Douluo Continent
Shrek Academy
Gu Yu stared at the soul communicator in her hands.
Fan Lin had cut the call without listening to her and she was a little irritated at that.
She could guess why Fan Lin didn't ask for his help in person but she wasn't angry about that.
She had no problems with helping him in regards of the Moon Forest since she was planning to go to the Moon Forest at a later time as well.
And she was Gu Yue, she can do this task without even going to the Moon Forest.
'Go and take the grass and leaves from his home. He wouldn't just have his room filled with those randomly.'
She mentally commanded Di Tian and continued to walk towards the working students dormitory. She wanted to know what was special about that forage that he had been restocking it for a while.
She had sensed it once but it was normal grass but she still wanted to double check. She had an instinctive guess of her half God self that If she can found the secret behind his grass foraging, she might have more control over Fan Lin and she chose to trust her instincts.
'I wonder what the vials that he want me to throw will add to the Moon Forest.'
She thought.
Di Tian had been beside her in the Shrek as she has weakened due to [foreshadowing]. He also regularly informed her of the condition of the Moon Forest as they have been steadily transferring the important and younger spirit beasts to the Moon Forest every week.
They could have done that daily but they didn't want to make any mistakes and alert the humans of the changes of the Starduo Forest.
They all knew that it was not the time for the useless battles yet. They have to wisely use the time and opportunity that they were given and not waste it on getting even with the humans.
That can come later.
Gu Yue stored her soul communicator and calmly walked towards the working students dormitory as she was watched by Xu Xiaoyan, Xie Xie and Yu Zhengyu from afar.
They seem to be following her.
Gu Yue chose to ignore them and kept going towards the working students dormitory.
'I should be able to finish the battle Armor designs of everyone by the end of this year.'
Gu Yue thought while glancing at the path that lead to the cultivation area of Fan Lin.
"But why is she special to him?"
She whispered in visible confusion. She knew that Wulin had a little sister that had gone missing. Wulin himself had told her.
Fan Lin and Tang Wulin's frendship was also destroyed because Fan Lin had beaten her badly, resulting in Wulin's rage which in turn was reciprocated as Fan Lin broke Wulin's legs.
Wulin had told her that Na Er, his sister, had disappeared a few days after she testified against Fan Lin for his weird behaviour.
Fan Lin had told Wulin that he had nothing to do with his sister and that she was safe but didn't tell him her location.
According to Wulin, Fan Lin always seemed to know where she was but never told him.
"She is special?"
Before Na Er was beaten by Fan Lin, they had a great relationship with each other with Na Er. After that event though, everything changed as both Na Er and Wulin layed injured on the bed with their parents crying beside them.
"Hmmm."
Gu Yue deeply thought about the situation but no matter how much she thought, she couldn't understand what Fan Lin wanted from Na Er.
Or how was he planning on using her?
Fan Lin was stronger than Wulin and should not need to use Na Er to deal with Wulin.
That must mean that the main focus is Wulin's sister Na Er and Fan Lin only want her.
'She was found by Wulin on the streets when she was young.'
Then one of the possible answers could be that Fan Lin must know about her usage but he wasn't telling Gu Yue.
'I will ask Di Tian to find about her later."
Gu Yue reached the working students dormitory and sat to down on her bed to meditate.
A few hours later.
Gu Yue finally got free and made haste towards the former cultivation area of Fan Lin.
"This was the only thing? But when we left together a few hours ago and it was full of grass and leaves. When was the box placed?"
Gu Yue asked with doubt. She had sent Di Tian to check Fan Lin's workroom to get the grass and leaves from there. Di Tian had obeyed her orders and returned with a case and a letter a few hours ago.
Gu Yue had thought that the vials that Fan Lin mentioned were in the case but after Di Tian sensed the stuff in the box and told her about the content of the letter, she had wanted to immediately come and check the things herself.
