Chapter 145: News about Avril
Planet Hek was still as beautiful as ever. After a whole year living a perilous existence, Xia Fei actually felt somewhat uneasy being at ease.
Arriving at the Heaven Execution Training Camp, Xia Fei observed his surroundings as he strolled along, softly saying, “I suddenly think that making the training center so luxurious and comfortable actually isn’t a good thing at all. Though this sort of safe and secure environment is conducive to improving warriors’ cultivation, they will be unable to gain greater crisis awareness, and a warrior not having that can very well be a fatal flaw.”
Phantom was unfazed. “The main reason I advised you to join the training camp is mainly their special cultivation improvement system and abundance of medicinal ingredients as well as equipment. It seems that people have been overestimating the Heaven Execution Training Camp nowadays, and all the rumors have eventually turned this place into a holy land for all warriors.”
Xia Fei nodded and did not say another word. Of course, it was a wondrous thing that this place had a method of allowing people to absorb the universe origin energy for their own use, but it was unfortunate that the internal division strictly guarded it, making it far from something someone of Xia Fei’s caliber to come in contact with.
Pus.h.i.+ng open the door, Xia Fei stepped into the library and saw elderly Qin Mang with his leg in a figure of four sitting in his usual spot. A pot of tea on the table; there was even a cigarette between his lips.
Seeing Xia Fei step in, Qin Mang did not reveal any look of surprise but merely nodded his head and commented lightly, “You’re back.”
Xia Fei chuckled as he got approached. “Old man, why did you start smoking as well? I recall you mentioning more than once how smelly you find the smell of cigarettes.”
Qin Mang flicked the b.u.t.t into an ashtray on the table and stretched. “Oh, I was bored while you were gone and remembered how much pleasure you showed whenever you smoked them, so I got myself a few packs to try, only to end up getting addicted to them. The taste of cigarettes is very overwhelming at the start, but once you get used to this strong flavor, it’ll help the smoker calm down, which can be considered as its unique aspect.”
As if he had never left, Xia Fei habitually made Qin Mang a fresh pot of tea before he began cleaning the library once again. When that was done, the old man and young man sat across each other, both holding cigarettes between their fingers, puffing away with gusto.
“Where did you go off to this time?” Qin Mang curiously asked.
Xia Fei shook his head and laughed bitterly. “All I can say is that it’s an amazing place. I’m not allowed to tell anyone about it due to the restriction of the rules imposed on me, so it’s best if you don’t hound me; just take me at my word.”
“Can’t tell anyone about it?”
“Not a soul.”
Xia Fei was being very sincere and honest, so Qin Mang sighed somewhat disappointedly. “There’s actually such a thing in this universe? Forget it. Everyone has their secrets, so I won’t bother pursuing this matter further.
“I noticed that your speed has improved quite a lot from the last time I saw you. Enhancing your speed ability is no walk in the park; for you to have improved it to such a degree in a year’s time, I can tell that you’ve been through a lot. What’s your rank now?”
“Intermediate Star Domain,” Xia Fei bluntly answered.
“Intermediate rank.” Qin Mang was quite taken aback after hearing this before his demeanor returned to normal. For a speed ability user to reach Intermediate Star Domain was already a tremendous achievement. The speed ability was the hardest to improve out of all the special abilities, and Bosingwa had only cultivated until Advanced Star Domain to this date, while Ye Xiaohan, who had always been recognized as extremely talented, was also only at Intermediate Star Domain like Xia Fei.
After all, Bosingwa and Ye Xiaohan were both instructors within the internal division, not to mention that Bosingwa had once been part of the Glorious Thirteen. For Xia Fei to have attained the Intermediate Star Domain rank at the age of nineteen, the rate of his improvement was simply astounding.
Old Black, nuzzled in Qin Mang’s arms, paced over to Xia Fei with its cat-like laziness. It meowed twice, and Xia Fei smiled and took Old Black into his arms, his right hand stroking it gently across the back.
“Looks like Old Black missed you. You ought to hang around for a while now that you’re back. Honestly speaking, you’re not at all steadfast, always causing some trouble after some time pa.s.ses.” Qin Mang chuckled.
Xia Fei was left speechless for a good while. It was not as if he wished for such things to happen, but if incidents kept occuring left and right to him, what could he do about any of it?
“I still won’t be staying for long this time around, I’m afraid. I’ll be reporting to Battalion Commander Ye this afternoon and will be leaving tonight,” Xia Fei said.
“So soon?” Qin Mang knitted his eyebrows. “Just what exactly is going on with you? Why do you have to leave after returning so soon?”
Xia Fei thought about it and decided to tell him about Old Porter’s situation. A strange smile appeared across Qin Mang’s face after he heard everything.
“In that case, you do indeed have to go and take a look.”
This time, it was Xia Fei who was nonplussed. He had only come to the decision of going to the Black Abyss to look for Old Porter after struggling with it inside for some time. After all, this trip would be fraught with dangers, and there was simply no telling what he might encounter.
The reason why Xia Fei had ultimately decided to take this risk was down to the curiosity he harbored and his keen intuition telling him that he should look for Old Porter, yet Qin Mang had readily agreed to his decision, so why was that?
As he thought about this, Qin Mang suddenly asked him, “What do you know about that Porter person?”
Xia Fei took some time to mull over the question before he vaguely answered, “My only contact with him was when I went to the wars.h.i.+p graveyard, hearing that he had once served in the army and opened his factory to become his boss after retiring.”
