31: Chapter 31 Humanoid Incubation Tank
Not long after Ling Yichen finished placing the Spirit Worm, W followed the scent of food and arrived.
She still had that listless look as if someone had sucked away her yang energy; even after sleeping all morning and taking a cold shower, she still appeared completely exhausted.
Her weakness couldn't actually be recovered through sleep; the reason she felt sleepy was that her body was giving off signals due to extreme weakness, forcing her to reduce her activity level.
Looking at her like this, Ling Yichen couldn't help but secretly ponder: "Did I go a bit too hard?"
But when he sensed the number of Spirit Worms inside W, his heart was filled with joy again.
Last night, he had already taken 100 Spirit Worms from W.
In just this one morning, another 50 had evolved, which made Ling Yichen incomparably happy!
When W saw Ling Yichen, she walked straight over to him and sat by his side, yawning as she said, "Where did this younger sister of yours pop out from? How come I never heard you mention her before?"
Ling Yichen glanced at her indifferently and said calmly, "I was separated from my parents and family when I was young, but I have never given up on looking for them."
"It was also my luck; these past two days, I finally matched with the same genes."
"Although I didn't find my parents, I found my younger sister who had been fostered in an orphanage!"
Upon hearing this, W gave an "oh" and didn't ask any more questions.
She had just asked casually anyway and hadn't thought too much about it.
On the other hand, Ye Qingzhu, who was nearby, showed an expression of realization after hearing this.
She had wanted to ask before, but she wasn't as... thick-skinned as W, and was worried about touching on Ling Yichen's privacy, so she hadn't felt comfortable asking.
Now that she heard the story, she couldn't help but feel a bit of heartache for Ling Yichen.
"Living alone must be very hard, right!"
She gazed intently at Ling Yichen, looking deeper and deeper, even forgetting to withdraw her gaze.
"Hey, Miss Ye, if you keep staring like that, you're going to burn two holes in his face!"
Seeing Ye Qingzhu's increasingly lost gaze, W couldn't help but speak up to remind her.
After being reminded, Ye Qingzhu finally came to her senses, her face instantly flushed red, and her eyes were full of shyness.
"I... I'll go check if the food is ready!"
She quickly found an excuse and ran to the kitchen.
At this moment, Ling Yichen was completely indifferent to such small matters because his focus was entirely on W, busy taking the Spirit Worms from her body.
He successfully retrieved 49 Spirit Worms, leaving one in W's body as a natal Gu Worm, letting it take charge of all the Worms inside W.
As the 49 Spirit Worms entered his body, Ling Yichen immediately let out a low moan of comfort, and his gaze towards W became impure.
At this very moment, he was extremely glad that he hadn't devoured W last night.
Although devouring her directly would yield more Spirit Worms, he now believed that keeping W as a long-term incubation tank was more reasonable.
Although W was currently very weak and not suitable for cultivating more Spirit Worms, as time passed, her lost essence and blood would recover, and then she would be able to cultivate a new batch of Spirit Worms.
As long as this continued for three to five years, he was confident that all the Worms inside him would turn into Spirit Worms. By then, his strength would be incomparably powerful, and he would at least be able to walk sideways on the Surface!
"Alright, the food is ready, go wash your hands and eat!"
Tang Juan came out of the kitchen with a dish in each hand, calling out to Ling Yichen and W to go wash their hands and eat while she walked.
Ye Qingzhu also walked out carrying two dishes, but the blush on her face had not yet faded, and she was too shy to look up at Ling Yichen.
After all, her behavior just now was too embarrassing; it was a textbook case of being a lovestruck fool.
"How could I have stared at someone until I was entranced?"
"So embarrassing!"
Ye Qingzhu deliberately kept her distance from Ling Yichen, her heart in turmoil as if it were a battlefield.
...
Just as everyone was happily eating lunch, Tian Yingying dragged herself home, exhausted.
There wasn't a single scratch on her body, but her eyes were empty, as if her soul had been extracted, occasionally flashing with endless hatred.
Upon returning home, she didn't even eat, but went straight into her room, locked the door, and lay silently on the bed.
Her abnormal behavior immediately attracted her parents' attention.
They knocked on the door outside for quite a while without any response, which made them extremely worried.
Having no other choice, the couple had to run over to Ye Qingzhu's house.
"Sorry to disturb your meal, but... do you know what's going on with Yingying?"
Mentioning Tian Yingying, Ye Qingzhu immediately became alert, as she had been quite worried about her; after all, she was the only one who went to school today.
"What happened to her?" Ye Qingzhu asked.
"We don't know. As soon as she got back, she hid in her room. No matter how we call her, she won't open the door. We don't know if she was wronged at school!"
Tian Yingying's mother, Zhang Li, replied.
Upon hearing this, everyone set down their bowls and chopsticks, stood up, and walked towards Tian Yingying's house.
Arriving at Tian Yingying's bedroom door, Ye Qingzhu knocked.
"Yingying, are you okay? You can tell me if you've encountered anything; we can think of a way together!"
As soon as Ye Qingzhu finished speaking, the door opened immediately, and Tian Yingying appeared at the doorway.
At this moment, her eyes were bloodshot, and tears had already soaked her clothes.
She immediately hugged Ye Qingzhu, sobbing uncontrollably.
Seeing this, everyone showed expressions of heartache.
How much grievance must this child have suffered to cry so sadly!
Only Ling Yichen stood at the back of the crowd, his face as calm as water.
Because apart from Tian Yingying herself, only Ling Yichen knew what had happened.
This noon, she was whipped 288 times with bamboo segments and healed 8 times!
That is to say, she was beaten to the point of being on the verge of death 8 times!
This was no longer abuse that an ordinary person could withstand.
An ordinary person subjected to so many whippings, time and time again on the verge of death and then saved, would very likely have their will collapse and suffer mental problems.
But Tian Yingying was able to endure it, which also reflected that she had extremely tenacious endurance.
Ling Yichen was very satisfied with this!
This reminded him of his own days in the cages of the Celestial God Laboratory.
Was he not also subjected to abuse time and time again, surviving after being on the verge of death time and time again, only then having the opportunity to be injected with that serum?
And it was because he endured the corrosion of the serum and successfully survived that he had the opportunity to escape the Celestial God Laboratory and escape Sky City...
Recalling the events of the past, Ling Yichen was also filled with deep emotion.
His gaze towards Tian Yingying also changed.
Having made it through this time, she would definitely become even stronger!
On this point, he was firmly convinced!
...
"Let's leave first and let the young girls chat among themselves!"
Ye Songtao said to Tian Yingying's parents.
The two looked at each other and nodded immediately.
The four adults retreated from the house, and Ling Yichen also followed them out.
Ye Qingzhu and W stayed in Tian Yingying's room to comfort her, and by the way, to find out what had happened.
Very quickly, Ye Qingzhu and W learned from Tian Yingying what she had encountered.
At this moment, both Ye Qingzhu and W looked as if they had eaten gunpowder; their eyes were red, and they were filled with killing intent!