Chapter 297: Healer-Type Upgrade
Lu Weiyi’s eyes lit up as he looked up at Lu Xiao.
Lu Xiao continued, “Recently, there have been signs of radio communications recovering. Intermittently, we’ve been able to receive some messages from the surrounding areas. A few days ago, my people received a fragment of a distress signal—from a weapons R&D base over in Cangnan.”
“I was originally planning to take people there myself, but given the current situation, I won’t be able to go anytime soon. The most likely option would be to cooperate with other factions in the Capital Base and bring the personnel and assets under shared control of the base…”
“Then it’d be better for us to go,” Lu Weiyi volunteered immediately. “Our base doesn’t have surplus factions right now, so there won’t be disputes over results. If Uncle needs anything afterward, I definitely won’t be stingy.”
“That place isn’t close. You need to think it through carefully,” Lu Xiao cautioned him in advance. “And I’m not sure whether people from other bases have also gotten this information.”
“Don’t worry, Uncle. I’ll discuss it with the team first. Once everyone agrees unanimously, we’ll decide on the next step,” Lu Weiyi promised.
“Don’t worry. If anything happens, just come to Uncle directly. No matter when, Uncle can protect you,” Lu Xiao said, ruffling Lu Weiyi’s fluffy hair.
“Thank you, Uncle.”
That same day, Lu Xiao had people hand over all the information they had gathered about the Cangnan weapons base to Lu Weiyi.
That night, Zhuang Mingxu began analyzing the materials, determining who might still be alive and what usable supplies were likely to have been preserved.
Before they even had time to notify the team to hold a meeting, Liu Rui came rushing downstairs in a panic, so hurried that he even tripped and fell along the way.
“What’s wrong?” Only Zhuang Mingxu was left in the living room, sorting through documents. Seeing Liu Rui like that, he stood up and hurried over.
“Sa… Sa…”
“Xu Sa has a fever and went into convulsions,” Gu Qingji, who was close behind, finished for him. “My brother says we need some antipyretics.”
Hearing this, Zhuang Mingxu strode into the bedroom and hauled Lu Weiyi up from the bed.
“What happened?” Lu Weiyi had been trying to sort out his chaotic mental energy. He hurried to get out of bed and nearly fell.
Zhuang Mingxu caught him in one arm and headed upstairs.
In the stairwell, everyone on the team had already come out and gathered nearby, asking about the situation.
Ability users’ bodies were strengthened by their powers, and they rarely ever got sick. Moreover, they were currently in the recovery period after drug metabolism, and it was uncertain whether there were lingering side effects. Xu Sa’s condition made everyone tense.
Inside the room, Gu Qingyue glanced at the thermometer and said to Lu Weiyi, “39.5°C.”
“Did he catch a chill?” Gu Qingji asked.
Seeing the others look over, he paused briefly, then explained, “I saw him staying on the balcony all afternoon.”
After speaking, he turned to look at Liu Rui, who nodded to confirm.
Lu Weiyi was furious and was just about to lose his temper when Zhuang Mingxu lightly tugged at the corner of his clothes and tilted his chin toward the outside.
Lu Weiyi immediately remembered what had happened outside—Zhang Bijuan and her son had stood outside all afternoon and were only taken away by the Qin family in the evening.
Hating that Xu Sa refused to learn his lesson, Lu Weiyi gritted his teeth, took out a syringe from his space, handed it to Gu Qingyue, and said through clenched teeth, “Give him the shot.”
The team hadn’t recovered much yet. In the end, Qi Lin and Xu Yi, the two remaining ability users, stood guard through the first and second halves of the night. In between, Gu Qingyue gave Xu Sa another injection. Only then did the fever finally subside at dawn.
Early the next morning, when Lu Weiyi went upstairs, Xu Sa had just finished washing up and had already returned to his usual self. He even asked after Lu Weiyi’s physical condition.
“I’m fine,” Lu Weiyi replied, then asked bluntly, “Do you want to go see them?”
He didn’t specify who, but Xu Sa understood perfectly and said nothing.
Lu Weiyi then repeated the warning Lu Xiao had given the day before.
The two fell into silence for quite a while. Finally, Xu Sa said softly, “When I was little… she wasn’t like this…”
Lu Weiyi had never been one to comfort others. Especially when he himself was unwell—unsure whether a problem with his crystal core might one day kill him—he had no patience to listen to Xu Sa reminisce about the past.
He cut him off cleanly. “That’s only because she never had the opportunity.”
“The evil in a bad person’s bones doesn’t change. The only difference is whether they get the chance to tear off that layer of human skin,” Lu Weiyi said, then handed Xu Sa the investigation files Lu Xiao had provided.
“Sorry, Xu Ergou. I’m not feeling well and don’t have the energy to listen to your illusory memories. Golden Eagle is downstairs—if you want to go over there, you can have them go with you,” Lu Weiyi said, then got up and left.
He rubbed his brow as he headed downstairs. At the turn of the stairway, Zhuang Mingxu was waiting there. Seeing Lu Weiyi’s hands empty, he asked softly, “You gave it to him? Wasn’t that a bit too cruel?”
“A clean cut ends the chaos. A dull knife slicing flesh hurts the most,” Lu Weiyi replied decisively. Then, in a voice neither too loud nor too soft, he added, “If he can’t make a decision, I’ll make it for him.”
