Interstellar Farming: I Make Potions and Climb to the Top

At Ning Chuchu’s words, something seemed to occur to Bai Ruzhen. Her eyes flickered. She looked toward Ning Xuan, only to see her turn and leave. Bai Ruzhen waved for her Attendants to seize the girl, but she found that her own people were all restrained.

Wu Di moved to help Ning Chuchu up, but she was violently thrown aside. "Stay where you are! You all, grab her for me! Grab her!" Ning Chuchu staggered to her feet and tried to give chase, but with a wave of his hand, Yan Fuzhen sent her tumbling to the ground.

Ning Xuan glanced back, gave her a taunting smile, and then sauntered away.

"Chuchu, let’s go. I’m taking you to the information center for an examination." Bai Ruzhen had someone drag Ning Chuchu up and headed outside.

Yan Fuzhen’s men moved to block them, but he stopped them with a hand signal. As Ning Xuan was leaving, she had given an order: let Ning Chuchu go.

Yan Fuzhen didn’t know what Ning Xuan had planned. In his view, neither Ning Chuchu nor the Bai Family backing her could possibly pose any threat to Ning Xuan. Still, he would never allow anyone with malicious intent toward her to get close to her again.

"Notify Ye Geng. Have him take some men to watch Ning Chuchu. Keep her under strict surveillance. Record her every move and every word. Report any unusual activity in real time," Yan Fuzhen ordered.

"All personnel on duty today will report to the Criminal Law Institute to receive punishment. Yan Chong, you first deal with him. This incident must be reported to the Marshal. As for how the Marshal will handle you and me... wait for my word." Yan Fuzhen pointed at the restrained Wang Chen and spoke to Yan Chong.

Looking at Wang Chen, Yan Chong felt a bitter taste in his mouth. The man was just an A-level lackey. Every guard present was a hand-picked expert, any one of them far stronger than him. And yet, they had all been outmaneuvered by this insignificant nobody.

"Yes, Teacher." Yan Chong was the squad leader on assignment from the Central Star Public Security Bureau. He had been fully responsible for Ning Xuan’s protection detail today. But now that something had happened, his squad had been pulled for disciplinary action, and another team had taken their place. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

After bringing Ning Chuchu out, Bai Ruzhen boarded a private Flying Car parked on the side of the road and headed toward the information and diagnostics center.

Ning Chuchu felt uneasy. "Grandmother, can we go to the hospital first for treatment?"

"Are you injured? What treatment could you possibly need?" Bai Ruzhen’s expression had been cold ever since she heard that Ning Chuchu wanted to suck Ning Xuan’s blood.

The Bai Family’s history did indeed have precedents like Ning Chuchu. Individuals with weak alien Bloodline Power, hovering on the verge of awakening, would be driven by their alien genes to awaken their spiritual power by consuming the vital blood of a sister with the same bloodline. Awakenings of this nature never ended well. Either the donor couldn’t withstand the process and died prematurely, or the consumer couldn’t handle the foreign Bloodline Power and died from genetic collapse.

However, for someone in Ning Chuchu’s situation to have survived this long, if she could absorb the Original Bloodline of the already awakened Ning Xuan, she could truly resolve the underlying risks and complete her transformation.

Unfortunately, although Ning Xuan’s Level was low, she seemed to have found a powerful backer.

"Who is that steward of Ning Xuan’s? Do you know?" Bai Ruzhen asked.

"Isn’t he one of Chen Nan’s people?" In Ning Chuchu’s mind, Ning Xuan had only managed to escape her control because of the Contractor, Chen Nan. If he hadn’t interfered, she would have succeeded long ago.

"Hmph. It seems you have no idea." Bai Ruzhen snorted disdainfully. She couldn’t figure it out either. With the sharp eye she had developed over her long life, she could tell that the steward’s power was extraordinary. Forget Chen Nan; even she, the Bai Family Head, couldn’t afford a steward of that caliber.

Bai Ruzhen hadn’t just taken Ning Chuchu’s word for it regarding Ning Xuan’s personal situation. She had also had people investigate Ning Xuan and confirmed that, just as Ning Chuchu had said, she had barely awakened at the age of 17 and was mediocre in all respects. That was why Bai Ruzhen hadn’t paid her much mind. If she had known earlier that Ning Xuan would grow up to have such a face, she might have sent for her long ago.

"Stop the car. Nanzhi, take her to Shitan Hospital and hand her over to Bai Xiuci." After some thought, Bai Ruzhen felt something was still not right and decided to reinvestigate Ning Xuan’s background.

She took her people to the information center. She wanted to check Ning Xuan’s current Spiritual Power Level. Although personal information was protected by Federation law, it wasn’t as if she had no means to look it up.

However, as Bai Ruzhen looked at the information she had gone to great lengths to obtain, she frowned. It was identical to the information she had found three months ago.

But, according to Chuchu, Ning Xuan had come to Central Star this time to participate in the Alchemist Competition. Over on D618 Star, she had passed the Advanced Alchemist examination.

That didn’t add up. How could a D-level spiritual power possibly pass the Advanced Alchemist examination? Even a Spirit Controller, who excelled at the fine manipulation of spiritual power, would need to be C-level to be able to concoct a High-level Compound Potion and pass the Advanced Alchemist exam.

’If the news of Ning Xuan passing the Advanced Alchemist examination is true,’ Bai Ruzhen thought as her expression suddenly changed, ’then this personal information file in front of me is fake. Or rather, it’s encrypted.’

She stared at the data on the holographic screen, which was identical to her investigation three months prior, and her throat tightened. She had just used the most advanced decryption program the Bai Family possessed, even activating their deepest-planted mole within the information center, only to retrieve an encrypted file.

"Family Head, you have an urgent communication from Dean Bai." The voice of her accompanying steward sent a chill down her spine.

The moment the virtual screen materialized before her, Bai Ruzhen saw the stern face of her second daughter.

Behind Bai Xiurong was the Alchemist Association’s signature silver vortex wall. Next to her stood a high-ranking police superintendent in the uniform of the Inspection Department.

"Mother, three minutes ago the Inspection Department pulled today’s records of unauthorized access at the information center. Then they came to me." Bai Xiurong’s fingertips tapped silently on the desktop.

Bai Ruzhen’s pupils constricted as she watched the gesture. "Superintendent, I was the one investigating Ning Xuan’s information. This has nothing to do with my daughter. Ning Xuan is my granddaughter. I simply wanted to understand her situation better and was a bit hasty."

"Lady Bai, the personal information of every citizen is protected under Federation law. Miss Ning Xuan’s personal file has an extremely high protection level; only those with red-level clearance are qualified to view it. You used a three-layer decryption method in an attempt to analyze the encrypted file. According to the ’Special Regulations on the Protection of Federal Encrypted Information,’ your actions constitute the crime of endangering Federation information security. Please disarm all personal weaponry and submit to an investigation by the Inspection Department." As the high-ranking superintendent finished speaking, Bai Ruzhen’s face went pale. She wanted to offer a few words of defense, but seeing her second daughter’s expression, she swallowed them back down.