Chapter 50
After passing Changshi, there are no developed counties or cities on both sides of the next long section of highway. It is basically continuous mountains and forests, with abandoned villages and towns of all sizes scattered in between.
Lu Ya spoke very little and walked silently at the front of the team. He was more like a senior bodyguard hired by the base for the team. He Jing was responsible for arranging some daily trivial matters.
Lu Ya will not take action easily unless a large number of high-level monsters appear.
But there are still many monsters running over following the scent. The team can encounter three to five waves a day, with the most being C-level monsters. These groups of dozens of monsters basically have three or two high-level monster leaders, so the six teams divided the work to kill the monsters. Gu Fan followed Xinghe and the other four, and had the opportunity to practice every time.
After witnessing Gu Fan kill a B-level monster alone, Sheng Xi narrowed his eyes.
During the break, Sheng Xi came over with a bottle of drink and handed it to Gu Fan.
He has handsome features and a gentle smile, which is very attractive to girls. His actions can easily make girls fall in love with him.
Unfortunately, Gu Fan doesn't buy it.
"You take care of me so much, aren't you afraid that Lu Yao will be jealous?" Facing the peach-flavored fruit drink handed to him by Sheng Xi, Gu Fan asked motionlessly.
Sheng Xi smiled and said, "I admire Miss Gu's alchemy skills. I try to please you so that I can learn some basic skills from you one day. Yaoyao understands and won't mind this."
Meng Lianying said quietly, "Aren't you afraid my cousin won't mind? Fanfan is his ex-girlfriend after all. You're approaching his ex-girlfriend in front of everyone while ignoring his half-sister. How can you be a human being?"
Fenghuo: "You don't understand this. I heard that the Sheng family has produced a dual-system S-level expert who has replaced Young Master Lu as the new generation leader of the Jiangnan Base. Of course, Captain Sheng doesn't care about Young Master Lu's face."
Meng Lianying's face turned ugly, and he said to Gu Fan, "If you say another word to him, I'll pretend you're no longer my friend."
He seemed to be dissatisfied on behalf of his cousin.
Gu Fan made a "nothing to say" gesture towards Sheng Xi.
Sheng Xi still wanted to find out what the level of Gu Fan's supernatural powers was, but after Meng Lianying's interference, he returned empty-handed.
Unable to do it himself, Sheng Xi went to find He Jing.
"Gu Fan originally said she had dual C-level abilities in the wood and fire elements, but now you see she has mastered all five elements, and her level seems to be far beyond C-level."
He Jing understood Sheng Xi's meaning, glanced in Lu Ya's direction, and said, "She is a retail investor, coming to the base alone, so it's normal for her to hide her strength. However, her true strength is high, which is actually good news for the base."
Sheng Xi: "Do you think she's willing to work for the base?"
He Jing: "If she were truly selfish and cold-blooded, she wouldn't have given out so many flesh-regenerating and blood-replenishing pills. I think she just doesn't like being constrained. For a talent like this, the base needs to impress her with sincerity, not coercion. Sheng Xi, I know what you're planning. I advise you to be more obedient. If you really push Gu Fan away, the responsibility is all yours."
After saying that, He Jing decisively changed her place to rest, as if she would get stained with some foul smell if she got close to Sheng Xi.
Sheng Xi's face darkened.
Gu Fan was resting against a tree trunk, and he actually saw the whole scene clearly.
She knew that the five major families in the base could not all be as despicable as the Sheng family.
That night, Gu Fan set up a tent for himself.
Fenghuo: "Fanfan, you're not going to live with us anymore?"
Gu Fan: "I'm refining the elixir tonight."
Her voice was not low, and all the other psychics looked over.
Gu Fan simply said openly, "Xinghe told me that we'll enter Zhang City in a few days. It used to be a tourist destination, and all tourist destinations are home to high-level monsters. I refined a few furnaces of flesh-growing and blood-tonifying pills in advance for everyone, just in case."
