Chapter 366: How to Respond to That

Chapter 366: How to Respond to That

“Uh, ahem, that’s about enough, let’s go home!” Amid Dan Marina’s insincere flattery, Zheng Yichen completed the final tool and handed it to the waiting Alchemical Puppet. He gave a light cough. Was the time a bit short? Should he try to stall a little longer?

“Let’s go.”

Loris nodded, her expression neither good nor bad. She still wanted to settle things with the Undying Witch Kasha, but since Zheng Yichen had already come here, clearly for this matter, a fight was definitely not going to happen. As she left, she gave Dan Marina an extra look, her meaning clear: we’ll have a good talk later!

“Sigh~ The Dragon Body… it’s good, but using it is just troublesome.” After returning to the base, Zheng Yichen looked down at his pitch-black claws with some helplessness. It was the same feeling as before. The Dragon Body gave him unmatched strength but also limited his social circle. Even though where he lived now could be considered ‘lively,’ this kind of liveliness was a different matter entirely.

The experience of using an Alchemical Avatar was another situation; it couldn’t compare at all to being there himself. Should he go secretly listen to what Dan Marina and Loris were discussing now? Since they hadn’t fought so far, there probably wouldn’t be any conflict. It might really be necessary to listen carefully.

But as Zheng Yichen quietly sneaked over, Dan Marina walked out of Loris’s room looking relaxed.

“Oh dear, you’re too late.”

“I was just passing by!” Zheng Yichen said unhappily, turning to walk toward the Magical Beast breeding area. When he arrived, the first thing he saw was still that little fox. With its big tail, if its features weren’t so distinct, one could mistake it for a large squirrel. Seeing Zheng Yichen arrive, this little fox put on the airs of reporting work to a superior, making other Magical Beasts with decent intelligence quite displeased.

Riding on the dragon’s coattails, huh… They really wanted to show that they were smart too, willing to cooperate with all tasks in this environment that provided food and shelter, where everything was great except for the slightly high training intensity. As for wild instincts? Those had long been worn away. Seeing a dragon walking around here every day wore them down extra fast!

Even though this dragon didn’t seem to have a Dragon’s Aura, besides the dragon, there were even more terrifying Witches who occasionally passed through here. Especially recently, a black-and-white-haired one had come. Before, the Witches who passed through came with the mindset of visiting a zoo to look at animals. Scary as they were, at least they didn’t touch or feed them.

But that peaceful life of fear had been broken by that black-and-white-haired one who arrived a while ago. That one not only touched but also fed them. If it was just touching, since you’re a Witch and we can’t afford to offend you, fine, touch if you want. In the future, when free, we could even boast among our kind that a Witch once touched our head. Aren’t you jealous?

But this touching directly removed flesh! Even if it didn’t remove flesh, a lot of blood was taken. The smallest amount of blood taken exceeded their regular blood draw quantity. Even worse, having an eye dug out or part of internal organs removed wasn’t strange!

Although her ability was special, and digging out eyes or organs didn’t cause them much pain, and they even received a Witch-level treatment afterwards to recover quickly, it was still creepy. Once or twice was fine, but after many times, the psychological shadow it gave them was immense!

Even that simulated soft-bodied Magical Beast that was kept here, which usually hardly moved at all, could run nimbly and swiftly after the black-and-white-haired one arrived.

Then there was the feeding. Normal stuff was fine; eat too much and just run a few more laps later to lose it. But what kind of weird things were being fed? They looked like normal meatballs, but taking a bite felt like swallowing explosives. During the process, the feeder, the black-and-white-haired one, watched the whole change with a cold gaze.

Thankfully, they were used to it now. Even though that short black-and-white-haired one was particularly troublesome, at least she didn’t take their lives, right? What made them more upset was why that fox could strut around and curry favor. Let me tell you, if we weren’t locked up, we could definitely do better!

“Hmm… you’re overweight, don’t slack off.” Zheng Yichen hefted the little fox on the ground, glancing at the tag around its neck. It had systematic records, all related information about this little fox. The little fox nodded quickly, indicating it would work hard. Zheng Yichen waved his hand, and it scurried away, going who knows where to play.

