273: Real cooperation

“I understand what you mean, but what about the singing?”

Shui Lingyu frowned slightly, contemplating the rationality of all this.

“Perhaps—that wasn't singing at all, but a type of fluctuation!

It could be heard by Beastmasters with strong enough Mental Power, attracting them into the temple!

As for the exact reason, that can only be determined by a deeper exploration!”

Gu Xiaoyue combined her own and everyone else's experiences to offer this deduction.

But in truth, she wasn't entirely sure either.

Her top priority now was to rest more and eat a few more hua yu fruits.

She needed to recover her Mental Power as soon as possible and move the entire ruins into her Yu Beast Space for slow research.

After all, the World Championships were less than three months away, and she still had to return for training.

Thinking of this, she fed some of the experience she had absorbed earlier to Xiao Qi, who finally advanced to Mature Eleventh Stage.

“Ding—Congratulations, Host, for achieving a new accomplishment—1 Mature Eleventh Stage Pet (Completed), rewarding 15,000 points and 3 black jade snow lotus flowers!”

So the system's rewards were for Mature First Stage, Mature Sixth Stage, and Mature Eleventh Stage.

Would there also be extra rewards for Lord-level and Monarch-level?

Gu Xiaoyue pondered as she put a black jade snow lotus into Xiao Qi's mouth.

She had thought Xiao Qi would need to go into hibernation for a period, as this was a direct ascent from Mature Eleventh Stage to Mature Eleventh Stage max level; the next step up was to eat a qibao berry and break through to Lord-level.

Unexpectedly, Xiao Qi just smiled casually, and his originally purple hair slowly began to lighten, with some parts even turning silver.

His red eyes deepened in color and became even more profound.

How could eating a black jade snow lotus even cause slight changes to the appearance altered by the shaping flower?

“Xiao Yue, I think I can eat the qibao berry now!”

Xiao Qi curved his lips, asking Gu Xiaoyue for the qibao berry word by word.

“Are you sure it's okay?”

Gu Xiaoyue scrutinized Xiao Qi from head to toe; although he looked to be in good condition, she still didn't dare to gamble, what if something went wrong!

She solemnly promised Xiao Qi that if his condition was fine in a day or two, she would definitely give him the qibao berry.

The attitudes of the other pets remained unchanged, except for Hou and Bi Fang, who both pouted, looking very displeased, yet not opening their mouths to accuse Gu Xiaoyue of favoritism.

After all, Xiao Qi was Gu Xiaoyue's companion beast, so prioritizing resources for him was not a problem.

Hou could speak but chose not to, while Bi Fang's level wasn't high enough; he needed to reach Mature Seventh Stage before he could eat a hua yu fruit and speak human language prematurely.

Bi Fang could only cast a resentful and wronged glance at Gu Xiaoyue, then turned his head away and continued his training.

After two days of rest, Gu Xiaoyue finally felt her Mental Power return to its peak state.

But at the same time, she could also feel a significant increase in her Mental Power's upper limit.

Most likely, this was due to that part of the ruins.

The qibao berry was also fed to Xiao Qi, waiting for him to hibernate for a period and break through to Lord-level.

This time, she planned to move another 40% of the ruins, but she didn't tell everyone directly.

“Let's go investigate another round. Don't be surprised by any unexpected events.

Self-preservation is the top priority. If I faint, just take me out.”

Gu Xiaoyue first gave everyone a heads-up; her intuition told her that this time, even more Mental Power would be consumed.

Because her targets this time were the temple and the hospital!

These two places clearly held more secrets to explore!

Gu Xiaoyue had fainted in the hospital before, so she suggested going to see the remaining residential buildings.

This was all to make it easier for her to move the temple and the hospital.

Everyone had no objections and tacitly followed Gu Xiaoyue's suggestion.

There were no clues in the residential area; like the hospital, it was empty everywhere.

It couldn't be denied there were signs of habitation, but this was from a very long time ago.

After so many years of erosion, this residential area could be said to be not much different from ruins.

One could see that the foundations were very sturdy; otherwise, the residents here would probably have wished they could move the entire building.

Just over two hours passed, and Gu Xiaoyue, looking refreshed, again saw black before her eyes and fainted into Chu Li's arms.

