Interstellar Farming: I Make Potions and Climb to the Top

"That door is already broken. How are we supposed to get him out if we don’t dismantle it?" Dean Wen retorted, exasperated.

"If you’re scared, you can all leave first," a military officer said, concerned.

"Hurry up and dismantle the door," Dean Wen urged impatiently.

Once the blast-proof isolation door was dismantled, Dean Wen was the first to enter the isolation room. Ning Xuan followed without a moment’s hesitation. It was only after Ying Yaoshi and his men had also gone in that Qin Hongyu and her group reluctantly followed.

"Ah!" Qin Hongyu shrieked in terror the moment she saw Shen Shiye lying on the floor.

"He... how did he turn into... this?" Qin Hongyu shrieked, pointing a shrill finger at Shen Shiye.

Although Shen Shiye was in human form, his entire body was covered in cyan scales, and his hands were shaped like claws. The sight was rather unsettling.

"Hongyu, one more peep out of you and you’re out," Dean Wen warned. Red silk threads emanating from her hands were piercing Shen Shiye’s limbs and torso. Qin Hongyu’s shriek had startled him, nearly causing Dean Wen to miss her mark.

"Miss Ning, his Spiritual Sea still contains remnants of your spiritual power," Dean Wen said to Ning Xuan. "You handle cleaning up the contamination in his Spiritual Sea, and I’ll clear the toxins from his blood."

"Alright," Ning Xuan agreed, sending a tendril of her spiritual power into Shen Shiye’s mind.

The moment Ning Xuan’s spiritual tendril entered Shen Shiye’s Spiritual Sea, it was ensnared by a thick, dark substance.

The pollutants squirmed like living creatures, their surfaces oozing with slime, as they swarmed to envelop the intruder—Ning Xuan.

Ning Xuan’s spiritual tendril suddenly erupted with a brilliant light. It condensed into nine Golden Needles, which pierced precisely into the tangled black veins.

The pollutants in the Spiritual Sea exploded into a shower of black rain. As the drops fell, Ning Xuan’s spiritual power flared, its immense radiance vaporizing the dark contaminants.

Shen Shiye’s own spiritual power struggled free from the pollutants. Regaining the strength to fight back, it began to suppress the dark substances bit by bit.

Meanwhile, Dean Wen used her own unique healing method to cleanse the toxins from Shen Shiye’s bloodstream. With this two-pronged approach, the scales on Shen Shiye’s body began to retract after about twenty minutes.

His sharp claws reverted back to hands as well.

Ning Xuan withdrew from Shen Shiye’s Spiritual Sea. A moment later, Shen Shiye’s eyes opened.

Previously, under the influence of a berserk Mutant Beast Gene, Shen Shiye’s body had mutated, his spiritual power had collapsed, and he had lost control of his actions. However, he had retained a sliver of consciousness through it all. From the moment Ning Xuan appeared to soothe him with her spiritual power, to when her Companion Spirit’s flames suppressed his own berserk one, Shen Shiye remembered everything she had done for him.

He knew with perfect clarity that if Ning Xuan hadn’t appeared, he would have succumbed completely to the berserk state and been eliminated.

When Ning Xuan had just inserted her spiritual tendril into his Spiritual Sea to clear the pollutants, he had noticed something. His own Spiritual Sea offered no resistance to her spiritual power; in fact, it craved it.

"Miss, thank you for saving my life. I can never repay you for this kindness. I... I have three years of service left, after which I can choose to transfer or retire. Miss, I am willing to retire from service to form a Contract with you and live the rest of my life for you alone. Please, grant me this honor." Having just woken up, Shen Shiye immediately knelt before Ning Xuan and made his plea.

"Uh, there’s no need! I mean, Dean Wen also helped treat you. In fact, she was the one saving you from the very beginning, and she’s treated you plenty of times before, hasn’t she? If you want to repay someone, you should repay Dean Wen," Ning Xuan said, flustered.

"It looks like General Shen has taken a fancy to you. What does that have to do with saving his life?" Dean Wen pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose. "Come on. I’ve saved plenty of people, and not one of them has ever offered me their hand in return." She then left with her medical team.

"Miss, I—" Shen Shiye tried to say more, but Ying Yaoshi clapped him firmly on the shoulder. "Shen Shiye, Ning Xuan was willing to save you because you fight bravely on the battlefield and have rendered meritorious service to the Federation. She acted out of a sense of duty, not for personal reward."

"Let’s go, Xuanyuan." Ying Yaoshi put his arm around Ning Xuan and led her out of the isolation room.

"Hey, wait, what did General Ying mean by that? The young lady’s surname is Ning... Ning Xuan. What a beautiful name. Miss Ning Xuan saved my life, and I want to pursue her. Is there a problem with that?" Shen Shiye asked his comrades, confused.

"Yes. A very big problem," one of the officers said, his eyes full of sympathy for Shen Shiye.

"Don’t you even know who Miss Ning is? You open your eyes and immediately decide to woo her. You’re just asking for General Ying to make your life difficult." Seeing that Shen Shiye was out of danger, the other High-level Generals were now in the mood to joke around.

"What background? As far as I know, there’s no Ning among the great noble families of the Federation. Is she really that influential? It doesn’t matter. There’s no limit to the number of Contractors one can have. I’m a decorated Admiral Level officer of the Federation, and I’m not exactly hard on the eyes. Don’t I even qualify to be one of her Contractors?" In the past, Shen Shiye had been completely devoted to the battlefield with little interest in women. But after being saved by Ning Xuan today, his heart suddenly felt like it was in bloom—a feeling he had never known before.

"Why do you think Miss Ning is here at the base in the first place?"

"Don’t make him guess. Just tell him," one of the officers said bluntly. "Shiye, Ning Xuan is General Ying’s Contractor. You were asking where Yan Fuzhen went, weren’t you? He’s been by Ning Xuan’s side this whole time. General Ying assigned him to her."

The moment Shen Shiye heard that, he felt his world come crashing down.

General Ying’s Contractor... To them, this never-before-seen woman was no stranger at all.

Everyone had witnessed over the past year just how much General Ying cared for his Contractor. For her sake, he had planted countless intelligence agents on the Central Star. Thanks to this, their acquisition of strategic materials had gone exceptionally smoothly this year, and they were no longer being strong-armed by government departments on the battlefield.

’So that’s General Ying’s Contractor...’ Shen Shiye’s heart ached. ’Ah, why am I not so lucky? Miss Ning Xuan is beautiful and has a high Spiritual Power Level... and most importantly, she was willing to come all the way to the Ten Thousand Meteor Star Domain Battlefield for the Marshal.’ His budding feelings had been crushed before they even had a chance to sprout.

"Come on. You’re lucky enough to have made it out alive. The guys are throwing a banquet for you tonight. We’re not going home sober," a general said, slinging an arm around Shen Shiye’s shoulders.

"Alright. We’re not going home sober," Shen Shiye agreed.

"Gently, gently. You’re going to draw blood. It’ll get your hands dirty," Ying Yaoshi said softly to Ning Xuan.

"What is your relationship with that Qin Hongyu?" Ning Xuan asked, squeezing Ying Yaoshi’s arm.