This Kind of Mission—Only an Idiot Would Take It

Xia Chujian's eyes lit up.

She abruptly looked up at Tantai Sinian's 3D Holographic Projection, nearly unable to stop herself from speaking.

Only when Shen Junyi kicked her under the table did she manage to suppress her wild joy.

If Tantai Sinian's method worked, then all she had to do was find a way to make her Aunt become a Gene Evolver! Her Aunt was most likely incapable of undergoing natural genetic mutation on her own, so she would have to find the Rare Plant Academician Tantai had mentioned—Kongsang! At that moment, Tantai Sinian was still enthusiastically discussing his discovery. "Moreover, the only place Kongsang has ever been found in history was the Exotic Beast Forest north of Mulan City!"

Xia Chujian's eyes shone even brighter.

It was in the Exotic Beast Forest?!

That wasn't far at all!

She was definitely going!

After the remote online meeting ended, Xia Chujian was itching to try.

Shen Junyi sighed. "Don't get your hopes up. The odds of finding Kongsang are as low as the odds of your Aunt suddenly mutating on her own and becoming a High-Grade Gene Evolver."

"How would we know without trying?" Xia Chujian refused to give up.

Seeing the determination and confidence on Xia Chujian's face, Shen Junyi could only say, "I can search through Academician Tantai's papers. They're probably the only source with detailed information on Kongsang."

Xia Chujian urged him, "Can you look it up now? I have time today!"

Shen Junyi twitched his lips. "Even if you have time today, can you immediately head to the Exotic Beast Forest? Do you know how far away it is? How big it is?!"

"No matter how big or far it is, I'm going."

Xia Chujian had never been to the Exotic Beast Forest.

However, when she was only fourteen three years ago, she had secretly joined the Dark Night Hunter Association as a Hunter in order to earn money to support herself and pay for her Aunt's treatment. She had already risked her life on countless missions.

It was obvious that she had a great deal of courage.

It was just that her team had never accepted a mission to the Exotic Beast Forest.

That place was too dangerous. At minimum, a team needed a C-Class or stronger Mental Strength Expert before they dared give it a try.

Their team's highest Mental Strength level, however, was only D-Class.

But since the Dark Night Hunter Association did indeed have missions targeting the Exotic Beast Forest, there was still some hope.

Besides, her Neighbor, Aunt Chen, was a regular visitor to the Exotic Beast Forest!

So she was not acting blindly or impulsively.

Of course, she would not tell Shen Junyi about such trivial matters. She merely urged him to hurry up and search.

Shen Junyi downloaded the papers published by Tantai Sinian, then used specialized software to search them. He quickly found the sections concerning "Kongsang," bundled them up, and sent them to Xia Chujian's Smart Bracelet account.

"According to Academician Tantai's research, the plant known as 'Kongsang' is a companion plant to a Rare Plant called 'Blood Kirin.'"

"Only one companion Kongsang might be found among a million Blood Kirins."

"Blood Kirin itself is extremely rare. In the entire Beichen Star Region, only the Exotic Beast Forest on Guiyuan Star produces Blood Kirin."

"Because Blood Kirin has extremely demanding growth conditions, all attempts at artificial cultivation have failed. It can only be obtained from wild growths in the Exotic Beast Forest."

"The yield is incredibly low—only around ten plants a year. They are very hard to find. Furthermore, they grow in different places every time, and Fierce Beasts often guard them. Trying to harvest Blood Kirin is extremely dangerous."

"See? You can't possibly find even Blood Kirin, yet you want to find Kongsang? Can you calculate those odds?"

Xia Chujian lowered her gaze and did the math in her head.

Only one Kongsang might be found among every million Blood Kirins.

And the Exotic Beast Forest produced only ten Blood Kirins a year, so it would take roughly a hundred thousand years before one Kongsang might be found.

The odds truly were negligible.

But then again, human civilization in the Beichen Star Region also had a history of a million years.

Over that million years, Kongsang had only been discovered once.

So from a purely probabilistic perspective, perhaps another nine Kongsangs were still waiting to be found.

From that perspective, the odds had risen substantially.

As Xia Chujian thought of this, a flash of inspiration struck her.

She remembered that the Dark Night Hunter Association had just released a mission to the Exotic Beast Forest to search for the rare plant Blood Kirin! Xia Chujian's fingers trembled faintly with excitement.

Suppressing her elation, she continued asking, "Doctor Shen, did Academician Tantai's paper say what Blood Kirin is used for?"

If Kongsang, the companion plant of Blood Kirin, could promote Gene Evolution, then what about Blood Kirin? Shen Junyi searched again. Looking at the papers displayed on the computer, he said, "Blood Kirin's primary uses are detoxification and poison-making."

Xia Chujian: "..."

How could two completely opposite functions exist in the same plant? Shen Junyi explained, "After Blood Kirin is air-dried, it can be made into an extremely poisonous substance. At present, there is no antidote for that poison."

"But when Blood Kirin is freshly harvested and consumed, it can neutralize many Highly Toxic substances that chemical drugs cannot cure."

Xia Chujian blinked and asked a question that used his own spear against his own shield. "Then could Fresh Blood Kirin detoxify poison made from air-dried Blood Kirin?"

Shen Junyi laughed at her question. "That's a very good question. Don't ask it again next time."

Xia Chujian: "..."

"Don't understand? Think about it. Blood Kirin is so precious and scarce—who would be so bored as to use Fresh Blood Kirin to counter poison made from dried Blood Kirin? Even if it works in theory, do you have enough Blood Kirin to experiment with? Without sufficient double-blind trials, how can you prove it detoxifies the poison?"

