Max Level Return—I'll Protect That Fragile One

Jin Yaoyang looked a bit incredulous and speculated, ”Because Grandma injected me with an immunity drug, I am immune to all viruses in the Mortal World.”

”Correct answer.” Xu Xingguang pulled out a blood-drawing syringe that had been prepared in advance from her canvas bag. ”Come on, big baby.”

Jin Yaoyang: ”...”

Leaving Xu Xingguang’s office, Jin Yaoyang’s face was pale as a sheet. Hua Junqiao and the others saw his haggard appearance, as if he’d been harshly mistreated. They quickly supported him, concerned, and asked, ”What did the Captain do to you alone inside?”

What did they do?

Jin Yaoyang pursed his lips and said, ”It’s serious, not convenient to talk about.” If he spilled the truth, wouldn’t they treat him like a monster just to draw blood?

These words took on a different meaning in the ears of Hua Junqiao and the others.

If they weren’t aware that their Captain had a dashing and charming husband and wouldn’t be interested in the likes of Jin Yaoyang, they’d suspect that Jin Yaoyang had been ”taken care of” by the Captain in the office just now.

After obtaining the desired research specimen, Xu Xingguang went to the basement first floor to see the children.

Over a thousand children were locked on the first underground floor.

When they were first confined here, they would see the beautiful scenery under the sea every day and found it quite exciting. But after several months of seeing the same view and playing with the same toys daily, the children’s expressions grew increasingly numb.

Xu Xingguang felt heartbroken seeing this. When she returned to the surface, she called Huo Wen’an.

Huo Wen’an had already reached the airport and was preparing to depart for Chuancheng after settling in. On receiving Xu Xingguang’s call, he chuckled and said, ”I’m at the airport, just come meet me here directly.”

”I have something to discuss with you.” Xu Xingguang said, her tone quite serious.

Huo Wen’an turned serious as well, ”Go ahead.”

”Right now, mutation is a given. Our team will return all mutated children to their homes within a month.” This was originally a good thing.

But.

”Brother A Zui, not every pair of parents loves their child unconditionally. When they find out their child has turned into a monster, different parents will make different choices. Do you believe it? Perhaps, the parents of those mutated children have already started conceiving a second child.”

”The emergence of a large number of mutated children will lead to a great number of homeless monster children.”

Upon hearing this, Huo Wen’an felt a heaviness in his heart.

He knew Xu Xingguang was speaking the truth.

”What do you want to do?” Huo Wen’an’s voice was calm yet brimming with strength, ”Whatever you decide, I’ll support it unconditionally.”

”Alright.” With these words from Huo Wen’an, Xu Xingguang felt content.

She said, ”When we got married, the Huo Family gave me lots of gems and antiques. Have His Highness organize an auction for me, sell off these items, and give the proceeds to Song Chi to build a small town in the Kunze Mountain Range to shelter those homeless mutated children. We need a school, hospital, canteen, all kinds of facilities.”

It would have to be a small town about the scale of Cangshan Town.

”Agreed.” Huo Wen’an strongly supported Xu Xingguang’s idea and said, ”So, have you thought of a name for the town?”

What to call it?

Xu Xingguang’s response was straightforward and blunt: ”Let’s call it Monster Town.”

”Alright.”

Huo Wen’an then made phone calls to both Andariel and Song Chi to explain the matter. Coincidentally, Song Chi was in the Pilot Mansion learning family management from Huo Canghai. After hanging up the call, he exchanged glances with Andariel.

Andariel mused, ”Xingguang deserves the title of Lady Captain.”

Song Chi nodded, too, and said, ”Aunt is a person with great compassion.”

Huo Canghai also overheard the details Huo Wen’an conveyed over the call. Learning that Xu Xingguang intended to spend her own money to establish a Monster Town specifically to shelter those homeless mutated children, he smirked with a hint of joy in his eyes.

After some thought, he said, ”That little fox likes gems, so her stuff shouldn’t be touched. The Monster Town needs to be established, but it shouldn’t be funded solely by her.”

Huo Canghai turned to look at Andariel, smiling like an inscrutable old fox. ”Lili, would you be willing to host a charity auction event, inviting financial families from all over the world to participate?”

An Lidar understood that Huo Canghai had plans to leverage the wealth of all financial families.

Monster Town needed to be built, but the funds should come from the combined contributions of the financial families of the entire Mortal World.

”Of course.” Andariel replied with a faint smile, ”We can convince these financial families to voluntarily contribute a few treasures for a charity auction, and the proceeds can be used directly for constructing Monster Town. That way, it’s also a good deed.”

”Exactly.”

Song Chi silently observed his resourceful grandfather and equally scheming young grandmother, thinking to himself that the old are indeed more cunning.

Of course, organizing the charity auction was a matter for Andariel and the others to worry about. After Xu Xingguang and Huo Wen’an instructed on this matter, they set off for Chuancheng.

Nearly nine thousand participants were expected to arrive at the Ying Family within these two days. Only a very few private planes were permitted to land directly at the Ying Family’s private airstrip; the rest of the participants had to stay at a hotel in Chuancheng first and then be taken by special vehicles to the Ying Family for the contest.

Ye Mingluo, Huo Xin, and the others were already in Chuancheng at this moment.

