First-Year Internship—And You Went to Site 749 to Contain Monsters?!
Chapter 76: Three Straight Breakthroughs—I'm Supposed to Consider an Intern!?

Lu Ding took the Zhima Beasts from Cao Ying’s hands. Its texture was as smooth as jade, yet it had a slight resemblance to the feel of mushrooms.

Without Cao Ying’s spiritual energy wrapping around it, a faint, refreshing fragrance escaped from the damaged part at the top, filling the air with an invigorating scent.

Seeing Lu Ding’s gaze linger on the broken part, Cao Ying felt a little embarrassed and said, “I gave the cap to my old man. He’s been trying to break through to the Divine Palace Realm for ages but hasn’t made any progress. Eating the cap might help him advance sooner.”

Even as he said this, he felt awkward.

Who gifts only half of something?

But this was indeed a rare treasure. Even without the cap, its medicinal potency was far beyond what ordinary rare spiritual treasures could compare to.

“You must’ve gone through a lot of trouble for this, huh?”

Lu Ding didn’t know the details, but he was well aware that the Zhima Beasts were something the Tianli Cult would kill to obtain.

Just for a single Wind-Fixing Pearl that allowed access to Dingfeng Mountain, those lunatics had dared to ambush 749 Bureau investigators.

One could only imagine how much they valued the Zhima Beasts.

And yet, Cao Ying had just snatched them up like it was nothing?

“It wasn’t too bad. They couldn’t handle me. I just lost a few brothers.”

Hearing this, Lu Ding glanced at the Zhima Beasts again.

It was a damn good item, and he needed it right now.

With three days ahead, using the Zhima Beasts along with the remaining contribution points to exchange for more rare spiritual treasures would be perfect for breaking through.

So, he accepted it.

But he wouldn’t take it for free.

“I’ll take this. Thanks. But I won’t take it without giving something in return. From now on, if you need anything, just come to me. As long as it’s not a matter of principle, I won’t care about right or wrong—I’ll stand by your side.”

Cao Ying couldn’t suppress the grin creeping up on his face.

That was the best kind of reassurance, exactly what he needed.

And it exceeded his expectations.

“Many thanks, Investigator Lu. I won’t keep you busy—I’ll head out first. I still have to take care of my fallen brothers’ affairs, send money to their families, and pick up their parents if they’re far away.”

Treasure hunters who died in the mountains weren’t all loners.

Many had families—parents, wives, and children.

They were Cao Ying’s brothers, and he couldn’t turn his back on them. They had died for him. Now that he had taken over as the boss of Caojia Alley, their families were his responsibility.

The two of them waved goodbye.

Before leaving with the Zhima Beasts, Lu Ding instructed Yan Feifan, “I’ll be focusing on cultivation for the next few days. I’ll leave the miscellaneous matters to you. If anything comes up that you can’t handle, call me.”

“Aiya, Brother Lu, no trouble at all. Just go ahead—I’ve got everything covered.”

....

Back in his room, Lu Ding used up the rest of his contribution points to exchange for rare spiritual treasures.

Now his bag was completely emptied—not a single point left.

Save some for emergencies?

Save his f***ing legs.

How much could he even save? A few measly points wouldn’t accomplish anything.

Better to spend it all now to strengthen himself.

Very soon—

That familiar scent again.

Lu Ding tore open the box and took out the spiritual treasures he had exchanged for.

There was the Black Spirit Ginseng, which had grown in a geomantic hotspot, absorbing the essence of the earth. It was about the size of a pear and shaped similarly, entirely black, priced at 90 contribution points.

And then there was the Coffin Mushroom, which grew inside the coffins of ancient corpses, costing 80 contribution points.

Normally, rare spiritual treasures like these needed to be refined into pills or processed into medicinal powders or tonics through secret techniques to bring out their full effects.

But!

All these procedures were simply to improve the absorption of the treasure’s medicinal properties.

Lu Ding, however, had the skill Oneness with Formlessness, which allowed him to achieve Oneness with Heaven and Man.

These spiritual treasures were naturally formed by the heavens and earth.

For others, eating them raw would mean absorbing only 20% of their potency, and refining them into pills might raise that to 50%.

But Lu Ding?

A solid 100% absorption rate!

Without hesitation, he grabbed the Black Spirit Ginseng, the Coffin Mushroom, and the Zhima Beasts and started gnawing away.

