Lantern Sister is still very capable.

Chapter 168 Plastic Surgery

"Don't do anything unnecessary," Lee Jae-suk warned Park Ha in South Korean, glancing at her.

Park Ha reluctantly withdrew his hand, turned his back to Lee Jae-seok and curled his lips in disdain, thinking to himself, "If it weren't for me, you would have died at the hands of Kang Guoqiang. How dare you be so arrogant towards me?"

However, he was only a level three space system user after all. Lee Jae-suk could probably crush him with just one finger, so Park Ha only dared to mutter a few words in his heart.

Lee Jae-seok ignored Park Ha and focused on maneuvering the ship at top speed. Once they entered international waters, he would abandon the ship and swim back by sea. Park Ha would wait alone at sea, repeatedly teleporting back to their country using the coordinates he had left behind, thus erasing as much of their trace as possible. With at least an hour and a half until the Level 5 gathering ended, Lee Jae-seok had to remain completely focused.

In the blink of an eye, the metal ship was reduced to a black dot. Sparks kept flying from Chu Deng's wounds, which were charred black. She looked like a cat that had rolled around in coal. Her body, pierced by bone spikes, was covered with black marks from left to right. The peculiar smell of burning blood filled the air. Chu Deng exhaled and used the branches of the fire tree to stand up, her eyes fixed on the black dot on the sea.

"rustle--"

Seemingly sensing her anger, the branches and leaves of the fire tree trembled incessantly, roaring angrily as if attacked by a gale.

"rustle--"

Golden leaves fell like rain, dancing in the wind on the ground, swirling and gathering around Chu Deng's legs.

"Can we reach that distance?" Chu Deng asked casually, taking a few steps forward.

"Shh shh shh—"

This time, the sound of the leaves rubbing together was louder, and it was as if one could hear the fiery tree making its own sound by using the leaves.

It's saying, "Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill!"

The moment it accepted Chu Deng's consciousness, the Fire Tree's trunk swelled up again, its spreading branches and leaves seemingly blocking out the entire sky and even covering the seawater. Its extensive root system burrowed into the seabed soil, ignoring attribute restraints and greedily occupying territory.

The reddish-gold leaves have grown from the size of a finger to the size of a palm, and the edges of the leaves have grown serrated edges that are extremely sharp.

The branches of the fire tree seemed to be pulled by a giant hand, like a slingshot being pulled towards the land, forming an arc, and then suddenly returning to their original shape. The leaves on the branches shot out into the distance, blazing like bullets aimed at a distant metal ship.

Unfortunately, Lee Jae-seok was maneuvering the metal ship at an extremely high speed, and the crimson gold leaf seemed to always fall just short, hesitant to land on the sea surface, becoming a uniquely beautiful decoration for the deep blue water, like a crimson gold carpet spread on the sea.

Park Ha, bored, observed the area behind him. He was initially startled when he noticed the Fire Tree's unusual behavior, but seeing that it was all in vain and the leaves hadn't caused them any harm, he couldn't help but scoff, "Hmph, idiot."

"What?" Lee Jae-seok turned around at the sound, only to see a streak of crimson gold before a dazzling fire dragon shot in from afar, roaring angrily.

Park Ha didn't even have time to let out a scream before she was engulfed by the flames and instantly turned into a pile of charred ash.

"Bang--------"

The fire dragon opened its mouth and swallowed the metal ship whole, with flames inside exploding continuously, eventually creating a massive explosion.

Centered on the metal ship, the entire sea surface was pushed into a vacuum by the impact of the explosion, and the seawater rushed in, forming a whirlpool that dragged the raging flames to the seabed, like a beautiful fireworks display on the ocean floor.

Beneath the deep blue water, crimson flames flickered.

Chu Deng sensed the movement in the distance and, after confirming that the two people's auras had disappeared, sat down exhausted, looking at the blood all over the ground and silently feeling the silence.

It's so quiet.

She didn't rest for long before standing up, piecing together the body that had been split in two by the umbrella, moving Bai Mei next to the umbrella, and finally sitting down next to Wan Hongdong, who was breathing weakly, and silently sending a distress message to the Guangdong Provincial Base.

The rescue team arrived quickly and carried the group away. Chu Deng was admitted to the hospital and stayed next to Zero Degrees Hospital.

The moment Chu Deng lay on the hospital bed, she finally closed her eyes and drifted into a deep, sweet dream.

After sleeping for three whole days in a safe environment, Chu Deng finally opened her eyes.

