Chapter 2023: Not a Moment of Slack
Xia Yao's big eyes curved into crescent moons as she pulled a tangerine candy from her pocket and popped it into her mouth!
(⑉ಡ₃ಡ⑉) "Then~ I'll give you one with a tangerine flavor!"
As she spoke, their lips were nearly touching, and Jiangnan could even smell the sweet citrus aroma wafting from her!
His heart began to pound like a startled deer!
Holy moly, you can choose the flavor too? I've never tried a citrus-flavored kiss before!
His hands instinctively wrapped around Xia Yao's slender waist!
˚‧º·(⑉Ծ﹏Ծ⑉)‧º·˚ "Nanshen! Come quick, I've fixed... ah!!!"
Before they could kiss, a flash of blue light filled the room, and Olivia's figure appeared, her face full of excitement!
But in the next instant, her eyes flew wide open, her body froze, and her cheeks steamed like a boiling kettle, hissing out steam!
Is... is this something I'm allowed to see?
The air in the room was scorching hot!
Jiangnan and Xia Yao both turned to look at Olivia.
Xia Yao bit down on the candy in her mouth, crushing it.
(｡･ˇ～ˇ･｡) Meow meow! I knew it!
Olivia panicked, quickly turning to run out.
(ﾉ)﹏(ヾ) "You... you two continue, pretend I was never here!"
But as she turned, she smacked "bang" into the door, covered her head, and ducked through the wall to get out!
Jiangnan ground his teeth in frustration, looking exasperated:
(งꐦᵒ̌益ᵒ̌)ง "Why! Why always!?"
Xia Yao couldn't help but burst out laughing:
(◔⥎◔ิ⑉) "How should I know? You unlucky bastard with no luck, go check it out first!"
Jiangnan shook his head like a rattle-drum:
(ʃƪ˘³˘) "Let's continue, continue!"
Xia Yao pinched Jiangnan's earlobe and licked her lips: "Important business comes first, it's not like I'm going anywhere. Besides, the longer you owe, the more interest accumulates!"
Jiangnan swallowed hard: (◞‸◟) "Fi... fine then!"
So he gave up, and Xia Yao changed clothes again, teleporting out of the room with Jiangnan.
They found Olivia squatting in the hallway, face covered, still steaming.
Oh my god! Just thinking about it is too much!
Jiangnan: (͡°ก͡°) "Ahem~ what did you come to see me about?"
Olivia looked up in surprise, seeing Jiangnan already dressed and ready.
Σ(°△°|||) "Th... that was fast? Sigh~"
Jiangnan glared and gave Olivia a big red envelope (a metaphorical slap on the head):
(ꐦ°᷄益°᷅) "Nonsense! It hadn't even started before it ended, okay? What do you mean 'fast'? What's up?"
Olivia covered her face. Had she ruined his good thing? Oh no, oh no, she was going to get on his bad side!
"Nothing really, it's just that those war fortresses are repaired. Since the wreckage wasn't complete—Chengbao'er ate quite a bit—only nine were completed."
Jiangnan was stunned, then his eyes lit up: "Holy crap? That many?"
He couldn't wait to rush to the deck of the starship.
Looking up, nine war fortresses orbited Blue Star in a straight line. At a glance, it was a magnificent sight.
From now on, when looking up at the night sky, besides the moon, there would be nine war fortresses visible. Blue Star now had a powerful new defense mechanism in addition to the dark matter force field.
Olivia: "Ai Jiang's programs have already moved in to occupy them. They'll be operational soon."
Jiangnan clicked his tongue: "This is perfect recycling. If you opened a repair shop, wouldn't you make bank?"
Olivia's face darkened. A repair shop? I'm a genius beautiful girl, and you want me to do this?
(•︠～•︡) "Our Apocalypse race does have this business. We can repair various equipment and even take on planet repair jobs. Damaged planets can be fixed too!"
Jiangnan's mouth twitched. So this was a hereditary skill of the Apocalypse race? How convenient!
Just from this alone, they must earn countless star source points.
If humanity wanted to rise quickly, they'd also need diverse means of making money.
Just then, Badi excitedly atomically transmitted to Olivia's side.
(͡°͜ʖ͡°)✧ "Master! I've mastered it! That Whisper of the Divine thing—so predicting atomic trajectories feels like this? Badass!"
Jiangnan was stunned: ∑(°口°๑) "You can do it too? This can be learned later? You..."
Badi scratched his head, looking shy:
୧(๑⁼̴ꇴ⁼̴) "I can only predict about 21 seconds into the future. Just mastered it, not very skilled yet. Don't laugh at me, Nanshen. As a Transcendent, I'm not as strong as Master, who hasn't even reached Transcendent!"
"Once I get more practice, I'm definitely going to surpass Master!"
Jiangnan: (๑≥3≤)～Pfft～
Olivia: (|||꒪ͦ3꒪ͦ)～Pfft～
"Just mastered it, not very skilled"? I'm a once-in-a-millennia genius of my race! I can only predict thirty seconds, and you just learned and can already predict 21?
Even Wen Ge, a Planet Destroyer, couldn't do that long!
Jiangnan swallowed hard:
(๑◔﹏◔ิ๑) "Are you sure you don't have Apocalypse blood in your ancestry?"
Badi was confused: "Why do you ask? I'm a pure human!"
