Chapter 130: Onward to the Ruins

Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales

At dawn, Xia Fei packed up and walked out of the dormitory, ready to meet up with the other members of the internal division who would explore the mysterious ancient ruins for the first time in their lives.

This exploration was strictly kept under wraps from the cadets. Every cadet participating only received a simple message, which briefly informed them of the date and the approximate time the entire expedition would take place. There was no mention of where it was located, what kinds of dangers lurked, or what special preparations they might need.

The ancient ruins did not just symbolize the ancient civilization. All types of ruins contained varying amounts of relics, and these items, which were far beyond the technological levels of modern-day society, could be sold for incredible prices on the black market; this was not mentioning the incredible research value they represented.

Thus, it was incredibly normal that the Adjudicator Union would keep the ruins, which were under their control, a big secret.

Chen Dong and Moon Song had been waiting on the white stone arch bridge outside of the dorms. The others were waiting next to the internal division launch pad, and there appeared to be around forty people. All of these cadets had been fully immersed in their training, so many of them had faces unfamiliar to Xia Fei despite being in the same division.

Moon Song was leaning lazily on a fence in a tight-fitting, black combat uniform, which accentuated her curvy figure. In truth, Moon Song was a woman of good taste; unfortunately, her unique personality kept most people at bay.

Moon Song asserted that she liked women, not men, but Xia Fei had never seen her bringing a girl back to her dorm, and every time it was brought up, Moon Song would say that the women in the camp did not suit her taste. Xia Fei never looked any deeper into it as her sexuality was no concern of his.

Chen Dong was in a pair of tight-fitting shorts and a new pair of combat boots. His black pearl necklace also seemed to have been polished as it shone brightly under the sun.

Xia Fei walked over with a smile. “This is a rare opportunity; you two have finally left the training center.”

Chen Dong nodded. “I didn’t want to go to the ruins, but the instructor wouldn’t let me stay, so I’m forced to come.”

Chen Dong did not have any other interest outside of training and fighting. In his eyes, no matter how meaningful or special those ruins were, they would never compare to the enjoyment he got from training wholeheartedly.

The three of them walked toward the launch pad side by side. Chen Dong looked at the new sprouts all around him and expressed, “The days sure go by quickly; it’s spring already.”

Moon Song crossed her arms and said in a mocking tone, “Huh, turns out a musclehead like you is aware of the different seasons. I didn’t think you knew anything outside of training.”

Chen Dong laughed, ignoring the rude Moon Song. He knew that he would never be able to gain anything verbally crossing swords with Moon Song, so he simply ignored her.

Xia Fei lit up a cigarette and took two deep puffs.

Moon Song tilted her head, stared at Xia Fei for a few seconds, and asked, “Do you know what the people in the internal division are saying about you?”

Xia Fei shook his head. “No clue. To be honest, other than you two, I don’t really know any other cadets or instructors in the internal division.”

Moon Song laughed. “Of course. The cadets in the Stygian Training Center take a break at the resting lounge every day, so they’re bound to meet someone there, but you on the other hand only spend three hours in the training room; once your time is up, you leave.”

Xia Fei simply smiled, not elaborating any further. Three hours of training was already enough. Xia Fei had done a few experiments with some sophisticated human analysis equipment. After three hours in the training center, the drug concentration would decrease by seven hundred units an hour, a further five hundred and fifty units every hour from the fourth hour, and only three hundred units after six hours.

This meant that three hours was the most productive, and the benefits would rapidly decrease over time. If Xia Fei stayed in the training room for twenty-four hours, he would only gain five thousand or so units compared to three hours of stay; this was not mentioning the other side effects of the training room.

Many cadets experienced temporary blindness or shock; some even developed acne on their backs that could only be removed via surgery.

Although nobody talked about it, everyone knew it in their hearts that these were all side effects from staying long in the Stygian Training Center. Moreover, these were the obvious side effects; who knew what other undetected side effects they could have been secretly afflicted with?

Risk and return were always in balance; if one wanted to improve quickly, they must be able to accept the risks.

Xia Fei never cared about these as he would never sit around doing nothing outside of his training. Strength was a must for warriors, but so were machines and electronics. Xia Fei treated all skills equally, improving all of them at the same time, not leaving one be.

In the past few days, he had felt that his Beast Spirit Codex was at the threshold of breaking through to the third stage. It was as if there was a door stopping Xia Fei that was a gentle push away from opening; it was just that he had not yet discovered how to open it.

“Xia Fei, you’re a speed ability user, Chen Dong, you’re a nature ability user, and as for me, I’m an illusion ability user. It would be good if we three cooperate,” suggested Moon Song.

Xia Fei had long known of Moon Song’s ability, but he had never seen her use it. Illusion ability users could use their brain waves to induce hallucination in their enemies, interfering with their judgment, even possibly causing them to break down or commit suicide from the terror. It was an incredibly rare support type of ability.

