I'm quitting!

Chapter 44 I'll protect you from behind, you'll test the poison for me.

The bamboo forest returned to its deathly silence.

The wind stopped, the leaves froze, and even the chirping of insects seemed to have been silenced.

Lin Xiaofan stared at the spot where the old servant had vanished, remaining motionless for a long time. After a moment, he finally shifted his gaze—above the spirit field, the black, withered fruit lay quietly in the mud.

"Old Xian, what happened to him...?"

[Sort of, but not entirely... he was "arrested"]

"arrest?"

[Most likely, they were branded with some kind of underlying rule when they defected from the Script Management Bureau.]

Old Xian swam up to my shoulder, its fish-eye blue pupils gleaming with cold, digital light.

[As a former S-level editor-in-chief, he possesses countless core secrets and is bound to carry a top-level warrant for arrest. Even the slightest leak of a word to the "characters," or the use of taboo words like "pathology," or even just uttering a sound, will trigger a lock-on and force his account to be forcibly revoked.]

Lin Xiaofan frowned slightly: "Wouldn't that be tantamount to annihilation?"

There are still differences.

As a higher-dimensional being, there is no "death" in the traditional sense. It's more like... you drag a infected file into the recycle bin, physically isolating it. As long as the Administration doesn't click "clear," its data will remain there, but it will never come out.

Lin Xiaofan remained silent.

A figure who once stood at the pinnacle of the scriptwriting system willingly threw himself into the "recycle bin" to deliver a fruit or convey a prophecy.

"Don't forget yourself..." he murmured, then exhaled deeply and focused his mind back on the black, withered fruit on the ground.

The shell was cracked and crisscrossed, resembling a shriveled walnut, yet it exuded a mysterious and unsettling aura. The surrounding moonlight poured down upon it, but seemed to be silently swallowed up, without reflecting any light.

Lin Xiaofan took two steps closer and nudged the salted fish beside him with his elbow: "Old Salty, fly over and take a look, see where that thing comes from."

The salted fish's fins stiffened: [Me?]

"Nonsense, you're the only one here with your own high-tech radar," Lin Xiaofan said matter-of-factly.

I'm not going!

Old Xian shook his head vigorously, like a rattle-drum.

[Even the former S-level editor-in-chief is taking this lousy fruit very seriously. What if it carries some high-dimensional virus and formats my newly upgraded Lv2 body?]

Lin Xiaofan clicked his tongue and compromised: "How about this—you cover me from the front, and I'll get a closer look."

Old Xian nodded subconsciously, but after floating half a meter, he suddenly sensed something was wrong and slammed on the brakes: "Wait! What do you mean 'you're covering it from the front'? I'm just a holographic fish, how can I protect you? By blinding it with my RGB lighting effects?!"

"That makes sense." Lin Xiaofan's expression remained unchanged as he spoke each word clearly, "Then... I'll protect you to your side."

Enraged, Old Salty lunged forward, shoving his holographic fish head into Lin Xiaofan's cheek: "So you're determined to make this salty fish lead the charge today, aren't you?! Let me tell you, even if I die, die outside, even if I leap from this bamboo shed, I will..."

Smack—

Before the argument had ended, a very soft chewing sound came from the center of the spirit field.

Lin Xiaofan and Lao Xian froze simultaneously, as if frozen in place, mechanically turning their heads away.

Suddenly, Maqiu, its little nose twitching, quietly slipped to the side of the dark, withered fruit. The little guy tilted its furry head, stuck out its pink tongue, and gently licked the rough skin of the fruit.

The next instant—Ma Qiu's beady black eyes suddenly burst forth with a dazzling light, and a huge text bubble floated above his head: "Sweet and delicious! It's tasty!"

Lin Xiaofan's pupils constricted, his eyes widened, and he roared sharply, "Mahjong ball! You can't eat that!!!"

But it was too late.

Maqiu's ability to execute food is unparalleled in the world.

The little guy opened its mouth, and its oral cavity instantly expanded to an exaggerated size, like a bottomless black hole. With a "whoosh," it swallowed the entire dark, withered fruit into its stomach.

goo-dong-

The clear swallowing sound was particularly jarring in the deathly silent bamboo forest.

Lin Xiaofan stood frozen in place, then transformed into a blur and darted to Maqiu's side. He grabbed the little guy by the back of his neck, lifted him up, and shook him violently: "Spit it out! You unlucky brat, you'll put anything in your mouth! Spit it out!"

The little ball was shaken around so much it was dizzy, its tiny paws flailing helplessly in the air, its words popping up and disappearing: "Dizzy...so dizzy...my tummy feels warm...I want to sleep..."

After shaking it for a while, not only did it not spit out anything, but it didn't even find a single fruit pit. The little guy's eyelids grew heavier and heavier, and finally its limbs drooped, and it fell into a deep sleep.

