Chapter 24

The villa has a karaoke room, a home theater, and a small game room. It would be very lively if there were many people, but Feng Ran wasn't interested in any of these. She sat in the living room and used her terminal to read the report Fran sent her.

Dinner was mostly prepared by robots, consisting of very ordinary home-style dishes with nothing new. Even the taste was surprisingly uniform across the market. However, the sleka family's secret soup, made by Basil Master, had a rich flavor of seasonings and tasted remarkably similar to the quick-cooked soup made from the base packets at 24-hour stores.

Feng Ran didn't expose him and genuinely finished the bowl, leaving the large, undercooked vegetable roots in the bowl.

Basil looked at her nervously and asked, "How did it go?"

Feng Ran coaxed him, "You're really amazing. Don't judge a book by its cover, young master."

Basil was only happy for a second when she heard her say, "If I go to the store and buy a bag of Bing fruit, can I learn the secret recipe of Sleica? But I still prefer the flavor of Gastrodia elata and bamboo fungus soup."

He even accurately named the brand of the base seasoning packet. Basil reasonably suspected that Feng Ran had seen him opening the packaging. He pursed his lips and said, "I like yam and pigeon soup."

Feng Ran smiled and said, "Young Master, do you usually drink Bing Fruit too?"

Basil: "My mom is this lazy when she cooks."

Feng Ran: "As expected of Sleika's sole successor."

After dinner, they lounged on the sofa in the living room for a while. Luo Le leaned close to Feng Ran and showed her his research report on human body coating agents. Feng Ran was engrossed in reading it and Luo Le took the opportunity to pull her into his arms and steal a kiss.

Not to be outdone, Feng Ran returned the kiss, deliberately licking his marked teeth during the kiss, teasing him until he trembled. She was held tightly in Luo Le's arms, and Luo Le's reaction was obvious.

She unbuttoned the boy's shirt. Basil had a body that never gained weight, and because of his high level of training, he could even be described as slender. But he had abs and V-lines, which was a different kind of beauty. In Afu's words, he was rich but not generous.

Because Basil usually wears loose-fitting clothes, it's hard to tell if he has a good or bad physique. During the hottest part of summer, he didn't wear a work vest like others during training, and he didn't even fold the sleeves of his shirts. He meticulously maintained his persona of nobility. It's said that his abs photo topped the list of "most wanted things to see" in their school forum poll for a whole year.

After reading the passionate comments from the forum fans, it would be a lie to say that Feng Ran wasn't curious, but now that she had personally uncovered it, her possessiveness was secretly satisfied.

Feng Ran wrapped his arms around Luo Le's waist, buried his face in his chest, and looked up at him. Luo Le was a little shy, his face as red as the plate of sugared tomatoes on the dinner table, and his voice was muffled: "Why are you taking off my clothes..."

Feng Ran: "It's so hot..."

Basil: "You're just a lecher."

Feng Ran: "If you already know, why are you asking?"

Basil was as hot as a furnace about to explode, his gaze burning. He carefully kissed Feng Ran's earlobe, and the girl shivered in his arms. His voice was hoarse: "Ranran, can I bite you?"

Feng Ran's eyes were tinged with a seductive red. She tilted her head slightly, revealing her slender, fair neck, and chuckled, "Didn't I say you're welcome anytime?"

The Alpha mark was very painful. The moment the mark teeth pierced her skin, the pain swept over her as if it were tearing her whole body apart. Feng Ran didn't know if all Alpha marks were this painful, or if it was just because she was an Enigma that she was more averse to this behavior.

She even instinctively wanted to struggle and resist. She clung tightly to Basil, leaving stubborn scratch marks on his back. Although she bit his collar, she couldn't help but let out a soft whimper. The sensation of the pheromones entering her body was particularly painful, and the scent of lavender was so strong that it was somewhat bitter, like a dull medicinal smell.

The deep, piercing pain forced Feng Ran to recall more things. This wasn't the first time Basil had tried to mark her. Their mental states seemed to be in poor condition at some point, and Basil became anxious because he couldn't mark her.

His love for Feng Ran went to extremes. His burning kisses were imprinted on every corner of Feng Ran's body, causing spasms and convulsions. He was overwhelmed with sensitivity. Feng Ran's eyes were blurred with tears, and his thoughts were numbed by the pain. He could only grab Feng Ran's light golden hair, pull his face down and kiss him until he could not breathe.

After each sensitive period ended, both of them were covered in frantic, bloody bite marks, like some kind of painful evidence of a crime.

Why is it so painful? It shouldn't be like this.

After Fengran finally got used to the pain, Basil let go of her. She was exhausted and confused. She held Basil and couldn't say a word. She felt very sad.

Basil couldn't see her expression, but he had just heard Feng Ran cry, so he could only gently pat her, saying, "Ranran, does it hurt? I'm sorry, I won't do it again. Next time, can you bite me instead?"

Are you angry?

