Starting Cultivation in Wasteland

Eighteen people from the Cyan Blade Commerce Association went out, two A-level, three B-level, four C-level, the rest were Modified Warriors and ordinary people.

This force is not bad no matter where it's placed, but they were ambushed, and the attackers used Wood Attribute Poison.

Just because of this poison, Qu Jianlei can conclude that it was definitely the Earth Scholar's doing.

However, the effect seemed not very good, because the commerce association had only one wood attribute, and it was just a C-level Awakened.

The battle was very short, one A-level from the association was severely injured, two B-level lightly injured, one C-level died, and two more were severely injured.

To know, among these people, there were two A-level, three B-level, four C-level.

Solely from the battle result, one can deduce the Earth Scholar's battle intent.

The focus was on hitting the A-level, so one was severely injured, the B-level was not much focused on, but they accidentally killed a C-level.

Among the two severely injured C-levels, one was the Wood Attribute Warrior, hit by targeted poison, definitely hard to heal.

But Qu Jianlei sensed another flavor: this battle... was probably mainly for intimidation?

The Earth Scholars deployed quite a few people, after a brief battle, they quickly withdrew from the battlefield with mutual cooperation.

However, no matter how you put it, the battle result is really unsatisfactory—too little damage to the A-level.

It's not that Qu Jianlei killed too many A-levels and doesn't regard them seriously, it's really because... he clearly knows the strength of the Earth Scholars.

If they really wanted to take down two A-levels, they could definitely do it, rather than as it is now, becoming a half-baked endeavor.

What's more important is, there was only one wood attribute, and it was C-level... what's the point of using Paraquat after a full meal?

Once Qu Jianlei figured this out, he couldn't help shaking his head and sighing, "Forget it, better rely on myself."

There was no dissatisfaction or resentment, he clearly understood that being an archaeology enthusiast was just passively caught in this battle.

The other party took his money to help with matters, but accidentally involved Xiang Xue in it, and that's why they decided to get involved.

Later on, both parties were just in a cooperative relationship, including him giving the other party a hundred kilograms of poison, which was also a collaborator's duty.

After all, the Earth Scholar is a large organization, certainly needing to consider the issue from a comprehensive standpoint.

Unlike him, who is just a lone soul, able to deal with things as he wishes.

Afterwards, Qu Jianlei carefully observed for another two days and suddenly discovered another secret.

It seems the Earth Scholar only found five of the Cyan Blade Commerce Association's settlements, missing the sixth one.

The sixth settlement is in Jiuchuan City, which is the Central City of Star One.

Jiuchuan City is named because nine large rivers converge here, with a dense water network and developed traffic.

The metropolitan area covers more than 200,000 square kilometers, with a population of over fifty million.

The Cyan Blade Commerce Association has two settlements in Jiuchuan, Qu Jianlei was not surprised at this, considering the size of the city.

However, one of the settlements with sixty people rarely go out, and when they do, they go out in groups.

The other settlement has only forty people, but their ingress and egress are quite frequent, seeming not to care about being attacked.

Little Lake seriously analyzed this settlement and found that the members here didn't have public contact with other settlements.

There are some private contacts, but very hidden, and even with Little Lake's capabilities, only a portion could be captured.

Qu Jianlei felt something was strange, "So... is this the actual office location of Cyan Blade?"

He doesn't believe that the Earth Scholar's intelligence system is that much worse than that of a Cleaner, but it's not that bad, is it?

These people are into archaeology, and they stop at nothing to achieve their ends, how could their intelligence capabilities be lacking?

Especially since they're opposing the Cyan Blade Commerce Association, this is the most sensitive time. Can they overlook their opponent's intelligence?

Is it that the Cyan Blade Commerce Association deliberately released false news, trying to ambush their real opponent?

He harbored such doubts but couldn't verify them with the Cleaner.

The Cleaner provided the information for free, and here he was questioning its authenticity, it's not the right way to behave.

Moreover, the Cleaner itself... may not be that reliable, so-called rules and principles are meant to be broken?

No matter what, "Consider all opinions to gain clarity; biased opinions lead to obscurity," he thought about it and let Little Lake contact Aunt Liu instead.

Secret communication between planets is still rather challenging, especially when the other party is likely under surveillance.

Hence, he only sent a short message, "Write on the screen when you see the message, no need to send it."

Aunt Liu's response was slow, half a day later she wrote, "Who are you?"

Little Lake had already hacked Aunt Liu's watch, saw the message, and transmitted it back.

Qu Jianlei replied, "The one who's finally fulfilling the Cultivation Technique promise, the opponent in the center of the center, has two heads?"

Upon seeing this message, Aunt Liu couldn't help but speak out, "Miss, there's a reply."

At this moment, it's the middle of the night on Star No. 4, Xiang Xue is in a half-asleep state, recently she's had no interest in cultivation and hasn't slept well.