Lin Xiaofan collapsed onto the spirit field, utterly exhausted, his expression extremely grave. This was something the old servant had risked being "arrested" to deliver; who knew what terrifying substance it contained—could Maqiu's small body withstand it?

Don't panic.

Old Xian arrived gracefully, his fish-eye blue pupils shooting out two beams of light that swept over Ma Qiu's entire body.

[Vital signs are excellent, heart rate is stable, and the flow of true energy is even smoother than usual... Hmm... The little guy should be in some kind of... evolutionary stage right now.]

"Evolution?" Lin Xiaofan's eyelids twitched, recalling the incident of Ma Qiu chewing through the data chain. "We're not going to have to wait another eight hundred years, are we?!"

[It cannot be determined at this time and further observation is needed...]

Before Lao Xian could finish speaking, a sudden change occurred!

A thick black mist suddenly surged from Ma Qiu's body.

This aura is not an evil or demonic atmosphere, but rather a profound and extremely deep "dark matter" texture.

The black mist surged and intertwined, rapidly enveloping the hemp ball. In an instant, it solidified into a solid black cocoon—resembling a dark ostrich egg magnified several times over.

Lin Xiaofan grabbed Lao Xian and retreated three feet, waiting for him to look again—

Strange patterns are slowly emerging on the surface of the black cocoon.

They were tiny, tightly closed eyes and countless illusory hands, appearing and disappearing indistinctly. The hands and eyes were not inanimate objects, but rather moved slightly to some ancient rhythm, as if an invisible universe was being nurtured within a cocoon. Between the hands and eyes, sparkling starlight, like diamonds, adorned the scene, perfectly stitching together darkness and holiness.

The old salted fish's mouth gaped open immediately; she had finally caught the strange aura. Her voice trembled: "[The sesame ball... is evolving into its true form! Could it be... that withered fruit is... the essence of ***?!]"

"Stop playing guessing games!" Lin Xiaofan said urgently, "What exactly is going on?"

[This is merely speculation... that withered fruit should be a core essence that the "true form" of the hemp ball condensed over a long period of time.]

[And the true form of the sesame ball is not only unrestrained by the Script Management Bureau, but even the higher-dimensional laws beyond this realm cannot limit its existence!]

Lin Xiaofan suddenly realized, and the old servant's words before disappearing flashed through his mind.

"So, that's why the old servant said this thing is 'real'?"

Lin Xiaofan gazed at the black cocoon covered with hands, eyes, and stars, his gaze gradually softening.

He reached out and gently stroked the illusory hands on the surface of the black cocoon. The touch was warm and smooth like jade, even giving him the illusion of being connected by an umbilical cord.

"Since it's your own, you can't just sleep on it forever," Lin Xiaofan murmured.

【rest assured】

Old Xian swam above the black cocoon and cast a curtain of ghostly blue light.

When Maqiu wakes up, it will surely give you a big surprise.

With Maqiu asleep, and without this quality inspector and tentacle cutter, Lingtian's hybridization experiment was forced to be put on hold.

Lin Xiaofan carefully carried the black cocoon back to the bamboo shed and placed it inside the bed. Looking at the empty spirit field and the tentacle remains scattered all over the ground, he knew what to do—the cultivation plan should be put on hold for now; the most urgent task was to improve his own cultivation.

With a thought, the "atmosphere narration" is quietly activated, and the paradise is constructed accordingly.

Inside the bamboo shed, a distant and ethereal Daoist chant suddenly resounded, and the surrounding spiritual energy was so dense it was almost condensed into liquid. Lin Xiaofan sat cross-legged, his palms facing upwards, and entered a deep seclusion.

With the "script fast forward" buff, what was a night outside felt like a thousand days of arduous cultivation to him. His majestic Dao Body operated wildly, and the true essence intertwined with ice blue and golden flames surged like a raging sea, washing over his meridians again and again.

Until the next morning, the first rays of sunlight pierced through the bamboo groves.

hum-

From deep within the dantian, a clear, resonant sound suddenly exploded.

The lotus flower trembled slightly, and vein-like patterns faintly appeared on its surface, as if a heart was being conceived and beating within it.

The Great Perfection of the Integration Phase – Only a step away from the Heart-Fluttering Phase!

Lin Xiaofan opened his eyes, a flash of ice and fire light appearing and disappearing in an instant. He let out a long breath, feeling the surging power within his body, and nodded in satisfaction.

[Boss, this seclusion has consumed a total of 13163 Rebellion Points, current balance 1260]

Lao Xian diligently reported the accounts.

"Understood." Lin Xiaofan stood up and stretched his limbs.

With my cultivation greatly improved, it's time to visit the sect and find some new fun... no, to earn some rebellion points.

But when he turned to look at the black cocoon beside the bed, he was troubled again.

