Addiction

Ou Liefu hesitated for a long time, but as the competition drew to a close, he finally told Li Haisha what he had been holding back.

"Remember when I went to the Sky Network medical center to spot-check the nutrient solutions that day? I passed by the storage room where they kept the emergency Xilai Concentrate for students during matches, and I caught a strange smell." Ou Liefu spoke haltingly. "You know, I've had a keen nose since I was a kid—I'm extremely sensitive to unusual odors..."

He hesitated, deliberately pulling Li Haisha out of the venue to say this. He looked around to confirm no one was nearby before continuing. "I previously led the second- and third-year students to participate in the special training organized by the Military Department at Mulan Frontier-V. During that time, Ares dragged me in to help them test something."

"There was a group of interstellar pirates who had just been wiped out. On their ship were several children they had captured on frontier planets to sell as slaves. One of those kids came back carrying a fruit." Ou Liefu recalled the scene.

The Ares personnel had scared him half to death, dragging him into a white room where one of their people was interrogating the child.

Ou Liefu vaguely overheard the kid saying the pirates had captured him on their previous visit and kept him as a slave. The night before this latest raid, the pirate leader got drunk and pulled a blue fruit covered in dense black-and-white spots from his pocket, saying that once this job was done, they'd be rich. He'd brought one more than the client had requested, claiming he wanted to taste what the fuss was about.

The kid stole the fruit while the pirate was drunk, and the next day lied that he'd eaten it himself. When Xu Chengbi's troops wiped out the pirates, the child returned to the Empire. He wanted to try making a fortune off the thing, so he listed it at an auction house on the frontier planet. That's how Ares found him.

Ares called Ou Liefu in to examine what was wrong with the fruit.

Ou Liefu had never seen anything like it. It just smelled off to him. He compared it against every known fruit species in the Empire and found no match.

In the end, Ares let him go, warning him to keep his mouth shut about what he'd seen—or else.

Ou Liefu naturally didn't dare disobey. He even forced himself to act cheerful and normal, terrified that Ares might still be watching him.

"The strange smell I caught at the Sky Network medical center matches that fruit." Telling Li Haisha all this took every ounce of his courage, because his gut told him this wasn't anything good. And finding it in those concentrates meant it could harm his students.

For all that Ou Liefu was a pleasure-loving coward, when it came to his students, he would never take things lightly.

Li Haisha's face grew darker and darker as Ou Liefu spoke. When he finished, she finally said slowly, "That fruit you mentioned is almost certainly the Federation's Blue Crow fruit, produced only on a single planet in the Federation's B-region. On its own, it's harmless. But you said you smelled it where the students' Xilai Concentrate was stored..."

She shook her head. "Xilai Concentrate was jointly developed by the Imperial physicians and Sky Network. At the time, the two Sky Network staff members involved only began the research after both had acquired Imperial citizenship. The prototype was developed quickly, but its effects didn't meet expectations, so it was set aside. One of the staff members secretly ran experiments with it. When he tried combining Blue Crow fruit powder with the prototype Xilai Concentrate, he discovered the mixture was severely addictive. The Imperial physicians quickly caught him, but by then he'd already transmitted part of the data to the Federation. In the end, they handed him over to Ares for disposal. Sky Network paid a hefty sum to the Imperial physicians and promised never to involve any personnel in the research again. Only then did Xilai Concentrate continue development until it reached the final version we have now—no side effects whatsoever and no addictive reaction with Blue Crow fruit."

Ou Liefu grew more and more terrified as he listened. The word "addictive" alone sent chills down his spine. He finally realized how deep he'd stumbled into this mess.

"The Federation has long wanted the production method for Xilai Concentrate, but it's useless to them. The raw material is a plant unique to a single planet in Star System No. 2 of our Empire, now under strict military control. The Xilai Concentrate Sky Network provides is actually manufactured by us and then given to them." Li Haisha said coldly. "This means we have a spy on the inside. The Sky Network staff might be compromised too. Honestly, it's a good thing we have you."

The scent of Blue Crow fruit could only be detected by someone with an extremely sensitive nose. Without Ou Liefu, they might well have been done for.

"We need to confirm now whether this was aimed at all students, just our Moye students, or a single individual."

Li Haisha took Ou Liefu to the Sky Network medical center and requested a test of the emergency Xilai Concentrate supply. The staff agreed quickly. This time, Ou Liefu was able to examine each one carefully, and finally he stopped in front of Xu Lingqu's portion.

The two exchanged a look. Li Haisha picked it up and checked—only Xu Lingqu's was the prototype with the Blue Crow fruit smell. They then inspected every Moye student's portion and found them all normal. Only Xu Lingqu's was compromised.

Li Haisha and Ou Liefu's hearts grew heavier by the second. Their first instinct was to report it to the authorities, but what Ou Liefu had described involved too many sensitive matters—Ares was already investigating it. A regular police report would solve nothing.

"Xilai Concentrate treats physical injuries. Sky Network keeps emergency backups on the premise of preventing student injuries during fights. But how could they be sure Xu Lingqu would get hurt at the venue? Does that mean there's a mole among the students too? And they'd devised a plan to injure her on-site?" Li Haisha's dread mounted with each thought. "Who exactly... would do this to her?"

When they returned, they learned Xu Lingqu was lying in the medical bay. Both were alarmed, fearing something had happened to her. But when they got there, she was just asleep, with Shen Shouli keeping watch at the door. Only then did they relax.

A brief inquiry to Shen Shouli revealed he was worried that people coming and going would disturb Xu Lingqu's rest, so he'd stationed himself there just like the new medical robot Li Haisha had brought in. Fortunately, no one had come by all day. After the two arrived, Shen Shouli left.

They had to tell Xu Lingqu about this first, and in a safe setting. That was why they'd acted so strangely when she woke up.

Xu Lingqu looked up at the two of them. "If the Blue Crow fruit smell you're referring to is the same odd scent you both have on you now, I've smelled it on one person."

Both of them had handled the contaminated Xilai Concentrate. The only common strange smell they shared was the Blue Crow fruit.

"Yuheng Military Base. Xu Chengbi."