Fluorescent lights shone down on a lab filled with cold, pale colors. The temperature in the underground laboratory was chilly, and on a series of single beds lay one Beastman after another.

The beds were spaced closely together.

Jiang Zheyu started toward the first bed in the front row, but after a few steps, she noticed Shan Xun hadn’t followed her.

’It’s not that I’m scared,’ she thought, ’but this lab really looks too much like a morgue. I just wanted someone else with me to make it feel a little less dead.’

Shan Xun watched the female take a few steps, then suddenly stop and turn back toward him. Confusion flickered in his eyes, his sharp, cold gaze—which always carried a "don’t mess with me" air—fixed on Jiang Zheyu. "What’s wrong?"

Jiang Zheyu stopped in front of Shan Xun. His tone made the words catch in her throat.

’His tone is still so harsh.’

She hesitated for a moment before speaking. "Could you try not to sound so harsh when you speak?"

"Harsh?" The ridge of Shan Xun’s brow twitched violently. "I was being harsh?"

’She clearly has no idea what I look like when I’m actually being harsh.’

The look on Shan Xun’s face soured. ’Am I really that harsh?’

"I-I was just making a suggestion," Jiang Zheyu said quickly, seeing his expression darken. "I’ll go heal the Beastmen now."

His brow furrowed so deeply he looked like a man-eating King Yanluo. Jiang Zheyu instantly lost the nerve to ask him to accompany her.

’I don’t need the company if it comes with that menacing aura.’

Jiang Zheyu sighed softly and asked her system, "System, are you there?"

’Maybe the system can provide some company.’

"System is present," its mechanical female voice responded.

’Is the system’s company good enough?’ Jiang Zheyu wondered.

Meanwhile, Shan Xun frowned and walked to the laboratory entrance. He looked at the two Beastman guards posted on either side, staring at them for a long time as a storm of irritable emotions churned in his eyes.

Ever since this female arrived, Shan Xun felt his irritation growing steadily. He couldn’t pinpoint the reason for it, and the female never seemed to speak to him frankly.

The Beastman guard had been standing dutifully at his post when he felt Captain Shan’s death glare lock onto him. He’d been staring for a while now, and cold sweat began to bead on the guard’s forehead. ’Why is Captain Shan staring at me?’

"Hey," Shan Xun asked with a frown, "am I harsh?"

The two Beastmen immediately dropped to one knee, their bodies trembling slightly. They’d heard that Captain Shan had once broken a rebellious subordinate’s bones with a single kick. The thought was terrifying.

One of them hastily replied, "Captain Shan, whatever I’ve done wrong, please just tell me!"

Shan Xun’s brow furrowed even deeper. ’?’

He glanced at the two trembling Beastmen and finally said, "It’s nothing."

Shan Xun walked back into the laboratory, but instead of approaching Jiang Zheyu, he leaned against the entrance, waiting for her.

’I have to watch over the female from here.’

’What if she faints while she’s healing?’

’I’ve heard that healing is extremely draining on a female’s spiritual power.’

Meanwhile, Jiang Zheyu, oblivious to Shan Xun’s thoughts, had reached the side of the first Beastman in the front row.

The Beastman’s eyes were closed. If not for his normal skin tone and the slight rise and fall of his chest, Jiang Zheyu would have mistaken him for a corpse.

Jiang Zheyu slowly reached out and took the Beastman’s large hand. His temperature was normal, not cold like a dead man’s.

The warmth and texture eased the gruesome feeling of touching a corpse.

’This place really does look too much like a morgue. Thankfully, the Beastmen here don’t feel like bodies.’

Jiang Zheyu felt a little more at ease.

She entered his Spiritual Domain Space and found a large, sleeping lion.

Jiang Zheyu relaxed even more. ’I can pet the big fluffy kitty to my heart’s content.’

After purifying one Beastman, she looked at the rows of others behind him. Going down the line and holding each one’s hand seemed like a lot of trouble.

’I’m a female with 5S Spiritual Power now. I should be able to purify them without physical contact, right?’

Jiang Zheyu decided to try. Moving to the second Beastman’s corpse—bah, body—she didn’t take his hand. Instead, she closed her eyes and unfurled her Spiritual Touch Silk.

She sensed the spiritual power fluctuations around her and accurately located the nearest Beastman’s. Her Spiritual Touch Silk extended toward it and quickly entered his Spiritual Domain!

When Jiang Zheyu saw the Beastman’s Spiritual Domain and the sleeping lion within, she felt a surge of excitement and joy.

’I did it!’

’Now that I have Level 5s spiritual power, I don’t need to touch the Beastmen anymore. I can just extend my Spiritual Touch Silk to purify them.’

Moreover, when she had closed her eyes and extended her spiritual power, she had noticed other spiritual power fluctuations as well. ’Does this mean that if I split my spiritual power and send it into those other fluctuations, I can purify several Beastmen at once?’

With that thought, Jiang Zheyu began to do just that.

She closed her eyes, and her Spiritual Domain expanded, instantly enveloping twenty Beastmen.

Jiang Zheyu proceeded to purify all twenty of them simultaneously.

It took an hour to purify twenty Beastmen at once. Jiang Zheyu then tried to see if her Spiritual Domain could expand even further to encompass more Beastmen, which would allow her to purify even more at the same time.

This would save her some time.

Jiang Zheyu gave it a try. At her current Level 5s spiritual power, she could simultaneously purify twenty-five Beastmen.

By dusk, Jiang Zheyu had purified all one hundred Beastmen in the laboratory.

Her spiritual power had also risen from Level 5s to 7S Spirit Power.

Jiang Zheyu felt a little dazed, as if she’d lost track of all time.

It wasn’t the exhaustion from overusing her spiritual power, though. It was the dizzying sensation of possessing 7S Spirit Power, a power so great it felt unreal.

After all, the fatigue vanished each time her Spiritual Power Level increased, so she didn’t feel tired at all.

With her current 7S Spirit Power, she could probably purify a hundred people in about an hour tomorrow.

’The sheer power was terrifying.’

"What’s wrong?" Seeing the female just standing there in a daze, Shan Xun frowned, walked to Jiang Zheyu’s side, and grabbed her by the shoulder.

He saw that Jiang Zheyu was still completely out of it. Frowning deeply, he swept her up into his arms in a princess carry and rushed toward the Research Institute’s hospital.

Being scooped up into his arms finally snapped Jiang Zheyu out of it. "I’m fine, I’m fine!" she said hurriedly.

She had just been trying to get a feel for her 7S Spirit Power.

But Shan Xun acted as if he hadn’t heard her, stubbornly holding on to her as he charged toward the hospital.

Being held by someone who was running so fast gave Jiang Zheyu the impression that she was incredibly light.

’Otherwise, how could he run so fast while carrying me!’