Chapter 445

Lin Li felt that asking someone for their promotion device just half an hour after meeting them was a rather impolite behavior.

At the very least, one should spend more time together and become good friends before asking.

Damn it, he was practically Zhu Ning's lifesaver, yet this lump of a guy turned around and wanted his family jewels — isn't that repaying kindness with enmity?

【Perhaps it is a fated encounter; when a beautiful girl discovers that you happen to possess something that might save her, her family and friends, even her country, she immediately begs you to help her.

If only a bit of hardship on your part can save countless lives, why would you refuse?】

【Mission triggered!】

【Mission Five: Do your utmost to satisfy the beautiful girl's request regarding this matter.】

【Mission Reward: Constitution Improvement: Stamina cap increased by 100%; Random System Item x1; System Currency x100】

Lin Li: "..."

Between Lin Li and the prostrate Zhu Ning, an illusory system screen popped up with a mission, displaying before Lin Li.

System, are you tomato-ing sick in the head?

Is this thing even something that can be issued as a mission?

You want me to cut it off?

Lin Li's gaze passed over the system, looking down at Zhu Ning — accurately speaking, at the "Fuyu Pill" inside Zhu Ning's body.

... Wait, this pill seems like it can heal recent bodily mutilation.

But the thought of "cut it off then eat the 'Fuyu Pill' to heal it back" did not appear in Lin Li's options because of that.

The reason was simple: Lin Li didn't want to do it.

Who knows what the "Fuyu Pill" restores.

In the novels he'd read, those badass healing pills usually restore injured parts to be "as tender as a baby's", don't they?

But if his thing grew back "as tender as a baby's" after eating the "Fuyu Pill", his fucking life would be ruined.

Damn it, just that image flashing in his mind — Lin Li first wanted to laugh, because he'd only imagined the lower half — but after imagining the upper half and realizing this body's face was his own, Lin Li instantly wanted to die.

That way, he wouldn't even measure up to Ceng Ziang in the future.

Because he wouldn't even have the qualification to be bulging and full.

However, honestly, even if the "Fuyu Pill" guaranteed restoration to its original state, Lin Li still wouldn't consider doing it.

It wasn't because the reward was too little; even if this mission rewarded 1000 system currency, Lin Li still wouldn't be interested.

Lin Li was someone who, in his modern cultivation daily life, occasionally slacked off to date, chat in groups, and watch videos; he never felt the system's missions were above his life. He did every previous mission only because, although Lin Li occasionally complained, he didn't truly dislike these missions.

Doing them was quite fun, and there were rewards; most of the time, Lin Li enjoyed himself.

But this mission Lin Li really couldn't enjoy — just thinking about it felt creepy.

As for whether doing so could save countless lives, Lin Li didn't care.

Never mind that the system world had no sense of reality; seriously, even if the real world told Lin Li that cutting it off would bring world peace and give peace to countless people trapped in war, Lin Li wouldn't do it.

Ultimately, Lin Li felt he was still a selfish egoist, so if this mission really required him to cut once, he'd better be prepared for it to hang in the mission list for a lifetime.

With his mind settled, Lin Li's gaze turned to Zhu Ning, appearing slightly indifferent:

"Sorry, my promotion device has been accompanying me since birth and will forever choose to stand before me; even when I face great danger, it has never retreated — except when the weather is very cold, but in that case I don't blame it; it's because I wore too little.

Between it and me, a deep bond has already been formed; we will never part for a lifetime.

Besides, I only have this one; if I give it to someone else, I won't have it anymore.

Miss Zhu, please have some self-respect; whether from an emotional or rational standpoint, I cannot possibly gift it to anyone, nor lend it."

If Niuniu had its own soul, hearing Lin Li's words, it would probably lose control and pee its eyes out.

Zhu Ning, who had been waiting for the result, was slightly stunned upon hearing Lin Li's answer — so this thing is such an inconvenient thing? How is it not quite the same as in her understanding?