These illusion abilities were not that effective when used solo and were more suited when coordinating with a team. Xia Fei was a speed ability user, possessing lightning-fast speed and perception, making him a suitable fit to be the team scout. Chen Dong’s aggressive nature combat ability was best suited to the role of a team’s main offense. The three of them combined would definitely make a great team that could strike fear in their enemies.

If their team of speed and nature ability users with the support of an illusion ability was able to skillfully cooperate with each other, they could even compete against the Glorious Thirteen. Unfortunately, two of the Glorious Thirteen had disappeared in that space station incident, with not even their bodies found. The Endaro Star Region had, therefore, lost Glorious Thirteen from then onward.

The only survivor of the group, Bosingwa, was also incredibly disheartened, retiring from the frontline and staying on the training grounds as an instructor. He was now working in the internal division.

Xia Fei had seen him a few times, but there were few words exchanged between them, and after a polite nod, both of them would go their separate ways.

Xia Fei mulled over Moon Song’s suggestion for a moment and agreed it was decent. With his speed ability for scouting, Chen Dong’s ice ability for offense, and Moon Song’s illusion ability for protection, it was definitely a combination that was hard to come by. Although Moon Song’s illusion ability was not the same as Queiroz’s Quicksand Defense, they were the same in principle, focused on defense while also providing supplementary offensive capabilities.

The Glorious Thirteen also got its fame from a similar trifecta.

“We’ll see when we get there. We are just freshmen, after all, so the instructors may not let us move freely and may even treat it as a group activity, instead. If we’re actually allowed to travel alone, we can try forming a team.”

Xia Fei actually preferred working alone, but he understood that his speed ability by itself was limited. Teamwork was important, especially in a new, dangerous environment. Moreover, Xia Fei had absolute trust in Chen Dong and Moon Song, so he would at least be at ease if he needed to depend on them.

“I don’t have any interest in exploring; my aim is to try and find opportunities to battle other cadets, especially Bai Ye and Ya Han. Ya Han is apparently the strongest among our generation of recruits, so I’ve been itching to fight him for a long time. Bai Ye, on the other hand, had a dispute with Xia Fei during the race, so I’ve been wanting to teach him a lesson.”

“There are many messy rules within the training camp, and combat challenges can be declined. I should have a chance at it now that we are about to go outside,” Chen Dong muttered as they walked; it seemed like he had put a lot of thought into this.

Xia Fei simply laughed. It was not surprising that Chen Dong, with his personality, would think like this. Having been training hard all this while without getting much of a chance to fight someone, he must be all pent-up. Since he finally had a chance to leave the training room, what else would he do other than fight?

Moon Song gave Chen Dong a hard look. “Musclehead, are you going to die if you don’t fight? Whatever. Xia Fei and I can form a team, too, right?”

At the same time, Moon Song glanced at Xia Fei with a hint of a pleasant surprise.

Xia Fei waved his hand. “We still don’t know any of the specifics. I’m of the mind that we should wait; it’s not too late to figure out our strategy once we get a better understanding of what to expect.”

“Xia Fei.” Moon Song crossed her arms, then glared at him. “Do you not want to team up with this lady?”

Xia Fei was left speechless. Since Moon Song had already started referring to herself as ‘this lady’ at such a young age, he felt that he should steer clear of this tigress.

After chatting for a while longer, the Gaian Catalyst-class destroyer slowly appeared from afar and descended to land.

Bosingwa, Ye Xiaohan, and two other internal division instructors exited the ship, all wearing combat uniforms and armed with weapons, all of them looking particularly stern as they stood there.

After confirming everyone’s identity, the forty or so cadets boarded the ship.

The destroyer was much more spacious than a frigate and still felt that way even after all of them had boarded.

Xia Fei habitually looked around the ship to check out its equipment.

From the outside, the Catalyst-class destroyer seemed incredibly average, but inside, it was equipped with a high-capacity reactor and a large engine that Xia Fei did not recognize.

“Is this ship perhaps about to engage in ultra-long-distance travel? Why else will it need such large-scale equipment, and what model is this engine?” wondered Xia Fei.

Xia Fei, Moon Song, and Chen Dong sat down on a sofa in a corner. Ye Xiaohan then handed everyone a pair of virtual reality glasses so that they could view whatever they wanted to pass time.

“This ruin exploration involves the core secrets of the Union, so everyone has to sign a non-disclosure agreement. You can’t reveal anything that happens in the ruins,” Bosingwa said in a deep voice; it appeared that he was leading this operation.

The agreement was an electronic one; they just had to provide their fingerprints using the projected screen. After everyone had signed their NDAs, the Catalyst-class destroyer slowly took off as they headed toward the ruins.