Chapter 142: One Year Later

Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales

Bosingwa and Hou Baishan announced Xia Fei’s disappearance to the cadets waiting outside the tunnel. Just as expected, this news did not create any wave among them.

Xia Fei being in the internal division was already an aberration, and with how he only spent three hours in the Stygian Training Center every day, rarely attending any of the training courses the internal division provided, most of the instructors and cadets inside the division only knew of his name and could not even recognize him.

To them, Xia Fei was no more than a librarian who managed to enter the internal division through sheer coincidence and serendipity, and he was on a completely different level from all the gifted geniuses that they were.

Someone whom no one cared to understand or even recognize would naturally not draw anyone’s attention. Nobody cared that he had disappeared since Xia Fei was only living in the internal division by name; his inclusion or absence hardly mattered.

Ye Xiaohan bowed her head low, her face maintaining that emotionless and icy features she always showed, but it was clear that, deep down, she had already lost all control and her heart was beating furiously, her mind blank.

Due to her strict and spartan upbringing, she had no idea why she was feeling this way. All she knew was that her heart ached terribly at that very moment as if a sharp blade had pierced through it.

Without a word, Ye Xiaohan used her speed ability and instantly ran off. It was a habit of hers to escape from what she had no idea of facing directly, and it was the only thing she could presently do.

Only Moon Song and Chen Dong showed expressions of grief out of all who remained. Moon Song pursed her lips and stared coldly at the expressionless cadets all around her. Chen Dong knew very well what Moon Song would be about to do, and just how terrifying this young tigress would become once she showed her stripes.

Actually, that ferocious expression Moon Song usually wore was not actually her being angry. It was merely how she intimated her attitude, her tendency to solve her problems through violence.

If anyone mistakenly assumed that Moon Song was mild-mannered, this person would be in for a huge surprise.

“Just what kind of attitude are you guys showing?” Moon Song’s icy glare shot across the others around her, her tone matching it in coldness. She fisted her two hands as two veins popped up on her forehead. It was evident that she was already infuriated, and there was no one who could stop her ensuing rampage.

“Why are you guys happy with Xia Fei’s disappearance?!” Moon Song’s voice was slightly cracked as she growled.

Moon Song’s voice was crisp, like the trill of a songbird. The other cadets had no idea that catastrophe was upon them, so they continued their chatter in low voices, sniggering.

Bai Ye took several steps backward in a hurry. As the only person who knew about the depths of demonic rage Moon Song could reach, he had a far better understanding of the lady than the average person. He rubbed his sore left shoulder uncomfortably, having experienced what it was like to be on the receiving end of Chen Dong’s teaching. On his first day into the ruins, Cheng Dong found him and beat him up without even saying a word of warning. His arm was still hurting painfully from that experience.

“Alright, this madam here shall let you experience schadenfreude properly!” Moon Song growled.

Saying this, everyone suddenly saw everything in front of them morph and change following the unleashing of her illusion special ability. She had completed the prerequisites while she was speaking, so all these men were enfolded into a tide of monsters without warning.

Countless terrifying monsters appeared in all directions, pouncing right at these gloating cadets.

These were monsters that Moon Song had conjured; though none was real, that hardly made a difference to those caught in her illusion; every strand of hair and fang was very real to them.

The crowd was instantly thrown into a frenzy. Those hapless cadets that were unprepared found themselves submerged in the illusion with no hope of extricating themselves. A cadet with a flat top hairstyle threw a punch at a bull-headed monster beside him, only to realizatio that it connected. The contact he felt through his hands told him that this was real—the monster truly existed.

Meanwhile, this monster, which had been punched, made a wild lunge at that cadet, and the two became entangled in fisticuffs.

This was the cleverness of the illusion special ability; unbeknown to these cadets, the monsters they saw were actually the other people standing next to them, and it was only through Moon Song’s amazing ability that they had this misconception.

A messy brawl between the dozens of cadets outside the tunnels broke as if all had gone insane.

Hou Baishan furrowed his brows. He was about to step forward and stop this, only for Bosingwa to hold him back with a tug at his sleeve. “Forget it. We aren’t on campgrounds. It’s only natural for these cadets to fight among themselves.”

Hou Baishan was no fool. He easily understood what Bosingwa meant; since he was already feeling somewhat miffed with these cadets gloating over Xia Fei’s misfortune, he might as well let Moon Song teach them a lesson this way.

Besides, it was a good way for these cadets to find out how they should deal with an illusion ability user. They might just become more composed when dealing with someone with such abilities after getting the short end of the stick this time.

The two men exchanged looks and laughed, taking long strides away, leaving the cadets who were caught up in that chaotic brawl to their devices. The other instructors and subordinates saw how their two bosses had turned a blind eye on this situation, so they followed suit and paid no heed to it as well. They quickly chased after the two men, all departing from the place.

“Chen Dong!” Moon Song yelled out loud.

“What is it?”

“Beat these people up to an inch of their lives for me.”

“Sure. Who do you want me to beat?”

“All of them.”

