The atmosphere instantly grew awkward and heavy.
Qin Lan took a deep breath, forcing down the turmoil in her body and the thousand thoughts racing through her mind.
She shook her head and took the blame herself.
"It was my fault."
Her voice was still hoarse, but it had regained some of her captain’s composure. "I made a poor decision. I shouldn’t have pushed ahead without getting a clear grasp of the enemy’s situation. If I hadn’t, we wouldn’t have been surrounded. When we were ambushed, I lost my arm while saving someone."
She said it casually, but when the freshman named Lin Hao heard the five words "lost her arm while saving someone," his body trembled violently. The self-blame and regret he had suppressed for so long finally burst forth like a flood from a broken dam.
"Senior Sister Qin, I’m sorry! It’s all my fault!"
He shouted, his voice choked with sobs. This young man, who hadn’t shed a tear even in the heat of battle, was now like a guilty child, his face streaming with tears.
Everyone present fell silent.
Although Qin Lan blamed her own poor decision-making, they were all veterans who had walked the line between life and death for years. How could they not see the truth?
Without a doubt, it had to be the freshman, Lin Hao. He had either been too reckless in combat or had made a fatal mistake out of fear, and Qin Lan had paid a terrible price to protect a teammate who was holding the team back.
Shanyang and Pang Chen, the two veteran students, felt this even more keenly. They subconsciously glanced at Qin Feng, and a wave of relief washed over them, the gratitude of survivors.
If their team had a "burden" like Lin Hao who needed protecting, instead of a monster-level freshman like Qin Feng, their fate would likely be no better than Qin Lan’s Team. They might have even been reduced to a pile of cold cosmic dust by now.
"We’ve all been through this."
Seeing Lin Hao on the verge of collapse, a flicker of compassion crossed Qin Lan’s eyes. She raised her remaining arm, patted his shoulder, and soothed him in a low voice, "Don’t blame yourself. Everyone has to be tempered by blood and fire to truly grow. Just learn your lesson this time, and don’t make the same mistake again. That’s what matters."
Qin Feng raised an eyebrow but didn’t offer any opinion.
He was no Saint. He knew full well that on the battlefield, one foolish teammate was deadlier than a hundred powerful enemies.
But since Qin Lan herself had chosen to forgive, he certainly wasn’t going to say anything.
"That kid, Lin Hao, is a ’General Star’ from a remote colony planet in the Canaan Star System."
Zou Yun lowered his voice and quickly explained in Qin Feng’s ear, "Although he earned the title of General Star, the overall Martial Dao level on a remote planet like his can’t even compare to an Educational Planet like Qiming. He also got pretty lucky during the entrance exams, which is how he managed to scrape by."
"I see."
Qin Feng nodded slightly, understanding now.
He was a typical big fish in a small pond. Coming to a place like Canaan, which was teeming with monsters, he had been served a harsh dose of reality.
After a brief exchange, Qin Feng’s team helped Qin Lan and the others treat their wounds, providing them with spare Energy Blocks and recovery Potions.
After a short rest, the two teams headed back toward the core of the mining vein together.
Along the way, Qin Lan remained silent. Her gaze kept drifting to Qin Feng, an indescribably complex expression in her eyes.
When they returned to the core area, which Qin Feng’s team had completely cleared out, they were surprised to find that the other three teams had also arrived, trickling in one by one.
Although they were in slightly better shape than Qin Lan’s Team, every one of them was injured, their power armor was in tatters, and their faces were etched with exhaustion and the haunted look of survivors.
Clearly, they had also encountered incredibly brutal battles on their respective fronts. In the end, they had relied on their vast experience and tenacious Will to carve a bloody path out of the Mechanical Sea and reach the core area.
When they learned that Qin Feng’s team had already swept the entire core area clean, their faces showed a mixture of shock and disappointment.
But as disappointed as they were, when their eyes fell on the four suits of power armor belonging to Qin Feng’s team—scarred and battered, yet still radiating a terrifying Evil Qi—what they felt more than anything was sincere admiration.
To have punched through the entire core area as a single team in just three months—that level of strength was far beyond anything they could have imagined.
No one there was a fool.
They all knew exactly what this meant.
After a brief exchange of intel and confirmation of their results, everyone decided to head back.
The twenty elites of the Fearless Warband, weary, wounded, and with a mix of emotions, began their journey home.
A flash of light, and they all vanished from the deathly silent mining vein.
「Central Transmission Hub.」
When the familiar, sprawling plaza, filled with a sense of security, appeared before them again, everyone heaved a long sigh of relief.
’We made it back alive.’
Senior Brother Qianhe was already waiting for them. His gaze swept over the crowd. When he saw Qin Lan’s missing left arm, his brow twitched almost imperceptibly, but he didn’t say anything in the end.
The mission results were tallied automatically by the system.
[Mission Status: Completed]
[Mission Evaluation: Excellent (Target area cleared. No critical casualties.)]