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Lu Zhao coughed lightly, "Miss Wang, what are you doing here?"

“Miss Li brought me here! What, Captain Lu, didn’t you know?” Wang Yuemei’s eyes widened. “Miss Li said that you took pity on me and asked her to find me a new environment after the lawsuit was over.”

As she spoke, she happily twirled around: "Look, I'm doing very well in the village now. Many children in the village are waiting for me to teach them, and they all respect me very much."

The villagers didn't look down on my spirit race identity. Many of them were poor people who had been helped by Miss Li. They were originally homeless, but Miss Li funded the establishment of this village, giving us a place to live.

Everyone here is so kind, and I really love it here. Thank you so much! If it weren't for you and Ms. Li, I probably wouldn't have known I could have created such a wonderful place for myself!

“This…” Lu Zhao subconsciously turned around and exchanged a glance with Si Ling. She seemed to remember something. After she rescued Wang Yuemei, she did tell Li Manqiu that she hoped to help this person more.

However, she later heard that Wang Yuemei left on her own after finishing the lawsuit. She was too busy at the time to look for her. She never expected that Li Manqiu had secretly helped her.

What's even more unexpected is that Li Manqiu actually took the initiative to help so many people?

From the perspective of a popular female supporting character, this approach wouldn't be problematic. However, the game's plot is already fragmented, and many recurring elements are unnecessary to revisit...

A strange feeling spread from the bottom of his heart. Lu Zhao swallowed and asked again, "Is Li Manqiu in the village now?"

"Yes!" Wang Yuemei nodded. "Miss Li came back late last night. I was preparing lessons and didn't sleep. I saw her coming back with a girl by the window, but the girl seemed to be drunk. She was quite drowsy."

Before Lu Zhao could speak, she offered, "How about this, I'll take you to her house. Miss Li will be very happy to see you here!"

Whether they'll be happy or not, we probably don't know yet.

Lu Zhao scratched his head somewhat awkwardly, but did not refuse her suggestion.

Chapter Ninety-Seven Invasion

The entire village was very modern, and villagers could be seen going out along the way, all with smiles on their faces. People also greeted Lu Zhao and his group as they walked.

After stopping a villager who wanted to strike up a conversation, Wang Yuemei continued with a smile, "Our village isn't big, and everyone knows each other, so if a new face comes in, everyone will assume it's a new resident sent by Miss Li."

“I have a question,” Si Ling suddenly asked, “Since everyone in the village comes from all over the country, how should your household registration and other related issues be resolved?”

Wang Yuemei exclaimed in surprise, "Isn't Miss Li an official from the Spirit Management Bureau? It shouldn't be difficult for her to handle these things! When our village started construction, everything had proper approvals."

Lu Zhao's face twitched slightly, and he secretly pulled Si Ling back, signaling her not to ask any more questions.

This village is not isolated from the outside world, and news from outside should be able to get in, but they still believe that Li Manqiu is a good person and works for the Spirit Management Bureau, which is probably only due to their subjective trust.

If they were to reveal their purpose at this point, they would probably be kicked out before they even get to see Li Manqiu.

After meeting almost everyone in the village, Wang Yuemei led her to a typical two-story rural villa at the deepest part of the village.

“Miss Li rarely comes here. She didn’t want the villagers to spend their time and effort repairing her house, but we couldn’t listen to her. We secretly repaired a house while she was away. Occasionally when she comes back, she stays here.”

Wang Yuemei led them to the door with a smile, and was about to knock when Lu Zhao stopped her.

"Sister Wang, we've come to see Captain Li on a secret mission, so please don't get involved. Also, please remember to tell the other villagers not to come near here for the next couple of days, okay?"

Facing her former savior, Wang Yuemei naturally listened to everything. Upon hearing that it was a secret mission, she quickly nodded and left without daring to look back.

Watching her departing figure, Si Ling said in a deep voice, "She didn't lie. The people in this village are very grateful to Li Manqiu. If we confront her directly later, it might affect innocent people."

Then we'll have to try diplomacy first, then resort to force.

Lu Zhao frowned almost imperceptibly, turned to look at the door in front of him, took a deep breath, knocked on the door, and then took two steps back.

Soon, there was movement inside, and then a pale-faced little girl opened the door. The first person she saw was Si Ling, and she asked in a soft voice, "Sister, who are you looking for?"

Why is it a little kid?

The two exchanged a surprised glance. Lu Zhao coughed lightly, leaned down, and asked, "Little friend, I'm looking for the owner of this place. And who are you?"

