So wondered whether there was a storage ring Lin Fang was wearing, but rembering that storage rings are banned inside the trial and in the main gate check itself, the storage rings were being collected by the authorities, they couldn't help but think whether he slipped one in secret.
anwhile, Lin Fang stored all of the energy blasters. He wanted to see if any robot can be stored, but then, upon seeing that they were useless with all of their circuits destroyed by lightning bolts earlier, he only collected them.
Still, Lin Fang was satisfied with the loot.
Ten million credits, he estimated. Maybe more. Not bad for five minutes of bending down.
At the sa ti, the system sent the notification:
*Ding!
[Ergency Quest: Failed.]
Lin Fang dismissed the notification, not thinking much about Myra's escape. The only thing he is now worried about is her revenge.
He stepped back and looked over the field.
Then, with a sharp ntal tug, he dismissed the Queen Anaconda and the elephantine undead, too.
Only then did a collective sigh of relief escape from the crowd. Even the captain's legs gave out a little before he caught himself and straightened.
No one had dared even try to move while those undead titans stood watch behind Lin Fang.
Now that they were gone, the hunters looked around as if waking from a nightmare they weren't sure they'd survived.
Lin Fang dusted off his palms.
"Alright," he said casually, as if he'd just finished grocery shopping instead of countering terrorism. "We can get on with things now."
Everyone nodded vigorously.
Nianxi hurried to his side—half relief, half awe sparkling in her eyes—while Wang Jie and Anne stood frozen, still processing that their so-called new friend had just saved an entire safe zone and displayed
Lin Fang exhaled long and slow.
He didn't want fa.
He didn't want witnesses.
And he really didn't want anyone rembering what he could do.
But since the secret was out…
He might as well be arrogant and leave.
anwhile, at the Command Center;
The control room was humming with the busy chanical rhythm—screens flickering, technicians typing, the low murmur of analysts reporting sector stats and connecting with the outside world, making sure no press would report this matter—but all of it snapped into silence when the captain's encrypted call ca through the satellite phone.
Feng Xiu answered with the impatience of a man.
"What happened to Safe Zone 64?" he demanded.
What ca back wasn't a report. It was disbelief wrapped in a military tone, desperately pretending to be calm.
"Sir… everything is… resolved. All hostages are safe. The assailants are neutralized."
Feng Xiu straightened. "Neutralized? How?"
There was a small pause, as if the captain were deciding whether he himself believed the words he was about to say.
"It was Cadet 23."
Feng Xiu's pulse skipped.
"23? Lin Fang? Camp 2 Lin Fang?"
"Yes, sir," the captain confird, voice cracking just slightly. "That Lin Fang."
Feng Xiu's chair scraped backward as he stood. "Explain."
The captain did.
Every detail was worse for Feng Xiu's understanding.
Lin Fang had broken anti-mana cuffs.
Lin Fang then summoned a King-tier undead and four lord tier undeads.
Lin Fang summoned a dozen lightning bolts and destroyed the robots.
Myra made an ergency escape.
By the ti the report ended, Feng Xiu's expression was sowhere between horror, awe, and a deep breath he couldn't quite finish.
He pressed his palm to his forehead.
"Lin Fang… forced soone like her to retreat? Seems like he gained quite an amount of abilities from Li Chengfeng's legacy."
A staff mber nearby whispered, "Sir… does that an he's an S-rank?"
Feng Xiu didn't answer him and instead passed the order to the captain.
"Escort Lin Fang directly to my office the mont he arrives. No delays. No detours. And do not question him about anything. That is an order."
He ended the call and stared at the map of sectors.
The boy had been strong earlier—sure.
But this?
This bordered on absurd.
"What in the world happened in these four days…?" Feng Xiu whispered to no one.
*
Far beyond command centers and human concerns, at Sector 0, the old man, the demigod who captured Lin Fang earlier, stepped out of his hut, with his long hair dragging like pale roots against the ground. His scarlet eyes were half-lidded, but sothing in the air had nudged him awake.
He gazed toward the south.
"The Lightning was Familiar," he murmured. "Too familiar."
Sothing tugged at the corner of his thoughts—sothing from his past mories...
He closed his eyes.
"I wonder which seedling did it."
A faint smile, thin as a blade, tugged his lips. "Too bad that I couldn't extend my range that far without breaking the rules.
