Alright, alright, alright.
Lin Xiaohe scrambled away in a panic.
She added two more names to her little grudge notebook: Chu Huaizhi and Babu.
Chu Huaizhi, you big troublemaker, just wait until I get out of here! You’re in huge trouble now, the kind that even star coins can’t fix.
Lin Xiaohe couldn’t run anymore.
Those crayfish were like cockroaches that just wouldn’t die—you kill one, and a hundred more show up.
She looked around. The entire Blue Sea was covered in crayfish.
Lin Xiaohe pulled out a conch and blew into it with all her strength.
“Great Sound Whale, come save your supplier!”
“Wheee…” A distant, deep whale song echoed back.
High up in the sky, the Great Sound Whale swam over slowly.
“Help me out! I’ll give you twenty percent off!” Lin Xiaohe was really putting up a big offer.
The Great Sound Whale stared curiously at Lin Xiaohe as she ran across the open sea.
She was exhausted, panting like a dead dog, but still kept running.
“Is this some new kind of workout?”
Lin Xiaohe was about to cough up a lung from exhaustion. “A bunch of crayfish are chasing me.”
“Huh? But I don’t see anything at all.”
What?!
The Great Sound Whale reminded her, “Chapter 10 of the Baby Psychic Training Method: True Sight.”
Lin Xiaohe frantically pulled out a small shell, channeled her psychic energy into it, and started learning Chapter 10 on the spot.
Luckily, she was smart and picked it up quickly, plus with all her years of studying back in China, she soon managed to use True Sight.
Even though it only lasted less than a second, it was enough for Lin Xiaohe to see the real situation.
Where were the crayfish on the blue sea?!
“So it was all an illusion?” Lin Xiaohe used True Sight again. This time, she held it for two full seconds.
The Great Sound Whale said with a hint of complaint, “You need to study hard, little baby. You’re not naturally gifted, and your life span is short, so the clumsy bird has to fly early!”
Lin Xiaohe followed the Great Sound Whale, wiping the cold sweat off her forehead. “I have been training, and I even tried using it in a real fight, but it didn’t work out.”
Back then, Lin Xiaohe used her psychic energy to influence Baishide, trying to provoke him into a year of jail time.
It worked, but only a little.
Baishide shook off the effect pretty quickly.
The Great Sound Whale saw Lin Xiaohe walking slowly and just tossed her onto its back. “That’s because your psychic energy is too weak.”
Lin Xiaohe didn’t argue. She really was too weak.
No wonder Chu Huaizhi dared to mess with her like that. He knew she wouldn’t voluntarily drop out of school.
“Where are you taking me?”
The Great Sound Whale chuckled. “I’ll introduce you to a customer. Can you give me a little more discount?”
“No discount, but I can give you one percent commission.”
The Great Sound Whale thought it over, decided it wasn’t bad, and sped up.
At the edge of the Blue Sea stood a giant tree that reached straight into the clouds.
Lin Xiaohe sat on the Great Sound Whale’s back, looking up. She couldn’t see the top of the tree at all.
The Great Sound Whale slowly descended and, at the base of the tree, transformed into human form.
“Old Ghost, don’t you bully our little baby.”
Aerial root thicker than Lin Xiaohe wriggled a few times and turned into a creature with a head, torso, and limbs.
He grinned. “Can’t blame me, though. The Empire sent her to me as a sacrifice. Why would I turn down easy prey?”
The Great Sound Whale didn’t care about any of that. “You can’t eat her. If you eat her, who’s going to sell me delicious food?”
Old Ghost clicked his tongue. “Why are you so greedy? You want to take a bite out of everything?”
He then turned to Lin Xiaohe, curious. “Is that spicy crayfish in your head really that tasty?”
In the images Old Ghost saw, Lin Xiaohe had a huge bowl of spicy crayfish in front of her. She devoured it all by herself and still wanted more.
Lin Xiaohe understood now. The illusions from earlier were all simulations based on parts of her memory that Old Ghost had read.
She had almost been stir-fried along with the crayfish!
“It’s delicious. Really, really delicious. Too bad there’s no chili pepper or crayfish.”
The countless aerial roots writhed wildly.
Old Ghost drooled. “If you’re talking about the chili peppers in your memory, I have similar seeds here. I can give them to you for free.”
Lin Xiaohe said, “There’s no such thing as a free lunch in this world.”
“Hehe, just give me a free share of that spicy crayfish.”
The Great Sound Whale raised a flipper. “I can go find the crayfish! I’ve seen creatures like that in the Deep Space Sea. Are you sure you only want the small ones? Not something bigger?”
Lin Xiaohe nodded. “If they’re too big, the flavor won’t soak in.”
And so, the human, the whale, and the plant made a deal to split the spicy crayfish three ways. The atmosphere became incredibly harmonious.
The Great Sound Whale also spent another ten million star coins on popping candy, popcorn, and cute little green beans.
Old Ghost didn’t care for those snacks. Instead, he was interested in the star coins inside Lin Xiaohe’s satchel.
He offered a bottle of water in exchange for five hundred thousand in cash. “Your psychic energy and life force are being drained. Drink more of this water. It’ll do you good.”
Lin Xiaohe’s smile froze on her face. “Drained?”
Old Ghost looked at her curiously. “Of course. Isn’t the instinct of all living things to reproduce and survive? When you brought those little ones into your psychic sea, wasn’t that agreeing to let them share your life force and psychic energy?”
Lin Xiaohe thought of her skill, Five-Star Matrix. After a moment, she asked, “Will it threaten my life?”
“Not as long as you’re strong enough.”
Seeing that Old Ghost seemed to know a lot, Lin Xiaohe handed him her satchel and the star coins inside. “During school testing, my psychic energy was only one point.”
Old Ghost laughed. “Humanity’s exploration of psychic energy is like a caveman looking up at the stars. They know the stars exist, but not how many there are, how far away they are, or what they look like. Your psychic energy is already beyond their detection limits.”
Lin Xiaohe had guessed this might be the case. She continued, “If I want to get even stronger, what should I do?”
Old Ghost looked at the seeds in Lin Xiaohe’s palm and stayed silent.
Lin Xiaohe caught on quickly. “I’ll give you half of my spicy crayfish.”
Old Ghost smiled, satisfied. “The Empire and the Federation have both been exploring the path of psychic energy. Chu Huaizhi from the Federation is in a similar situation to you—his psychic energy far exceeds what his body can handle. He’s worse off than you, though. His psychic energy collapsed.”
“You have several little ones helping you share the load, so the impact on your body isn’t too severe. But unless you stop progressing, sooner or later, you’ll face the same difficulties he did.”
Lin Xiaohe looked at Old Ghost with burning eyes and said sincerely, “I’ll give you all of my spicy crayfish.”
Old Ghost sighed. What a lovely little human cub. “There’s a meteorite in the Central Military Academy’s resource library. Get it!”
As for what to do after getting it, Old Ghost would only tell Lin Xiaohe after he had tasted the spicy crayfish.
Humans were far too cunning. If he told her the method and she hogged all the spicy crayfish for herself, wouldn’t he be the one losing out?
Lin Xiaohe fell into thought.
The student council president of the champion department in the inter-school competition gets the right to access the resource library once and choose a reward!
It seemed she absolutely had to win the championship.
To reach that goal, Lin Xiaohe preemptively gave away some tomatoes, corn, and peas and asked the Great Sound Whale to help her with special training!
In three months, Lin Xiaohe would be reborn, completely transformed, and make a triumphant return!
The groundwork has been laid, and many clues have been planted.
Time to get things moving!