The magic of the flesh-growing and blood-replenishing pill has spread among the top management of the base. Those present are all A-level psychics, so naturally they have heard about it.
He Jing was the first to say, "The elixir is precious. We can't take it from you for free. Name your price."
Gu Fan smiled and said, "It's not the pills that are precious, it's the herbs used to make them. Before the beast tide, I only took out two thousand pills because I didn't have any herbs. I went to An City with Captain Lu and accidentally collected some at the bottom of a lake. Refining pills takes time, so those two thousand pills were my entire stockpile. I gave them all to Captain Lu before the beast tide. Oh, don't blame him for not telling you. In fact, he didn't know I had such a good thing. I was weak, and I was afraid that you would arrest me and make me a hard laborer, so I kept it a secret from him. Later, when the base was about to fall, I took it out."
Except for Sheng Xi's faction, He Jing and others did not doubt that Lu Ya had any selfish motives, otherwise Lu Ya could have distributed all 2,000 flesh-growing and blood-replenishing pills to the strong men of the Lu family army.
He Jing: "What herbs do we need? If we collect them, could you help us refine them?"
Gu Fan explained, "You don't have to bother picking them. I have herbs that can be cultivated. What I lack now is a place where I can cultivate them and make pills in peace."
Sheng Xi: "If you come back to the base with us, we will provide you with anything you need for free."
Gu Fan: "I just want freedom. The freedom to enter and exit the base, the freedom to refine pills as I please, the freedom to give you as many pills as I want, not the freedom to refine as many pills as you ask me to."
He Jing was silent for a moment, then asked, "If we want to learn alchemy, what kind of reward do we need?"
Gu Fan: "If you can't learn it, you can teach me early."
He Jing looked at Lu Ya.
Lu Ya nodded.
Gu Fan didn't want to say anything more. Before entering the tent, she said to Lu Ya in a domineering tone, "You will keep watch for me. Unless I come out by myself, no one is allowed to disturb me. The herbs are limited, and I don't want to waste them."
After saying that, she went into the tent.
Lu Ya walked to the outside of her tent with an expressionless face and sat on the ground, obedient as if Gu Fan was the marshal and he was just a guard.
A complicated look flashed across He Jing's eyes and she walked away.
Meng Lianying gloated over his misfortune: "My cousin, I never thought that this day would come to you."
Thinking back to the past, my cousin was like a big landlord who bullied men and women in front of Gu Fan, but now my cousin is more obedient to Gu Fan than his grandson.
Lu Ya closed his eyes, as if he couldn't hear anything.
The onlookers smiled kindly and went to rest. Because of the elixir, they finally understood why the young marshal, who had once been ruthless and heartless, had become tempted by worldly desires. Not to mention Gu Fan's beauty, her alchemy skills were unique across the entire planet. Who wouldn't be tempted by such a prodigy?
——
Gu Fan had confidence in Lu Ya's protection. After entering the tent, she put out the alchemy furnace, sorted out several herbs that would be used, and began to make the elixir.
The golden-red flame released by the spiritual power jumped at the bottom of the furnace, rapidly changing the state of the herbs.
The improvement in his cultivation made it more efficient to refine flesh-growing and blood-replenishing pills. He refined ten furnaces of fifty red pills in one go. Gu Fan put away the alchemy furnace and put the fifty pills into two boxes, leaving them for He Jing to distribute tomorrow morning. He only needed to give them to the military's psychics, as the four people Xinghe had already divided them up.
After packing up, Gu Fan took out a porcelain bottle containing ten flesh-growing and blood-replenishing pills.
The spiritual consciousness was released. Lu Ya was on guard tonight while everyone else went to sleep.
Gu Fan quietly walked to the front of the tent. The tent door was a zipper door. Gu Fan secretly opened the space enough for her to expose her head without making any noise, and then stuck her head out.
Lu Ya sat five steps away with his back to her.
