Slander (Chapter 101)
Actually, Gu Luoyu didn’t bother too much. As long as she pretended to dislike the tattered lotus and then said, “If it’s broken like this, will the base still accept it?” the doubt immediately made Ye Sheng’s black eyes light up.
Bright and cunning.
The smile that couldn’t be hidden at the corner of her mouth revealed her thoughts clearly.
A glance.
She was so innocent and naive that Gu Luoyu couldn’t help but sigh inwardly, thinking it was good that Ye Sheng had met her.
If it were someone else with cunning abilities, they might have chewed Ye Sheng to the bone, squeezing out every bit of value... But she had only wanted to kill Ye Sheng at first, purely and without any ulterior motives.
However, now she had gradually changed her mind, deciding to hide her identity and stay with her.
Even help Ye Sheng improve her “strength”!
As for the fact that she had entered the game by pretending to be a couple not long ago, intending to lure Ye Sheng into emotional turmoil or something similar, it was just a little personal mischief.
As long as Ye Sheng could keep her heart, then no matter what she did, things wouldn’t turn bad.
Humans have to go through countless trials to grow!
Gu Luoyu raised her eyebrows, thinking evilly.
Meanwhile, Ye Sheng couldn’t help but glance secretly at the Dark Jade Lotuses thrown on the ground, feeling excited.
She thought she was truly lucky.
Just moments ago, she had been heartbroken over not being able to obtain the remaining Dark Jade Lotuses.
And now, here they were, right in front of her, with Gu Luoyu, who had picked them up, looking utterly disgusted.
Wasn’t this a God-given opportunity?
Although, these Dark Jade Lotuses had first been damaged by falling rocks and then dragged all the way by Gu Luoyu, leaving the petals severely tattered.
Some of the petals even had large holes ground into them.
They looked like they had been thoroughly beaten.
No wonder Gu Luoyu doubted whether these Dark Jade Lotuses could still be handed in...
Ye Sheng wasn’t thinking about exchanging the Dark Jade Lotuses for base points.
Instead, she wanted to use them to improve her Psychic soothing ability.
There were five Dark Jade Lotuses in total, each equivalent to three small bottles of Psychic soothing potion!
Secretly gearing up, Ye Sheng tried to appear calm and then began to “offer slander”: “These lotus flowers are seriously damaged. They might have lost their effectiveness. I think we should ‘destroy the evidence’!”
“?”
Hearing Ye Sheng’s words, Gu Luoyu glanced at her for a long time without speaking.
Now, she handed the “stage” over to Ye Sheng.
She wanted to see how she would perform.
Ye Sheng, too excited to notice this, continued with a hint of eagerness, “The purpose of this convoy’s trip to the wilderness was to collect the Dark Jade Lotus. If the people behind us see the lotus in this state, they might blame us for it!”
Originally, Ye Sheng was just making things up, but the more she spoke, the more it seemed to make sense.
After all, they were the only ones alive here, and trying to prove it... Wait, she seemed to have forgotten something!
Ye Sheng frowned, thinking quickly, then looked at Gu Luoyu in a daze before raising a hand to point toward the pond. “Gu Luoyu, it seems there are still two Espers alive, right there in the pond!”
It was the two Espers Fu Ruo had first pulled out of the water.
They had been stunned by the sonic attack from the underwater creature.
Ye Sheng had been so focused on Gu Luoyu and the underwater creature that she had completely forgotten about them... After speaking, she quickly turned her head to look and saw the two still floating on the water.
Fortunately, they had grabbed onto fragments of the raft before losing consciousness, preventing them from sinking into the pool immediately.
However, thanks to the dominance of the underwater creature in this pond, there were no other powerful polluted creatures around.
So, even though they had been floating in the water for a while, they hadn’t been attacked or killed.
“I’ll go and bring them back. Ye Sheng, you deal with these lotus flowers first... Just throw them into the pool!”
Hearing Ye Sheng’s reminder, Gu Luoyu thought for a moment and immediately made a decision.
Although Gu Luoyu didn’t particularly want to help others, keeping these two Espers alive could save them a lot of trouble... First, as eyewitnesses, they could stand at the forefront and bear the brunt of the base’s pressure.
They could prove that Fu Ruo had indeed been killed by the polluted creature.
Even if they hadn’t seen it with their own eyes, the traces around them would prove everything.
Second, they could also confirm that the disappearance of the Dark Jade Lotus was due to Fu Ruo’s battle with the polluted creature.
The base officials had invested so much effort into this mission.
If they didn’t bring back the Dark Jade Lotus, they would undoubtedly be furious...
Gu Luoyu was thinking all this through, but Ye Sheng’s mind was completely empty.
Her attention was entirely focused on the few Dark Jade Lotus.
Trying to hold back a smile, she raised her hand and patted her chest, promising, “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure to complete the task.”
Gu Luoyu’s lips curved into a smile as she reached out to ruffle Ye Sheng’s hair.
Then, she stepped onto the hard, round shell of the underwater creature and began making her way toward the two unconscious Espers.
Meanwhile, the underwater creature was still crashing against the cliffs.
The sound of bang echoed continuously, the force so strong that it felt like the cliff might shatter at any moment!
As Gu Luoyu was fishing for the two unconscious Espers, Ye Sheng stared at her back with a dog-like gaze.
