Chapter 307

Hot air flowed through his throat, causing a series of slight stinging pains in Li Xiao's lungs.

Feeling the high-temperature environment around him, Li Xiao had no choice but to circulate the spiritual power in his body, temporarily converting it into ice-cold spiritual power to continuously cool himself down.

He continued walking through this dangerous factory area, constantly clearing debris, transporting supplies, building temporary fortifications, sealing toxic leaks, and assisting in the repair of spiritual energy pathways and formations...

Although Li Xiao had been extremely careful, an accidental explosion still left large burns on his body.

And after continuously breathing the toxic substances remaining in the air, his internal organs ached dully, and his limbs gradually felt slightly numb.

Even so, although the work before him was dangerous and arduous, thinking of the five times pay, Li Xiao felt a surge of motivation in his already exhausted body.

"Once I finish this stint, the next time Ying Xin and the others ask me to go cultivate together, I won't have to refuse anymore."

"And I won't have to worry about this month's loan interest..."

Just as Li Xiao sped up to transport a batch of spirit-conducting materials, a strange fragrance suddenly reached his nose.

The next moment, Li Xiao felt the world spin, his body swayed, and then he fell to the ground with a thud.

He struggled to get up, but found that his normally powerful limbs were now weak and limp; after a few twists, he collapsed back to the ground.

At the same time, the sweet fragrance in the air grew stronger, making his consciousness increasingly hazy.

"Not good..."

"It's a toxic leak..."

Li Xiao bit his tongue sharply, trying to sober himself up a bit, but the toxin came fiercely and rapidly, making him feel the strength drain from his body swiftly; gradually, he could no longer feel the muscle power in his hands and feet.

"No, if this continues, the poisoning will get deeper..."

A trace of fear appeared in Li Xiao's eyes; he struggled to keep his eyes wide open, fighting against the increasingly heavy drowsiness in his mind.

He was truly afraid that if he blinked, when he woke up again, he would find himself deep in the spirit realm.

And then discover that to pay the medical fees for treating his physical injuries, his physical body had been mortgaged, and his soul was waiting to be assigned a job to repay the debt.

"Damn legs! Get up!"

At this moment, a hint of regret welled up in Li Xiao's heart: "If I had known, I wouldn't have taken such a risk."

"Earn a little less, spend a little less... what would it have mattered?"

Just as Li Xiao was feeling both fear and regret, a pair of large hands grabbed his neck and lifted him up like a kitten.

Then, the sound of wind breaking rang out around him, and the scenery before Li Xiao's eyes changed.

When he came to his senses, he found that he and several other workers had been thrown onto the open ground at the factory gate with a thud.

Breathing the normal air outside, a wave of relief surged in Li Xiao's heart. He looked up at Zhang Yu's retreating back, his gaze turning complicated.

Ying Xin, watching from the side, thought to herself: "Risking bankruptcy to rush in and make money, yet still had time to save people?"

She shook her head, already too lazy to look this way any longer, and lifted her leg to leave.

Just then, a few security guards walked over and said to Li Xiao and the others, "Everyone cooperate. We need to check to make sure you haven't accidentally brought any dangerous substances out of the factory."

Li Xiao knew this was to prevent them from secretly bringing things out of the factory.

Just then, several packets of pharmaceutical raw materials were found on one of the workers.

The guard said, "Captain, we found the person who stole two tons of supplies."

The worker was shocked and said, "I only stole these two packets."

"I didn't steal as much as two tons!"

On the other side, Zhang Yu had already walked back into the billowing smoke and dust.

Zhang Yu's physical body had originally been tempered through countless refinements, possessing strength far beyond his peers.

And with the blessing of the Earth and Wood Sacred Body, his body had terrifying protection against all kinds of dangers in the current factory area.

The blazing heat swept across his skin like a warm breeze.

The toxic and harmful substances in the air rushed into his mouth and nose, bringing waves of a refreshingly sweet fragrance.

As for the unexpected explosions, the fragments shooting out with the blasts, and the rolling toxic smoke and dust... none of them could easily harm Zhang Yu at the moment.

Even if they occasionally caused damage to his body, he could rely on the bodily activation from the Crippled Ox Devotion Heart Technique to speed up his injury recovery.

Returning to the spot where Li Xiao had just fallen, Zhang Yu thought to himself, "Now there's no one else on site."

He found the place where the toxic substance had just leaked and collected the alloy fragments around that no one seemed to want.

Wiping the saliva from the corner of his mouth, Zhang Yu really wanted to swallow these alloys right now but did not do so.

After all, the environment was still dangerous, and he still needed his Earth-Saint Body to ensure safety.

And if he didn't switch to the Grand-Saint Body, without its super-strong digestive power and the boost to skill effects, both the efficiency and effectiveness of eating would be greatly reduced.

So he planned to collect them first, and before leaving the factory area after his shift, find a safe spot to switch to the Grand-Saint Body and savor them.

So Zhang Yu temporarily tucked the alloy fragments into his bosom and then looked toward another pile of ruins, where wild polymer materials from the pharmaceutical workshop lay.

Thus, for the rest of the time, Zhang Yu worked in the factory area while gathering some unwanted wild ingredients on the side.

Zhang Yu felt like a country bumpkin coming to a seafood buffet for the first time—his biggest problem was, facing the dazzling array of dishes, not knowing which ones were more valuable or more nourishing, so he just took a little of everything and planned to try them all later.

