Meteor Fall Master in the 'Starry Abyss'
Chapter 99 - 078. Assault Horizon_2

Chapter 99: 078. Assault Horizon_2

Qiu Ran’s eyes lit up:

"Really? Thank you so much—"

Li Aozi raised his hand:

"However, your Arcane Energy will belong to me."

Li Aozi didn’t make deals that weren’t profitable, unless it was a matter of principle; he usually couldn’t be bothered to consider others.

In his previous life as a Player, the fact that Li Aozi hadn’t resorted to murder and looting was already a recognition of Qiu Ran’s character and the help with repairing vehicles along the way.

After all, his Power Pod could extract Arcane Energy from bodies that hadn’t been dead for long.

To put it bluntly, if it wasn’t for this Arcane Energy, who would be willing to take a non-combatant normal person on the road?

"That’s not okay."

Qiu Ran firmly refused:

"Without this ability, I simply can’t survive."

"Then you can stay here with Doctor Chen."

Li Aozi looked at Doctor Chen Siqi:

"How about your considerations?"

"To be honest, if you want to fight Mingji, I’m happier than anyone else... but honestly, I really can’t do it. The second and third levels of Mingji Humanity require the authority of Doctor Anna and Head Nurse Nodley. Without their permissions, you can’t open the elevator."

Doctor Chen Siqi tapped on the table:

"As for going down from other places, I can only tell you it’s impossible—why do you think it’s called a Shelter? Because Mingji Heavy Industries was an industrial group that manufactured nuclear fallout shelters in the old days. It can’t be destroyed by nuclear bombs, let alone by manpower; that would be somewhat underestimating nuclear weapons."

"Moreover, the Shelter’s second level is already one hundred and ten meters below the surface—because of the low temperature, these are layers of permafrost that can only be excavated with diamond drill bits."

Doctor Chen Siqi summarized:

"Apart from the Central Elevator, you have no other way to enter the lower two levels."

"Are there no stairs or emergency exits?"

"There are, but they’re very concealed; I can’t find them, you’d have to ask those old-era designers who built these permanent Shelters."

Li Aozi frowned.

The situation seemed rather bleak, but he still nodded:

"Fine, it’s not too hard. Defeating Head Nurse Nodley and Doctor Anna, then I can get to the bottom level."

"Such arrogance will get you killed," Doctor Chen Siqi scoffed. "Head Nurse Nodley or Assistant Doctor Anna, they are not so simple. Maybe they have been hiding their strength all along, just waiting for the Professor to be done for, to fight for power..."

Li Aozi neither agreed nor disagreed.

He had seen Nodley’s profile; she was just an Alpha Stage Martial Artist, with not a single plug-in or prosthetic to consider.

As for Doctor Anna, that person had always been low-key. After the Professor’s fake death, she rose quickly, took charge of everything, and took care of everything—it was hard not to suspect that she had been prepared all along.

Nevertheless, Li Aozi was still confident.

"This information is enough," he said.

Li Aozi left behind two military bullets and turned to leave.

"Hey," Chen Siqi called out to him: "Weren’t you going to get a cure for diseases from Mingji Humanity? Why did you suddenly decide to turn hostile?"

Li Aozi didn’t stop walking, and without turning his head, he said:

"Because of the baby, that’s enough."

Chen Siqi was taken aback; she looked at the boy with the broken leg lying on the bed and nodded:

"Indeed, that’s enough."

Qiu Ran was still struggling. Chen Siqi couldn’t help but remark:

"Having been in the Outer World for so long, I’ve almost lost my humanity too. It’s ridiculous... Humans nowadays have to maintain their humanity in a place like Frost Plated."

Qiu Ran’s eyes flickered slightly as she looked up at Doctor Chen Siqi:

"Li Aozi seems to really like children. He used to have a good relationship with Dmitry’s grandson..."

"Babies are pure, they know who is friendly toward them and who harbors malice, unlike adults. Grown-ups don’t understand anything; they are stubborn and hypocritical, truly useless."

Doctor Chen Siqi curled the corners of her mouth:

"For babies, for children—that’s how humans ought to be. I’m a doctor who saves lives and helps the wounded, and yet, a Scavenger has to teach me this. It’s embarrassing; this is precisely my duty... Hey, you doofus, what’s that look on your face?"

"I..." Qiu Ran hesitated: "I don’t know what to do. I want to go back and see my family, my brothers should be taking college entrance exams soon, and I want to get them settled. For me—family is everything, but..."

"But what?"

"I can’t fight at all; I also don’t want to lose my Arcane Energy. Without it, I’m just an ordinary person working in a junkyard, repairing cars, dismantling parts, cleaning them, and selling them off."

Qiu Ran was disheartened:

"I know Mingji Humanity has done a lot of bad things... but they’ve helped me a lot too. I can’t, I can’t oppose them; I don’t want to harm anyone."

"So what do you want to do?"

"I want to go home, but—"

"Then why are you hemming and hawing here?"

Chen Siqi unceremoniously propped her feet on the desk:

"You’re all freaking adults; you don’t need to ask anyone’s permission to do what you want! Want to go home, then take the deal the Scavenger offered, give up your Arcane Energy."

"But if I don’t have Arcane Energy, then I—"

"Which is more important?"

Chen Siqi asked coldly:

"If you want something, you have to be ready with what you’re willing to trade. There’s no such thing as a free lunch. If it’s really impossible, sleeping with that man once is better than this indecisive whimpering."