Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
The four windows letting the warm daylight into the wide space of the office made it exceptionally bright.
Under the warm sunlight, an average-sized shadow of the officer sitting behind the desk was formed.
Bright sunlight and dark shadow! Qin Fen felt the temperature of the entire room drop immediately. But this drop in temperature didn’t give the feeling of a bright and beautiful day in spring as the temperature here was very high.
Snake King sized up Qin Fen calmly. A momentary surprise flashed in those eyes that rarely expressed emotions.
Fifteen-star!? Snake King raised his furrow slightly. The thumb of his crossed arms involuntarily twitched a few times.
It had not been a year since Qin Fen had left the army; it had only been eight months since he had left for the Sacred Martial Hall, nothing more, nothing less. But much to his surprise, his eight-start level strength from after the recruit tournament had jumped to the ten-star level of True Inborn Blood Transfusion Rebirth, and then all the way to the fifteen-star level of Great Inborn Nirvana Marrow Transformation!
Many martial artists who had been praised as prodigies were still stuck at the Blood Transfusion Rebirth, and an even larger number of otherworldly prodigies had been stuck at the fourteen-star level for what seemed like forever, unable to pass through the barrier of the Nirvana Marrow Transformation.
Snake King was momentarily unable to hide his shock. Even though he was optimistic about Qin Fen, he was still taken aback by Qin Fen’s performance. The barriers in the world of martial arts never seem to exist for this young man.
“Originally, I believed no matter how good you were, you would be stuck at the fourteen-star level for a while after entering it.” Snake King soon regained his calm after the surprise. “This was out of my expectation, you actually crossed that extremely difficult barrier.”
Qin Fen could not help but admire Snake King for his reaction. Many people in the world believed themselves to be very smart. They always believed that their fleeting emotions weren’t noticed by others. They believed that they could hide everything from the world. They didn’t realize that they were only deceiving themselves.
When Snake King’s surprise was out in the open, he acknowledged it generously at once; he didn’t make an attempt to conceal it. By doing this, he instead made it even difficult to understand him.
As Snake King pressed the desktop keyboard, the window curtain behind him fell down slowly as the room lights suddenly dimmed. A huge projection floated over the desk in the next moment.
Qin Fen’s pupils shrank to the size of pinhole as a pair of cold gleams shot out from them.
The video playing in the projection wasn’t a science fiction movie but Qin Fen’s own experience that had happened in the past.
Insect warriors! It was the scene of the insect warriors wantonly wreaking havoc on the day of East Asian mock battle!
Head-sized weird bugs were moving very quickly, those tentacles pressed on a person’s face. Very soon, the weird possession would be complete, making an ordinary martial artist’s strength soar in the blink of an eye.
Qin Fen still remembered the overwhelming strength of Neo Sumo martial artist, who could’ve been easily defeated, after having been possessed by the insect warrior.
As the situation of that day was being played out on the projection, Snake King continued, “This image was captured by the camera installed in that vicinity. After we sent a rescue team, they recovered the video from the camera. Come to think of it, you must also have at least some sort of understanding about them, right?”
Insect Warrior! Qin Fen shouted these monsters’ name in his heart as he nodded with a solemn look on his face. But he didn’t shout Chen Feiyu’s name.
“According to our information, these monsters are called insect warriors.” Snake King continued speaking, “They are just one of many dangerous test subjects from the Genesis Society.”
Genesis Society!? Qin Fen was hearing of this for the first time. He felt a dangerous premonition.
“Not long ago, I found one of their bases.” Snake King’s fingers bounced on the keyboard flexibly. “Because you have had some experience with these things, you will be leading a team to destroy their base. Your mission is to capture as much intel as possible.”
Insect warrior’s base!? Qin Fen suddenly recalled that a long time ago Lin Liqiang had specially called him and asked him to be hungry.
“General.” Qin Fen asked, straightening his back, “How much time do I have for preparation?”