She had just woken up when she saw Cai Zhizhi pouring her tea, holding a medical cotton swab in her hand. Her lips smelled fresh with tea, which Cai Zhizhi must have been wiping.

"You're awake!" Cai Zhizhi's eyes lit up when she saw Chu Deng, and she quickly pressed the bell to call someone to check on Chu Deng.

The doctor examined Chu Deng with his instruments, confirmed that Chu Deng was in good condition, gave him a few instructions, and then left.

As the doctor left, Cai Zhizhi continued talking to Chu Deng, "...Umbrella and White Eyebrow will be buried in a couple of days. Director Wan is still recovering, while Zero Degree is recovering well and has already been discharged... General Jiang sent people to retrieve the bodies, but because they arrived late, they may have already turned to ashes or been eaten by sea monsters. There wasn't much left, just a couple of pieces of metal ship wreckage. The Divine Tree is too big and conspicuous; even Cheng Feng was called to help cover it up. I heard that the government will announce the existence of superpowers in a few days, but many people in Shantou have experienced the insect plague and know it all too well..."

Listening to Cai Zhizhi's rambling news, Chu Deng's tense spirit gradually relaxed. She picked up her water glass and took a sip of tea. The tea was still warm, which showed that Cai Zhizhi had been changing the water all along.

"You've really gone through a lot this time..." Cai Zhizhi suddenly said, "Thank you, Chu Deng. If it weren't for you, Cheng Feng and I would probably be dead already, and so many people would be dead too. You are our savior..."

She suddenly became awkward, only able to say simple words of thanks.

Chu Deng lowered her head, recalling the two who died by the sea, and softly replied, "Mmm..."

Lee Jae-seok arrived at the designated location five days late. Jeon Hye-young, who was in charge of meeting him, was getting impatient. On the morning of the fifth day, she received news from China that Lee Jae-seok had died in the Southeast Sea. Just as she was about to leave, she heard the whistle for the rendezvous.

Upon closer inspection, she discovered that half of Lee Jae-seok's body was covered in bone spurs, some of which were stained with blood and even had seaweed-like strands wrapped around them. Half of Lee Jae-seok's body had exposed the metal skeleton beneath his skin, and his empty, skeletal appearance could frighten many children.

Seeing Lee Jae-seok's miserable state, Jeon Hye-young couldn't bring herself to say anything sarcastic. She covered Lee Jae-seok with a cloak and said, "Come back to the research institute with me for treatment. By the way, are the two level-four crystal cores still there?"

This was a question she was required to ask Lee Jae-seok whenever she saw him. Jeon Hye-young was a little hesitant when she asked it, mainly because Lee Jae-seok seemed to have one foot in hell. It was too inhumane of the higher-ups to only care about such things and try to kidnap him to help those chaebol superhumans improve their strength.

“Hmm…” Lee Jae-seok took out two crystal cores from his still flesh and blood body and handed them to Jeon Hye-young.

Quan Huiying looked at the two crystal cores, one ice blue and one light blue, but didn't reach out to take them. "You can keep them for now, and hand them over when we get to the research institute."

Lee Jae-suk then inserted two more crystal cores into his body.

Jeon Hye-young couldn't help but sigh, quickly glancing at Lee Jae-suk's bald head with unbearable eyes. The skin on his head was completely charred black, clearly burned by that fire-type ability user named Chu Deng. He wasn't very bright to begin with, and this might make him even dumber.

She sighed inwardly, her eyes filled with pity as she looked at Lee Jae-seok. He was supposed to be a level four ability user, but he didn't live as comfortably as she, a level two. He was treated like a dog by those chaebols and had become a well-known joke in the South Korean level four circle.

Thinking this, Jeon Hye-young comforted her, "What kind of face do you want this time? Don't worry about your hair, the research institute can transplant it for you and restore your handsomeness."

A face popped into Lee Jae-seok's mind. He followed Jeon Hye-young to the research institute. After a series of examinations, the researcher first let him choose his facial features, and then transplanted his hair according to his face shape to ensure that he was handsome from every angle.

Lee Jae-suk spent quite a while selecting his facial features and face shape on the beauty device.

Before activating the instrument, the researcher glanced at it, exclaimed "Whoa!", and looking at the pitiful Lee Jae-seok, couldn't help but guess, "Is this guy a masochist? He's been beaten up like this, yet he still insists on looking so much like him?"

The device displayed a male face that bore a striking resemblance to Chu Deng.