Chapter 229: Dilapidated Laboratory (3.5k)
As Su Jiu’s gentle voice echoed throughout the mission area, the gazes of those around were drawn, and the sounds of boasting and chatting lessened considerably, with everyone looking at the two with interest.
“Hmm? You… Sorry, the mission I need to complete this time is no ordinary one. With a junior’s strength, it might be impossible to complete.”
Called out by Su Jiu, Xiao Qiqi’s mood suddenly became very happy, and then she realized Su Jiu’s neighborly, casual attire, and her heart sank. After a moment of thought, she shook her head and continued to walk towards the door.
Generally, those who come here not wearing combat uniforms are basic students who have just enrolled in the medical school. Due to the prevalence of skin rot disease, high-level medical students are in extremely short supply. They are either doing pathological experiments or heading to mission areas for investigation.
The school had specially allowed new students to enter a few days ago, and the school had not yet officially made the combat uniforms for new students. Therefore, Xiao Qiqi subconsciously recognized Su Jiu as a new student.
Hearing the other party’s voice, Su Jiu was slightly stunned and quickly chased after her. She was good at nothing except eating a bit too much, and she could fight and heal, which were indelible merits.
Listening to Xiao Qiqi’s voice, the people around realized that Su Jiu was a newcomer, and they all smiled and advised, “Junior sister, don’t just look at this senior sister Qiqi’s high score, but if something happens, she can’t protect you at all.”
“That’s right, junior sister, why don’t you join our team? We happen to be short of a priest in our team. My mission points are around 4000. Although I can’t take Heavenly-tier missions, completing top-tier Earth-tier missions is not a problem.”
Priests were still in demand. Soon, some discerning teams had noticed Su Jiu. It was the tall young man who had just spoken. He gestured to the female teammate beside him to inquire about the situation.
The reason these teams were slacking off here was mainly the lack of a priest. They had been waiting for a whole morning.
“Thank you for your kindness, senior. Actually, I have other matters to discuss with this senior sister.”
Turning back, Su Jiu smiled and cupped her fists in a polite greeting. After saying goodbye to the female guide senior sister, she hurried after her, already calculating the cost to persuade the sloppy girl to agree to her joining—she was willing to pay people with capabilities.
Having already left the mission area, Su Jiu arrived at the bluestone road again. She saw the sloppy figure ten meters away and then exerted a slight force with her back foot, reaching the opponent’s side in a few steps.
With a slight smile, she put her hands behind her back, stuck out her head and said, “Senior sister, I’m very powerful, capable of punching High-Rank Battle Generals. Are you really not considering it?”
“Ah? Junior sister, why did you follow me?”
Startled by the sudden appearance of her head, Xiao Qiqi exclaimed in surprise, then looked at Su Jiu with some curiosity. After a moment, under Su Jiu’s puzzled gaze, she quickened her pace and walked away, speaking as she walked, but disbelieving Su Jiu’s strength.
“It’s too dangerous for you. The place we’re going is Xiuren Town. Do you know the dangers there? Just entering might cause you to inexplicably get a skin disease.”
“Moreover, there are many monsters that inexplicably go mad and attack humans. If they were ordinary monsters, it would be fine, but from time to time, some high-ranking Battle General lord monsters would rush out from deep within the mountains. There have already been several cases of death.”
Hearing Xiao Qiqi’s words, Su Jiu became more and more curious about the origin of this skin disease. She followed beside her like a little tail, asking curiously, “Does Senior Sister Xiao know anything about the origin of this incident?”
Discovering that Su Jiu had been following her even after she sped up, Xiao Qiqi was somewhat speechless. She hadn’t bathed for several days in her current state, and this angelic girl was sticking to her like a plaster. After a few more minutes, she sighed, slowed down, and explained helplessly,
“It’s nothing more than a rapidly spreading disease that broke out in Xiuren Town outside the city two months ago. At first, everyone just took it as a common skin disease.”
“Because it’s a rural area, the people who got sick first casually found some Warrior Class priests, and took some medicine… In the beginning, those medicines did work, and the disease did not spread, but good times do not last.”
At this point, the girl named Xiao Qiqi paused slightly, adjusted the thick frame of her glasses, and her eyes were filled with gravity.
“Good times do not last? What happened afterwards?”
Su Jiu asked at the right time. She glanced around at the visible residential buildings. It seemed they had already reached outside the school. What was this senior sister going to do?
Seeing that no one was around, Xiao Qiqi walked towards a place that looked like a garage. The glasses reflected some light, and her voice was quite low as she said, “This town originally relied on raising livestock Gugu Birds for basic living security. I don’t know why the monster groups in the surrounding forest, whether herbivores or carnivores, rushed into the pigeon farm like mad… In just one night, the town residents suffered heavy losses, and they rushed to the city to buy Gugu bird eggs again. And the skin rot disease also spread throughout Magic City a few days later.”
“According to the official statement—it was transmitted by people carrying plague viruses, because neither the water source nor the air in the town could detect this source of transmission.”
Listening to Xiao Qiqi’s words, Su Jiu nodded thoughtfully. After walking a bit further, she found that the other party had stopped at the entrance of a large parking garage and was constantly fumbling on her body for something that should be a key.
“Then how did Senior Sister Xiao know that this is not a plague caused by some unknown mammal demon, as the officials said?”
After a moment of thought, Su Jiu asked the question she wanted to know the most—how did this senior sister know it was caused by a Plant Demon? She was truly extremely curious.
The other party had neither the special sensing ability of green feathers nor the strange medical treatment method.
