Chapter 143: Going Back to the Living
Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
Xia Fei was standing atop the mountain with articles of clothes in tatters and a bedraggled face, like a savage who lived in a primitive society. In just a year’s time, his crown of hair had actually turned slightly grey, peppered with numerous strands of silver. It was a messy and dirty mop, appearing as if he had experienced the vicissitudes of life.
He used his hand to tidy up his clothes and comb through his messy mop of hair before brus.h.i.+ng a finger over his spatial ring and pulling out a golden bead, which he placed in his palm.
Phantom quietly watched him from the side, a little unwillingly saying, “What a pity. There’s still plenty of good stuff here that we can’t bring back with us; what a great Heritage Planet. The strength of the ancient civilization is truly well beyond what we can possibly imagine.”
Xia Fei smiled. “It’s fine. I’ve already gotten hold of what I needed the most. Since the rules of the land are as such, we ought to abide by them.”
Phantom nodded. “You’re right. No matter how great things are, they’re all for the service of man; as long as you’re alive, you’ll have other fortuitous encounters in the future.”
With a light flick of his finger, that golden bead flew in a parabolic arc down to the valley.
All of a sudden, it disappeared without a trace mid-air, taking Xia Fei along with it.
….
Planet YZZ-7526, ancient civilization remains of City 02.
A team of instructors from Heaven Execution Training Camp were leading cadets through to the mineral research facility.
The lead instructor, who went by the name of Dooley, happened to have been part of the exploration team under Bosingwa when Xia Fei went missing a year ago. Today, he, who had since been promoted, could now lead a team of his own.
Behind him were over fifty new cadets who had just entered the internal division this year. Just like Xia Fei, they were given this chance to explore the ruins; bringing freshmen over to this planet for a visit every six months was a practice the internal division strictly adhered to.
“This is a completely intact mineral research facility from the ancient civilization. Though the things inside are gone, you can still feel their culture then. Later, I’ll bring you guys in to look around, so you can have the good fortune of seeing this ancient base with your two eyes.” Dooley used one hand to point to the entrance of the base as he chuckled.
The cadets were all very excited. A completely intact ancient facility was far more interesting than the dilapidated ruins all around them. After all, there were far and few buildings that remained standing in this universe from that time after the bloodshed caused by the robot army, so each of these buildings was precious.
The alloy door that Xia Fei had once destroyed had already been repaired, and the training camp had installed their own security system in place; now, the entire base was under the control of the Adjudicator Union.
Verifying his ident.i.ty through both a retina and fingerprint scans, Dooley led these cadets into the empty facility to look around. Anything valuable had long since been carted off by the Union, so the entire research facility was all the more empty than before.
Even though none of them could see these intricate machinery and devices, the living s.p.a.ces and residence of this base remained well-preserved, and the cadets curiously examined the bedroom that the ancient humans had once lived in, looking around to see if they had left any clothes behind, even lying on the bed for a try and tasting the food made by the ancient humans’ food synthesizers.
The synthesized food tasted extremely bad, yet these cadets enjoyed every morsel of it. They imagined the scene of their ancestors living here in this s.p.a.ce, and their eyes were filled with yearning and admiration.
“Come, let me bring you all to this facility’s greatest secret: a laboratory hidden away for human experimentation and an ancient prison. The cadet who had discovered this research facility had disappeared right in one of this facility’s prison cells; not a trace of his existence could be found ever since. All of you need to keep close, or else I can’t guarantee that you won’t be the next to get swallowed by that hidden blackhole inside the prison,” Dooley joked.
“Is there really a secret blackhole here?”
“How did that cadet go missing?”
Everyone discussed it avidly, extremely curious about the case of Xia Fei’s mysterious disappearance. They were a bit frightened. After all, their senior had once abruptly disappeared in that secret room, and they could not help but conjure up wild a.s.sociations to it.
Dooley brought them along that secret pa.s.sageway and into the secret lab, circling around the place before heading into the prison.
Just as Dooley opened the door, he was stunned.
In front of him was a young man, who was staring right back, dressed in ragged clothes with a cigarette between his lips.
Cadets from behind Dooley each pulled out their weapons, all getting into stances as they waited. The way Xia Fei looked was a little shocking, so they could not be blamed for being alarmed.
Scratching his head, Xia Fei flashed a smile at Dooley before he strode right up to them.
Dooley suddenly found this person to be very familiar. Though this person was now sporting a beard and had unkempt hair unlike a year ago, he was still able to clearly discern his facial features.
“Xia Fei!” exclaimed Dooley. His two eyes widened in bewilderment, his eyeb.a.l.l.s nearly popping out of their sockets.
“You’re back? How did you return? Where have you been in this past year…”
Dooley sputtered a barrage of questions, his voice full of disbelief. Xia Fei knitted his brows and thought to himself, ‘That’s a troublesome question. How should I explain it to them?’
…
The Gaian Catalyst-cla.s.s destroyer was still the s.h.i.+p that ferried the cadets to the planet, and after Xia Fei was a.s.signed to a secluded room, he simply minded his business by staying in it. Regarding all the questions that everyone had thrown his way, he gave them all the same one line: “Just call me when it’s mealtime.”
Xia Fei closed the door behind him, leaving Dooley and the others dry outside, and the sound of running water was soon heard from inside the room.
