Imagine you and me [Part 7]

A few hours later.

'It's time.'

Fan Lin slowly rose from the western ocean and flew towards his things. Fully clothed.

He wasn't naked, just dripping and wet with water though.

He landed on the ground a few steps away from his things and saw someone he totally didn't expect to meet.

Gu Yue also woke up from her meditation as she sensed the presence of Fan Lin.

"Is my spirit power fake?" [Fan Lin]

"Why aren't you naked?" [Gu Yue]

[...]

They both spoke at the same time and then the atmosphere turned silent as they stared at each other for brief period before speaking again.

"I thought you would be naked?" [Gu Yue]

"Did you do drugs?" [Fan Lin]

At the same time. They spoke at the same time once more.

Fan Lin put out his hand to stop her from speaking further.

"Let me go first, why would I be naked? How long have you been here for? Did you inform Leng Yaozhu that I taught you properly." [Fan Lin]

Fan Lin questioned his mind and Gu Yue could swear that she wasn't angry. Not even a bit. Really not even a bit.

"Ask her yourself. I saw your clothes and other things and thought you might have been naked. (I came here) Not long ago." [Gu Yue]

Gu Yue curtly replied while adding one more 'explode Fan Lin' in her mind. Her voice the same icy cold as when she talked with other people, especially males who tried to get too friendly with her to benefit from her.

Fan Lin listened to her while going forward to take his stuff from the ground. He slightly nodded his head at her statement because it was not like he could tell if she was lying to such general questions.

He picked up his storage soul guide and soul communicator and sniffed it since he felt odd.

"Did you use my soul communicator? It smells like you." [Fan Lin]

"(⁠●⁠_●⁠)" [Gu Yue]

"Wait, why are you looking at me that?" [Fan Lin]

"Why do you know how I smell? When did you even smell me? ANSWER ME." [Gu Yue]

As the elements around her began spiralling into a frenzy, Fan Lin casually spoke his mind.

"Cuz I have sharp senses and you don't use any perfume or scents." [Fan Lin]

"(⁠●_⁠●⁠)" [Gu Yue]

"...Okay, my bad, it's gross and creepy if I were to think in your shoes." [Fan Lin]

'Even I wouldn't want someone to remember my smell.' [Fan Lin]

"So why were you checking my soul communicator?" [Fan Lin]

Gu Yue looked at him for quite a while before answering. Every conversation with him made her realise that this guy was the weirdest human she encountered in her life.

Not gross, neither scary; not good and neither bad, just plain weird. He was Fan Lin, the guy in front of her.

And truth to be told, she couldn't even fathom how he was able to surpass her imagination in every wrong way.

"I did. Why did you block me?" [Gu Yue]

Gu Yue calmly asked. She still needed to act nicely as she was going to ask for a favour from him in the form of enlarging the Moon Forest.

It was also the reason why Fan Lin was still in one piece.

"Ah that, I didn't want to talk to you, that's why." [Fan Lin]

And then Fan Lin casually killed the conversation along with her mood.

'Control Gu Yue. Control. You know how he is. Control ~' [Gu Yue]

Fan Lin looked at the silent Gu Yue and then realised his words might have been a little too crash.

"I also had another reason." [Fan Lin]

Fan Lin added while taking out his wet clothes.

'Also?' [Gu Yue]

Gu Yue glanced at him. It took her some effort but she was able to change the topic from exploding him.

"Why are you taking your clothes in the open now? Didn't you previously hid in the bushes to dress?" [Gu Yue]

As Gu Yue diverted the topic, she saw Fan Lin's bare body and realised he was quite thin, almost to the point of being famished.

'Now that I think about it where are the muscles that he previously had? Isn't he too bland?'

Gu Yue observed his body with interest and solely interest as Fan Lin didn't have a shred of muscle wherever she can see. It was just normal skin, smooth and shiny.

Too smooth.

'This guy is weird.'

Gu Yue silently thought and waited for him to get clothed because she knew that he wasn't going to answer her without wearing his clothes.

"It's just upper clothing. What's there to hide?" [Fan Lin]

Fan Lin replied while doning a new shirt. His pants were still wet as he didn't change them.

