Chapter 409: Xu Sa Upgrades
“Lu Weiyi! Hurry! Xu Sa can’t hold on much longer!” someone shouted from the courtyard below.
“Young Master, what is it? What were you going to say just now?” Lin Yimu quickly asked.
“Purification crystal cores—Xu Sa’s upgrading, but I didn’t bring enough. We rushed back,” Lu Weiyi explained.
Lin Yimu hurriedly handed over a pile of crystal cores. Lu Weiyi stored them into his spatial ability and turned to run, but not before giving Li Qing one last glare at the door.
“Go, go—don’t let anything go wrong with the upgrade,” Zhuang Mingxu quickly pulled Lu Weiyi away, shooting a meaningful glance at the two inside.
Once they were downstairs, Li Qing slumped onto the couch, feeling wronged. “Why is he back to flipping on me? I’ve been sucking up to him for so long. Instructor, aren’t you going to say something?”
Lin Yimu’s face crinkled with a big smile—clearly, he had no intention of taking Li Qing’s side. Li Qing sighed, wondering if he should go the long route and ask Zhuang Mingxu to give Lu Weiyi a little heart-to-heart instead.
“Young Master is still young. There aren’t many people he trusts. Anyone he can cling to, he won’t let go of easily. He just got emotional—don’t take it personally,” Lin Yimu, as expected, defended Lu Weiyi.
Li Qing covered half his face with one hand, muttering, “Yeah… he’s just a baby at twenty. I’m already an old man in my twenties.”
Lin Yimu was amused, giving him a pat. “I’ll talk to Young Master later.”
“No, no—better if I do it.” Li Qing glanced at the way Lu Weiyi had called Lin Yimu “Dad” earlier and saw how Lin couldn’t stop smiling. He was afraid that if Lin went to talk and got another “Dad” out of it, he might come back and break up with him—now that would be a loss.
“Can’t believe I’m this young and already having to explain the difference between gaining a new parent and stealing one from your stepson,” Li Qing muttered sourly.
“You dare say that in front of Young Master?”
“I wouldn’t dare—his ability is terrifying,” Li Qing said awkwardly.
While they were chatting, they suddenly heard loud crackling from outside.
Looking through the window, they saw Xu Sa in the side courtyard, lightning flashing all over his body, enveloping him entirely. His teammates, who had gone out with him, were all backing away for fear of getting shocked by the electrical field.
“S-Class lightning type—we should call Lei Zi over to watch, give that guy a reality check,” Li Qing joked, opening the window to get a better view.
“Lei Zi’s close to A-Class now, right?”
“Probably needs another month or so. Lightning-type upgrades are pretty slow.”
“Totally normal. Xu Sa only got this far thanks to Young Master’s care. Lightning-type zombies are rare to encounter, and every single crystal core was saved for Xu Sa. They even traded with Capital and Pingjin Bases for a few more to help his upgrade. Even so, he’s still half a year behind others.”
“It’ll come with time,” Li Qing said, then turned to Lin Yimu and asked in a lowered voice, “Instructor, I heard Squad Leader is planning to upgrade the entire military’s abilities this time. Is that true?”
“There’s talk of it, but no exact timeline. It could be this time, or maybe a few months later—should be done before the end of the year.”
As they spoke, Xu Sa downstairs entered the final stage. Lu Weiyi had enveloped the area with his spiritual energy to shield the villa.
“That fast? Are all your upgrades like this?” Lin Yimu frowned.
“Nope. Back when we used regular crystal cores, it took over an hour just to get to A-Class. With purified ones, it was about forty minutes. S-Class takes even longer,” Li Qing said.
Compared to the usual energy shocks during upgrades, Xu Sa was literally summoning lightning on a sunny day. Bolts the size of his wrist struck down from the sky and hit him directly.
“Holy shit—how the hell can anyone survive that?!” Li Qing swore, then flipped himself out the window and leapt down the wall.
His question was on everyone’s mind. Liu Rui was about to charge in recklessly when others restrained him. Lu Weiyi, who’d never seen anything like this either, grabbed a wooden stick to insulate himself from the current and cautiously poked into the middle.
“Xu Sa?”
No answer.
After a while, the electricity around him began to fade. Then came the sound of violent coughing from within—and everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
“You okay?” Lu Weiyi stepped forward and saw Xu Sa.
His long hair had returned, now blown into an explosive afro. With his pale, delicate features, he looked like a proper non-mainstream pop idol.
Liu Rui rushed in and hugged him, shouting incoherently, while Xu Sa patted him on the shoulder to calm him down.
“As long as you’re alright.” The others sighed in relief—then couldn’t help but laugh.
“Now the only one in our squad not at S-Class is Qingji,” Ning Yuan said, dampening the mood.
Gu Qingji was still unconscious.
No one spoke for a while. Finally, Dean broke the silence. “Ning, did you forget about me?”
“I’m still just a B-Class, you know. That hurts.” He pouted and hugged Zhuang Aiyi, saying, “Aiyi, Uncle Dean’s sad. Only chips can heal him.”
“Uncle Dean, if you want chips, just say it,” Aiyi said, clearly used to his antics.
“Brother, Taotao wants chips too!”
“Alright, I’ll go get some for both of you,” Aiyi said like a little grown-up, taking one in each hand and walking toward the villa.