The taste was average, but the effects were immediate.

Inside his Linghai, the spiritual energy liquefied into turbulent waves, surging like a raging sea. Waves several meters high crashed against the shore. With a deafening roar, the coastline expanded, and the heavens and earth trembled.

Outside, the surrounding spiritual energy, guided by the pull of heaven and earth, rushed toward him in a frenzied competition, terrified of being left behind.

Seeing this terrifying scene, Yan Feifan opened his mouth in shock.

“Brother Lu is built different…”

Comparing oneself to others really was infuriating.

While everyone else absorbed the spiritual energy of heaven and earth bit by bit—

Brother Lu was siphoning it.

No, that wasn’t quite right.

He was pumping it.

No, still not accurate.

He was straight-up scooping it out with a bucket!

If the spiritual energy floating in the heavens and earth was an endless ocean, then Lu Ding was just dropping in an iron bucket tied to a rope, hauling it up with ease.

Meanwhile, everyone else was stuck with flimsy straws, sucking until they were dizzy and breathless, barely getting anything.

Can’t compare, absolutely can’t compare.

Just like that, three days had passed.

Lu Ding had perfectly absorbed the medicinal power, skyrocketing from Linghai Second Layer to Linghai Fifth Layer in one go. For anyone else, breaking through even a single layer with these medicines would already be the limit.

Breaking through realms was only a secondary effect of the Zhima Beasts. Their primary purpose was extending lifespan and restoring the body to its peak state.

But for Lu Ding, that main effect was useless.

He was still young, just nineteen—he had a long life ahead of him. And right now, this was already his peak.

Not that it mattered. Extra longevity was still a bonus—who would complain about living longer?

Inside his body, the manifested Linghai had already expanded into an inland sea—now a true "Linghai" in every sense. Compared to the Linghai Fifth Layer descriptions recorded in the 749 App, Lu Ding’s Linghai was incomparably vast.

One crucial factor set him apart.

The records stated that opening up the Linghai was excruciatingly painful, with varying levels of difficulty. But for Lu Ding? Difficulty?

There was none.

As long as the medicinal effects were strong enough, he could expand it and refine it simultaneously.

What was that saying again? "Grasp both quality and quantity, let cultivation and power flourish together."

Obstacles?

They didn’t exist.

As for pain…

Eating those rare spiritual treasures, his body felt warm and brimming with boundless energy, making him want to find some monsters or demons to beat up.

At this moment, he was stabilizing his new realm.

Bao Fan District, Rotten Shipyard.

A group from the Tianli Cult was hiding inside the hull of an abandoned ship.

Before them lay a detailed map of Bao Fan District.

On it, the Public Security Bureau and Caojia Alley were specifically circled in red.

“I’ll repeat the plan one more time. Today is the Ghost Festival. After midnight, yin and yang will shift—by then, Lu Ding likely won’t be paying attention to Caojia Alley.”

“Taking advantage of that, we’ll launch a direct raid on Caojia Alley, capture Cao Ying, and reclaim the Zhima Beasts.”

“To prevent any unexpected complications—Zhou Lie, Guang Fei, you two will go to the Public Security Bureau and keep watch on Lu Ding’s every move. The moment he shows signs of heading toward Caojia Alley to provide support, send us an alert.”

“Peng Zishi, Jin Chenghua, you two will deploy the Spirit Lure—set it to the east and lead Lu Ding away.”

“The rest of you, follow me—we’re attacking Caojia Alley together! Capture Cao Ying alive!!!”

The one-eyed man’s voice was firm and resolute.

Three days—Cao Ying had stolen his Zhima Beasts for three whole days!!!

At the same time, his hatred for Lu Ding had reached its peak. He was a branch master of the mighty Tianli Cult, yet he had to worry about a mere intern investigator from 749—an intern!!!!

Just thinking about it made the one-eyed man’s chest tighten with frustration.

But the worst part? There was nothing he could do about this intern.

Because he was too damn strong!!

Originally, when Lu Ding was still in Yunhai, he didn’t dare to openly cause trouble, so he had decided to bide his time and wait for the Ghost Festival—using the ensuing chaos as cover to take him down.

But Lu Ding had been changing by the day.

One moment, he was killing this guy, the next, he was killing that guy.

Only in these last three days had he finally calmed down a little.

And they didn’t even know what he was up to.