Besides all the unwanted materials lying around, what made Zhang Yu most eager were the various pharmaceutical raw materials.

But without having activated the Grand-Saint Body, he similarly didn't plan to eat them carelessly—just collect them first, and after switching to the Grand-Saint Body, he would rely on his powerful eating ability to taste them one by one.

At the factory gate.

Li Xiao felt that he had recovered quite a bit—at least his limbs were no longer numb, his head was no longer dizzy, and the pain from his burns had become extremely clear.

During Li Xiao's rest, he watched Zhang Yu carry injured workers out of the factory several times and drop them on the ground nearby.

This made Li Xiao's gaze toward Zhang Yu grow increasingly complicated.

In his view, wasting one's own work time to help others like this... was the epitome of foolishness.

"Hiss..."

Feeling the increasingly painful burns on his body, Li Xiao knew that if he didn't treat these injuries, his studies and cultivation would likely be affected.

Fortunately, the area outside the factory still connected to the spirit network.

With a thought, he already summoned a remote medical service.

A moment later, a doctor's figure appeared in his eye-helmet and performed an examination.

Five minutes later, a medical student had arrived beside Li Xiao.

With a few bursts of magical power, several silver needles were inserted, and finally a dose of medicine was administered—Li Xiao felt much better.

But a few minutes later, when he saw the medical bill appear in his eye-helmet, he felt severely injured again.

"0.78 spirit coins? How can it be so expensive?!"

Although part of it was covered by medical insurance, Li Xiao knew this would still be a huge burden on him, and his insurance premium next year was sure to skyrocket.

Before he could calm down, he found that his medical insurance claim had not been approved.

"Why won't they reimburse me?!"

While Li Xiao was arguing with the insurance company, today's payment reminder arrived.

This month's loan interest had been overdue for three days.

After hesitating, Li Xiao contacted his uncle.

Uncle: First, send me your credit information and spending list.

Uncle: 30 spirit coins?! You've spent that much in just five months?

Li Xiao: My classmates invited me to train together—I couldn't refuse, or else how could I keep up with my grades?

Li Xiao: Also, a better eye-helmet is necessary, otherwise my learning efficiency would suffer.

Seeing that his uncle had stopped replying, Li Xiao let out a deep sigh.

Just then, Tusli Mountain issued a notice announcing that the rescue and repair work at the pharmaceutical factory had another pay raise—now at eight times the normal wage.

Looking at the nearby area billowing with thick smoke, Li Xiao gritted his teeth.

"Take a gamble! As long as I earn this money, as long as I get this 8x pay, as long as I’m more careful, I can definitely make it through..."

Thinking of all the immortal cultivation services and products he enjoyed with Ying Xin and the others, thinking of the one-eyed corpse he sold, thinking of his current ranking...

Li Xiao couldn't bear to let these things slip away from him.

He deeply understood that in Kunxu, one could lack anything but money.

So he stood up again and charged into the rolling smoke and dust.

It wasn’t just Li Xiao. As wages increased, some of the workers who had originally withdrawn, been injured, or left gradually began to return and once again rush into the thickly smoking factory area.

Inside the factory area.

Watching the increasing number of workers around him, Zhang Yu frowned slightly, thinking that with so many people and eyes around, it was becoming inconvenient for him to pick up things.

"Especially a bunch of Qi Refining kids. Even if their wages double a few times, how much is that? Is it worth working so hard?"

Zhang Yu shook his head. Fortunately, the toxic smoke and dust were his best cover, allowing him to continue his actions.

And because he was collecting more and more things, Zhang Yu simply hid the items in several deeper ruins. Then he discovered... the items in one of the spots had been picked up.

"Damn it... I knew I wasn't the only one picking up things."

Before the end of his shift, Zhang Yu took out the remaining items and moved to a relatively safe spot.

After using a detection ritual to confirm there were no cameras nearby, Zhang Yu opened the Feather Book, flipped to the chapter on the Chain Method Diagram, dragged and dropped various techniques, and switched from the Earth Wood Sacred Body to the Great Learning Sacred Body.

Unlike technique specialization, which requires a day of cooldown before switching, the Chain Method Diagram can be switched at any time, just needing a few seconds.

Then he grabbed several metal fragments and opened his mouth to swallow them into his stomach.

His peak Foundation Establishment digestive power suddenly activated. Under the enhancement of the Earth Devouring Divine Art, it ground those alloys into powder and refined them into Zhang Yu's bones.

Zhang Yu thought to himself: "Hmm... this alloy is really hard. It should be usable for strengthening bones, right?"

"This polymer material has both flexibility and strength. Can it be refined into the skin?"

"What is this colloidal substance?"

"Ah, I don't have enough knowledge. I need to go back and look it up..."

So Zhang Yu, while eating, noted down the properties, appearance, and taste of various materials.

"Wild ones are a bit more fragrant."

But Zhang Yu soon discovered that not everything could be digested by him.

At least three materials that looked extraordinary at a glance could not be digested even with his digestive power plus the level 20 Earth Devouring Divine Art; in the end, he could only spit them back out.

After this experience, Zhang Yu became more cautious about the raw materials leaked from the pharmaceutical factory, afraid of eating something even he couldn't handle.

Zhang Yu thought to himself: "I need to ask Sister to identify what these things are."

Zhang Yu increasingly felt the importance of knowledge and information; otherwise, entering a buffet, you wouldn't even know which items are good.