Chapter 85 Returning to the Gem Kingdom "Peach, what's wrong with you lately..."
"Tao Tao, how have you been lately?" Professor Li Mingguo had been attending conferences outside the area, but upon hearing that Sang Zhi Tao had returned, he quickly called the video conference.
"It's great, Uncle Li," Sang Zhitao replied with a smile, eating the artificial diamond that the base had just delivered.
"I heard you're quite easy to take care of now. Just give you some diamonds. We don't have much else, but we have plenty of artificial diamonds," Professor Li Mingguo said with a smile.
"Mmm." Sang Zhitao nodded obediently.
"I heard that you now know when you're going back?" Professor Li Mingguo said seriously.
Sang Zhitao nodded and said, "I feel that my soul power has become much stronger. I can sense when I leave and when I return."
"That's good, that's good." Professor Li Mingguo nodded. "How long can you stay this time?"
“If I continue consuming diamonds at this rate, I can leave tonight.” Sang Zhitao looked at the plate of diamonds in her hand, thought for a moment, and continued, “My time travels must be related to energy absorption.”
"My height changed in the first world because of the increase in soul energy. In the second world, the data download also increased my soul power because the increase in data could increase my soul power. In the third world, although it was not obvious, my soul was tempered every time I obtained treasure in each dark vortex."
"The same is true of this world; absorbing gems can increase the power of my soul."
After listening to Sang Zhitao's words, Li Mingguo pondered for a moment: "It would be best if we could find the reason. At least that way, your time travel would be under control."
"Why don't you stay a few more days this time? You can rest a bit. Our museum is finished and is about to open for the first time. Why don't you and your brother go and have some fun?"
Sang Zhitao thought for a moment, then shook her head: "I'm afraid that won't work."
Before Professor Li Mingguo could ask any further questions, Sang Zhitao continued, "We're still being chased over there, and I don't know what the time difference is between the two worlds. It would be quite dangerous if we missed it."
Li Mingguo sighed. He did know about the Gem Kingdom from the initial report and understood Sang Zhitao's personality. He could only nod and say, "Alright, but time is too tight to modify your body and install some weapons."
He Lei suddenly leaned over and said, "We've collected a lot of data this time. We'll study it over this period of time, and when Tao Tao comes back, we'll probably have a new weapon for her."
Seeing this, Li Mingguo didn't say anything more.
The two chatted about other everyday things before Li Mingguo was called away, and Sang Zhitao also took her plate and planned to go out for a stroll.
From the moment she woke up in the morning until she went to bed at night, Sang Zhitao spent her time either exploring the base or accompanying the researchers in various groups to collect data. She then rushed to the plot research group and reread the original novel several times, especially the part where they defeated the Dark Duke at the end.
When she woke up again, she was back on the Gem Kingdom spaceship.
"How's it going? Not here yet?" Sang Zhitao looked at Tou Lan and yawned.
Tou Lan shook her head, looked at the map, did some calculations, and then said, "It'll be soon. If you're tired, take a rest."
Sang Zhitao shook her head and found a seat: "It's nothing, it's just... what do you think about Touhui?"
Tou Lan paused for a moment, then sighed deeply: "I don't know."
A bitter smile appeared on his face: "It's true, Touhui and I have known each other for almost ten years. I never thought that he would betray me one day. I wasn't even that surprised when Touhong betrayed me."
"Especially since he chose the Dark Duke, right?" Sang Zhitao asked, looking at him.
Tou Lan nodded hesitantly: "Yes, I can understand if he betrayed me for personal gain like Tou Hong, but I can't understand recognizing a thief as my father, but..."
“But after learning why he was threatened, I suddenly understood him…” Tou Lan continued with a sigh.
“Speaking of which… I have a question.” Sang Zhitao hesitated for a moment before asking, “You said before that the Mirror Clan would not betray the royal family, so it’s okay for us to join the Indigo Clan. Then why can the Gray Clan betray me?”
Tou Lan paused, seemingly also suddenly realizing the problem, her brows furrowed, her face full of confusion: "Yes... I'm sure my memory is correct, the Mirror Clan cannot betray the royal family, but Tou Hui..."
"Because I've had other blood transplanted into me." A gray voice came from behind them.
"What?!" Tou Lan and Sang Zhi Tao exclaimed in surprise at the same time.
Tou Hui rubbed his temples, stood up from the corner, and walked over with a gloomy expression: "Every Mirror Clan member who was captured was used as a test subject for experiments. In addition to various drug experiments, we were also subjected to blood transfusions or replacement of body parts."
A flicker of fear flashed in Touhui's eyes: "During another experiment, I was injected with special blood and almost died. After that, they suddenly discovered that I was no longer affected by the bloodline power of the Mirror Clan's absolutely loyal royal family."
“They even…they once captured a test subject with royal blood and gave it to me, and I…I killed him.” Regret and pain flashed in Touhui’s eyes.
"Do you remember what kind of blood it was?" Sang Zhitao asked curiously.
Touhui shook his head: "I don't know. I went through too many drug trials during that time. I was in a daze all day and I can't even remember which day's experiment it was."
"How many people have received this kind of blood transfusion?" Tou Lan asked, frowning.