But she couldn't as Xu Xiaoyan, Ye Xinglan, and Yuanen Yehui had gathered around her to gossip and chat other lovey-dovey stuffs and affairs in Shrek.
She was going to reject them but the boys (Tang Wulin) also joined in the conversation and she stayed and joined in the conversation as well.
[Her priorities are set.]
After four hours, their chatting finally ended and Gu Yue came to ask about the situation properly.
She looked at the box and then at the letter that was addressed to her. She felt a small burst of anger rising on this ignorant act of his.
She knew that Fan Lin knew about the probing nature of the Pagoda regarding him.
She even had discussed with him on how to safely and carefully do things while warning him to not speak that many unnecessary things about the forest and all.
'And yet he did a stupid thing like leaving a box with her name on it just in front of his entrance. Something's odd then.'
"It was on the work desk in his room. Directly in front of the entrance and not hidden at all."
Di Tian reconfirmed. He looked at Gu Yue and hesitantly continued.
"My Liege, I know that he is important to our plan, extremely important... but I think we should have a backup just in case. This kid is... too carefree (unreliable) at times."
"It might be his overconfidence or maybe he doesn't clearly know about the true dangers of the world but he is too nonchalant in his attitude..."
Di Tian was going to speak his mind but was stopped by Gu Yue's glare.
"He plays weak to eat the strong so don't use his actions to determine his thoughts. He can't be trusted, I know that and I have thought about the other plans as well."
"For now, let's use him as much as we can and dispose him when we are done. He is an asset not a necessity."
Gu Yue coldly said while staring at the letter. Di Tian nodded in affirmation and silently stood beside her.
She knew that Fan Lin, despite his nonchalant attitude, knew about the gravity of the things he was going to do. He was also crafty and always weirdly got what he wanted.
He wasn't a fool but that came to the problem of why did Fan Lin left the box so openly in his room. He even specially placed a letter with her name just in front of his door when he knew that the Pagoda will definitely search or meddle with his room after he left.
He was that much of a invariable to the Pagoda.
'It doesn't make sense until... Is he trying to drag me into his situation as well?'
The letter and the box could easily be misunderstood (interpreted) that Gu Yue was connected to Fan Lin.
If, in some future, Fan Lin's true motive were released to the public, the letter could become the proof that she was related to him as well.
'He is most likely trying to drag me into his cohorts when the world gets to know about the Moon Forest.'
She broke the case and found a key in it. After putting the key in her storage guide, she read the letter again.
[To Gu Yue.
You must have gotten the case, inside it is the key to the container that I wanted to give you. Use it wisely.
Follow the instructions carefully. Don't be stupid and use them in a public place, it would obviously be wasted.
And make sure to tell Leng Yaozhu that I taught you properly.]
She read the letter again.
Adding the new situation that Fan Lin may be trying to rope her in, her plan had changed a little.
Her plan was simple, she will get the vials and immediately send Di Tian to throw the vials in the Moon Forest.
She had experienced the weirdness of the vials and since Fan Lin had specially asked her to throw the vials in the Moon Forest, it must be important and hence, should be rid off immediately.
She had no clue on what Fan Lin may have in store for her, so the best way to foil whatever he was doing was to get rid of the evidence ASAP.
This will also save her time and she could see the benefits of the vials as well. She also wanted to know what the vials could do that he had to personally ask her to deliver them to the Moon Forest.
"Find out if they are awake or not."
Gu Yue coldly whispered while burning the letter.
Di Tian used his senses to check the small shop of Fan Lin and informed Gu Yue.
"They are awake."
...
It was 3 am in the night. The Handler and her friends were planning the various deliveries that Fan Lin had planned.
After this, they will be free for the next few months and enjoy their life lazing around and watching dramas.
Fan Lin had already informed them that this was the final order and he won't do anything like this for the next few years.
Although Fan Lin said the same thing a few years ago as well but this time, they thought they could trust him since his seemed more mature than before although his killings had increased by a lot. They thought.
