

Shen Yan remained unmoved, its voice calm and even:

[“Will you choose the deposit service?”]

Such a high fee… Su Fu’s expression suddenly turned suspicious, “I mean… you didn’t plan this from the start, did you?”

Assigning her the Qionghua identity, guiding her to replace the Seven Fairies, leading her to the Peachtree Orchard, and then directing her to pick these peaches…

All just to take that 20% cut?

Thinking this, Su Fu’s expression twisted in frustration.

“Shen Yan, have you ever thought about how much effort it took to cultivate these peaches? And how much trouble it took for me to finally pick them? Yet you, just a platform, haven’t done anything and just want to take 20%?”

Shen Yan was silent for a moment before replying:

[“…How about 15%?”]

Su Fu’s face immediately changed.

Without hesitation, she said, “Deal!”

She didn’t have time to haggle further—time was better spent picking more peaches.

More importantly, she felt her suspicion was probably right—Shen Yan was doing this deliberately.

So perhaps there would be more such “good deals” in the future, and she’d better keep Shen Yan on her side rather than offend it for a few percentage points.

Besides, if Shen Yan stops cooperating, then what?

But she couldn’t give in entirely; this showed she wasn’t easily bullied.

After all, she was the one doing all the work, so keeping 85% was fair.

“Let’s do it this way.”

Su Fu’s eyes gleamed as she resumed searching for other mature peaches.

“Hehe, finally, I can start the real work.”

After handing in the first batch, the rest would be hers.

Su Fu swept through the orchard like a locust swarm.

Every peach emitting a red glow was snatched without exception.

Not only that, even those emitting a strong green glow, nearly ripe peaches, did not escape her grasp.

“This one will be ripe in a few days. Might as well pick it now. This one’s not fully ripe, but the color looks good. It won’t be bad either!”

“Hey, this one’s special—shaped like a little rabbit. Taking it!”

Like a diligent little bee, she buzzed industriously through the vast garden.

She made all kinds of strange excuses, but the goal was always to take the peaches.

Shen Yan remained silent throughout, quietly storing one peach after another in the system space.

But when Su Fu picked the hundredth peach, Shen Yan finally showed a hint of nervousness.

Was she really not afraid of being caught after stripping this whole area bare?

As a partner, it felt polite to issue a reminder:

[“Current peaches collected: 15 fully mature, 85 nearly mature”]

Hearing this, Su Fu finally stopped and patted her dress, scattered with peach petals.

“Already this many? No wonder I’m so tired.”

Looking around, nearly all peaches marked with red or deep green glows had been picked clean.

Only many pale green, immature peaches remained, still needing a long time to mature.

She sighed, “Looks like I’ve almost swept this entire area clean.”

Satisfied!

This was the joy of a bountiful harvest.

Of course, Su Fu had also considered the Great Fairy discovering the problem and had long thought of a solution.

Simple—it was to find someone else to take the blame.

How to avoid detection of the problem in her area?

Make sure the person responsible for another area has big trouble with peaches.

As for who to blame…

The Great Fairy had said the Sixth Fairy Maiden was responsible for the adjacent area.

Su Fu put on an innocent smile.

“Since my area no longer has peaches, to complete the elder sister’s task, I can only go look in Sixth Sister’s area. Sixth Sister, I’m sure you’ll understand.”

At these words, Shen Yan was greatly shocked.

She had plundered the entire area already, and now wanted to make a move on Sixth Fairy Maiden’s domain?

At that moment, Su Fu already used the divine skill—

[“Illusion Technique”]!

On the now-bare peach branches, a misty glow appeared, gradually solidifying until it transformed into peaches of various shapes.

Those peaches were almost indistinguishable from the real ones, vibrant in color and plump in form.

In an instant, the stripped orchard restored its original appearance.

Branches were again heavy with fruit, lush and abundant, the peaches arranged naturally, indistinguishable from before.

A glance showed no anomaly.

“Not bad,” Su Fu looked around with satisfaction and murmured, “No wonder the Nine-tailed Fox’s illusions are unrivaled. Unless someone picks them personally, no one will notice these are fake. This way, my area looks perfectly normal.”

And even if someone discovered the peaches here were fake, by then it would already be too late.

However, just the illusion wasn’t enough security.

She also wanted Sixth Fairy Maiden’s area to run into trouble.

The key to the plan was to shift the focus.

As long as all eyes were on District Six, who would notice if District Seven had a problem?

Who would realize that all the mature and nearly mature peaches had vanished?

Thus, misdirecting blame elsewhere.

***

Meanwhile, at the Perseus High School Shen Yan Core, in the monitoring room.

Watching Su Fu’s actions on the screen, the ten proctors’ expressions varied.

From her conversation with the Red-Clothed Fairy, to plundering an entire orchard, then using illusions to cover her tracks and misdirect blame…

It was a smooth operation from start to finish, with all the peaches ending up in her hands.

Several of them were dumbfounded.

But Minister Kong Ying’s expression was subtle.

This scene seemed vaguely familiar.

Wasn’t Odinson framed like this during the last exam?

At that moment, Director Xiao Lingxi from the Ring of Radiance Branch Campus looked at Minister Kong Ying, seeming to weigh her words before speaking: “She… hasn’t she done this kind of thing before?”

Kong Ying: “……”

This whole operation was so practiced it was shocking.

A perfect Manten Guohai.

If they hadn’t witnessed it live and had only the surveillance, they’d probably be misled on the spot.

Goodness, one step leading to another.

On screen, Su Fu’s figure transformed into a tiny, unremarkable green insect no bigger than a grain of rice, silently passing through the border between two areas and entering the Sixth Fairy Maiden’s territory.

Soon, they saw the blue-robed Sixth Fairy Maiden diligently working, carefully inspecting every tree for any fully mature immortal peaches.

Her work was meticulous but painfully slow.

Su Fu, disguised as the tiny insect, swaggered boldly over the Sixth Fairy Maiden’s head and sped straight ahead.

With the Shen Yan system’s precise guidance, Su Fu quickly located peaches glowing red with maturity.

Each stop was just a moment before she plucked the plump peaches and stored them away.

Repeating this like a busy little bee, she ensured not a single peach escaped.

Moreover, she even used illusions to mislead the blue-robed fairy’s search—for instance, making some distant peaches look ripe but upon approach, they were illusions.

This further slowed the Sixth Fairy Maiden’s progress.