Jing Xi was bewildered by Chi Yao’s fluctuating emotional intelligence.

To be able to win over the hearts of all of Extreme Shadow, his emotional intelligence couldn’t be that low. Even Grandfather had quite a favorable impression of him, seeming to like this knockoff grandson even more.

But when it came to him, why was he as dumb as a block of wood?

Chi Yao felt his hair stand on end from being looked at with that expression like he was looking at an idiot.

“Don’t think I won’t hit you.”

Jing Xi: “Come on, your face is yours to hit as you please.”

Chi Yao looked at this incomparably handsome face of his and thought about it but still couldn’t bring himself to do it: “After we get back, I’ll streak in front of Brother Rong wearing only socks.”

Jing Xi: “…”

While the two were bickering, Xiao Hei reached the mesh opening, turned into a toothpick, and flew in.

Except for the core chip, the nanometal material shell could transform at will.

Soon a scanning window popped up in Chi Yao’s vision.

At thirty meters below ground level, there was indeed an underground space.

Following his instructions, Xiao Hei coordinated to find the entrance to the basement.

“In Building No. 2.” Chi Yao stood up and left.

Buildings No. 1 and No. 2 were connected by a corridor in the middle, with a large open space that would normally be used as a small garden.

But this place was strange—bare and empty with nothing.

The door leading underground in Building No. 2 was locked. Chi Yao was about to pull out Xiao Hong to have it unlock it but was stopped by Jing Xi.

“No need.” Jing Xi, wearing gloves with both hands, rhythmically pressed several buttons at the bottom of the sensor a few times, and the door opened in response.

Building No. 2 had already been preliminarily scanned by Xiao Lan. Apart from needing to avoid those AI patrols, no obvious danger had been discovered so far.

Inside the door was pitch black, with only spiraling stairs leading down.

Chi Yao released Xiao Lan.

A minute later, when the window in his vision showed no abnormalities, he quietly followed.

Chi Yao smiled: “With your talent, being a general is such a waste. Come follow me instead?”

Jing Xi: “I actually think being a space pirate is a waste for you. Come follow me—at least you’d get household registration.”

Chi Yao sneered: “The military accepts unregistered people? Are you bullying me for not having gone to school?”

Jing Xi said flatly: “They don’t—”

Chi Yao was about to retort when he heard him continue: “But the Jing family does.”

Chi Yao’s steps paused slightly. He turned his head to look at him but didn’t see a trace of joking on his face.

“Sounds pretty good.” Chi Yao smiled. “If I change my surname to Jing, I wouldn’t need to struggle for the rest of my life.”

Jing Xi’s hand hanging at his side twitched slightly. He said calmly on the surface: “Mm, you can consider it.”

Just as he finished speaking, he felt Chi Yao lean over.

“Then wouldn’t I become your—” Chi Yao dragged out his voice, “uncle?”

Jing Xi’s heartbeat, which hadn’t had time to speed up, went cold.

“…”

Chi Yao smiled: “Getting a big nephew for free is really great. When I have time, I’ll go chat with Brother Rong.”

Jing Xi: “…”

A few minutes later, some faint light appeared in their vision.

Jing Xi was about to draw his gun when he suddenly felt his finger being hooked.

His eyes flickered. Just as he was about to tighten his grip, the ring on his middle finger was taken away, and the hand slipped away too.

Chi Yao twirled the ring: “Still more used to using this.”

Jing Xi: “…”

So it was just to get the ring.

The faint light came from a small night light embedded beside the door. Xiao Lan hovered in front of the small metal door, unable to scan further inside.

Chi Yao glanced at the stairs that could still go down and withdrew his gaze to observe this door.

It was made of special metal that could block most scanning devices, and its sealing and defensive properties were excellent.

The lock on the door was the same type of sensor lock as outside.

Before opening the door, Jing Xi pulled Chi Yao back.

“Give Xiao Hong an order to switch to defense mode.”

Chi Yao: “Defense mode?”

Just as he finished speaking, he heard Xiao Hong’s response in his ear.

[Starting up—]

With the notification sound, Chi Yao discovered his right arm was being covered with metal starting from the terminal as the source point, gradually spreading to his chest and neck.

