Stepping on the Demoness to become the strongest

"Why aren't you eating?" Yan Yu returned to the restaurant and saw that the girls hadn't touched their chopsticks, "Go ahead, eat. Don't wait for me."

"Who sent you a message?" Chen Lingyun asked with a smiley face.

"It's from above." Yan Yu couldn't be bothered to make excuses and said directly, "Eat up. Once we're done, we'll head out on a mission."

"Is it that urgent?" Lin Ning was immediately astonished.
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I don't have a problem, but with all of Yun Jin's injuries...

"It's fine. There's a medical team on the plane." Yan Yu looked towards Su Yunjin, who was forcing a smile, and said, "Someone on the plane can treat you. The bruises can be taken care of quickly with Runescript, and it won't be an issue."

"You noticed?" Su Yunjin nervously tugged at her sleeve.

"I'm not an idiot." Yan Yu pulled out a chair and sat down, "Everyone eat up, we'll need the energy for the road."

"Don't use lines from TV series that rush people off to their execution!" Lin Ning immediately interjected with an excited tone.

Luckily, her comment lightened the mood, and everyone began to pick up their chopsticks and eat and drink.

However, upon closer examination, the girls all had different eating manners.

Lin Ning was preoccupied, eating while zoning out. Su Yunjin didn't have much appetite, and with her slow eating due to her injuries, it wasn't helping.

Chen Lingyun was all grace throughout, choosing to eat less rather than showing any sign of impropriety. Zhao Yuanzhen, on the other hand, was the exact opposite, caring not for appearances. She would shove a piece of meat into her mouth with her chopsticks, then grab another piece to cool in her bowl, then chew, chew, chew, and swallow, displaying the efficient beauty of a seasoned eater.

"Why aren't you eating?" Lin Ning suddenly asked him.

"You guys go ahead, someone sent me a message." Yan Yu took out his phone to check his new message, "I'll reply to this one."

The new message was sent by Li Zhaojiang, this guy's nickname was [Ri Zhao Zhu Jiang], and his avatar was a cartoon main character with a cheeky face.

[Ri Zhao Zhu Jiang]: I didn't expect we would have the chance to clash so soon again.

[Yi De Fu Ren]: How has your sister been lately?

[Ri Zhao Zhu Jiang]: Scram, scram, scram, scram, scram, scram, scram, scram, scram!

After sending a string of "scram," Li Zhaojiang seemingly not yet satisfied, sent a long string of "cleaver" emojis.

[Yi De Fu Ren]: Don't get me wrong, just concerned about her health, after all, she was coughing so badly last time.

[Ri Zhao Zhu Jiang]: I suggest you worry about yourself first, we won't lose again this time.

[Yi De Fu Ren]: Oh? Your sister has recovered?

[Ri Zhao Zhu Jiang]: Scram! I'm a completely different person now!

[Yi De Fu Ren]: Never mind, I'll ask her myself.

[Ri Zhao Zhu Jiang]: You punk, just you wait and see!

Yan Yu scrolled down the list of friends and quickly found another named [Yuegua Donghu], with an avatar of a transparent glass bottle filled with folded paper stars.

Thankfully, this pair of brothers and sisters didn't use coupled avatars; otherwise, Yan Yu might have really questioned their relationship.

[Yi De Fu Ren]: Are you there, how's your health?

[Yuegua Donghu]: Pretty good. I haven't been coughing much lately. How about you?

[Yi De Fu Ren]: I'm fine. So, you're coming too?

[Yuegua Donghu]: Yep.

[Yi De Fu Ren]: Alright then. How about we get together for a meal locally after it's over?

[Yuegua Donghu]: Scram, scram, scram, scram, scram, scram, scram, scram! The sight of you turns my stomach!

[Yi De Fu Ren]: Li Zhaojiang, you're still in grade school, huh? Speak on your own account.

[Yuegua Donghu]: I sent you more than a dozen messages, and you didn't reply to a single one!

[Yi De Fu Ren]: Sorry, I have a spam-filtering plugin, it automatically filters out suspected junk messages.

[Yuegua Donghu]: Eat shit!

[Yi De Fu Ren]: Haha, the battle hasn't even started, and I've already found your Achilles' heel.

[Yuegua Donghu]: What weakness?

[Yi De Fu Ren]: As soon as I mention your sister, you lose your mind and fall into madness, and then you'll be brutally defeated by us.

