Chapter 246 - 568-579

Chapter 568: The Hidden Realm's 5th Layer

"Relax. Once the realm is opened you won't be left behind!"

Wen Hai only half-heartedly took in Hong Lie's words. Deep down, he was getting even more nervous.

He did not dare say anything about it and could only hope that Hong Lie would not break his promise.

At this moment, he noticed a small black dot appearing in the sky's horizon.

"Boss! We've got incoming!"

A gunner peered through his long-distance sights and quickly locked onto the incoming black object. They soon recognized what was approaching.

"It's a Sky Dweller hover copter flying at low altitude!"

The Sky Dweller was well known for its speed, but it was not a major threat when it came to combat. The creation of the aircraft, which was an awe inspiring behemoth of the skies, was second to none when compared to other kinds of machines.

Just as the gunner finished speaking, he was surprised upon realization that this hover copter was flying directly toward them.

This little hover copter sure had some guts!

"Boss, should we give them a warning?" The gunner asked.

Hong Lie paused for a moment before quickly saying, "No, he's here!"

As for who 'him' was? Hong Lie did not say and everyone immediately went on high alert.

Looking at the hover copter as it got closer, those on the ground began to feel an odd, indescribable sensation.

"I thought President Qin would be bringing a modified aircraft. I've heard they're equipped with energy cannons like the Floating City!"

"Yeah, it's just a small hover copter!"

"Maybe it's to show that he's friendly?"

The hover copter finally landed while the crowd was buzzing with discussion. The moment it touched the ground, all discussion faded away.

Qin Feng and Bai Li got out of the hover copter.

He then proceeded to store the hover copter inside his spatial rune equipment. This meant that Qin Feng only brought two people here.

This moment caused even Hong Lie to feel a little impressed by Qin Feng's boldness.

He had killed Hong Lie's men and although he was cooperating now, there's a chance that Hong Lie might suddenly change his mind and decide to take him down. Qin Feng's side only had two people while Hong Lie's side had one B-tier, ten C-tiers and forty to fifty more D-tiers!

'Does this Qin Feng actually have that much confidence in himself? Maybe it's overconfidence?' Hong Lie guessed in his mind but maintained a welcoming posture.

Regardless of what it was, Hong Lie had no plans to drop all cordiality.

"Did you wait for long?" Qin Feng asked, nodding.

"Ha, no no, we've just arrived. Let's go together!"

"Okay, together!"

The two did not delay with small talk either.

Wen Hai quickly organized his people and opened up the hidden realm.

Qin Feng could feel dark runes floating around in his surroundings and he could just about detect a hazy barrier forming into view.

Even if they did not remove this barrier, Qin Feng could still feel the dark runes around him. After all, it was an old trick he knew.

When the realm was exposed, it did not look very big. As the barrier disappeared, it revealed a staircase leading down into the void. There were four platforms in total and he could see the first to fourth level.

"President Qin, let's go!"

"Let's."

When they stepped onto the beginning platform, there were some raised podiums. It looked like those used to have items on them. Whatever they used to carry, they were no longer there.

Qin Feng did not care much about it. The Red Sun Corp had gotten to this hidden realm before, so it was natural that they would have taken things away.

Qin Feng took point and quickly reached the 4th platform. That was where he saw a large gate barrier.

On this gate there was a dent like an upside down triangle, similar to the Godwill Atlas' impression.

He took out the Godwill Atlas and manipulated it with his consciousness, causing it to fly out and enter this indentation. It fit like a glove, as if it was always meant to be there.

Woom woom woom.

Energy burst out from the gate barrier and quickly entered the Godwill Atlas. Soon, the barrier disappeared!

Qin Feng inspected the Godwill Atlas and realized that its energy had increased, speeding up its consciousness cultivation and had gotten more powerful.

"Haha, talk about twice the fortune! The jade cloak was only an E-tier item. Now it has reached C-tier, very fitting for President Qin's use!" Hong Lie said.

"Indeed!" Qin Feng put the Godwill Atlas away and followed the rest into the new level.

The 5th Level.

Unsurprisingly it contained all sorts of C-tier materials. Seal spirit herbs, beast king energy crystal cores and even some special spatial rune equipment. While their refinement method was different and seemed a little strange but it did not hinder their power.

The C-tiers of the Red Sun Corp were all very excited.

"What a great haul, President Qin, I'll get someone to audit this immediately!"

"Right!"

Qin Feng nodded but he did not care about these. So what if it was C-tier equipment? He already had the Sacred Armor, why would these matter?

His attention was drawn toward the 6th level. If they could open up that level, maybe it would have B-tier equipment. Regardless of its price or future use, such a thought made Qin Feng excited at the prospect.

As if seeing through Qin Feng's plan, Hong Lie obviously dropped his plans of sharing a 40 percent split.

"Thank you so much President Qin, everything has been accounted for!"

Hong Lie put the things his subordinates handed over to him and passed it onto Qin Feng after putting them into a spatial rune equipment.

Qin Feng gave it a passing glance and nodded. His eyes were still mostly glued to the 6th level's barrier. "This realm has another level. Interesting, I wonder how many levels it actually has?"

"Haha, I too want to find out, but based on the data we've previously collected. It looks like it only has 6th levels but I won't trouble you with this!"

"Don't worry, President Hong. I don't have any ulterior motives, I mean I'm young and I recently awakened. There aren't a lot of hidden realms I've seen before. If you don't mind I'd like to stay behind and watch so I can increase my knowledge!"

With how Qin Feng put it, Hong Lie could not just drive him away. Qin Feng did say that he had no ulterior motives, whether or not it was true was up to Hong Lie to believe.

"Very well. Then I suppose you can give me some advice!"

Hong Lie was only saying this to be polite of course.

When they approached the barrier, a crystal pillar materialized in front of them.

"What is that?" Hong Lie asked

Wen Hai had studied this realm extensively and hurriedly stepped forward to observe it. The others brainstormed suggestions but none of their theories stuck and they could not find out what purpose the pillar served.

"Maybe it's just a roadblock? We can try chopping it down?" Wen Hai thought that it was something they could just break through with force!

"I suggest we don't do that!" Qin Feng warned apathetically.

Chapter 569: Raising The Price

Qin Feng pointed toward the crystal pillar and said, "That's a kind of consciousness crystal. You need to attack it with consciousness to be effective. If ancient warriors or another kind of attack hits it, then the energy stored inside would fire back toward the attacker!"

Wen Hai was startled and quickly took a step back.

Hong Lie was not sure if this was true or not when he heard it, but they would soon find out after some experimenting!

"Haha, thank you President Qin. If that gets opened up then you'll be rewarded for helping out!"

Whatever these rewards were, Hong Lie did not specify but it would not be like the previously agreed 40-60 percent split, at most it would probably be just a few billions or so.

Qin Feng did not seem to mind, he was just going to sit back and enjoy the show.

He could remember that these kinds of crystals were used to create reflective shields and they were a godsend against ultra beasts that only used their physical strength. With these shields, their wielders were invincible in those situations.

However, these crystals were rare and could be mined conventionally.

At this moment, Qin Feng impishly glanced at Hong Lie whose gaze swept through his men until he was pointing at a fire ability user, "You go ahead and try!"

Hong Lie had ten C-tiers under him. Six ancient warriors, two gunners and two ability users. The fire ability user was not the strongest one and Hong Lie was only using him as a test subject.

"Yes, Sir!" The fire ability user nodded and walked a couple of steps forward. He stared at the crystal as he mobilized his consciousness before attacking.

It was a simple consciousness based attack, but the people around him could feel a strong wind kick up in front of the ability user. It carried no runes but a terrifying force that rushed toward the crystal's surface.

The translucent appearance of the crystal pillar made it look like it was extremely fragile. Consciousness attacks were best used against living creatures, but if one had a strong enough consciousness, they could blast away crystals, solid rocks even, with ease using the amount of pressure they could put out.

That was why the fire ability user was full of confidence!

Soon something strange began to happen to the crystal pillar. As the consciousness hit the crystal, the cylindrical object began to glow. It was not the whole thing that was glowing, only a portion of its lower half was and the glow was slowly moving up and disappeared when it reached five centimeters!

The pillar was about one meter in diameter and five meters in height. What good was a mere 5 centimeters?

The ability user was completely stunned.

He reacted quickly and said, "Boss, there's a reaction but the previous idea was wrong. The crystal needs to be trickle fed, I'll try again!"

"Hmph!" Hong Lie nodded in response.

The ability user mobilized his consciousness again, but this time instead of kicking up a violent blast he slowly trickled his power into the crystal.

The crystal began to glow again!

Five centimeters, ten centimeters…

Twenty centimeters, fifty centimeters…

The ability user began to turn pale, his consciousness had reached its limits and he was starting to dry up!

There was no way to go on, the ability user could only give up.

"Sir…" Even if he was a C-tier in front of his superior, he could not help himself from revealing a perturbed expression.