"What are the clothes on the ground for?" [Gu Yue]

She asked. She was sure that the clothes laying beside her was his complete bodywear and it had Fan Lin's faint energy signatures on it as well.

He must have wore it but then why did he throw it in the open like that?

She was sure that he didn't know about her arrival and there was no point on leaving things outside when you can just store things in the storage soul guide. It was waterproof as well.

"Those are the clothes provided by the Spirit Pagoda. I didn't know if the tracking devices were waterproof or not hence I just left it there." [Fan Lin]

He asked while stretching his body and releasing his spirit souls and soul ring.

"Why did you come here with those clothes if you knew that it had tracking devices on it!"

His nonchalant words weren't reciprocated with calmness when Gu Yue realised the implications of his actions.

She looked at him waiting for answers as she had known by now that he would not do anything without thinking.

"Don't worry, it's time." [Fan Lin]

Fan Lin slowly whispered while feeling his soul power.

"What are you planning now?" [Gu Yue]

Gu Yue calmly asked. It was not like she could do anything else. It has been three days since he came to the Moon Forest and the tracking device would have most probably sent the current location to the Spirit Pagoda many times.

"Guess what do you think I was doing in the ocean?" [Fan Lin]

"Meditation. You were making your soul power denser using the pure and untapped soul energy from the ocean." [Gu Yue]

"..." [Fan Lin]

"Well that wasn't the answer that I was hoping for. How did you even know that?" [Fan Lin]

"What were you hoping for?"

"I thought you would have exploded my face while coldly saying 'get to the point' since you couldn't get the answer." [Fan Lin]

"Would you die if you ever have a proper conversation with me? Or would you like to die because you would not have a proper conversation with me? Choose." [Gu Yue]

He looked at her serious tone and the fact that she indeed had the worst appearance timing in his life, he told her a tenth of his plan, half of which weren't exactly the truth but it wasn't the falsehood as well.

"Okay... I was counting." [Fan Lin]

"Wh–" [Gu Yue]

Gu Yue tried to ask but was interjected by Fan Lin who gestured her to sit down and listen to him. He also sat down on a spot beside her and passed some oran berries as storytime snacks.

"Don't interfere and listen to me completely. It will take a small backstory." [Fan Lin]

"Remember the time when I cut our last call, he hijacked my cab ride and gave me my new flying soul car. By he, I mean Qiangu Donfeng."

"But since I was 9 parts angry and 1 part rageful at that time so I didn't particularly focused my mind on his weird actions but I chose to block you just in case."

"Your relation with me can not arouse any suspicion for now, and especially not with him, considering he is thinking of marrying you to his grandson." [Fan Lin]

"What?" [Gu Yue]

Fan Lin silently gazed at her and Gu Yue returned his gaze. She was one of the few people who had never been afraid of him.

Although she was disgusted, annoyed, and rageful at him a lot of times.

"So as I was saying, Qiangu Donfeng is planning to engage his grandson to you since you are the strongest and also the most versatile soul master in our whole generation; your potential is basically described as boundless, even compared to me, you are a notch higher," [Fan Lin]

"And you are female and his grandson's a male and you are also a disciple of the the current Vice President of the Spirit Pagoda, Leng Yaozhu, and you have a strong family." [Fan Lin]

'That's the most that my loyal drugged spies could find for now.'

"Now onto me, I am what the others describe as a talent that is ready to serve. I am currently providing the Spirit Pagoda with shadily huge amounts of profits, I am strong, have a three word Battle Armor before at 13, am a spirit king on the side context and possess a hundred thousand year old spirit soul."

"I also have close connections to the Vice President Leng Yaozhu and many of the council members and their teams(cuz half of them are drugged by me and are my men)."

"Currently the higher ups think that Gu Yue and Fan Lin are two of the future pillars of the Spirit Pagoda, maybe even becoming the President would not be an uncertain future for them."

"Now onto the deciding factor."

"Qiangu Donfeng has a grandson who is also a great talent and he wants his grandson to succeed his position."