Zhuang Mingxu didn’t know whether Lu Weiyi’s tendency to either not care about anything at all, or else draw clear lines of love and hate with no room for compromise, was a good thing or a bad one. He could only hope that Xu Sa would be able to sort things out for himself.
The two of them went downstairs and saw Antonio standing alone beneath the eaves, out in the curtain of rain. When he saw them come out, he wore a rare expression of not knowing how to begin.
After a moment’s thought, Zhuang Mingxu met Antonio’s gaze and said casually, “Do as you like.”
Antonio shrugged, put on a raincoat, and left the courtyard.
Lu Weiyi looked over in confusion. Zhuang Mingxu directly handed him the Zheng family’s calling card. “The Zheng family probably knows we were the ones who made a move.”
“Seeking revenge?” Lu Weiyi asked.
“Probably… lowering their heads first,” Zhuang Mingxu offered as a possibility.
“Then we—”
“Of course we deny it,” Zhuang Mingxu said, taking Lu Weiyi back to the room as he spoke.
The two discussed the possible scenarios they might face when the Zheng family came calling and how to respond, then turned to talk about the situation at the Cangnan weapons R&D base.
Just when Zhuang Mingxu thought that Lu Weiyi had forgotten about Antonio going out and was about to ask him to send him to the lab again to take another look, Lu Weiyi suddenly sat bolt upright. The sickly air he’d had for days vanished as he rushed out and up the stairs.
Sensing something was wrong, Zhuang Mingxu followed closely behind. By the time he reached the upper floor, Lu Weiyi had already arrived at Antonio’s room.
Inside, Dean was frowning, his face twisted in pain, looking at Lu Weiyi at a loss.
“What’s going on?” Lu Xi, who had been intently reading research materials in the neighboring room, came out upon hearing the commotion. The others in the remaining rooms also stepped out to see what was happening.
“He’s about to level up,” Lu Weiyi said. He stepped forward to help Dean sit upright and called out, “Xu Yi.”
He had never seen a healer-type ability user level up and wasn’t sure whether it would be the same as other types.
Xu Yi had already come upstairs from below. Seeing the scene, he curled his lip. “You people really are blessed.”
“All of you, gather in his room,” he ordered, strolling in as he spoke and sitting down opposite Dean. “Absorb the crystal cores.”
The people around looked at one another, wanting to ask why, but seeing Dean on the verge of collapse, they crowded into the small room, standing shoulder to shoulder while trying to keep a bit of distance from him.
Zhuang Mingxu swept his gaze around, instructed the guards in the villa to keep watch on the surroundings, and quietly told them to call Antonio back.
Dean glanced at Lu Weiyi. Only after seeing him nod did he take crystal cores out of his space and continue absorbing them.
Lu Weiyi sat beside Xu Yi, close to Dean, to make sure he could help out if anything happened.
“Just keep absorbing. Healer-type upgrades don’t have corresponding crystal cores, so the demand for other types is huge. It can be very uncomfortable. I nearly died myself back then, barely forcing my way through,” Xu Yi said. With a B-rank healer like him present, this upgrade was entirely under his guidance.
Lu Weiyi didn’t ask any further questions. Instead, he handed over a large handful of purified crystal cores. In Xu Yi’s eyes, they were all plant-type cores, and he stared at them wide-eyed.
Dean continued absorbing in silence. Before long, he had used up all the crystal cores he had stored. Lu Weiyi replenished them for him and gestured for him to continue.
Their crystal cores were usually stored in fixed quantities—one hundred per pack. Watching as Dean absorbed five full packs without any sign of upgrading, the people in the room couldn’t help growing anxious.
Dean’s condition also looked bad. Sweat kept dripping from his forehead, his small golden curls plastered wetly against his skin. His face alternated between a ghastly pallor and a flush red enough to bleed.
“What’s going on?” Xu Sa nudged Xu Yi, asking silently with his lips.
“Normal,” Xu Yi replied. After a moment’s thought, he added, “I’ve been here for over half a year. Back then, there were seventeen healer-type ability users in the entire Capital Base. Within six months, eight of them attempted upgrades.”
“Now there are only twelve healers left in the whole base, and only three of them are B-rank.”
Five had died…
And those five were all involved in upgrades?
“Don’t talk nonsense!” Antonio, soaked through like a drowned rat, mud still smeared on his clothes from a fall, shoved aside the people at the doorway and roared as he rushed forward. He pulled Dean into his arms, kissing his sweat-soaked forehead over and over.
“Healer-type upgrades require about one and a half times the number of crystal cores needed for other ability upgrades. Many people can’t withstand that much energy,” Xu Yi continued calmly, ignoring him.
One and a half times…
Normally, going from C-rank to B-rank required roughly four to six hundred crystal cores. That meant Dean might need nearly seven or eight hundred.
Lu Weiyi watched as Dean struggled through the absorption of five hundred cores. When he opened the sixth pack, he couldn’t overcome his body’s instinctive resistance. He held a single crystal core in his hand for a long time before barely managing to absorb it, the pain on his face growing ever more intense.
“Dean, hold on. Hold on, Dean,” Antonio murmured over and over.
“What happens if he gives up?” Antonio asked Xu Yi.
Xu Yi shook his head. “All I know is that of the eight who attempted upgrades, the ones who survived all reached B-rank.”
The other five weren’t fools—how could they not have tried giving up?
Antonio didn’t dare gamble on that possibility. All he could do was hold Dean and keep talking to him again and again.
By the time six hundred cores had been absorbed, Dean’s eyes were already starting to lose focus.
