Chapter 236: Are They Teammates? (12)

He Yu thought for a moment before suggesting,

"How about we split into two groups? One group guards the mission locations and kills anyone who comes. The other goes out hunting contestants."

Gedai frowned.

"Wouldn't that create too large a gap in everyone's points?"

They had already agreed that everyone needed to stay near the top of the rankings. They were cooperating as equals, not dividing themselves into different tiers.

He Yu replied calmly,

"Then we'll rotate."

After a brief pause, he explained,

"For example, if one group discovers a mission location, they can let the others come complete it."

Zhante looked puzzled.

"Can our smart terminals contact each other in this instance?"

He raised the smart terminal on his wrist.

It seemed impossible to communicate through the terminals in this world. If they found a mission location, how would they coordinate everyone?

The world was enormous.

Surely they couldn't gather in the same place every single time. The travel time alone would be overwhelming.

Instead of answering, He Yu looked at Qiong with a serious expression.

"Can you connect to this planet's Star Network?"

"And if there isn't one..."

"Can you build one yourself?"

Qiong scratched her head.

"That shouldn't be a problem."

"But I'll need Eugene and Gedai to cooperate."

Eugene and Gedai: "..."

Professional tools.

He Yu didn't even bother asking for their opinions.

Smiling, he nodded immediately.

"As expected, Qiong."

"You're an extremely useful teammate."

"But I hope that's not the limit of your abilities."

Being praised made Qiong blush slightly.

She quickly lowered the brim of her hat and cleared her throat.

"Ahem..."

"Then let's start now."

"It's nighttime anyway, so everyone can take a break."

He Yu nodded.

"Tomorrow ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) morning, I hope we can begin our operation."

Qiong raised a hand confidently.

"Leave it to me!"

After agreeing, she walked toward Eugene and Gedai while pulling out all kinds of strange tools.

Judging by her expression...

She was about to completely dismantle them.

Eugene and Gedai simultaneously removed their own heads and shouted in unison,

"We'll do it ourselves!!"

—Damn it.

—What kind of miserable life is this?

—They're bringing shame upon Mechanical Planet.

He Yu sat down on a nearby rock.

Duan Yuchen walked over, but before he could speak, He Yu looked at him.

"Let me borrow your forging equipment."

Duan Yuchen froze.

"!!!"

He Yu was finally going to forge something?!

Instantly, he became excited.

Even Zhen Xing and the others gathered around with obvious interest.

After all...

Every single item He Yu forged had been astonishing.

Then...

They watched as He Yu melted down a completely useless piece of junk equipment...

Spent half an hour...

And forged—

A flowerpot.

Everyone:

"..."

Completely unfazed, He Yu planted the little ginseng inside it.

Since he was technically a plant...

The moment his roots entered the soil, he visibly relaxed.

His leaves stretched comfortably.

Joy filled those watery-blue eyes.

His leaves trembled excitedly, expressing his happiness to He Yu.

Duan Yuchen carefully touched the tiny flowerpot.

His voice was cautious.

"...Does it have some special function?"

He Yu nodded.

Just as Duan Yuchen's hopes rose—

He answered calmly,

"It can grow ginseng."

Duan Yuchen:

"...That's it?"

He Yu nodded.

"That's it."

Duan Yuchen:

"............"

Wanrenzhan was incredibly jealous.

Blue Eyes was receiving way too much preferential treatment!!

He shot Blue Eyes a sidelong glare before looking at He Yu and grumbling,

"You actually forged him a flowerpot."

"He's going to die anyway."

"Why waste your time?"

"And why don't you forge something for me?"

Tang Ke fell silent.

...That was Blue Eyes.

That was Li Zhan.

He Yu looked up.

His beautiful almond-shaped eyes appeared especially deep beneath the moonlight.

The cold silver glow illuminated his face, making him look almost like carved jade.

His rimless glasses rested casually on the bridge of his nose, adding a touch of lazy elegance to his already refined appearance.

Setting the flowerpot on the rock, he stretched his wrist.

His voice remained cool but not indifferent.

"It is about time I upgraded everyone's equipment."

"All of your weapons need strengthening."

Wanrenzhan froze.

Then his eyes lit up.

—He Yu was upgrading his weapon?

—He really cared about him after all!

Just as Wanrenzhan was happily daydreaming...

He Yu met Zhen Xing's gaze.

The two exchanged a knowing look.

Then He Yu extended his hand.

"Come."

"Take out your Cube."

