The entire school embarks on a survival journey, starting from a primeval rainforest.

"You mean...to secretly spread the word that Zheng Daoguang is under Li Qingfeng's command?"

Under Jiang Fan's persistent questioning, Tang Qingyu reluctantly recounted the events surrounding the purple beam area to him in detail once again.

Afterwards, Jiang Fan even suggested that she could leak some information about "Zheng Daoguang" to the outside world.

Jiang Fan nodded: "I think you can guess the general idea. The main purpose of me bringing you here today is to form a secret alliance."

"Neither the Jianghu nor the Honglu Society are benevolent people. The competition for the rankings is about long-term interests, and everyone wants more people from their side to enter the top 100."

"But in this way, when you can't compete head-on, the best way is to make the people in front of you 'disappear'."

"This applies not only to the top 100, but even more so to the top 10."

"Furthermore, we both know the powerful role of the spirit body, so the competition among major forces to hunt mutated creatures will only become more intense."

"Friction and conflict will inevitably escalate."

"After all, the more members who break through to the Spirit Body level, the more power they have in controlling the narrative."

"Furthermore, we all know how powerful a level 1 spirit body is, but what about level 2 and level 3?"

Jiang Fan's current spiritual energy is [49/200]. It's not hard to guess that when it reaches 200, his body will undergo further enhancement.

A level 1 spirit body is already far stronger than an ordinary person, not to mention the effects of level 2 and level 3.

"In the current situation, surviving is no longer a simple matter of food and clothing, but a struggle for power and resources."

"If we don't fight back and wait for the Honglu Society or the Jianghu people to gain an absolute advantage before launching an attack, the consequences will be unimaginable."

After a long speech, Jiang Fan looked at Tang Qingyu, waiting for her reply.

In fact, Tang Qingyu had also thought about these things, but her understanding was not as thorough as Jiang Fan's.

For her, the basic principle of "befriending distant states and attacking nearby ones" was enough for power struggles.

After all, she was already at odds with those two forces, so having another powerful ally would be a godsend.

Therefore, the alliance between the two sides was a natural outcome.

"So your purpose in spreading this news is to make the martial arts world a hot topic?" Tang Qingyu asked doubtfully. "But Zheng Daoguang shouldn't be one of Li Qingfeng's men... Besides, if someone suspects that Li Qingfeng has other powerful figures under his command, wouldn't the martial arts world's momentum be even greater?"

"Not at all!" Jiang Fan smiled confidently, dismissing her speculation. "Being in the eye of the storm is only one factor. You also said that Li Qingfeng is a lone wolf and doesn't get involved in anything. And Cao Bin and Li Qingfeng only met during their military service..."

"Suspicion!" Tang Qingyu's eyes lit up, and she suddenly interrupted Jiang Fan, saying, "Li Qingfeng is a lone wolf and doesn't receive inside information."

But Cao Bin was different; it wasn't difficult for him to hear such news...

You want to arouse his suspicion of Li Qingfeng, such as making guesses like "Li Qingfeng appears to be a loner, but he is building his own power behind my back."

This could even trigger internal conflicts, causing turmoil within the martial arts world and delaying his potential retaliation against Xinghuo!

"Miss Tang is incredibly intelligent and quick to understand. I admire her greatly!" Jiang Fan showered her with compliments, making Tang Qingyu unable to suppress her smile.

Of course, he couldn't say that this rumor was spread by the Honglu Association, because that would expose his identity as "Zheng Daoguang".

Only after finding out the relationship between Cao Bin and Li Qingfeng did they find another reason.

"Hmph... Good that you know. Don't try to be clever in front of me in the future!" Tang Qingyu proudly raised her chin, revealing her long, white neck.

She clearly enjoyed the feeling of this guy who had always made her lose out finally looking at her with new respect.

"From now on, we'll maintain a public relationship as before, but we won't be allies, so as to avoid putting pressure on the martial arts world and the Honglu Society to unite." After finalizing the details of their secret alliance, Jiang Fan gave this final instruction.

"I know, you're so long-winded." Tang Qingyu waved her hand, turned to leave, but then seemed to suddenly remember something, turned her head and said, "Oh right, there are two more personal matters."

"Be nice to Nangong Yue." She spoke casually, but her eyes looked elsewhere. "She seems gentle and doesn't like to compete, but she's actually very proud and arrogant."

