Having made up her mind, Lan Lingdu did not hesitate to control the vines, aiming to eliminate this fellow who posed a threat to her life.
Ever since arriving in this unfamiliar world, Lan Lingdu's nerves had been tightly strung.
First, she was terrified that her identity as a female would be discovered, reducing her to a mere breeding tool for some Orc, and then she was afraid of being captured and violated.
Ever since acquiring the panel, she had been eager to arm herself to the teeth.
She had constantly carried highly toxic seeds on her person. When this man had startled her from behind, Lan Lingdu had instantly activated All Things Flourish, communicating with the surrounding plants and quietly scattering poisonous plant seeds all around.
Buying just a fraction of a second of time, she successfully ambushed this seemingly formidable fellow.
Of course, a major reason Lan Lingdu succeeded in her ambush was simply because she was a female!
In the eyes of male Orcs, females were weak—so weak that they posed no threat whatsoever.
The vines tightened further around Dongfang Ming.
Soon, the sound of cracking bones echoed through the quiet space.
Lan Lingdu's fingertips twitched slightly. She closed her eyes, and when she opened them again, her gaze was utterly clear.
She told herself that this was not that red-flag-waving country, nor was she someone raised beneath that red flag.
The world she now inhabited was an era where the strong were supreme, and the weak... didn't even have the qualification to survive.
She had done nothing wrong!
If she didn't kill this fellow today, who knew—she might be walking down the street another day and have her head inexplicably roll onto the ground.
She only had one life; she couldn't afford to gamble.
During this process, Dongfang Ming was jolted awake by the excruciating pain. Because his body was coursing with lethal poison, the moment he opened his eyes, even though he instantly realized his perilous situation, he was utterly powerless to resist.
"You..." He had barely opened his mouth before he spat out a mouthful of fresh blood; his internal organs had been crushed to pulp by the vines.
Dongfang Ming would never have dreamed in a million years that he, a dignified S-grade bounty hunter, would actually fall into the hands of a frail female.
As he plunged completely into darkness, the female wore a blank expression, her gaze even colder than that of an assassin who had spent ten years killing in the chaotic lands: "If you want to blame someone, blame yourself for courting death."
In truth, Lan Lingdu also wanted to ask who had sent this fellow to approach her.
On second thought, she decided there was no need. During the original owner's first eighteen years of life, she had been an absolute homebody and a well-behaved girl; in this world, there were only a couple of people who could possibly want her dead.
Therefore, strictly adhering to the principle that villains die from talking too much, Lan Lingdu struck with lethal force right from the start, denying the opponent even a sliver of a chance to counterattack.
Dongfang Ming spat out another mouthful of blood. "I am so humiliated!! To actually die at the hands of a female!"
With those words, his head slumped to one side, offline in disgrace!
Sensing the very last trace of Dongfang Ming's life force completely dissipate, Lan Lingdu commanded the vines to drag his body into a large pit deep within the pine forest, burying him beneath a dense thicket of thorns.
Having cleaned up the scene, Lan Lingdu finally fished out the Light Computer and Space Ring from the fellow's body.
Using the tiny bit of blood left behind at the scene for biometric identification to unlock the Light Computer, Lan Lingdu's originally nonchalant gaze froze.
Looking at the rows of completed mission notifications and the bloody pictures provided upon mission submission, Lan Lingdu's mouth twitched.
Her instincts had indeed been correct; this fellow was certainly no upstanding citizen.
What kind of bounty hunter was he? He was nothing more than a butcher!
After figuring out Dongfang Ming's identity, the lingering trace of discomfort Lan Lingdu felt from killing her first person was thoroughly wiped clean from her heart.
"Snap!"
A thick vine crushed the Light Computer into powder.
Lan Lingdu then dumped out the contents of Dongfang Ming's Space Ring, not even keeping the ring itself, and casually dug a deep pit to bury them all.
She was terrified the Space Ring might contain some advanced technology she knew nothing about, which could allow his mysterious organization to track her location.
Once all of this was done, and after using the surrounding plants to erase every trace of herself from the scene, Lan Lingdu leisurely departed.