*
Elsewhere—hundreds of kiloters away from this open dungeon, deep in a carved-out cave that pulsed with stolen mana batteries—a rippling tear in space spat Myra out.
She staggered, catching herself on jagged stone.
Her cloak was torn. One cheek is bruised. Fortunately, while she didn't have any injuries because of the teleportation, her wounded pride caused much more damage to her than re bruises.
As soon as she got up and rembered Lin Fang's final warning while looking down at her, she slamd her fist into the wall hard enough to crack it.
"That bastard…"
Another punch. Another crack.
"LIN. FANG."
His na bounced around the cave like a mocking echo.
She had never—never—been forced to flee like that. Not by veterans. Not by elites. Not even by her own guild rivals.
Her breath ca out ragged. Her nails dug crescents into her palms.
"I will find you," she whispered, voice trembling with fury. "And I will kill you."
The cave dimd as she activated her cloak again.
*
Back to the Military Base outside the open dungeon;
Inside Feng Xiu's office, which slled faintly of ink and old wood, Lin Fang stood in front of the desk, arms at his sides, trying to look calm even though his heart beat slightly elevated in tension.
Feng Xiu tapped his knuckles on the desk—steady, rhythmic, like a countdown.
"So," he said at last, narrowing his eyes, "you really do have a contract with a spirit king, huh, Cade Lin Fang?"
Lin Fang nodded. "Yes." He didn't feign ignorance or lie.
But at the sa ti, he didn't give any explanations either. Lin Fang doesn't owe it to Feng Xiu to explain to him. Whatever this man thinks, he can think...
Feng Xiu's lips twitched at that admission. "You're surprisingly honest."
Lin Fang shrugged indifferently. "Would lying help right now?"
A faint exhale—sowhere between a laugh and a sigh—escaped Feng Xiu before Lin Fang continued, hands to his back. "I believe you've already heard this, but… before you ask, I'll confirm this too. Yes, I'm the inheritor of Li Chengfeng's legacy and inherited a fair bit of his abilities. I won't offer any more explanation than this."
Feng Xiu nodded slowly. "I know. The entire upper circle knows. But that wasn't why I actually called you in."
He leaned back, studying Lin Fang the way a scientist studies a rare mineral—fascinated, worried, and slightly annoyed that he couldn't figure out its properties
"We have a problem," Feng Xiu then said. "Your ranking doesn't match your results. You barely submitted anything… yet you are capable of feats that place you beyond even elite teams."
Lin Fang dipped his head. "Then give C-rank. I don't need anything higher."
Just then, inside his mind, Alpha shrieked.
"Kiddo, Higher ranks an privileged dungeon access! Discounts! Unmonitored open-dungeon entries! Why would you ask for C-rank? Don't you want to explore grade-1 dungeons and earn more and more coins and monster companions?"
Lin Fang winced inwardly.
"On second thought, Master Feng," he said quickly, "I think I'll take Master Feng's recomndation, whatever it is."
Feng Xiu arched a brow. "Changed your mind fast? Why?"
"Nothing, just realized that a higher ranking would help more, that's all," Lin Fang replied weakly.
Feng Xiu let out a snort, not believing the excuse. But then Feng Xiu lifted a docunt.
"Before I grade you, I need to test you. And yes, the test will be recorded for the proof." He lifted a hand before Lin Fang could object. "But I can guarantee the footage will be private. As the Vice President, I can lock down the information in such a way that only the President of the Hunter Association will ever see it."
Lin Fang hesitated at that. "Recorded? Then… can I wear a mask?"
Feng Xiu paused, blinked. "You don't trust ?"
Lin Fang raised both hands. "Actually, I don't. I an, we don't know each other well enough that I can. Second, we don't know what will happen in the future. If you're forced to retire… or you die and soone else takes your place, your promise becos useless."
A beat of silence.
Then Feng Xiu's eyes widened slightly before he burst into laughter, "It's been a long ti since soone told to my face I might die soon."
Lin Fang paled in slight panic. "I—No—I didn't an—"
"It's alright," Feng Xiu waved him off. "Blunt honesty. I can appreciate that. Besides… I am the last person who would conspire against you. After all, your father and I—"
He stopped.
The words cut abruptly, like soone had pulled the plug on his thoughts.
"Hmm?"
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