Chapter 298: Xu Sa’s Retaliation
The crystal core left in his hand showed no sign of being absorbed anymore.
The atmosphere in the room was taut and anxious. After a moment of silence, Lu Weiyi stood up and left the room.
He went downstairs alone, called Taotao over, asked him for a peach, cut off a quarter of it, and mashed it into a paste.
When he returned to the room, Dean’s hands were already so weak that he could no longer hold a crystal core.
“Have something to restore your strength,” Lu Weiyi said as he reached for Dean.
But Antonio was like a ferocious dragon, wrapping Dean tightly in his arms, enclosing him completely without leaving any part exposed.
Lu Weiyi couldn’t pull him away. With no choice, he fed the contents of the bowl into Dean’s mouth by force in that awkward position.
“Dean, eat a little,” Lu Weiyi repeated again and again.
Thankfully, Dean still had some consciousness left and managed to swallow.
Immediately afterward, as if triggered by something, his whole body jerked violently, and he let out a muffled cry of pain.
The haze in his eyes gradually focused. In a low voice, he said, “It hurts.”
“Endure it,” Lu Weiyi said, rubbing the little golden curls on his head. “It’ll be over soon.”
Seeing Dean regain awareness, Antonio babbled to him nonstop, speaking in a jumble of Chinese and English, completely incoherent. The man who was usually calm and composed even at the brink of life and death now looked fragile enough to shatter at a touch.
The pain kept Dean conscious even as it tormented him. He couldn’t hear what Antonio was saying—he could only feel pain clamoring from every inch of his body.
Lu Weiyi forcibly pressed a crystal core into his hand, cupped Dean’s head with both hands, locked eyes with him, and reminded him slowly and clearly, “Absorb the crystal core.”
Tears streamed down Dean’s face. His hands trembled violently as he clenched the crystal core that had been forced into his grasp and began absorbing again.
The energy that refused to enter his body seemed to find a breach through the courage he had finally mustered. The moment Dean sensed it, he discarded all other thoughts, leaving only a single idea in his mind: absorb the crystal core.
Seven hundred.
Eight hundred.
Eight hundred and thirty-two!
Dean felt as if something inside his body shattered. Immediately afterward, a gentle yet vast wave of energy rippled outward, carrying what felt like a purifying force.
Those waiting in the room felt as if every cell in their bodies had been cleansed, like taking a thorough shower—clean and clear all over.
Even Lu Weiyi froze for a moment.
The surroundings fell silent until Xu Yi broke it. “Congratulations. You’ve leveled up.”
Only then did Antonio react. He stiffly turned his head to look at Dean—and saw a face smeared with grime, as if coated in asphalt.
“Dean, you—”
“Where’s that stink coming from?”
“What rotted? I feel like I’m going to throw up.”
“Is this a biological weapon?”
“David…” Dean called weakly, burying himself against Antonio’s chest.
“Baby,” Antonio said, as if he didn’t notice the smell at all. He lowered his head and kissed him, rubbing his forehead with his lips over and over, soothing his lover’s lingering fear.
The others finally relaxed. Not wanting to disturb the couple, they turned and quietly left the room.
It wasn’t until Gu Qingyue, at the front, spoke up that the silence broke. “I think I can feel it…”
He held out his hand toward the others, and a mass of water gradually gathered in his palm.
“My ability has recovered.”
“I think mine’s back too,” Xu Sa said, arcs of lightning flickering between his fingers.
Beside him, Liu Rui pinched a small fireball between two fingers, his face full of excitement. The others also began demonstrating their abilities, which had returned in an instant.
“Healer Xu?” Li Zhuang didn’t join in the testing. He leaned against the wall with his arms crossed and called out lazily.
Xu Yi paused mid-step, then turned back with an awkward expression. “I don’t know either. Anyway, the energy fluctuations brought on by an upgrade seem to be… really good.”
Zhuang Mingxu didn’t feel it as clearly—only a sense of lightness throughout his body, the exhaustion from days of overthinking swept away.
He turned to look at Lu Weiyi. “How do you feel?”
Lu Weiyi nodded. It really didn’t hurt as much anymore.
Zhuang Mingxu quickly went downstairs and found the doctors who had examined Lu Weiyi earlier, calling them back to run another check. After the re-examination, the cracks on Lu Weiyi’s crystal core were clearly much fewer.
“There are still some,” Zhuang Mingxu said, holding the printed report and looking at Xu Yi with regret.
Xu Yi’s face went pale at once. “I’m still a long way from upgrading.”
“That’s not what I meant,” Zhuang Mingxu said, rubbing the bridge of his nose. He gave the doctors who had made the special trip plenty of supplies and saw them off.
“It doesn’t hurt nearly as much now,” Lu Weiyi said, lying on the sofa with a relaxed expression.
A circle of people sat in the villa’s living room, everyone repeatedly revisiting their abilities. Losing them once and then regaining them—the feeling was indescribable.
“How about hot pot tonight? Let’s celebrate,” Lin Mo said excitedly, the blade in his hand constantly changing size.
“We just had barbecue at noon…” With the team’s food being so good, Liu Yang felt a little embarrassed.
“We’re eating. My treat,” Antonio said loudly as he came downstairs after washing up, an arm around Dean.
“Good brother,” Lin Tian said, clasping his fists toward Antonio, then immediately turned to look at Lu Weiyi, the keeper of supplies.
“Do as you like,” Lu Weiyi said, tossing out some more supplies. “I’m going to take a nap. Help yourselves.” Tormented by headaches all day, he hadn’t had a good night’s sleep in a long time.
