Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
“Cadets joining in the exploration of the ruins, please take note: We will be reaching this ship’s destination in one hour forty-seven minutes; may everyone proceed immediately to the meeting room to receive the mission briefing from the commander.”
Xia Fei had only slept for a handful of hours before being awakened by the ship’s broadcast system. His head was still a bit groggy when he got up, and it seemed that the aftereffects of his assault to break through to the third stage of the Beast Spirit Codex had not yet dissipated entirely, for he was still dealing with a weakened mental state.
“We’ve finally arrived.” Xia Fei jumped out of his bed, splashed some cold water on his face, and made his way to the meeting room, where he forced himself to perk up once inside.
Forty over cadets were sitting in a disorderly fashion around the room. Xia Fei spotted where Moon Song and Chen Dong were seated and walked over to join them.
When walking past Bai Ye, he heard that milksop chuckle at Xia Fei. He nodded his head slightly, and that was considered as his greeting to that man.
“Why is that bastard laughing at you?” Moon Song stared at Bai Ye coldly, asking in an unfriendly tone.
For some reason, Moon Song seemed to harbor deep resentment toward Bai Ye, for she was always in an irate mood whenever she saw him.
Xia Fei shrugged nonchalantly. “Who cares? Will it be normal if people start crying the moment they see me, instead?”
Moon Song pouted, looking away from Bai Ye. “That guy is surely devoid of good intentions; you ought to be on your guard against him.”
Xia Fei nodded. Actually, he would naturally remain vigilant of Bai Ye even without Moon Song warning him. After all, that man had already demonstrated his hostility toward him when they were participating in the Extreme Hovercar Race. In any case, Xia Fei had always possessed great circumspection, and he disliked the way the milksop, Bai Ye, did things.
Very soon, Bosingwa and the other three instructors filed into the meeting room. Bosingwa maintained a very serious expression as he stood in the middle. Because he was once a member of the Glorious Thirteen, his strength and capabilities were obvious to all, so when he assumed the important position as the internal division’s deputy supervisor, he was also tasked with overseeing the cadets’ exploration mission.
It was just that there was this perceptible melancholia on his face. Though the matter with Xiao Haili and Queiroz had happened quite some time ago, he had not yet gotten over the death of the two, which just showed how sentimental he was and how close he was with those battle buddies of his.
Only Xia Fei knew that Xiao Haili had once attempted to kill him, for he had not mentioned this to anyone. The man was already dead; what use would it be to continue pursuing this matter?
Besides, Xia Fei did not wish to explain this matter to anyone else since that would only bring plenty of unnecessary trouble his way, and Xia Fei already had enough on his plate at the moment.
“What a pity; to actually mourn over someone like Xiao Haili,” muttered Xia Fei under his breath as he shook his head. He gazed at Bosingwa, who had seemingly aged quite a lot since the last time they met.
Ye Xiaohan and the two other instructors took out some pre-prepared portable packs and handed them to the present cadets. Xia Fei opened one to find four weeks worth of rations, emergency survival kits, medicine and drugs, a potable water device, a communicator, and an environmental monitoring instrument.
The food rations were those soft energy bars that looked like toothpaste. The taste of these energy bars were terrible; there was a sort of mild bitterness when chewed, which was worse than eating toothpaste. Though they tasted bad, the energy bars did provide the necessary nutrients the human body required, and eating a few bites a day was enough to fully satisfy a person’s physical needs for twenty-four hours.
The potable water device was a very useful outdoor survival tool, and its appearance was of a sealed metal teacup with a cover that had several rows of densely packed circular holes; it was battery-powered and could last for hundreds of years without needing a recharge.
When switched on, the potable water device would draw the water vapor in the air and filter it through that cover, storing it inside the cup after undergoing heavy purification. Unless the environment lacked any water molecules in the air, there would be no need for anyone using the device to ever worry about drinkable water.
Bosingwa opened a portable pack and displayed all the items out on the table. “Everyone should recognize the energy bars, emergency survival kit, and the potable water device, so I won’t speak about those. All of you just have to remember: Planet YZZ 7526 is a low-level radiation zone. You can only depend on the rations and water you have with you; otherwise, you might end up suffering from food poisoning or even worse.”
Next, he picked up the bracelet-shaped communicator, which was similar to the ones used during the crisis grade assessment. Its silver shine was very eye-catching.
“YZZ 7526 has the Union’s high-powered signal jammers for disrupting communications, so aside from these specialized communicators, no other device can be used to transmit messages. Similarly, your every move will be recorded, so I hope that you guys will keep yourselves in check; don’t do anything out of the ordinary.
“Also, this here is a handheld environmental monitoring instrument. I’ve said it before; this planet is irradiated, reaching high enough levels in certain places to cause harm to your health. Unless you have a high-grade combat suit, you should immediately leave an area if you see the instrument flashing red and only stop once this stops,” Bosingwa very seriously addressed the crowd.
The ancient civilization possessed extremely advanced technology, and they dared to utilize even the most dangerous substances in all the cosmos. Though it would be very convenient for mankind, the consequences of such actions were plain to see.
When the robot army fleet rebelled and began annihilating one planet with human inhabitants after another, plenty of those poisonous substances that were hard to deal with ended up leaking, and over such a long time, the extremely rich planets remained filled with poisonous and harmful substances, becoming inhospitable for humans.
