Chapter 107: Chapter 90: Epidemic Outbreak on Garbage Star

Jun Lin Yuan stood at the head of his special forces team, waiting to board the Starship that would take them to the military league competition. He froze.

He never expected Yu Lan to call out to him at a time like this.

In front of such a large crowd, too.

Yu Lan was already the center of attention, and countless people were sneaking glances at her. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

Now that she had called out his name, many of those gazes shifted to him.

Far from being flustered by the crowd’s attention, Jun Lin Yuan felt a rare surge of excitement and pride.

’Why is Yu Lan calling me?’

’Could she be captivated by me?’

’Does she want to confess her feelings?’

’So, should I accept, or should I accept? I mean, I have an aversion to females, but if I were to refuse her...’

Jun Lin Yuan’s gaze fell on Yu Lan’s beautiful face. Her fair features were etched with a hint of worry, her delicate teeth clenched tightly on her lip as she watched him with nervous apprehension.

’Looks like whatever she’s about to say is very difficult for her.’

’If I reject her, she’ll probably cry.’

For some reason, Jun Lin Yuan found he didn’t want to see her look wronged, tearful, or pitiful.

’Then I’ll just have to agree.’

’But I’ll have to lay down some ground rules. We can be together, but we can’t get too close. We have to maintain a certain distance, and we’ll have to limit how much time we spend with each other.’

He seemed to have completely forgotten how, just last night, he had entered his rut and transformed into a Red Flame Fierce Tiger. He’d shamelessly sought out Yu Lan, clinging and nuzzling against her, practically wanting to drape his entire tiger body over her and never let go.

If Yu Lan hadn’t been quick enough to inject him with the Hope Potion and bring him back to his senses, who knows how things would have ended.

Basking in the envious and jealous stares of all the other males, Jun Lin Yuan sauntered toward Yu Lan.

As Jun Lin Yuan drew nearer, Yu Lan took a breath to steel herself, bit her lip, and opened her mouth.

"Jun Lin Yuan..."

Before she could finish,

the next second,

a piercing siren suddenly blared across the Central Square.

The large screen hanging over the Central Square flashed with an emergency broadcast.

[EMERGENCY ALERT, EMERGENCY ALERT. ACCORDING TO FRONTLINE REPORTERS, ON INTERSTELLAR DATE XXXX-XX-XX, THE MOST SEVERE PLAGUE IN HISTORY HAS BROKEN OUT ON GARBAGE STAR. COUNTLESS HAVE DIED, AND THERE IS A CRITICAL SHORTAGE OF MEDICINE. THE THREE MOST URGENTLY NEEDED MEDICINAL COMPONENTS ARE PURPLE FIREWORKS, HEAVENLY YU GRASS, AND RED SAND PEARLS...]

The news broadcast urgently listed dozens of medicinal herbs, calling on everyone to donate.

But a plague hadn’t broken out in the entire Empire for several hundred years.

Let alone any stockpiles of the necessary herbs.

Resorting to a public broadcast to call for donations was a clear sign of desperation.

But for medicinal herbs that hadn’t been used in centuries, would anyone really have them in storage?

Just as she suspected, when Yu Lan opened her communicator and searched for the incident on the Star Network, the results were grim.

Countless people were concerned about the sudden plague on Garbage Star. Many wanted to help, and there was no shortage of those donating money and supplies.

But when it came to the medicinal herbs, most people fell silent.

Many were completely bewildered.

[Purple Fireworks, Heavenly Yu Grass, Red Sand Pearls... what are these?! I feel like I’ve never even heard of them. Maybe they got the names wrong? I do have some Red Flame Pearls at home, would those work?]

[If so, I’ll donate them.]

There were many people with similar thoughts.

But Yu Lan knew the names of the herbs in the emergency broadcast were correct.

Having spent years immersed in laboratory research on all kinds of medicinal herbs, she recognized them at once as specialized ingredients for countering plagues.

But the fact remained: the Empire hadn’t seen a plague in centuries.

The fields where these herbs were once cultivated had long since been converted to growing ingredients for soothing agents.

The one place that now possessed the largest amount of these herbs was...

Yu Lan’s gaze shifted to the prize for the current military league competition: Green Emerald Star.

If she remembered correctly, that planet possessed an extreme abundance of medicinal herbs and all sorts of mineral resources.

If they could win ownership of Green Emerald Star, the crisis on Garbage Star would be resolved.

A thoughtful expression flickered across Yu Lan’s face.

Of all the teams dispatched by the Empire, only the special forces unit led by Jun Lin Yuan had a real chance of winning. For now, Jade Star was still nominally under the Empire’s jurisdiction.

But Jun Lin Yuan himself was just coming of age, and his rut cycle was unstable. What if he overused his spiritual power during the competition, triggering his rut unexpectedly and costing them the victory?

Yu Lan bit her lip. In that short span of time, she had made up her mind.

When she turned to look at Shen Zueran and the others, a hint of apology flashed in her eyes.

Shen Zueran stepped forward to block Huo Zhanting, Su Xingye, and Li Yucheng, silently cursing Jun Lin Yuan’s good luck.

’He got lucky this time.’

’But he might not be so lucky next time.’

The other males could only watch helplessly as Yu Lan walked toward Jun Lin Yuan.

The petite and delicate female stood before the tall, imposing figure of Jun Lin Yuan, who was over 1.9 meters tall. She looked tiny in comparison, the difference in their height and builds stark.

The next second,

Yu Lan’s voice broke the silence.

Jun Lin Yuan heard the beautiful female say:

"Jun Lin Yuan, I want to join your team and go with you to the military league competition."

This was the solution Yu Lan had come up with.

A High-Level female naturally had a soothing and stabilizing effect on males.

With her present, she could provide a powerful morale-boosting buff to Jun Lin Yuan’s team during their charges, and it would prevent them from suffering side effects after using large amounts of spiritual power.

It was the simplest and most effective way to increase their chances of victory.

Not even the Hope Potion could replicate her effect.

But...

what she hadn’t expected was...

As soon as the words left her mouth, the entire area fell silent.

You could hear a pin drop.

Jun Lin Yuan was completely dumbfounded. "You want to join our team?"

"Yu Lan, are you kidding me?"

"There’s a limit to how far you take a crush. Never in history has a female accompanied a team to the league competition."

This was a contest for a planet’s resources.

It wasn’t much better than a war.

There would be no shortage of blood and slaughter.

’How could a delicate female like her possibly endure it?’

Jun Lin Yuan tried to talk her out of it.

’If she really likes me *this* much, I guess I could agree to be with her.’

Just as he was about to open his mouth, Yu Lan spoke again, her expression utterly serious.

"Jun Lin Yuan, you need me."

"I need you?"

Jun Lin Yuan looked as if he’d heard the most ridiculous thing in the world, a small smirk playing on his lips.

He was about to say something more when, in the next second, right in front of everyone—and the billions of viewers watching the livestream—

she reached out, wrapped her hands around the back of his neck, and forcefully pulled the handsome man’s head down toward her.

In a voice only the two of them could hear, she whispered a threat into his ear.

"Jun Lin Yuan, if you don’t agree, I’ll tell everyone how you secretly climbed into my bed last night."