Now that the pain had eased, all he wanted was to sleep well for a bit.
“Thanks,” Antonio called out to him from afar.
After Dean’s upgrade, he’d ended up covered in filth and reeking, but his condition was completely different from the brink-of-death state during the upgrade—he looked even better than before.
Antonio didn’t believe, as Dean did, that it was all thanks to some?????. The only explanation was whatever Lu Weiyi had fed him.
Lu Weiyi waved a hand at him and went back to his room.
…
It didn’t take long for word of the upgrade to spread to the surrounding area. Lu Xiao came over in the rain to see the two B-rank healer-type ability users on their team, his face full of envy.
“Doesn’t your team have a B-rank too?” Xu Yi asked.
He was referring to Luo Feifei.
“There are only three B-rank healers in the base now, and you already account for one. Uncle still isn’t satisfied?” Zhuang Mingxu chimed in.
“You know her background,” Lu Xiao said. He had no trust in Luo Feifei at all—it was only because they currently had no healer-type ability users that he tolerated her.
“She doesn’t get along well with her father. Old Seven Luo is extremely controlling. Luo Feifei has always wanted to leave, but no team wanted to offend the Hunter’s Guild, so she never had the chance. I was the one who guided her during her upgrade—it was purely because Old Seven Luo forced her,” Xu Yi explained what he knew to Lu Xiao.
He had heard more or less about what happened when several healer-type ability users upgraded. A few times he had even been present, witnessing with his own eyes healer-types die, and also seeing others struggle back from the brink of death.
Whenever a healer-type upgraded, the members of the squad would all pay close attention—but most of the time, what they cared about was the impact that healer’s survival or death would have on the team’s interests. This was the first time he had ever seen a squad display such pure concern.
They were worried about the person, not about him as a healer-type.
Xu Yi himself had never experienced such feelings.
He had to admit—he was a little envious.
“Are you getting ready to head back?” Lu Xiao suddenly asked.
Everyone’s abilities had recovered, so the day of their return was much closer. Zhuang Mingxu nodded. “We agreed we’d definitely be back within two months. We’ve already been delayed—once the rain stops, we’ll leave.”
Seeing Lu Xiao’s gaze moving around the villa, he took the initiative and said, “Xiaoxi is studying in his room. Do you… want him to stay?”
“Let him go with you,” Lu Xiao replied. “Things on my side still need some time to fully stabilize. His ability isn’t suited for combat, and for now I don’t have the means to set up a research lab for him. Staying with me would just be a waste. Once things settle down a bit, I’ll go visit you.”
As they were talking, Xu Sa and Liu Rui came downstairs and greeted Zhuang Mingxu, saying they were heading out.
“In rain this heavy?” Zhuang Mingxu glanced outside—the downpour showed no sign of stopping.
“There are some things that need to be settled,” Xu Sa said in a deep voice, then strode straight out.
A moment later, a shout of “Holy shit!” rang out. Xu Sa reappeared at the doorway like a drowned rat, shaking the water off his raincoat.
“Isn’t this rain basically being smashed down from the sky?” he exclaimed.
“Haha.” Lu Xiao leaned back with his hands behind his head, openly gloating without the slightest air of an elder. “What did you expect? If it were light rain, the base wouldn’t need all the squads out on patrol.”
“How the hell are we supposed to go out in this?” Xu Sa stared in disbelief at the scene.
“Why not wait until the rain stops?” Zhuang Mingxu suggested.
Xu Sa didn’t respond. Courage was something that also needed the right timing—if he missed it, he didn’t know whether he’d be able to make up his mind again.
“Lethal conflicts between ability users are prohibited within the base,” Lu Xiao said in time.
“Non-lethal is fine, then?” Ning Yuan seized on the wording, stood up, and walked over to Xu Sa. “Call me ‘big brother’ and I’ll use my ability to put up a rain screen for you.”
“Brother,” Liu Rui immediately stepped in front of Ning Yuan, his round black eyes fixed on him seriously, answering on Xu Sa’s behalf.
Ning Yuan gave him a look of disdain, while Xu Sa burst out laughing at the side.
“Non-lethal still requires compensation in supplies,” Lu Xiao answered Ning Yuan’s question. “How much depends on the severity of the injuries.”
“The severity of the injuries…” Xu Sa repeated the words slowly, chewing on them, a smile gradually blooming across his face. “What about the degree of crystal core fracture?”
“…” Lu Xiao was momentarily stumped. He turned to look at Zhuang Mingxu, only to see that the man showed no intention of stopping it at all—in fact, he was watching seriously too, as if waiting for the answer.
“Then you’d better prepare a large amount of supplies,” Lu Xiao said, speechless.
Xu Sa immediately trotted over to Lu Weiyi’s room and opened the door a crack like a thief, calling softly, “Lu Xiaoyi?”
“Get lost,” came Lu Weiyi’s hoarse voice from inside.
“Okay,” Xu Sa replied cheerfully. He quietly closed the door, turned back, and said, “All set.”
“This… what part of that sounded ‘all set’ to you?” Lu Xiao wondered if there was something wrong with his hearing and he’d missed some crucial exchange.
“He answered me,” Xu Sa said righteously, then turned to Ning Yuan. “Let’s take you guys to get some real combat experience with your abilities.”
With that, he took the lead and headed outside. Ning Yuan hurried after him.
“Bring a few more people. Chenguang’s side isn’t weak,” Lu Xiao said, speaking into his walkie-talkie to give a couple of instructions, then called someone over to guide them.
