169: Chapter 169 Can you two please stop being jealous in my hospital room?

Lin Fan looked up at the pitch-black sky.

"Once Lin Yue is completely stabilized, I will depart immediately."

Li Youwei stood nearby. She didn't look at his phone, but she clearly sensed something.

"What happened?"

Lin Fan tucked his phone back into his pocket and curled the corner of his mouth.

"There's a Level 8 Martial Emperor who might still be alive."

Li Youwei froze for a second.

"What's with that expression?" Lin Fan looked at her.

"I'm wondering if you're thinking about letting someone beat you up again."

"You really do understand me."

"...I just think you're not quite normal."

"Then you're right."

Lin Fan strode toward the main road and raised his hand to hail a taxi.

"First, back to the hospital. I need to check on my sister."

"And then?"

"Then, a trip to a volcano."

"What volcano?"

"A very hot place," Lin Fan said as he hailed a car and opened the door. "The kind that's scorching. I heard the monsters inside hit people really hard."

He climbed into the car and looked back at Li Youwei.

"Are you afraid of the heat?"

"I'm an information tracker, not a combat type."

"Then provide me with intelligence from the rear," Lin Fan smiled. "I'll be responsible for getting beaten up, and you'll be responsible for using your brain. A perfect division of labor."

Li Youwei got into the car and closed the door.

The taxi drove out of the alley into the night.

Lin Fan leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes.

His mind was racing.

Chief Researcher Chen Wuji, Level 8 Martial Emperor, "The Creator."

The experiment thirty years ago, his parents' disappearance, Lin Yue's illness.

All the clues pointed in the same direction.

His current strength was not enough.

Far from it.

But.

Lin Fan opened his eyes, the corners of his mouth curling up.

"Thunder Prison Volcano."

An S-rank secret realm.

It contained Level 7 or even higher-level monsters.

Enough to fight.

Enough to hurt.

Enough to level up.

He couldn't wait.

...

At 1:00 AM, Jiangcheng No. 3 Peoples Hospital.

Lin Fan pushed open the door to Room 17, and the first thing he saw was Lin Yue.

The little girl was asleep, her complexion much better than it had been in the afternoon, her breathing steady, and all the data on the monitor was within the normal range.

Xia Wanqiu was sitting on a stool beside the bed. The green light in her palms had faded, her head was resting against the edge of the bed, and her eyes were a bit red—she had clearly been holding on for a long time.

Murong Yan was sitting on a chair by the door, her long legs crossed, her back straight, but her eyelids were fighting each other.

Hearing the door open, both of them looked up simultaneously.

"You're back?" Murong Yan yawned.

"I'm back."

Lin Fan walked to the bedside, looked at the monitor data, and then looked down at Lin Yue's face.

Her breathing was even, and there were still some dried sweet potato crumbs at the corner of her mouth.

This girl.

Even at a time like this, she was still sneaking snacks.

Lin Fan's mouth twitched, and he reached out to gently wipe away the crumbs.

"What did Attending Physician Zhou Zheng confess?" Xia Wanqiu rubbed her eyes, her voice a bit hoarse.

"He confessed everything. For the past three years, Tianlong Pharmaceutical has been using him to administer medication to Lin Yue to control her condition," Lin Fan pulled up a chair and sat down. "The vein-locking serum was also provided by Tianlong, with the goal of forcing me to ask for a second batch of vein cleansing agent to create a dependency."

"Then Lin Yue is now..."

"She actually improved after stopping Tianlong's medication, which means their drugs were suppressing her self-healing ability," Lin Fan spread the documents he had received from Li Youwei across his knees. "But the problem is bigger than I thought."

He briefly summarized the situation regarding the Star Association, the Northwest Forbidden Zone, the experiment from thirty years ago, and the Level 8 Martial Emperor named Chief Researcher Chen Wuji.

After he finished speaking, the hospital room was quiet for several seconds.

Murong Yan spoke first. "A Level 8 Martial Emperor? You're only at Defense Level 43 right now. Can you withstand the attacks of a Level 8?"

"If I can't withstand it, I'll level up until I can."

"You make it sound so easy."

"When have I ever spoken lightly?"

Murong Yan was choked up and couldn't be bothered to argue with him.

Xia Wanqiu bit her lower lip and thought for a while. "Then what do you plan to do next?"

"First, stabilize Lin Yue and stop all of Tianlong's medication.

The short-term repair effect of the first dose of the vein cleansing agent is still there and will be effective for three months, so I have three months."

"Within three months, I need to do two things."

"First, go to Thunder Prison Volcano to grind levels and get my Defense Level up to at least 50."

"Second, follow the clues of the Star Association to investigate further and find out where Chief Researcher Chen Wuji is."

"Which of these two things comes first?"

"Together."

Xia Wanqiu said, "...Do you know that for a normal person, just doing one of these is tough enough?"

"I'm not a normal person," Lin Fan said righteously. "I'm a professional freak."

"..."

At this moment, there was a light knock on the door.

Li Youwei was standing outside, took a look at the situation inside, and held up the tablet in her hand.

"The encrypted call logs from Attending Physician Zhou Zheng's phone have been decrypted. Do you want to listen?"

"Come in."

Li Youwei pushed the door open and entered.

She had taken off her trench coat and was wearing a black turtleneck sweater underneath, the collar resting just below her collarbone, outlining a very smooth shoulder line.

Xia Wanqiu's gaze swept from Li Youwei's face to her figure, then back to her face.

