Lu Daoxing opened the door, still looking sleepy as ever.
He yawned, "Little Qin, why are you here again? Didn't you just come two days ago?"
Qin Siyang carefully shut the door, then quietly stood beside Lu Daoxing and respectfully poured him a cup of hot tea.
"Hehe! Professor Lu, you must be thirsty, right? Have some tea and rest for a bit first."
Lu Daoxing was already exhausted, and his brain wasn't working too well. He nodded, "Now that you mention it, I really am a little thirsty."
After finishing the tea, Lu Daoxing asked, "So, what is it this time? Is that ant spatial tool not working well? I heard the guy causing trouble for you, Dadova, already disappeared. Don't tell me you didn't deal with him using the ant tool?"
"It works! It works! Thanks to Professor Lu teaching me how to use that spatial tool, otherwise I really wouldn't have been able to handle this properly."
"Then why are you here looking for me?"
Qin Siyang rubbed his hands awkwardly, "Well… Professor Lu, do you still have any spare fourth-tier armor? Can you give me another set?"
Lu Daoxing put down the teacup and looked up at Qin Siyang, his eyes going round like light bulbs.
"Broken again?"
Qin Siyang took out the armor covered in corrosion and stained with golden liquid, "Yeah… feels like I can't wear it anymore."
Lu Daoxing glanced at it and became even more shocked, "Just how the hell did you use this thing? You wrecked fourth-tier armor in two days?"
"It got damaged while fighting gods… The gods I run into are usually stronger…"
"You went out hunting gods again?"
"Yeah…"
Lu Daoxing let out a heavy sigh, "Little Qin! It's not that I want to lecture you! Every time you come here, you ask for a set of fourth-tier armor! Every single time! Do you know how much work goes into making one set of fourth-tier armor?"
"Professor Lu, I don't want to either. But fourth-tier armor really has its limits…"
Lu Daoxing slammed the table angrily, "Even if it has limits, you can't do this! Who the hell uses fourth-tier armor like disposable hotel slippers?"
"I'm paying off debts to the Ministry of Economy while also making armor for you! The people from the Ministry want my money, but you little brat want my life!"
Hearing Lu Daoxing cursing nonstop, Qin Siyang also felt a little embarrassed.
Come to think of it, he had already lost count of how many sets of fourth-tier armor he had taken from Lu Daoxing.
He really should compensate Professor Lu somehow.
The god materials he had given Lu Daoxing before were too high-end and inconvenient to expose, so Lu Daoxing didn't want to waste them on the third-tier god-hunting tools he had to hand over to the Ministry of Economy. The Vine Core, Titan Foxtail, Ice Crystal Giant Moth, and Lava Crocodile materials were all good, but they couldn't help Lu Daoxing solve his debt problem.
Thinking about what he had gained from this trip, Qin Siyang immediately said, "Professor Lu, this time my armor was damaged by the Split-Shadow Giant Python and the Blazing Light Bird. I killed both of them and brought back the bodies too. Do you have any use for their remains?"
"Split-Shadow Giant Python and Blazing Light Bird?", Lu Daoxing frowned, "Now that you mention it, materials from those two gods really are pretty suitable for helping me deal with the Ministry of Economy debt problem."
"But… didn't you just break through Sequence Level Six and step onto the Dawn-tier believer path using the round plate armor from the Ice Crystal Giant Moth and Lava Crocodile? Logically speaking, divine suppression should be overwhelmingly strong. How are you still casually killing gods?"
Qin Siyang thought for a moment, then cautiously said, "Because I'm awesome?"
After hearing that, Lu Daoxing scratched his garlic-shaped nose and stayed silent for a while. Only after a long time did he speak again, "That answer was not something I expected."
Then he took out another set of fourth-tier armor and waved at Qin Siyang, "Leave those two gods with me and hurry up and get lost."
"Well, Professor Lu, I can't give you all of them. Tell me which parts of those two gods you want."
"Why?"
"Professor Chang Two is also lacking materials from those two gods."
"Chang Two…", When Qin Siyang mentioned Chang Tianxiong, Lu Daoxing's expression dimmed, "Your Professor Chang Two hasn't had any news for so long… there's an eighty percent chance he died outside the safe zone."
Lu Daoxing shook his head and looked at a photo on the table.
It was a group photo from the day they first arrived at Miracle Building.
Everyone in the picture had bright smiles on their faces, including Chang Tianxiong standing at the very edge.
"I met Chang Big the day before yesterday. I realized he's in even worse shape than me. Be careful from now on. Don't bring up Chang Two in front of him."
Qin Siyang pressed his lips together and nodded, "Got it."
"In this apocalypse, nobody knows when someone will suddenly be gone. What kind of life are we even living now?", Lu Daoxing sighed again, "Leave me a pair of the Split-Shadow Giant Python's fangs, and five hundred kilograms of the scaled part of its body. Give me one wing from the Blazing Light Bird. Let Chang Big have the rest."
"Okay."
Qin Siyang found a place to divide up the god remains, left Professor Lu's share behind, then got up to look for Chang Tianxiang.
———
"Little Qin, you're here. Come in."
When Chang Tianxiang opened the door, his face looked pale gray, his eye sockets were sunken, and the whites around his pupils were filled with blood vessels.
He looked like a completely different person from the neatly groomed Professor Chang from before.
Qin Siyang followed Chang Tianxiang into the messy laboratory.
Several large boxes blocked the path, so Chang Tianxiang crouched down and moved them aside, "Sorry. Haven't had time to clean up lately. It's a bit messy."
Qin Siyang shook his head and smiled, "It's fine. My room's even messier."
Chang Tianxiang walked to a table piled chaotically with experiment documents. After searching for a while, he only managed to find one clean glass cup.
He poured some water and handed it to Qin Siyang, "Little Qin, have some water."
Qin Siyang held the cup and quietly sighed.
The two sat down, and Chang Tianxiang asked, "What did you come to see me about today?"
"Oh, I went outside the safe zone and killed the Split-Shadow Giant Python and the Blazing Light Bird. I saw Professor Chang needed materials from those two gods, so I brought them over for you."
After hearing that, Chang Tianxiang smiled, "Little Qin is really amazing. You can even kill such rare gods… Hm? Aren't you on the Dawn-tier believer path? How could you… forget it, it's not important anymore. Thank you!"
Qin Siyang nodded, took out the god remains, and handed them over to Chang Tianxiang.
Chang Tianxiang held the storage box filled with materials. The smile on his face slowly disappeared again, and his gaze turned blank. He said softly, "Chang Two actually needed these god remains too."
Even though Qin Siyang never brought up Chang Tianxiong directly, Chang Tianxiang still thought of his younger brother the moment he saw the items.
Qin Siyang said, "Professor Chang Big, is there anything I can help with? Like Professor Chang Two's family?"
Chang Tianxiang shook his head, "My income is still enough. I can support my younger siblings-in-law and niece. Thank you, Little Qin. If there's ever anything I need your help with, I'll tell you."
"Okay."
Seeing Chang Tianxiang like this, Qin Siyang didn't feel it was right to stay any longer, so he got up to leave, "Professor Chang Big, I'll head back first."
"Mm."
Chang Tianxiang seemed like he still hadn't come back to himself. His gaze remained blank. He only moved his head slightly, like a dead branch swaying in the wind, as a farewell to Qin Siyang.
Inside the laboratory, Chang Tianxiang sat there quietly by himself.
His eyes were empty and unfocused as he stared ahead, like a scarecrow watching over a wasteland.
Watching over the endless night.