"We both are sort of rivals to his grandson although I am pretty sure that he isn't a match for any of us."

"So as I have said before, Qiangu Donfeng planned to get you married to his grandson, at that time, it wouldn't matter which of you succeeded the President's position, Qiangu Donfeng will have a leeway within the Pagoda."

"But that plan entirely changed if you and I have a close connection because I am obviously better than his grandson in every aspect except being handsome."

"If he gets sus over our relation, he will try to ruin it by all costs and the most probable and easy way to do so would be to send me to the other continent."

" Everyone wants to restore the natural resources of their continents, even if it's just wood and timber. I am a money printing machine who could earn them in any of the continents."

"With me out of the bounds, he would have plenty of time to introduce his grandson and pull some strings using his background and some blackmailing to get your agreement."

"You are quite gullible anyways."

"But I don't plan to leave this continent in the meantime."

"But then again, If I refused, let's just say, lots of people were going to die..."

"Hence I moved my plans forward and decided to started the replantation of this continent 6 months ahead of its schedule."

"I planned to use the next 6 months to wander around the continent (and find plants and herbs for my toxins) and increase my cultivation to the next level and get another spirit soul. I had many lies ready to blame my increased cultivation speed on, they would not even be able to deny my lie."

"Except it didn't follow as I hoped to. I decided to start early, this would have also drove away any suspicions that he may have against us being together."

"We aren't in any kind of weird relationship." [Gu Yue]

"We don't need to have that kind of a relationship to be a threat to his grandson. You and I are both talents."

"I am currently portraying myself as an ambitious and power hungry kid who really wants cultivation resources and had a clever and witty mindset. The top brass knows me as someone who wouldn't mind fighting for a higher position."

"Many of the council members are planning to use me as their pawn and would obviously support me for presidency."

"You, on the other hand, have the support of your master Leng Yaozhu who plans to make you the new future President. And this is open to all the council members as well."

"She adores you quite a lot and that's why she even asked me to help you in your secondary occupation as well."

"Now if I were to support you, you will have one less rival and one more supporter and my supporters will become your supporters as well, adding to the fact that we both are younger than his grandson, your chances of becoming the President with the joint approval of the council is quite high. The same applies to me as well although you will be the support at that time."

"So just the fact that we exist is a problematic event for Qiangu Donfeng."

"Now that I am away from you and with no contact between us, he should be calm on this matter."

"But then came to the other problem. Remember I said that I was too angry and rageful at the cab ride. I am stupid."

"We will come to that later..."

"On the cab ride, Qiangu Donfeng said that the council has seen my proposal and were quite in awe of it, hence providing me with two things to aid in my project. I never submitted the report to the council though. The only person whom I gave the report was Qiangu Donfeng's secretary and that was when we took the cab to the Shrek together."

"Qiangu Donfeng's secretary would not be spreading the news to the others. He knows Qiangu Donfeng well."

"In my foolish rage, I completely disregarded the fact that the council wouldn't have known about in the next days through either Qiangu Donfeng or their workers."

"My project was up and approved, I didn't need the help of the council and neither would they all have been free at that time since a third of them were in the other continents and..."

"Qiangu Donfeng's secretary also didn't need the approval of the council for anything as well. The only person in question who was needed was Qiangu Donfeng as he was to officially start the cooperation between the Federation and Spirit Pagoda."

"It took a while to realise but Qiangu Donfeng was the one who wanted the project to quicken up. The external soul bone and flying soul car was for the same purpose."

"Did you hear about the recent replantation uprisings in the parliamentary factions and the outrage of the public over it? I was behind the project."

"I had already planned the way to deal with the people before the matter can even began but as time passed and the Spirit Pagoda began to prepare the things for my project ahead of the time, I chose to not act on that matter."

"I was already being surrounded by the members of the Spirit Pagoda and Federation most of the time so pinpointing out the various spies on me without revealing my soul skills or vials was harder than it seemed. Hence I decided to lay back and observe the situation. "

"Once the public outrage reached a point, the replantation project was stopped and as I had thought, he personally got into contact with me and gave his words that everything will be taken care off by him."

