Chapter 124

Chapter 26: Foundation of Cooperation

　　Bai Ling was delighted.

　　In the past, getting frisky required some effort—either waiting for a special occasion or finding an excuse to get mad. But today, the blonde busty girl threw herself on top willingly. What more could one ask for?

　　So she just held onto Xiaoling who eagerly jumped into her arms and thanked the bountiful gifts of nature.

　　”Hold on, I suddenly remembered we have important business tomorrow,” Yuan Xiaoling tried to resist a little. “Aren’t we supposed to negotiate with Dai Hengzhu tomorrow?”

　　”It’s definitely not tomorrow. Those two just left today. You go knocking on his door the next day?” Bai Ling said lightly. “You don’t even give others two days to cool off before barging in?”

　　That would be like openly declaring their visit today had ulterior motives. Aren’t you screwing over your own team?

　　Yuan Xiaoling blinked her eyes: “Then what should we do?”

　　”Just lie there.”

　　”Huh? Oh!”

　　Since they already thanked nature’s bounty, it’s time to activate… no, let Yuan Goddess mode activate.

　　When feeling more uninhibited, Bai Ling tends to act more freely. She has become a pure empiricist. Just so happens, her experience points are very plentiful, all accumulated in recent months.

　　The sun hung high in the noon sky outside the window, then slowly descended from its peak until it finally sank below the horizon at Seaside Tianhai City, but the battle… well, no, it was time to sleep.

　　Zzzzz

　　The morning arrived quietly with the sighs of a young girl. The weather was good today. It hadn’t rained since the last heavy storm several days ago. The forecast said there would be nearly two weeks of clear skies ahead.

　　Yuan Xiaoling leaned on the windowsill, lost in thought.

　　As the saying goes, waking up early makes you dumb all day, especially if you passed out from battle the night before. This symptom is only worsened in the morning.

　　”Ah,” she sighed softly, “such a loss.”

　　Bai Ling is an empiricist, coincidentally, so is Xiaoling. However, their focus differs. Bai Ling turns experience into instinct, leveling up her basic skills. As for Xiaoling… improving her proficiency wouldn’t help since she didn’t get many chances to fight, so she focused on theoretical summaries first. For example, she categorized intensity based on fighting duration.

　　First tier: less than half an hour. This usually happens when Bai Ling is bored and suddenly feels like it, purely a quick match.

　　Second tier: over half an hour but under four hours. A fairly normal session length. Usually during festivals or when she wears something nice, adding a bit of ceremony to life, which counts as a standard round.

　　The final tier is extreme. Sometimes it lasts through continuous rain that stretches most of the day. Other times, it’s like sudden showers that stop and start repeatedly, akin to resource spawns in games. But this situation is very special, happening when Xiaoling deliberately provokes things to complete Weekly Tasks.

　　”So, without completing the Weekly Task and still hitting the highest tier,” Yuan Xiaoling sighed again, “what a waste.”

　　Life is tough, the busty girl sighed.

　　Fortunately, there wasn’t much going on today, giving her time to wallow in self-pity.

　　With nothing better to do, Yuan Xiaoling called Li Li. The latter and Xiao Su had returned safely, and no one else asked about what they did.

　　As for Dai Hengzhu, according to Li Li, he had been sitting in his office these past few days, doing who-knows-what.

　　”I’m planning to talk to him, either tomorrow or the day after,” Yuan Xiaoling said, “let me know when you can pass the message along.”

　　Li Li immediately tensed up upon hearing this: “What do you need him for?”

　　”Really just to chat, maybe negotiate a cooperation. Don’t worry,” Yuan Xiaoling reassured helplessly, “I’m not going to attack him.”

　　It hasn’t reached that point yet.

　　Li Li relaxed a little: “Alright, I’ll find an opportunity to mention it tomorrow.”

　　Afterward, Yuan Xiaoling received a call from Yuan Tong.

　　”Cousin Xiaoling, we’re almost there.”

　　During the last few days at the Yuan family estate, everyone else expressed unwillingness to get involved in Tianhai City’s mess. Only Yuan Tong, along with a few passionate brothers, volunteered to come up and challenge the Yun Family.

　　But this timing isn’t great…

　　”You guys play around in the neighboring city for a while. Come back in a week or two,” Yuan Xiaoling suggested, “it’s heating up right now.”

　　”If it’s so heated, shouldn’t we come to lend a hand?” Yuan Tong questioned.

　　Yuan Xiaoling thought for a moment and asked, “What level are you at now?”

　　”Third-tier,” Yuan Tong hesitated for a second, then added, “almost mid-level.”

　　”Good, currently the ones dying the most here are Third-tier Spiritual Energy Manipulators.” Yuan Xiaoling leaned against the window and said faintly.

