The weapon refiner is not doing her job properly

Chapter 246: Ginger is still spicier when old

These hunters were unaware that Charlie and the others had also joined the operation. They only knew that the Star Alliance had sent mostly two-star hunters, and they all felt it was too risky.

But the Star Alliance has its own considerations. Looking at this building that is almost torn apart, those who didn't go in have become the lucky ones.

Together they pried open a twisted and deformed iron gate and stepped into the core area.

A chilling smell mixed with rust and burnt odor wafted over. The sight before them made everyone gasp. The hunters of the Star Alliance lay sprawled on the ground, their faces ashen, their chests rising and falling weakly, barely breathing.

Qian Rujin and several experienced old hunters were still barely standing, but they were all leaning against the charred wall, their bodies trembling slightly, clearly at their last gasp.

The hunters who entered felt a chill run down their spines. One of them muttered unconsciously, "Will our people... be alright?" As soon as he finished speaking, his face turned red. The question was ridiculous; given the terrible scene before him, the answer couldn't be clearer.

In that deathly, oppressive moment, a cheerful voice, completely out of place with the surroundings, came from the other side: "Hehehe, we're over here!"

On the other side of the crack, on the edge of the second floor, a ragged figure, practically reduced to rags, was jumping around, waving vigorously at them. Who else but Su Ninglong could be jumping around like that in this place? The others in her group—Tong Zi, composed, and Zhao Piku, past his lively years—were not so impulsive.

Her excitement suggests that the Star Alliance has won. Given the seemingly overwhelming disparity in numbers and the situation, has the Star Alliance truly triumphed?
This guess flashed through everyone's minds, but no one said it aloud, tacitly maintaining silence.

Even Yun Fei, who is usually outspoken, held back the words that were about to come out. The people of the Star Glory Alliance were seriously injured, and if they were to get a little upset and something really happened, he couldn't bear the responsibility.

Never mind, never mind...

Yun Fei squinted and looked at the figures of Tong Zi and the others on the second floor from afar; they seemed quite energetic.

But the thought of eagerly wanting to know who won or lost had just arisen in Yun Fei's mind when it was suppressed by deeper doubts.

He keenly sensed that beneath Tong Zi and the others' seemingly normal posture lay an unnatural strain, as if they were merely clinging to life by the "quasi-spirit stone" they carried.

When all six of them were brought to the lobby on the first floor, Yun Fei finally saw their disheveled state.

The robes were tattered and torn, and the special nano-combat suit was covered with crisscrossing cracks, as if it had been ripped apart by some sharp claws.

Thanks to timely treatment from the rear support, Song Hu, Ying Gu, and Xuan Xi's wounds have healed by 90%, leaving only faint traces on the surface.

But Tong Zi and Zhao Piku were not so lucky.

Yun Fei walked up to Tong Zi, glanced down at his half-body that was almost entirely stained red, and clicked his tongue softly: "Just climbed off the operating table?"

Tong Zi's face was deathly pale, even her lips were bloodless.

She had just received two injections of nano-coagulant, which stopped the bleeding, but her whole body ached as if it were falling apart, and she couldn't even stand up straight.

She weakly raised her eyes: "The older you get... the less pleasant your words become. Do you have a wheelchair? Give me one."

The medical staff quickly unfolded two portable hover wheelchairs, which silently glided along the ground and smoothly caught Tong Zi and Zhao Piku.

"Me too, I'm exhausted too." Su Ninglong rubbed her throbbing temples. She hadn't slept for several days and just wanted to conserve her energy.

“You’re the only one here who looks like you can still stand and talk,” Yun Fei reached out and gently grabbed her collar. “You’re thirteen, aren’t you? How come you don’t act like one of those little brats who try to act like an adult?”

Su Ninglong: "I call it being straightforward and speaking my mind."

She cursed Yun Fei inwardly: How dare you criticize others like this? You have no sense of professionalism as a teacher at all!
Yun Fei could easily see through her intentions, but he had no intention of being overly considerate at the moment. This girl was a master at taking advantage of others; a little kindness from her would make her so eager to please.

Soon, Tong Zi and the others were taken away from the scene one after another.

According to Star Alliance rules, one person must remain behind during a contest to "collect evidence on-site" and determine the winner; this rule cannot be changed afterward.

Although Yun Fei was sharp-tongued, he wasn't completely heartless after all.

He dragged over a small stool and handed Su Ninglong a bottle of water: "So, who's going to win or lose?"

