Why did you provoke me?

The next morning, Yu Meng was having breakfast when Secretary Wu barged in—literally barged in, without even knocking. "Sir, trouble has arrived."

Yu Meng looked up at him. "Who's back this time?"

Secretary Wu was taken aback for a moment, then realized, "It's not our base, someone's come looking for trouble."

"Is our base really that weak?" Yu Meng asked, somewhat puzzled. "Who caused this trouble?"

Secretary Wu was a little taken aback. "Jingchuan Base is one of the best, how could it be weak?"

Yu Meng glanced at it, "Then who would dare to cause trouble!"

Secretary Wu slapped his forehead. "Sir, I didn't explain clearly. When Yan Lei and his team left the alien battlefield, there were also bone painters from the Third Base present. They said that Yan Lei's team had been parasitized by black spore aliens, but our bone painter laughed it off and told Yan Lei to come back quickly. That's why the two of them had an argument."

Yu Meng sipped her porridge. "Our bone-drawing artist seems a bit insecure; maybe he got bullied?"

Secretary Wu wanted to nod, but then he thought of that shrewish old lady and shook his head.

"The bone painter's surname is Xu. She is a very capable old lady, but she has a slightly worse temper than my mother-in-law. We all call her Grandma Xu. However, she is not sure about this matter, after all, the Third Base is more familiar with the Black Spore Xenomorph."

Yu Meng coughed, recalling what Qing Yuan had said about the Third Base almost being wiped out, "Yes, they have the right to speak on this."

Seeing that Yu Meng didn't seem worried at all, Secretary Wu tentatively asked, "Sir, are Yan Lei and the others alright?"

"What's going on? We're not resting."

Secretary Wu narrowed his eyes. "Then shall I go find Granny Xu?"

"Yes, Granny Xu has a good eye; it was those people from the Third Base who misjudged her."

"Sir, please enjoy your meal. It's nothing, no need for you to trouble yourself with such a small matter." Secretary Wu left happily.

The atmosphere in the reception room was oppressive. Qingyuan exuded her aura and said, "When have we ever needed your help with the people at our base? You've come all this way, and you have so much free time?"

"Qingyuan, there's no use saying all this. We gained our understanding of the Black Spore Xenomorph at the cost of countless lives," a man of similar age to Qingyuan said calmly from his seat.

"That's because you're incompetent. Our people are all fine, why should we examine you?" Granny Xu was not polite at all, which made her feel very suppressed. This Secretary Wu finally did something good.

Looking at the note in her hand, Grandma Xu said with full confidence, "Everything is fine."

Qingyuan glanced at her in surprise. Since these people came in, Sister Xu hadn't said a word.

"Yan Jing, it's not that your base has a lot of dead people that makes you authoritative. On the contrary, it just proves the incompetence of you bone painters," Granny Xu said slowly.

Yan Jing placed the water glass on the table. "This is a very serious issue. I insist on this because I don't want history to repeat itself. This is also the responsibility of all of us bone painters."

"Don't just make it sound so good. Show me the results of your research over the years, and then I'll believe you." Qingyuan's eyes lit up. "Did you bring those materials?"

Grandma Xu laughed, "Qingyuan, how can you still be so naive?"

Secretary Wu stood outside the door, and Fu Ke also came over. "What did our husband say?"

"Hehe, she said that Grandma Xu has a very accurate eye."

"Yes, our leader is right. These people come all this way to seek attention, are they bored?" Fu Ke stroked his chin. "I have something to do, so I'll be leaving now."

"Sigh, Fu Ke, come with me. I need to go see Yan Lei and the others too. I've been so busy that I haven't had a chance to visit them."

The two brothers left, and who wanted to listen to these bone-drawing masters arguing? With Granny Xu in charge, they still had to slink away in the end.

Qingyuan realized there was no information about the Black Spore Xenomorph, so she lost interest in wasting time. Just then, Huang Yan came to find her, and she left without any burden.

Yan Jing looked at Granny Xu, who was sitting there calmly, and said, "Is your base all so casual? Such an important matter, and your leader didn't even show up."

"I'm not sitting here. The commander entrusted this matter to me. You know my attitude. If you don't want to leave, then I'll stay with you. What's the big deal that the commander has to come?"

Yan Jing felt insulted. "You're saying this is a small matter, considering it can wipe out the entire base of Black Spore Xenomorphs?"

"Stop, stop! I told you, that's not it. You insisted on saying it was, and that's why this is happening. We didn't invite you here, and you've wasted a lot of my time. If anything unexpected happens on the alien battlefield during this time, can you take responsibility?" Granny Xu sipped her tea and casually picked up a pastry and put it in her mouth. It's so nice to be home; there's good food and drink, and she doesn't have to do anything herself.

Yan Jing's communication bell rang. She glanced at Granny Xu and chose to turn it on speakerphone.

"Teacher Yan, what did the Jingchuan base say? Are they willing to cooperate?" a male voice asked.

"Teacher Xu insists that I was mistaken, and I still haven't seen that group of people." Yan Jing's tone was aggrieved. "Teacher Xu is right here, and I can't persuade her."

There was a moment of silence on the other end of the communication bell. "Teacher Xu, I know you care about the soldiers in your base, but if they are really parasitized by the Black Spore Xenomorph, that's a very serious matter. We just asked to bring them to our Third Base for examination; we have no malicious intent."

Grandma Xu said "Oh," and added, "But they are all normal. Our bone-drawing master has already checked them."

"If the black spore alien was so easy to discover, it wouldn't be on the rankings," Yan Jing muttered from the side.

Grandma Xu nodded in agreement. "So it wasn't unjust that your base was wiped out that time."

Yan Jing had lost all composure. "My eyesight is absolutely flawless; that's black spores. Your denial is useless. If you don't deal with it now, you might become the next us." She was genuinely furious. She wasn't acting in her own self-interest; why was the old woman opposite her so stubborn?

Xu Jie, also known as Granny Xu, looked at her and said, "I know you're in a hurry, but I don't see how anxious you're acting!"

Yan Jing looked at her in confusion, "What did you say?"

Xu Jie pointed to the communication bell, "In the time it takes to talk, shouldn't your inspection equipment and the bone-drawing expert who understands aliens already be at our base? Why do we have to go to your base? Are our two families really that close?"

Yan Jing still had some doubts. "Our base is well-equipped and has good preventative measures. If anything unexpected happens, it will be easy to handle."

Xu Jie laughed. "Just because of your word, we're going to send the soldiers over there? Do you think they'll ever come back?"

"If they hadn't been parasitized, of course they could have come back."

Xu Jie stared at her. "Do you believe that?"

The communication bell in Yan Jing's hand was unilaterally turned off by the other party.

Yan Jing panicked, "I swear on my honor as a bone painter, I am absolutely not mistaken."

Xu Jie frowned. "There's no need for this. I know your intentions are good, but sometimes good intentions don't guarantee good outcomes. Go back; we can't abandon our soldiers. No reason needed!"

Yan Jing left, seemingly devastated by something, and looked completely listless.

Xu Jie rushed to Yan Lei's rest room and saw that everyone was resting there, looking very relaxed and without any abnormalities. Xu Jie let out a long sigh of relief.

Yan Lei walked over. "Aunt Xu, why are you back?"

"You little ingrate, I was just worried about you guys." Xu Jie reached out to pinch Yan Lei's ear, but Yan Lei cleverly dodged it.

"Aunt Xu, why are you still like this? I'm so old." Yan Lei complained, covering his ears.