Feng Ran shook her head wearily, feeling as if her body was filled with lead. She smelled the scent of basil pheromones and felt some relief from the pain.

The reason she was in so much pain in my memory seems to be because she could no longer smell the pheromones of basil.

The sun has lost its light.

Feng Ran said absentmindedly, "Basil, we'll run away, right? Leave Kempin, leave Kiria, even leave Carlos, run far, far away, to a place where it's just the two of us."

Basil gently coaxed her, "Of course, you can go wherever you want. I'll let you in on a secret: I've recently set my sights on a mechanical laboratory. Their research project is on a new type of energy power furnace. They say that if it's successfully developed, the energy utilization rate will be 30% higher than the latest products on the market. I used my dad's card to invest in their project. When the time comes, we can use the new power furnace to modify our own spaceship. Even if Shen Shiqian is piloting the Spirit Sparrow, he won't be able to catch up with us."

Lingque is the name of Shen Shiqian's personal combat mech. The material of its power reactor is the crystal core of a legion-level alien creature that he personally annihilated. The speed of its thrusters is incomparable to that of ordinary mechs and spaceships.

Feng Ran's attention was successfully diverted by him. She turned her head to look at Luo Le: "The acceleration effect of the thruster is different from that of a spaceship. Moreover, the energy storage and conversion capacity of the heterogeneous crystal core far exceeds that of various special-grade metals on the market. The utilization rate is almost 100%. I think it is highly likely that we still can't shake it off."

Basil pouted: "Of course I know that alien crystal cores are useful, but you can't expect me to go to the interstellar battlefield to kill aliens. Besides, ordinary aliens only have some granular crystals. To be able to fully function, they have to be at least legion-level. Aliens have been suppressed all the time, so where would they get so many legion-level ones? If they really existed, Shen Shiqian would have to set off immediately."

Feng Ran blinked: "Who knows? He seems to be extremely busy lately because of the newborn planet near the fourth black hole, and he hasn't been home much lately. Maybe he really will have to go on an expedition."

Basil said with a blank face, "Don't tell me you want to go to the Fourth Black Hole to join in the fun." He still remembered the lesson he learned from the last time he went to join in the fun and was chased for two miles by Hilde, but Feng Ran obviously had no such awareness.

Fengran.exe ran for a while without responding. After a while, it sat up and clapped its hands: "Did I forget to tell you? The bitter tree root that we bought in the herb garden last time is actually the root of a different plant, which is very similar to the crystalline structure inside the plant."

Although she reported Hilde, she didn't actually tell the police much about their gray market operations. She only briefly mentioned that they were selling banned drugs that the Ombudsman was investigating, without revealing their channels and operations. Fran had taken away most of the herb garden's stock, and Hilde and her group were stubborn and refused to confess, so the Ombudsman still hadn't found anything conclusive.

Basil was at a loss for words. How could someone forget something like this? He glanced at the bloody bite marks on Feng Ran's collarbone and buttoned up her shirt to cover them up: "So what? That structure is far inferior to a crystal core. Let alone replacing top-grade metal, it would probably turn to dust as soon as the fuel starts burning."

Feng Ran raised a finger and waved it mysteriously: "Think about it, the source of the alien species' powerful strength is that the crystals in their bodies are constantly absorbing the planet's energy. If we can suppress the crystals' absorption of energy through drugs, wouldn't we be able to significantly weaken the alien species' combat power?"

This is far superior to human body coating agents. If developed and utilized properly, it's not impossible to completely eradicate the alien species. Basil stared at her in a daze: "Ranran, are you a genius? But why didn't the Academy of Sciences think of this?"

What could the Academy of Sciences possibly think of? Feng Ran looked down on those guys who only measured pheromones all day long: "The density and hardness of the crystal cores of Legion-level alien beasts are too high. They probably did some drug experiments but it didn't work. Plus, the crystal fragments of ordinary alien species are not very useful, so the military probably wouldn't be willing to collect them."

Basil was a little discouraged: "I'd also like to take a look at it, but the images and data from the Herb Garden exhibition are still with the Overwatch Council. If I were to actually pull out a bitter tree root from my own lab to study, I'd definitely be exposed."

Feng Ran: "How about I grind it into powder for you?"

Basil: "That looks more dangerous."

Feng Ran: "Alright, then I'll just have to try my best on my own."

Basil: "So, after you've finished your efforts, are you going to hand over your results to Shen Shiqian so he can test them on the battlefield, and then take the opportunity to curry favor with him and get two crystal cores for you?"

Feng Ran: "How is that possible?"

She figured she'd get Hilde and the others out of trouble and send them to the battlefield to fight for her. Legion-level aliens were rare; she could easily raise them in a safe place. But the thought of those notorious space pirates going to the battlefield to kill enemies gave her a ridiculous feeling of forcing a prostitute into a virtuous life.

She replied slowly to Basil, and also buttoned up his wrinkled school uniform shirt: "Let's talk about what happens after that."

Basil laughed: "Okay, then there's no rush."