But regardless, her inexplicable rash request being refused by the other party was only natural, not even requiring a reason.

"Sorry, I was too anxious," Zhu Ning's voice was full of apology, "I didn't know that in your world, males originally only have one, so precious..."

Lin Li: "(；o_o)?"

Huh? In your world, those former males originally had many?

That's impressive.

Perhaps the reason for extinction lies therein.

"It's fine," Lin Li shook his head; seeing Zhu Ning fall silent with no intention of continuing, he took the initiative to speak, pushing the conversation forward:

"However, what I'm curious about is, Miss Zhu, why do you want my thing? Is it important to you and the country behind you? What exactly is the situation with this world?"

"Sorry! Mr. Lin Li, you've been sharing information about your world, but I forgot to introduce our world's situation first." Prompted by Lin Li, Zhu Ning realized it had been one-way output from the other party all along, and her apology deepened.

She fell silent for a moment, seemingly organizing her words, then cleared her throat and began to narrate slowly:

"As for our world... we don't refer to it as a planet; we choose to call this land beneath us the 'Crystal Cluster Continent'.

As you can see, our 'humans' have vastly different appearances from you, but a very, very long time ago, perhaps we were once similar; a very, very long time ago, our bodies were not like this either."

"Our world does not have the peace your world possesses; our entire continent has always been mired in the fires of war."

"But it is not infighting; rather, all of us humans share a common enemy.

They are alien creatures that arrived a very, very long time ago — generations of 'Grandmothers' ago — and we call them 'Black Insects'."

"Most of these alien creatures have low intelligence and act on instinct, but among them exist high-ranking Black Insects that can command lesser Black Insects, as well as Black Insect Queens.

And their ultimate goal is to occupy this continent."

"To combat them, based on former armor technology, we developed a large number of combat mechs — the very kind you possess."

"And the reason I crashed here today is also thanks to them."

"I am a pilot of the Third Exploration Legion belonging to the 'Azure Alliance'."

"The 'Azure Alliance' is one of the several major allied nations on our continent; we and the other allied nations are actually also allies — after all, everyone's purpose is to fight the Black Insects, so there is absolutely no need for infighting at this moment.

It's just that each major allied nation has its own specific alien stronghold areas to guard or clear, and due to geographical reasons, they usually only have communication, rarely any large-scale offline exchanges."

"I was on a patrol mission today and ran into an extremely cunning ambush — in short, the Black Worms seemed to know I'd pass through that airspace and set a trap."

"My Construct mecha was heavily damaged, causing me to crash and ultimately fall here — the bottom of 'Silent Canyon'."

"The bottom of this canyon is permeated by a 'Silent Field'; current research believes it's the result of a special mineral vein's energy leaking from underground combined with interference devices left behind by the alien invaders in the early days."

"It has an extremely strong suppressive and destructive effect on the technology and energy that constitute our Construct mechas, and whether it's our 'human bodies' or the 'Black Worms', both feel discomfort inside the 'Silent Field' and suffer continuous erosion and weakening effects..."

Lin Li raised an eyebrow slightly.

Listening to Zhu Ning's brief description, he gained a rough outline of the world outside the canyon in his mind.

These alien creatures... the world settings the System took me to are all quite classic.

But then Lin Li grew somewhat curious: "These 'Black Worms' are this hard to deal with, you've developed mechas like this, aren't they flesh and blood?

If they can still contend with you, their physical qualities must be incredibly strong — how did you even manage to hold off their offensive back then?"

"They have mechas too," Zhu Ning shook his head and explained: "We keep researching and developing, and they keep growing."

"They have their own biotechnology; moreover, most high-ranking 'Black Worms' now have mastered the ability to parasitize, and they directly parasitize mecha wreckage on the battlefield — after that, they become even harder to kill."

"Additionally, low-ranking 'Black Worms' have also been growing through evolution; their current size compared to ancient times is larger by several times at least — for a D-class mecha to completely kill a low-ranking 'Black Worm' is a laborious task."

"I see." Lin Li nodded.