“How could I possibly lose when I take on a whole group of them by myself?” Su Ninglong unscrewed the water bottle and took a swig, feigning innocence after getting the better deal. “They weren’t in such a bad situation to begin with, but they insisted on fighting me head-on, and that’s how things ended up like this.”

She didn't mention that she had actually held back, otherwise the Star Alliance might have really lost face.

Yun Fei was both amused and exasperated: "This isn't a street fight, why are you talking about winning and losing?"

“Watching the replay will tell you whether it was a street fight or not, there’s no difference.” Su Ninglong took off the “Eye of Silence” she always wore and casually tossed it to Yun Fei. “We won, all the evidence is in there.”

She had already briefly recounted her experiences inside the instance, but clearly felt it wasn't enough. Before she finished speaking, the little bamboo shoot on her shoulder stirred and crawled out. With a slight movement of its throat, it spat out a completely black bead.

At first glance, the object appeared to be a bead, but upon closer inspection, it was extremely ominous, resembling more of a soft core tightly bound by countless twisted, wriggling black mycelia.

As soon as the mycelium came into contact with the air, it seemed to be activated, and immediately began to slowly extend outwards, emitting a cold and sticky aura.

"The little bamboo shoot absorbed the essence of the Filthy Feast Spirit, but it couldn't digest this core and even rejected it," Su Ninglong explained, while her finger flicked in the air, and an almost invisible flash of spiritual light temporarily suppressed the spread of the mycelium.

"This is the core of the Filthy Feast Spirit. If left unattended, it will slowly absorb the surrounding negative energy and recombine into a new Filthy Feast Spirit. There are only two ways to deal with it: either have a master refine it into a sacred artifact, or seal it permanently."

This thing was probably a key ingredient in the ancient people's creation of sacred artifacts. The inability to eliminate the side effects may be related to this.

Yun Fei's brows furrowed instantly, his expression turning serious: "Are you sure?"

"Xiaosun's intuition is never wrong."

Yun Fei quickly scanned his surroundings. No one was paying attention to this corner for the time being, and he happened to be positioned in front of Su Ninglong. He leaned forward slightly and lowered his voice considerably: "Put it away for now, don't let anyone see it. If the Star Alliance is determined not to acknowledge it, we'll make other plans."

The meaning behind those words couldn't be clearer: embezzlement.

Su Ninglong immediately understood and gestured for Xiaosun to swallow the black bead back. The strange mycelium seemed unwilling to give up and twitched a few times before shrinking back into its core, where it was hidden by Xiaosun. "Keeping this thing... won't cause any problems?" She still had some concerns.

“Although there are records of killing the Filthy Spirit in history,” Yun Fei’s voice remained low, carrying a hint of barely perceptible coldness, “after seeing this core, I suspect that those so-called ‘kills’ were likely just dismantling its form, allowing its core to escape.” He didn’t want to create unnecessary trouble, and even less did he want to get into an endless wrangling with the Star Glory Alliance.

Currently, only cultivators may be able to handle this black bead.

However, the slaughterhouse contaminated areas were ultimately cleaned up through cooperation between the two alliances, and even though this was a competition, this cooperative relationship could not be completely severed.

“Once it’s made public, its ownership will inevitably spark fierce controversy and cause endless trouble.” Yun Fei’s voice was almost inaudible, his eyes sharp. “It’s better to just pretend it never existed.”

Su Ninglong secretly gave him a thumbs up. Experience truly matters; this kind of interpersonal maneuvering and decision-making is something even she, an ancestor with years of experience, still has much to learn.

Yun Fei carefully put away the "Eye of Silence" and said firmly, "This is enough evidence. The Star Alliance will have to think twice before they try to deny it."

"That's not necessarily true," Su Ninglong replied meaningfully, her tone carrying a knowing sarcasm.

Sure enough, on the other side, Hara Watari was anxiously confirming the result with Chiru.

Qian Rujin's answer was like a blunt object, hitting him hard on the head: "We lost, we lost completely. Hui Yanling was killed by Su Ninglong."

The Filthy Feast Spirit was completely annihilated, along with the portion contained by the Secret Order.

This fact was something that Hara Watari simply could not accept.

"Impossible!" His vision went black for a moment, and his blood seemed to rush to his head and then recede rapidly, leaving behind a cold, dizzy feeling.

Deep down, he didn't want to believe the Key to Prophecy could be wrong, but no one present refuted Qian Rujin's statement, forcing him to confront the harsh reality. "Why did we lose? How could this be..." he muttered to himself, still unable to recover from the collapse of the prophecy.