"... I am stopping my plans in the southern continent..."

Fan Lin explained some of the situation to Gu Yue, totally unaware that Gu Yue knew about the latter half.

But even Gu Yue had no idea about the first half as gears began to run in her mind as the whole scenario began to fit.

"But then that means you purposefully got away from the path of Qiangu Donfeng and now he has a chance to introduce his grandson to me... Quite a selfish decision but I can't say I wouldn't expect that from you." [Gu Yue]

"Why did you leave the box with my name then?" [Gu Yue]

Gu Yue asked him while thinking about her needs in Spirit Pagoda and how she can use the current situation. Now that she knew that Qiangu Donfeng needed her for his grandson, she can use that to get more resources and stuff from him.

What she and the soul beasts required in the long run was the Spirit Pagoda, not it's president.

At the end of the day, she was Gu Yue, if her need for Qiangu Donfeng ends, Qiangu Donfeng will cease to exist as well. Except now was not the time for her to indulge in her anger.

She had just heard how even the guy in front of her got blinded in his anger and nearly committed a mistake, she wouldn't do that.

"That wasn't for you. I left it for Qiangu Donfeng and his cronies. I wanted to know how he would react seeing a sus letter like that. If he took any actions against me or you, it would have been a better path." [Fan Lin]

"Hmm. What could that better path be?" [Gu Yue]

"Leng Yaozhu. Let's make Leng Yaozhu the new President. She is an ambitious woman as well as emotionally vulnerable. She is quite attached to you as well." [Fan Lin]

"Just go and cry to her about the aggrievence that awaits you as you aren't able to choose the person you like and have to forcibly become a pawn of Qiangu Donfeng. Emotionally blackmail her and there is a chance she will oppose Qiangu Donfeng." [Fan Lin]

"Is that why you are trying to get closer to her? You are hiding a lot of things from me." [Gu Yue]

"I never planned to tell you the complete truth to begin with." [Fan Lin]

"What if it fails? You and I will mostly likely be banished from the Pagoda, even if we remain, he(Qiangu) will always keep an eye on us. This situation could also be used to force me to the marriage." [Gu Yue]

"I don't plan to leave the Pagoda now, there's a lot I need to do there." [Gu Yue]

"That's where the current Seagod Pavillion Master comes. After some digging, I found out that, Leng Yaozhu loves the current Seagod Pavillion Master and her love was hundreds of years old."

"Around a hundred or two hundred years ago, when these guys were in their youth, a weird case of teenage stupidity was spread among them."

"Yun Ming (current Seagod Pavillion Master) had many admirers, two of which were Ya Li (Yun Ming's current wife) and Length Yaozhu (Vice President of Spirit Pagoda."

"These two women also had many admirers, but let's focus on Leng Yaozhu and her fervent admirer Qiangu Donfeng."

"So after some weird group confessions and such in the Inner Court's weird ritual when they were clearly middle aged, Yun Ming chose Ya Li, Leng Yaozhu was heartbroken. Qiangu Donfeng was rejected by Leng Yaozhu, Qiangu Donfeng was heartbroken."

"These two heartbroken individuals switched to the Spirit Pagoda after they couldn't bear to see the happy Yun Ming and Yali together in the Shrek Academy."

"Leng Yaozhu, just like any other admirer of Yun Ming, hates Yali to the bones. She also knows that Qiangu Donfeng still holds some lingering feelings for her despite having a wife, child, grandchild and many affairs."

"Now here comes our part, I will take care of igniting Leng Yaozhu for the position, you on the other hand have to slightly mention Ya Li this and Ya Li that while talking about your friends to her."

"Don't worry, Leng Yaozhu won't be angry at you, I won't let her, that's a waste of emotions. That anger and 200 years of virgin frustration will all befall on Qiangu Donfeng. I will make sure it does."

[???]

"If we are careful, I can promise you that Qiangu Donfeng will have no choice but to abstain from his position as Leng Yaozhu will make it true. She is a nice pawn, even more than you."

"That's the rough gist and we have stranded a little far from the topic."

Fan Lin glanced at her staring at him.