"And all the materials you prepared."

Wanrenzhan:

"...???"

His eyes widened.

"You're not upgrading mine first?!"

He Yu glanced at him before looking away.

"Zhen Xing asked first."

In reality...

Zhen Xing had requested an equipment upgrade a long time ago.

During the first round of the slaughter matches, he had collected countless pieces of equipment specifically for today.

He Yu had already promised him.

Unfortunately, the previous instance hadn't provided either the time or the conditions to forge.

Taking the Cube, He Yu continued speaking to Wanrenzhan.

"You can let Duan Yuchen forge yours."

"He's mastered the new forging method as well."

"And after the previous instance, he's become even more proficient."

After a brief pause, he added,

"Your equipment is already extremely powerful."

"It has already been upgraded before."

"So I won't completely reforge it."

"I'll simply strengthen it."

"I'll deepen the connection between you and your weapon."

"As your cultivation improves..."

"Your weapon will continue growing alongside you."

Duan Yuchen smiled bitterly.

"...I still can't do that."

He Yu answered,

"It's not difficult."

"As long as you master both energy manipulation and Federation forging techniques..."

"You'll definitely be able to accomplish it."

He gestured toward the forge.

"Start the fire."

"I'll demonstrate it once."

【Bullet Screen: "A bunch of top experts are about to go massacre everyone... and now the whole team is upgrading their equipment too."】

【Bullet Screen: "Whenever I see the other contestants now, I actually feel sorry for them. They have absolutely no idea what's waiting for them... Sheesh."】

—

He Yu's forging method was actually something of a shortcut.

Rather than relying solely on the equipment's own energy...

He transformed it into a system that drew upon both its internal energy and external energy.

That allowed the weapon to unleash vastly greater power.

The current combat system actually suppressed energy utilization.

Once the energy system became widespread...

Forging techniques—

And the equipment they produced—

Would undergo an enormous leap forward.

Exceptional weapons would gradually approach the level of divine-grade treasures.

After all...

Divine-grade treasures were simply incredibly powerful weapons capable of manipulating energy.

Just as mastering energy itself meant drawing infinitely closer to becoming a god.

It wasn't actually as difficult as people imagined.

It was simply an entirely different system.

He Yu began working on Zhen Xing's Cube.

A second forging was very different from creating a weapon from scratch.

An initial forging allowed complete freedom.

A second forging was far more troublesome.

The original equipment couldn't be damaged.

Yet it still had to be fundamentally transformed.

Everyone watched attentively.

Especially Zhen Xing.

His eyes never left the Cube.

Duan Yuchen continuously increased the flames to their limit, greedily observing every single movement He Yu made.

Zhen Xing's Cube was already an extraordinary weapon.

Especially after the many upgrades it had already undergone.

The equipment he brought was equally impressive.

There was so much of it that he didn't even take the items out individually.

Instead...

He dumped everything onto the ground.

Half of it consisted of forging materials.

The pile quickly grew into a small mountain.

Everyone:

"..."

Yuan Ze nearly cried with envy.

"How do you have so much equipment?"

Qiong was currently using Eugene, whose detached head hung nearby.

Even his eyes widened.

"You actually accumulated this much equipment?!"

"My god..."

"Your luck is unbelievable!"

Qiong sighed.

"I thought I'd already collected quite a lot..."

"Compared to you..."

"I'm nowhere close."

Zhante looked envious.

"So jealous..."

Zhen Xing remained perfectly calm.

He clearly didn't care.

He simply allowed He Yu to choose whatever he wanted.

He Yu selected several forging materials and set the rest aside.

Then he gradually fused each one into the Cube.

The most important step...

Was washing the weapon with energy.

For some reason...

Nobody else could manipulate such an enormous amount of energy the way He Yu could.

Yet after watching for only a short while...

Duan Yuchen had already thought of another solution.

—Hammering.

He Yu purified equipment through overwhelming waves of energy until it underwent qualitative transformation.

Duan Yuchen, however...

Could repeatedly hammer the weapon.

Purifying it little by little.

Achieving the same transformation through a different method.

The realization made his eyes shine.

Suppressing his excitement, he continued watching.

Material fusion and energy washing occurred simultaneously.

Although the process was exhausting...

And significantly more difficult than forging a new weapon...

It actually required slightly less time.

At midnight...

Bathed in firelight...

He Yu suddenly withdrew his hands.

The flames went out at the same instant.

The Cube continued rotating.

Without even raising his head, He Yu said,

"Blood."

