"No, I was wondering about that too. Logically, he should have been here to teach today."

"Today is the last day. It’s not like him to be late for no reason."

Li Qian replied, "But he hasn’t shown up yet."

"I was just thinking about whether I should give him a call."

On the other end of the line, Chu Xiran’s voice came through again. "You don’t need to make that call."

"I’ve already called him three times and couldn’t get through."

At this point, she abruptly changed the subject. "Maybe he partied too hard last night and dropped his phone somewhere, or a pickpocket got it."

"That’s just how he is, so unreliable. Anyway, don’t worry about it. When I see him, I’ll give him a piece of my mind and make him do this last lesson."

After scolding him a bit, Chu Xiran quickly found an excuse and hung up.

Chu Xiran hung up, and Li Qian put his phone back in his pocket.

He couldn’t help but frown deeply.

Having known Chu Xiran for a while, Li Qian knew exactly what kind of person she was.

It was obvious from their phone call just now, especially toward the end, that she was deliberately hiding something.

It was as if she was purposely trying to placate him.

Frowning in thought, Li Qian already had a rough idea of what was going on.

Something had likely happened to Niu Fenjin.

At the very least, it definitely wasn’t as simple as a lost phone.

Shaking his head, he tried to control his thoughts and not let his imagination run wild. Li Qian sprang into action without hesitation.

He had to focus on the task at hand.

To be precise, he pushed aside all other matters and focused on training the Koi Carp at the Cultivation Base.

He divided the Koi Carp into three groups. The first group, led by Tan Tou, consisted of thirty-five fish. All of them had learned the Climbing Waterfall Skill, though their progress varied.

The one with the fastest progress was undoubtedly Tan Tou; its Climbing Waterfall Skill had already reached the Perfection Level.

It was currently training the Fish Leaping Skill to the Breakthrough Level.

Zhou Weiping’s Koi Carp was also progressing well. Although it had arrived late, its Climbing Waterfall Skill Level had already reached the Master Level.

Three of the base’s own Koi Carp had also reached this stage, and Li Qian had named them "Jin Yi," "Jin Er," and "Jin San," respectively.

Alright, Li Qian himself had to admit the names were a bit simple.

But with his knack for being terrible at naming things, this was the best he could do.

Of course, the most important thing was that the three Koi Carp didn’t object.

The Koi Carp: You sly bastard! If I could speak, I would have raised both fins in protest long ago!

Under the leadership of Qizai and Ah Fu, these thirty-five Koi Carp continued to train hard toward their evolution into Cyan-Scaled Flood Dragons.

Since they had the aptitude and comprehension to learn the Climbing Waterfall Skill, Li Qian naturally wouldn’t have them switch paths.

The other evolutionary path had higher potential, but with a nearly fifty percent failure rate, Li Qian was unwilling to let them attempt it lightly.

The second group was larger, with about a hundred fish, and they were evolving toward the Frostfire Salamander path.

Aside from a few that actively wanted to take this path, most of them were Koi Carp that lacked the comprehension to learn the Climbing Waterfall Skill.

Originally, Li Qian wouldn’t have been so aggressive as to start their intensive training now.

The Trainers included not only Elder An’s Sun-devouring Tiger but also Elder Tie’s Wind Thunder Lion, which he had just been persuaded to lend.

The latter in particular, having reached Dominator Level, possessed the "Lion King’s Might" Skill, which was in a completely different league from the Sun-devouring Tiger’s "Intimidation" Skill.

Under the pressure of this skill, the Koi Carp could hold out for even less time.

Of course, the benefit of this was that the training was more effective.

Finally, there was a third group, also numbering around a hundred.

They didn’t have to do any training because they were just salted fish.

They either had such poor comprehension that they couldn’t even understand Qizai and Ah Fu, or their personalities were too laid-back and Zen-like to be suitable for evolution.

Li Qian had no plans to get rid of these fish, though.

Keeping them as ornamental fish wouldn’t be a problem; it’s not like he couldn’t afford to feed them.

Thus, the base began to operate in an orderly fashion.

Soon, a day passed in the blink of an eye.

As dusk approached and the training was about to end, Elder An recalled his Sun-devouring Tiger and walked over to Li Qian.

"Xiaotian, I’ve rented the abandoned water slide over at New Star Pet Beast Paradise in the Cultivation Base’s name. The lease is for ten years, and renovations will start tomorrow. Do you want to go take a look?" Elder An updated Li Qian on the progress of the previously discussed matter.

It had to be said, his efficiency was quite high, and the progress was excellent.

Li Qian shook his head. "I already saw it last time, so there’s no need to look again. If possible, I hope the renovations can be completed as soon as possible."

After speaking, to emphasize the urgency of the matter, he added, "The sooner, the better!"

Elder An saw the anxious look on Li Qian’s face. Although he didn’t quite understand why he was so impatient, he still gave it serious thought. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

After a moment, he spoke, offering a response, "The water slide renovation just involves raising it by about twenty meters. It shouldn’t be too difficult."

He paused for a moment before continuing, "If we run three shifts, it should be possible to finish the renovation in three days."

"Then I’ll have to trouble you, Grandpa An." Hearing this, Li Qian nodded in satisfaction and thanked Elder An.

...

That night, on the Celestial Terrace atop Building One at the Cultivation Base, Li Qian’s attention was once again drawn by a distinct explosion.

This explosion was closer to the South Suburb.

Li Qian watched the smoke rise about five or six kilometers away, his brows knitting together.

"The Mechanical Desecration Association... what is their goal in targeting a small Tier Three City like Lingshui City?" Li Qian couldn’t help but mutter to himself as he watched the smoke rise.

That’s right. The moment the explosion sounded, Li Qian had immediately thought of the Mechanical Desecration Association.

It couldn’t be helped. Recently, the only ones stirring up trouble in Lingshui City were this Cult Organization, the Mechanical Desecration Association.

So Li Qian had instinctively made the connection to the organization.

And he felt that his assumption was probably correct.

Just as Li Qian was staring at the smoke five or six kilometers away, a figure flickered into existence beside him like a phantom. It was his temporary guardian—Elder Tie.

A few minutes later, his father, Li Chengyang, and his mother, Han Yuqing, also appeared on the Celestial Terrace one after another.

Seeing his parents, Li Qian immediately spoke up with a warning, "Dad, Mom, for the time being, unless it’s something especially urgent, I hope you’ll try not to go out. Just stay here at the Cultivation Base."

Hearing this, his father, Li Chengyang, and mother, Han Yuqing, exchanged a glance. After a moment of thought, they readily agreed.

Li Qian was their son, after all, and they both trusted him.

Besides, they had also noticed the various strange occurrences in Lingshui City recently.

They also knew their son was looking out for them, so naturally, they had no objections.