Hearing this, she suddenly became alert, "Who is it, what reply?"

"The one you always talk about," Aunt Liu replied with a chuckle, "turns out they've contacted me again."

"Who am I thinking about?" With a flash of shadow, Xiang Xue was already in front of her watch.

Actually, Little Lake had already quietly turned on the watch's camera, and the next moment, it directly tiled a screen in the vortex.

"That guy, doesn't he know to wear some clothes even when sleeping... Isn't he cold?"

Xiang Xue was completely unaware that she had been seen thoroughly from the other side.

She glanced at the screen and quickly spoke, "Ask him if he's still on Star No. 4."

"We can save that question for later," Aunt Liu advised calmly, "Let's focus on the important matters now."

Xiang Xue remained silent for a moment, then sighed, "Tell him to find a way to leave Star No. 4 quickly... It's too dangerous here!"

Maybe he's already left! Aunt Liu muttered to herself, not believing for a moment that Panda, with his cautious nature, wouldn't notice the danger.

Yet, ultimately, she still said, "Look at what this sentence means."

The two began to communicate silently, likely using paper and pen.

After a while, Aunt Liu inputted a sentence, "Regarding Jiuchuan, it's said there are two leaders."

Qu Jianlei thought for a moment and then asked, "Only found one?"

Aunt Liu replied, "That's right, also actively searching for the other, but it's currently just a speculation, and the search is very difficult."

Looks like the scavenger's information-gathering abilities are really impressive! At this moment, Qu Jianlei was genuinely impressed.

"Alright, I was just verifying, you all continue to rest, sorry for the disturbance."

Aunt Liu inputted another sentence, "Did you find where that leader is?"

Unfortunately, she waited until her watch screen went dark, but the other party did not respond.

"Disconnected," she sighed lightly, "still as cautious as ever."

"So he hasn't left Star No. 4 yet?" Xiang Xue furrowed her brows, her eyes showing a hint of surprise and a bit of worry.

"Is he trying to remotely command, to alleviate the pressure here on Star No. 4?"

"Let's not make wild guesses," Aunt Liu replied gravely, "He didn't ask for contact on that side, probably has other considerations."

Which means she doubted again that Panda was still on Star No. 4.

Otherwise, wouldn't it be more convenient to inquire about the organization's contact details on Star One?

After all, communication between planets has many inconveniences.

Aunt Liu didn't want Xiang Xue to worry too much, so she lamented, "However, the degree of information sensitivity... is truly admirable."

After Qu Jianlei disconnected the communication, he didn't linger at all, directly blending into a truck headed to Jiuchuan.

A day later, he arrived at Jiuchuan, strolling through the streets, and after three hours, he reached the place.

The hidden settlement of Cyan Blade was in a high-tech park.

There were many high-tech and research companies here, considered to be a sunrise industry area of Star One.

Although not arranged by the government, it formed naturally, but the place was large, nearly a hundred square kilometers, with tight security.

This area had few high-rise buildings, as after all, they were involved in high-tech and didn't want to be spied upon.

The association's settlement was in an independent yard, covering about a hundred thousand square meters, yet there were very few buildings.

The entire yard had only three inconspicuous small buildings and two rows of warehouses with a height of about ten meters.

The perimeter of the yard was heavily guarded, densely packed with surveillance and alarms, leaving no blind spots.

Such a level of vigilance might raise suspicion elsewhere.

However, here, it was entirely normal, as everyone understood the necessity of information monopoly, the Imperial doesn't lack commercial spies.

When Qu Jianlei arrived in this area, it was still raining overhead—Jiuchuan City was crisscrossed with water networks, often rainy.

He walked around with an umbrella, noticing that there were actually over a hundred people in the yard.

However, by now, he wouldn't doubt the scavenger's information anymore.

That said, Cyan Blade Commerce Association had hired dozens of locals?

Looking at the sign outside the small courtyard, it was a sports equipment research center.

Qu Jianlei really had little contact with such companies and wasn't even sure if the sports equipment was meant for ordinary people or Modified Warriors.

However, it was just a front, and the other side likely wouldn't consider profitability.

Primarily, this research-oriented company didn't need to expand business, and wouldn't have much contact with the outside world.

Yet, if someone occasionally went out for errands, it was normal, fitting Cyan Blade Commerce Association's needs.

Qu Jianlei didn't dare use too strong a perception, but roughly sensed there were at least three A-level presences.

Considering the members of Cyan Blade Commerce Association being very cautious, he had reason to believe there were at least five A-level individuals here.

Merely such a situation would be tolerable, but the problem was the strict access control, and various weapons were mounted on the small buildings, including heavy firepower.

Normally, a central city wouldn't allow so much heavy firepower, but protecting one's own intellectual property... is a necessity, right?

The key was that there were too many forces on this planet, and places with fiercer firepower were everywhere.

Qu Jianlei was a bit troubled... with such tight security, how could he proceed?

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