"It's fine! Don't force yourself!" Hong Lie had a foul expression on his face but he did not push the blame on him. His subordinate had already done his best.

"Sir, I'll go this time!" The other ability user spoke up. He did not wait for Hong Lie's approval and unleashed his consciousness.

At this point, the light from the pillar had already dimmed. When the consciousness was released, the pillar began to light up again but this time from the bottom once more.

This was when the ability user's confident expression began to change.

He was known to be twice as strong as the other ability user that was called up.

It did not take very long for the pillar to light up to about seventy centimeters before it stopped moving.

"What…" The ability user was embarrassed by this.

"Enough!" Hong Lie already looked very annoyed. He glanced over at the two gunners who responded by lowering their heads. There was no point, gunners were not as strong as ability users when it came to the consciousness department.

He glowered before walking toward the pillar, raising a hand to strike it with internal force

Then something shocking happened as the pillar flashed with light brighter than the glow that happened when the two ability users were interacting with it. The light condensed into a beam and shot out at Hong Lie.

This happened way too quickly. Everyone could feel that this beam was just as strong as the B-tier Hong Lie.

Color drained from Hong Lie's face.

Boom!

Hong Lie instinctively activated his internal force shield to protect himself, but his defense was instantly broken through, shattering his shielding.

"Ah!" Hong Lie cried out, trying to activate his internal defenses again but the consciousness had already touched him. He suddenly felt very dizzy, his body refusing to respond properly as he was left mostly paralyzed.

'Uh oh!' Hong Lie thought.

"The president!"

"Quick! Protect the president!"

The people of the Red Sun Corp cried out. But it was too late!

All of a sudden, a wave of consciousness rushed through the air!

Qin Feng made his move!

When this burst of consciousness was released, it collided with the energy that was going after Hong Lie. The two energies connected before canceling each other out.

Hong Lie stumbled a few steps backward and almost fell to the ground.

Qin Feng smiled as he approached Hong Lie and said, "President Hong, even if you didn't believe me you should have asked one of your men to test it. The crystal has the ability to reflect any damage it takes, back to the attacker, depending on whoever is hitting it!"

When Hong Lie was conscious enough he suddenly felt a wave of embarrassment and cursed in his mind, 'This kid deliberately made a fool out of me! He didn't say that before!'

He did not even stop to think that it was his fault for not asking.

By now, Qin Feng decided to not stay and said, "Looks like it'll take awhile before you and your men will be able to break into the 6th level, President Hong. If so, then I won't be staying, Fengli still has plenty of things that need my attention!"

Qin Feng was going to just up and leave!

Hong Lie's eyes quickly shifted about and his face was unreadable. He was hesitating.

Soon, he made up his mind and put on a smile before loudly saying, "No, President Qin. Not so fast, I wouldn't be bothering you for nothing. How about you and I work together to enter the 6th level?"

"Oh? I don't know how the contents inside would be distributed." Qin Feng said.

"Of course it will still be a 40-60 percent deal!" Hong Lie said.

Qin Feng shook his head, unimpressed by this deal. "I won't be unreasonable, let's make it 50-50!"

Hong Lie almost swore out loud. Not unreasonable? That was basically raising the price!

Chapter 570: And Open Fire

Hong Lie had been holding onto the rights to this realm for two years and had the mindset of first come first serve. The idea of sharing a 40-60 percent split with Qin Feng would have been ridiculous, but one of his subordinates provoked Qin Feng and it was for a bunch of C-tier items that, in Hong Lie's opinion, seemed more important to Qin Feng but it was not so important for him!

That was why he was so generous when it came to the 5th level.

Now that they had reached the 6th level, there was obviously better loot. Now, Qin Feng wanted a 50-50 split, which meant that Hong Lie would suffer a huge loss.

However, he continued with his previous decision. If he had to look for someone else then he would still have to give them incentives, and maybe haggle for the price of aid. Since Qin Feng was here, might as well let him try.

Maybe Qin Feng would not be able to get it open!

He did not expect Qin Feng to test his limits!

This obviously made him start to hesitate.

The other people were speechless when they saw the power that Qin Feng unleashed. He easily blocked a consciousness attack that would have taken out a B-tier aptitude user. They saw just how powerful he was.

'No wonder Boss called me an idiot. Qin Feng's power is incredibly strong! The boss couldn't have blocked that attack, yet this guy did!'

'Don't know if the president is gonna accept those terms. Doesn't matter to me. If B-tier items appear then they'd be useless for me!' Wen Hai thought to himself while the other C-tiers could not find the words and only continued to watch.

Hong Lie gritted his teeth. "You can go ahead and try, President Qin!"

He had a plan, believing that Qin Feng would not be able to reach the amount the crystal pillar demanded. What was the harm in trying? If he did not make it, then not only would Hong Lie save income, he would also be able to test the limits of the pillar.

"Heh! Fine!"

Qin Feng turned his head to look at the pillar before his consciousness burst out.

That being said, if the consciousness of the two C-tiers that Hong Lie brought along with him were small gentle streams, Qin Feng's consciousness was a vast torrential river.

People could pick up a rumbling sound with their ears, but it was in fact the sound of his consciousness activating.

The crystal pillar began to light up and the light traveled up the pillar at an extremely fast pace.

In the beginning it was only one meter, then two, then three.

In the blink of an eye, it reached all the way to five meters!

Woom!

The pillar shuddered and the barrier behind the crystal pillar began to open and the last level of the hidden realm was revealed to everyone present.

There were so many things piled behind that barrier.

Hong Lie did not know if he should rejoice at the obstacle being cleared or despair at the fact that he just lost half of the loot.

"President Qin, the next generation has really far surpassed us!" Hong Lie said with a hint of jealousy in his tone.

"Just a bit!" Qin Feng humbly responded to the other's compliment, which only aggrieved Hong Lie even more.

Hong Lie's men began to catalogue the items and Qin Feng casually said, "That crystal pillar is quite interesting, why not just give me that as part of the level's loot?"

Hong Lie had calmed down by now and after hearing Qin Feng's words he thought about it for a moment before nodding cheerfully and said, "Of course!"

Wen Hai gave Hong Lie a puzzled look. While the pillar may have been an object used to test any who approached, it definitely was something worthwhile. Maybe it could even be refined into a God Weapon?

But it was Hong Lie's decision and Wen Hai had no say in this whatsoever. He did not bother speaking up either, maybe the president thought that the B-tier materials were more valuable than the crystal pillar.

Soon, when everything was organized and put away, and Qin Feng had obtained his end of the terms, he naturally said his farewell.

"I won't be keeping you then, President Qin!"

Hong Lie smiled and said goodbye.

Qin Feng waved his hand and summoned the Sky Dweller. With Bai Li in tow, they boarded the hover copter.

Hong Lie waved at the hover copter as it flew off and walked toward it at the same time. He unconsciously began to walk faster as he got closer to it.

In less than thirty seconds, Qin Feng's hover copter had taken to the skies but it had not yet disappeared from some people's view. Hong Lie and the others had already entered their aircraft.

As Hong Lie moved forward, the smile on his face gradually disappeared and his eyes filled with murderous intent.

"Lock onto that Sky Dweller with the biggest cannon we've got and open fire!"

All his subordinates were taken aback by this command, but suddenly delighted. They finally understood what their president was doing and why he was so easy to persuade earlier!

"Understood!"

A C-tier gunner quickly started up the aircraft and pointed its main cannon toward the Sky Dweller. The hover copter was still within his range!

The others were standing behind Hong Lie, waiting for the fireworks.

"President, you were secretly plotting against that kid!"

"I told you before, the president doesn't suffer losses. That kid just bit off more than he could chew, just because he's just a bit stronger."

"That's right, though I don't know how he'd feel after getting killed by the machines of his own design!"

Everyone was shocked by Qin Feng's power. In their eyes, he was a powerful threat. Of course they would not like him.

Especially Wen Hai.

Hong Lie let out a chilling laugh, "I was going to be civil but this brat crossed the line! That crystal pillar is priceless, how could it just be exchanged for half a level's worth of loot? Now I want to see just how he can escape from this one!"

Qin Feng was infamously dangerous and Hong Lie would never take him on in a direct confrontation.

But now, he only brought a lone Sky Dweller here, nor did he bring any subordinates or an aircraft.

His fleeing figure seemed so fragile, so unsuspecting. This caused malicious thoughts to spread through Hong Lie's mind.

'This is an opportunity. Qin Feng is a top prodigy. Once I kill him, there's no telling what manner of treasures he's carrying on his person!'

'It's your fault for not being vigilant!'

'A fallen prodigy is just like the meteors that burn up in the atmosphere as they crash to the ground. No more worth than rocks!'

As Hong Lie thought to himself, the aircraft's cannon had been fully charged.

Meanwhile, in the Sky Dweller. Bai Li furrowed her brows. "That Hong Lie guy's planning to kill us!"

