Defeat the system! Kiss my little monster!

Wen Yu found Shen Yu's words somewhat amusing, but he didn't delve into it, simply saying casually, "Just don't kill me."

Shen Yu said, "Your Majesty, don't worry, I'm confident in this."

Wen Yu snorted and didn't say anything more.

He quickly listed the names and locations of all the medicinal herbs planted in Kunning Palace, filling about two pages, and handed them all to Shen Yu.

Shen Yu hadn't expected Wen Yu to do so many things in secret. He memorized all the contents of the paper and then burned it to ashes with a candle in front of Wen Yu.

"Your Highness, when will Eunuch Li arrive?" Shen Yu asked Wen Yu as she picked up the ancient book again.

Wen Yu's expression remained unchanged. He said, "It's the end of the month, there's still a week left. What's wrong?"

"It's nothing." Shen Yu looked away.

Wen Yu seemed to realize something, and he lifted his eyelids to look at Shen Yu: "If you are afraid, just hide outside. That old eunuch wouldn't dare to act recklessly in front of me."

Shen Yu chuckled: "And what about you?"

"I?"

"Isn't Your Majesty afraid?" Shen Yu continued to ask.

"I'm not afraid of them at all." Wen Yu continued to lean against the edge of the bed and flip through the book. His tone remained unchanged, and his face habitually revealed a coldness that was hard to tell whether it was mockery or anger.

Shen Yu stood up and looked up, saying, "Your Majesty, I'm not leaving."

Wen Yu turned his head slightly, his dark pupils shifting to the side, and he opened his lips as if he had something to say.

After waiting a few seconds without hearing Wen Yu's voice, Shen Yu continued, "I'm timid and wouldn't dare sleep alone in the outer hall, so I stayed here that day."

Wen Yu clenched the ancient book tightly in his hand, his fingertips turning white from the force, and the layers of scars on his wrists began to ache as he increased his grip.

"Whatever." Wen Yu turned her head away and made no further move.

Shen Yu covered the cup with the hot water containing the flower buds, but kept the rest of the flowers and plants. He found another empty wooden box to store these things temporarily, and then found a corner to arrange everything neatly.

Wen Yu listed a lot of information on the blank paper. Shen Yu automatically filtered out the useless herbs and identified the few that were useful.

In the afternoon, most of the palace maids would take turns changing shifts, and Shen Yu took advantage of the gap between them to go outside and look for medicinal herbs.

Shen Yu had rarely seen Coal Ball and Gouqie Toushi these past few days, wondering what they were up to. He only caught glimpses of them bickering during his breaks, after which they would quickly disappear again.

Shen Yu was searching for medicinal herbs along the edge of the stone wall of Kunning Palace when Coal Ball followed him.

[In the southeast direction, there is a medicinal herb.]

Shen Yu looked up at the coal ball and followed its direction to find the red stamen grass.

Wen Yu planted these herbs mixed with weeds, and now the weeds have grown so lush that they have covered large areas of the herbs. Shen Yu searched for them bit by bit by parting the weeds in these places, which was ultimately quite time-consuming and laborious.

The coal ball fully demonstrated its value, and then pointed out the locations of seven or eight more medicinal herbs to Shen Yu, reducing the time Shen Yu spent searching for herbs by more than half.

Shen Yu felt a little strange. He looked up at the coal ball and said, "Didn't you say before that giving me extra help was a foul?"

The coal ball spun around, its data fluctuating as if it knew its way around.

[The trash is cleaned up daily, and the database is updated daily. I'm not the same person I used to be; those words are useless now.]

Shen Yu: "..."

Shen Yu had already packed all the medicinal herbs into his clothes. Seeing the coal ball bouncing up and down in the air, he paused for a moment and then asked, "Is there something you want to say to me?"

The coal ball paused, and the red exclamation mark in the center of its data panel stood up, as if it were hesitant.

[...That's right. I've detected unstable factors in the world you inhabit, making it highly dangerous. Therefore, I've decided...]

Shen Yu stopped in his tracks, looked up and asked, "Are you going to send me back to the apocalypse?"

[What are you thinking? Do you know how much energy it takes to send you back? This is all because of your cowardly survival! If you want to go back, you should make him send you back.]

"..." Shen Yu had anticipated this situation. He asked, "So what do you want to do?"

The data on the coal ball fluctuated, but it eventually removed the exclamation mark and continued speaking.

[Because the world you inhabit is too dangerous, to ensure my safety, I must leave this world to carry out my next mission. I will return to see you after I complete the mission.]

Shen Yu: "..."

Otherwise, I won't get this quarter's bonus. Without a bonus, I have no energy; without energy, I can't eliminate the unstable factors in this world; and without eliminating the unstable factors in this world, we can't succeed...

"When are you coming back?" Shen Yu interrupted it.

The coal briquette estimated the time and then raised the black card.

[It could take as little as a month, or as long as a year.]

Shen Yu: "Then what should I do?"

[Hmm... I gave "Survival of the Fittest" one million Yang Qi points, and it promised to take care of you.]

Shen Yu: "..."

"Come down." Shen Yu beckoned to the coal ball.

The coal ball fell from the sky and spun around on its own.

[Actually, I think you can totally support yourself...]

Shen Yu grabbed the coal ball and punched it three times before throwing the nearly dead coal ball to the ground.

"A farewell gift for you." Shen Yu packed up the medicinal herbs he had dug up, walked past the coal briquette without expression, and continued walking towards the inner hall.

Seeking survival, it hid in the nearby bushes, silently covering its head with the data board upon seeing this.

*

After returning home, Shen Yu categorized all the medicinal herbs he had found.

No other palace maids or eunuchs were allowed to enter the inner palace. Shen Yu placed all the medicinal herbs in a separate compartment within the inner palace and covered them with a thin cloth to conceal them.

Wen Yu smelled the fragrance of herbs in the air. He went into the room and helped Shen Yu pick out some herbs that would be used that night.

Shen Yu didn't plan to use too much; this was just his first attempt, and he only mixed in a few medicinal herbs. Wen Yu wanted to peek at the tricks, but seeing that he was lingering, Shen Yu simply turned his back to block his view.

Wen Yu scoffed, closed the door to the cubicle, picked up the ancient book on the table, and lay back down on the bed.

Shen Yu stayed in the cubicle for nearly four or five hours. Wen Yu occasionally heard the sound of herbs being crushed coming from inside the room, but Shen Yu quickly cut off the source of the sound.

Wen Yu was feeling drowsy. He was especially sleepy at night, but he could vaguely see shadowy figures moving in front of him.

"Miss?"