Ning Yuan sighed in relief, then looked around. Not seeing Gu Qingyue, he asked, “How’s Qingyue doing lately?”
“Not bad. Uncle brought several neurospecialists from Capital Base. With the medical equipment here, they’ve been holding regular consultations. Treatment has already begun, and the results seem promising,” Zhuang Mingxu replied.
As the base grew stronger, so did its responsibilities. The emergence of purified crystal cores had drawn outside attention, so the S-Class ability users were split into two teams to ensure the base was always protected.
“Last week, Qingyue said Qingji’s hand moved a few times. The experts said that proves he’s still conscious,” Xi Shi added.
“As long as it helps.”
“We passed an abandoned hospital on the way back and brought back some medical equipment. Hopefully it’ll come in handy.”
“Have the professionals take a look—they’ll know.”
“Let’s eat first. Afterward, we can take it to the experts and check on Qingji too.”
Chatting as they walked, the group returned to the villa.
—
A few days later, Lu Weiyi personally oversaw Zheng Yi’s upgrade. The process was painful, but ultimately successful—bringing the number of S-Class ability users at Capital Base up to three.
After seeing off Zheng Yi and his group, Zhuang Mingxu, having been begged by Li Qing multiple times, finally agreed to talk seriously with Lu Weiyi—especially after bringing back two live mutated ducks from a trip.
Who would’ve thought that the moment he brought it up, Lu Weiyi would already say, “I know.”
“You’re… not upset anymore?” Zhuang Mingxu studied his expression, testing the waters.
“When it rains, it rains. When a father remarries, what can you do?” Lu Weiyi’s tone was awkward, but his attitude was serious. It was clear he knew his reaction wasn’t quite right and was trying to accept it, though he was still feeling a bit off inside.
Zhuang Mingxu held back his laughter at the phrasing. “You’re right. Just think of it as gaining an extra—”
Lu Weiyi looked at him with a deep gaze.
Zhuang Mingxu abruptly changed his words. “—brother. Enjoy being spoiled and taken care of.”
“Xu Sa already goes around calling himself my older brother every day,” Lu Weiyi grumbled, still clearly unhappy.
“Then now you’ve got one more,” Zhuang Mingxu said as he put things away, naturally offering his help without reservation.
“Sigh,” Lu Weiyi knew it all deep down, he just wasn’t used to it. “How about letting Li Qing accompany me on the next few missions so he can reach S-Class sooner?”
In this world now, only a high ability rank gave people real peace of mind. The only thing he could do was help Li Qing upgrade as soon as possible to improve his chances of surviving future missions.
“Alright. He’s been A-Class for over a year now. In a few days, we’re heading to Shanxi Province to mine coal. Why don’t you take all the squad captains with you and help them upgrade while you’re at it?”
“Will the helicopters fit everyone?”
“We’ll take both choppers.”
Hearing that, Lu Weiyi looked over in surprise. Zhuang Mingxu added, “Uncle sent word that deep in Shanxi Province, there’s a military base storing a large batch of military equipment. Since you’ll be nearby, stop by and grab as much as you can.”
“It’s all buried?”
“No idea. We’ve completely lost contact with that area. No updates at all,” Zhuang Mingxu smiled. “It’s a good chance for the A-Class squad captains in the base military to level up. Our own team reached S-Class in just five to six months—after a year, they should be ready too.”
“If we keep upgrading at this rate, will we have enough crystal cores?”
“Don’t worry. We’ve got more than enough.”
With Zhuang Mingxu’s reassurance, the next day all the squad captains in the base military were notified that they’d be going on a joint mission, and they were told not to leave the base.
Li Qing immediately felt like it was arranged because of him. He clasped his hands to the other three captains. “Sorry for dragging you guys into this. Drinks are on me when we’re back.”
Captain Li Yan of Team Three and Captain Zhou He of Team Four knew exactly what was going on. They each punched him on the shoulder but didn’t say anything. Only Captain Zheng Jun of Team Eight looked completely confused.
Li Yan quickly gave him a brief explanation, and Zheng Jun’s face lit up with admiration. “Didn’t expect you’d rush to be the squad leader’s stepmom. People really are more than they appear—mmph—”
Zhou He quickly covered his mouth, glanced around nervously, and whispered, “Don’t drag me into your suicide mission. The Lone Wolf controls all logistics and supplies for the military. Every piece of equipment we use on missions has to go through him. Don’t you fear he’ll make you pay for that comment?”
Zheng Jun swatted his hand away, looked at Li Yan, who was smirking mischievously, and burst into laughter. “Relax, the Lone Wolf isn’t that petty.”
After their banter, Ning Yuan came to give the official notice. He glanced at the smug-looking Li Qing and teased, “Stop flattering yourself. The only goal of this mission is to upgrade—all of you must move up one rank.”
“I can upgrade too? To S-Class?” Li Yan and Zhou He asked in unison.
“That’s what the notice says.”
“Long live Squad Leader!”
“Hey, Squad Leader need another stepmom? Our team has guys who look better than Li Qing. I can recommend someone.”
“Screw off!”
While they were joking around, Zheng Jun suddenly asked, “I’m upgrading to S-Class too?”
Ning Yuan looked him over and tried to recall. “When did you become A-Class?”