"How much is left?"
One of Handler's friends asked while checking off her own list of deliveries. She was done with her own area.
"Not that mu—"
"Can I come inside?"
The Handler stopped in her words and they all looked at the direction of the entrance of the small shop to see a young girl standing there.
She was the same girl that often came with Fan Lin and they knew her as Gu Yue, one of the students from Class Zero of Eastsea Academy, now currently studying at Shrek.
They all stared at Gu Yue weirdly while deftly glancing at the clock on the wall.
It was 3 am in the night!
"Yea you can."
The most senior friend of the Handler said while storing her list in her storage soul guide and quickly taking out some cake slices and milk.
The rest of them also stored their lists and helped in the preparation.
Gu Yue saw their actions and used her Spirit Power to sense the whole shop. It was normal.
"No need for the cake and milk."
She politely refused them for the cake but ignored it.
The Handler gestured her to sit down on the only table and asked her for her reason to come to the shop at 3 am in the night.
"He said to come to you guys to get my 'learning Materials'.
Gu Yue answered. The Handler, although finding the answer weird, nodded her head and one of her friend took out a storage soul guide from one of the cupboards in the shop.
Gu Yue was served her cake slice with a glass of milk.
"Here."
The handler gave her a storage ring while the others kept glancing at her from the sidelines. Their eyes seemed to be full of... sympathy?
'Hmm?'
Gu Yue took the storage ring and checked its contents with her spirit power. She looked at the Handler and as if understanding her look, the Handler took out another small box without saying anything.
Gu Yue scanned the box with her Spirit Power and looked at the Handler again. The box contained a key. It was the key for the case that Di Tian took from Fan Lin's house.
It was useless now though since she had broken the case since she didn't have a key.
"The other one. I want the second box."
Gu Yue said, her cake slice still left untouched.
Gu Yue saw the whole shop turn pin drop silence as her words left her mouth. The shop assistants looked at each other and then they all stared at Gu Yue with pitiful eyes.
Gu Yue saw the change in the atmosphere of the shop, something seemed incredibly wrong from their reactions.
The Handler on the other hand signalled one of her buddies who took out another box and presented it in front of Gu Yue. It had a Pheonix themed storage ring on it.
"Young Lady, follow what he said and don't open it without his instructions no matter how curious you are."
"If you have any problems or want to ask anything about this, here is our shop's private contact number. Ask us about your doubts before doing anything that was not instructed by him. Please."
The Handler seriously said and passed a small card to Gu Yue. Then they all began to act like nothing happened.
Gu Yue kept storage ring and asked them something that she had a grave feeling about. The space surrounding the shop was sealed and privacy protection was raised to the maximum.
"You know about him?" [Gu Yue]
She ambiguously asked. It seemed like a silly question at first since they were his shop assistants and of course they would know about it but both Gu Yue and the shop assistants knew what she meant by that.
"You shouldn't speak carelessly about stuff like that in here. This is Shrek City, you might get in trouble. He isn't someone you want to be associated with."
One of Handler's friends said.
Gu Yue got her answer and took a bite of the cake she was given. It wasn't that good.
"Since when do you know about him?"
Gu Yue continued.
"What about you? Why are you partnering with him? Did he blackmail you somehow?"
The Handler replied back. Gu Yue stared at her and gave a small nod.
"We have known him since his Eastsea Academy days. He was a maniac even then. An advice as a fellow victim of his, don't fall for his words, he doesn't lie in his promises but... just don't trust him blindly."
The lady who served Gu Yue her cake said.
After that no one talked. Gu Yue ate the cake in silence and left with the box. The others chose to remain silent as well.
Once she left, The Handler and her friends looked at each other and decided to discuss this matter at a later time.
They have been working for Fan Lin for a few years and they understood that anyone involved with Fan Lin had a bad ending to them.
They themselves got their previous home destroyed and had to live like his normal shop assistants in Shrek.