“You have very little time.” Snake Kick flicked his finger on the table as a magnetic disc flew spinning into Qin Fen’s hands. “Here, it contains all the intel we have gathered from surveillance as well as the intel gathered by the members of the task force. Celerity is the most important factor in war, you must be very clear about this. The team is already assembled, they have been waiting for you for three months. Therefore, you need to complete this task as quickly as possible.”
The projection disappeared, the huge and thick curtains slowly rose up as Snake King’s wrist quivered a few times slightly. “Go, get as much intel as possible.”
Qin Fen returned a military salute, turned around, and walked out of the door. But suddenly he turned back to a seemingly dark corner and lightly bowed, “Thank you.”
…
The corner remained quiet. Snake King’s evaluation of Qin Fen improved a little. It was very difficult to discover his shadow and yet his existence had been found by Qin Fen so easily.
“Kid, well done.” Zhao Huzi walked side by side with Qin Fen. “If this mission is completed in time, no one can stop you from returning to the army.”
Qin Fen nodded again and again; there was no discussion about returning to the army! Back in the recruit tournament, he had accumulated a lot of military merits by performing various tasks. As a result, he was half-kicked out of the army, leaving him to wander outside the military system. It was hard to say if someone else would make trouble again and get him kicked him out of the army completely.
In that case, all the work he had done for the army would have been in vain and the reward given for his retirement would have vanished into a puff of smoke.
Work for nothing!? Qin Fen had been pitted twice in middle school, and since then he had decided not to experience this unlucky thing again. He had gone through life and death for the army, now the only question was how he should get back what he deserved.
This had nothing do with the amount of the reward, it was just a habit Qin Fen had developed over the years, forming a principle: You mustn’t work hard for nothing!
After he left the office building, Qin Fen immediately boarded a mag drive flying car and flew to a nearby military base; Snake King had already prepared everything.
As a major city of Zhongshou, Shengjing naturally had many secret military bases.
The military base Qin Fen entered was under the Great Wall. There was a section of the Great Wall that had not been developed for tourism. It looked very desolate. Wild grass was growing just about everywhere, and it didn’t look like it was an artificially developed environment.
Qin Fen looked around and gave a high evaluation of the architecture and the construction staff. If he had not been trained by apex-level drill instructors in spying and counterspying, he truly would not have been able to make out the periphery of this military base, let alone find its entrance.
Standing in front of what seemed to be a grave, Qin Fen kept staring at that very natural stone and shook the magnetic disc given by Snake King a few times.
The grave moved to one side without the slightest sound of gears turning, revealing a staircase tunnel leading to the underground.
Qin Fen jumped into the tunnel. Feeling that iron blood aura of the army hiding underground, his body was inexplicably excited; a feeling of having returned home rose in his heart.
The tunnel ran a straight hundred meters underground, followed by large independent rooms, one after another.
Following the instruction of the magnetic disk, Qin Fen came to the room at the end of the gallery.
The huge iron gates were tightly shut. Even when he placed the magnetic disk at the sensor, the two huge and thick iron gates remained completely still.
Colonel Jessica Wehr, specializing in computer programming, modification, and attack and defense.
Qin Fen suddenly recalled the information of the several members he had read on the mag drive flying car.
Have been assembled for a mission but had to wait for three months just for a single member…!? The corner of Qin Fen’s lips rose into a wry smile of understanding. If he had to wait for three months for someone because of this task, perhaps he, too, would have ragged the last person to vent his dissatisfaction.
The program of this thick door had been obviously tampered by someone. It was impossible to open the doors through the chip.
“You think I can’t go in without opening the door?”
Qin Fen shrugged his shoulder before raising his arm and pushing the door open! The two heavy iron doors were pushed to either side bit by bit. A smell of metal heating slowly wafted out of the room.
Creak… creak… creak…
The two huge and heavy iron door made a harsh grating noise as they moved slowly under the watchful eyes of five people in the room. A figure of a young man in a lieutenant colonel’s uniform was gradually revealed through the slowly expanding gap in the doors.
