116: Chapter 116 Angel Miss, Let's Steal the Monster!

Early morning on Planet G-77-3, the two moons still hung diagonally in the sky, casting eerie double shadows across the gray-green creep-covered land.

Inside the North Star squad's forward base-32, however, it was a scene of bustling activity.

On the command center's holographic sand table, the blue zones representing "cleared areas" already covered 97% of the entire Angel Defense Zone 32, with only a few complex underground cave systems in the southwest corner left to be carefully cleared.

These places weren't suitable for large-scale armored troops to push through, so they could just be left to the light unmanned units led by Chu Xinghe and Luo Lan to clear slowly.

"It seems our efficiency is a bit too outrageous; we've basically finished the mission on the second day! I wonder if there's a ranking or rewards for this live-fire trial. But no matter how they change it, we're the strongest in the Blazing Dragon Federation, right? They wouldn't be doing this just to avoid ranking us and not give out rewards, would they!"

Chu Xinghe chewed on an energy bar, leaning against the edge of the sand table console, pointing at the progress bars of the neighboring zones on the screen—the fastest, the Olympia delegation, had only just reached 62%, while the Angel Race side was only at 35%.

Luo Lan adjusted his glasses and pulled up the data analysis: "The possibility is high. Judging from the data fed back by each squad, our clearing efficiency is 2.5 times the standard value. The closest to us is also a Blazing Dragon Federation team, the cyber-cultivators from Kunlun Academy at 57%. If they still rank us, we'll crush them, so I guess they won't rank us this time, and there won't be any rewards."

He paused and looked at the two young women who had just walked out of the research lab.

"For now, let's see how we can maximize the benefits for ourselves in this trial. This time, the joint research on Zerg biomass liquefaction and extraction by Chen Jingyi and Yimoku has basically succeeded. As long as the extraction is successful, no matter how many bugs we kill this time, it's all pure profit. Selling cultivation fluid when we go back will be big money."

Yimoku had tied her silver twin tails into a high bun today, with a few spots of fluorescent green unknown liquid on the cuffs of her lab coat. She held a transparent container in her hands, containing about 500 milliliters of ink-black viscous fluid, with eerie colorful bubbles occasionally rising to the surface.

"Look! Seventh-generation formula!"

She held the container up to everyone, her expression as excited as if she had discovered a new continent. "After seventeen iterations of optimization, the Zerg corpse psionic-bioenergy conversion speed has increased again, basically keeping pace with the hunting speed."

Chen Jingyi followed behind, holding a data pad, calmly adding: "It's just that the impurity content is still exceeding the standard; using it directly will cause neurotoxic reactions. It requires at least three purification processes of transpiration before it can be used. It's not as good as the elite cultivation fluid from Olympia."

"That's still very impressive!" Sai Wei turned his head from the communication console—he had just finished his morning call with his fiancée, Ansevier. "The Olympia energy fluid factory's conversion rate is only 1/10th of this, and they use carefully selected high-level Zerg samples; the output is even worse than here. You managed to do this with common trash like Zerglings and Roaches."

Yimoku lifted her chin, somewhat smugly: "This is the power of Yanlong Alliance mass production technology! The quality doesn't have to be the best, but it must have the highest cost-effectiveness. The purification process still needs further simplification. Even if the final product can't be used directly, selling it to major academies as a psionic source for psionic cultivation rooms would be more efficient than the existing light energy conversion schemes."

Li Yuan walked out of the living area, just in time to hear this. He had slept very well last night—after confirming he hadn't "stolen" his teammate's energy, he could safely perform energy transfer with Laya at night. He felt truly refreshed, though Laya's legs were shaking a bit.

"So," he walked to the sand table, looking at the almost entirely blue zone map, "We're basically done here?"

"Basically done." Chu Xinghe clapped his hands, "For the remaining caves, Luo Lan and I will take two teams of 'Shadow Blade' robots to slowly clear them. It should be done within two days."

"Then today..." Li Yuan looked at his teammates.

Sai Wei raised his hand first: "I'm going to help Ansevier! Their Olympia zone has complex terrain, and their advance speed is slow; they need my fire support!"

He said this with a righteous expression, as if it were purely for team collaboration—if one ignored his slightly reddened earlobes.

Chu Xinghe "tsk"ed: "I think you just want to show off in front of your fiancée, right?"