That statement seemed to strike a critical hit, as the other side fell into a deep silence, taking a long time to respond.

Yan Yu calmly closed the message window, set his phone aside, and let Li Zhaojiang continue to rage helplessly on the other end.

Su Yunjin pushed a small bowl towards him, filled with freshly cooked beef, and said softly:

"Captain, you hardly ate anything after sitting down, this bowl's for you."

Yan Yu was touched by her warm-hearted gesture, thinking: What is the epitome of a gentle and considerate jade-like woman? This is it!

She should really be scooped up to be my secretary! Wait a minute... hold on...

Chen Lingyun is now my assistant, and Su Yunjin is a member of my team. How could my team members bypass me, the captain, to be the secretary for my assistant? She's essentially already my secretary!

Having quickly understood the relationship, Yan Yu revealed a very satisfied smile and nodded:

"Not bad, you did well."

Su Yunjin: ?

Yan Yu slowly ate the beef in the bowl, then turned to Chen Lingyun and said:

"See that? Learn from it."

Chen Lingyun: ?

Another ten minutes or so passed, and the girls had nearly finished their meal, setting down their cutlery and beginning to sip tea to rinse their mouths.

"Shall I order some cold noodles for you, packed to go?" Su Yunjin asked Yan Yu, "It seems like you didn't eat enough, Captain."

"No need," Yan Yu replied, picking up a wet towel to wipe his hands, "Eating too much at night is hard to digest. Everyone's finished, so let's head out."

He went to the front desk to pay the bill, while Chen Lingyun simultaneously went outside to call a business car in advance. The captain and the assistant captain didn't need verbal communication; their coordination in this regard had reached a high level of tacit understanding.

After arriving at the airport, the corresponding military flight crew was indeed already waiting. They quickly escorted the five members into the business jet cabin. Also accompanying them was the Zhendong Army's medical team—this time they would be entering the Mysterious Realm with them.

If any team member lost combat ability during the competition within the Mysterious Realm, they would provide timely off-field aid to prevent unnecessary casualties.

Compared to the last time they traveled for the quartet exchange competition, the business jet cabin this time was much more comfortable. Everyone had a spacious bed that could fully recline, a refrigerator stocked with various drinks, and a large screen and projector suitable for video conferences.

The only drawback was that the flight attendants weren't professional. Their service was attentive, but their attitudes and expressions were a bit stiff. Yan Yu recognized at a glance that they were actually female soldiers in disguise. Obviously, the military also didn't trust civil aviation personnel to get involved, so to prevent leaks, they simply "chartered" all the flight attendants.

After the flight attendants delivered the meals and left, Yan Yu convened a team meeting to explain their Mysterious Realm exploration mission:

"The entrance to the Mysterious Realm we will be exploring this time is located in the south of Longquan Prefecture, which is within the jurisdiction of Chuzhou Prefecture in Jiangnan Province."

"Due to the lessons learned from the previous exploration of the Wuyi Mountain Secret Realm, the military hasn't sent cultivators in this time; instead, they've sealed off the surrounding area to prevent unrelated civilians from accidentally entering."

"Based on the survey data near the entrance of the Mysterious Realm, the concentration of Spiritual Energy inside is clearly lower than that of the Wuyi Mountain Secret Realm, which suggests that the overall size of the Longquan Mountain Secret Realm should be smaller, and the exploration process will definitely be shorter."

"However, we can't simply conclude that the difficulty of our mission this time will definitely be lower than last time."

"The reasons are twofold: first, the Mysterious Realm's master's attitude towards outsiders varies. An enemy who holds a gun but doesn't want to kill you, and one who wields a knife aiming directly for your vitals with every stab, the latter's level of danger isn't necessarily lower than the former's, something I believe we all can understand."

The girls nodded in agreement. Last time in the Wuyi Mountain Secret Realm, the sword-bearing puppet showed no intention of killing, which was quite evident to everyone.

Yan Yu continued in a grave tone:

"The other reason is that the higher-ups want to simulate actual combat in foreign Mysterious Realms, so they've introduced a hypothetical enemy force confrontation into the exploration of domestic Mysterious Realms."

"This time, our competition is against the Li Zhaojiang team from the Annan Army..."

"Wait a second," Zhao Yuanzhen realized something wasn't right and hurriedly interjected, "You're not saying that during the exploration, we're supposed to beat them but also not kill them, are you?"

"Exactly," Yan Yu nodded in approval, "That's what the higher-ups mean."