After patrolling the area, Zheng Yichen confirmed all the Magical Beasts kept here had normal vital signs, then left. He knew Annie often came here to ‘wreak havoc,’ but she had assured him these Magical Beasts wouldn’t be in any life danger and were actually growing better. After a small internal struggle, he let her do as she pleased.

How long had she lived? What kind of scene hadn’t she seen?

A breeding zone like his probably seemed like child’s play in her eyes, just a bit cleaner and more environmentally friendly. Finally, Zheng Yichen went to the lowest level of the base, where the Ruins were housed. This thing had now been completely transformed by Zheng Yichen into a giant Mana Source, like a nuclear reactor. Although he was only responsible for the modification part, the real core wasn’t much related to him.

But after all, he hadn’t been at this for long. After studying for a few decades, he could definitely make something that could gather Elemental Power and convert it into liquid or even solid elements himself. His Laboratory had many related books, all copied from Irene. Relying on those books, Zheng Yichen spent his free time learning and deeply analyzing this Mana Source.

He had improved all the improvable parts, since many of the copied books contained information Irene had improved later, which was much better than this original thing.

“Whew~ still gives me a headache.” Back in the Laboratory, Zheng Yichen pulled over his chair, sat down, and rubbed his head. Spiritual damage—doing just a little extra work made him especially tired. After resting a bit, he rummaged through his Personal Space, found some Magic Potions, and stuffed them into his mouth. Those potions were made for practice; they were traceable things. All the ones he took were beneficial to the mind.

“Drink this.” Hearing Loris’s voice, Zheng Yichen opened his closed eyes and saw Loris walking over carrying a big bucket. Right! Another downside of being a dragon was like this: any of his daily utensils, even a cup, when held by others, looked like a bucket or a washbasin!

To be fair, as someone whose heart and Soul were completely Human, even though the power of time was strong, he still found it hard to adapt to the inconveniences of a large body. For example, bending down to pick something up: as a Human, it was a normal bend. Now? Wanting to reach down and pick something up was almost like lying on the ground. So uncomfortable.

“What’s this good stuff?” Zheng Yichen didn’t hesitate much, gulping down the contents of the bucket. A cool feeling surged into his head, making him raise his eyebrows slightly, a bit strange.

“With Spiritual damage, faster recovery isn’t necessarily better. Slowly nurturing it back to health is better than quick recovery,” Loris said. There were ways to recover immediately after Spiritual damage, but such recovery could cause an actual decrease in the upper limit of the Spirit. Slowly nurturing it back could minimize such loss. At the very least, raising Spiritual Power back to the state before the damage would definitely take longer than slowly nurturing it.

“Oh~” Zheng Yichen nodded, slightly bent down, and extended his claw. Loris walked onto it as usual, and he placed her on the armrest of the chair. He gently tapped the armrest, thinking for a moment before saying, “Well, this time I was a bit reckless. Next time something comes up, let’s discuss it together?”

“It wasn’t your fault.” Loris leaned against Zheng Yichen and shook her head. “You’re not a child.”

Zheng Yichen wasn’t a child, so he couldn’t discuss everything with her. Loris didn’t expect him to do so either. Doing that might seem like a close relationship, but it could easily break.

“This matter should have been me discussing it with you first.”

“Uh~ Since that’s the case, let’s not talk about this matter anymore.” Zheng Yichen shook his head. After all, they weren’t Dan Marina, who could predict many things in advance. Even if she couldn’t predict precisely, she could sense what would generally happen and the consequences if she did something. For example, this time, if he had known this action would encounter the Undying Witch, he would have prepared meticulously instead of acting so boldly.

“Mm.” Loris nodded lightly. The Laboratory fell into silence again, making Zheng Yichen somewhat worried. Even facing ordinary Ghost Maids, Zheng Yichen could idle away time teasing them, since Ghost Maids had quite rich emotions.

But facing Loris, the atmosphere always became serious involuntarily. With Irene, as long as the topic was Magic, it could become lively. With Annie, it was the same. As for Dan Marina, he could chat about anything… but with Loris, it was just so… peaceful, as if she was never moved by external things.

She had once been very lonely.

“Come to think of it, I still don’t know, what do you like?” After a while, Zheng Yichen cleared his throat, actively breaking the silence.

“Before, there wasn’t anything I particularly liked. Everything felt the same.” Loris said calmly. “Now it’s different.”

“…” So, how should he respond to that?