Xu Xingguang and his team had just arrived at the Ying Family’s private airstrip. They were immediately ushered into a car sent by the Ying Family’s steward to pick them up.

They stayed at the same forest villa as last time.

The housekeeper and maids were still the same three people from before. The chef remembered Xu Xingguang’s team’s tastes well. Upon arriving at the villa and having a quick wash, they were treated to a sumptuous dinner.

After the meal, contestants began to arrive at the forest villa one by one.

Last time, for Old Madam Ying’s birthday banquet, the guests were mostly dignitaries and there weren’t many people. However, this time, the Hundred Medicines Conference hosted over nine thousand contestants. Excluding the three thousand contestants from the Ying Family itself, the remaining six thousand were physicians from other clans.

The six thousand were all arranged to stay in the forest villa, making for quite cramped accommodations. Two people shared one room, with each villa housing twenty contestants.

Ye Mingluo and Huo Xin settled directly into Xu Xingguang’s villa, which allowed them some leisure.

Huo Xin was experiencing severe morning sickness recently and seemed to have lost weight.

Xu Xingguang handed her a glass of lemonade, asking with concern, ”In your condition, can you handle the competition?”

”Yes,” Huo Xin replied with a gentle smile. She said, ”My skills are just enough to accompany others in the race. I’ll likely be eliminated in the second round.” She was self-aware.

Ye Mingluo frowned, saying, ”I worry I might be eliminated in the first round.”

Xu Xingguang shot Ye Mingluo a cold glare, ”Wanna try?”

Ye Mingluo felt the murderous aura coming from Xu Xingguang.

Huo Wen’an peeled an orange, splitting it and giving half to Xu Xingguang and half to Huo Xin. Ye Mingluo had already extended his hand but pulled it back naturally upon realizing there wasn’t any for him.

Huo Wen’an picked up a moist towelette from the tray to wipe his hands, saying to Ye Mingluo as he did so, ”Getting eliminated in the first round would truly disgrace your master.”

Ye Mingluo rubbed his nose and said, ”Then I’ll strive to survive till the second round.”

Xu Xingguang ate a segment of orange and remarked, ”Accepting you was truly the misfortune of the school.” In a world where pharmacists were revered, the Medicinal Farmer Star was a grandmaster. Her compiled ”Medicinal Farmer Star’s Sketchbook” was a treasure coveted by traditional Chinese medicine practitioners worldwide.

In that world, the threshold of Xu Xingguang’s door was nearly worn down by visitors, yet she barely accepted two disciples.

One girl, one boy, both of whom later achieved extraordinary accomplishments. Compared to those two disciples, Ye Mingluo was indeed...

Mediocre.

Ye Mingluo felt bitter inside, having not shaved during the New Year, his face was now covered with a full beard. Sporting a large bearded face, he blinked at Xu Xingguang, feigning grievance while saying, ”I may lack talent, but I have a sweet tongue and can please my master.”

The sight of a rugged man acting cute made Xu Xingguang hold her forehead, ”My eyes hurt.”

She pressed a hand against Ye Mingluo’s face, making him turn his head, ”Turn your face, it’s hurting my eyes.”

Ye Mingluo laughed out loud, stood up, and ran off.

Huo Xin asked Xu Xingguang, ”Are you nervous?”

Nervous?

Not at all.

That night, the Ying Family sent over the doctor’s robe required for the competition. It was a light gray robe with the words ”Hundred Medicines Conference” embroidered on the back, and their participant number above the words.

Xu Xingguang tried it on and, finding it satisfactory, went to sleep.

The next morning, after breakfast, Ying Jinqiao personally came to escort Huo Wen’an and Zheng Lie to the Ying Family to watch the competition. Xu Xingguang and his team donned their robes and, along with other contestants, were taken by bus to the mountainside, followed by a cable car to the entrance of the Ying Family’s valley.

After rounding Knife Blade Mountain, they saw below in the basin an Eden-like ancient town seemingly forgotten by time, leaving the visiting contestants in awe.

”Is this really the Ying Family?”

”If not for being told it’s the Ying Family, I would have thought it’s some historical movie set.”

”I’ve visited film sets but none have this deep historical feel like the Ying Family.”

”...”

Xu Xingguang and her team stood on a high slope overlooking the ancient city below.

Revisiting an old place, the three felt somewhat complicated emotions.

”Look over there,” Ye Mingluo pointed to the stone square under the Medicine King Tower, located behind the entire ancient city. ”That’s the competition site, isn’t it?” There, thousands of exam tables were set up, with a group of contestants wearing dark gray robes already waiting in the square.

”Those should be the competitors from the Ying Family itself. They’re the strongest contenders in this year’s Hundred Medicines Conference.”

Xu Xingguang opened a packet of dark green candies, poured out a few, shared some with Huo Xin and Ye Mingluo, and then followed the other contestants toward Medicine King Square.

Old Madam Ying was the chief examiner for this competition, seated at the center of the high platform, flanked by six elders who appeared to be of high moral standing. Among them were both men and women, all of advanced age.

Following their participant numbers, Xu Xingguang stood in the middle of the contestant line. Looking up, she saw a ring of surveillance cameras set up high above.

She squinted, gazing at those cameras, wondering who was behind them—monitors from the Ying Family or from the Divine Martial Realm’s Ying Family?