Drained Dry

"What does the chief mean by this? Why suddenly order an evacuation of Tianhe City? Could it have something to do with those aliens?" Ge Xiaolun muttered in confusion as he scrolled through his phone.

"The chief must have his reasons for doing this, even if we don't understand them!" Zhao Xin said loftily, looking as though he had seen through everything.

"Tch, Xin Zhao, you make it sound like you know!"

"Brother Ran looks so calm. Do you know something, Brother Ran?"

"Huh? I dunno! Don't ask me! Stop worrying over nothing and train hard, or you'll get absolutely slaughtered when you reach the battlefield."

"After all this training, we can finally go toe-to-toe with those aliens!"

Lin Ran looked at Ge Xiaolun. In terms of fighting spirit, Ge Xiaolun was currently the worst of them. Liu Chuang, by contrast, dared to fight and throw himself into battle, and Zhao Xin wasn't bad either.

"Want to go shopping?"

"Shopping? Sure! I'm coming too!" Rena was the first to respond. Lin Ran looked at her speechlessly. He hadn't planned on taking her. He only wanted to enjoy some time alone with Qilin.

"How are you going to get there? Can't you not transport yourself through wormholes?"

"I don't care! I'm going!" Rena was one step away from throwing herself on the ground and rolling around in a tantrum.

"Fine, fine, I'll take you!"

"Since Sister Na's going, we'll come along for the fun too!"

Helpless, Lin Ran picked Qilin up, rose into the air, and shot toward Juxia City. He flew much faster than those planes and arrived in just over ten minutes. Ge Xiaolun was even more outrageous, wobbling along behind Lin Ran with Xin Zhao riding on him and Liu Chuang dangling from his hand.

Then Lin Ran returned to the Juxia through a wormhole, picked Rena up in his arms, grabbed Rui Mengmeng, and flew toward Juxia City at top speed. Rui Mengmeng screamed nonstop at first, but once she adjusted, she got used to it.

"Mengmeng, I've read your genetic code. Let me give you an upgrade!"

"Really?" Rui Mengmeng asked in disbelief. Then she felt a peculiar energy surge into her body, and every aspect of her physique improved by a huge margin.

"Huh? Mengmeng has a second generation body already?" Rena asked curiously.

"Sister Na, is this what a second generation body feels like?"

"I don't know what it feels like. Anyway, it's a lot stronger than a first generation body."

"Once you've gotten used to it for a while, I'll upgrade you to a third generation super soldier."

"Wait, upgrading Mengmeng is that easy for you?"

"It's not difficult. Upgrades before a third generation body don't require many resources."

"Damn! You make third generation bodies sound as common as cabbages! You know, super soldiers with third generation bodies are the pillars of a civilization."

"You already have a god body. Why do you care about that?"

"I have a god body, but things like Solar Flare Bombardment are all password-protected. I don't know the passwords, so I can't use them."

"How about I try cracking a few moves you can handle?"

"Can you really do that?"

"Let's give it a try! I'm not sure either."

"Okay, try it once we're done shopping!"

Once they arrived, the women started buying clothes, with Qiangwei paying. She was the richest person there! Lin Ran and the other three men bought plenty of grilled skewers and munched on them as they followed the women.

"Goddess, with those long legs of yours, it's such a waste not to wear black stockings!"

"Tch, so you losers can ogle me? Give me another two skewers. Your Earth's grilled skewers are delicious, but the portions are too small!"

After shopping for more than three hours, they found an open-air food stall and drank to their hearts' content. Xiaolun, Liu Chuang, and Zhao Xin almost dragged Lin Ran into becoming four sworn brothers right there at the food stall!

Du Kao watched their antics through Deno Three, but merely smiled without recalling them. A major battle was approaching, and relaxing before it was perfectly reasonable.

The next day, they all slept until the sun was high and even skipped breakfast. The soldiers aboard the aircraft carrier found it a little strange that they hadn't seen the Super Soldier Company training that day.