Fan Lin himself had killed most of his partners and those that he didn't kill (Shi Yuan{currently dead}), he will kill them later.
Now that Fan Lin had decided to use Gu Yue, soon she would have a rough life ahead of her. They all thought in sync.
"But why did she came at this time of the night? She could have come a few hours later in the morning."
"You think anyone related to him are people who followed common sense?"
"Enough. Now that we had given her stuff to her, we have one less job to do. Now hurry up and do your tasks. Xing Mo, inform him about her and ask him for a pay raise, he hasn't changed our salaries even now."
"... I will. Thanks for the cake and milk."
"We are going to throw it anyway, feeding a stomach is obviously better than that."
"You do realise that she stays just a distance away from us! What if she suddenly attacked? She seems scary."
"Is your work finished?"
"..."
...
Shrek Academy.
Gu Yue silently returned to the academy and made her way to the former cultivation area of Fan Lin. Her mood was chaotic.
"There are others who knows about his vials!"
Di Tian said while appearing beside her. Gu Yue glanced at him but said nothing.
She had thought that she was the only one who knew about Fan Lin and his forest secret. She might also be the only one who knew of his vials and now she ascertained how laughable her thinking was.
When she was talking with the shop assistants of Fan Lin, she realised just how wrong she was in her judgement in regards to Fan Lin.
She knew that Fan Lin didn't talk in a sequence and neither did he care about his surroundings when he talked with her. He was nonchalant and tactless about the gravity of his words and Gu Yue always had to seal the space time around them whenever they were together.
And yet Gu Yue made the ridiculous mistake of thinking that he hadn't been talking to others about the forest and his past before opening up to her.
The others might even know far more about him than her.
She had known Fan Lin for around four months already and she perfectly understood half the things he wanted or was going to do.
And yet when she thought how she had never wondered about the possibility that Fan Lin would have been using others the same way as he used her(using her).
He might have been making deals with various people to gain what he wanted long before she became his current target.
And they most likely knew about his other side as well.
'Maybe that's why he was surrounded by four Titled Douluos on the day I met him.'
'The Shrek might have known about his nature or the danger that he possessed. That could have also been the reason why he was never promoted to an inner court student despite his cultivation and strength.'
'Master was right, Shrek and Tang Sect knew the so called flaw in Fan Lin, he had poor character traits and raising him might be the same as drinking poison to quench thirst.'
Now that she knew that she wasn't the only one who knew about his other side and his weird vials, she was conflicted on how she will deal with him.
"Send someone to monitor those women. Don't try to forcefully pry info by hypnosis."
"We don't know if he has any way of figuring it out."
Gu Yue said to Do Tian.
The shop assistants knew about Fan Lin. Shrek might have known about him as well.
"Na Er—?"
Gu Yue's eyes turned cold as she realised who could be the possible next target. She still couldn't understand what he wanted with Na Er.
She was also annoyed that there were four more people who knew about the Moon Forest and Fan Lin's taboo plan. If anyone of them decided to leak the news to the outside, it would become a big problem.
'What should I do? There is too little that I know about him.'
Gu Yue thought while combing through her memories of Fan Lin and his life to find something that she may take advantage against Fan Lin if he ever stopped the further creation of the Moon Forest.
'Can I use those assistants?'
She knew that Fan Lin had some shop assistants but she hadn't thought that they would know about his secret. She thought he wouldn't just tell anyone about it considering the topic that was involved but the truth has come to light and she was wrong in her previous assumption about him.
She looked at the Pheonix themed storage ring and checked the contents in it. Her eyes slightly widening as her spirit power scanned the whole storage ring.
The storage ring contained a brand new flying soul car with its documents, more than a few thousand empty storage soul guide of different shapes, hundreds of pieces of spirit refined metals, nearly hundred thousand small vials of different types and they were full of various liquids, more than three hundred thousand soul circuit designs, nine cabinets full of vials, and a small box with her name on it.
