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Chapter 141: The Unlucky Man

Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales

Ye Jingshan was awash with great sadness. Xia Fei, that troublemaker, had surely lived up to his name. He was finally quiet in those few months following his return from the Wild Star Region, but his first expedition out to the ruins had resulted in the specter of trouble coming back to haunt him once more.

Logically speaking, as the battalion commander of the training camp, he ought to send a search party immediately after learning that a cadet of his had gone missing. He should at least express his condolences even if this was his most-hated cadet, yet the first reaction Ye Jingshan had was frustration, blaming Xia Fei for his carelessness, instead. It was completely out of line.

“Why is it him again?!” Ye Jingshan stood up, frowning.

Ye Jingshan instantly realized his gaffe the moment he uttered that line. He sat back down on his seat and massaged his temples with his two fingers.

Xia Fei was just a normal cadet in his training camp, so he had no reason to be so angry with the young man. What mattered was that his master, Qin Mang, was behind Xia Fei.

A vast majority of people in the training camp had no idea about Qin Mang’s background, thinking he was just an old coot waiting to die in that library of his, but that obese, old man actually had an extraordinarily unusual influence, and even Ye Jingshan had Qin Mang in his shadow back when he was in the Adjudicator Union’s headquarters.

The truth of the matter was that even Ye Jingshan could not be certain of his master’s roots. When Qin Mang had first taken up the post as a librarian, Ye Jingshan was still in his teens, just a run-in-the-mill cadet in the training camp. It was only with Qin Mang’s guidance at every step that he got to where he was today. That was why he had the utmost respect toward Qin Mang, never once daring to go against his master’s orders.

With his master’s favored cadet, Xia Fei, going missing, how was he supposed to explain it to him?

“Could it be related to the missing cadet case that’s been happening in these two years?” Ye Jingshan pondered gravely.

Bosingwa shook his head. “From the records of the entire Alliance, that organization only kidnaps special ability users, not just any ability users, and their targets are always girls who have yet to reach sixteen. Xia Fei simply doesn’t fit the bill.

“Besides, this is a secret training ground of the Union. Few know about this location, so those people might even be unable to find the place, so I think that this should be treated as an isolated incident.”

Bosingwa had arrived at a very logical analysis of the situation. Ye Jingshan also felt that he had given the matter too much thought. For the past two years, though the Union had taken extreme precautions against this, they were still unable to prevent the abductions, and this fact had always been a lingering worry that the Adjudicator Union could not shake off.

Ye Jingshan was quiet for a good time before he said, “Stop the ruins exploration at once. Begin the search of the place; I’ll be sending Hou Baishan over with his men from the reconnaissance division to assist you right away. No matter what happens, I want you to return either with him alive or with his corpse.”

Bosingwa nodded without a sound. Handling the matter in this fashion was still in line with how a battalion commander should act. When Ye Jingshan blamed Xia Fei just then for being careless, Bosingwa felt an inexplicable sense of indignation rising in his chest, almost causing him to forget his place and refute Ye Jingshan.

After all, this place, which was the ruins of the ancient civilization, had danger lurking at every corner; how could they blame the cadets for being careless?

“I understand; I’ll detail a search party right away.”

Turning off the communicator, Ye Jingshan instantly called the experienced Hou Baishan into his office, ordering him to take the most elite members of the reconnaissance division and hurry over to assist Bosingwa with their search.

It was just that Ye Jingshan felt the need to continue keeping Qin Mang in the dark. After all, he could not be more familiar with his master’s personality, and just the thought of how angry that man would be caused him to feel a cold sweat on his back.

Anyone who had not seen Qin Mang yell in anger would never imagine that that seemingly warm and obese old man could actually turn into a demon whom everyone would seek to avoid when angered. There was even a quality that Qin Mang shared with Xia Fei, and that was how unreasonable they would become once provoked.

Ye Jingshan was starting to understand why Qin Mang was so taken by Xia Fei; the pair actually had quite a lot in common. Both were equally obstinate, crafty, and shared the same worldly disdain. Qin Mang probably saw a younger version of himself in Xia Fei, which was why he had decided to keep the latter around him as a librarian.

It must be said that this was the one and only time Qin Mang had taken in a librarian in the four decades he had been in that place. Back then, Ye Jingshan had begged for many years before he had been begrudgingly accepted as a disciple by Qin Mang, yet he was not even allowed a step in the library. Qin Mang valued that dilapidated library more than his life, and just this one point alone was enough to tell that becoming a librarian was hardly a shameful matter. Just the opposite, in fact, for it was the greatest fortune; only no one truly understood this fact.

“I’ll just hide this for as long as I can.” Ye Jingshan leaned back in his chair, grimly telling himself this.

....

Planet YZZ-7626, ancient civilization’s underground mineral research facility.

“Are you certain that this slash mark was left by Xia Fei?” Bosingwa somewhat nervously asked.

Hou Baishan stood up from the ground and nodded. “This door has very obviously been destroyed with a very sharp blade, and the cut made is almost ninety percent similar to what Xia Fei leaves with his Chasing Light. The only question is: Since when did he know how to crack the ancient civilization’s alarm systems? Even I wouldn’t have the confidence to do this without any additional support, given the complexity of it.”