A moment later, his entire body looked like it was wearing a thin layer of armor, but it quickly disappeared from view.

Chi Yao touched the clothes on his body. His expression changed.

This texture—it was metal.

In other words, this protective armor could also simulate the environment to achieve invisibility.

“This function existed before?” Chi Yao asked in a deep voice.

As far as he knew, among the military’s top-tier equipment, there was no protective armor at this level.

What other things could this guy create that would surprise him?

Jing Xi: “I wanted to make it a long time ago but never had time. I upgraded it before the last virtual battle, but the functions still aren’t complete.”

As he spoke, he manually activated Xiao Lan’s defense mode, exchanged a glance with Chi Yao, and opened the metal door.

Inside was brighter than outside, but the light was still dim.

Despite their rich combat experience, both were startled by the scene before them.

Directly opposite the entrance was a platform two meters wide and five meters long, displaying jars of various sizes, with numbers labeled on their bodies, containing limbs and organs of various wild beasts.

Light shone down from above, creating an eerie atmosphere.

Chi Yao steadied himself and walked over, discovering that in addition to body tissues, there were many placentas, some requiring careful observation to see the small embryos connected to the placentas.

He turned to look around.

This space was extremely large, extending in three directions.

Every five meters or so, such a platform would be placed, filled with various wild beast specimens.

It looked like a very normal specimen room.

Jing Xi walked along the wall for more than ten meters.

These specimens didn’t seem to be arranged by value or level—a fifth-level mutant elk’s antler and a second-level mutant white mouse’s tail were actually displayed side by side.

Jing Xi noticed the codes on the labels were actually continuous.

Each code was a very long string of numbers.

After photographing several of them, Jing Xi prepared to walk back.

With Chi Yao’s personality, he was probably already impatient.

But when he returned to the entrance position and looked in the other two directions, he found Chi Yao had walked even farther than him and was looking very carefully.

Chi Yao walked along one direction, looking as he went.

Some images seemed to flash through his mind.

He couldn’t remember them but subconsciously followed his intuition going deeper inside.

His gaze swept over those strangely shaped wild beast tissues. When he saw a certain spot, his eyes suddenly focused, and his mind exploded with a boom.

On the innermost platform, on the side close to the wall, sat a transparent jar one meter tall.

Inside the jar was a crocodile’s front leg. The cross-section was extremely uneven, looking like it had been torn off alive.

But these weren’t Chi Yao’s focus.

His gaze was tightly fixed on the front part of the foot, where a human finger was growing.

Or rather, a woman’s finger.

“Found something?” Seeing him standing motionless, Jing Xi followed his line of sight. His expression immediately darkened. “Is it a crocodile turning into a human, or a human turning into a crocodile?”

Chi Yao pointed at that finger: “There’s still a piece of light blue nail polish remaining on the nail surface. It should be a human turning into a crocodile.”

Hearing his words, only then did Jing Xi notice that color spot smaller than a sesame seed.

Just as he wanted to get closer to observe, he was stopped by Chi Yao’s outstretched hand.

“Don’t move.”

He looked left and right, slowly reaching his hand over.

Whoosh!

A shadow flew past Chi Yao’s hand, hit the metal ceiling with a muffled sound, and the echo spread out.

Chi Yao’s reaction speed was fast, but his index finger was still cut with a one-centimeter gash. Blood congealed at the edge of the wound and gradually slid down.

Jing Xi locked onto a certain position and said in a deep voice: “It’s high-pressure air.”

Chi Yao extended his hand in front of him, saying casually: “Look for the sensor device.”

Without him saying so, Jing Xi was already searching.

With peripheral vision seeing him extend his bleeding finger over, Jing Xi thought about it and took out a clean handkerchief to wrap around that finger.

“I’ll help you apply medicine when we get back.” Jing Xi said.

Actually, with this kind of small wound, he normally wouldn’t pay attention to it at all.

Chi Yao paid attention to the surrounding walls and floor. When he came back to his senses, his finger had already been wrapped thick, and the craftsmanship was quite good.