Olivia turned around and started drawing circles on the floor with her finger.
(*꒦ິ～꒦ີ) "Heh~ what genius... just a noob girl bragging about herself, wuwu~"
Jiangnan's eyes flickered. The diversity of human abilities was really being showcased.
Could it be that humans possess the abilities of all races? They just haven't developed them as thoroughly?
After all, from the beginning of spiritual energy recovery until now, it hasn't been many years. Compared to the starry sky races with hundreds of millions of years of development, human ability development still lags far behind.
If that's the case...
"Badi? Interested in opening a repair shop?"
Badi: ???
Just then, they heard Wu Liang calling from inside:
(‧̣̥̇ﾟ㉨ﾟ)ﾂ "Brother Nan! Bad news! Come look!"
Jiangnan was startled and quickly teleported into the hall. He saw Wu Liang, Xiong Er, Xiao Jiuwo, and the others all pale-faced.
"What's going on?"
Wu Liang quickly showed Jiangnan the wanted list on the smart brain.
"Brother Nan! You're wanted! Holy crap! Over one hundred and ten billion star source points! Sister Jiang Ning said star source points are very rare. What does over a hundred billion mean?"
Jiang Ning's pretty face was pale:
(•́﹏•̀٥) "Jiangnan's bounty alone is worth three planets..."
Everyone's scalps tingled. What? Three planets?
Little Nan himself was worth three planets?
Jiangnan looked closely and broke into a grin:
(*ﾟﾛﾟ) "Oh ho? The portrait on the wanted list has been updated. Shield Guild's information updates are pretty timely!"
It was no longer the black ghost image, but Jiangnan's normal human appearance, and the race had changed to human.
Jiang Ning covered her face: (ﾉ)﹏(ヾ) "You can still laugh? You're ranked second on the wanted list! Besides the first one, you're the top target!"
"Could the Bose race be behind this, trying to eliminate you this way?"
Jiangnan shook his head: "Not really. I already had a bounty when I first arrived at Thousand Stars City."
"I've been on the wanted list for a while. This hundred-billion bounty was crowdfunded by millions of starry sky races. It's not from the Bose race."
Jiang Ning nearly spat out her jelly upon hearing this.
You already had a bounty that early? Carrying a hundred-billion bounty? How did you even survive and return from Thousand Stars City?
Wu Liang's mouth twitched: "Hundred-billion bounty crowdfunded by all races? Brother Nan, what kind of heinous things did you do?"
"Your usual consistency is solid, huh?"
Jiangnan looked shy:
୧(๑⁼̴⥎⁼̴) "Oh, nothing much. Just fought some star pirates, roasted some angels, danced a bit, dismantled a black street, that's all~"
Jiang Ning: (´-﹏-`；)
She suddenly remembered the video call from before, when Jiangnan said nothing was wrong, just small scenes, no need to worry. And this was still a small scene?
Mentioning this, Jiangnan suddenly remembered something: "Oh right, I still have quite a few star source energy blocks here. I've been used to eating chaff and drinking thin soup—it's time to switch to gourmet delicacies!"
"Should be able to push my level up a bit."
With that, he opened his alternate dimension and dragged out three star source treasure chests.
Jiang Ning was stunned: "Each treasure chest holds ten billion star source energy blocks! How much did you sell those incense beads for?"
She clearly saw about eighty or ninety star source treasure chests in Jiangnan's alternate dimension!
Jiangnan grinned: "Not much! Just caught good timing. Everyone, try cultivating with these~"
"I still have about eight hundred billion left. Later, we'll upgrade the rations for humanity's peak combatants and see if we can squeeze out a few more Transcendents."
Previously, he'd filled over thirty star source rings without even finishing one chest's worth, because nine hundred billion was an astronomically large number.
He brought them back for everyone to use.
Wu Liang was dumbfounded. Eight hundred billion?
Holy crap! Compared to that, Jiangnan's hundred-billion bounty wasn't even a big deal!
He brought back all these powerful equipment and still had this much money left?
Had Brother Nan robbed Thousand Stars City?
Everyone quickly opened the chests, took out star source energy blocks, and tried cultivating.
The moment they did, their eyes turned red.
Xia Yao exclaimed: "Star source energy is so amazing? It directly converts into spiritual energy suited to one's own attributes?"
"This is much more efficient than directly absorbing spirit pearls!"
Wu Liang covered his face. Now he finally understood why Brother Nan said they'd been eating chaff and drinking thin soup before.
So the starry sky races had always been using this to cultivate?
Jiangnan immediately slapped a box of Heart-Pounding Pop Rocks onto the treasure chest.
(๑¯ิٹ¯ิ) "So~ ready to start the grind?"
Everyone grabbed the pop rocks with determined expressions.
Grind!
Olivia watched them, utterly bewildered. Seriously?
They'd just finished the Star Ruins war and weren't even taking a break? They started cultivating directly?
This was killing themselves!
With the star source energy blocks out, everyone's cultivation enthusiasm soared.
Jiangnan planned to distribute the remaining eight hundred billion to everyone. Money could be earned again, but in special times, it had to be used on the blade's edge.
Even after the great battle, Blue Star's humans showed no slack. And in the starry sky, the fermentation of the Blue Star incident was far more ferocious than anyone had imagined.