61: Replenishing blood? You're practically making a poisonous insect!

Before the first ray of morning light could pierce through the clouds over Tianqiong City, an indescribable scent had already begun to permeate Dormitory 404.

The smell was incredibly complex: it had the sour tang of fermented rotten tomatoes, mixed with the mellow richness of aged stinky socks, and a hint of an eerie sweet fragrance that seemed capable of hooking one's very Soul out.

Lin Xue was forced to 'boot up' under the assault of this odor.

"Cough... cough cough..."

She suddenly jolted up from her floor mat, only to fall back heavily due to extreme weakness.

Her mind was a complete blank, and her limbs felt as if they had been dismantled and reassembled, leaving her limp and powerless.

In particular, the artery at the base of her thigh throbbed with a dull pain, reminding her of the nightmare-like "blood-drawing incident" from the previous night.

Eight hundred milliliters!

That was a full eight hundred milliliters of Essence Blood!

Any ordinary person would have already been lining up at the Naihe Bridge to drink the soup of forgetfulness. It was only thanks to her genetically modified agent Physique that she could barely hang onto a breath of life.

"Awake?"

An enlarged face suddenly appeared directly above her, wearing that signature, punchable, brilliant smile.

Gu Fan was holding a large bowl that was still bubbling with purplish-black froth, looking at her with a face full of concern.

"Come, Dalang... oh no, Student Lin, time to take your medicine."

Lin Xue's pupils suddenly constricted. Her body instinctively wanted to retreat, but she found she didn't even have the strength to move a finger.

She looked at the liquid in the bowl in horror.

The substance was as thick as petroleum, with a few unknown weeds that looked like chicken feathers floating on the surface, along with several dissolving granules emitting a faint green glow.

"Wha... what is this?"

Lin Xue's voice was as raspy as if she had swallowed a handful of sand.

"Are you touched?"

Gu Fan brought the bowl even closer, the Soul-stirring scent hitting Lin Xue's crown directly. "I saw your face was deathly pale and your forehead was dark, clearly symptoms of excessive blood loss. Remembering your heroic feat of having to sell blood for a living last night, as the Club President, how could I sit by and do nothing?"

"This is the 'Perfect Rejuvenation Soul-Returning Soup' I specially brewed for you."

Gu Fan talked nonsense with a straight face. "I put a lot of effort into this bowl of soup. I added half a catty of leftover mutated pig liver from last night, three taels of the nourishing 'Blaze Grass', and... cough, anyway, it's all good stuff."

In reality, it was mostly medicinal dregs gifted from the System mall when exchanging for failed pills, plus a few nearly expired low-grade Qi and Blood Pills. For flavoring, he had specifically added half a bottle of cola and a spoonful of Lao Gan Ma chili sauce.

Collectively known as: Molecular Gastronomy.

"I don't... mmph!"

Lin Xue was about to refuse, but Gu Fan had already forced her jaw open without a word.

"Don't be polite! We're all brothers; talking about money hurts our feelings. Drink! You must drink! Not a single drop left!"

Gulp.

A large mouthful of warm, spicy, and eerily sweet liquid slid down Lin Xue's throat.

In that instant, Lin Xue felt like what she had swallowed wasn't soup, but a small fissioning nuclear bomb.

Boom!

A heatwave so violent it defied logic instantly exploded within her empty blood vessels.

Her originally shriveled veins were forced open as if by a high-pressure water gun, and her blood flow speed instantly increased by more than three times.

"Cough cough cough cough—!!!"

Lin Xue coughed violently, her entire face turning from deathly pale to a bright, explosive red like a monkey's butt at a visible speed.

Immediately after, her vision began to blur.

In a daze, she seemed to see the ceiling crack open, and a kindly old grandmother standing in the clouds, holding a bowl of soup and waving at her with a smile: "Xue'er, come, drink this bowl of soup and forget all the past..."

Is that... Great-Grandma?

"No! I can't die! My mission isn't finished yet!"

Lin Xue roared frantically in her heart, her desire to survive reaching its peak at this moment.

Under the impact of this violent medicinal power, the Martial Arts Genetic Locks within her body actually let out a cracking sound.

That was the sign of a Breakthrough!

But this Breakthrough came too fiercely; it was practically like using explosives to clear a path.