“Kacha kacha…”
Without immediately answering Su Jiu’s question, Xiao Qiqi seemed to have found a rusty key, inserted it into the rolling shutter door, turned it forcefully, and then kicked it, causing the rolling shutter door to slowly open upwards.
A gust of cold air rushed to Su Jiu’s ankles, and the pungent smell of formalin instantly invaded her nose. She fanned the smell with her hand before clearly seeing what was inside—a laboratory that looked like it had been abandoned for a long time. Seven or eight tall glass jars, each as tall as a person, were placed in the line of sight, containing some incomplete demon carcasses.
Further back were some computer equipment and instruments, some of which were even flickering with light, as if they had been forgotten to be turned off? And further back was a laboratory bench, and a black cage covered with a black cloth. Su Jiu could faintly hear some demon screeches from within.
“Because I’ve dissected some live demons.”
Xiao Qiqi said lightly. After speaking, she turned her head again, looking at Su Jiu with interest, seemingly wanting to see the emotions she desired in the other party’s eyes. But to her disappointment, in those slightly red pupils, there was only understanding and calmness.
“So you’re a frontline experimenter, no wonder you have such skills… Are these experimental equipment all yours? Many are not ordinary electronic devices, but seem to be specially refined Alchemical Items.”
Following the other party forward, Su Jiu’s gaze swept across the strange alchemical equipment. She stepped forward slightly and gently touched an instrument that looked like a kettle, and a faint heat arose from it, which surprised her greatly.
“Ah?”
Xiao Qiqi casually took off a yellowed Adventurer’s Guild combat uniform from the top of the formalin jar and was about to put it on. Hearing Su Jiu’s words, she was slightly stunned, clearly not expecting Su Jiu to ask such a question. After a brief silence, she said softly,
“These are things my parents left behind. They disappeared after an accident, and then I inherited them. If I hadn’t rented a garage to store them, my old man, that old drunkard, would have sold these things for money long ago.”
Listening to this, Su Jiu withdrew her hand that was fiddling with the alchemical kettle, realizing she had touched a sensitive topic, and apologetically touched her head, saying, “Sorry…”
“It’s nothing, I’m used to it… Junior sister, if you have nothing else, please go back! I’m back just to get the Master Adventurer’s license to accept missions at the Adventurer’s Guild.”
Xiao Qiqi searched through a drawer and finally took out a book with a black cover made of parchment. On the cover, the word “Master” was vaguely visible.
After closing the drawer, she turned and waved at Su Jiu, saying lazily,
“Those guys outside are much smarter than students in the university, and their strength is much better. If you’re lucky, you might even encounter a team of High-Rank Battle Generals. At least I have a 50% chance of completing this exploration mission—hey, after all, those people are much more obedient than students.”
After saying that, she turned back to the computer screen and tidied up her hairstyle. After she changed her messy bird’s nest hair into—not so messy bird’s nest hair, she grinned happily.
When she turned around, she found Su Jiu still following her. Her brows furrowed slightly, but her easy-going nature caused her to merely roll her eyes and say helplessly,
“Junior sister, hurry back to class! This kind of Heavenly-tier mid-level mission is not something you newcomers can take.”
“Senior sister, the top student of the 24th cohort, you should have heard of it, right? I am…”
Seeing Xiao Qiqi’s self-important attitude, Su Jiu found it somewhat amusing, and said with a light smile, tilting her head.
“What? Top student? Junior sister, that top student had white hair and red eyes, like a Blood Clan. Although your facial features are quite similar, they are actually completely different, okay!” Xiao Qiqi looked Su Jiu up and down, wanting to complain.
She didn’t know where to start complaining. Although she was in research, you can’t just make up nonsense to fool me!
“Senior sister, please take a look here.”
After listening, she simply closed her eyes and entered the Spiritual Space. She found a giant egg woven within the Spiritual Space, emitting a strange aura—it was the evolving E Huo.
Her gaze shifted to beside the giant egg, where Bairnis was sleeping on top of the egg. Su Jiu’s lips curved into a shallow arc. She gently poked the other party’s little face with her mental power and whispered mentally, “Little Pig, wake up. You’re staying up late again to read.”
“Junior sister, what are you looking at?”
Under Xiao Qiqi’s suspicious gaze, a silvery-white light soon flashed, and Bairnis appeared in front of the two. She rubbed her eyes, yawned slightly, and turned to look at Su Jiu, performing a very Chinese-style cupped-hand salute.
“Miss…”
“This is… that humanoid Beast Pet? Wait, are you really the top student of the 24th cohort?”
Looking at Bairnis, who was still fiddling with her fingers, Xiao Qiqi was slightly stunned, and then blurted out, her eyes full of surprise—
She didn’t understand why someone as awesome as the top student new student would want to team up with her, a sloppy senior sister.
“Don’t be so surprised, senior sister. Isn’t teaming up with me safer than other random teams? I can unleash the combat power of a High-Rank Battle General, but those random teams probably can’t.”
Knowing that the other party believed her, Su Jiu smiled. She was also decisive, directly grabbing the other party’s slightly yellowed cuff and heading towards the campus.
“Hey, hey, wait for me to close the gate first.” After Xiao Qiqi turned around, her face was full of excitement. She picked up her phone, looked at the photo on the lock screen, and her expression became more determined.
…
Soon, the two arrived at the school’s mission area again. Everyone’s gaze was quickly attracted by the strange trio. Su Jiu also spotted an old acquaintance in front, and it seemed their group was also going to undertake this Heavenly-tier investigation mission.
“Miss Ziyi, new students really cannot take this mission.” The customer waved his hand at the gray-haired girl in front of him, his eyes showing a trace of helplessness.
Another troublesome person!