…

Time swiftly passed, and in the blink of an eye, it had been three months.

Xia Fei’s disappearance was like a stone dropped into a body of water; it hardly caused a wave, not even creating a ripple on the endless ocean’s surface.

On this day, Planet YZZ 7526 welcomed a group of special guests; a voyage fleet had suddenly landed not too far away from City 02.

Thousands of fully armed warriors swiftly disembarked from the warships, their weapons at the ready, throwing themselves at the insectoids that were living amid the ruins.

In this sense, all the insectoids here suffered from this intrusion. It was as if these warriors intended to cleanse the ruins of all insectoids, mercilessly eliminating each one they saw. Regardless of their gender and age, they were all hunted down and slain.

Over time, the scent of the blood unique to these insectoids became stronger. These warriors had high cultivation, so the low-rank insectoids were no match to them. Soon, the desolate city ruins were filled with the smell of blood.

The lead ship for this fleet was an Amarrian Abaddon-class battleship. It had a shiny gold exterior, gigantic and sturdy in size. Eight huge laser cannons flanked the sides of this battleship, and the muzzles of these were pointed right at the sky.

Just as these warriors finished clearing the insectoids in the ruins, the hatch of that warship slowly opened, and an escalator stretched from within. A sixteen-year-old blonde and an old man were accompanied on the escalator by a young officer in his twenties. The escalator slowly moved and delivered the teenager from the warships, down to the ground.

If Xia Fei were here, he would most definitely be able to identify this pretty teenager, for she was no stranger but the girl he had come to know on the interplanetary internet, whim he had yet to meet in person.

Just that Xia Fei would never have guessed that Avril’s family background was actually so extraordinary that she could have an entire fleet escorting her when she went out. This was not mentioning the other response fleet orbiting the planet as of this time, as well as the three reconnaissance fleets t several ten thousand lightyears away.

Avril’s face was as beautiful as ever, her delicate skin as soft as a newborn baby’s. It was only that the pretty face of hers was looking sickly pale, her two eyes having lost their former gleam, a picture of desolation, the sight of which made people’s hearts ache.

A specially modified luxury shuttle sedan came driving in from afar. This shuttle had its suspension system especially modified for it to travel with ease on these roads littered with debris and collapsed buildings. It was more than two meters off the ground and drove with great stability, so nobody inside felt the slightest tremor from the uneven ground.

A young ensign opened the door and stood at attention. Avril and her old butler called Pang sat in the back seat, while the commander of Starlink Corporation’s First Fleet sat in the passenger seat.

Several minutes later, the black shuttle slowly came to that tunnel where Xia Fei had disappeared previously; there were fully armed men standing on both sides of the tunnel. These elite warriors were like javelins the way they stood upright, all of them maintaining serious mugs.

The shuttle stopped at the empty space in front of the mineral research facility, and Avril stepped off the car without saying a word. Elder Pang brought out a single white lily and handed it to his charge.

“Missus, why don’t I help you bring that in? The air inside is a bit turbid.” Jansen bowed at his waist and smartly remarked.

Avril did not even throw a glance his way, treating him as nothing but air. She lifted her long white skirt slightly and made her way toward the inside of the research laboratory with quick and small steps.

Anyone familiar with Avril would know that her favorite color was usually pink, and she could even be called a maniac over it. From the decorations in her room and the clothes she wore to the dolls she owned, all were in pink. However, today, she was wearing an all-white long dress, which was a very rare sight.

Butler Pang stared at Jansen before following Avril closely.

It had been three months, and Avril was like a changed woman. She barely spoke anymore, and her smiles were becoming less and less infrequent as time passed. Her body had also slowly gotten skinnier over time.

1

The process was very simple. Avril placed that white lily at that cell of Xia Fei’s last known location and whispered, “Meanie, I refuse to believe that you died just like that. If you don’t come back, I’m going to…”

The rest of her words could not be heard, and no one had any idea what she said. In any case, Avril placed the flower down, said a few more words, and took off in that Abaddon-class battleship straight for space.

Could she have traveled the millions of light-years over, all just to offer a flower and chide Xia Fei?

….

Time continued to flow, and soon, it was spring. Xia Fei had been missing from this world for close to a whole year, and people had slowly forgotten about his existence.

In some unknown location in this universe, a young man in his late teens was standing on top of a mountain range, looking at the jungle in the valley below. There was a single meandering river in that valley, which led to misty grassland.

The occasional cries of a wild beast sounded from this valley, and based on the noises made, it was evident that this was no nirvana.

This young man slightly stretched his back, clearly somewhat exhausted. A dirty mop of hair hung off his shoulder, the beard growing on his chin thick and unkempt as if it had been a very long time since he last shaved.

A cyan blade was still on his right arm, the body of the blade itself was filled with cracks and was chipped in places. It was quite apparent that the battles he had fought in this place were unimaginable to the common man, or else this top-tier blade of his would not have deteriorated to such a state.

Lighting a cigarette, he took a drag before he gazed at the murderous land below, mumbling to himself, “I think it’s time for me to head back.”