Pfft—

Two streams of bright red nosebleed shot out from Lin Xue's nostrils like fountains, reaching half a meter high.

At the same time, visible white steam began to rise from the top of her head, making her look like a boiling human-shaped kettle.

"Oh? The medicine is working that fast?"

Gu Fan was also startled by this exaggerated reaction and quickly stepped back two paces to avoid being splashed by the nosebleed. "Looks like I overdid the supplement. It's fine, a nosebleed is just detoxing. It means you're too weak to handle the nourishment; you need to train more."

Just then, Xiao Fan on the opposite bed was also woken up by the massive commotion.

He sat up groggily, rubbing his sleepy eyes, and then saw a scene he would never forget for the rest of his life:

Lin Xue's face was flushed red, her nose was bleeding profusely, and steam was rising from her head as she convulsed on the floor mat like a cooked prawn.

Meanwhile, Gu Fan stood nearby with an empty bowl, looking gratified as if admiring his own masterpiece.

"Holy crap!"

Xiao Fan snapped awake instantly and fell off the bed in fright. "Pre... President! What did you do to Student Lin? Did you poison her?!"

"Don't go blabbing the truth... bah, don't talk nonsense."

Gu Fan tossed the bowl aside. "This is a supplement! Do you understand what a supplement is? Look how energetic she is now, how vigorous her blood and Qi are. We don't even need to turn on the heater; she's practically a human-shaped little sun."

Xiao Fan felt the rolling heatwaves around Lin Xue and swallowed hard.

This is freaking 'vigorous blood and Qi'?

This is clearly a Qi Deviation, okay!

"Alright, don't make such a fuss."

Gu Fan glanced at the System panel.

[Ding! Detected 'Lin Xue's' extreme fear of the host's dark cuisine and gratitude for the passive physical strengthening (mostly fear).]

[malice points +400!]

"Mosquito legs are still meat."

Gu Fan lamented in his heart before waving his hand. "Since you're awake, hurry up and pack for class. It's Monday, remember to sign in for me. I'm going to enter seclusion in the dorm to research some new things."

"Se... Seclusion?"

Xiao Fan glanced at the still-steaming Lin Xue, then at the innocent-looking Gu Fan, and ultimately didn't dare to ask more.

He could only bite the bullet, find a towel to wipe Lin Xue's nosebleed, and then, like dragging a dead dog, he supported the wobbling, semiconscious Lin Xue out the door.

"Student Lin, hang in there! Go to the infirmary... oh no, just lie down in the classroom for a while and you'll be fine."

With a 'bang', the dorm door closed.

Dormitory 404 finally returned to peace and quiet.

Gu Fan stretched, walked to the window, and watched the two departing figures with a playful smile.

"It's good that they're gone; it's easier for me to stir up trouble now."

He pulled the curtains and hung a sign on the door that said: "Vicious Dog Inside, Do Not Disturb."

Then, he rubbed his hands and tapped open the pale blue System panel floating on his retina.

His gaze locked onto the new skill that had cost him a massive ten thousand credits to exchange.

[Divine Ability: Myriad Manifestation Dharma Body (Elementary Chapter)]

[Description: Break the shackles of the Physical Body and divide into ten thousand Dharma manifestations. The Elementary stage can create three Clones with independent action capabilities.]

[Note: Since this is the Elementary Chapter, the Clones' intelligence and personality may be influenced by an extreme amplification of certain 'insignificant' flaws in the host's subconscious. Please use with caution; no returns.]

"Insignificant little flaws?"

Gu Fan rubbed his chin with a confident look. "I, Gu Fan, am upright and honorable. Besides being too handsome and too strong, what flaws could I possibly have? This note must be a disclaimer the System wrote to cover up technical defects."

"System, stop the nonsense, activate!"

As Gu Fan's mind moved, the Spiritual Sea within his Dantian instantly surged.

A mysterious fluctuation erupted from within him.

"Myriad Manifestation Dharma Body, Open!"

Poof! Poof! Poof!

Accompanied by three soft sounds like farts, three clouds of white smoke exploded out of thin air in the middle of the dorm.

Gu Fan's eyes widened as he watched the smoke dissipate with great anticipation.

He expected to see three majestic, handsome, and versatile Clones who could help him attend class, get food, and fight.

However.

The moment the smoke completely cleared and he saw the three "things" before him.

Gu Fan's smile froze.