Even when he was smiling and waving, there was no hiding that murderous intent in his eyes as he watched them leave.

Qin Feng's eyes narrowed. "I've known the moment that I asked to retrieve the pillar."

"Huh?"

"Yeah, that pillar is a must have thing for the senior members of the Red Sun Corp. To have given it to me so easily would either mean that Hong Lie is stupid or planning something!"

Bai Li could suddenly feel the fluctuations of energy, even from thousands of meters away.

She sneered, "Obviously, President Hong Lie has other plans!"

Qin Feng's lips pulled into a sarcastic smirk. "A man who is never content is like a snake trying to swallow an elephant. I sold President Hong something that has a little flaw. He fell for it. I hope he doesn't regret what he's done!"

At this moment, the main cannon of the aircraft manufactured by the Fengli Organization fired out a terrifying beam of energy. It crossed the distance of a kilometer in an instant and was about to reach Qin Feng's little Sky Dweller!

Chapter 571: Self-inflicted Consequences

Just when Qin Feng's Sky Dweller was about to be blown apart, a transparent shield abruptly extended around the entire hover copter from its tail.

The energy of the shield felt familiar. Qin Feng had used the same energy to unlock the sixth level of the sanctuary earlier.

It was a C5-tier, emperor-class conscious power.

The consciousness shield that had materialized instantly turned the tables before the aircraft's crews from the Red Sun Corp had enough time to react.

The powerful laser reflected once it hit on the shield and traveled straight down to the ground.

The C-tier gunners on the aircraft were astounded.

"Consciousness reflection!" They did not expect it. This meant they had just missed a golden opportunity.

Hong Lie's smile immediately vanished from his face. His eyelids fluttered as he bellowed angrily, "Morons! Why didn't you realize your target, an ability user, is preparing a reflecting shield with that much conscious power? Are you guys stupid?"

His rant did not change the fact in front of them.

The two C-tier gunners were half-ashamed, half-infuriated. Their faces were all red.

They both had infused their shot with consciousness too. Otherwise, they would lose the target once the Sky Dweller switches direction. The laser may be quick but a straight-line trajectory was always easy to evade.

Nonetheless, it never crossed their mind that Qin Feng would change the laser direction with a consciousness shield.

In hindsight, they should have seen it coming. Did Qin Feng not just show the prowess of his consciousness?

This was when the large monitor showed a new development.

After the laser beam was deflected and went straight down, another screen appeared before the laser hit the ground and changed its direction once again.

This time, it was sent right back to where it came from.

Everyone thought about the same name of the skill that had once made a formidable gunner famous.

Consciousness Refraction!

But no one had the time to utter the words.

The attack came in too fast. The refracted laser was right in front of their eyes and their ears were occupied by the deafening alarms.

"Beep! Beep! Beep! Warning! Warning! Dangerous laser waves incoming! The aircraft would automatically enter full defense mode! Insufficient energy! Insufficient energy!"

The main cannon had been charged to its maximum capacity to kill Qin Feng for good. Under the gunners' modification, most defensive power from the aircraft had been exhausted in exchange for the largest possible attack power.

Everyone understood the risk but nobody had raised it up. They did not think it would be an issue and were confident that the attack would destroy Qin Feng's hover copter instantly.

Since there was not any other threat around them, the safety of the aircraft was the least of their concern.

But as the laser beam was coming straight back at them, they had only themselves to blame for not reserving a trick up their sleeves.

It was a horrendous and regrettable decision.

A weak energy shield formed in the last minute around the aircraft but it was shattered almost immediately.

Arghhhh!

The two C-tier gunners shrieked desperately and unleashed their conscious power. Their last-ditch effort to emulate Qin Feng's consciousness reflection had failed miserably.

The laser fired at full power was enough to kill a B-tier aptitude user. How was it possible for two C-tiers to stop it?

Both of their faces turned pale and they dropped from the stool they were sitting on. But that was not the worst to happen to them yet.

The laser beam had penetrated the lower deck of the aircraft. It went all the way and tore the flying warship apart.

The next moment, the laser beam turned into a terrible eruption.

Boom!

The aircraft exploded into a mushroom cloud in that instance. There was no salvation for the aircraft at this scale of the blast.

The after-impact could be felt a few thousand meters away but Qin Feng's Sky Dweller was long gone. He was watching it happen through a surveillance camera.

Qin Feng saved the images and sent them along with the videos he had recorded earlier to He Liming.

Hong Lie had sought He Liming's help to resolve their previous dispute. But now the two of them had once again fallen off.

Qin Feng collected the evidence to prove that he was not the one who betrayed the treaty first, and he thought that He Liming deserved an explanation.

He Liming did not understand why Qin Feng had sent him the video because it did not really bother him whether Qin Feng and Hong Lie were friends or foes.

But he was immediately intrigued after he watched the videos.

In the video, Qin Feng and Hong Lie had apparently reached an agreement but in the end, Hong Lie had eaten his own words and decided to kill Qin Feng.

Though Hong Lie was killed deservingly in the end, it was still a humiliation to He Liming.

"Beep!"

Qin Feng received a call from He Liming not long after. He was expecting it and answered swiftly.

"Mr. Qin, I am sorry for the debacle. If I knew Hong Lie was such a person, I would never have vouched for him!"

Qin Feng smirked and said, "I hope this would clear things up. I am worried that you might think that I didn't honor our agreement after your intervention. I at least owe you an explanation."

"Completely understandable. This is clearly not your fault but Hong Lie's. I will punish him accordingly if he survives. If he is dead, then he has asked for it.

He Liming was on the lower end here. He understood that he now owed Qin Feng an apology.

This was not some debt that he could simply write off by apologizing. He was forever indebted to Qin Feng now! Hong Lie had indirectly set him up this time.

They chatted for a while more and hung up. Qin Feng's fury had calmed down after the call. He looked at the monitor one last time and ordered the crew to sail off.

Amid the blaze, a figure crawled out from the wreckage.

It was Hong Lie! Hong Lie had survived the attack. Though the laser could easily erase any B-tier organism, Hong Lie managed to escape in the last second. The weak shield and his two underlings bought him just enough time.

He used up all his internal force to protect himself. Though he lived, the attack had nonetheless damaged his dantian and backtracked his tier by two levels.

Chapter 572: A Cold Body

It was a terrible price to pay.

"Qin Feng!!" Hatred flashed past his eyes, but it could not diminish the fear in it.

***

Qin Feng learned that Hong Lie was still alive a few days after he returned to Fengli.

It was not that he did not think of going out there and finishing the job. However, there was much more to consider now that he was in a different position.

Hong Lie, being a B-tier aptitude user, had a substantial influence as an organization president in the northern region. If he were killed, it would implicate those working under him greatly.

Qin Feng did not wish to be too assertive. This would not be good for teamwork.

Well… The word teamwork put a sarcastic smile on Qin Feng's face.

Besides, Hong Lie would at least take half a year to recover from the injury he had sustained this time. He would not dare to provoke Qin Feng in such a state.

Thus, Hong Lie was not Qin Feng's immediate concern now. He had his mind occupied on another matter.

"Are you sure you got nothing?"

"Well, it's not that I don't believe you. But it's just all too odd!"

"Alright, please continue to keep your eyes open."

"Goodbye."

Qin Feng furrowed his brows after hanging up. The phone call he had made was to ask help from Dragon Capital to search for the Z Organization. He did not expect them to turn up empty handed.

A few thoughts sprung into Qin Feng's mind rapidly.

He had not heard of such an organization before he was reborn but mutant experiments carried out by the Dark Coalition had been running rampant recently. Qin Feng clearly remembered the special tattoo on its member, as well as the lab at Fu City and the catastrophe at Shadong.

Suddenly, he had an idea.

'Perhaps I have been overestimating them? Though it's easy for Dragon Capital to investigate the underground organization, their sights are usually set on those B-tiers or above! The Z Organization might not have grown into that just yet. They could be a dangerous force in the future, but right now, they are probably just a small faction waiting for the right time to strike.'

Qin Feng could not shake the Z Organization off his mind ever since he had been reborn. He trusted his own instincts and knew that he must find them.

He contemplated and decided to ask for He Liming's help. This time, he wanted them to narrow down the search and focus solely on the north.

In less than half a day, He Liming brought him the news Qin Feng wanted. He Liming had been extremely helpful after the incident with Hong Lie.

"Governor Qin, I have a few intel regarding the underground organization that may be useful to you." He Liming sent him several documents not long after.

Qin Feng opened it and smiled satisfyingly.

"So, they are hiding in Xue Yuan all this while?"

"I believe so. Numerous organizations from the Dark Coalition have been active around the area recently. Fights broke off sparsely but did not alert the Human Alliance since that place is a lawless zone, to begin with. But they have indeed grown more arrogant recently by openly practicing unethical experimental trials on human subjects." He Liming explained to Qin Feng while displaying a friendly smile. "Are these people and information the ones you are looking for?"

