’Flowing Light Chasing Shadow and Fierce Owl Chasing Shadow alone just aren’t enough.’
’I still need to get stronger,’ Qin Feng thought as he exited the Canaan Tower, his mind awash with emotion.
He glanced at his Contribution Points balance.
[Contribution Points: 168]
Clearing three floors of the tower had earned him a generous reward of over 150 points.
This sum would allow him to exchange for a large quantity of training resources.
Then, out of habit, he opened his private messages.
They were empty.
Several days had passed since he sent out the team invitation, but none of the three—Zou Yun, Yin Jing, or Qin Lan—had replied.
’They’re probably on a mission or in seclusion,’ Qin Feng thought, not giving it much more consideration.
’Since I can’t find anyone to team up with, I’ll just have to rely on myself.’
He glanced again at the daily mission list, which had been refreshed days ago, and accepted all of them with practiced ease.
...
「Half a month later.」
After Qin Feng collected the reward from his last daily mission, his Contribution Points balance successfully broke the 200-point mark, reaching 218.
He checked his private messages again. Still nothing.
’Looks like I can’t count on them,’ Qin Feng thought, shaking his head.
He issued a new command directly to Hammer.
"Hammer, filter for Empire missions. I need a reward of around 1000 points and a danger level suitable for a life force index of 270."
"Command confirmed. Filtering missions..."
This time, far fewer missions appeared than when he was a Level 4 Martial Artist, but every single one held a deadly allure.
[Mission: Hunt the ’Void Whisperer’]
[Mission: Explore the ’Lost Ark’ Relic]
[Mission: Suppress a large-scale outbreak of the ’Flesh Plague’]
...
Qin Feng’s gaze swept rapidly over these terrifying missions, each capable of annihilating a small colonial planet at a moment’s notice. Finally, his eyes locked onto a mission with an unremarkable title but marked as "Urgent."
[Urgent Rescue Mission: Rescue stranded members on planet A12313-G1]
[Mission Type: Solo Rescue]
[Mission Background: An exploration team composed of members from the Canaan Star Sky Martial University Affiliated Fearless Battle Group encountered an unexpected situation while clearing out a local pirate gang on planet A12313-G1.
A powerful ’Believer of Khorne’ is suspected to be among the pirate gang.
The original mission difficulty (Life Force Index 120-180) was a severe miscalculation.
Currently, communication with the squad has been lost. Their last distress signal indicated they were being relentlessly hunted by the Believer of Khorne and are in critical condition.]
[Mission Requirement: A powerhouse with a Life Force Index of 200+ is needed to immediately carry out the rescue.]
[Mission Reward: 500 Contribution Points, 500 Fearless Warband Reputation.]
[Stranded Members: Yin Jing, Qin Lan, Zou Yun...]
When he saw those familiar names, Qin Feng’s pupils contracted sharply!
’So that’s it! They’re in danger!’
He instantly understood why the three of them hadn’t replied to his messages for the past half-month.
’It wasn’t that they didn’t want to reply—they couldn’t!’
"A Believer of Khorne..." Qin Feng muttered to himself.
Without even glancing at the other missions, Qin Feng accepted the urgent rescue mission at lightning speed!
"BEEP—Mission accepted!"
"Please arrive at the last known coordinates within five minutes. Failure to arrive within the time limit will result in automatic mission failure."
Staring at the cold system prompt, Qin Feng’s figure vanished from his dorm room in an instant.
-----------------
「Planet A12313-G1.」
This was a gray planet forgotten in a corner of the Empire, filled with radiation and chaos.
Beneath a lead-gray sky, modified, rust-streaked starships of various designs were piled haphazardly across a desolate, rocky wasteland like giant heaps of steel garbage, forming a massive Interstellar Pirate encampment.
At the center of the camp flew a flag made from the skull of some unknown giant beast and a pair of crossed bolt guns, radiating an aura of blood and violence.
Directly above this lawless cesspool of sin, space tore open without warning, forming a distorted rift.
The next second, a suit of heavy power armor—pitch-black and imbued with a violent, Gothic aesthetic—plummeted from the sky like a meteor, smashing heavily into the edge of the camp!
BOOM!!!
A tremendous roar shook the earth as dust and rubble shot into the air.
When the dust settled, Qin Feng’s figure stood silently within the massive impact crater, like a Demon God of judgment from the depths of Hell.
His cool-blue HUD rapidly scanned the camp before him, trying to find the last coordinate signal left by Zou Yun and the others.
However, he couldn’t sense any familiar presences belonging to members of the Fearless Warband.
Instead, he was met with a chaotic miasma of brutality, depravity, chaos, and madness... and the nauseatingly thick stench of blood rising into the air.
His gaze slowly swept across the camp.
Everything that met his eyes made his pupils shrink, bit by bit, into dangerous pinpoints.
He saw it.
In every corner of the camp, dozens of half-naked Female Martial Artists were bound by thick chains.
Their eyes were hollow and numb, as if their souls had long since died, leaving behind only husks to be ravaged at will—bodies covered in scars and marks of humiliation.
It was a deadness that had completely lost the will to live, a state more terrifying than death itself.
With just a single glance, Qin Feng could imagine the cruel, inhuman torture they must have suffered after falling into the hands of these animals.