"Mind your own business!" Sai Wei glared at him, grabbed his equipment box, and walked out, "I am now representing North Star Military Academy; this is to promote cross-civilization military exchange! The traditional friendship between the Blazing Dragon Federation and Olympia needs to be maintained by our generation!"

"And incidentally maintain your childhood sweetheart relationship?" Luo Lan added a finishing blow.

Sai Wei pretended not to hear and quickly disappeared at the end of the corridor.

Elia walked over from the other side. The young girl had changed into a light combat suit today, her silver hair tied into a neat high ponytail, and her ice-blue eyes shone with a clear luster. After two days of fighting and the increased energy concentration in the base, she could indeed clearly feel that her body's energy saturation had increased by quite a lot.

"So," she looked at Li Yuan, "What are we doing today?"

Before Li Yuan could answer, Yimoku leaned over: "Student Li Yuan! Do you, Laya, and Elia want to go to the neighboring zone for 'technical support'? I see the Angel Race's progress is average, and—"

She blinked and lowered her voice: "—Ling Xi was soft-spoken during communication yesterday, and it felt like she was about to collapse from exhaustion. You guys go help her, and by the way, bring me back some fresh creep samples! Must have the root system!"

Chen Jingyi also nodded: "From a strategic perspective, helping allies speed up their progress is conducive to the stability of the overall defense line. Moreover, the Angel Race's 'Holy Light Beacon' technology has reference value for our shield systems; we can take this opportunity to conduct technical exchanges."

Li Yuan thought about it and felt it made sense.

He opened his terminal and sent a message to Ling Xi, the squad leader of the Angel Defense Zone. In less than ten seconds, the reply came—it was a voice message with obvious exhaustion but full of surprise:

"Really? Student Li Yuan is willing to come and help? That's great! Over here... uh, there are a lot of bugs, and our advance speed hasn't been able to keep up. If you guys can come, we should be able to complete 50% of the progress today!"

Li Yuan smiled and replied with confirmation.

...

Half an hour later, the Light Guardian legion assembled.

Two white emperors, ten Xingtian mechs, twenty Xuan-turtle tanks, and even more self-propelled artillery. While the base was being built, more equipment was being dropped from warships via landing pods.

The base's production line also began to produce unmanned units at full capacity. Now, except for the ten Light Guardians of the personal guard, basically every Light Guardian was equipped with a fire-support vehicle.

Li Yuan, Laya, and Elia boarded the command vehicle. The vehicle started, slowly drove out of the base gate, and headed towards the Angel Defense Zone on the east side.

Inside the command vehicle, Laya naturally turned to sit on Li Yuan's lap, her hands wrapped around his neck, and she nestled into his arms like a lazy cat.

"Brother Li Yuan..." She buried her face in his shoulder, her voice muffled and sleepy, "You were too powerful last night... My legs are so sore..."

Li Yuan laughed, his hands resting on her thighs, kneading them with just the right amount of strength. With a body baptized by energy multiple times, his mastery of muscle structure was already meticulous, and every press was precisely on the spot that needed relaxation.

"Here?" He pressed lightly on a point on the outside of her thigh.

"Mmm..." Laya let out a comfortable hum, her body softening further as she pressed against him, "That's it... Use more force..."

Elia sat in the opposite seat, seemingly focused on flipping through the zone map on her terminal. But if one looked closely, one would find that the corners of her ice-blue eyes were occasionally glancing at the two people opposite, and her ear tips were already stained with a faint pink.

"Laya," Elia finally couldn't help but speak, her voice trying to remain calm, "This kind of private sound... Mind the influence, I'm still here!!"

Laya lifted her face from Li Yuan's shoulder, blinking her clear big eyes, her expression innocent: "Why? Sister Elia isn't an outsider."

She said, suddenly a cunning arc curled at the corner of her lips, and she leaned closer, lowering her voice: "Or is it... Sister Elia, you actually want to try it too? Brother Li Yuan's massage technique is really comfortable."

"Laya!" Elia's face turned crimson instantly, and the terminal in her hand almost slipped.

Laya laughed like a little demon, she suddenly got up from Li Yuan's lap, took two steps to Elia, and reached out to grab her wrist.

"Sister Elia, don't be shy," Laya's voice was sweet and soft, but the strength in her hand was not small, "Come and try it—"

"Wait, Laya, don't mess around—" Before Elia could finish her sentence, she was pulled up from her seat by Laya.

The next second, Laya cleverly pushed and pulled, Elia let out a soft cry, lost her balance, and fell exactly into Li Yuan's arms.

Time seemed to stand still for a moment.