“…”

Jing Xi locked onto several places. Just as he was planning to test the sensor device’s position, he saw Chi Yao looking at him with an expression that was hard to describe, finding it somewhat strange.

“What?”

Going on strike just because your finger got cut?

“This bandaging technique is really good. The knot is tied very beautifully.” Chi Yao said with a smile, in a mocking tone.

Jing Xi didn’t understand what he meant: “Thanks?”

Chi Yao untied the knot: “But I wanted you to lick it, not bandage it.”

Jing Xi: “…Lick?”

Before Chi Yao could mock him, he quickly understood what this meant.

That day in the maze at the aerial amusement park, he’d clearly been injured, but the wound had disappeared without a trace.

At that time, he’d guessed it was related to Chi Yao, but had never verified it.

Seeing his eyes go blank, Chi Yao directly brought his finger to his mouth, urging: “Hurry up, it hurts like hell.”

Jing Xi’s eyes flickered as he loosely grabbed it, complaining verbally: “So delicate.”

That’s what he said, but he opened his mouth.

Chi Yao sneered, about to retort, when with peripheral vision he saw him with eyes half-lowered, tongue tip licking over the wound, expression serious.

Chi Yao suddenly felt his throat somewhat dry.

Jing Xi looked up at him: “Like this?”

Meeting his eyes, Chi Yao’s heartbeat suddenly skipped a beat. In his nose, he seemed to smell that familiar crisp wine fragrance again.

“…”

Jing Xi: “Not right?”

Chi Yao: “I told you to lick it, not lick it so seductively.”

Jing Xi: “…”

What the hell is “lick it so seductively”?

Chi Yao withdrew his hand and looked at it against the light.

The wound had already healed.

Jing Xi saw this and frowned: “Your bodily fluids have the effect of healing wounds?”

Chi Yao used that blood-stained handkerchief to wipe the saliva on his finger.

“Don’t tell anyone.”

“Does every… person have special abilities?”

Jing Xi wanted to say “beast-transformed person,” but when saying these three words to Chi Yao’s face, they became exceptionally cruel.

If they hadn’t separated back then, Chi Yao definitely wouldn’t look like this now.

“Don’t know. None of the ones I know have them.” Chi Yao looked at him. “No one may be able to answer this question.”

Jing Xi frowned, understanding in his heart.

He suddenly remembered Chi Yao’s body—except for the scar on his arm, there wasn’t a single wound anywhere.

“The wounds I left on your body all automatically repaired?” Jing Xi asked.

Chi Yao sneered: “What, very disappointed?”

Jing Xi said frankly: “A little.”

Chi Yao laughed out loud: “No need to be disappointed. The scars I left on your body are all gone too~”

Jing Xi: “…”

The sensor device was hidden behind special metal and had no ground connection with shielding function, making it difficult for them to determine the location at a glance.

Chi Yao could only use the most foolish method—trying from various angles.

A shadow flashed past. He brought his hand to Jing Xi’s mouth.

“Lick.”

Jing Xi: “…”

Another shadow flashed past. Chi Yao extended his hand over.

“Hurry up.”

Jing Xi dutifully took the wound on the finger in his mouth.

This wound was deeper, the blood congealing into a blood drop.

Jing Xi unconsciously sucked.

The finger at his mouth suddenly twitched. He instinctively gripped the hand tighter.

He heard Chi Yao’s irritated voice in his ear.

“I told you to lick, not suck.”

Jing Xi’s gaze swept over his face. Was he embarrassed?

“The reaction speed on this side is slightly faster.”

As Chi Yao spoke, he tried again nearby.

This time the high-pressure air fired faster. Chi Yao quickly withdrew his hand, but the angle of the high-pressure air was slightly off, grazing his face and hitting the ceiling.

Chi Yao removed the ring from his middle finger with one hand and sent it flying toward the wall on the right side of the platform.

The metal ring sprouted gears in the air and cut into the special metal with ease.

With just a sizzling sound of electric current, the sensor device burned out.

Just as he was about to go retrieve the ring, he was pulled back by Jing Xi.

“Wait, your face is bleeding.”

Chi Yao’s brow twitched.

The next moment, he watched as his own face gradually approached.

Chi Yao: “…”

Damn.