Fourteen bodies lay strewn about in pools of blood. The once-roaring bonfire was now just a dying ember, doused by splattering gore.
Elsewhere, the battle was long over.
Long Yu and Nissan hadn’t even gotten much blood on their power armor.
The "boss," with a life force index approaching six thousand and mastery of the Blood Saber killing technique, was currently suspended in mid-air in an utterly humiliating position.
The bones and sinews in his limbs were all shattered, his power armor had been dismantled and lay in pieces, and two faintly glowing spikes forged from some unknown special metal pierced his collarbones, pinning him securely to a load-bearing pillar.
The metal spikes clearly had the strange effect of suppressing energy, leaving him unable to muster even a shred of strength.
He hung like a piece of cured meat being air-dried, able to do nothing but gasp for breath.
Nissan dusted off his hands, seemingly quite pleased with his handiwork.
Long Yu, meanwhile, walked slowly to the "boss," his gentle voice a stark contrast to the bloody scene.
"Shi Dang. When was he last seen?"
The "boss’s" eyes were filled with venom and fear, but under Long Yu’s calm, placid gaze, his mental defenses crumbled instantly. He answered, trembling, "T-Ten... ten years ago..."
"Where did he go?"
"I... I don’t know! The boss... he never told subordinates like us about his movements."
Long Yu’s brow furrowed almost imperceptibly as he continued, "Can you contact him?"
"I can’t... We always wait passively for his orders. We’ve never had a way to contact him directly."
As the interrogation ended, looks of helplessness appeared on both Long Yu’s and Nissan’s faces.
They exchanged a glance, each reading the same message in the other’s eyes: it was all a waste of time.
This so-called Blood God’s Nest, this supposed "bait," had been nothing but a discarded pawn, completely abandoned by Shi Dang from the very beginning.
"Hah..."
Nissan irritably ran a hand through his short blond hair. "I knew it. That bastard is slipperier than an eel."
Long Yu withdrew his gaze and, with a clean backhand slash, slit the "boss’s" throat.
Warm blood gushed out, then quickly stopped.
He looked at the body, now rapidly growing cold, and slowly shook his head, as if explaining to the others, or perhaps just talking to himself.
"Even among Evil God’s Followers, there are worlds of difference. These guys haven’t even received the most basic blessing from their god. Their belief in the Blood God isn’t so much faith as it is projecting their own cruelty and greed onto a fictional idol that can satisfy their desires. They’re just opportunists, hyenas following the powerful, with no ’loyalty’ to speak of."
He glanced at the bodies slain by Qin Feng and Wen Muyun and continued, "The modifications on these people are crude, clearly the handiwork of Shi Dang. He must have found this abandoned planet on a whim while he was on the run, propping up this bunch of idiots to serve as a temporary foothold and as his eyes and ears."
"No contact in ten years... He’s probably forgotten this place even exists."
Long Yu’s tone carried a hint of wistfulness and disappointment.
The plan had failed.
Acting as bait, they had failed to draw out the real target.
He shrugged, sheathed his long saber, and looked around at his three teammates.
"Shi Dang probably isn’t coming. Let’s request a return."
"Mm."
Nissan nodded, putting away his massive broadsword.
Wen Muyun and Qin Feng also nodded silently in agreement.
Shi Dang was too cunning.
But it didn’t matter. Qin Feng just treated it as a normal mission to earn some resources.
The dizziness from the spatial jump receded like a tide, replaced by the fresh air unique to Cannan Starry Sky Martial Arts University, thick with pure energy.
The dazzling light of the teleportation faded, and four burly figures in black power armor reappeared in the center of the Fearless Warband’s exclusive Teleportation Platform.
Beneath their feet, the mirror-smooth obsidian floor reflected the simulated, eternally brilliant Star River on the dome above.
The surrounding alloy walls had a sci-fi aesthetic, engraved with the Fearless Warband’s emblem and the names of its powerful members throughout history. The entire space was quiet and solemn, a world apart from the blood and madness of Planet K-13 they had just left.
"HSSS—"
With four synchronized hisses, the hermetic seals on their helmets released, and they all removed them at almost the same time.
Nissan’s signature short blond hair was a bit messy. He shook his head hard, as if trying to completely purge the foul air of the abandoned planet from his memory. His face showed a mix of lingering battle-lust and frustration that the mission wasn’t a complete success.
Wen Muyun’s expression was as cold and detached as ever.
Long Yu’s expression was the calmest; no trace of joy or anger could be seen on his gentle, jade-like face.
Qin Feng silently hung his helmet at his waist. The surface of his power armor was still stained with dark brown blood and scorch marks.
Just then, a crisp notification chimed from all four of their personal terminals at nearly the same moment.
A pale blue virtual screen automatically popped up before their eyes.
[Mission Debrief]
[Mission Name: Purification of the Blood God’s Nest]
[Mission Rating: Hell]
[Mission Completion: 100% (Primary objectives cleared)]
[Debrief Assessment: Due to the failure of the secondary objective (bait plan), the final mission evaluation is "Good."]
[Final Reward: 80,000 Contribution Points, 240,000 Fearless Warband Reputation, 5,000 Competition Points.]
[Reward distribution has been automatically executed according to the squad’s contribution agreement...]
Along with the system prompt, another message popped up, clearly listing each person’s earnings.
[Captain: Long Yu. Contribution Points Received: 25,000. Warband Reputation Received: 240,000.]
[Member: Nissan. Contribution Points Received: 25,000. Warband Reputation Received: 240,000.]
[Member: Wen Muyun. Contribution Points Received: 15,000. Warband Reputation Received: 240,000.]
[Member: Qin Feng. Contribution Points Received: 15,000. Warband Reputation Received: 240,000.]
Seeing this distribution, Qin Feng’s expression remained placid, but he understood completely.
His thoughts were still immersed in the battle that had just ended.
’The reason this mission was completed so easily, to the point where the ’Hell’ rating felt like an overstatement, wasn’t because the enemies were too weak, but because...’
His gaze swept imperceptibly over Long Yu and Nissan.
’...it was because the strength of Senior Long Yu and Senior Nissan far exceeded what this mission’s difficulty level was designed to handle.’
Qin Feng calmly replayed the events in his mind.
’That Elite Believer, wielding a war axe and having mastered a Fourth-level Killing Technique, was by no means weak.’
’His life force index, strength, and speed were all firmly at the peak of a Fifth-level Martial Artist.’
’If I had faced him alone, even if I could have killed him with the overwhelming power of [Golden Sovereign], it would have been a tough fight. It would have been impossible to do what Long Yu and Nissan did—one blocked, the other charged, and they casually teamed up for an instant kill within three seconds.’
’Their Mental Power has long since met, or even surpassed, the standard for promotion to a Sixth-Level Soaring Martial Artist. That’s why the mental shock that comes with the Blood Saber technique was like a gentle breeze to them—it posed no threat at all.’
’And on top of that, their life force index is as high as 7,200.’
Qin Feng knew with absolute clarity that this seemingly easy "Hell-grade" mission was, in reality, a case of two top-tier powerhouses, Long Yu and Nissan, using their absolute strength to eliminate all the most dangerous and difficult parts beforehand.
What he and Wen Muyun had done was more like a high-intensity clean-up job on the small fry, all under the protection of their two seniors.