Doomsday Stewed Salted Fish C36.1

Hey, first of all, thanks for reading my lousy Machine Translation. To be honest, I’d really like it if you guys corrected the mistakes I made. But please speak nicely and politely. My heart is not strong enough to read your too-harsh comments. Have a nice day. 🙂

Chapter 36. (1/2)

On October 10th, the base remained peaceful.

However, Gu Fan grew increasingly anxious. Since she and Lu Ya publicly announced their relationship, this was the first time Lu Ya hadn’t come to see her for more than ten days.

Meng Lianying went to find Lu Ya the day after returning to the base and was told everything was normal.

The Xinghe team also seemed reassured, at least not showing concern in front of Gu Fan.

Gu Fan considered contacting Lu Ya, but if Lu Ya had deceived Meng Lianying, he would have no reason to tell her the truth.

With no news, Gu Fan began practicing combat with the Xinghe team at Phoenix Mountain.

Taishan and Meng Lianying first teamed up to build four high walls. They fought inside the walls to prevent any damage to Phoenix Mountain.

Xinghe was the first to notice Gu Fan’s problem, “Why do you only use fireballs? Fireballs consume a lot of mental energy and are suitable for large monsters. Against ability users or small monsters, fire blades, fire swords, or even fire needles are more effective and conserve mental energy.”

This limitation was due to her spells. Gu Fan could only use spiritual power to release fireballs. She could control the size and power of each fireball, making it adaptable for single or group attacks.

“My grandfather said that mastering one form of weapon is better than being mediocre at many,” Gu Fan replied, invoking her nonexistent grandfather as she always did. She spoke to Xinghe while focusing her spiritual energy and releasing a marble-sized fireball at Meng Lianying.

Meng Lianying, acting as her coach, didn’t believe that Gu Fan, being two levels lower, could harm him with her fireballs.

Seeing the marble-sized fireball, Meng Lianying assumed Gu Fan was running out of energy. He casually raised his right arm to block the fireball with his battle armor.

“Be careful!” Gu Fan warned.

This fireball was her most powerful single-target fire attack at the ninth level of the Qi Refining stage.

As her warning rang out, the fireball exploded with a “bang,” sending Meng Lianying flying backwards. He quickly stabilized himself before hitting the high wall.

As Meng Lianying landed, the others gathered around him.

Meng Lianying inspected his battle armor, which showed no damage, but the shock still left him shaken. He looked at Gu Fan in disbelief, “Fan Fan, are you really only at level C? That fireball could have defeated a weaker B-level monster.”

Gu Fan herself was unsure about the exact correspondence between cultivator and ability user levels.

The leap from the sixth to the ninth level of the Qi Refining stage was significant. She could kill a few C-level monsters at the sixth level and had to flee from B-level ones. Now, at the ninth level, nearly perfect, handling some B-level monsters wasn’t surprising.

“Actually, Fan Fan is a freelancer and hasn’t had her ability level tested since entering the base,” Fenghuo said, hoping her strength might be higher than she believed.

Gu Fan didn’t want to get tested.

She suspected that ability user tests involved brain crystal nuclei, which she lacked. How could she explain that?

“I don’t want the hassle. Testing won’t change anything. I’m not joining the army or becoming a registered mercenary.”

With Gu Fan’s dismissal, the Xinghe team dropped the subject.

They practiced all afternoon. As they prepared to leave and rest, Gu Fan’s communicator rang.

It was Lu Ya.

Gu Fan answered.

Lu Ya asked, “What do you want to eat tonight? I’ll buy groceries.”

Before Gu Fan could respond, Fenghuo gasped loudly, and Meng Lianying dramatically covered his mouth.

Gu Fan was speechless.

She had forgotten to inform the team about this due to the worrying news they brought back and Lu Ya’s absence.

She replied to Lu Ya, “Just come over. Fenghuo is cooking tonight, and I’ve been eating with them recently.”

Lu Ya responded, “Alright, I’ll come over now.”

After hanging up, Gu Fan put down the communicator.

Meng Lianying immediately jumped in front of her, demanding an explanation.

Knowing the Xinghe team could keep secrets, Gu Fan explained everything truthfully.

“So, you and my cousin are just pretending to be in a relationship?” Meng Lianying asked.

Gu Fan replied, “What else? Do you think I like him?”

Meng Lianying was speechless.

Gu Fan’s tone made it sound like Lu Ya was unappealing despite many girls at the base wanting to marry him. But to Gu Fan, Lu Ya seemed to lack appeal.

Then Meng Lianying recalled how Lu Ya had forced Gu Fan to test the beast-repellent pill on the wind bear and made her fight crow monsters to gauge her strength. An S-level man with no regard for a woman’s feelings was bound to end up like this.

Fenghuo touched his chin, reminding Gu Fan, “I believe you have no feelings for Lu Shao, but in dramas, fake relationships often become real. Be careful he will develop true feelings for you.”

Qingteng added, “Didn’t Marshall Lu say he was going to buy groceries?”

Meng Lianying said, “Yes since Fan Fan can’t cook, does that mean my cousin cooked for you when we weren’t around?”

Gu Fan replied, “Why are you all so surprised? You people at the base love to eat. What’s wrong with him cooking?”

Meng Lianying looked at Gu Fan and suddenly burst into laughter.

Xinghe smiled at Gu Fan, “Someone like Marshall Lu wouldn’t waste time in the kitchen unless he wanted to please someone. I bet on it.”

Fenghuo, Qingteng, and Taishan all nodded in agreement.

Gu Fan thought about it and understood, “You mean he cooked for me to persuade me to pretend to be his girlfriend, even though he doesn’t like cooking?”

Fenghuo said, “That’s kind of what we mean, but also not exactly.”

Xinghe smiled, “Let’s leave it at that. Tonight, we need to get some information from Marshall Lu.”

Gu Fan looked at the five of them, recalling Lu Ya’s focused cooking, and pondered.

Was Lu Ya trying to win her over, or was he using his looks to deceive her into selfless contributions?