The storage space on the Pheonix themed storage ring was too huge, probably half a kilometre, and it was nearly full with the various stuff in it.
(Exact dimensions are 180x345x590 metres in the order of height, width and length.)
Gu Yue blinked her eyes and checked the contents of the ring again.
She rubbed her temples and sighed while taking out the box with her name on it.
"What happened My Liege?"
Di Tian asked from the sidelines when he watched her sigh.
She looked at him slightly annoyed and just passed the storage ring to him.
"Is he stupid?"
Di Tian said after checking all the stuff in the ring. Just a few moments ago, Gu Yue had been thinking badly about him and how he was an untrustworthy bad person.
Di Tian thought were more negative than her but after seeing the things in the storage ring, they both felt a little lost.
If Fan Lin was using her like a tool, then giving a storage ring full of various treasures and materials didn't make any sense.
But they knew that Fan Lin was indeed using her.
They were now confused to the bones as they couldn't understand what did he actually wanted with her or what was his final motive was in giving her this ring.
What's his purpose?
And confused they will be, because Gu Yue wasn't wrong in her judgement when she thought that she was the only one Fan Lin talked about the forest and his personal matters with.
She was the only one who knew about the true purpose of the Moon Forest as well.
But when she thought that the shop assistants of Fan Lin knew about it as well, she was indeed wrong.
Fan Lin had never told the truth to the Handler or her friends about what he was going to use the land that he brought for.
They knew that Fan Lin was a killer and used his poisons to kill. Those poisons were created through the common plants and he had been facing the problem of the lack of common plants and herbs that he required for his toxins for quite some time.
There was also the lack of availability of the required plants and herbs.
He even had to halt the creation of the next version of the Energy Serum due to it.
So when Fan Lin had told the Handler that he wanted to buy the land to grow plants. They accepted it quite easily thinking that he had decided to grow his own plants. That also aligned with how he said that he will be taking a big break from killing for now.
He must be waiting for the plants and herbs to fully grow before creating toxins with it.
His poisons were weird to begin with. Adding to the fact that they all thought that Fan Lin was mentally ill and was using massacres as a form of keeping himself sane.
They thought Shi Hun's behaviour had broken the young disgustingly dark heart of Fan Lin and now he was a little mentally unstable after those events.
But since he was killing the bad guys and also protecting them, it was okay👍 for them. And he seems to be changing as well, although the change was negligible but there was still a change.
They didn't know that Fan Lin was planning on using the land that he brought to rear spirit beasts.
If they knew, they would have betrayed him as well, because killing bad humans was one thing, doing something that could potentially led to the complete downfall of the humanity was another.
They personally knew his danger level and if he really was planning on raising the spirit beasts, then the things he might do to humans once they raised their voices against him were things that they don't even want to imagine.
They were right to think so as well since Fan Lin had been doing the exact thing for all this while.
When they were giving the storage ring to Gu Yue, they thought that she was an accomplice of Fan Lin in killing the humans.
That's why they warned her about the usage of the toxins, and even went as far as to even give their personal number to Gu Yue, because they knew the danger of his poisons.
Gu Yue didn't know that when the shop assistants said that they knew about him, they were talking about his child killer status not about the Moon Forest.
The shop assistants also didn't know that the vials that were given to Gu Yue were not made for humans and would do nothing to them. Neither did Gu Yue realised that Fan Lin had been causing massacres everywhere.
Now they both had misunderstood the situation and a bigger mess was going to form due to it.
The whole situation goes like this:
Gu Yue knew about Fan Lin's desire to recreate the forest and his vials. She had been helping him to keep the Moon Forest out of sight of the humans. She is also the one that Fan Lin had been heavily relying on.
The shop assistants knew about his child killer status and toxins but didn't know about his desire for forest. They have been helping him in the killings but they normally had minimal contact with him since they were particularly afraid of him.
