Others didn't know about Xu Xiaotian's ability, but Guan Tong was very clear about it.
When he saw the bucket instant noodles in the box, he guessed they were products of his ability.
"Xiaotian, can the instant noodles your ability creates be stored now?"
Guan Tong rembered that Xu Xiaotian's instant noodles used to be sothing that could only be generated for imdiate consumption, and others couldn't eat them, only he himself could.
"That's right!" Xu Xiaotian said quite proudly, "After over a year of continuous developnt, I finally made my instant noodles capable of independent preservation, and anyone can eat them, no team formation prerequisite needed."
The others were all very interested in these instant noodles. After obtaining Guan Tong's permission, they each took a box to examine.
As soon as the instant noodle cup was in hand, the corresponding effects appeared before the holder in panel form.
Silver Fox looked at the box in her hand: "'Skin toughness doubled for 30 minutes after consumption'... quite interesting."
"The effect of this box is 'Imdiately removes one poisoned state after consumption,' feels very useful!" Chen Na said.
The ones in the others' hands also had different effects. Guan Tong said, "Seems you spent a lot of ti developing these, Xiaotian, there really are quite a few effects."
"Anyway, when I'm not working, I'm just idle, but for you, Brother Tong, these definitely aren't impressive enough..."
Knowing Guan Tong was Shadow, Xu Xiaotian didn't think the instant noodles he made would be of much use to him.
But Guan Tong shook his head and said, "No, your instant noodles might co in handy at critical monts. Thanks."
"As long as they're useful, hehe. By the way, if you're interested, you can tell , and I'll make so for you too."
Guan Tong put seven or eight boxes of instant noodles with various effects into his Storage Ring. Then Silver Fox also took out the gift she had prepared and placed it on the table with a light clink.
It was actually a short knife about the length of a forearm.
"This is my gift for you, see how you like it."
Guan Tong picked up the short knife. What surprised him was that this wasn't a Mind Power item.
It was a weapon forged by humans.
He picked it up and swung it a few tis. The feel was good, the weight was on the lighter side, which was related to his strength being greatly enhanced by Mind Power.
"This is a short knife made from multiple alloys, both sturdy and very sharp," Silver Fox explained. "I thought you probably don't lack Mind Power weapons, and your Shadow itself can also serve as a weapon, so I thought a handy man-made cold weapon might be more useful for you."
"Thank you," Guan Tong expressed his gratitude. "I really do lack a handy man-made cold weapon."
Sotis, a man-made weapon might have unexpected effects in battle.
For example, many barrier-type items can only block and defend against Mind Power-related attacks. At such tis, suddenly pulling out a man-made cold weapon and striking down could achieve an extraordinary feat.
Guan Tong and Silver Fox weren't closely related. Compared to friends, the two were more like cooperative partners. That she brought such a carefully crafted weapon as a gift was already beyond his expectations.
So he expressed his thanks again.
Silver Fox waved her hand dismissively, "Since we'll be cooperating long-term in the future, this small gift isn't a big deal. Not to ntion anything else, just the effort you contributed in eliminating the Yuzawa Family of Sakura Prayer Country, if applied for upward, the authorities would definitely give you a large reward."
"That's not necessary."
Guan Tong's dealings with Yuzawa Jun were still privately motivated by revenge. Cooperating with the authorities was each taking what they needed. Applying for a reward on top of that wouldn't be very appropriate.
After putting the alloy knife Silver Fox gave into his Storage Ring, Guan Tong looked at Shi Jingyi.
Shi Jingyi's lips curved slightly upward, "If I said I didn't prepare a gift, would you be very disappointed?"
"Not really. After all, the ti was too rushed."
He had only notified Shi Jingyi the day before the birthday party was held, and she still had classes at the academy. Not having ti to prepare a gift was completely normal.
It was just that from the tone of Shi Jingyi's speech, the word "if" made him think she probably had prepared sothing after all.
Sure enough, the next mont, Shi Jingyi took out a small notebook from her pocket and handed it to him.
"I really didn't specifically prepare anything new, mainly because I didn't know what to prepare. But I happened to have researched so new application forms of Mind Power recently, so I'll give this to you as a gift."
Guan Tong curiously opened the notebook. Inside were so rough sketches and casual notes by Shi Jingyi. He quickly found a key term.
"Mind Power Martial Arts?"
"Mhm."
Hearing this, the others also beca quite curious, not knowing what this "Mind Power Martial Arts" was.