"It's more than I have asked for. Thanks a lot, General He. This is extremely important, to me at least."

"Don't worry about it."

"Are you still overseeing the rebuild of Beihua? I have a small business going on there. I will ask someone to send you a small gift."

"Sure, sure! Thank you!"

They ended the conversation on a high note. Qin Feng then arranged for someone to deliver the gift to He Liming's residence. It was just a small gaea crystal the size of a cobblestone. However, this material was getting rarer and rarer now. Even Xu Qing had been exploring the crystal mine for months now, indicating just how valuable the crystal had become.

He Liming did not have otherworldly strength but Qin Feng was fond of his demeanor and well-established network.

'Perhaps I can recruit He Liming under my wing in the future.'

He Liming would be baffled if he knew what Qin Feng was thinking. A C-tier was plotting to have a B-tier as his future subordinate. Qin Feng was probably the only one with such an ambitious vision.

Of course, Qin Feng did not act too imprudently. His interest now was entirely on the new information He Liming had supplied him.

The organization currently resides in Xue Yuan State. They had been running multiple illegal experiments there to mutate human subjects, who were originally aptitude users of the Human Alliance.

'Xue Yuan is an even poorer place than the Sun cities.'

But when Qin Feng thought about the giant beast that had given birth to Bai Li, things seemed to be more complex than he thought.

'An elect that could capture such a powerful spatial monster would not be just a random John Doe living in such a slump.'

Besides, this Z Organization had been a little too resourceful, judging by how seamless their infiltration was into the Three Cities along the Sun, the Four Cities of North Sea, and now Xue Yuan state.

'It's best for me to go and check this out myself.'

Qin Feng departed immediately with little hesitation.

***

It was the end of December. The more northern he went, the chiller it got. In Xue Yuan, half of the time in a year was spent in a snowy season.

Even the convenient hover copter could hardly enter this place.

"Such an ideal place to hide the filth. It's so white on the surface but underneath it, everything is pitch black," Bai Li lamented softly. She was staring outside the windows with brooding eyes.

At the same time, numerous people outside the car were trying to peek in.

"Sigh. A blizzard would cover up all the tracks. Pretty convenient for them." Qin Feng resonated with Bai Li's words and scanned the surroundings.

They had arrived in a very poor colony. In comparison, this place was even worse than in Han Town. Qin Feng did not see any stabilizer around.

What was this nonsense?

Qin Feng also did not find any F-tier aptitude users in the crowd. Most of them were the poorest of the poor. The few rare G-tier aptitude users had become the indisputable overlord in this town.

It was more like a village built by refugees rather than a colony.

There were only two cities in Xue Yuan state. One was known as Xue Yuan city, the other Winter Fort. The two cities were linked by a central highway. This highway was vital for Xue Yuan state as it was the only way the state was connected to the outer world. As such, it had unfortunately become a robbery hotspot targeted by the Dark Coalition.

Eventually, aptitude users from the dark force and humans abducted by them from Xue Yuan or other places began to gather around the highway and form a village.

This was the third village they had passed through.

Outside the window, a strong man hauled a shabby boy passed their hover craft. The sign of life had forgone the kid and a layer of frost could be seen on his face.

The kid was dead. He had been killed by the merciless cold.

Chapter 573: An Unforgiving Land

The man was ecstatic. He had probably found his lunch for today.

Qin Feng's eyes grew colder than the blizzard currently ravaging the village.

It had been a while since Qin Feng last witnessed such a cruel scene.

He had long lost touch with the bottom class of the society after rising through the ranks meteorically in this second life.

The only resolve these foragers in the wild had in order to survive, when there was no food during the winter, was cannibalism.

There was no disgust or protest raised. People around here had gotten used to such a scene.

More so, they were actually envying the guy. He had found a few kilos of meat to feed himself in the next few days.

Qin Feng remained emotionless and stopped his car in front of a hostel.

The high-class Silver Bolt was close to a mythical presence to the villagers. They could not move their eyes away from the car as soon as it entered the area.

Moreover, a few of them were already plotting to steal the hovercraft once Qin Feng had entered the hostel. They would do it even if it meant that they have to lift it with bare hands.

Too bad for them, the car immediately vanished in front of Qin Feng after he lifted his hand.

"Aptitude user?"

"He has spatial equipment that could fit in a hovercraft?! How big would that be?"

"Where did this elect come from?"

Everyone fixed their sights on Qin Feng and Bai Li. The two were both wearing a thick windbreaker with their faces hidden under a scarf and hat. They did not see any aptitude user badges on them.

Qin Feng purposely hid his badge to avoid unnecessary attention. With his young look and concealed aura, he looked at best an E-tier aptitude user.

But this was already frightening enough to a commoner.

Qin Feng and Bai Li stepped into the hostel. The first floor was a restaurant but there were no customers there.

They walked to the counter and saw a fortyish lady curled behind the front desk. She was very skinny and looked pale. Qin Feng reckoned she probably weighed less than eighty pounds.

Qin Feng frowned and said, "I need a room."

The lady looked up sheepishly. It was a troubling sight that made people uncomfortable.

"Outsiders? Do you have food?" The owner asked.

Qin Feng nodded. A lot of places, especially rural areas, were still practicing the barter system. "How much is it?"

"Ten-kilogram rice or twenty-pound frozen meat for one night."

Qin Feng took out a sealed bag. It was sophisticatedly made and the brand on it read "Feng Li".

It was a pack of 10 kg of rice produced by Fengli Cty.

The lady owner was baffled as she had never seen such a beautifully packaged food in her entire life. She studied the package closely and managed to find the opening after a while. Revealed in her eyes was appetizing white rice instead of the rotting, second-grade product mixed with rocks she usually received.

She immediately put on a smile and resealed the package. She hid the rice carefully under the desk and took out a set of keys, then led Qin Feng and Bai Li up to the second floor.

Qin Feng was surprised to see that the place was still using old-fashioned keys instead of a key card.

Nevertheless, the room was okay considering how under-developed this place is. The warmth of the room made them slightly more comfortable than when they were outside.

Of course, Qin Feng would not use the things prepared by the owner. Bai Li had already taken out and changed the bedsheet.

The owner left them quickly. She probably could not wait to get a taste of the delicious rice from Fengli.

"Well, there goes my informant," Qin Feng said.

Bai Li removed the scarf and unveiled her beautiful face. "Perhaps it would be better once we get into the city. We can go to the bounty hunter club and gather information there."

"Hmm. You are probably right. Let's rest for a while before we depart again."

Though the weather had minimal effect on them, they had not rested well in the past two days. They had been on the road for an extended period of time and the cramped space of the hovercraft hardly provided any comfort.

But before he got to lie down, a lady's shriek and a man's cursing noise was heard from downstairs. Qin Feng furrowed his brows impatiently. Just as he wanted to block off the noise with his consciousness, he heard hurried footsteps approaching from the corridor.

Knock! Knock! Knock!

Qin Feng held Bai Li down. "I will answer the door." He opened the door and saw a weathered man at the door. He was overdoing his flattering smile.

"Do you wish to have dinner?"

Qin Feng looked at him coldly. "Are you the owner?"

"Yes, yes. I am the owner of this place," The person answered quickly.

Qin Feng snorted and asked, "What dinner do you serve here?"

"We have braised pork, ribs…"

"Braised what?"

"Pork!"

Qin Feng was enraged and spoke grimly, "I believe you are using human meat instead of pork meat!"

The middle-aged man was the guy Qin Feng had seen dragging a boy's corpse earlier.

Qin Feng did not care how they lived their life but he could not tolerate them trying to deceive him.

They must have lived for too long!

He released some of his internal power and the minute amount was enough to terrify the commoner in front of him.

The guy felt the pressure and knelt down involuntarily. He asked for mercy, "Sorry! Please forgive me!"

Qin Feng kicked the man and he was sent flying to the staircase at the end of the corridor. He might not die immediately but would not live past three days.

Qin Feng did not immediately kill the man because he did not want trouble. He would be long gone by the time the man was dead.

The so-called owner held his belly in pain and ran down the stairs hastily.

Qin Feng and Bai Li managed to get some good sleep after that.

The owner dared not show up the next day. Only the lady owner came out and saw them out with a smile. She had clearly been beaten and one of her front teeth was gone. It was hard not to pity her.

'People here are as unforgiving as the harsh environment!' Qin Feng sympathized with them but this is their reality. The choice was not on them to be born in this abysmal era.

Just when they were about to leave, a series of quakes could be felt.

'Mutated beast?' Qin Feng tensed up.

Chapter 574: I Will Spare Your Life

His doubt was made clear once Qin Feng expanded his consciousness.

He could "see" what had caused the commotion.

There were a total of twelve aptitude users outside. All of them are gunners.