"You have something to say?" [Fan Lin]

"Nothing. Nothing at all. You would not tell me what I want to know anyways." [Gu Yue]

Gu Yue shook her head and turned her eyes to look at his clothes.

Fan Lin followed her gaze.

"I want him to know. It's all a part of the plan. How did you get here though?" [Fan Lin]

"Yeah yeah change the topic however much you want." [Gu Yue]

"You sound frustrated. That's a new emotion from you." [Fan Lin]

"I am not frustrated. What about the vials that you gave me? Should I use them now?" [Gu Yue]

Gu Yue took out the phoenix themed ring and asked.

"Also what's the matter with the things that are in there?" [Gu Yue]

"That's my personal storage soul guide. I just wanted to place it in a safe place till I am gone." [Fan Lin]

"Ohh. I am not your treasurer or trashcan where you put your stuff in." [Gu Yue]

[Am I the only one that feels that this sentence needs to be changed?]

"You kept it safe, didn't you?" [Fan Lin]

"=⁠_⁠=" [Gu Yue]

"(⁠・⁠_⁠・)" [Fan Lin]

"(⁠●⁠_●⁠)" [Gu Yue]

"(⁠・⁠_⁠・⁠;⁠)" [Fan Lin]

"(⁠٥⁠↼⁠_⁠↼⁠)" [Fan Lin]

" (⁠-⁠_⁠-⁠;⁠) " [Fan Lin]

"What are you looking away for?" [Gu Yue]

"It should have come already." [Fan Lin]

"Trying to change the topic?" [Gu Yue]

"Yeah but no as well." [Fan Lin]

"... You could just tell me about things or just straight way deny it, why do you always change the topic?" [Gu Yue]

"Because I don't want you to dwell any deeper into things that you shouldn't know, at least not now. That would be a problem." [Fan Lin]

"Does that include things pertaining to you and your actual self and desires?" [Gu Yue]

"Sort of. A lot of it actually. But one part is because you would not act the way I want you to. Currently I can exactly guess 9 out of ten choices that you will make, regardless if I know your current situation or not." [Fan Lin]

"That's simply because I know your past that restricts you. That is one thing that would change if you know the things that I know." [Fan Lin]

"At that time, you would be free, boundless and not a tool." [Fan Lin]

"It will be harder to control you, much less guess what you may do." [Fan Lin]

"Information is power. Power should be maintained with care." [Fan Lin]

"So you want to say that you are afraid of making me stronger and more unpredictable. You have guts to say that to my face in a place where you are alone with me while fully knowing what I am capable off." [Gu Yue]

"You don't seem mad though." [Fan Lin]

"You answered that already. I indeed am restricted by my past and my existence. A tool huh?" [Gu Yue]

"A tool indeed." [Fan Lin]

"Is this the true self you spoke off?" [Gu Yue]

"Sort of." [Fan Lin]

"Enlarge the forest." [Gu Yue]

"Just throw the vials, both of them, at the same time. It will slowly transform the desert into a forest in a few years." [Fan Lin]

"I want it now." [Gu Yue]

"...(⁠ー⁠_⁠ー⁠゛⁠). On it." [Fan Lin]

"You agreed?" [Gu Yue]

"You shocked?" [Fan Lin]

"I thought you wouldn't agree." [Gu Yue]

"I thought you would be more angry." [Fan Lin]

"Is that the 1 out of 10 chance that you don't know of." [Gu Yue]

"Nope. It was still in the 9 out of 10 predictions." [Fan Lin]

"You are hateful." [Gu Yue]

"That I am." [Fan Lin]

[...]

"Are you tired?" [Fan Lin]

"A lot." [Gu Yue]

"Wanna hear a story?" [Fan Lin]

"Why?" [Gu Yue]

"He isn't calling." [Fan Lin]

"Give me some fruits then." [Gu Yue]

"Here. So the story starts from a young boy whose father was torn into pieces in front of him." [Fan Lin]

"That's some start." [Gu Yue]

"It is. So the boy follows the perpetrator cuz he had no one else left in his family." [Fan Lin]

"Why?" [Gu Yue]

"I don't know. He never told me properly." [Fan Lin]

"He?" [Gu Yue]

"Moving on..." [Fan Lin]

*Chuckle* [Gu Yue]

Gu Yue couldn't help but laugh at him changing the topic again.

