After that tiny dwarf star entered Xia Li's dantian,
he immediately understood that the goal of this trip had likely been exceeded many times over.
Compared to an imitation-star golden core nucleus assembled from several different materials, this cooled Golden Crow inner core, like a white dwarf, was unquestionably better.
"Qiu Fu, I'm going to leave for a while. I'll be back in exactly three days."
"Where are you going? The flame storm is raging outside. You still dare go out?"
"I have my own way. Just wait here for me."
"Then... fine."
Meeting the unwavering resolve in Xia Li's eyes, Qiu Fu knew that any further insistence from her would only get in his way. She simply revealed her true form and lay down on the floor to rest.
She had already anticipated that a great battle would break out three days from now, so she decided to use the time to recover her strength.
Xia Li stroked her tiger head once before limping away from the hall.
Qiu Fu wanted to follow him. She also wanted to ask why he was not taking her along.
But if Xia Li had chosen not to, then he surely had his reasons.
He passed through the corridor and out through the black iron doors.
Using his divine thought, Xia Li connected with the mysterious ring. A brilliant white light immediately swallowed him whole.
When the scene before his eyes became clear again...
【Network connection restored】
The Heaven Chip informed Xia Li that it had reconnected to the Heavenly Dao Network.
And the very first thing Xia Li did after getting back online was...
"Yagyu Chihaya, save me!"
"Bring a stretcher and carry me out of here!"
He contacted Yagyu Chihaya directly and asked her to come pick him up and get him medical treatment.
He had been putting on a brave front in front of Qiu Fu before.
There was no need to act tough now.
He needed medical treatment immediately.
Before long...
Yagyu Chihaya sent a reply.
"Who is this?"
"Stop wasting time and come carry me. I'll pay extra spirit stones. Hurry! I'm sending you my location."
"You vanish for more than three months, and the first thing you say is for me to come carry you?"
"Hurry up and save my life!"
"Fine, fine. Wait there. What's your situation over there? If it isn't dangerous, I'll contact a medical team first."
"I want you to treat me. Don't contact anyone else!"
"Wow. What are you, some overbearing patient? Wait there!"
Yagyu Chihaya cut the connection.
Time flowed twice as fast on the other side. In other words, three days over there were only a day and a half on Earth.
Xia Li had to use the time to heal, form his golden core, install a new prosthetic, and then rush back at once.
Half an hour later, Yagyu Chihaya arrived in the underground passage with two robotic dogs carrying a stretcher in their mouths. At a glance, she saw Xia Li's entire body scorched black, not a single patch of skin left intact.
"What, did you go swimming in Mount Fuji? Or did you fall for some weird body-refining method and take a bath in molten steel?"
"Don't worry about that. Just take me back and treat me!"
"Lie down first. I'll give you a few shots to stabilize your vital signs and stop your organs from failing any further."
Yagyu Chihaya motioned for Xia Li to lie on the stretcher. Once he did, she immediately pulled out several different injectors and began pumping large doses of medicine into him.
After that, she covered him with a white sheet, even draping it over his face, before having the robotic dogs carry him back.
All the way back to Benzoin Clinic, hardly anyone on the road even glanced at Xia Li. In a place like New Tokyo, dead people were not unusual.
What mattered was how long they had been dead.
If they had only just died, it was still possible to save them while they were warm.
Once they reached the underground treatment room, Yagyu Chihaya immediately shut Xia Li inside a professional-grade medical pod.
She was a doctor herself. The surface clinic could only treat minor illnesses, but the underground medical room could handle much more. Plenty of wanted criminals and undocumented people came to her for treatment.
"Let's see what shape you're in..."
"Critical whole-body burns. The epidermis is completely gone. Muscle damage rate: seventy-two percent. Organ damage rate: sixty percent..."
"At minimum, you'll need to stay down for two months."
Yagyu Chihaya gave her estimate for Xia Li's recovery time. The moment he heard two months, Xia Li immediately shook his head inside the pod.
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"Too slow. I still have things to do!"
"Then how fast do you want it?"
"The fastest possible. Keep the flesh body intact. Spirit stones aren't the problem."
"Then fifteen thousand spirit stones for regenerative hormones, plus another eight thousand for nanobots to reconstruct your skin and muscles in sync. Two hours and you'll be back to normal!"
"Do it!"
"Fine. I'll set it up now!"
Yagyu Chihaya snapped her fingers. The medical pod immediately filled with concentrated nutrient fluid, and the anesthetic in the mixture soon made Xia Li's eyelids droop.
"As fast... as possible..."
Even before falling asleep, Xia Li was still hurrying her.
When he opened his eyes again, he found himself lying on a soft bed, his muscles, skin, and internal organs all restored to normal.
Though the newly regenerated flesh had not yet been tempered by any body-refining method, a little nourishment from essence blood would soon transform it.
"Awake? It's been two and a half hours since you fell asleep."
Yagyu Chihaya stood beside the bed looking at him. Xia Li sat up at once, clearly ready to leave.
"Wait. Pay first."
"I'll pay you when I get back. You think I'd stiff you?"
"What is so urgent?"
"Just something urgent. Right, can I go to the Upper District now?"
"You've made the wealth rankings, so of course you're qualified to go up. Planning to form your golden core? Where did you get that thing in your dantian?"
Yagyu Chihaya now understood why Xia Li had refused treatment from anyone else.
What sat in his dantian was too valuable.
Anyone who saw it would probably be tempted to kill for it.
Even she...
Forget it.
It really was something that Xia Li dared trust her this much.
Wasn't he afraid she might get ideas?
"A secret."
"So now you're putting on airs?"
"I'll tell you when I get the chance."
"Fine. But here's a warning. If you want to preforge a golden core with that thing, the cost will be absurdly high. If you don't have enough spirit stones, contact me. I'll get Yagyu Military Industries to loan you the money."
"Thanks. At this point I probably really will need a loan from you."
Xia Li knew very well that if he wanted to make the miniature white dwarf formed from the Golden Crow inner core undergo fusion again, then even the Heavenly Dao Computer would need to expend an enormous amount of energy.
The price would certainly be terrifying.
"Then I'll let the people above know in advance so it gets approved quickly. Go on. As your name implies, go make history."
Yagyu Chihaya helped Xia Li to his feet. She understood perfectly well why he was this excited.
What was in his dantian was essentially a genuine miniature star.
Though it was a dead dwarf star, it could still be reignited through fusion.
It was the true ideal embryonic form of an imitation-star golden core, something current technology simply could not manufacture.
With careful adjustment, it could become the strongest golden core ever born.
And Xia Li would, true to his name, create the next piece of history.
"Thank you. Really."
Xia Li gripped Yagyu Chihaya's hand tightly.
Her help now was no different from sending coal in a snowstorm.
And she had also proven herself worthy of the trust he had placed in her.
Though he had already warned the Heaven Chip to wake him if anything urgent happened, the chip he currently used was still made by Yagyu Military Industries. Whether Yagyu Chihaya might betray him for her own position had never been something he could be completely sure of.
"Right now, you're the most beautiful you've ever been since I met you."
Xia Li gazed into Yagyu Chihaya's eyes.
She only smiled faintly, then boldly leaned in and kissed him on the lips.
"What benefit would I get from handing you over to Yagyu Military Industries? Tying you down through both emotion and profit is obviously worth more. I don't do business at a loss."
Yagyu Chihaya had seen the future.
At that moment, she felt deeply fortunate that she had met Xia Li.
The golden core he was about to form would absolutely be a turning point in history.
"Succeed. And later, let's burn the Upper District to ashes."
"All right!"
Xia Li nodded heavily, then left the underground chamber at once.