The leader was an F-tier while the others were G-tier. They were all riding on a ferocious beast found only in Xue Yuan—Snow Bear.

The beast resembled the wolf Qin Feng had encountered in Chengbei before.

The giant Snow Bear was three-meter tall when standing straight. They still measured about one and a half meters even when they were crawling on four feet.

The bear had probably either been domesticated or contracted. They leaned down obediently with a heavy saddle placed on their backs.

The aptitude users must have ridden on these bears to move around the snowy forest. This might be more convenient and faster than a normal car. But it was still incomparable to a hovercraft.

It was possibly the most common transportation in this state.

This group had a wind mask on and uniformly wore a custom-made white battle suit. They appeared to be well-trained armed troops.

All the villagers went into hiding as soon as the troop arrived.

"Eh?" Qin Feng scanned them with his consciousness and finally "saw" the communicator exposed on one of the soldier's cuffs.

"People from the Dark Coalition!"

The communicator of the Dark Coalition was easily distinguishable from that of the Human Alliance.

No wonder the villagers hid in panic.

Qin Feng, in contrast to those villagers, was happy with their arrivals. He finally picked on the trail of the Dark Coalition after so many days.

These low-tier aptitude users were unaware of Qin Feng's powerful consciousness and walked brazenly into his vision.

"Crap, it's the War Bear!"

"Hei Xiong* is here. Hide, quickly!"

"Dang it! Why are they here again so soon? I thought they had just come five days ago?"

"To the cellar, quick!" The villagers bolted.

Even though there were F-tier or G-tier aptitude users in this village, none of them would stand up and fight for the people. It was ridiculous to Qin Feng how a village of three thousand people had submitted to fear of a mere twelve men.

It was pathetic. Qin Feng had no sympathy for those who refused to fight for themselves.

The leading man opened up his wind mask. He laughed hideously as he saw that the villagers were running and hiding.

"Where are you guys running to? Hand over ten women now and I will leave in peace. Besides, surrender any valuables you have and don't try to hide it. You will be doomed if I am to find it out myself."

Qin Feng could feel the unrest among the villagers. Those families with female members were especially terrified.

"Haha! How rude for leaving me out here in the cold. If nobody comes out, I will ask my hungry bear here to go in and drag you all out one by one instead!"

Hei Xiong tapped the Snow Bear beside him. The Snow Bear roared in response, displaying the munched flesh still remaining in its mouth.

It could be any type of meat. But in the eyes of the freaked out villagers, those were most probably human fleshes.

Amid the silence, a person finally picked up enough courage and walked out. The person was a G8-tier aptitude user.

"Master Hei Xiong, please at least give us some time to fulfill your demand. Why don't you go to Li Qi's shop and rest while we are preparing?"

"Ah! Zhang Chuan! It's you. You are a smart guy. Why don't you come and work for me? I guarantee it will be ten times better than staying in this sh*thole!" Hei Xiong peeked at the G8-tier aptitude user.

The aptitude user called Zhang Chuan was terrified and replied timidly, "This lifestyle suits me more. I have little ambition and am content as long as I have enough to feed myself. This way, Master Hei Xiong."

"Haha. Indeed, what else could you dream for in this slum? What a pity that you are always the one getting scolded and mocked at!"

Zhang Chuan did not say anything but grimaced. 'Aren't you the main source of my misery?'

Led by Zhang Chuan, they walked down the main road and soon arrived at the only hostel in town. This was where Qin Feng lived.

Li Qi was the owner of this hostel but unfortunately for him, he would be unable to welcome his customers today.

As they approached the hostel, an urgent chirping sound was suddenly heard from Hei Xiong's waist.

Hei Xiong and the others were baffled. They had never heard and did not expect the little thing to ever shrill so desperately.

The little creature hanging on Hei Xiong's waist was a unique beast. It was difficult to catch and was known as Silverthread Mouse. The small beast was completely white with a silver line running down its spine.

This mouse was extremely weak but had been surviving the unforgiving frost plain for decades. They were extremely sensitive to powerful beasts and would shrill when they sense one nearby, including the remains of a dead beast.

Hence, this mouse could be used to detect danger in the wild or search for valuable beast materials in a settlement.

Hei Xiong was excited by the mouse's edginess. "Well, well, well! It seems there's some good stuff in this place after all!" Hei Xiong stepped into the hostel as he spoke and saw Qin Feng and Bai Li in there.

"Chirp! Chirp! Chirp!" The Silverthread Mouse shrilled even louder. The little mate was terrified.

Bai Li was intrigued and looked at the mouse curiously. The mouse inside the cage could not bear the look and dropped dead instantly.

It had been frightened to death.

The Silverthread Mouse was hardly a G-tier beast. It had little power but was extremely sensitive to it. The mental shock it suffered locking sights with a C6-tier beast emperor was understandable.

But Hei Xiong paid little attention to the miserable fate of his little pet. He, too, could barely move when he saw Bai Li.

Bai Li did not belong to this dump.

She had long silver hair that ran down to her shoulder, with a small red hat lying tidily on top of it. There was a white scarf wrapped around a neck. She was wearing a trendy coat of unknown materials. Her hands and feet were covered with leather gloves and boots, respectively. Coupled that with her beautiful face, it made her look like a painted figure rather than a real person.

Such graceful appearance and demeanor were hard to resist, especially to a male.

"Hmph!" Qin Feng snorted and stood in front of Bai Li. This was clearly to obstruct Hei Xiong's line of sight.

Hei Xiong stared at Qin Feng angrily for his provocative action. He measured Qin Feng's attire and recalled the mouse's desperate shrill from earlier. "Yo, a visitor from outside?"

"None of your business,' Qin Feng answered coldly.

Hei Xiong was even more infuriated.

"Boy, know your place. Surrender your valuables now and I will spare your pitiful life. You have your beautiful girlfriend over there to thank for my generosity."

*Translator Note: Hei Xiong (黑熊) in Chinese means black bear.

Chapter 575: Warming Up

"Ah!" Qin Feng gave him an enigmatic smile and raised his chest like he was facing grave danger. "Are you from the Dark Coalition? Don't you dare put your filthy hands on my girlfriend!"

Qin Feng pumped his fist like an inexperienced adolescent.

Hei Xiong was amused and laughed mockingly.

Zhang Chuan was anxious but he could not use telepathy to warn Qin Feng. He could only alert Qin Feng quietly by blinking his eyes repeatedly.

Qin Feng had of course seen it but ignored him. This made Zhang Chuan even more nervous.

"Master Hei Xiong, judging by their outfit, they perhaps come from a large city or a powerful backing. Better not to be too harsh on them," Zhang Chuan advised.

"Powerful backing? What's their deal coming to this small place then? I don't care who the hell his father is. This is my place and anyone coming here must bow to me!"

Hei Xiong pushed Zhang Chuan away with his huge hand. His strength was greater than expected.

Indeed, Hei Xiong was a gunner that should have little physicality.

Nonetheless, though most resources in this state were hidden underneath the thick snow, it was still possible to improve drastically if one could dig it out. Over the years, Hei Xiong had managed to loot many materials either from the wild or robbed from the villagers. Hence, he was able to bulk up and he was pretty proud of it.

All of a sudden, the lady owner suddenly yelled, "Mater Hei Xiong, this kid is indeed rich. He paid yesterday's fees with ten kilograms of well-refined rice!"

Bai Li looked at the lady owner puzzlingly, "Why did you say that?"

Bai Li did not understand the lady owner's logic but Qin Feng knew the reason behind it. An unfortunate person would sometimes develop an abominable side.

"Don't need to be bothered by her," Qin Feng told Bai Li through their mental link.

Qin Feng knew well that the lady held a grudge against them because she was beaten up for hiding the rice from Li Qi. She did not think she did anything wrong so the outlet of her hatred naturally fell on Qin Feng and Bai Li.

Besides, she wished to please Hei Xiong, hoping that the latter might reward her for the information she had given voluntarily.

It was a laughable thought. A commoner would never understand the world of aptitude users.

Hei Xiong never had an interest in his rice. His aim was on the treasure Qin Feng might have—the one that had the Silverthread Mouse tremble and chirp in fear. That was the reason Hei Xiong was being so oppressive. Even Bai Li was only a supplementary reward to him.

"Stop bull-sh*tting. Let me see whether your bones are as tough as your words!"

Hei Xiong stepped forward as he spoke and punched Qin Feng on the face.

Qin Feng evaded dexterously. Hei Xiong's punches were aggressive but it could not catch Qin Feng at all. He threw his punches more desperately and his face turned grimmer.

"F*ck this!" Hei Xiong cursed and drew his gun. The black nozzle aimed right at Qin Feng. "Evade this, mother*cker!"

A shot was fired from the nozzle.

Boom!

The loud gun noise shook the entire village. Everyone was hiding in the dark but they shared the grieve. Another soul had fallen to the gun of the cruel bear.

Unbeknownst to them, nobody was killed.