Murong Yan also took a glance, then shifted the way her legs were crossed.

The air in the hospital room changed subtly.

Lin Fan completely failed to notice this change and took the tablet.

"Play."

Li Youwei tapped the screen.

An encrypted but restored call recording began to play.

The voice was deep, slow, and every word was enunciated clearly.

"What stage has the meridian blockage of the test subject's descendant reached?"

"Third stage, the blockage rate has already exceeded 70%..."

"What about the blood sample?"

"Not yet... The patient's family is very alert..."

"I don't need the patient's blood. I want someone else's."

"Someone else?"

"Her brother, the one who awakened among the descendants of subjects 47 and 48."

The recording cut off there.

The hospital room was silent again.

Lin Fan stared at the waveform on the tablet for five seconds.

Subject 47 and 48.

Those were his parents' numbers on that list.

They knew about him.

They had always known about Lin Fan's existence.

And they wanted his blood.

"This voice," Li Youwei began, "I compared it against the database and didn't find a matching identity, but the voiceprint characteristics indicate that the speaker is over sixty years old and has undergone some degree of voice disguise."

"Can you trace the source of the call?"

"I've already traced it. The signal went through seventeen layers of jumps, and the final source points to..." She paused. "The northwest direction."

"The Northwest Forbidden Zone?"

"It's not certain if it's the Forbidden Zone itself or some facility near it, but the direction is consistent."

Lin Fan handed the tablet back to her. "This is useful."

"Then our cooperation," Li Youwei put the tablet away, "is confirmed?"

"Confirmed."

"Good."

Li Youwei didn't say anything else and turned to walk toward the door.

When she reached the door, she suddenly stopped and looked back.

"Your sister has sweet potato crumbs on the corner of her mouth."

"I already wiped it."

"There's still a little bit on the left."

Lin Fan looked down, and sure enough, there was.

He reached out to wipe it off, and when he looked up to say thank you, Li Youwei was already gone.

The door closed.

Murong Yan was the first to speak.

"She's quite attentive."

"Mm."

"How long have you known each other?"

"Since this afternoon."

"You just met someone this afternoon and you already brought her along to catch people?"

"She has an intelligence network and a mental scanner. She's been in this line of work for two years. She's very professional."

"Very professional," Murong Yan nodded. "And she looks professional, too."

Lin Fan, "?"

Xia Wanqiu chimed in from the other side, her voice very light and flat.

"That turtleneck sweater she's wearing is quite nice."

"Huh?"

"Nothing, I was just saying."

Lin Fan felt a familiar sense of crisis.

This sense of crisis didn't come from the Level 8 Martial Emperor, nor from the Star Association. It came from these two ladies beside him.

He cleared his throat and decisively changed the subject.

"Ahem, about that, the Thunder Prison Volcano matter, I'm setting off tomorrow."

"I'm going." Murong Yan.

"I'm going too." Xia Wanqiu.

"Fine, you can both go."

"What about that Li person?" Murong Yan.

"She's not going. She's an intelligence type and isn't suited for high-intensity secret realms."

"Oh."

Murong Yan's tone was noticeably more satisfied.

Xia Wanqiu also nodded almost imperceptibly.

Lin Fan breathed a sigh of relief.

He regretted it a little now.

His Thorn Armor could reflect 300% of physical damage, but when facing this kind of soft knife, even if his Defense Level were a hundred levels higher, it would be useless.

"Alright, everyone get some rest first. There are still many things to arrange tomorrow," Lin Fan stood up. "As for Lin Yue, I've asked Head Nurse Qin Ya to keep an eye on her. I've also asked Instructor Lei Zhan to deal with the other two Tianlong people in the hospital, so there's no problem with safety."

"Where are you sleeping?" Xia Wanqiu asked.

"I'll sleep on the floor."

"There are only two chairs and one bed in the hospital room."

"Then I'll sleep sitting up."

"Where will you sit?"

Lin Fan looked around; there really wasn't any extra space in the room.

Murong Yan slapped the armrest of the chair next to her. "Sit here."

Xia Wanqiu also patted the edge of the bed next to her. "You can sit here, too."

Lin Fan's gaze shifted back and forth between the two of them.

No matter which side he sat on, the other would have an opinion.

He made a wise decision.

"I'm going to sleep in the hallway."

"..."

"..."

"Goodnight!"

Lin Fan, before either of them could speak, slipped out of the hospital room and closed the door.

The hallway was chilly.

He found a bench in the corner, lay down, and covered himself with his jacket.

His phone vibrated again.

Rakshasa.

[I've helped you find out the situation at Thunder Prison Volcano. Currently, there are three known Level 7 monsters inside, and one unknown creature suspected to be Level 8. I've arranged a guide for you; contact her when you arrive tomorrow.]

[Her?]

[Yes, sent by the Martial Arts Association. Her name is Mu Qing, a Level 5 Martial King, and she is very familiar with the terrain of Thunder Prison Volcano.]

[Level 5 Martial King? Is she tough enough to fight?]

[She's a guide, not a punching bag for you.]

[That's so boring.]

[...Go to sleep.]

Lin Fan put his phone down and closed his eyes.

His mind turned over a thought, finally settling on one idea.

Thunder Prison Volcano.

Level 7 monsters.

An unknown creature suspected to be Level 8.

His mouth curled into a grin.

This feast would be quite sumptuous.

As long as it didn't burn his mouth, that is.