She then raised her hand and picked up the Dark Jade Lotus lotuses, pretending to throw them into the pool. In reality, she quickly notified the system to recover them!
[Ability upgrade completed. Congratulations on obtaining Intermediate Psychic soothing Ability. Progress to the next level: 12/30.]
Wow~
Finally, she had upgraded to the Intermediate Psychic soothing Ability!
٩(๑>◡<๑)۶
Now, even if she used Azure Perfume to mask the leakage of her ability, she could still activate it through touch.
Hehe!!
This trip with the convoy was truly worth it!
Even though she had faced life-threatening dangers... It had also served as a stark reminder to Ye Sheng that in the wasteland world, only the strong survive.
If she wasn’t strong enough, she would die even faster. She needed to continue working hard to grow stronger!
“Huh? What’s going on? What’s that!”
“Such a huge polluted creature!”
“Where’s the Esper Squad?”
Just as Ye Sheng was rejoicing inwardly, the rest of the convoy finally arrived.
Their timing couldn’t have been better.
Gu Luoyu happened to be carrying the two unconscious Espers ashore, one in each hand, without revealing anything unusual.
However, when the convoy rushed over and saw the massive underwater creature still crashing against the cliffs, along with the bloodstained pool that hadn’t yet dissipated, their hearts sank.
They were dumbfounded, their faces filled with shock, unsure of what had happened.
Ling Lan and Valkyria, who had come with the convoy, immediately spotted Ye Sheng and started walking toward her, eager to ask if she was okay.
But before they could take more than a few steps, Gu Luoyu blocked their path.
She disdainfully tossed the two Espers to the ground, her expression cold, and gestured for the convoy leader to step forward and wake them up.
The leader didn’t use any special methods, just placed an energy stone in their palms, and the two Espers immediately opened their eyes.
“Are... are we safe?”
“The polluted creature... Captain Fu!”
The Espers let out panicked exclamations. Once fully conscious and seeing the convoy leader’s solemn expression, they quickly recounted everything that had just happened.
When they realized Fu Ruo was nowhere to be seen, a mix of regret and relief flashed across their faces.
They knew Captain Fu had been fierce and unlucky, but the fact that they had survived was a stroke of luck.
How fortunate.
Hearing this, the convoy leader’s expression grew even graver.
He allowed the two Espers to rest and then approached Ye Sheng and Gu Luoyu to ask for details.
However, Gu Luoyu insisted they had just arrived and knew nothing about what had happened.
She claimed she had only rescued the two Espers from the pond near the shore.
With Gu Luoyu’s use of Psychic abilities to manipulate the survivors’ memories, there was no need to worry about any inconsistencies being revealed.
However, the frequent use of her abilities was giving her a headache, and the red in her eyes was gradually darkening.
Noticing Gu Luoyu’s unusual state, Ye Sheng secretly reached out and held her hand.
In an instant, the headache was magically soothed and dissipated, and the ability was quickly recovered from excessive consumption.
This made Gu Luoyu's red eyes stop changing. She chuckled and then clenched Ye Sheng's hand tightly.
"Mission interrupted, return immediately!"
After the team leader questioned two more strangers, he quickly issued the order.
After all, even the mission target, Dark Jade Lotus, had been affected and fallen into the deep pool. What was the point of staying here any longer?
Even Fu Ruo had been lost here. This pond was far too dangerous!
It was better to return and contact the base!
The team leader was unaware of Fu Ruo's "importance" to the base.
His sole task upon leaving the base this time was to retrieve Dark Jade Lotus.
So, even with the Esper Squad by his side, he didn't consider sending an Esper to deal with the underwater creature.
After all, it had nothing to do with his mission.
However, the remaining members of Squad 2 looked grim and chose to stay behind to handle the underwater creature, refusing to follow the convoy back to the base.
This creature had to be eliminated once and for all to restore the reputation of the Ability Squad.
Gu Luoyu gave them a lazy glance, then held Ye Sheng's hand.
Having just recovered some of her psychic abilities, she used them again, instantly turning the brain and heart of the underwater creature into a pulpy mess.
The strange fish, now devoid of its "power," died instantly, its heavy body sinking rapidly.
Almost in the blink of an eye, it disappeared from sight, leaving the members of the Ability Squad grinding their teeth in frustration.
They felt an overwhelming sense of defeat, their chests tight with suppressed anger, as if they were about to explode on the spot.
But all they could do was watch as the strange fish sank, unable to retrieve its carcass from the water.
As the strange fish descended rapidly, its massive body collided with obstacles in the green pool, knocking some aside.
Among them was a half-eaten corpse, gnawed at by several bizarre-looking fish and shrimp.
Soon after, long silver hair, tangled in the legs of the strange fish, followed it down into the abyss-like depths of the pool.
Hiss.
The dark bottom of the pool was eerily quiet, but soon, a peculiar sound broke the silence.
A withered hand emerged, their knuckles webbed like the flippers of an amphibian.
They grabbed the half-eaten human corpse, while a pair of glowing blue eyes fixed on the carcass of the monster fish.
The fishtail it had attached to themselves was gone.
For a moment, anger and displeasure flashed across their expression, prompting them to raise their hand and slam it down hard.
The strange fish's tough shell split apart instantly, further fueling its disgust.
But when they glanced at the human corpse they held in their other hand, stiffened and then smiled.
It seemed that better experimental materials had been discovered.