In the hostel, Qin Feng had his palm raised up. A distorted bullet was stopped short in between his index and middle fingers. It was the bullet shot by Hei Xiong.

Qin Feng then spun his fingers slightly and the bullets instantly turned into ashes.

Everyone on the scene was flabbergasted.

Qin Feng stopped his faking and returned to his calm, composed self. His eyes were sharp and his posture no longer looked tensed or threatened. The imposing aura around him as an elect was at full display.

"That was a good warm-up," Qin Feng said leisurely.

Warm-up? He was only warming up?

Hei Xiong suddenly realized this would not end up good for him.

Catching a bullet with bare hands and disseminating it with only a slight twitch were obviously skills that belonged only to an elite ancient warrior.

"What are you saying? Who are you?"

Hei Xiong was stuttering out of distress.

Qin Feng smiled. "Me? I am just a passerby."

That was not the answer Hei Xiong was expecting. He was asking for Qin Feng's identity and tier.

Obviously, Qin Feng would not tell him.

At the same time, Qin Feng flicked his finger and a dark flame promptly appeared. The fire caught on Hei Xiong instantly.

"Ability user!" Hei Xiong exclaimed as Zhang Chuan watched in terror. The other gunners were terrified and backed off.

These gunners were, in fact, lousy fighters. They were only slightly better than the commoners after receiving the awakening shot. They used guns and contracted beasts to oppress the weak but did not actually have much battle experiences.

Right now, they were traumatized by Qin Feng's fire. None of them took out their guns to retaliate.

The flame was small at first but burned ferociously once it caught onto Hei Xiong.

Poof! Hei Xiong was wrapped in a blaze and wailed in horror. He tried to tap out the fire but to no avail.

"Get out of my way!" Hei Xiong pushed his comrades away and rushed out of the hostel frantically. He rolled on the snow but was still unable to put out the fire.

It was Qin Feng's hellfire, after all. It would not go away this easily

The remaining gunners stared at Qin Feng warily. They bolted for the main door as Qin Feng began to march toward them.

Qin Feng stopped at the front door and watched Hei Xiong roll around in flames.

He raised his hand to retract the fire. The shirt on Hei Xiong had been burnt away, but his body remained uncharred.

Hei Xiong looked at himself and was dumbfounded.

'I am still alive? How is this possible? The burning pain was real! Perhaps his ability is rather weak?' Hei Xiong looked at Qin Feng and did not know how to judge this mysterious outsider.

This was when Qin Feng turned his hand and used the pulling force of Asteroid Assimilation to roll Hei Xiong over. He then frowned.

'This moron doesn't have it!'

Qin Feng was not showing off his ability. He burned away Hei Xiong's clothes on purpose to check whether he had the unique tattoo of the Z Organization on his neck.

Chapter 576: Leading The Way

Obviously, Hei Xiong did not have anything to do with the Z Organization, he was merely an ordinary gunner that took advantage of his capability to bring gangsterism to the area.

Qin Feng was not disappointed either, as he was about to show the tattoo and ask Hei Xiong about it, he was struck by an idea and asked, "Do you wish to live?"

The offer had definitely prompted Hei Xiong, who was still trembling from Qin Feng's overwhelming capability, with a moment of realization.

It was not that Qin Feng was not powerful enough, he was just being kind enough to spare his life!

"Master, it was my fault for not recognizing your mighty status!" Hei Xiong immediately kneeled down to beg for mercy and stopped acting tough, despite not knowing the true capability of Qin Feng, it was already intimidating enough to force him to conform to it.

"Well, recently, I am interested in a special medication, why not lead the way, and I will spare your life, how about that?"

"A special medication?" Hei Xiong was puzzled and shifted his vision toward Bai Li.

Could it be that this aptitude user was facing problems in those areas? Was he looking for some medication to spice things up?

His expression was unusual while the others in the surroundings also gave Qin Feng their weird stares.

"Well, Master, those medications that you need, I will get them for you right now, would you prefer a stronger dosage, or mild and non-harmful ones?

The edges of his mouth twitched as Qin Feng realized that it was an awkward misunderstanding!

"I am looking for a medication that will promote mutation within aptitude users!" Qin Feng answered in a cold tone.

Hei Xiong was struck dumb by the demand and tried to avoid direct eye contact with Qin Feng.

Qin Feng sneered and continued, "Seems like you do know the place!"

"Well, Master, are you planning to siege them?! But there are powerful aptitude users among them, there might be presence of D-tiers that are equivalent to the duke of the Xue Yuan State!"

Hei Xiong's fear was revealed as he described the presence of the duke, as it was impossible for him to come into contact with such mighty figures.

"Stop the nonsense, you just need to lead the way, why do you care about the things that will happen next?"

"Ah, yes, yes!" Hei Xiong was forced to bite the bullet and agree to the demand.

Qin Feng saw that Hei Xiong had agreed to his demand, however, there was no immediate action from him, as Qin Feng raised his hand, flames were blasted and pierced through the main entrance of the hostel and shot into it.

"Ah!!!"

A miserable shriek was heard and lasted for a split second before the scene became absolutely quiet, however, every gunner that was capable of extending their conscious energy sensing to more than thirty meters had scouted on the situation and knew what had happened.

The lady boss of the hotel was struck by the flames and burnt into ashes.

It had only taken a second for it to happen!

It was too fast!

The crowd was struck dumb and cold chills went down their spines as they were intimidated by Qin Feng's threat and showcase of power, meanwhile, it was also the price that the lady boss had to pay for betraying Qin Feng.

"Let's go! Lead the way!"

Qin Feng raised his hand and summoned the Silver Bolt, and the appearance of such a luxurious looking hover car had further showcased Qin Feng's distinct status.

Bai Li went into the co-driver seat while Qin Feng opened the door for himself, the gunners from the Dark Coalition trembled in fear as they stepped onto their own Snow Bears.

Qin Feng seemed to have recalled something and looked toward Zhang Chuan.

Zhang Chuan was alerted and immediately answered, "Thank you, Master, I have not gotten your name yet, and be assured that your kind act will be repaid in the future!"

Qin Feng remained unbothered and answered calmly, "You do not need to know my name, however, an advice from me would be, if you wish to safeguard a place, brace through and bear all consequences. If this place means nothing to you, leave as soon as possible to raise your capability, it would be worth much more than wasting your effort! Perhaps, years later, you might also become a mighty presence to take control of this small village, by then, nobody would dare to come over to rob anymore!"

Qin Feng completed his words and finally entered into the hover combat car, while Hei Xiong and the others were already on their Snow Bears, and they departed from the little unknown village.

Only Zhang Chuan was left behind, standing on the same spot like he had been struck dumb.

"Why would you speak so kindly to him?" Bai Li looked at Qin Feng as she was puzzled by his act of kindness, he had never treated any strangers so kindly before.

Of course, Qin Feng was extremely generous toward his own people, after all, it was them that had helped him a lot to earn his huge amount of fortune.

However, he would be very calculative toward strangers, and would not be bothered with any of their matters, except for those ordinary people that had zero threats.

"Well, he will become a powerful figure in the future!" Qin Feng chuckled and answered.

Qin Feng did not expect to meet Zhang Chuan in such a small area, however, Zhang Chuan, the so-called powerful figure, was an extremely powerful B6-tier before his rebirth, he was at least on par with the capability of an emperor. While being stationed at the Xue Yuan state, he had then become the governor of the state and had even cooperated with Qin Feng to resist against the Xue Yuan ultra beast wave.

However, he seemed to have just been awakened for two years, and was still planning to protect his birthplace village.

"If he were to leave there now, perhaps there might be leftover potential that could allow him to rush and achieve A-tier, however, it is all his own decision to make!"

"I do not understand at all!" Bai Li was confused and continued with another question, "Why would the lady boss voice out on us; we were not threatening her at all!"

"She…"

Qin Feng smiled and explained the nature of the human psychological patterns to Bai Li.

Bai Li would eventually have to be exposed to the truths and lies of the humans.

Despite her powerful capability, Bai Li was still vulnerable to the pretentious humans.

Then, conversations of two people from outside the hover combat car was heard, while several gunners were riding on their Snow Bears as they stormed through the piles of snow.

Some would be envious, looking at the hover combat car that was closely following behind, however, it was like a glorious looking sword hanging by the neck, and it was ready to cut down at any time.

They were all forced to speed up in their travel and had to take on routes that would usually be avoided by other aptitude users.

They have diverted from the main pathway and entered into a stretch of snow mountain region.

From the two hours of rushing, all of them were short of breath.

Initially, they had already arrived at the village that Qin Feng was at, Hei Xiong and the others were thinking of looting the place and enjoying themselves. However, they were not allowed to have any food or drinks, they had to continue with their journey past noon, the bunch of G-tiers and the F-tier were starving.

"Faster, we are just an hour away!"