Xu Xiaotian, as a graduate of the academy's first class, was well aware of Shi Jingyi's attainnts in Mind Power. He exclaid in surprise, "Lecturer Jingyi, you've researched a new usage for Mind Power again?"
Shi Jingyi shook her head slightly, "Can't be considered a new usage, just a variant of flow. Guan Tong, do you rember the reason I borrowed Ascension Coins from you before?"
"I rember. You said you wanted to buy a qigong secret manual?"
"Right," Shi Jingyi said. "It was that secret manual that gave
inspiration. I referenced its operation thod and developed a few new martial techniques, they're just not very mature yet."
"Since you developed them, there must be no problem."
Shi Jingyi's attainnts in combining Mind Power and martial arts had always made Guan Tong admire her greatly. He felt that at least on this path, Shi Jingyi was definitely the pioneer and leader walking at the forefront.
"When you have ti, you can accompany
to test them. For martial techniques, to verify their strengths and weaknesses, you always need a qualified opponent. Among the people I know, you are the most suitable," Shi Jingyi said.
Guan Tong nodded and agreed naturally, "Okay."
Seeing this, the others vaguely felt that these two seed much more familiar, interacting very casually.
Silver Fox even narrowed her eyes, thinking the relationship between these two was indeed closer. She felt the most obvious manifestation was that Guan Tong actually didn't thank her after taking Shi Jingyi's gift, which was enough to indicate sothing.
After receiving the gifts, Guan Tong cut the cake for everyone.
After eating, Silver Fox was the first to get up and leave.
"I'm heading back to the base first. I asked for leave to co out today, can't stay out too long."
Wang Yan and Chen Na were the sa. They were now Ascendants under the research departnt. While receiving generous benefits and treatnt, they also had to strictly comply with the research departnt's rules and regulations.
When Guan Tong saw the three off, he specifically thanked Chen Na again.
Without this little girl urging him, telling him that the more difficult the environnt, the more one should seek happiness, he definitely wouldn't have celebrated his birthday, much less held any birthday party.
Now that he had held it, he realized Chen Na was absolutely right.
For him, a relaxing day like today hadn't happened in a long ti.
Once the three left, Xu Xiaotian also said goodbye and left.
Before leaving, he didn't forget to say, "Brother Tong, I know you're strong, but the problem is the places you go, your opponents are all so dangerous too... you absolutely must be careful!"
"I will, don't worry."
"Mhm, then I'm off. Let's keep in touch!"
After Xu Xiaotian left, only Guan Tong and Shi Jingyi remained.
Guan Tong helped her tidy up the courtyard a bit, then asked, "Are you worried about sothing regarding the parasitized forms?"
Earlier during the al, he had noticed that when everyone discussed the topic of parasitized forms, Shi Jingyi's expression was sowhat grave.
Guan Tong felt that given her straightforward personality, if it wasn't sothing closely related to her, she wouldn't have shown that expression.
Asked this by him, Shi Jingyi couldn't help but be surprised.
She remained silent for a mont, then nodded and said, "I'm worried about the students."
"Students? Have students beco parasitized forms?"
Although the academy was a key prevention area, with so many students, it wasn't impossible for so to be unable to resist the temptation of the spores.
"Can't be certain yet, but it can be judged that they have addictive tendencies," Shi Jingyi said. "In the one or two days after the rule ended, a total of five students went missing... The academy eting judged that they either turned into parasitized forms, or because they were addicted to the spores, had to go outside the academy to find channels to obtain spores."
"...These kinds of things aren't sothing you teachers can control," Guan Tong advised. "Worry is worry, but you don't need to bla yourself."
"Sigh."
Shi Jingyi sighed.
"Do you have any impression of a student nad Lu Cheng?"
"Lu Cheng..." Guan Tong thought about it and rembered. "I have an impression. During the few months I substituted for classes, his performance was very good, one of the students with the best grades."
"Right, it's him. He's also among the five missing... Actually, before he went missing, I had already detected he had a spore addiction problem, but couldn't intervene effectively. I've been thinking these past two days, maybe I'm not doing a qualified job as a lecturer. If I perford better, perhaps he would have sought help from
and wouldn't have reached this point."
"Don't say that. The students' support for you is enough proof of your performance. If you're not qualified, then no one is," Guan Tong said. "And this spore rule, ultimately, one can only rely on their own determination to firmly resist. No one else can help."