What’s this!? He is prying open the door? How strong is he exactly?
For a moment, the faces of five members of special forces changed dramatically; their gazes filled with curiosity and shock gathered on Qin Fen.
The army had always adhered to iron discipline. Everyone came immediately after they had received the mission but they had not expected that they would be here for an entire three months waiting for the last member to join.
All five of them were veteran soldiers; they’ve been on more than one or two missions. But they had never seen a soldier with such high standing that he would let others wait for him for three months.
And with the growing discontent, Jessica Wehr tempered the door’s opening program to teach this arrogant captain a lesson, but who would have thought that their new captain would pry open the doors and enter the room in the most barbaric way?
Such a young captain!? A lieutenant colonel at such a young age!? At the sight of Qin Fen’s appearance, the five special soldiers looked even more surprised and distrustful once again.
Jessica Wehr did not forget that according to the intel provided by the military, their captain was an ace mobile armor operator and as well as an sss-level super sniper. Furthermore, his other military skills such as camouflaging, assassinating, spying, anti-spying were at the apex level.
In order to reach such a high level in just one of these skills would not only required a high level of talent but also perhaps training for about a decade or so.
All the military skills were at the apex level!? Jessica Wehr and her companions reckoned several times that this arrogant late comer might be a forty-fifty years old veteran and was the army’s secret weapon.
Bearing such speculations, when they came face to face with a young kid, no one could accept it for a while.
So young!? Jessica Wehr’s blue eyes flickered with the suspicion as to whether this hairless brat had really mastered so many military skills to such a terrible level or whether there was some problem with the military information.
Qin Fen looked about the huge and spacious room and secretly praised this as the most fully-equipped military base he had ever seen.
There were not only a large number of handguns and long-guns, but there were also all types of mobile armor, as well as, some high-tech tactical gear.
Running and jumping shoes, binoculars, night vision, high-grade Dragon Skin bulletproof vest…
A man sitting on the ammo cache jumped down to the ground. The top two buttons of his military uniform were open, giving him a somewhat cynical look.
He gave a simple military salute and said, “Captain Qin Fen?”
Qin Fen sized up the soldier before him. This man was very different from Xue Tian and Lin Liqiang. His cynicism was a disguise, a bloody aura was deeply ingrained in his bones.
“Yes.” Qin Fen nodded his acknowledgment, “Major Feng Lu, how do you do?”
At this time, Qin Fen had already taken a good look at all the people in the room. Jessica Wehr, who was good with computers, was in a loose military uniform but it still could not hide her sexy western figure. Feng Lu, who was good at sneaking and assassinating, was tall and slender. The explosive expert with a somewhat sturdy body, Jay Terry. And the mobile armor experts, Lu Chu and Lu Han, were brothers. They looked very ordinary but the valiant aura on their faces made them stand out of the crowd; they would not be unknown to the public.
Apart from their respective specialties, the intel also had other information about them. Their martial art strength was pretty good. Three of them had entered the Sacred Martial Hall for further studies. Three were twelve-star martial artists, and two were eleven-star martial artists.
“Captain Qin, we have been waiting for you for three months, I hope we have not been waiting in vain.” Feng Lu’s amiable smile was hiding a little deceit. “Over these past few months, we five have gotten a good understanding of each other. It’s natural that there would not be any problem in our team play when we really entered the battlefield. It’s just…”
At this moment, the other four jumped to the ground from the table, chairs, and the shoulders of mobile armor and slowly surrounded Qin fen.
Feng Lu raised his hand in a natural and elegant manner and scratched his short hair. “Your understanding of us is based on our intel, it’s just textual; there is no real understanding. I’m afraid it will be difficult to cooperate when carrying out the mission.”
“That’s right!” Jessica Wehr fiddle with the PSP she made herself and said, without raising her head, “Cooperation is a very important aspect in battle. The cooperation among us has almost reached the level of one body, one mind…”
The other three also smiled. They had been waiting for this very moment for a long time. From the start, they had planned to make it a bit difficult for the commander as some sort of revenge. But the commander sent by the upper echelons was too young, no older than twenty years. As for his martial dao strength…
A nine-star martial artist a year back: this general information was very difficult for everyone to accept.