Hei Xiong and the others made haste, in their minds, they were planning to send the youngsters into the hands of the powerful ones, and they would be able to redeem their revenge.

However, Hei Xiong was being careful to not spoil his plan, an hour later, all of them stopped, hence, Qin Feng's hover car had also stopped.

"Master, the assembly point of the influential parties in the area is just right in front, it would be better to not drive there, and the communicator of the Human Alliance, put them away, they can't be discovered!"

"Hmm!"

Qin Feng agreed and got down from the car, and switched to the communicator that he had used in the Dark Coalition.

Bai Li had also found herself her replacement communicator. Furthermore, she had also shrouded herself in a dark cape to look secretive and to hide herself, among the dark influences, it was normal to appear in such attire!

Chapter 577: Traces and Clues

Then, the crowd continued to move forward. With their traveling speed, Qin Feng and Bai Li left no traces on the snow path, and they were even traveling faster than Hei Xiong and the others.

Soon, they had arrived at the entrance of a cave among the snowy mountain ranges.

It was a secretive entrance led by twisted paths, where people from the Xue Yuan state, aptitude users from two of the major cities, and even the bounty hunters would avoid sieging!

Qin Feng followed and walked into the cave, the surrounding was pitch-black at the beginning, after some careful meandering for more than thirty meters, a shiny fluorite had appeared.

Fluorite was a rare self-illuminating stone, a cheap item that was mostly used for lighting purposes.

Meanwhile, the wall around the cave was embedded with countless numbers of fluorites that had revealed every part of the inner cave.

Soon, they had entered a giant cave.

From the appearance, it was a cave with length of a hundred meters, width of about fifty meters, however it was irregularly structured.

Both sides of the walls were already rebuilt into towers of houses that were about eight levels in height, the inner structures of the houses were hidden from Qin Feng, however, the environment would not be too bad.

There was a pathway from the central square that was connected to the end of the cave, and formed into a new cave, one could imagine that there would be another space on the other end.

With the refined building materials and skills of the earth ability users, it would only take a short amount of time to build such an underground kingdom, however, the number of populations within had still caught Qin Feng off guard.

Groups of people circling around were seen on both sides of the path, some had even dominated a place to display some of their ability equipment, ultra beast furs, and most of them were spirit herbs.

"Xue Yuan Ginseng, spirit herbs aged for at least ten years, selling off at three million!"

"F-tier snow lotus, with the lotus seed still intact!"

"Untouchable grass…"

"Heaven Peak Fruit…"

Callings from the sellers were constantly heard, of course, they were all stocked with valuable goods or large amounts of goods, while most of them remained silent and alert while observing the people in the surrounding.

"Master, I have sent you the map of this place, just in case you get lost in here, as this is quite a huge place!"

Hei Xiong opened his communicator and transferred a copy of the map to Qin Feng.

Qin Feng took a glance and memorized the map.

"Hmm, bring me to the potion seller first!" Qin Feng ordered.

"Alright, alright!"

Hei Xiong immediately led Qin Feng into the deeper part of the cave.

Along the main path, there were several other caves that led to different paths, all of them were streets that looked alike, however, all of them served different purposes.

Bai Li sniffed under the cape, as she was very sensitive toward spirit herbs, she was able to identify all of the herbs that were sold there. However, none of them were quality goods, and she immediately covered her mouth in dissatisfaction.

Everyone was moving fast for the past ten minutes; however, they had only arrived at one of the caves, and surprisingly, it was a concave-shaped cave centered by a square of fifty meters in diameter, surrounded by rings of stairs, or perhaps, they were seats.

A bunch of people was seated while surrounded by enlarged screens in the surroundings.

It was a… battle arena!

Qin Feng identified the situation.

Then, Hei Xiong lowered his voice and pointed toward a far direction where the bet station was located.

"This place is governed by Genesis, they are one of the most influential parties on the outer region of Winter Fort, we were told that their strongest alliance leader is a D-tier aptitude user, very powerful!"

Qin Feng did not give any answer, if it was merely a D-tier aptitude user, he would not even be bothered.

"Are they selling those potions?" Qin Feng asked.

"They won't sell it to just anyone, as everyone knows that despite the strong effects of the potion, it also has its side effects, and using it will eventually cost lives!" Hei Xiong warned.

Qin Feng nodded, he realized that not every member of the Dark Coalition were imbeciles. Although the potion would enable powerful capability enhancement, it would also consume the life of its own user.

Also, not everyone would be willing to turn themselves into a half-beast human creature!

Hei Xiong continued, "However, there are pros and cons, the powerful effect of consuming the potion would secure the entry requirement to join Genesis, which is a great opportunity, look at that person down there, a member of the alliance!"

Hei Xiong pointed toward a person who was combating fifty meters away, it was an F5-tier aptitude user.

With such capability, it would only require a slight internal strength output from Qin Feng to crush the person to death.

However, as Qin Feng identified that person with his gaze, he was shocked.

The capability that the F5-tier aptitude user had was rather violent, however, Qin Feng had noticed something beyond the talent of the aptitude user.

It was the unique tattoo that was on the neck!

The tattoo of the Z Organization.

"Genesis!" Qin Feng was struck by the sudden realization.

Regardless of whether it was the headquarters of Genesis, or if it was another Dark Coalition branch of the Z Organization, finally, there were some clues that they had left behind!

Furthermore, capability of a D-tier aptitude user would most probably be similar to Yan Fang's capability before his arrest, or Yan Shuo's capability after his transformation into a D-tier beast emperor.

This time, they would not get away from Qin Feng.

A wild crowd was shouting from below the stage, the name of the F-tier ancient warrior was called out.

"Kang Lai! Kang Lai!"

Kang Lai was quite talented in combat, and the crowd was not disappointed, explosive attacks and violence that crushed the opponents were seen from his hands that had been constantly switching into wolf claws during the battle.

However, from the expression of the audience, they were already familiar with the bizarre mutation, including the one that Kang Lai had shown!

Swoosh!

A wolf claw was slashed across the opponent's chest.

"Ah!"

Kang Lai's opponent let out a miserable shriek while fresh blood squirted out from the chest, the opponent looked toward the huge chunk of flesh on Kang Lai's hand and knew that the fate of death had arrived!

"Ah, don't kill me, Elder Kang, I'll give you money, I'll give you!"

Kang Lai sneered and licked the flesh on his hand, and even tore a piece of flesh and dropped it into his mouth, it was then chewed and swallowed, his eyes were filled with blood-red color and his mighty bearings had even doubled!

"Hahaha, I would prefer to enjoy the moment when you struggle before death!"

As soon as Kang Lai had ended his sentence, Kang Lai gripped onto his opponent's throat with his claw and slit through it, fresh blood was squirted all around.

The battle arena was pitch-black colored, and the blood droplets were soon immersed into the soil on the ground.

Perhaps, the black battle arena was formed by the intense blood-red color of blood!

Kang Lai's opponent had gradually stopped struggling, and Kang Lai had won the battle.

The crowd burst into a mixture of cheers and curses, Qin Feng stared at Kang Lai as he directed his sentence at someone else, "Alright, get lost, I'll spare your life for now, the next time I see you again, I cannot guarantee that I won't kill you!"

Qin Feng was directing his sentence at Hei Xiong!

Chapter 578: Genesis

It was like a great pardon for Hei Xiong, and he immediately escaped with his people.

Meanwhile, the battle on the arena had ended, obviously, Kang Lai had killed his enemy and secured the win of the elimination battle.

As Kang Lai was not participating in the next round of battle, he had then left from the contestant aisle.

Meanwhile, Qin Feng and Bai Li looked toward each other and black mist lingered around their bodies, however, the spooky scene was hidden from everyone else.

It was Qin Feng's dark ability.

With their poor capabilities, it would be impossible for them to notice Qin Feng's presence!

Qin Feng and Bai Li tailed Kang Lai, both of them then disappeared within the cave city that was filled with massive dark influences, it was like their presence had never been noticed by anyone.

Within a spacious room, Kang Lai was about to wash off the blood smell from his body, he was then blocked by two people that got into his way.

Instinctively, Kai Lai felt the presence of danger that was closing in, even before he could respond to it, a person who wore a black cape had appeared, a greater apprehension struck when a pair of glittering silver eyes were revealed.

"Bring us to the Z Organization!" Bai Li instructed.

Kang Lai's soul was completely under control, and despite the shock, his physical and mental response had taken over to give the first reaction.

"I do not know where the Z Organization is at!"

Bai Li did not wait for Qin Feng to repeat and restated herself, "Meaning to say, you do know about the Z Organization?"

"Yes!"

"How are you related to them?"

"The Z Organization is the headquarters!"

The answer had triggered Qin Feng's interest even more to dig deeper into the case.

Bai Li asked again, "Who is able to contact the Z Organization?"

"Our leader, Chu Thirteen!"

"Great!" Qin Feng laughed, finally, the true leader will be exposed soon.