"You do giggle quite weirdly. Not that I have any right to say." [Fan Lin]

"Continue on." [Gu Yue]

"Later on, the boy and the killer met another man, he was a professional Hitman. After a small fight where the killer nearly killed the Hitman, the Hitman decided to journey alongside the killer." [Fan Lin]

"Let me guess the next part then. The killer found another man, did something bad to him and then he joined his group as well." [Gu Yue]

"Sort of. So the Hitman had a friend, who after thinking that it would be fun with the killer, joined the fray." [Fan Lin]

"Okay👌. Any more cliches left?" [Gu Yue]

"Apparently there are. So they all banded together and decided to kill a certain group because the professional Hitman had killed their men previously and now they wanted revenge." [Fan Lin]

"And then they find their next member in the group?" [Gu Yue]

"Yeah. The next member was an genetically created kid, who after being completely intoxicated and afraid of the killer, decided to pledge his allegiance without any other thoughts." [Fan Lin]

"Then they all banded together and formed a group of their own." [Gu Yue]

"Yeah. They even hired a new member. A Forest Guard." [Fan Lin]

"You mean people who protected humans from the dangers of the forest?" [Gu Yue]

"No it's in reverse. It's to stop people from taking wood and other materials from the forest. Also to protect the living things and flora in it from outside interference." [Fan Lin]

"That's a nice fantasy. Is it yours?" [Gu Yue]

"Nope. I am Fan Lin, the forest guard was the forest guard, he has his own duties. We have nothing in common." [Fan Lin]

"Continue." [Gu Yue]

"So the Forest guard, the Hitman's friend and the genetically created kid created a plan to kill the killer. The Hitman and the young man decided to help in it as well." [Fan Lin]

"Isn't it quite late to be thinking of that? They should have done it sooner." [Gu Yue]

"They tried but none was his match. He was a Devil beyond humanity." [Fan Lin]

"Ohh, now we are going towards power route." [Gu Yue]

"Nope. They all decided to use their knowledge and create different things to kill the killer. They all failed. Ashamed of their failure they decided to name their creations Doom Series or D·S for short." [Fan Lin]

"Ahh the irony. The so called domineering doom series couldn't even kill one person. Didn't the vials you provided were labelled as D·S as well?" [Gu Yue]

"Yeah, they are failed products as well." [Fan Lin]

Toot toot toot toot toot toot toot toot.

"Ahh, it finally came."

Fan Lin looked at his soul communicator and showed the caller ID to Gu Yue. He gestured her to listen silently and put the call on speaker.

"Good morning President." [Fan Lin]

Fan Lin emotionlessly remarked as a smile formed on his face. He hinted at Gu Yue to pay attention to the caller.

"It's night in here. You aren't in Shrek." [Qiangu Donfeng]

Qiangu Donfeng's somber and charismatic voice came through the soul guide.

"I am in the Western region, a little far off the Western ocean." [Fan Lin]

"Why are you there? If I may ask." [Qiangu Donfeng]

Qiangu Donfeng asked. He already knew that Fan Lin was in the Western ocean by his tracking device but the satellite footages of that area weren't showing him.

It had been a few days since he returned to Shrek City thinking that Fan Lin must have gone to Shrek City.

Alas! Fan Lin was nowhere to be found. Even the useless spies were shaken off by him and only through the tracking device that he found him in the Western ocean.

Yeah, 'IN' the western ocean. Not near it or sailing above it. Fan Lin's estimated location seemed to be in the western ocean.

So he used satellite imagery to see if Fan Lin was doing something but he found nothing but sand and ocean.

So after his secretary informed him of the movement of the tracking device, he was immediately informed and this leads to the current situation where after some thinking, Qiangu Donfeng called Fan Lin.

Now some must be wondering, didn't Fan Lin say that the clothes that he took off were the tracking device?

