Qiu Limo leaned back slightly, his entire body gliding several meters backward to avoid Lian Qiguang’s backhand slash.
Holding Qianming, Lian Qiguang looked at Qiu Limo expressionlessly.
Mi Xiaobao covered his mouth, eyes wide with horror as he stared at the two of them. A scream had barely left his throat.
“Xiaoguang.” Ji Renlin stepped forward, looking worriedly at Lian Qiguang’s shoulder. “You’re hurt?”
Ignoring Ji Renlin’s “concern,” Lian Qiguang turned around and looked behind him.
But there was nothing there.
The place was completely empty.
“Captain, what are you looking at?” Feng Qingyang craned his neck, following Lian Qiguang’s line of sight.
“There was someone there just now,” Lian Qiguang said flatly.
“You must’ve seen wrong.” Lan Qi walked over calmly. “There was only you. Those vines suddenly disappeared, but you never came back. We got worried and came looking for you. We found you standing here alone, staring blankly ahead. We kept calling your name, but you didn’t respond. That’s why Qiu Limo reached out to touch you. Who knew you’d react so violently? If he hadn’t dodged in time, he would’ve definitely been injured.”
There was no one?
Lian Qiguang paid no attention to the rest of Lan Qi’s explanation. His mind locked onto those three words.
An invisibility ability?
He turned to look at Qiu Limo.
Qiu Limo merely stood there with his arms crossed, his face indifferent as he met Lian Qiguang’s gaze without the slightest trace of guilt.
“Xiaoguang, did that mutated plant die?” Lian Qiguang’s indifference made Ji Renlin unhappy, but he could only suppress his dissatisfaction. His eyes suddenly lit up as they fell upon the bead in Lian Qiguang’s hand.
“A Core Body!?”
“A Core Body!” Qingyi cried out, staring at the bead in disbelief.
Lian Qiguang raised his hand, pinched the bead between his fingers, and asked expressionlessly, “You know what this is.”
“So that mutated plant was a host body.” Qingyi smiled, her expression completely natural. “A plant host body is similar to the offspring core of mutated beasts. But for a plant to become a host body, its own energy must first reach the Soldier Rank. Plant host bodies are extremely rare. They require a tremendous amount of energy to nurture, so every Core Body contains at least Human Rank energy.”
“And not every Soldier Rank plant can produce one. It’s literally one in a hundred—something you can only hope to encounter.”
“Captain, you’re unbelievably lucky.”
Qingyi wagged a finger playfully. There wasn’t the slightest hint of envy or greed in her eyes.
“Xiaoguang.” Ji Renlin smiled. “With the Core Body of a Soldier Rank mutated plant, we’ll definitely take first place in this mission.”
“What do you mean by that, Ji Renlin?” Qingyi frowned, no longer bothering to address him respectfully.
“Senior Ji.” Lan Qi stepped forward, looking at Ji Renlin with calm indifference. “Everyone knows who this Core Body belongs to. It’s best not to covet something that isn’t yours, unless you want to burn your fingers.”
“What do you mean?” Zhang Qi stepped forward threateningly.
“Isn’t it obvious?” Qingyi sneered. “Yes, we’re a ten-person team this time, but we’re not children anymore. Everyone here knows the unspoken rules of team missions. Besides, weren’t you seniors the ones who said it yourselves at the beginning? One hundred plants—ten for each person.”
“More importantly, if it hadn’t been for the captain, none of us would’ve died, but we’d all have been seriously injured.”
“The captain contributed the most. No matter how you look at it, the Core Body belongs to him alone.”
“You—”
“Enough, Zhang Qi.”
Ji Renlin gently stopped him before taking a step forward. Looking at Lian Qiguang with warm eyes, he spoke in a gentle yet disappointed voice.
“Xiaoguang, you trust me, don’t you?”
“Right now, the ten of us are one team. We should stand united and work together for victory.”
“I don’t know why Junior Qingyi has such a misunderstanding about me, but from beginning to end, I’ve only been thinking about what’s best for the team.”
“Is our trust in each other really worth less than a single Core Body?”
“…”
Qingyi rolled her eyes, feeling nauseated as she looked at Ji Renlin’s disappointed expression.
“I don’t care what other people think of me.”
“But Xiaoguang… I care about what you think.”
Lian Qiguang looked up expressionlessly at Ji Renlin.
Ji Renlin met his gaze directly, his eyes filled with hope—and sorrow.
Under Ji Renlin’s expectant gaze, Lian Qiguang slowly raised the Core Body in his hand.
“Captain! Don’t give it to him!” Qingyi shouted angrily, trying to rush forward, only to be firmly held back by Lan Qi.
“Ji Renlin! You bastard! You’re not even a man!”
Watching the Core Body slowly being offered toward him, a flash of joy flickered through Ji Renlin’s eyes. He reached out to take it—
But just as his fingers were about to touch the Core Body…
It suddenly disappeared from Lian Qiguang’s hand.
“Xiaoguang…”
Ji Renlin froze.
Without another glance at him, Lian Qiguang turned and walked over to Qingyi, who was still struggling in Lan Qi’s tight grip.
Expressionlessly, he said,
“You’re right.”
“I’m keeping it for myself.”
“Lian Qiguang!!”
Being toyed with and humiliated like this, Ji Renlin could no longer maintain his gentle smile. Turning around, he glared at Lian Qiguang with naked rage and malice.
“Hahaha…”
After standing there dumbfounded for a long moment, Qingyi finally came to her senses and burst into laughter.
“That’s our captain! As if he’d let trash like that take advantage of him.”
Unlike Qingyi, Feng Qingyang and the others weren’t laughing quite so openly, but the smiles on their faces were impossible to hide.
Qiu Limo walked over to Lian Qiguang’s side, his cold gaze falling upon Lian Qiguang’s shoulder.
“You’re injured.”
“Damn! I completely forgot about that!” Qingyi slapped her forehead and cursed. “Feng Qingyang! Hurry and bring the medical treatment device!”
“Tch! Do I look like your household robot?”
“When I tell you to get it, you get it! Stop talking!”
“Yeah, yeah!”
…
Watching the group gradually disappear into the distance, Zhang Qi walked over to Ji Renlin and spoke in a low, sinister voice.
“Young Master Ji, since Lian Qiguang refuses to appreciate your kindness, then we…”
“Zhang Qi.”
Ji Renlin interrupted him.
“We’re teammates. How can you think like that?”
“Young Master Ji…”
“Enough. Let’s go.”
Without giving Zhang Qi another chance to speak, Ji Renlin turned and walked away.
Looking at Zhang Qi’s face, twisted with resentment and hatred, Zuo Jing shook her head and followed after Ji Renlin.
As she passed Zhang Qi, she patted him lightly on the shoulder and whispered only two words.
“Under surveillance.”
Those two quiet words instantly wiped the malice from Zhang Qi’s face, replacing it with deathly paleness.
“A bunch of scum!” Jin Anqi slammed a hand onto the table and said coldly.
“They’re still young.” Qing Murong sipped his tea, smiling as he shook his head with an inscrutable expression.
“Can a Wood-type ability really become this powerful after reaching the Sky Rank?” one of the instructors muttered while staring at Lian Qiguang on the virtual screen.
“Want to know?” Qing Murong smiled.
“Yes!”
“Then you can try it yourself.”
“When your Wood-type ability reaches that level, you’ll find out whether you can become like him.”
“…”