Chapter 383: Zhao Qiang’s Upgrade
Lu Xiao’s upgrade had made quite a stir, and Zhao Qiang came looking for them early the next morning.
Unlike Lu Xiao, Zhao Qiang didn’t get the VIP treatment. Although Lu Weiyi had peach juice ready, it was only for when Zhao Qiang reached the point of collapse.
Still on South Island, but at a different location, Zhao Qiang brought with him his team leader Meng Guang—and also Lu Xiao.
“These are the crystal cores I prepared,” Zhao Qiang declared generously. All were A-level, not a single B-level among them.
Lu Weiyi glanced at the bag and said, “For every core you absorb, I’ll give you one of mine.”
“Uncle, you and Captain Meng stay on perimeter duty. There aren’t any large beasts on the island, but there are small mutated animals—rabbits, hedgehogs, and watch out for mutated crabs. They sometimes come ashore. Just make sure nothing interrupts the upgrade.”
“Don’t worry, I guarantee no living thing will interfere with Officer Zhao,” Lu Xiao replied cheerfully, still in a good mood from his successful upgrade.
Meng Guang nodded and looked at Zhao Qiang. Once he got confirmation, he stood guard in the direction Lu Xiao indicated—not too far away, in case Zhao Qiang had any issues. While he felt his powers didn’t count for much next to the uncle-nephew duo, he could still issue warnings in time.
He glanced subtly in one direction, then pulled his gaze back and focused on his post.
“Brother Lu, I’m not going to die, am I?” Zhao Qiang asked, gripping a crystal core tightly and staring at Lu Weiyi.
“I’ll make sure you survive. After all…” Lu Weiyi looked him over and bluntly said, “Our base is just getting established. I don’t want it destroyed by your missile strike.”
Zhao Qiang hadn’t expected his contingency plan to be discovered—let alone brought up so openly. His original agreement with Lu Weiyi had been verbal, and coming here, he was prepared in case Lu Weiyi went back on his word. If he didn’t make it back alive, the entire Yueban Bay would be leveled by hidden weapons.
“Damn it, Zhao! You sneaky bastard!” Lu Xiao cursed, immediately catching the meaning.
Zhao Qiang didn’t look ashamed at all. He laughed heartily. “That’s on me. Once I upgrade successfully, I’ll properly apologize to both of you.”
Lu Xiao grumbled but understood where he was coming from. “Just wait till I get you drunk till you can’t crawl home.”
Zhao Qiang seized the chance to smooth things over. “I’ll drink with you till we both pass out, Brother Lu.”
Lu Weiyi didn’t join the banter. Instead, he looked at Zhao Qiang, a little baffled, and asked, “Do you really think bullets can kill you?”
“Nope,” Zhao Qiang replied, not understanding the question.
“Exactly,” Lu Weiyi nodded seriously. “Let’s begin.”
Zhao Qiang didn’t quite grasp the emphasis but understood it was time.
At this point, there was no turning back. Zhao Qiang took a deep breath. “My life is in your hands now, Brother Lu.” He found a rock to sit on, relaxed, and began absorbing the crystal core in his hand.
Lu Weiyi stood nearby. As soon as Zhao Qiang finished with one, he handed over a purified one to replace it.
Lu Xiao, initially firing off some abilities to kill a few small animals, quickly grew bored. He picked some unpecked jujubes from a nearby tree, chewed on them, and eventually shifted his gaze back to Zhao Qiang.
At this moment, sweat was already beading on Zhao Qiang’s forehead. Although his face showed no signs of distress, Lu Xiao could tell that he was already in pain—this was the inevitable stage in every upgrade process.
Each time felt like a walk through the gates of hell. But…
Yesterday, apart from the initial agony, Lu Xiao found that his absorption of crystal cores seemed to speed up significantly. He didn’t feel the slightest discomfort afterward. The upgrade had gone surprisingly smoothly—easier than when he had advanced to B-level.
At the time, Lu Xiao was so immersed in the joy of his successful upgrade that he overlooked these oddities. Now, watching Zhao Qiang’s completely different experience, he finally realized something was off.
He turned his gaze toward Lu Weiyi, who was sitting cross-legged nearby, writing something on a sheet of paper. Compared to the tense atmosphere surrounding Zhao Qiang, Lu Weiyi appeared completely unbothered. It was unclear whether he simply didn’t care if Zhao Qiang lived or died, or if… he was fully confident?
A chill passed through Lu Xiao. With the previous solo team’s open upgrade in the capital, and now his own successful upgrade upon returning, rumors about the Yuebanwan base might start circulating.
It wasn’t the curiosity of a single force that was frightening—what was truly terrifying was if all factions started investigating at once…
They wouldn’t care about the actual truth. They’d take control by force first, then sort out the so-called “facts.” Whether things were truly as they suspected—that wouldn’t matter anymore.
Realizing this, Lu Xiao broke out in a cold sweat. He suddenly felt he shouldn’t have come here to upgrade. All he had been thinking about was improving his team’s standing in the capital base and helping Lu Xi and Lu Weiyi more effectively. He had forgotten the potential consequences this could bring them.
Meanwhile, Zhao Qiang’s upgrade was still ongoing. Meng Guang was pacing around, occasionally scaring away birds that flew too close, all while casting worried glances at Zhao Qiang.
