Starting Cultivation in Wasteland

Vacation time? Qu Jianlei had been so caught up in the fighting lately that he really forgot about it.

"When does the Engineering College go on break?"

Zi Jiu Immortal replied, "Xiang Xue's class finishes early, the day after tomorrow, I have ten more days."

Qu Jianlei was silent for a moment before asking, "Are you coming back next semester?"

Zi Jiu Immortal responded straightforwardly, "I can come or not, depending on my mood."

Qu Jianlei didn't want to leave just like that, to leave feeling defeated, like he was escaping.

"If we return now, the Agricultural College should also be about to go on break, right?"

Xiang Xue replied irritably, "I mean, Star No. 2 is half a season ahead of Star No. 4, right now it's just around early spring."

Zi Jiu Immortal answered more professionally, "For teachers doing research projects, it doesn't matter if there's a break or not."

"I can help apply for a project for the Defense Array you're working on, but it will be under my name."

"That's fine," Qu Jianlei was quite assured of Zi Jiu Immortal's integrity, not worried about being plagiarized.

The closeness of their relationship was just one aspect; the key was that he was very aware that the female professor valued procedural justice highly.

But then he realized something, "Xiang Xue, you're pressuring me to go back because of the poison issue, right?"

A while back, Earth Scholar conveyed through Aunt Liu that he wanted to get some of the new poison.

"We're about to go to war with the Cyan Blade," Xiang Xue answered leisurely, "You give us some poison, we can disguise ourselves better!"

Earth Scholar's attention had already begun to shift from Bida, and the poison issue did indeed need consideration.

Qu Jianlei pondered for a moment before asking, "When are you all planning to leave campus?"

"In twelve days," Zi Jiu Immortal replied decisively, "Bellini's class ends the latest."

The tomboy never got along well with the four-member group, though in truth, she just had an uninformed arrogance.

What she didn't know was that, among these four people, any one of them was more qualified to be arrogant than her.

Then there was the fact that she had some indecent thoughts towards the female professor, though Zi Jiu Immortal didn't mind, or else they wouldn't even be in contact.

Qu Jianlei thought for a moment and then spoke solemnly, "Then protect yourselves, I'll go ahead first."

"Go ahead first?" Xiang Xue asked in surprise, "What do you mean?"

"While you guys are still there, they think I am too," Qu Jianlei replied solemnly.

"So I'll sneak back first, so they won't block me on the way... mainly because there's nothing much left to do here."

Indeed, there was nothing much recently, the Cyan Blade Commerce Association issue wasn't over, but it wasn't something that could be resolved quickly.

The rest didn't matter, at least the Customs Enforcement Division had currently yielded, and as for the future... there was no fear of them seeking revenge.

The only uncertainty was the Fourth War Zone's attitude.

However, that wasn't a big deal; the Military wasn't monolithic, just like the Government, each had different stances, with varied skies ten miles apart.

Originally, the Military on Star No. 3 had troubled him, but the Fourth War Zone didn't care at all.

Later, Star No. 4 realized that he might have something to do with Kushnier's death, which changed their attitude.

But even so, the Fourth War Zone didn't conduct a large-scale manhunt, just made some gestures.

After all, the Supreme died on this planet, it would be inappropriate not to pursue it.

However, Zi Jiu Immortal and the other two weren't harassed by the Military—if they really wanted to investigate, could they let these three go?

A lot of things aren't about what others say, but what they do.

He wasn't very clear about the Military's attitude on Star No. 2, but... there was no harm in trying either.

His compliance left the three women across him at a loss.

After a moment of silence, the female professor was the first to speak, "Are you really going back early?"

Qu Jianlei didn't answer but asked, "Is there anything wrong with that?"

Then Xiang Xue asked, "Don't you need me to arrange it for you?"

Who do you think you're underestimating? Qu Jianlei sighed inwardly, "There might be a day when I need your help."

This polite remark was essentially a refusal—no need for now!

The three women across him fell silent again, and finally, Aunt Liu spoke, "Safe travels."

After all, an experienced person knows what to say at times like this.

If they were to ask for specific details, it would be inappropriate—what's said out of concern can come off as prying into privacy.

Qu Jianlei smiled, "Okay, see you on Star No. 2!"

After hanging up the communication, he went straight to the spaceport without any delay.

Since he decided to leave, he wouldn't be hesitating or dragging it out, he just left.

Using Panda's identity was currently unsuitable, and leaving Star No. 4 through non-standard channels, he could come up with many reasons.

In short, as long as the identity from the Hoyel Mansion was there, all non-standard operations... were standard.

There were several flights to Star No. 2 that day, but Qu Jianlei didn't take a passenger starship.

He chose a passenger-cargo starship that set sail at night, entering the cargo hold without anyone knowing.

If conditions permit, anyone would want to enter the cabin, but Qu Jianlei did not want to be searched again.