The fact that she rushed to me for help despite everything shows that she really takes Xinghuo seriously.

Such a person deserves your sincere treatment.

Jiang Fan paused slightly, then nodded.

"And Huo Xuan too." Tang Qingyu curled her lip, first deliberately putting on a stern face, "I haven't settled the score with you for dealing with her yet!"

But then, her face revealed undisguised disgust: "Never mind, I've disliked that woman for a long time. She's always being sarcastic and gossipy. You've done a good job of dealing with her; it saves me trouble later."

She paused, her tone softening slightly: "Also, my other roommate, Xu Qing, is currently a representative in your Building 2. She's kind-hearted and honest, so if possible... could you help her out and make sure she doesn't get taken advantage of?"

After saying that, she waved her hand without waiting for Jiang Fan's response: "Let's go, let's go. Shen Gaoyuan was just provoked by you and he's yelling that he wants to break through to 100 spiritual energy. I have to go check on him."

Jiang Fan recalled that he had heard someone from Dawn say in the rainforest that "if Thunder Wolf is killed, Boss Tang and Brother Shen can both break through 100 points of spiritual energy."

It seems that Tang Qingyu broke through while Shen Gaoyuan was still some distance away because he had taken away most of the spiritual energy.

"Wait a minute!" Jiang Fan called out to Tang Qingyu. "There's one more thing. If you need to contact me again in the future, I'll send a tabby cat to deliver a letter to you. If you reply, you can have it bring it back. The postage will be the cost of a grilled fish."

"Understood," Tang Qingyu replied, then turned and left.

But after taking only two steps, she suddenly turned back: "You bastard surnamed Jiang, I knew you were no good! Since the tabby cat can deliver messages, why did you still order it to beat up my Tangdou?"

"And another thing! You're saying that it bullying my Tangdou has nothing to do with you? If it couldn't understand human speech, how could it possibly be capable of delivering messages?"

Tang Qingyu angrily pointed at Jiang Fan, her ample bosom heaving rapidly, clearly indicating that she was quite furious.

Guessing that Jiang Fan is a scoundrel and being certain that Jiang Fan is a scoundrel are two different things.

Clearly, Jiang Fan's "accidental" exposure angered her once again.

"Here you go." Jiang Fan didn't explain, but instead took out a [White Function Card - Pet Taming] from his pocket and handed it over.

"The success rate of this method is related to the pet's affection level towards you. I had the tabby cat beat up Tangdou because I wanted you to stand up for him and gain his affection. This should increase the success rate of taming him. The pet system officially opens tomorrow, so you can reap the rewards from the leaderboard settlement."

"...ah?"

Tang Qingyu took the card, looked at it again and again, and suddenly froze on the spot, feeling somewhat at a loss.

She seemed to want to say something, but the words caught in her throat as she stammered, "Um... I was just... I'm sorry, Jiang Fan, I didn't mean to... Please don't take it to heart... Why didn't you say so sooner..."

The voice grew softer and softer until it was almost a mumbled murmur.

Clearly, for someone like her who is used to standing on high and using pride to protect herself, even when there are only two of them, taking the initiative to apologize for her misunderstanding and impatience is an extremely awkward and embarrassing thing.

"Ugh! This is so annoying!"

As if to dispel the embarrassment that made her face burn, she stomped her foot and interrupted the awkward atmosphere with a low growl that was a mixture of annoyance and embarrassment.

Before Jiang Fan could respond, she quickly turned around and left as if she were "escaping," as if staying even a second longer would make her face burn even hotter.

Just as her figure was about to disappear into the thick fog, a green card was thrown at her without her turning around.

Accompanied by a statement that still tried to maintain an air of nonchalance but lacked conviction due to her earlier lapse in composure: "I heard they were saying you were going to set up some kind of blacksmith shop... Anyway, this thing is useless to me, so I'm giving it to you!"

Jiang Fan stretched out two fingers and caught the flying green card, which turned out to be the same green card he had obtained before.

[Green Resource Card - Iron Ore (200kg)]

Sure, this is a good deal!

Jiang Fan thought to himself.

Watching Tang Qingyu's figure quickly disappear into the thick fog, and recalling his own speculations about Bai Feifei's incident, Jiang Fan couldn't help but smile inwardly.

If I'm not mistaken, both the martial arts world and the Honglu Association will likely suffer significant losses this time.

He then returned to the crowd and celebrated the day's victory with everyone.