"Don't bring up things that aren't feasible in the future."

Xia Chujian frowned. "By your reasoning, without enough Fresh Blood Kirin for experiments, there can't be sufficient double-blind trials. So how do you know Fresh Blood Kirin can neutralize Highly Toxic substances that chemical drugs can't cure?"

Shen Junyi: "..."

That really was using his own spear against his own shield.

He shook his head with a laugh. "Good question. Actually, I don't know either. I only saw it written that way in academic journals. Papers published by Academicians of the Imperial Royal Academy of Sciences should be credible, right?"

"So we can't rule out the possibility, right?" Xia Chujian still did not understand, but she did not continue digging deeper. She simply tilted her head and pretended to be obedient.

Shen Junyi merely smiled noncommittally.

After leaving Shen Junyi's office, Xia Chujian returned to her Aunt's ward.

A caregiver was checking the Instrument readings in the ward.

When she saw Xia Chujian enter, the caregiver nodded in greeting.

Xia Chujian did not disturb her work. She merely checked Xia Yuanfang's condition again, then secretly slipped the caregiver a hundred Beichen Coins.

Caregivers at official Empire hospitals earned very little, only around two hundred Beichen Coins a month.

Of course, Mulan City's cost of living was also very low. Two hundred Coins were enough to support a family of four or five.

But if one wanted to live comfortably, two hundred Coins were not enough.

The hundred Coins she gave were equivalent to half a month's wages for the caregiver, definitely no small amount.

The caregiver had always taken good care of Xia Yuanfang, and with Xia Chujian occasionally slipping her tips, she became even more meticulous and diligent in caring for Xia Yuanfang.

"Thank you, Nurse Liu." Xia Chujian thanked her politely. "I'll have to trouble you more in the future."

Nurse Liu held the tip and smiled. "Chujian, it isn't easy for you to live alone. Oh, right—recently, the weather hasn't been great. I heard there'll be a major temperature drop, so stock up on some food at home."

Xia Chujian nodded. After asking about her Aunt's condition a little more, she left alone.

After leaving, she did not head straight home. Instead, she went to the Dark Night Hunter Association's branch in Mulan City—the same place where she had just collected her Performance Settlement in the middle of the night.

When she had come here at midnight, there had been very few people.

But now that it was afternoon, the number of people had clearly increased.

Xia Chujian did not know many of them, nor was she in the mood to chat. Still wearing her team's Combat Suit, mask, and protective goggles, she walked straight to the Task Release Counter.

The first mission updated at dawn still had not been claimed. It sat alone on the virtual screen, constantly Scrolling.

Xia Chujian walked over and stared blankly at the words "Exotic Beast Forest" for a while.

Her thoughts churned and her emotions surged as she repeatedly considered the mission.

Even her Neighbor Aunt Chen went to the Exotic Beast Forest once every month. She should be able to handle it too, right?

Although Aunt Chen said she only wandered around the outskirts of the Exotic Beast Forest, who knew? Aunt Chen brought back so many good things every time. Was she really only staying around the outskirts?

Xia Chujian was not an ordinary high school student. She was a Hunter with three years of combat experience—essentially a Bounty Hunter, except one affiliated with an organization.

She had long felt that Aunt Chen's words did not tell the whole story. But Aunt Chen had always looked after her and had never harmed her, so why should she pry into it?

That would be something only an idiot with too much time on their hands would do.

Xia Chujian herself could barely fill her stomach every day, so she did not meddle in such matters.

Besides, didn't she have secrets of her own?

Who had she ever told that she had joined the Dark Night Hunter Association?

And why did she need to sell her house? Wasn't it to conceal the money she secretly earned as a Bounty Hunter? Otherwise, everyone would wonder where her income came from and how she could afford her Aunt's hospitalization fees...

She did not even dare ask Aunt Chen more about the Exotic Beast Forest, afraid it would instead draw other people's interest toward her.

Xia Chujian pondered for a long time before finally making up her mind and firmly pressing the confirmation button.

She used her team's Account to claim the mission because, according to the Dark Night Hunter Association's rules, missions released by the Association could only be claimed by teams. Individuals could not claim missions.

But how a team completed a mission after claiming it was the team's own business. The Association did not interfere.

The moment the mission was claimed, the Supercomputer's electronic simulated voice rang through the hall.

"Geng Grade Blood Kirin mission claimed by Team 321 of Guiyuan Branch District 3 Group 9. Valid until March of next year. No points will be deducted for mission failure."

The hall fell silent for a moment.

Every Hunter knew how difficult the Blood Kirin mission was.

First, the approximate location of Blood Kirin was in the Land of the Far North, the core region of the Exotic Beast Forest.

Second, there was a Restricted Life Zone in the Land of the Far North within the Exotic Beast Forest. No one who entered the Restricted Life Zone had ever returned. The living vanished without a trace, and the dead left no bodies behind.

Lastly, the mission's grade was far too low. The risks and rewards were completely disproportionate.

This mission absolutely should have been Jia Grade, yet the Association had only rated it Geng Grade...

The mission's difficulty and reward were severely mismatched, so naturally, no one had claimed it.

Everyone thought the same thing Ye Shijie had thought before.

This kind of mission—whoever took it was an idiot.

During the New Book Period, I have to remind everyone about Recommendation Tickets, Monthly Tickets, and Xiaoxiang Tickets!

^_^