"...Thanks. Guan Tong, where do you think these students would run off to?"
"Don't know. But if they're addicted to the spores, they would only go where the spores are most abundant. Hmm... Black Flag Country?"
Hearing this, Shi Jingyi was startled. What Guan Tong said offhand, in her view, might be the key answer.
Black Flag Country was now occupied by parasitized forms, and even claid to have established a new parasitized form nation called "Sairi Divine Kingdom," openly calling for parasitized forms worldwide to go there, clearly aiming to build it into a holy land, just like the Christian holy land Jerusalem on Guan Tong's ho planet Earth.
Since the missing academy students craved spores, taking that place as their destination to head towards was obviously very reasonable.
"If those few students really go there, it's dangerous."
"That's also not sothing you can prevent," Guan Tong said. "Can only report it to the authorities, let the stationed personnel along the way pay more attention."
Shi Jingyi nodded. As Guan Tong said, all she could do was that.
"Earlier you ntioned testing Mind Power Martial Arts. How about testing in the next few days? I happen to have ti," Guan Tong suggested.
"Didn't you say you wanted to rest? And the new rule is about to be released soon. Aren't you going to take ti to prepare in advance?"
"This counts as rest for . And testing won't delay preparation either."
"Alright. Then I'll contact you after my class tomorrow."
"Mhm."
After leaving Shi Jingyi's residence, Guan Tong went directly to the mountain valley where he used to live in Pinglu, planning to stay there for the night.
He summoned the shelter. As soon as the door opened, Coal Ball ran out.
As soon as it returned here, it jumped up and down, appearing very happy, probably considering this place its own territory. No wonder, after all, it had stayed in these mountain wilds for several months, already becoming a local overlord in the wild animal circle.
"Co, let
take a look."
Guan Tong checked Coal Ball, confird there were no abnormalities in its body, then let it go wild.
Because Coal Ball had eaten one of Yuzawa Jun's heads earlier, Guan Tong was worried it might have a bad effect on it. Now that a day and night had passed with no changes, it ant it was fine.
Watching Coal Ball run into the forest to run wild, Guan Tong also detached himself from the relaxation of today's birthday party and began thinking about everything that had happened recently and subsequent plans.
The experience of dealing with Yuzawa Jun made him realize his combat power still had deficiencies, and his attack thods were relatively singular.
Against ordinary enemies, Shadow was enough. But against powerful enemies, Shadow's killing power still needed enhancent.
Although he still possessed the Body Swap
Small Space Devour combo that could be called an unsolvable instant-kill chain, once encountering an enemy like Yuzawa Jun with multiple lives, he would be unable to complete the kill while exposing the secret of his moves.
"Organization, is really important."
Guan Tong thought.
Now with Uenoshi's addition, it equaled having two completely different combat powers.
Then when encountering enemies again, he could judge based on the enemy's specific situation whether to fight himself or let Uenoshi fight, or simply have both fight together.
If the organization could recruit more people, the combinations of different combat thods would increase explosively, which was very important when facing powerful enemies.
However, he couldn't focus all his attention on combat either.
Uncovering secrets, pursuing the truth was Guan Tong's original intention. Combat was only secondary, a ans to resolve conflicts. Couldn't put the cart before the horse.
"After resolving the matters with Yelanka's brother and Lucifer, I should focus my efforts on exploring the rules and the Fire Thief... As for these next few days, first test Shi Jingyi's Mind Power Martial Arts, and also maintain attention on the parasitized forms matter."
As a mber of humanity, Guan Tong didn't want human territory to be "ho-stolen" by parasitized forms.
If the Human Consortium couldn't quickly resolve the problems over at Black Flag Country, they might call for all Ascendants to contribute their strength. At that ti, he would definitely have to contribute his share as well.
The night quietly passed.
Early the next morning, Uenoshi contacted Guan Tong saying she had gone to see Suzuki. She felt Suzuki's state was problematic, constantly asking about him.
"I think her aning is, she really wants to et you," Uenoshi said.
"et ? The reason?"
"Not clear. But I think her behavior is a bit strange," Uenoshi paused and said, "I suspect it might be related to the spores."
"I think so too," Guan Tong said. "She's either a spore addict or a latent parasitized form."
"Then will you et her?"
"Of course."
After chatting with Shi Jingyi last night, Guan Tong was already very concerned about spore addicts and parasitized forms. Now having a chance to contact an actual case, he wouldn't let it pass.
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