This time he still carried Kushnier's purse, but Fangcao was no longer there to cover for him.

The internal warrant from the Customs Enforcement Division was still active. If encountered in space, they definitely wouldn't be polite to him.

After the starship took off, Qu Jianlei didn't idle; he set up an alloy shield tent and took out another terminal he got from the Customs Enforcement Division.

The Little Lake processed this terminal much more easily than the previous one.

Besides being very familiar with it, it also had another terminal in hand, with hardware support, crushing the other side was really too easy.

The entire process took less than a day, and this terminal was also processed.

"As expected, there are still learning restrictions in the underlying logic; the Empire really isn't friendly to artificial intelligence."

Qu Jianlei understood what it meant, "There are already two terminals, just pick one to reset the underlying logic."

This time, the Little Lake was not polite either, spending half a day resetting the underlying logic and backing up the data.

After doing all this, it was basically time for the starship to prepare for the jump.

This time, Qu Jianlei returned to Star No. 2 without causing any reaction and even slipped out of the spaceport under the cover of night.

However, he wasn't in a hurry to return to his residence; instead, he first rested in the wild for a bit.

The next day, he chose to stay at a hotel to test the official reaction of Star No. 2.

After a day and a night, the officials made no response, so Qu Jianlei went to the Old City Library.

Dave noticed his arrival, "Are you here to take care of your leave status? Curator Kadani has asked about you several times."

"In a few days," Qu Jianlei said with a smile, thinking that if he canceled his leave only to be hunted again, the curator would probably go crazy.

He didn't go to see Granny Jia, instead went to the entrance of his old main building and flipped through a few books.

The person replacing him was a middle-aged woman, an ordinary person with no cultivation level.

From her attire, the woman's family background seemed quite ordinary, but relatively clean and tidy, not annoying at all.

Thinking about it, anyone who takes a job with a monthly salary of four hundred, their family conditions shouldn't be very good either.

The woman also knew that he was the former librarian and didn't interfere with his actions, keeping a polite but distant stance.

There indeed exists a huge gap between ordinary people and modified warriors.

As noon approached, Granny Jia casually wandered over.

"Panda, if you're not eating lunch, come chat with me."

"Alright," Qu Jianlei put down the book in his hand and got up to leave.

Upon reaching the Rare Books Tower, Granny Jia spoke, "What were you thinking, creating that kind of poison?"

She should be the person who understands him the most within the Empire, knowing he is an A-level attributeless warrior.

From Steve, Kushnier to Fahim, these three supreme beings should have all perished at his hands.

"It was originally a kind of pesticide," Qu Jianlei replied indifferently, "Those supreme beings were shameless, insistently causing me trouble."

Granny Jia shook her head speechlessly, fully understanding the mindset of the supreme beings; they indeed didn't treat ordinary people as human.

Those three guys had indeed had bad luck, provoking such a monster.

"Pesticide... it indeed sounds like that's the case, not a gene-level pesticide, has a bit of a retro feel."

"I'm really not lying to you," Qu Jianlei said earnestly, "This time when I returned, the Agricultural College in Green Water wanted to collaborate with me."

"Agricultural College?" Granny Jia raised an eyebrow, "Can they withstand the pressure from the Wood Attribute Awakened?"

Qu Jianlei hadn't really thought about it from this angle, and upon hearing it, he raised an eyebrow, "A trap?"

Granny Jia, upon hearing this, unfazed, shook her head and answered with a smile.

"Where do you get so many traps? It's just that the folks at the Agricultural College... probably oversimplified things."

"It's not really that complicated," Qu Jianlei, upon hearing this, smiled indifferently.

"It already objectively exists; even if the Wood Attribute Awakened is dissatisfied, can they silence everyone?"

Granny Jia gave him a wordless eye-roll, "With your temperament, no wonder you provoke so many people."

Qu Jianlei just shrugged, "Awakened are supposed to be brave and diligent, avoiding and fearing... what kind of awakening mentality is that?"

Granny Jia shook her head, seeing his demeanor always reminded her of her younger days.

"Why are those madmen in the Blade Star Realm looking for you? Did you really get the Qi Gathering Array?"

Qu Jianlei hesitated for a moment and nodded, "I indeed got a set, snatched from Kushnier's hands."

Before, he had been covering it up, but now that everything was already chaotic, there was no need to deny it.

Thinking of how Granny had used the super version of the Qi Gathering Array, while his was a simple version, she probably wouldn't think much of it, right?

He was genuinely curious, "Why did you think of this?"

"Because the Empire is very wary of the Blade Star Realm," Granny Jia replied casually, "They won't provide too advanced techniques."

"Those in the Blade Star Realm, their resentment towards the Empire is substantial."

Qu Jianlei raised his hand to touch his forehead, "Then in that case, Kushnier is quite bold."