Xia Fei only revealed a portion of what he knew. He did not reveal how Old Porter had gifted him an overclocking chip or his knowledge of meteor script. These were all the old mechanic’s secrets, and since Xia Fei did not like people prying in his secrets, he naturally also disliked divulging other people’s secrets.
Qin Mang nodded. “Since he’s asked you to go, you should. Anyway, Porter is no ordinary man, so being with him will bring you lots of benefits.”
Qin Mang gave a similarly cryptic answer, and Xia Fei did not dig further. It was evident that the other knew something about Old Porter but was unwilling to speak about it. Trying to find out more when the person did not wish to elaborate would effectively be pointless.
In any case, Qin Mang was always profoundly unfathomable to Xia Fei, so if even this obese librarian agreed that he should look for Porter, it only served to steel his resolve.
However, before he left, there were still several things he needed to take care of. He needed to check in with Quantum Holdings, and Avril’s current status was also a source of worry for Xia Fei. That cute lady had pretty much become an enigmatic affliction in his heart, and her sudden disappearance left Xia Fei feeling restless.
The minor changes on Xia Fei’s face from all these thoughts did not escape Qin Mang’s eyes. The wise, old man that he was could be said to be a master when it came to observing people and their moods.
“You seem to have something on your mind?”
Xia Fei forced a smile. “It’s nothing, actually. Just a friend of mine whom I suddenly couldn’t get hold of, so it’s making me somewhat worried.”
“If you’re so worried, why don’t you go visit your friend in person?”
Xia Fei somewhat awkwardly explained, “If I knew where she lives, I would’ve already gone and paid her a visit. That friend of mine is quite special; she’s always been the one to initiate contact with me, while I know nothing about her.”
Qin Mang seemed to be somewhat hesitant as he adopted an inscrutable expression. “Are you talking about Avril?”
Xia Fei’s heart palpitated, the cigarette in his hand shaking, nearly causing him to drop it to the ground.
Xia Fei had never mentioned anything about Avril, so how did Qin Mang learn of her?
“That’s right. It’s Avril. Do you know her?” Xia Fei asked, puzzled.
Qin Mang burst into raucous laughter, his chubby hand patting Xia Fei’s shoulder hard. “I’m not telling you.”
“He clearly knows something but is unwilling to tell me; just what sort of game is he playing?’ Xia Fei felt a bout of sadness wash over him, feeling an ache in his chest.
Qin Mang was satisfied upon seeing Xia Fei look so defeated and smiled. “How is it? Not a nice feeling, right? Not telling me what you’ve been up to this whole year; now, you aren’t getting anything from me about Avril as payback.”
Xia Fei was completely helpless. Qin Mang and he had known each other for some time, and he had never seen this obese, old coot demonstrate such a side of petty resentment. Since Xia Fei had not revealed anything about the Heritage Planet to him, he was quick to return the favor to him.
“I really can’t tell you about it,” Xia Fei said gravely. His expression was very serious. Xia Fei would never be ambiguous when the issue concerned life or death. Even if he could never see Avril for the rest of his life, Xia Fei needed to keep the secret. He knew deep down what was the heftier price.
Qin Mang’s laughter ended. He originally wanted to joke about this with Xia Fei and, at the same time, vent a bit of his foul mood, but who knew that Xia Fei would show such a decisive att.i.tude, which went well beyond Qin Mang’s expectation?
“You do have something you can’t disclose, huh,” Qin Mang said, more to himself than to Xia Fei. “It seems that this matter is actually quite serious.”
Xia Fei’s brows were furrowed as he lightly nodded his head.
“Avril tried finding you after you went missing, and she even went to where you had gone missing to look. It seems that that lady is very concerned about you, but…”
Qin Mang stopped talking once more, suddenly laughing to himself as he mumbled under his breath, “Why should an old man like me intervene with the matters of the young?”
With that, Qin Mang found some paper and pen, then he wrote down an address, handing it over to Xia Fei once he was done writing.
“Don’t say that I didn’t warn you, but your friend isn’t of the same breed; there’s a large gap between you two,” Qin Mang gave his sincere advice. “As a human, you ought to do everything within your means.”
Xia Fei did not understand what Qin Mang meant. He anxiously took that piece of paper and looked to see a single address written on it: Khanid Star Region, Venal galaxy, capital planet, Sunset Villa.
Khanid Star was the core region of the Pan-Human Alliance; its technological and prosperity levels were at the height of the entire alliance. Even the capital of the Pan-Human Alliance was based there.
This meant that Avril was living in the capital of the Pan-Human Alliance in a place called Sunset Villa.
There were hundreds of millions of humans living in the universe, and only a rare few could stay in the capital of the Alliance. It was said that there were a variety of strict access systems on that planet. The vast majority of humans would never even get the chance to step one foot on that planet, yet Avril’s family actually lived there?
Xia Fei kept the piece of paper into his spatial ring without making another sound. The keen intuition that he possessed gave him a very bad feeling, though he simply could not put a finger on why that was the case.
“Given who you are right now, there’s no way you’ll be able to enter the capital, but I can lend you a hand; I’ll obtain a temporary visa for you to be allowed seventy-two hours of stay there,” Qin Mang said.
Xia Fei thought about this for a moment. “Thank you very much for this. Since I’ll be pa.s.sing by Khanid Star Region on my way to Black Abyss, I want to pay her a visit.”
A glance at the time on his microcomputer and he saw that it was already noon, meaning that it was about time for his appointment with Ye Jingshan.
Xia Fei got up. “Old man, I’m going to see Battalion Commander Ye now. I’ll come and find you later.”
Qin Mang waved off-handedly. “Go on. Remember to come back earlier; I have some things I want to give to you.”