A nine-star martial artist a year ago!? Even if he was in the outbreak period, it was really hard to say whether he could complete True Inborn Blood Transfusion Rebirth. If such a person went on a dangerous mission and dragged everyone back, it would really not be good.
Looking at Qin Fen’s rank and then at his age, the five of them were really skeptical. Their mind could not help but wonder if this young lieutenant colonel was related to some military family and had raised his military merits through nepotism.
In this world, there would never be a place that was truly pure and clean; it was true for even the army.
It wasn’t like the five had not seen these nepotists over the years who were ordered to participate in the mission in the name of training newcomers but in fact, had really come to earn military merits.
“You’re right, it makes sense.” Qin Fen nodded in firm agreement. “In order to increase our understanding of each other at the fastest speed, I think it’s better for us to be in close contact, what do you think?”
“Oh? How does Captain Qin want to do for us to be in close contact?”
Feng Lu, with a smile hanging on his lips, began to lightly exercise his wrists and ankles. As a soldier, he could already feel the provocative battle intent emanating from Qin Fen.
The other four also smiled. What they were afraid of was that their captain would spew some bureaucratic jargon and kept on enduring the provocation in order to earn the military merit without doing anything. But what they feared the most was that this young man would not be able to bear the provocation and make a move directly.
Qin Fen raised his hand and touched his nose, his eyes sweeping a glance at the other four except Feng Lu, “I think in order to save time, all of us might as well get acquainted together. It would be too much bother to do it one by one.”
Too much bother to do it one by one? Feng Lu stepped forward while the other took a few steps back as an indifferent smile hung on their faces.
No matter how much a martial artist, who was in the nine-star level a year back, worked to raise his strength, there was absolutely no way he could defeat the twelve-star Feng Lu!
All five were very skeptical of the fact that whether their captain had gone through True Inborn Blood Transfusion Rebirth or not. If they went at him together, it would simply be bullying. It would be not good… if he cried that he was bullied.
“Well? Are you not coming together?” Qin Fen unbuttoned the collar of his military uniform. “I may be your captain but I am very easy-going and likes group activities very much. Let’s get acquainted together, okay?”
“No need.” Jessica Wehr twirled her long golden hair. “Captain Qin, we all feel that getting acquainted one-on-one might be easier and quicker.”
“Is that right?”
Qin Fen pursued his lips into a smile and threw his upper uniform into the air as he completely mobilized the strength of the fifteen-star level!
In the blink of an eye, the air around his vicinity burst suddenly as a whirlwind rose fiercely from under his feet! His well-ironed uniform flapped under the eruption of his true energy!
His aura of power expanded quickly as wave after wave of energy crashed on Feng Lu’s face, each one higher than before.
Fifteen-star level!? Feng Lu’s eyes bloomed with a bright gleam. Who would have thought that Qin Fen’s strength would be so amazing? He felt uncomfortable in the face of the sudden majestic aura of power battering him. He felt as if a charging horse had crashed right into him. That kind of inexplicable discomfort gave him an urge to vomit blood.
Bam, bam, bam…
In the face of the surging aura of power, Feng Lu was only able to regain his footing after taking five steps back. His eyes were glued straight at Qin Fen, four simple words havocking in his mind.
How is this possible?
Fifteen-star level!? Great Inborn Nirvana Marrow Transformation!? The other four soldiers were frozen still in shock. Such a young fifteen-star martial artist? I must be dreaming! Nirvana Marrow Transformation before the age of twenty!?
Qin Fen stood calmly in his place and swept a glance at the other four with a sharp-as-sword gleam shooting from his eyes. Meanwhile, a sincere smile was hung on his face, “Everyone, do you still believe that I should get acquainted with Feng Lu one-on-one?”
