Why did you provoke me?

Yu Meng walked to the bedside and gently reached out to lift a corner of the blanket.

The person on the bed was breathing very lightly, almost inaudibly, but the rhythm of her chest rising and falling was so slow that it made one's heart tighten.

The collarbone on the outward side of the neck protrudes as if it's about to pierce the skin. Occasionally, it will twist sharply to the other side without warning, making a soft cracking sound, but without even frowning. You can see fine bulges under the skin that move from the neck to the collarbone and then disappear suddenly, leaving only a faint red mark that fades to a light gray in a few seconds.

Yu Meng's eyes narrowed slightly. On Qingyuan's face, veins bulged slightly. Yu Meng knew that these veins concealed the Liuxu alien.

Niannian craned her neck to take a look, then quickly shrank back behind Yu Meng.

Xiao Wen turned aside, blocking Niannian's view, and looked at Yu Meng. He asked softly, "Is there any way to save her?"

Yu Meng remained silent, carefully observing Qing Yuan's body. The number of alien creatures within her body was unexpectedly large, yet they were all tightly bound together by her own lines.

Hua Shulang and Captain Tian peeked in, then quickly retreated. Hua Shulang didn't say anything more about Yu Meng doing her best. Captain Tian simply walked out of the room and stood with Liu Wei in the corridor.

Looking at Yu Meng's expressionless face, Xiao Wen secretly admired her. Even they wouldn't have dared to look at Qingyuan back then.

If it weren't for Teacher Sun and Huang Yan taking care of them, they wouldn't have dared to recognize anyone.

"Aunt Qing transferred the aliens inside Huang Yan and Teacher Sun into her own body, allowing them to hold on until the rescue," Xiao Wen said in a low voice. "Teacher Sun told me all this. At first, Teacher Sun disagreed, but Aunt Qing said that she was the oldest, and it was only right for her to sacrifice herself to protect the younger talents."

Yu Meng spoke up, "Find me an empty room, I need to save her."

Hua Shulang looked at Yu Meng in surprise, "Can she still be saved?" Xiao Wen also looked at Yu Meng, "You can't hurt yourself to save her."

"Shut up, I said I'd save you! Get me the withered branches and aliens," Yu Meng hissed.

Xiao Wen didn't try to dissuade her. He had promised Yu Meng that everything would be based on Yu Meng's will.

Several people carried the bed directly to another empty room, and Yu Meng asked them all to leave, leaving only Niannian behind.

A black cat appeared beside Yu Meng's legs at some point. It gently rubbed against her. Yu Meng looked at Niannian and mouthed, "Let's eat our fill this time."

Niannian's eyes lit up, and a small gray line suddenly appeared beside the bed.

Yu Meng used her special eye to stare at each of the alien's nodes. The little gray line was responsible for poking holes, and a line would follow. Little by little, all the aliens on Qingyuan's body were filled with lines.

Looking down, Qingyuan's body resembled a planted rice seedling, only the color was off. It wasn't the green of a rice seedling, but rather gray and black lines, interspersed with two white lines.

Looking at Qingyuan like this, Yu Meng felt even more horrified than before. At least she still had some human form before, but now she looked like a piece of dead wood.

Yu Meng tapped the lines one by one with her finger. When she touched a certain line, it began to absorb the alien's energy.

Both of them were very careful, so they moved very slowly. The two sisters did not speak to each other throughout, only exchanging a few hand gestures.

The people standing in the corridor didn't speak; they were all staring intently at the door of that room, as if a miracle was about to happen.

Eight hours later, Yu Meng and Niannian finally came out of the house.

"Find us a rest room. We need to take a nap," Yu Meng said to Xiao Wen.

"Everything is ready. I'll take you there."

Xiao Wen led Yu Meng and Niannian to rest. Of course, he had to take care of Yu Meng. As for Qingyuan, it was already like that, so staying a little longer wouldn't make much difference.

Seeing that Xiao Wen and Yu Meng had left, Hua Shulang glanced at the remaining two, then reached out and pushed open the door, going inside.

Captain Tian and Liu Wei were also curious about whether Yu Meng had managed to save Qingyuan, so they followed her in.

The person on the bed was covered with a thin blanket, with their head sticking out. The blanket was slightly undulating.

The group exchanged glances. Had they really been saved?

Hua Shulang took a few more steps closer, and this time he was completely stunned. Although he was thin and somewhat disheveled, he could tell that this was Qingyuan. His face was ashen and his eyes were bulging.

"This is simply a miracle," Hua Shulang murmured to himself.

"Teacher Yu hates trouble, so we'd better keep our mouths shut," Liu Wei reminded her before leaving.

After settling Yu Meng and Niannian in, Xiao Wen hurried back to check on the situation.

Hua Shulang found a chair from somewhere, sat on the edge of the bed, and stared at Qingyuan carefully.

This was the scene that greeted Xiao Wen when he entered the room. "They really saved him?"

Hua Shulang nodded, "This is simply a miracle. I never expected Yu Meng to be so strong."

Xiao Wen leaned against the wall. "Don't talk nonsense outside. Yu Meng hates trouble."

"You're the second person to say that. Am I the one who's being nosy?"

Xiao Wen smiled but didn't speak. "None of those soldiers survived. The Bone Painters, because they had their own lines to control, didn't experience any alien outbreaks, but the living conditions there were too harsh. People were dying every day, and aliens were flying everywhere."

Hua Shulang asked calmly, "What measures did you take? How come nothing's wrong?"

Xiao Wen smiled wryly, "I don't know. Maybe Liu Wei knows, but he didn't say anything. He's a real taciturn guy."

"You didn't ask him." Hua Shulang raised an eyebrow.

"His alien form was taken out by Yu Meng, so according to the base's rules, he is Yu Meng's soldier. We can't go too far."

Hua Shulang nodded. "Did you take too much of a risk this time?"

Xiao Wen smiled wryly; he had his reasons for coming. But it wasn't appropriate for them to discuss this issue at Qingyuan's bedside.

"Sigh, Aunt Qing always thinks of others first. I don't know how long it will take for her to recover now," Hua Shulang sighed.

"Yu Meng said that if you keep it on dead branches and keep it healthy, it should improve in a month at the earliest."

Hua Shulang nodded, "That's good. Ever since you sent me the message about the uses of the withered branch alien, I've prepared a lot. It's just a pity that even the bone painters on my side can't peel off the skin of the withered branch alien."

"Yu Meng was the first to discover that the aliens could peel off their skin; she was also the first bone artist to do so. She was even prepared to pass on this skill, but some idiot tricked her, and in the end, Yu Meng gave up on the idea," Xiao Wen said with a hint of regret. "Tell me, what a great thing this is, how could there be such a stupid person?"

"Ultimately, it's all about self-interest," Hua Shulang said calmly. "Aunt Qing is alright now, and Teacher Sun and Huang Yan should be saved too. You've really struck gold this time."

Xiao Wen nodded. "Both my mother-in-law and Hu the charlatan think highly of her. You've seen it now, she's very strong. As long as you don't provoke her, she's very easy to talk to."

Hua Shulang nodded in agreement with Xiao Wen. She was strong, but easy to talk to; he didn't see it.