Chapter 238: Ten Days Left"The Medicine King Divine Manual and the Pity Flower Treasure Manual have given me significant insights," Little Aunt said. "They've allowed me to make breakthroughs in my medical cultivation, so I need to try some new things... But don't worry, it's a good thing."
Li Xiaofei nodded thoughtfully. Little Aunt then left to tend to her newly cultivated medicinal herbs. Meanwhile, Li Xiaofei made his way to the Cloudy Sky Gang headquarters.
He began refining his starforce qi in a specially designed training room. Using the Five Qi Origin Technique: Introductory Chapter to refine the qi vortex within him was an energy-intensive process and required constant external energy replenishment.
After drinking a vial of fourth-generation Starforce Reagent, Li Xiaofei realized that its effects were barely noticeable.
"My strength now rivals that of a Meridian Expanding Realm expert. For someone at that level, fourth-generation Starforce Reagents are meaningless. It seems I need better Starforce Reagents to advance further."
Li Xiaofei recognized this crucial point. He logged onto the light-network and entered the light core virtual world, opening the online marketplace. Right now, since he had absorbed the assets of the four major gangs and received compensation from the Ye family, he was already a multimillionaire.
Even after donating a million to Red Flag High School, he still had plenty left. It was more than enough to support the purchase of higher-grade Starforce Reagents. However, even after a thorough search of the marketplace, Li Xiaofei found nothing. To his surprise, his current light-network access level did not even allow him to search for fifth-generation Starforce Reagent products.
Such a headache!
Li Xiaofei exited the light core and immediately called his agent, Xiao Hongye.
"Fifth-generation Starforce Reagents?" Xiao Hongye sounded surprised. "Fourth-generation ones aren't enough for you anymore?"
Li Xiaofei was in no mood for small talk and replied, "Just tell me if you can get them or not." Searᴄh the nôvelFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.
Xiao Hongye chuckled in exasperation as she said, "Oh, you little brat! You want your big sister to do you a favor, and you're still acting all high and mighty... Do you even realize that your biggest backer in Liuhe Base City is about to be unreliable?"
"What do you mean?" Li Xiaofei was taken aback.
Xiao Hongye explained, "I've just received the news. After returning to report, Inspector Li Zhoumin was so outstanding that he was promoted to a position in Lanfu Base City's Star Council branch. Liuhe Base City is getting a new Inspector, who will be arriving very soon."
"Is that really happening?" exclaimed Li Xiaofei in shock.
This was definitely bad news for him. Teacher Li had always been incredibly supportive, not to mention how much protection and guidance he provided. With Teacher Li overseeing Liuhe Base City, no matter how much trouble Li Xiaofei caused, it could always be smoothed over.
However, Li Xiaofei quickly regained his composure.
"Teacher Li has been promoted? That's great news." He said, "When the official appointment comes through, I’ll have to prepare a gift to properly congratulate him on his promotion."
Xiao Hongye was a bit surprised. "Aren't you even a little worried?"
Li Xiaofei chuckled and said, "Of course, I’m a little concerned. But I've always acted with integrity and without any evil intentions, so I have nothing to fear. Besides, if I keep living under Teacher Li's protection, how could I ever develop the heart of a true warrior?"
There was a brief moment of silence before Xiao Hongye finally responded, "Alright, the fifth-generation Starforce Reagents will be delivered to you tomorrow."
"Thanks."
"Thanks? Save it. Just remember to transfer the money—one million star coins per vial."
"What? That expensive?"
"If it's too much, you don't have to buy them."
"No, no, I want them! Give me five vials."
"Looks like someone's gotten rich."
The conversation took on a lighter tone. After hanging up the phone, Li Xiaofei was deep in thought.
Teacher Li's sudden reassignment from Liuhe Base City cannot possibly be a coincidence at this critical moment. The idea that the Ye family might have had a hand in this would be hard to dismiss.
This realization hit him hard. Even though he had inadvertently disrupted the Ye family's plans at Duxing Hospital and helped City Leader Tan through a difficult situation, the overall situation in Liuhe Base City hadn't improved significantly.
The Ye family, after years of patience, was now executing their plans with precision. Everything was falling into place like a well-oiled machine. Two of the major powers in Liuhe Base City, City Leader Tan and the Inspector, had both been ensnared by the Ye family's schemes.
What about Commander Ding? Will he be an exception?
Li Xiaofei realized that both he and the Cloudy Sky Gang needed to start preparing for the worst. They needed to brace themselves for a tough winter. But the most crucial piece of preparation was to quickly strengthen himself. Only strength could guarantee survival in this world.
He believed that once he refined all the remaining qi vortices within him and consolidated them into a singular force within his dantian, his strength would increase dramatically. He would be able to hold his own against ordinary Five Spirits Realm experts.
Clearing his thoughts, Li Xiaofei began to practice the True Dragon Breathing Technique, cultivating in the most natural and primal way. The night passed in the blink of an eye. The next morning, Li Xiaofei stood atop the city walls, slaying star beasts while continuing his online studies.
The frequency of beast tides assaulting the base city was increasing, with high-intensity attacks coming almost every hour. The constant pressure was wearing down the garrison troops on the wall.
At a crucial moment, the Ye family surprisingly sent a large amount of supplies to support the soldiers. Ye Guanzhen held a news conference later that morning, representing the Ye family, as he publicly apologized to all the citizens once again and solemnly announced that Duxing Hospital would be confiscated and donated to the city government.
Additionally, he declared that the Ye family would unilaterally terminate their cooperation agreement with the Jiepeng delegation and indefinitely shut down the New Martial Surgery Center. The Ye family would also pay a breach-of-contract penalty of 1 billion star coins to Jiepeng.
"All of this is worth it," Ye Guanzhen said sincerely. "The previous generation of the Ye family made significant errors in judgment and caused great harm to the feelings of the base city’s people. During this difficult time for the city, as the new head of the Ye family, I must set an example and work to regain the trust and support of the citizens."
He continued, "Moreover, as a deep reflection on the mistakes of the past years, all key members of the Ye family will enter seclusion for self-examination."
Ye Guanzhen spoke with great sincerity. After the press conference, public opinion overwhelmingly praised Ye Guanzhen's actions.
An hour later, several reporters coincidentally witnessed the Jiepeng medical corps being evacuated under the protection of their power armor field team, boarding aircraft for their departure. The entire event was broadcasted live.
The Jiepeng are gone!
The news spread quickly, leading to celebrations among many citizens. Shortly after, another piece of news circulated among the upper echelons of the city's elite. The political performance review team from the Northwest Region also returned to the regional capital, Lanfu Base City, today.
The month-long bureaucratic evaluation had officially ended. The Jiepeng people and the review team, the two major destabilizing factors that had been stirring up the situation in Liuhe Base City over the past few months, had finally left.
This seemed like a positive development for the city government. At least now, City Leader Tan Zhenwei could focus on maintaining order for the citizens amidst the ongoing star beast siege.
The next afternoon, Li Xiaofei received the five bottles of fifth-generation Starforce Reagents, personally delivered by Xiao Hongye. However, Xiao Hongye also brought bad news.
"The fact that you killed Gu Langtian has been discovered by the Gu family in Jiangnan. In ten days, Gu Langtian's father, Gu Juechen, will personally arrive in Liuhe Base City to avenge his son... To put it bluntly, unless something unexpected happens, you only have ten days left to live."