At the exact same time, in an underground laboratory on a certain planet, a mechanical capsule was blaring a frantic alarm.
[Warning! Warning! Subject No. 5 has died mid-experiment!]
[SkyNet is capturing the dispersing spiritual body at maximum speed. Capture failed...]
[The system is re-establishing spiritual body connection with Subject No. 5...]
[...Connection failed! Connection failed!]
[Warning! Warning! Due to the death of the test subject, the experimental main body is about to awaken. This project has completely failed...]
Accompanied by the system's urgent mechanical chime came the sound of combat boots stomping against the floor—“clack, clack, clack…”—echoing out from Capsule No. 5...
*
After dealing with Dongfang Ming, Lan Lingdu smoothly slipped back into her familiar daily hunting routine.
"..."
By the time night was approaching, Lan Lingdu tallied up her results: today she had successfully shaken down a total of fifty-two Orcs whose Bestialization Index had reached over sixty percent.
In total, she had harvested over three hundred thousand Purification Value.
After drinking the final bottle of spiritual fluid for the day to restore her mental energy, Lan Lingdu casually found a bench by the roadside and sat down.
"Pump the Purification Value directly into All Things Flourish, thank you."
Lan Lingdu had discovered that All Things Flourish was the foundation of her Wood Element ability. It functioned like a cultivation technique; by upgrading it, her other skills would level up, and her blue and red bars would grow thicker.
[Pouring Purification Value... Consumed 218,754 points of Purification Value]
[As your cultivation deepens, you have successfully stepped into the realm of "Three Talents." You have perfectly fused the three mysterious and illusory forces of Heaven, Earth, and Mankind. Suddenly touched by inspiration, you feel a yearning and power for longevity; the Wood Spirit undergoes a qualitative mutation. You have comprehended: Wood Spirit Rejuvenation Art]
[Remaining Purification Value: 108,094]
Upon checking her panel, Lan Lingdu saw that the Wood Spirit had indeed mutated.
Rejuvenation Art—this was a healing skill!
With this skill, she would be inherently invincible in combat.
This must be the healing ability built upon the foundation of purification.
This is awesome!
In this world, Healing Ability was highly prized, and the Purification Ability was prized even more!
And Lan Lingdu now possessed both of these powers!
"Dump all the remaining Purification Value into the Rejuvenation Art."
[Consumed 105,000 points of Purification Value...]
[Ever since comprehending the Wood Spirit Rejuvenation Art, you have been ecstatic, cultivating like a madman. However, your aptitude is truly mediocre, and you remain utterly unable to make any progress—until one day, while merely glancing at a certain Orc among a crowd, your spine suddenly turns cold and you feel an unprecedented sense of crisis. The Wood Spirit Rejuvenation Art has reached Tier 4.]
[Remaining Purification Value: 1,400]
[Current Skills]
[All Things Flourish: Three Talents]
[Wood Spirit Rejuvenation Art: Tier 4]
[Flora Mastery: Novice]
[Purification Value can be injected into skills to gain corresponding progress.]
Looking at these panel stats, Lan Lingdu finally felt a tiny sliver of security, feeling like she had a sense of belonging in this world—that she wasn't just some female who could be carted off for mating at any moment.
When Lan Lingdu returned to the First Star's administrative district once again, she found the crowds even more bustling than before.
After asking around, she finally found out what was happening.
"The Federation is recruiting Purifiers to enter the Grade B contaminated zone—healing types are preferred."
"Is it the Grade 7 pollution source? Wasn't it Grade C before? How did it become a Grade B pollution source?"
"How many years has it been at Grade C? Plus, with the official authorities focusing all their energy on dealing with the alien races at the border these past few years, the pollution source upgrading is to be expected. If this pollution source weren't located in the Gengdi Galaxy, directly tied to the food supply of the entire Interstellar, those Federation bureaucrats probably would have dragged their feet even longer."
Listening to the bustling information drifting past her ears, Lan Lingdu looked at the official statement and the missions published by the Gengdi Galaxy Mercenary Guild.
There indeed were recruitment notices issued by the Federation authorities.