But then weren't the clothes lying carelessly on the ground for the past three days? No one moved it.

How did the information about Fan Lin's location in the ocean came about then?

Well that's because the tracking device was not in the clothes that Fan Lin had taken out. That was a lie.

The tracking device was the Spirit Pagoda employee emblem that he was wearing on his belt. Pants belt.

'I told her I was counting, didn't I?'

"There is nothing to hide from you President. Remember my Boundless Ring." [Fan Lin]

"I do, it's your quintuple fusion soul ring. What about it? Did you found out any side effects? Or problems?" [Qiangu Donfeng]

"No, nothing like that. Do you know about the city whose plantation area was filled with sewage water and dirty river?" [Fan Lin]

"Yeah, the seventh day of your replantation, I think it was a town adjacent to the saltwater lake on one side and butchering farm on the other. What about it?" [Qiangu Donfeng y

"... I found out that my Boundless Ring works different when I am inside water. On land, it increases the growth of plants around me. In water, it has slight change in appearance along with a complete change in ability." [Fan Lin]

"What does it do?" [Qiangu Donfeng]

"Soul energy absorption. It seems like an upgraded version of my previous soul skill." [Fan Lin]

"That's interesting. Well congratulations for you, now you won't have any problems with your cultivation then." [Qiangu Donfeng]

"Why did you call for me President?" [Fan Lin]

"Just wanted to know your next plans. We have already cleared away the troubles in your path and you can start working on your project from the next week." [Qiangu Donfeng]

"But I think you should avoid the southern continent for a few months more. We have taken care of things already but some unforeseen situation may happen, some lunatics and strong evil soul masters are in the rising for the past few years. You must have known about some of them for sure." [Qiangu Donfeng]

"You mean the Child killer and mysterious death phenomenon, yeah I have heard about them... but changing the plan at this time... I don't have a proper plan for the other areas and I would require around a month in the least to create another plan... It would be quite hard considering my already limited time and schedule. " [Fan Lin]

"We have thought about it as well. Your condition is known to all of us and we know that you are using your precious cultivation time to replant the forest. A sudden change would obviously be detrimental to your future plans and after some discussions, we decided to further aid you in your project." [Qiangu Donfeng]

"My secretary had sent you a new list. For now, I think you should start from the Bright City and its surrounding big cities. That way the Federation will also have more leeway regarding your project and the public outrage would be close to none." [Qiangu Donfeng]

"Once the big cities and its surroundings are done, you will have a far easier time in your project." [Qiangu Donfeng]

"President, I really appreciate your feelings of kindness but I ain't a fool. What do you need from my project?" [Fan Lin]

"... Hmm, the lack of respect in your tone contradicts with your previous words Fan Lin." [Qiangu Donfeng]

"What do you want President? I don't like to repeat myself." [Fan Lin]

"I do require your plantation area. As for what, you are too weak to know about that." [Qiangu Donfeng]

"You will tell me if I am strong then?" [Fan Lin]

"Heh, you are a little talented but if you think you can be arrogant about it, that's your biggest stupidity kid. You might be strong among your age group or rank but you aren't even close to the level where you can have a deal with me." [Qiangu Donfeng]

"I am stronger than you grandson though. Far stronger than him. Like even hundreds of him might not be able to force me to unleash a tenth of my strength. That strong and I can be stronger."

"Wanna bet. I am coming a week later, if I win, you will tell me all about your requirements, If I lose, I will fulfill your task without any questions. I will even finish it in a tenth of the time. What do you say?" [Fan Lin]

"Hmph! What's the bet about?" [Qiangu Donfeng]

"Spirit Soul Tower. I will reach the top 30." [Fan Lin]

"... Top 5. If you can get to the top 5, I will tell you about it. I will tell you all about it, but if you couldn't, I want my listed area to be replanted by the next three months." [Qiangu Donfeng]

"Deal!" [Fan Lin]

"On that note, you could have gone to the Southern Ocean, why did you purposefully go to the western ocean. I saw the records of you buying land in there but it's just sand. Are you planning to create a small forest in there?" [Qiangu Donfeng]

"You think I will answer that." [Fan Lin]

"You think I have no ways of knowing it." [Qiangu Donfeng]

"... I planned to go to the Southern Ocean but the Southern Legion stopped me. Hence I came here. And I indeed plan to have a small forest of my own. Happy." [Fan Lin]

"A week later kid. I hope you do your best." [Qiangu Donfeng]

Toot.

