And so, they understood the unspeakably heavy mood weighing on Qin Feng.
...
「About an hour later.」
The four of them had their damaged power armor repaired until it was good as new in the maintenance bay.
After retrieving their power armor, Dragon Jade and the other two didn’t leave immediately.
They walked over to the still-silent Qin Feng and clapped him firmly on the shoulder.
"Qin Feng, don’t let it get to you."
Dragon Jade’s voice was filled with warmth and concern.
"Yeah, Qin Beast!"
Nissan also cracked a grin. Though a bit forced, it was full of sincerity. "If something’s on your mind, just tell your brothers! If you’re wrestling with something you can’t figure out alone, come out with us and we’ll have a good, long drink!
If one round isn’t enough, we’ll have two! There’s nothing a bottle of ’Iron Fist Flame’ can’t solve!"
"We’re always here."
Ning Jing looked at Qin Feng and said three words.
"Okay."
Qin Feng raised his head and forced a somewhat stiff smile at the three of them.
After Dragon Jade and the other two had left, Qin Feng retrieved his perfectly repaired [Destroyer Type I] power armor and returned to his private dorm.
...
Upon returning to his dorm, Qin Feng didn’t immediately throw himself into a frenzy of training as he usually would.
He simply sat in the center of the training chamber, letting endless thoughts churn and collide within his mind.
Qin Feng opened his personal terminal. After a moment’s thought, he placed a video call to his cousin, Wang Hao.
"BEEP... BEEP..."
The call connected quickly.
Wang Hao’s face appeared on the holographic screen.
"Big Bro?"
A look of pleasant surprise immediately spread across Wang Hao’s face when he saw it was Qin Feng.
"Ah Jie’s in the middle of a heated battle at the Imperial Arena. Big Bro, is it something important? I can go get him right now."
"No, it’s nothing too important."
Qin Feng shook his head and said slowly, his tone as level as he could make it:
"Ahao, I need you to do something for me.
Open your Imperial mission list and have your Subspace Intelligent Assistant run a search for me.
See if you can find a mission to hunt down an Imperial traitor named ’Shi Dang’."
"Huh? Hunt down the traitor Shi Dang?"
Although Wang Hao was confused as to why his Big Bro would suddenly ask about this, his absolute trust in Qin Feng prompted him to immediately follow his instructions and search his mission list.
「A short while later.」
Wang Hao’s confused voice came through the communicator again.
"Big Bro, I searched. There’s nothing here."
"Whether I use a broad search or an exact match, I can’t find the mission you mentioned to hunt ’Shi Dang’.
It seems like a mission like that doesn’t even exist in the Imperial mission system."
"I see. All right, I understand."
Hearing this, Qin Feng’s frown deepened.
He exchanged a few more pleasantries with Wang Hao, asking about his recent training and how things were at home, before ending the Subspace call.
Afterward, Qin Feng was once again lost in thought.
A moment later, he opened his contact list again and found Lin Yue.
He sent her a short greeting.
...
「Far away on Planet Qiming, in a master’s office at Qiming First Martial Arts High School.」
Lin Yue was grading papers when a message from Qin Feng popped up, bringing a delighted smile to her face.
However, when she read the second half of his message—the part asking about the "mission to hunt Shi Dang"—her smile stiffened.
[Lin Yue: Hmm? The mission to hunt Shi Dang? I remember I accepted that one too, a while back.]
[Lin Yue: That’s strange... Why didn’t I receive any notification about the traitor’s latest coordinates that you just reported?
Logically, anyone who accepted the same mission should have received a system alert the moment the target’s coordinates were updated.
I even set up a special alert on my Subspace Assistant specifically for this.]
[Lin Yue: Wait... I... Why can’t I find the mission in my list anymore?!
I distinctly remember accepting it with my own hands! After all, that bastard was a traitor who came from our Planet Qiming!]
Lin Yue’s face was a mask of shock and confusion.
[Lin Yue: Hold on, let me ask Gu Yue and Wu Shangfeng. They both accepted the mission with me back then.]
「A moment later.」
Lin Yue’s confused reply came through.
[Lin Yue: ...I asked them. The mission isn’t in either of their lists anymore.
I guess some other expert must have completed it along the way.
After all, there are plenty of experts in the Cosmos willing to clean up traitors like him.]
"Maybe so."
Qin Feng stared at Master Lin Yue’s reply, silent for a moment, before simply sending back a two-word response.
...
After ending his communication with Master Lin Yue, Qin Feng fell completely silent.
He sat alone in the silent, cold training chamber, completely still.
After a long time, he finally muttered to himself in a voice only he could hear:
’...Back then, the grand prize for the ’Qiming General Star’ competition was an incredibly precious ’Gold-Standard Human Type II’ Gene Potion.