Touhui continued to shake his head: "I don't know, but there should be quite a few. I was among the first Mirror Clan members to leave the Dark Duke. There were four of us in my batch alone. I think they will refine the entire experimental process, and more Mirror Clan members will survive."
"The Mirror Clan...the experiments are all with children?" Sang Zhitao suddenly asked.
After a moment's hesitation and a quick recollection, Tou Hui said, "In my memory, they were almost all children."
"Did you think of something?" Tou Lan looked at Sang Zhi Tao and asked in confusion.
Sang Zhitao shook her head before saying, "I just find it strange that the Dark Duke didn't kill all the Mirror Clan members. You are the most loyal to the royal family. Only by killing all the Mirror Clan members can he better control the royal family, right?"
"Perhaps the laboratory can give us the answer," Tou Lan said after thinking for a moment.
"We should be able to reach the Starry Sky District where the lab is located around 8 PM tonight," Tou Lan said, glancing back at the screen.
"It's actually in the Starry Sky District?!" Tau-yellow was somewhat surprised when he woke up.
Touhui didn't know how much Touhuang had just taken in. With a hint of timidity on her face, she hesitated for a long time before finally saying nothing.
Transparent Yellow didn't notice Transparent Gray's expression; she was just staring at the screen in surprise.
A mocking smile appeared on Tou Lan's face: "A cautious person like that would naturally want to keep the laboratory under his watchful eye."
Sang Zhitao wasn't surprised, since she had already written in the original novel that the Dark Duke had hollowed out most of the underground of the Starry District and even bribed many nobles in the Starry District to form an alliance.
“Touhuang, we need you to improve your equipment so we can infiltrate the Starry Zone,” Sang Zhitao said after thinking for a moment.
Touhuang nodded unsurprised: "Don't worry, I started preparing yesterday."
Sang Zhitao nodded, turned to look at Touhui, thought for a moment and said, "Touhui, you are the only one here who is familiar with the laboratory. I'll leave the infiltration route to you."
Tou Hui glanced at her with surprise, seemingly wondering why Sang Zhi Tao would still trust him. But after glancing at Tou Huang's eyes, he pursed his lips and nodded silently in agreement.
Seeing that he agreed, Touhuang smiled and pulled Touhui aside to discuss it.
After Turquoise and Green appeared, they were stunned for a moment when they saw them like this. They looked at each other and didn't say anything, but just went forward to help as usual.
By the time Touqing, who was usually rather clueless, woke up, Jingqian and her sister had already divided up the gems they had eaten that morning.
He picked up two gems, took a couple of bites, and then looked at the four people, including Touhui, hesitating for a moment before asking, "Is Touhui alright?"
The moment these words were spoken, the room fell silent, and even Tou Hui's face turned pale.
Touqing seemed to realize that her words were ambiguous, so she quickly put the gem into her mouth and waved her hand to explain, "I mean, Touhui is not sad anymore, is she?"
Touhui had known Touqing for ten years and naturally knew his personality. He couldn't help but roll his eyes at him before saying, "I plan to smash the Dark Duke's head as my pledge of loyalty."
Upon hearing about a fight, Tou Qing's eyes lit up, and he couldn't help but rub his hands together: "Where will we fight? When will we fight?"
"It will happen, don't worry," Touhui replied helplessly, then continued working on his things.
"Really! I'll help you!" Tou Qing was so excited she almost jumped up. Seeing the four of them so busy, she rushed forward to help.
"No! No need!" Upon seeing this, the four people's expressions changed drastically, and they hurriedly stopped them.
"It's okay, don't worry, I won't cause any trouble," Tou Qing shouted, then bent down and began picking up the parts.
"This should go here, right? This one is here..." He assembled a few parts and handed it to Touhuang to look at.
Touhuang couldn't help but sigh: "No, you spelled it backwards..."
Before he could finish speaking, Touqing deftly disassembled and reassembled several parts, unaware that Touhuang's expression had drastically changed: "Stop!!"
Tou Qing raised her head blankly, her hand unconsciously clenching together.
Translucent Yellow, pulling Translucent Gray, and Translucent Purple, pulling Translucent Green, all four of them simultaneously rolled backward and scrambled out, with Translucent Yellow shouting, "Run!!!"
With a loud "bang!", a plume of black smoke billowed from where they were standing, startling Sang Zhitao and Tou Lan, who were discussing tactics.
Looking back, they saw that Touqing was staring at them blankly, with her black hair tied up in a ball shape and her face covered in black ink.
Touhuang breathed a sigh of relief, her voice carrying a rare pleading tone: "Touqing, please, don't help anymore."
Touqing looked at the wrecked parts in her hands, then at her blackened hands, and shrugged helplessly: "Fine."
In the end, the group of four was joined by the well-behaved and thoughtful Jingqian sisters, as well as Tou Dian, who was a master of calculation, while Tou Qing was relegated to Tou Lan's side.
Tou Lan looked helplessly at Tou Qing, who was gesticulating wildly and talking about the battle plan.
Sang Zhitao smiled but didn't say anything.
For a moment, the entire cabin seemed as if the betrayal by Touhui had never happened. Everyone was working hard for the future, even though some people's efforts were completely in the negative direction, but their hearts were the same.
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