Assistant Sun, as the main researcher of the Key to Prophecy, was also greatly shocked. She questioned sharply, "Are you all experiencing collective hallucinations? Or have you been affected by some kind of cognitive interference? The Key to Prophecy has never made a mistake!" Her tone was particularly jarring in the empty, polluted area, carrying a stubbornness on the verge of collapse.

After resting for a while, Su Ninglong was able to move around with difficulty and was helping the logistics staff collect the scattered evidence in the area, including some corpses that had turned into unnatural skeletons.

Hearing Assistant Sun's shout, she couldn't help but chuckle.

She didn't want to provoke the other party too much after winning, but Assistant Sun's condescending attitude, treating the Key of Prophecy like a god, really annoyed her.

"Sure enough, only a piece of trash would cling to another piece of trash so tightly." Su Ninglong's voice wasn't loud, but it carried clearly.

"The Key to Prophecy has never made a mistake." Assistant Sun retorted sharply, like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, not allowing anyone to question the important achievement of her life's work.

"Is that so?" Su Ninglong stopped what she was doing, looked over without any attempt to hide it, her eyes filled with blatant provocation. "Then it's just unlucky that it ran into me this time. You'd better rely on it every time; I'd be more than happy to do so."

Her gaze swept over Qian Rujin, who was standing silently to the side.

This man was a formidable opponent, but unfortunately, he was somewhat unscrupulous and blindly believed in prophecies. He ended up in such a wretched state; one wonders if he regrets entrusting his victory and even his own fate to an inanimate object beyond his control.

The hunters of the Star Alliance felt their faces burning with rage and their hearts filled with resentment.

It was certainly hateful that Su Ninglong would mock them after winning, but what humiliated them even more was the undisguised skepticism from Assistant Sun and Yuan Dusen. It was as if they were openly admitting that they were a bunch of useless fools who couldn't even tell if they were under an illusion.

Amidst this suppressed restlessness, Qian Rujin spoke again, her voice unusually hoarse from exhaustion and a certain determination: "The failure of this operation is entirely my responsibility. I will resign from my position as team leader after we return."

Immediately, a team member tried to dissuade them: "Team Leader Qian, it's just one win or loss, there's no need for this..."

"Yes, you've done more than enough. Without you, our casualties would have been even greater." This was no exaggeration. Qian Rujin was always protective of her own, especially of the young hunters under her command, and she always tried to consider their abilities when assigning tasks.

But who could have imagined that even what he considered a "relatively simple" task would be fraught with deadly variables in this bizarre, contaminated zone?

The real problem may lie in the initial decision: over-reliance on prophecy and the wrong limitation of the age range of participants.

And this suggestion was actually put forward by Qian Rujin herself.

Now that he has suffered a crushing defeat, he will naturally have to bear all the consequences.

Among the crowd, some who had long coveted the leader's position were secretly delighted, while the hunters belonging to Qian Rujin's faction looked anxious and wanted to continue to persuade him.

Yuan Dusen and his assistant Sun stood to the side, silent, clearly not intending to say anything in his defense.

"There's no need to persuade him anymore." Qian Rujin's usual resolute aura vanished completely, and he seemed to have aged ten years in an instant. He raised his eyes, his gaze sweeping over Su Ninglong not far away with a complicated expression.

He lost, and he's getting old; he may have lost his edge, but the young people behind him cannot be discouraged by this setback. He must shoulder this responsibility.

Seeing this, Su Ninglong stopped provoking them and quietly retreated to a corner to sit down.

At this point, the logistics staff cleared out some debris from the half-burnt factory manager's office, including a set of charred company seals and several letters that were blackened and almost carbonized by the flames.

Although Su Ninglong remained seated, she kept a close eye on her surroundings. Upon seeing the "evidence," she immediately beckoned to the logistics staff to bring the items to her.

"Can I take a look at these letters?" Su Ninglong called out to the busy logistics staff.

The other person hesitated slightly, but considering Su Ninglong's contributions in this operation, they placed the stack of items in sealed bags on the table next to her. "Senior Su, I'll leave the things here for now. I need to go move other supplies. Could you please keep an eye on them for me?"

"Understood." Su Ninglong was pleased with his tact and casually took out a pair of simple and elegant earrings from her pocket and handed them over. "These are for you."

"This... is too valuable, I can't accept it." The logistics staff quickly waved their hands.

“These are a bit flawed, and they won’t sell through official channels.” Su Ninglong’s tone was casual, but carried an air of undeniable authority. “You can keep them; use them yourself or dispose of them.”