After ten, Lin Ran climbed out of bed and headed for the dining hall, where he found everyone eating.

"That's strange. Rena, why didn't you wake me up today?"

"What for? We're off for the next two days. Those are the chief's orders. Am I supposed to disobey?"

Lin Ran nodded at that and started working on the breakfast before him.

"Oh, right. Didn't you say you'd help me crack those passwords?"

"Sure, but if Pan Zhen finds out I helped you crack them, you'll have to put in a good word for me."

"Huh? He won't necessarily listen to me," Rena said, immediately looking downcast.

"Then help me upgrade to a fourth generation god body. That way, the chances of him finding out will be very, very low," Lin Ran said without batting an eye. In truth, the chances of being discovered were the same. The difference was that after upgrading to a fourth generation god body, he would be somewhat more confident in dealing with Pan Zhen.

After eating, Lin Ran took Rena soaring into the sky and brought her to a deserted island.

"Leave me some energy this time. Don't drain me dry again, or I'll be a sitting duck when the fighting starts in a couple of days," Rena said, rolling her eyes at Lin Ran in annoyance.

"I'm just absorbing a little of your energy!"

[Permission obtained from the Light of the Sun. Beginning energy absorption---]

Lin Ran kept watching Rena's condition. When he noticed her getting a little weak, he hurriedly told Azure Heaven to stop.

"Damn it! I told you to leave me some, and you still drained me dry!"

"Impossible! I've barely absorbed any energy!"

"The point is, I still haven't fully recovered the energy you absorbed last time!"

"Uh, so that's why. Didn't you study stellar energy manipulation? You should recover pretty quickly."

"I can forcibly absorb a star's energy to recover quickly, but that would greatly shorten its lifespan. So unless there's some special circumstance, I generally won't do that."

"All right, then I misunderstood you."

"Good that you know. Treat your goddess better from now on!"

Lin Ran supported Rena as they returned to the Juxia. Ge Xiaolun and the others waggled their eyebrows at him. Lin Ran felt helpless. Those idiots had definitely gotten the wrong idea.

"Don't misunderstand. I just absorbed some of Rena's energy. Mainly, the process is a little dangerous. I was afraid I might accidentally blow up the Juxia, so I picked somewhere deserted to do it," Lin Ran whispered into Qilin's ear.

"Mm, I wasn't thinking anything. You don't have to explain," Qilin said, her face bright red as she felt his warm breath against her ear.

"You didn't even read anything into that? Looks like I'm still not that important to you."

"That's not true! Don't talk nonsense! You're really important to me!"

"Really? How important?" Lin Ran asked with a wicked grin.

"You're awful! I'm not talking to you!" Qilin pushed Lin Ran away and ran inside.

"Little Ranzi, the Taotie are coming in strong. If you can't beat them, come join your queen. Your queen still loves you." Liang Bing's voice suddenly rang out, startling Lin Ran into a shudder.

"Got it, Queen. Could you give me a ringtone or something beforehand next time? You scared me! If you keep doing this, I'll have to set a password!"

"Don't you dare! If you dare set a password, I'll come find you right now!"

"Fine, fine, no password. Queen, what have you been busy with these past couple of days?"

"What else? These Western leaders are all unbelievably arrogant, with nothing but lumps of crap in their heads. I'm afraid turning them into demons would affect their IQ!"

"Then take the high-end route. Purify the demon gene a little, choose some people with high compatibility, and turn them into demons. Their combat strength wouldn't be bad either."

"Oh? That's an idea. But from the way you're talking, you have a way to upgrade the demon gene, don't you?"

"No, no, I was just making an offhand suggestion!"

"Your queen doesn't believe you! Get over here!"

"Seriously, I really dunno how! Hanging up, hanging up!"

Lin Ran hurriedly hung up on Liang Bing, then went to sunbathe on deck. Training? He wasn't going to train in this lifetime!

An irritated Liang Bing tried contacting Lin Ran, only to discover that she could no longer hack into his Dark Communication. The hot-tempered Demon Queen immediately set off to find him.