…
“Everyone, return to your rooms; don’t just stay rooted around here.”
Dooley snapped and dispersed all the cadets before he went inside the control room to make a direct video-call to the training camp’s headquarters.
“He’s back!” Dooley anxiously blurted out the moment Ye Jingshan’s figure appeared on the screen.
Ye Jingshan’s face was placid. “Look at you gasp for breath; what sort of example are you setting? Be concise; who’s back?”
“Xia Fei. Xia Fei’s back!”
Ye Jingshan was stunned. “What?! What did you just say?!”
Dooley recounted the matter in a flurry, giving his report to Ye Jinshan about how he had led the new cadets over to the ancient research facility to look around, only to b.u.mp into Xia Fei inside.
Ye Jingshan heaved a long sigh after hearing everything. “Did he say anything about where he’s been in this past year?”
“Not at all.” Dooley shook his head repeatedly. “No matter what I probed and asked, Xia Fei simply refused to answer. From the injuries he sustained and the clothes on his body, he must’ve been through a lot in this past year.”
Ye Jingshan contemplated this for some time before saying, “Do this, then: You will make a return trip with Xia Fei to the training camp right away. I want you to handle this matter personally. Plus, make sure to keep this under wraps. Don’t tell anyone yet and listen only to my orders.”
Dooley had a difficult expression on his face. “What about the cadets if I send Xia Fei back now, Commander Ye?”
Ye Jingshan furrowed his brows. “Do you need to ask me such a simple question? Leave them there and leave a few other instructors behind to monitor them. Get the wars.h.i.+p to send Xia Fei back first, then we’ll make arrangements after.”
“Understood.” Dooley nodded. Ye Jingshan was as cold as an iceberg, and it was a severe test every time he had to face the battalion commander.
Turning off the display, Dooley placed a hand over his heart, which was now going at over two hundred beats a minute. He waited for it to settle before he stepped out of the control room and acted in accordance with what Ye Jingshan had instructed.
…
Icy-cool water splashed upon his face, an invigorating sense of freshness spreading through him as a result. His hair was tangled, so Xia Fei used a pair of scissors to cut it off at random, then a shaver to remove all the beard on his face.
If anyone stood outside the bathroom, they would immediately notice how different Xia Fei’s body had become; Xia Fei was a lot skinnier than before, but his muscles were also leaner. There were countless scars on his back, thighs, and chest, and all of them were not left by light wounds; in fact, some directly extended to the inside of his muscles.
This collection of innumerable scars made him give off a very scary and savage sensation.
After a simple wipe of his body with a bath towel, Xia Fei stepped out of the bathroom and walked to his bed, picking up that Windshade Mark IV combat suit from the ground.
Examining the combat suit under the lights, Xia Fei grimaced and shook his head. This Legendary-grade protective suit for special ability users was now riddled with holes of varying witdth, length, and shape. Lights pa.s.sed through, unimpeded, these many holes, forming motley shadows on the floor.
“Forget it. This combat suit can’t be worn anymore, so just throw it away,” Phantom said nonchalantly.
Xia Fei nodded and tossed it to the ground. Though in his heart, he found it to be a bit of a waste. The fact was that the combat suit had sustained so much damage that it was simply impossible for it to be repaired. A combat suit that could not protect its user in battle had essentially outlived its use.
“That’s over two hundred million star coins.” Xia Fei laughed bitterly.
Phantom rolled his eyes at Xia Fei. “It’s just a combat suit; is there a need for this?”
“You’ve never been poor, so how would you understand the importance of money?” Xia Fei immediately riposted. “It is as the old saying goes: ‘Money isn’t omnipotent, but the lack of it makes one omnipotent.’”
Phantom thought about it carefully. Indeed, he had never been worried about money in his life, so it was hard for him to appreciate Xia Fei’s attachment to it.
Xia Fei took out an old-fas.h.i.+oned tracksuit from his spatial ring and put it on before picking up his Chasing Light. He wanted to clasp it onto his right arm. It had been a habit of his to have that blade bound to his right forearm; he simply could not sleep well if he was not holding Chasing Light, feeling as if he were missing something.
Holding Chasing Light in his hand to inspect it, that cyan blade had a web of thin cracks, with many chips on the bite of the blade, making it look as if it were sawtoothed.
Xia Fei clearly remembered each crack on the blade; all those tough and dangerous battles that he had been through flashed right before his eyes as if it happened yesterday.
Phantom was about to say something, but Xia Fei raised his hand. “Enough. I understand. Chasing Light is already worthless, so that’s another two hundred million star coins gone.”
That Wind Eye Ring was also tossed to the ground. With his present rank, that trinket was already useless to him.
After cleaning up everything, Xia Fei could only feel a sense of discomfort wash over him. Without the Windshade Mark IV combat suit and Chasing Light, it was as if he had lost two of his arms, giving rise to this feeling of restlessness inside him.
He took out his things from inside his spatial ring and did an inventory. After a grueling year, not only was his combat suit gone, even the medicines that he had stored were already all used up. He had also used that ancient killer robot, Golden Cicada, in a time of crisis, so there was pretty much nothing left in his spatial ring.
Placing all that was left on the table, Xia fei suddenly discovered that the circular ancient signal receiver that Old Porter had left for him was s.h.i.+ning, dimming and glowing periodically.