“Ahead is the last location we found before Xia Fei disappeared. I’m afraid that you’d be even more shocked by what you’d see on that door there than here,” said Bosingwa even as they forged ahead.

They did not expend much energy to locate this research facility; this was the most prominent structure in the city, so it naturally became the first goal for the search party, and they would, of course, not skip over the tunnels heading underground. After using a full day’s time, the search party ultimately reached this point and stumbled upon the evidence that Xia Fei left behind.

...

Right now, all they could do was wait for the expert scout Hou Baishan’s final evaluation; the moment he concluded that Xia Fei was missing, the search would come to a stop, and Xia Fei’s name would join the names of those people who had gone missing, squirreled away in the secret archives of the Adjudicator Union.

Walking through the long corridor, Bosingwa led Hou Baishan to the secret human experimentation laboratory.

Sure enough, when Hou Baishan saw that sealed door with its compound defense system, he stood there in place, completely stunned. He squatted down and examined it for the longest time before getting up; astonishment could be heard in his voice. “This is unbelievable.”

“The defense to this door was extremely sophisticated; I can’t believe that Xia Fei managed to open it without tripping the alarm in this research facility.”

Bosingwa nodded. “Yeah. How unfortunate for that sprouting to go missing.”

The two were quiet for a good while, especially Hou Baishan. Lockpicking was a mandatory course the reconnaissance division had to undergo, and Xia Fei’s skills in this avenue evidently surpassed his. Being unable to recruit the man was Hou Baishan’s biggest regret.

Everything in the human experimentation laboratory was kept the way it was. Bosingwa had not touched anything inside and had specifically waited for Hou Baishan’s arrival to infer what could have happened.

Looking all around Hou Baishan spoke. “Have you informed the headquarters of what happened here? If they learn that we’ve discovered a human experimentation laboratory with so much of its equipment intact, they’ll definitely send men to take over.”

“Not yet. I decided to wait till we conclude this matter before reporting, ” Bosingwa answered.

Inspecting the area outside, Bosingwa and Hou Baishan came up to the secret prison.

Bosingwa pointed to a cell and said, “This was Xia Fei’s last known location. The laser walls in this cell have long been activated by the time we discovered the place, and we found a pair of tweezers belonging to Xia Fei in one of the cells. I believe that he got trapped in this cell and was unable to find a way out, but I simply couldn’t make sense of how he disappeared.”

Hou Baishan was silent. As an expert scout, he needed to be ever vigilant. He was not about to come to any conclusion before he got hold of any concrete evidence.

Pulling out specialized analytical instruments from his spatial ring and placing it on the ground, Hou Baishan stepped into that prison and began a detailed search, while Bosingwa stood to the side and waited with folded arms.

Hou Baishan proceeded with this task slowly and carefully as well as methodically. Every nook and cranny was being inspected by him several times, and approximately three hours later, Hou Baishan kept his instruments and left the prison.

“How is it? Are you able to draw a conclusion from all this?” Bosingwa anxiously asked. Though he did not share anything resembling a deep relationship with Xia Fei, he nevertheless did not harbor the hope of him inexplicably disappearing like this.

After all, that eighteen-year-old man had left an indelible impression on him. Be it the tenacity he demonstrated during the crisis grade assessment, his maverick ways after entering the training camp, or the courage he demonstrated while chasing an insectoid warship, all each of these recollections was hard to forget.

Heaving a soft sigh, Hou Baishan replied, “The space here is stable, and traces of Xia Fei’s DNA are present in the prison. Its timing coincided perfectly with the bizarre energy fluctuations, which means that Xia Fei suddenly disappeared while in a completely sealed environment.”

Bosingwa’s eyebrows knitted tightly together. “Is there no other possibility?”

Hou Baishan did not like others doubting him. At the end of the day, there were few in this line that had the qualifications to do so, yet this time he did not blame Bosingwa for it.

“Nope. It is conclusively clear that this is a unique disappearance incident. Human factors can be excluded. You can take a look after I’m done with my report.”

Ironically, Bosingwa felt his body relax after he heard Hou Baishan give such a resolute conclusion. Regardless, this matter did ultimately reach a conclusion, and that was better than an unexplained disappearance.

The two men headed back out, side by side, when Bosingwa suddenly burst into laughter. He pointed over at all the equipment in the laboratory and asked, “Old Hou, how much do you think all this stuff is worth?”

Hou Baishan thought for a moment before giving his reply. “That’s hard to say. It’ll probably be over a hundred billion star coins, and if you include the Union’s contribution points on top of it, there’re probably plenty of good things one can exchange for. Why did you ask?”

Bosingwa scratched his head. “I was just thinking that Xia Fei probably still doesn’t know that anybody who discovers completely intact ancient civilization remnants will be granted a ten percent cut of the total value, in addition to a large number of points he will automatically be given. That rascal Xia Fei has always been quite avaricious. The fact that he disappeared right after discovering this gold mine is seriously bad luck.”

Hou Baishan patted Bosingwa on the shoulder and chuckled. “That’s true. With all the points and money he would have earned, there’s no way he could spend it all even if given several lifetimes to do so. Truly, what a grave misfortune.”

“Let’s go and share a drink or two to commemorate that unlucky man.”