The ostrich is at a critical stage of evolution, and this "dark ostrich egg" absolutely cannot be left alone at home. But storage bags can't hold live creatures... what to do?

Lin Xiaofan's gaze swept over the furnishings in the room, his fingertips pressed against his forehead as he pondered deeply.

"Got it."

He took out the Three Green Cauldrons, manipulated the scaling incantation, and the small cauldron instantly expanded to the size of a water vat. Lin Xiaofan gently stuffed the black cocoon into the cauldron and activated the incantation again.

The Three Green Cauldrons rapidly shrank, eventually transforming into a miniature bronze cauldron the size of a fist, which fit perfectly into one's bosom. The cauldron's interior was a self-contained space, not only breathable but also imbued with a touch of ancient, otherworldly Daoist charm, making it a perfect "portable pet cabin."

Old Xian watched as Lin Xiaofan stuffed the cauldron into his clothes and couldn't help but tease him: "Boss, take it easy. This cauldron is a treasure that can refine all things. Don't accidentally turn this sesame ball into a super nourishing soup."

"Go away, what are you saying... The Three Green Cauldrons, even with the True Essence of Selflessness activated, are nothing more than ordinary bronze." Lin Xiaofan glared at her, pushed open the bamboo door, and strode towards the heart of the sect, facing the rising sun.

In the early morning, Qingyun Gate is shrouded in a thin mist, exuding an ethereal aura.

As Lin Xiaofan walked, he pondered how to amass another fortune in rebellion points. He suddenly stopped as he passed the pavilion and corridor.

Under the corridor, several outer disciples sat scattered about, all with worried expressions and sighs. Some scratched their heads and stared at the jade slip in their hands, while others practiced sword moves in the air, but they couldn't get the hang of it and were so frustrated that they grimaced.

Lin Xiaofan stepped forward and patted the shoulder of a chubby disciple who was staring blankly at a stone pillar: "Ahem, so early in the morning, acting like a thinker here?"

The chubby disciple turned around, saw it was Lin Xiaofan, and quickly stood up to bow, saying with a bitter face, "Greetings, Elder Lin."

"No need for formalities," Lin Xiaofan waved his hand, found a stone stool to sit on, and said, "Did you add bitter melon to your breakfast today? Everyone looks so listless..."

"Alas, Elder, you are unaware of this. For some reason, a while ago our cultivation was progressing smoothly, like fish in water, seeing mountains as mountains and water as water. But these past two days, it has suddenly become incredibly stagnant—mountains look like cornbread, and water looks like foot-washing water; our cultivation has not improved by even a fraction!"

Lin Xiaofan chuckled inwardly.

Need I say more? A while ago, it was thanks to "Milk Tea" that you all had your meridians cleared and your yin and yang harmonized. Now that the Script Management Bureau has applied a "safety patch" to Milk Tea, demoting her to background and cutting off her supply, she's naturally back to her original form—just a "test-taker" in the cultivation world.

He looked around at the outer disciples who were suffering terribly from the bottleneck in their cultivation, and a sudden inspiration flashed through his mind.

Although Qingyun Sect is open-minded, its resources are ultimately limited. There are only a handful of elders, and the number of inner disciples and true disciples is strictly controlled. One-on-one tutoring for everyone is impossible, and even one-on-many tutoring depends on the mood of the teacher.

What these outer disciples lack most is guidance from a renowned master.

He possesses the passive talent of being a "verbal amplifier," having a wealth of cross-disciplinary theoretical knowledge, and being able to "make up nonsense that is in line with the great Dao."

Even if we assume that these disciples are at most at the late stage of the Rejuvenation Realm, teaching them couldn't possibly be more stressful than "teaching" a Nascent Soul Realm expert, right?

"lecturer!"

Lin Xiaofan slapped his thigh, his eyes suddenly shining like searchlights.

That's right! This is a golden opportunity to rack up rebellion points!

To open a forum and teach these outer disciples who were handpicked by the script to be extras and whose lives were set to be "mediocre", to break their inherent perceptions and cause their character settings to collapse - their rebelliousness is not as great as snowflakes falling.

Lin Xiaofan's lips curled into a smile that would make even capitalists weep. He straightened his clothes and strode towards the center of the pavilion.

"Ahem, fellow disciples!" Lin Xiaofan cleared his throat, his voice carrying with it his true energy, echoing throughout the entire corridor. "I observe that your foreheads are dark... no, your cultivation is encountering obstacles. Today, I, Lin Xiaofan, will hold this ceremony to answer your questions and resolve your doubts!"

Inside the pavilion, there was an instant silence.

All the outer disciples stared wide-eyed at this legendary, mysterious powerhouse who was said to "guide the sect leader and enlighten the elders."

Immediately—

A deafening cheer erupted, followed by a thunderous explosion.

Old Xian silently calculated in his pocket: [You're really something, boss! We're going to make a fortune again!]