Gu Fan picked up a small stone and gently hit him on the shoulder.
Lu Ya looked back. There was a moon tonight, and the cold moonlight illuminated that handsome yet cold face.
Gu Fan raised the porcelain bottle.
Lu Ya glanced at the other tents, bent down and walked to her door.
"Your stock should have been used up. This is for you as a backup. I won't send it to you tomorrow." Gu Fan said in a low voice. The two of them are now in a bad relationship after breaking up. Lu Ya doesn't even give her lunch boxes, so of course she won't give him any pills.
Only her head and one arm were exposed, which made her look a little funny. Lu Ya smiled and went to take the medicine bottle.
As soon as his hands were empty, Gu Fan wanted to retract them.
Suddenly, my whole hand was held by a slightly cold big hand.
Gu Fan's heart skipped a beat and he looked up at Lu Ya.
He knelt on one knee and still had to lower himself to meet her gaze. His figure blocked the moonlight, making his facial features a little blurry.
"How many have you prepared?" He asked in a normal tone, as if he had not done anything inappropriate to her.
Gu Fan thought, this young marshal is really shameless.
She struggled, but he wouldn't let her go, so she gave in. "Fifty pills, two per person, distributed in batches."
Lu Ya looked at her drooping eyelashes and asked, "Are you tired?"
Gu Fan: "I have to practice in the second half of the night."
Lu Ya also lowered his eyes, his gaze fixed on their clasped hands. After a few seconds, Gu Fan heard his voice, so soft it was difficult to distinguish: "Do you really want to break up with me, or are you lying to them?"
Although the words were so light, Gu Fan's heart started beating fast when he asked them.
Suddenly, he released her hand, pressed his warm fingertips against her forehead, and pushed her head back into the tent.
"Rest early... practice."
The man outside whispered and walked away.
Gu Fan: ...
She returned to the center of the tent, sat down, and spent more than ten minutes clearing her mind of distractions before she entered a state of meditation.
Outside the tent, Lu Ya looked up at the moon, his hands hanging on his knees gently playing with the porcelain vase she had given him. His black eyes reflected the moonlight, and were much gentler than usual.
The next day, when Gu Fan opened the tent, Lu Ya was no longer there.
The other psychics looked at her eagerly.
Gu Fan yawned and waved to He Jing.
He Jing walked over quickly.
Gu Fan handed the box to her and said sleepily, "Refine pills takes time and effort. I worked all night and only managed to refine 25 pills. You can distribute them first. Refine them again in two nights. Two pills per person should be enough for now."
He Jing thanked him repeatedly and saluted Gu Fan.
Gu Fan continued to yawn: "By the way, just send your people, our team doesn't need to worry about it."
He Jing understood and turned around to distribute the pills to the five teams, one pill per person. Soon they were all gone. It was only then that He Jing suddenly realized that Gu Fan didn't seem to have prepared Lu Ya's portion?
Is it because she feels that Lu Ya is too capable to use her skills, or is it revenge on Lu Ya for not giving her lunch?
Even though He Jing knew in her heart that Gu Fan hadn't prepared any for Lu Ya, as the one distributing the pills, looking at the last pill in the box, He Jing still walked up to Lu Ya with a serious face and said, "This one is for you."
Lu Ya glanced in Gu Fan's direction: "How many are there in total?"
He Jing: "Twenty-six."
Lu Ya didn't seem to doubt it and reached out to take it.
Sheng Xi suddenly smiled and said, "Captain He, Miss Gu clearly said that she only refined 25 pills. Where did you get the 26th pill?"
He Jing: ...
Lu Ya seemed to suddenly understand, withdrew his hand, and walked away with a cold face.
He Jing's mood suddenly became extremely complicated.
She did have feelings for Lu Ya, but since he was indifferent to her, she gave up. For the sake of the base's welfare, she hoped Lu Ya would work hard to win Gu Fan back, instead of the current situation where the two of them were getting more and more upset.
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