It was also because Chu Li knew she would faint that he stayed by her side at all times.

The moment Gu Xiaoyue collapsed, Chu Li naturally pulled her into his arms.

“Ding—Selected portion of ancient ruins has been received— ”

As expected, at the moment she fainted, she heard the system's mechanical prompt again, and her surroundings once again plunged into endless darkness.

But this time, it was different—

Gu Xiaoyue felt a sense of impending death due to Mental Power exhaustion; this feeling was too unbearable.

Even she, a person who had truly experienced death, felt full of despair when facing this sensation.

The desire to survive and her vitality were being drawn from her body; the struggle between these two, her inner turmoil, was filled with despair.

If she had been unconscious, it would have been fine, but she was conscious and feeling her life force draining away!

Just as she struggled in despair, her parched Mental Power seemed to receive a slight replenishment.

It must be Chu Li and Shui Lingyu!

One of them, or both of them, were dripping hua yu fruit juice into her mouth; it had to be like this!

Although her surroundings were still dark, Gu Xiaoyue felt much more comfortable.

Her Mental Power seemed sufficient to cope with the impending illusion of the ruins.

The darkness gradually receded, and before Gu Xiaoyue's eyes was the temple, still depicting humans and high-level fierce beasts coexisting harmoniously.

The human statue in the temple often led everyone in singing within the temple.

And his face overlapped with the face of the founder hanging on the wall in the hospital.

Was he the leader of humanity at that time?

Gu Xiaoyue walked towards the hospital; she had been to the upper floors, but she wanted to know what the basement level was used for.

She walked to the emergency exit; the basement level was nothing special, just some instruments and equipment.

Just as she was about to give up, she saw several humanoid high-level fierce beasts, one of whom was the other statue in the temple—the leader of the fierce beasts!

Why would he bring his subordinates here?

Gu Xiaoyue was filled with doubt and followed them.

She followed him through a secret passage, which led to the second basement level!

This was an unmarked second basement level, with many rooms holding women aged twenty to fifty.

The fierce beast leader gave his subordinates a look, and they each chose a woman they liked and began a period of “cultivation and sowing.”

The women in the rooms struggled desperately, but how could their weak bodies resist the powerful fierce beasts!

Gu Xiaoyue covered her mouth with both hands, biting her teeth tightly; even with her eyes closed, she could hear the women's struggles and cries.

She forced herself to calm down, repeatedly telling herself that this wasn't real.

But the scene before her, she couldn't convince herself, this wasn't the bloody truth!

Immediately after, the fierce beast leader also chose a woman who looked healthy and went into the room with her.

This continued for several days; they would come here and stay for half a day until the human leader appeared.

He reminded them that the suitable time for this group of women to become pregnant had passed, and any further efforts would only satisfy extra desires.

They just needed to wait for a period and then check to see if they had successfully conceived.

After the fierce beasts left, the human leader made marks and crosses in his notebook.

He even pulled up surveillance footage, combining it with the data the fierce beasts had initially left, and began to record their frequency, habits, and so on.

Even the women's data, including age, physical condition, personality, and willpower, were recorded very thoroughly.

As Gu Xiaoyue observed his records, she learned that they had immigrated to Mercury from Planet Phina.

Phina natives could live for over a hundred years, and women aged 18 to 70 had the ability to reproduce.

She carefully read the leader's records and suddenly discovered that there were already mixed-blood offspring of fierce beasts and humans, both boys and girls, and after turning eighteen, they were also confined to rooms on the second basement level.

So, he was—

Conducting an experiment!

Gu Xiaoyue suddenly seemed to understand; what kind of agreement did the statues of the Phina native leader and the fierce beast leader shaking hands in the temple signify?!

Under conditions that met basic living needs, the Phina natives' reproductive capacity was still decent.

Compared to high-level fierce beasts who found it difficult to bear offspring, the two leaders made a deal through intermarriage.

But most Phina natives were unwilling to choose fierce beast partners, which meant many women were confined to the second basement level of the hospital and forced to conceive!

And ever since the Phina native leader discovered that mixed-bloods would possess the ability to contract with fierce beasts after turning eighteen, he began an even more insane breeding plan!

All these records of his were for his search for a more suitable bloodline ratio that could fully control fierce beasts!