On the other hand:
The Shrek Academy knew that Fan Lin hated humans but didn't know about his child killer status or his desire.
Whenever they found him alone, they couldn't understand most of his words even though he said it out loud for some reason.
The only person that Fan Lin had opened up and talked with was Gu Yue but space time distortion and the fear of Gu Yue's protector (Di Tian) made them unable to know most of the things.
But even then, Shrek had always kept his information a secret and had never harboured any ill feelings for him since Fan Lin could be a really useful asset for the Abyssal plane.
Lastly the Spirit Pagoda knew that Fan Lin wanted to replant the forest. And he liked to be tomatoes and oranges. That's it.
These were the only unique points that they personally found.
No one knew about the complete him and that had become his saving grace as he would have died already.
[Right?]
Hence Gu Yue wasn't wrong in her assumption. She just didn't know that the shop assistants didn't know that she didn't know about his past as a child killer and the recent massacres.
And it wasn't there fault as well. It was just the situation regarding Fan Lin was too much of a confusion due to his plans that kept changing for various reasons.
All of them seen a different version/part of Fan Lin and using that to judge his whole thinking was never going to work.
Gu Yue understood that. Hence she had decided to use her instincts and strength while dealing with Fan Lin and that was the best decision of her life, although she was doubting it in the present since she got to know a lot of headache ensuing things in a short amount of time and now she was contemplating her past actions.
"Let's put it aside for now. Have someone stealthy follow him around everytime. I need to know everything that he is doing."
Gu Yue said and opened the box with her name on it. It was made with the green crystals that were his creations.
A letter was placed in the top and something else was beneath the letter.
She took the letter and opened it. Di Tian seriously 'observed' the letter from the side. He also wanted to know what he wrote.
[To Gu Yue (again)
It has two vials.
Name - D-S·97 (Modified) {Left vial)
Break the vial when you are in the Moon Forest, around 23 to 67 days from now on, your choice.
Don't use it anywhere else as it would be a waste since the materials for this were quite hard to find.
Name - D-S·613 (Modified) {Right vial}
Use this after the left vial. Have a gap of atleast a month. Don't drink it.
It has an extremely bad taste.
P.S - Make sure to tell your teacher that I thought you properly. ]
Gu Yue didn't know what she was feeling at that time but she incinerated the letter with passion.
Her eyes went towards the crystal box and it had two small earrings the size of half a centimetre. The earrings had small crystal vials that were filled with a transflorent liquid of azalea pink shade.
"They are earrings."
Gu Yue looked at Di Tian when he said this. She can see that it was a pair of earrings and also the ones where you don't have to pierce your ears to wear it.
She can see that quite clearly and didn't require any assistance to know what it was. She didn't.
"23 days later it seems."
She said after a while. Her thoughts unknown.
"Should I increase the speed of migration, My Liege?"
Di Tian asked after a while. Even he couldn't properly fathom what Fan Lin wanted.
"No. Not now. It is not the time to arouse any suspicion among the humans."
Gu Yue said as she looked at the moon in the sky.
"I don't know how to proceed regarding him. Keep making progress with our previous plans on the side."
"Forget about someone else, you go and keep an eye on his every action and report it to me."
"I want to know what he is doing right now. What is his important matter that he is putting aside the Moon Forest that he couldn't stop talking about for the past months whenever we were together."
"I want to know it."
Gu Yue calmly ordered and left the cult area. The storage ring and the crystal box were kept aside for now.
Di Tian followed her orders like usual. He wanted to do the task himself as well and now that Na Er had successfully made relations with Yun Ming and his wife Yali, Di Tian didn't think he would have to worry about her in the meantime.
The same was true for Gu Yue as well. She currently had the staff at Shrek and Spirit Pagoda to protect her. There were also the rest of the Divine beasts as well.
And Di Tian went on a journey to find Fan Lin, and he so wished that he shouldn't have done so.
....
I couldn't deliver the chapter yesterday since the electricity never came.