While Yunyang was hesitating, Kalunden, who had taken over Wu Zhengming’s shift, had already seated himself near her and Si Zhao.
Kalunden politely nodded to the two females, then activated his photobrain and began reviewing the records from the reconnaissance robots.
Si Zhao knew perfectly well that Kalunden would stop her from taking any risks, so she did not bring up what had just happened again. Instead, she gave Yunyang a look that only the two of them could understand.
Yunyang remained silent. She had no idea what to say.
If she agreed, she would be putting Sister Zhaozhao’s safety at risk.
But if she refused, the Federation forces might be able to drive back the insectoids this time. What if the insectoids evolved again, though…?
All she could do was stall for a little while. “Sister Zhaozhao, it looks like someone else’s contamination level has exceeded ninety.”
Right now, only Si Zhao’s power could bring the Federation soldiers back from the battlefield.
Without hesitation, Si Zhao used her ability to send He Youchuan to the battlefield and bring back the Federation soldier whose body had already begun to beastify.
Yunyang had only caught a fleeting glimpse of the soldier earlier and had not seen his face clearly.
Now that He Youchuan had brought him back, she took a careful look—and realized that he was someone she knew.
The whereabouts of Si Zhao and Yunyang were an absolute secret, so Lin Ruibo had never expected to encounter Yunyang here again.
Even though his contamination was already severe, he still managed to force a smile. “Your Excellency Yunyang!”
After speaking, Lin Ruibo turned to look at Si Zhao.
His pupils contracted sharply, and his lips parted. The words “Your Majesty the Empress” nearly escaped him.
Only when Kalunden shot him a warning glare did he hurriedly stop himself, close his mouth, and bow to Si Zhao and Yunyang.
Koi-fish scales had already appeared on his neck. Yunyang nodded at him, then released her mental power and began purifying him.
Lin Ruibo’s ability was at the S-rank level. To Yunyang now, helping him purge the contamination was effortless.
She expended ten percent of her mental power and lowered Lin Ruibo’s contamination level to below eighty.
But remembering the Tide-Spirit Amber Lin Ruibo had given her last time, Yunyang used a little more mental power and reduced his contamination level directly to the fifties.
Lin Ruibo’s eyes widened in delighted surprise. He bowed deeply again. “Thank you, Your Excellency Yunyang!”
“You’re welcome.” Yunyang raised a hand, stopping He Youchuan from sending Lin Ruibo back to the battlefield. “I remember. Your name is Lin Ruibo, right?”
Fuyuan had added Lin Ruibo on his photobrain before, and Yunyang had learned his name from him.
Lin Ruibo had not expected Yunyang to remember him. He nodded excitedly, then apologized awkwardly. “I’m sorry, Your Excellency Yunyang. I wasn’t able to find another piece of Tide-Spirit Amber.”
After returning from the Central Star last time, he had deliberately searched for Tide-Spirit Amber and even asked his people to help him look.
Strangely enough, however, his entire clan had failed to find a second piece.
After that, the fighting on the frontier planets had intensified. Lin Ruibo had joined the Fourth Army and followed Kalunden to the insectoid planet as reinforcements, leaving him with no time or energy to continue searching for Tide-Spirit Amber.
Yunyang’s lips curved slightly as she gently shook her head. “You don’t need to apologize.”
“May I ask something a little presumptuous? Could I take a look at the treasures you’ve collected?”
Lin Ruibo was a koi-fish, after all, and his innate talent was treasure-finding. Yunyang thought that some of the treasures he had collected might be useful in their current situation.
But she knew the request was rather unreasonable, so she added, “You can refuse. That is your right.”
Lin Ruibo shook his head so hard he looked like a bobblehead.
“It’s not presumptuous at all! All the treasures I’ve collected are here. If there’s anything Your Excellency Yunyang likes, please take it. Just consider it my thanks for purifying my contamination.”
As he spoke, Lin Ruibo took out several spatial storage devices and handed them to Fuyuan—
Of Yunyang’s nine beast companions, Fuyuan was the only one he was familiar with.
Fuyuan accepted the storage devices and handed them to Yunyang.
Lin Ruibo had already opened their access permissions when he took them out, so Yunyang could open them freely.
Neither Si Zhao nor Kalunden understood what Yunyang intended to do, but neither of them asked at that moment.
Yunyang did not stand on ceremony with Lin Ruibo either. She first activated the item-scanning function on her photobrain, then opened each storage device in turn and began searching through Lin Ruibo’s collection.
As expected of a koi-fish, even the treasures in a single storage device were too numerous to count.
Yunyang estimated that it would take at least thirty minutes to an hour to finish going through everything.
Lin Ruibo scratched his head awkwardly. “Your Excellency Yunyang, my storage devices are probably a bit messy. Please don’t mind.”
He loved hoarding treasures but hated organizing them. Every time he found something, he simply piled it together with everything else, so even he could not remember what he owned.
“It’s fine.”
The fact that Lin Ruibo was willing to show her his “treasure vault” was already more than enough. Yunyang certainly had no grounds to make further demands.
Lin Ruibo sighed in relief. “Then take your time, Your Excellency Yunyang. I’ll head back to the battlefield first.”
With that, Lin Ruibo turned and cautiously glanced at He Youchuan.
He wondered whether the Empress’s Imperial Consort would send him back…
While Lin Ruibo was considering this, Si Zhao directed her ability over He Youchuan.
The latter immediately grabbed Lin Ruibo and sent him back to the battlefield.
Afterward, Si Zhao continued working with He Youchuan to bring back Federation soldiers whose contamination levels had exceeded ninety.
She was already an S-rank mentalist, and she had only just recovered her mental power. She did not disturb Yunyang.
Yunyang searched through the storage devices one by one, but she found nothing that suited her needs.
Lin Ruibo had countless strange and unusual treasures, and many of them were no less rare than Tide-Spirit Amber. Unfortunately, none of them could help with the situation at hand.
Half an hour passed quickly.
Yunyang had already finished searching the first few storage devices, but she still had nothing to show for it.
She could only place all her hopes on the final storage device.
Before she could open it, He Youchuan brought back an SSS-rank ability user from the battlefield.
If Si Zhao purified him, all of Si Zhao’s mental power would be drained, and she would have to spend time recovering it all over again.
Even so, she did not interrupt Yunyang.
Yunyang noticed the SSS-rank ability user herself. She released her mental power and, before Si Zhao could act, lowered the man’s contamination level to below eighty.
Once the purification was complete, He Youchuan sent the man back to the battlefield. Only then did Yunyang open the final storage device.
Star Marrow Crystal? Useless!
Azure Sea Ore? Pretty but impractical!
Profound Meteorite Titanium Crystal? Extremely rare, but useless!
Yunyang picked through the collection, yet she was nearly finished and still had not found anything useful.
She felt discouraged.
Could even a koi-fish’s treasure vault not help her?
Yunyang sighed but did not give up searching.
She turned the final storage device inside out. In the end, only a few oddly shaped stones remained.
Without much hope, Yunyang scanned them with her photobrain. The scan was incredibly fast. In less than a second, information about the stones appeared on the holographic display.