"My name is Fu Ying," the girl answered honestly. "I'm staying here temporarily. Are you looking for the two Sisters Li?"

Fu Ying?

It's another familiar name.

Lu Zhao frowned and tried hard to recall, then asked incredulously, "Is your father named Fu Qingtao?"

"Sister, do you know my father?" Fu Ying's eyes widened, a hint of surprise showing in her clear black and white pupils.

How could I not recognize him? She was the one who dragged him in herself.

However, Fu Qingtao had previously said that his daughter could only live with the help of a ventilator, but now she can stand and walk freely. Isn't this change a bit too big?

Just as Lu Zhao was about to ask her more questions, Si Ling pulled him up and whispered a reminder: "Zhao Zhao, this child has my original energy in her body. It's likely that Li Manqiu took her away beforehand and then poured some of the energy she had absorbed into the meteorite back into her body, which is how she survived."

Okay, here's another example of someone being rescued.

Lu Zhao rubbed her head, feeling a bit of a headache. She was finding it increasingly difficult to understand Li Manqiu. Back in the Spirit Management Bureau, she was known as a "high-and-mighty beauty." Later, she defected and separated from Qi Xing. Now, she had found her old lair, and it was the same situation again.

She simply couldn't understand this woman.

Si Ling silently observed her expression, narrowed her eyes slightly, and leaned down to say to Fu Ying, "We are your father's friends, and also good friends of Sister Li and the others. Aren't they all home right now?"

“This…” Fu Ying hesitated for a moment, then stammered in denial, “She, they’re not home right now, sister, why don’t you come back tonight?”

As she spoke, she hurriedly tried to close the door, but Si Ling suddenly reached out and stopped her.

"Little sister, we have urgent business with your sister Li, so please let us in." Si Ling smiled at her, gently blew on her, and Fu Ying swayed and suddenly collapsed.

Upon seeing this, Lu Zhao immediately reached out and hugged her, hurriedly entered the house, placed her on a chair, and asked with a frown, "What's wrong with her? Is she having health problems again?"

She had met the girl before, but at that time Fu Ying could only lie in a hospital bed with a ventilator, maintaining a weak life. Now that she saw the child so safe and sound, she naturally didn't want her to go back to the way she was before.

“She is filled with my power. If I disrupt the power even slightly, she will faint.” Si Ling explained calmly. Seeing that Lu Zhao seemed reluctant, she added, “Don’t worry, I will not take away the energy in her body. She will be no different from a normal person for the next few decades.”

Lu Zhao pursed his lips, lowered his head, and hooked his fingertips around her little finger, his voice so low it was almost inaudible: "Thank you, A-Ling."

Si Ling smiled and reached out to rub her head: "Let's not talk about that now. We forced our way in and there was no response from inside the house. I'm afraid Li Manqiu really isn't home."

"Let's search first, maybe we've missed some clues." Lu Zhao smiled at her, subconsciously looked at the ceiling, then surveyed the living room for places where cameras might be placed. He quickly walked to a bookshelf, searched for a while, and pulled out a miniature camera.

Si Ling saw everything clearly from behind and crossed her arms thoughtfully: "It seems our actions have been discovered. Should we go out and give chase?"

“These types of cameras need to be connected to the internet. If they weren’t in this house, they probably wouldn’t be able to connect to the camera at any time. But with Wenruo and your sister’s ice coffins, it probably wouldn’t be easy for them to escape.”

After carefully inspecting the place, Lu Zhao straightened up and said, "Search the house first!"

Her intuition told her that Li Manqiu and the others must still be in this room.

Chapter Ninety-Eight: Swaying

There were no traces of psionic energy fluctuations in the room, so they must have used a shield, which radar alone could not detect.

"Do you have any senses over there?" After walking through all the rooms on the second floor without finding any clues, Lu Zhao leaned on the railing in the corridor, looking down at Si Ling on the first floor, somewhat frustrated.

However, Si Ling did not disappoint her. She tapped her toes on the ground and smiled, "The floor tiles here are very cold, almost too cold."

Lu Zhao reacted for a moment, then suddenly jumped down from the second floor, crouched down, and felt around in the cracks between the floor tiles for a while. He then plucked a hair from one of the tiles and placed it in the crack.

The hair above the gap was gently blown by the wind.

“There’s something down there.” She immediately concluded, but after searching the ground for a while, she couldn’t find the mechanism leading downstairs. She wrinkled her nose in frustration, which made Si Ling beside her cover her mouth and chuckle.

She looked up defiantly: "Don't laugh at me! Do you think you can find a way down?"