　　There was silence on the other end of the line for several seconds.

　　”Tianhai City, that terrifying?”

　　”Not too bad, mainly because the situation is special right now.”

　　Currently, it’s the incubation period for the Inner Stone of the Mind. With Dai Hengzhu and Yun He’s relentless “support,” the battlefield in Tianhai City prioritizes providing nourishment, making Third-tier manipulators the most dangerous.

　　Because they provide more nourishment than Second-tier manipulators, yet aren’t as rare or hard to kill as Fourth-tier.

　　Thus, Yuan Tong chose to heed his cousin’s advice and hang out outside the city for a couple of weeks.

　　After that, no one else contacted her, allowing Yuan Xiaoling some free time to play with her mobile phone.

　　By the time the sun was high in the sky, Bai Ling finally woke up. Upon opening her eyes, she saw the blonde busty girl playing with her phone beside her, her popsicle-like feet swinging back and forth.

　　”Good morning.” She rubbed her eyes and greeted.

　　Yuan Xiaoling glanced at her, chuckled, “Morning? It’s already noon. If you wake up at noon, you might as well take a nap.”

　　Bai Ling didn’t respond, thinking if she didn’t have to eat lunch, she could keep sleeping. But alas, hunger won’t allow that.

　　No milk, steamed buns, though tasty, don’t fill you up.

　　Seeing her silent, Yuan Xiaoling smirked and pressed on, “I don’t understand how someone can be so reckless the previous evening despite knowing they won’t wake up the next morning, starting from the afternoon even.”

　　”I thought only characters in books behave like that.”

　　”Seriously? Seriously? Isn’t it ridiculous when people start at noon, sleep at night, and wake up at noon the next day?”

　　The blonde girl got increasingly excited, her popsicle-like feet landing on Bai Ling.

　　With a slap, Bai Ling grabbed one of the popsicles.

　　”Even though I can’t wake up in the morning, I can certainly start at noon.” She said calmly.

　　And it was exactly noon.

　　”Well, well, never mind then. Doing it non-stop would only harm you. Let’s discuss serious matters today.”

　　Xiaoling pretended to care while stealthily pulling her foot back.

　　Bai Ling didn’t pay attention; she was just teasing. Unless Xiaoling’s estrogen issues flared up, she wouldn’t forcibly reset the cooldown.

　　So, with one party not wanting to push further and the other not wanting to endure more, they quickly moved on from the playful banter and discussed serious matters.

　　Yuan Xiaoling inquired Bai Ling about the chaos in Tianhai City from the last timeline. Bai Ling thought for a long time and gave an evaluation — lively but not intense.

　　On one hand, the Yun Family wanted more time to study, slowing down the pace.

　　On the other hand, in the previous life, there was no “Water Goddess” who rallied local Spiritual Energy Manipulators to stand up against the Yun Family.

　　”I don’t know the current progress, but it’s definitely much faster than last time,” Bai Ling said, “maybe just one step away.”

　　The appearance of Ghosts is a manifestation of excessive concentration of Mental-type spiritual energy. They’ve already been seen a few times recently.

　　”One step away, huh? Not bad, it works in our favor for negotiations.” Yuan Xiaoling thought for a moment and said, “Let’s find Dai Hengzhu tomorrow.”

　　There’s only a thousand days to catch thieves, not a thousand days to guard against them. Besides, continuing like this would deplete their own forces, something Xiaoling didn’t want.

　　She needed to bring this phase to an early end.

　　Of course, this requires Dai Hengzhu’s help, fortunately, their goals align — to hasten the hatching of the Inner Stone of the Mind. Thus, they have a foundation for cooperation.

　　Afterward, there wasn’t much else to do. After lunch, Bai Ling took another nap. Yuan Xiaoling got out of bed, wandered around the hotel, and exchanged work updates with Luo Zou Cheng and Wu Bian.

　　Since the “Sales Office Raid” incident, the morale of her subordinates has been high. Some members of the team were even shouting slogans like “Drive them out of Tianhai City, leave none behind,” and “Beyond the sea lies the enemy.”

　　This stirred up some excitement in Xiaoling as well.

　　”By the way, Miss Yuan,” Luo Zou Cheng said, “the rain enhancement bombs you asked us to prepare, I consulted experts and found the best model suitable for our area, but it will take a few days for delivery.”

　　”Fine,” Yuan Xiaoling nodded satisfactorily, “as long as they arrive before the ceasefire ends.”

　　With the rain enhancement bombs, she wouldn’t fear Yun He.

　　Later in the evening, Li Li replied with a message.

　　”Director Dai will be waiting for you at Four Squares Academy tomorrow morning.”