Interstellar Farming: I Make Potions and Climb to the Top

Seeing Tang Xue’s eyes instantly light up, Ning Xuan felt a headache coming on. She had taken an inexplicable liking to Tang Xue when they first met in the Lingxiao Secret Realm. Even after Zhou Yi’s sneak attack, Ning Xuan never sought to make trouble for Tang Xue. Now, watching Tang Xue cry, she found she couldn’t bear it.

"Miss Ning, the Wind Wolf Mercenary Corps isn’t a solid bloc internally. They have external competitors, and Zhou Tianqiao has several mortal enemies. Don’t worry, I’ve been planning this for a long time. It will take three months at most—one month, if things go quickly—and I’ll have everything settled." As Tang Xue spoke of this, her tone was filled with long-awaited excitement.

In fact, her counterattack against Zhou Tianqiao had already begun. Zhou Tianqiao himself had come out to capture Min Wu. Min Wu’s Combat Power was at its peak only when he was by her side, but staying with her made him an easy target for Zhou Tianqiao to find. After a few skirmishes, Min Wu had been injured.

"Let’s get this straight," Ning Xuan said, her eyes fixed on Tang Xue’s expression. "I can shelter him for you, but I need to be sure neither of you will cause any trouble. You both have to take a drug I’ve developed, just in case." Hearing this, Tang Xue seemed to drift off for a moment.

"What’s wrong? You’re not willing?" Ning Xuan asked with a slight smile.

"I am! We’re nothing but grateful to you, Miss Ning. Why would we have any ill intentions?" Tang Xue asked worriedly. "I just need to know, are there any harmful side effects? Min Wu has a unique constitution, and there are many drugs he can’t take."

"There won’t be. As long as you two behave and don’t cause any trouble, there are no side effects." ’Ning Xuan made this demand, figuring that Tang Xue wouldn’t push Min Wu on her unless she was truly at the end of her rope.’

"Then give it to me. I’ll take it right now," Tang Xue said decisively, holding out her hand.

"Not so fast. We’ll wait until after we’ve collected your ’white wolf.’ I want him to watch you take it." ’Ning Xuan couldn’t even remember what this Min Wu looked like, yet Tang Xue was willing to go to such lengths for him.’

That afternoon, Ning Xuan went with Tang Xue to pick the man up, but she was surprised when they arrived at the Controller Protection Association. "You hid him here?" she asked, astonished.

"He’s injured. It’s easy for him to be found if he’s with me, but I didn’t dare let him go too far, so I put him here. This is the most secure place I could think of." The Controller Protection Association had a very high security level—at least, it was the most secure place Tang Xue could find.

The manager on duty at the Protection Association came out to receive them. Seeing Ning Xuan and Tang Xue, he greeted them with a smile. "Miss Ning, Miss Tang."

"What brings you here today, Miss Ning?" the manager asked. "Is there perhaps a problem with the Contracted Slave the Protection Association sent over?"

"No, I’m with her. We’re here to pick someone up," Ning Xuan said, pointing to Tang Xue.

Tang Xue took a wooden plaque from her clothes. Inscribed on it were the words: Seventh Floor of Earth Store Pavilion.

The manager took the plaque, verified it, and then asked with some confusion, "Miss Tang, you only brought him in two days ago, and to the deepest part of the Earth Store Pavilion at that. According to the Protection Association’s rules, the subject hasn’t even officially started his training. Are you sure you want to retrieve him?"

"Yes. Thank you for your trouble these past two days," Tang Xue replied with a smile.

The Controller Protection Association was responsible for helping Controllers discipline the Contractors or Contracted Slaves under their command. If a Controller felt their Contractor was performing poorly, they could send them to the Protection Association for training.

The Protection Association’s Training Institute had seven floors, all of them underground. The deeper one went, the harsher the "training" and the stricter the security. The seventh floor was typically a confinement space reserved for high-risk Contractors, equipped with the most stringent security measures to prevent any chance of escape.

Tang Xue had sent Min Wu to the seventh floor precisely because its security was the tightest.

Led by a staff member, Tang Xue and Ning Xuan took an elevator down to the seventh floor of the Training Institute. Lin Mo, Chen Nan, and Tang Xue’s own people all remained upstairs.

When the elevator stopped, the staff member held a keycard under a camera. BEEP. "Authorization verified," a mechanical voice intoned. The doors slid open. As the three of them stepped out, a red light scanned their bodies. DING. "Welcome, Controllers, to the Earth Store Pavilion."

Then, a black alloy door slowly slid open, revealing an electromagnetic pulse net that pulsed with a cold, blue light. Arcs of electricity danced across its surface, emitting a constant CRACKLE and HISS.

Seeing the staff member walk straight through the net, Ning Xuan and Tang Xue stepped forward and did the same.

Beyond the black door lay a long hallway flanked by a series of doors made from a liquid-metal alloy. From the moment she stepped inside, Ning Xuan felt a heavy, oppressive pressure. A faint, cloying scent of blood lingered in the air.

The staff member led the way. "The seventh floor is protected by seventy-two dynamic defensive arrays, and certain sections are equipped with self-destruct protocols. No matter how high a person’s Combat Power, escape from here is impossible."

"And of course, without an escort, no one from the outside can get in, either."

"The rooms here have all been treated to be soundproof and lightproof. The oxygen content within is also regulated, maintained at the bare minimum required to sustain human life."

Still explaining, the staff member brought them to cell 123. He gestured for Tang Xue to place her wooden plaque into an indentation on the metal door. After a dozen or so seconds, there was a series of clicks and cracks—KRA-KA-KA—and the door split open down the middle like a cracking eggshell.

Faint light spilled through the opening into the cell. On the far wall, a pale-faced young man with matted hair was suspended by silver chains as thick as a thumb. His limbs were spread-eagled and shackled, and his head was yanked back by the neck, fixed in a position that made it look as though his spine would snap.

Tang Xue had brought him here in a rush, thinking he would simply be locked in a room. She never imagined this was the environment on the seventh floor.

Her heart wrenching, Tang Xue cried out, "Little Five!" When the young man didn’t react, she turned to the staff member in a panic. "What did you do to him? Why isn’t he responding?"

"There’s no need to worry, Miss Tang. His vital signs are stable," the staff member said, quickly trying to placate her. "I’ll get him down right now."

Tang Xue saw Min Wu staring at her with hollow, vacant eyes and was terrified. "Ning Xuan, please, take a look at him! What’s wrong with him?"

Ning Xuan reached out to feel his pulse, but the moment her hand got close, Min Wu flinched back as if he had been zapped by electricity. Then, as if snapping back to awareness, he slowly turned his head toward Tang Xue. He stared at her for ten seconds, his beautiful eyes gradually turning red. "Little Snow," he whispered, "I thought you didn’t want me anymore. Please, take me away. I don’t want to be here."

Looking at Min Wu’s deathly pale face, Tang Xue pulled him into an embrace and began to sob.