Lu Xiao, however, could no longer calm down. He began mentally assessing Yuebanwan’s weapons, estimating their ability users’ strength, tallying his own arsenal—trying to figure out how they might resist a potential onslaught from all directions.
Since Zhao Qiang hadn’t taken any peach juice in advance to purify his internal zombie energy, his upgrade was clearly taking longer than Lu Xiao’s. The group waited until nearly noon when Lu Weiyi sensed that the energy inside Zhao Qiang had reached its peak.
He put away his pen and paper, stood up, and stuffed the final handful of crystal cores into Zhao Qiang’s arm. By now, Zhao Qiang was no longer sitting upright. He leaned against the large rock behind him, doing his best to appear composed, but his muscles were taut, and his teeth were clenched tightly.
The energy inside him was surging. He felt like he might not survive this. He opened his bloodshot eyes and locked onto Lu Weiyi with a fierce stare, as if silently demanding an answer.
“Keep going. You can do it,” Lu Weiyi leaned down and added more crystal cores.
At this point, quitting might leave him with a slim chance of survival—but the upgrade would surely fail. On the other hand, if he continued…
From the corner of his eye, Zhao Qiang saw Lu Xiao casually tossing a jujube in his hand, and in a do-or-die moment, he let go of all hesitation. He threw his full attention into absorbing the crystal cores as fast as his body could tolerate.
Sensing Zhao Qiang’s accelerated absorption rate, Lu Weiyi immediately began feeding him more crystal cores. Ten minutes later, Zhao Qiang threw his head back and howled toward the sky. The energy from the surrounding crystal cores surged into him in a visible flow, and in a matter of seconds, massive energy erupted from his body.
Quickly, Lu Weiyi raised a mental barrier in front of Lu Xiao. Then, noticing the stunned and frozen Meng Guang, he extended the shield to protect him just in time from the energy shockwave.
Because of this, the energy Zhao Qiang released couldn’t spread horizontally and instead shot straight up into the sky. The resulting turbulence blasted the surrounding trees and ground upward like a localized nuclear explosion.
In the past, when guarding others during upgrades, Lu Weiyi only had to protect a small area. But this time, he was forced to release his mental power in a full circle. Under the impact of Zhao Qiang’s overwhelming energy, he barely managed to hold up by continuously reinforcing his mental shield.
When Zhao Qiang finally withdrew his energy and looked dazedly at the success he had achieved, Lu Weiyi, not far away, collapsed to the ground from exhaustion.
“Chief!”
“Xiao Yi!”
Meng Guang’s excited shout and Lu Xiao’s concern rang out together as both rushed over from different directions. Thanks to his enhanced abilities, Lu Xiao was significantly faster.
Grabbing Lu Weiyi like he was a small bird, Lu Xiao asked urgently, “What’s wrong with you?”
Lu Weiyi weakly shook his head, pale-faced and silent.
On the other side, Zhao Qiang, still feeling lingering pain deep in his bones from hours of agony, was being supported by Meng Guang. He couldn’t even stand, but looked at Lu Weiyi with dry lips and a hoarse voice, “Lu bro… are you okay?”
Lu Weiyi nodded.
Once Zhao Qiang’s successful upgrade was confirmed, Meng Guang was overjoyed. “You two, should we leave now and head back to rest?”
“Let’s go.”
Lu Xiao bent down and carried Lu Weiyi on his back. Meng Guang likewise carried Zhao Qiang. Not long after, they reached the corridor connection and parted ways.
In the villa courtyard, Xi Shi was washing a big, indistinguishable clump of animal fur. Yin Jin was sorting vegetables nearby. Little Qin Nian sat in a baby stroller while Zhuang Ai Yi cuddled her beloved wolf cub, introducing it to the baby. Tao Tao occasionally chimed in with a few words.
Seeing this scene, the group immediately approached. Xi Shi instinctively wiped his hands on his apron and leaned over to look. “What happened here?”
By now, Lu Weiyi was so drowsy he didn’t even want to open his eyes.
“I’m not sure either. Brother Xi, where are your healing types?” Lu Xiao asked.
“Dean went to work at the hospital today. I’ll check with Xu Yi.” Xi Shi opened a bedroom door for them and hurried off to find his radio.
“Notify Zhuang Mingxu too—see if he can come back for a bit.”
“Got it,” Xi Shi replied as he switched to Xu Yi’s frequency, but unfortunately, both healers were at the hospital today.
In the end, Zhuang Mingxu was the one who drove back with someone.
Upon returning, he immediately understood the situation. After softly instructing Dean on a few things, he entered the bedroom.
“How is he doing?” Lu Xiao paced back and forth in the living room. As soon as someone came out, he immediately asked.
“Back when we went to Cangnan, something happened, and Xiao Yi’s body never fully recovered. Assisting two people in upgrading at once probably put a considerable strain on him. Dean is helping him ease it with some ability input. He’ll need some time to recover,” Zhuang Mingxu explained.
“Tsk, if Xiao Yi didn’t say anything, why didn’t you? If I’d known, I wouldn’t have rushed the upgrade. Waiting until tomorrow would’ve been fine… now look at this mess…” Lu Xiao craned his neck, trying to peek in, but the bedroom door was closed.
“It’s fine, Uncle. Xiao Yi probably anticipated this. Before you arrived, he was out gathering supplies. He made a full circle around the outskirts of Pingjin City and came back saying that we’d be hunkering down for the whole winter at the base.”
“That kid…” Lu Xiao looked both worried and guilty.