Bosingwa cleared his throat and continued speaking. “Next, I’ll be setting the assignments for this exploration. All of you may stay on Planet YZZ 7526 for two weeks, and in this time period, anything you find from your exploration will belong to you. If you wish to sell the relics you discover to the training camp, you will be appropriately compensated with points.”
Xia Fei was stunned. The training camp had been very generous this time, actually allowing their cadets to bring back whatever they were able to find. He thought about it and very quickly saw the reason why; this planet was ultimately just some E-grade ruins, so it had a rather low rank. It would be really difficult to find any top-grade relics here, which was why the training camp had decided to be kind enough and give it to their cadets.
A low-grade ancient civilization relic was not valued much by the Adjudicator Union, so it would not matter if they let cadets get hold of them. Besides, these students might not even locate anything with just the two weeks time that they were given to explore such a large planet.
“There’s plenty of insect species living on YZZ 7526. These insects are specially bred by the Union so that you can all use and test your mettle against them. I’m sure everyone here knows that the Pan-Human Alliance’s greatest enemy is those disgusting bugs, so there’s plenty of benefits for everyone here to familiarize themselves with how to fight the insectoids.
“The Alliance has divided the insectoids into nine ranks based on their danger rating. The insectoids living on this planet are all rank 1 and 2 insectoids. Though they are merciless, it doesn’t mean that they lack any sort of intelligence. Those present here are cadets of the internal division, and such low-rank insectoids shouldn’t be able to pose any sort of threat to you. You all will be awarded a point for every rank 1 insectoid killed and three points for the rank 2 insectoids. It’s fine even if you wipe them all out, but of course, that is impossible.”
Xia Fei smiled. “No wonder the Union has been so generous thus far. We won’t only be limited by time but also by the large number of insectoids to contend with. At this rate, there are even slimmer chances of getting hold of any ancient relics.”
Beside him, Chen Dong was abnormally excited, his two eyes glistening as his chest heaving incessantly. This battle maniac would get excited as long as there was a fight to be had; be it against a human or an insectoid, it mattered not to him as long as he could fight them.
Instead, it was Moon Song who looked somewhat disgusted. Plenty of women did not like dirty bugs, and though she had a different sexual orientation, it did not change the fact that she was a woman, who happened to really hate bugs.
The atmosphere in the meeting room became lively as the cadets’ fighting spirits were evoked after hearing that they would get to fight insectoids. Bosingwa swept his gaze across the room, seemingly satisfied with the passion and fervor everyone was demonstrating.
“There are two modes of action you all can take for this operation: The first is to follow the instructor teams and work together with everyone. The benefit of doing so is that it’ll be a lot safer. Also, the instructors can also impart some skills anytime, anywhere, helping everyone improve as they go along.
“The second is to go individually or in groups. This would be more dangerous than having instructors by your side, but you’d have more freedom doing this.
“No matter which option you end up choosing, you must pay attention to the map and instructions on your communicator at all times, as well as your environmental monitoring instrument. Seek aid the instant an accident occurs.
“Okay, meeting adjourned. I wish you all the best of luck!” Bosingwa said in a booming voice a moment after.
The cadets all stood up and returned to their cabins for the final preparations.
Xia Fei thought about it for some time and decided that it was not a bad choice if he acted alone. After all, having more people still required him to depend on himself, and there was no way to grow if he kept following behind someone.
Xia Fei did not mind it either if Chen Dong and Moon Song proposed to form a party. He was fairly good friends with them, and they were worthy of his trust.
That was when Chen Dong got up and loudly asked, “I’d like to know if the cadets can freely challenge one another while on this planet.”
The cadets who were in the process of leaving the meeting room each came to a halt, turning around to look at Chen Dong as they wondered why he would ask such a question.
Bosingwa laughed. He was very fond of Chen Dong’s bull-headed personality. “Of course, you can. This isn’t the training camp, so as long as you don’t cause their death, you guys can all fight however you wish. We are all warriors, and combat is our calling.”
Chen Dong nodded, staring coldly at all the other cadets.
All of them felt a wave of panic wash over them, each making the decision to avoid the madman Chen Dong, absolutely planning not to go anywhere near him.
The scenery of Planet YZZ 7526 was in a state of ruins, with the sky overcast and the smell hanging in the air being both sour and smelly; it was a bit like falling into an entire jar of chemicals.
The Catalyst-class destroyer slowly descended on the outskirts of the city ruins. Xia Fei, Chen Dong, and Moon Song all alighted from the ship together.
The decrepit ruins in the distance looked desolate, and the crumbling walls and remains intertwined to create a tragically beautiful scene. Xia Fei could even vaguely hear some strange noises, which probably came from the insectoids crawling about.
Only
Chen Dong waved at Moon Song and Xia Fei, heading to the city with great verve, not saying a word as his eyes gleamed with that combative fire burning in him.
It was evident that Chen Dong had already decided that he would fight on his own. Xia Fei chuckled and went in the opposite direction. Since Chen Dong had no intention of forming a party, Xia Fei of course chose to go off on his own as well.
Moon Song stood on the spot, dumbfounded. She watched both men leave and her face turned beet red, yelling at the top of her lungs, “Where are you two madmen going?!”
Xia Fei did not turn his head around and just waved his hand off-handedly. “I’m off to explore the ruins, of course.”
“With the two of you gone, what will I do?”
“Uh… Take care of yourself!”
Saying that, Xia Fei’s pumped strength to his legs and disappeared into the horizon, chasing after the soft glow of the setting sun.
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