Si Ling put her hands on her hips and thought for a while before honestly shaking her head: "I can't find it. They renovated this house. If we really want to find it, it will take a long time."

A sense of frustration welled up inside Lu Zhao. He helplessly ran a hand through his hair, stood up, and said, "Then what do we do? Have Xiao Fei and the others search this area thoroughly while we go out and chase after them?"

“This entire village belongs to Li Manqiu, how are you going to catch up?” Si Ling smiled and reached out, her fingertip lightly touching her forehead. “You’re just being stubborn. Who said we need to find a mechanism to go down?”

Lu Zhao's eyelids twitched, and he unconsciously took a step back: "You wouldn't be thinking of..."

"Why bother thinking when a goal can be achieved through violence?" Si Ling replied with a smile, her toes pausing on the floor for a moment, and the floor tiles in front of her suddenly dropped, as if an invisible black hole in a deeper place was sucking them in.

Well, they're using a neutron star's black hole.

Thinking back to his encounters with neutron stars, Lu Zhao's face twitched. He silently retreated, watching the floor tiles gradually being swallowed up, revealing a complete circular hole.

The only difference from the gravitational collapse of a neutron star is that even with such a huge commotion, it remains completely silent.

From this point alone, Lu Zhao already knew that although the power used by Si Ling was no different in appearance from that used by other spirit races, it was fundamentally very different.

It's probably like two murder weapons, one is a bullet, and the other is an atomic bomb.

As this bottomless black hole gradually formed, the deliberately concealed psionic fluctuations began to emerge.

Lu Zhao closed his eyes and sensed for a while, then opened them, nodded to Si Ling, and jumped in first. A burst of fire suddenly appeared in the black hole, but it quickly disappeared.

“This is a passage leading underground,” her voice came from inside, “large enough for two people to pass side by side, and so far it seems to be working fine.”

It was at least much neater than the makeshift tunnel she had found in the baby store before.

This is enough to prove that the passage was built a long time ago, most likely when the villagers were building her house.

Si Ling jumped down as well, and a ball of light floated in front of her, illuminating the passage in front of her. "The cold air has gotten much stronger. My sister should be inside."

The two exchanged a glance, then tacitly took each other's hands and walked along the passage.

Perhaps because it was just a residential plot, the basement wasn't very deep. After walking for only five or six minutes, I could see a faint light shining around the corner.

Seemingly sensing their intrusion, the eerie light began to flicker, and then suddenly dimmed when they reached the corner.

“Illusionary Time Powder, this is my sister’s favorite thing to use. It has no offensive effect, it only puts people who inhale it into a manipulable illusion.” Si Ling stretched out her finger and gently wiped it on the damp, cold wall, and some powdery substance fell to the ground.

Lu Zhao subconsciously held his breath, but seeing that Si Ling seemed completely unconcerned, he cautiously released his breath. "Then... was this what Su Yuchen was poisoned with back then?"

“Yes,” Si Ling sighed, lightly brushing away the remaining powder from her fingertips. “It’s the same powder that can temporarily enhance the abilities of the Spirit Race. It’s made from my sister, but I’ve been with her for many years and am immune to it.”

In other words, did Si Ling know from the beginning that the alien planet was related to her sister?

Lu Zhao's heart tightened slightly. He wanted to speak, but Si Ling interrupted him, "Zhao Zhao, are you trying to ask me why I don't want my sister to wake up?"

"Yes, it's because your sister already harbors hatred towards humans. You don't want her to harm humans, but you can't bring yourself to do it, so you resorted to this escapist approach."

Si Ling smiled and took her hand, gently stroking it: "No matter what, my reasons are always selfish. But she is, after all, my sister. She loves me and is willing to fall into a deep sleep for my sake. I can refrain from helping her awaken for the sake of this world, but if someone really wants to awaken her, I can't bring myself to refuse."

Her sister helped her without expecting anything in return, even when her true form was imprisoned. Her silence in the face of her sister's slumber was itself a betrayal of her sister, and she could do no more for her.

Lu Zhao silently observed her forlorn expression, then squeezed her hand tightly and said in a loud voice, "Si Ling, have you noticed that you're becoming more and more like a human?"

"Me? Like a human?" Si Ling tilted her head, somewhat confused.

"Yes, only the complexities of human nature would lead someone to think so much. If you had just fallen into this world, would you have thought about such things?"

Si Ling paused for a moment. Although she possessed great power and had witnessed the civilizations and destruction of countless star systems since her fall to earth, she had never reflected on it.

Compared to now, back then she was just a simple witness.