Zhen Xing immediately sliced open his fingertip.

A drop of blood fell onto the Cube.

It spun wildly.

This was already a weapon perfectly attuned to him.

Their blood connection was exceptionally strong.

Now...

That connection became even deeper.

The Cube flew directly toward Zhen Xing.

He raised a hand and caught it.

On the surface...

The Cube hardly appeared different.

It merely looked somewhat clearer.

But Zhen Xing knew...

It had undergone a complete transformation.

Taking a deep breath, he enlarged the Cube.

Then he unleashed a full-powered strike toward the mist.

Boom—!!

The mist exploded apart.

The dense fog that had previously blocked all vision was blasted open into a long corridor.

Earth flew everywhere.

The water channel deep within surged violently upward.

The entire area shook.

Even the ground beneath their feet trembled.

That...

Had been only a single attack.

Zhen Xing inhaled deeply.

His eyes burned with excitement.

He couldn't suppress the smile spreading across his face.

Turning toward He Yu, he said,

"It's incredibly powerful."

"My strength has doubled."

"And..."

"I can feel it continuing to grow."

Tang Ke looked utterly envious.

"Doesn't that mean..."

Zhen Xing nodded.

"That's right."

"One day..."

"It will become a divine-grade treasure."

Everyone:

"!!"

—They were unbelievably jealous.

Holding the Cube tightly, Zhen Xing stared at He Yu.

His gaze was extraordinarily gentle.

"Thank you."

"I really like the equipment you transformed for me."

Wanrenzhan:

"...?"

Why did that tone sound so irritating?

【Bullet Screen: "...The way Zhen Xing said that... it's like He Yu just gave birth to his child. Hahaha."】

【Bullet Screen: "The Cube is XingYu's child!"】

He Yu remained perfectly calm.

Pointing toward the mountain of equipment, he said,

"All right."

"You can go improve your strength now."

This had been Bo Jingshan's suggestion.

Destroying those spare pieces of equipment released enormous amounts of energy.

Both people and equipment could absorb that energy.

Even absorbing only most of it would greatly increase one's strength.

Those weapons were no longer useful anyway.

Converting them directly into personal strength was far more worthwhile.

Zhen Xing nodded.

Then he carried the mountain of equipment away to cultivate.

Wanrenzhan immediately marched over carrying his axe.

Stopping directly in front of He Yu, he held it out.

"He Yu."

"Upgrade my weapon."

Blue Eyes had gone before him.

Zhen Xing had gone before him.

Surely...

It was finally his turn.

Wanrenzhan felt a little wronged.

Not far away, Qiong looked up with a smile.

"Thanks."

"I was actually in line first."

He Yu answered,

"You can let Duan Yuchen do yours."

Duan Yuchen immediately stood up excitedly.

"That's right!"

"I can!"

"Wanrenzhan, I'll upgrade your weapon."

Wanrenzhan refused outright.

He insisted that only He Yu forge his equipment.

Now he simply stood behind He Yu, radiating an unmistakable—

"You have to do it yourself."

—kind of determination.

Duan Yuchen:

"..."

Yuan Ze stepped forward.

"Master Duan."

"Please upgrade mine."

He trusted Duan Yuchen's forging ability completely.

Expecting everything from He Yu alone simply wasn't realistic.

He Yu couldn't possibly handle everyone's equipment.

The two reached an immediate agreement.

Duan Yuchen went to prepare the forging tools before beginning work on Yuan Ze's weapon.

Meanwhile...

He Yu began strengthening Qiong's threads.

Zhante and Ling Buchen helped tend the fire.

Bo Jingshan sat on the ground cultivating while holding his Crescent Moon Curved Blade.

That man was nothing less than a cultivation fanatic.

Qiong continued building the Star Network using Eugene and Gedai, her fingers flying across the controls.

Tang Ke and Siya watched He Yu and Duan Yuchen forge.

In truth...

They wanted to talk to their idol.

Unfortunately...

Their idol ignored everyone.

His eyes remained fixed solely on He Yu.

Only Wanrenzhan had nothing to do.

He stood behind He Yu.

Beside him rested the rock...

And on that rock sat the flowerpot containing Blue Eyes.

Only Blue Eyes remained completely quiet.

With a single leaf above his head, his watery-blue eyes never blinked as he silently watched He Yu.

Wanrenzhan's grip tightened slightly around his axe.

He looked at He Yu's back...

Then a wicked idea suddenly emerged.