Qiangu Donfeng cut the call and Gu Yue blankly shook her head.

"Now why did you do that?" [Gu Yue]

"He had always been paying attention to my every move. Quite stupid of him, isn't it." [Fan Lin].

"Really?" [Gu Yue]

"Really." [Fan Lin]

"What about the story? Did they kill the killer?" [Gu Yue]

"Nah. Nothing they tried worked on him. He died on his own." [Fan Lin]

"Oh. Was he that strong? Or maybe immune to the creations?" [Gu Yue]

"Strong, he was. Immune to their creations... well not ... it's hard to explain."

"Poison, acid, virus, infection or even physical injuries, they all seem to work in the beginning but he was able to 'adapt' to them, gaining not just resistance but even strengthening himself on top of it."

"The more we tried to kill him, the more toxins he ingested, the stronger he became. He adapted to the D·S, later on, nothing worked as the more we fed him, the more his resistance to it rose. At one point it was at the level where their current skills couldn't even hurt him and they had to reach a breakthrough in their of own fields to progress further." [Qiangu Donfeng]

'We?' [Gu Yue]

"The killer himself stopped taking the toxins after he knew that it was just making him harder to kill. Then they all begin to create something to kill him but they all failed in the end." [Fan Lin]

"The killer died on his own. The rest scattered. That's the end." [Fan Lin]

"So you are indirectly pointing at me, aren't you? You are afraid that I will become like the killer if I have the information that you have." [Gu Yue]

"Yeah. Yeah, that's it." [Fan Lin]

"Qiangu Donfeng will win the bet." [Gu Yue]

"I know, that's why I set that." [Fan Lin]

"You really do get whatever you want one way or the other, don't you?" [Gu Yue]

"You are with me so of course I will. And if I were to readily work for him, I wouldn't be able to get this." [Fan Lin]

Fan Lin said while playing the recording of the call between him and Qiangu Donfeng.

In this time and age, although the recordings like this couldn't be used as proper proofs of validation, Fan Lin never planned to use it in a legal or orthodox way to began with.

"Whatever you are planning, I truly hope you succeeded or I will kill you before he can." [Gu Yue]

"I wonder about that." [Fan Lin]

"So much confidence in yourself." [Gu Yue]

"I don't trust myself but I can trust you. So don't worry." [Fan Lin]

"You shouldn't trust me as well." [Gu Yue]

"We are the same then." [Fan Lin]

"What are you getting at?" [Gu Yue]

"Nothing. Nothing at all." [Fan Lin]

Gu Yue silently stared at him and ate her fruits in silence.

"Imagine you and me." [Fan Lin]

"That's repulsing." [Gu Yue]

"Exactly that. Leng Yaozhu is coming in two months. Can you come to the forest a month later and then throw the vials?" [Fan Lin]

"You are the most cynical man that I have ever met... I will throw them." [Gu Yue]

"Thanks. Should I double the area?" [Fan Lin]

"How much are you able to?" [Gu Yue]

"Ten times if I use your vials. Anymore than that and it would be dangerous." [Fan Lin]

"Why?" [Gu Yue]

"The weather is nice. I don't want to tell you." [Fan Lin]

"..." [Gu Yue]

"Continue then, but before that, strip." [Fan Lin]

"Huh?" [Fan Lin]

"Strip now." [Gu Yue]

"What kind of fetish is this?" [Fan Lin]

Before he can say more, Fan Lin was bombarded with a strong seven element explosion.

The sound reverberated throughout the Moon Forest as Di Tian and the rest of the Great Beasts were blankly looking at the situation and sighing heavily in their hearts.

....

And that marks the end of this big chapter - Imagine you and me.

Now only the extras remain.

I now understand how those without hands must have felt after losing their hands.