Bai Li nodded and continued, "Bring us to your leader!"

"Yes!"

Kang Lai obeyed the command and walked Qin Feng and Bai Li out of the room, and his body movements while walking in front were stiff and awkward.

Despite the appearance of the cave that seemed to be just a massive battle arena, however, there were intersecting paths hidden on both sides, and it had an extremely compact building structure.

Qin Feng and Bai Li followed Kang Lai from behind and went deeper into the cave.

"Since the Z Organization is the headquarters, if their location were to be found, who knows what sort of powerful opponent would appear!" Qin Feng's eyes sparkled, with his current level of internal strength, he was unafraid at all to go against powerful opponents that were much stronger.

"The Z Organization is really influential!" Bai Li added on.

The main part of the Z Organization was focused in their research works, and they were also expanding their dark influences, similar to when Cheng Ming cooperated with the members from the dark influences, robbers beyond Fu City, and Guo Geng's Sand Eagle Clan.

And now, Genesis was included!

Qin Feng was amazed by the intertwining and confusing influences.

Soon, Kang Lai had led Qin Feng before an entrance of a tall tower, two F-tier aptitude users were guarding it, and they were puzzled by Kang Lai's appearance.

"Kang Lai, you do not have duty today, why are you here?"

Behind Kang Lai's glorious achievements and flashy appearance, at that place, he was only assigned to the role of performing patrol and miscellaneous chores.

"To meet with the leader!" Kang Lai declared.

Both of the guards burst into laughter.

"Kang Lai, are you drunk, or are you on drugs?" Do you think you can meet with the leader whenever you want?"

"Yes, stop playing the fool, go away, it is inappropriate for you to block the entrance!"

It was at that moment, Qin Feng took a step forward and answered, "It is me, I want to meet with your leader!"

Meanwhile, Bai Li released the restraint that she had forced onto Kang Lai, Kang Lai jumped up immediately and backed away quickly, and was even afraid to look at Bai Li.

"You guys, who are you?" What have you done to me?" Kang Lai was shocked, within a split-second thought, he realized the trick that was used on him "Conscious energy control, how could both of you use that against me, what are your intentions?"

Meanwhile, both of the aptitude user guards had sensed that something unusual was happening. With Kang Lai's reaction, both of them knew that Kang Lai was being controlled by these people, and they were after the location of the headquarters.

Despite the headquarters of Genesis not being a highly restricted and guarded place, and its location that was not a secret, the visitors were obviously having hostile intentions in using such a method to track down the location.

"Who are you?"

Qin Feng sneered and answered, "Just assume that I am a bounty hunter!"

"Bounty… hunter!!!"

Both of the aptitude users had not realized that Qin Feng was there to seek trouble.

What sort of organization were they? Genesis was an organization with dark influences, whereas the bounty hunters were part of the Human Alliance, and they would set bounty onto crimes.

Within Genesis, most of them were criminals that had taken more than ten lives of others, therefore, would it not be provoking for the visitor to declare himself as a bounty hunter?

Both of the aptitude user guards were instantly agitated by it.

"Little brat, are you tired of living?"

It was extremely offensive to declare the identity of a bounty hunter right in front of the headquarters tower of the Genesis, also, their leader was still sitting right within the building!

"Kill him, such arrogance, is he digging his own grave?"

Both of the aptitude users were angered and instantly threw out their punches toward Qin Feng.

Qin Feng had no interest in entertaining the both of them, he echoed just a tiny bit of his internal strength, and it was already impossible for the aptitude users to withstand it!

Boom!

A wave rippled and expanded outward, both of the aptitude user guards were swept by it, both of them were tossed out and their miserable shrieks were heard.

Crash!

The glass entrance door was instantly shattered into pieces, it was from the internal strength that had expanded, and not from the energy of two of the aptitude users.

Both of them were tossed into the lobby of the tower and slammed onto the ground that was covered with an unidentified amount of shattered glass pieces, their bodies were horribly mangled and they were about to die.

A chaotic scene had instantly erupted within the Genesis tower.

"What happened?"

"Intruders!"

"Who is that? Who would be so stupid to cause such a mess within the Genesis tower?"

"Ring ring ring…"

A beautiful looking G-tier female receptionist from the front desk of the first floor had immediately triggered the alarm, and the surveillance room from the tower had activated a similar warning signal.

"Intruders, quick, first floor lobby!"

Meanwhile, at the first floor, Qin Feng was already surrounded by more than twenty aptitude users.

Qin Feng activated his internal strength, and the echoed energy had instantly tossed all of them away.

Splat!

"Ah!"

"Ya!"

All of them were tossed and slammed onto walls, counter tops, and tables, they threw up blood and there were no clear signs of survivability.

The only one that was not affected by the echoed energy was an E-tier aptitude user.

Qin Feng raised his hand, while his Asteroid Assimilation was activated to explode and draw in suction energy, the E-tier aptitude user was immediately sucked over and held within Qin Feng's palm.

"Ah! Let me go! Let me go!"

Despite the well-built physique of the E-tier aptitude user, he was struggling vigorously like a little chick, and was entirely controlled within Qin Feng's grasp.

"Your leader, which floor?" Qin Feng asked.

As Qin Feng spoke, he began to churn out his internal strength, the horrifying and threatening energy was overpowering.

Chapter 579: Into the Headquarters

The E-tier aptitude user did not even know just how powerful Qin Feng was. All he knew was this man was emitting conscious energy that was much more potent and powerful than himself… In fact, this man seemed more terrifying and powerful than their leader.

"On…. On the 8th floor!" The E-tier aptitude user instinctively replied.

"Thanks." Qin Feng nodded satisfyingly and then clenched his fist.

Crack!

The E-tier aptitude user's neck was completely snapped in under a second.

Qin Feng threw the corpse to a side, like it was merely garbage, and walked toward the elevator!

As he was pressing the button, there were people rushing toward him from two sides.

However, when they saw the numerous corpses lying on the floor, they stopped and dared not move forward.

"You idiots! Stop him! If he goes up, the leader would hold all of us answerable to this incompetence!"

As their squad leader bellowed angrily via the communicator, these men began to inch forward, thinking that it might be better to try their luck with clashing with Qin Feng than invoking their leader's wrath.

While waiting for the elevator to come down, Qin Feng took a glance at these men and smirked. "You better not come closer if you value your lives!"

There were only a handful of E-tiers amongst these men. Most of them were just F and G-tiers.

If Qin Feng wanted, he could slaughter them by blowing a breath at them.

Yet, to these men, what Qin Feng said earlier was a provocation.

"Men, let's teach this piece of sh*t a lesson!"

One of them yelled out loudly and rushed forward with his companions.

As several weapons and powers were slashed straight at Qin Feng, Qin Feng did not move an inch at all. These were merely low-tier pawns. He did not even need to use his Dragon Styles to take care of them.

A smile curved on Qin Feng's face as he raised his hand. A surge of powerful internal energy burst out of his body, forming several energy blades to slash everything around him.

In an instant, everything within an arm's reach in front of him was slashed!

"Pffft!!!!!!!"

Necks, chests and heads were cut open before blood started to burst out of the open wounds.

Thud!

Eight heads dropped onto the floor!

The other aptitude users' eyes were wide open when they saw everything. They could not believe what they had just witnessed.

"Goddamn you!!!"

An E-tier aptitude user yelled out furiously after seeing Qin Feng killing so many people in one move.

"Growl!!!!!"

The man's conscious energy instantly changed as silver hair started to grow out of his body. His ears began to grow longer as his nose was elongated.

In an instant, this man had morphed into a monster, one with a snow wolf head and muscular body of a man. His knees were curved forward as his feet grew larger and crushed his own shoes.

"An experimental mutant!"

Not only that, this mutant was emitting a conscious energy that was akin to that of a beast king's.

Nonetheless, an E-tier beast king was still too weak to take on Qin Feng. This beast-man was no threat whatsoever to Qin Feng at all.

"Roaar!!!"

The Snow Wolf Man let out a furious roar before leaping straight at Qin Feng.

Qin Feng punched out his fist, this time without utilizing any internal energy, with a smirk.

The Snow Wolf Man was so fast that the other aptitude users could not clearly see his movement. And yet, Qin Feng's fist stopped mid-air and landed on a huge silhouette. They took another look and realized that his fist had landed on the Snow Wolf Man earlier.

Boom!!

Qin Feng's fist was punched straight onto the Snow Wolf Man's stomach. The latter's claws were still suspended mid-air, not quick enough to slash downward at his foe.

"Ugh… Pffft!!"

The Snow Wolf Man threw out blood before Qin Feng raised his leg and kicked the experimental mutant away. In an instant, the mutant's blood was sprayed onto the ceiling!

An E-tier beast king experimental mutant, one that had his latent genetic potential awakened, was slain almost instantly by Qin Feng!

The others were so terrified that their legs were shaking non-stop. They felt as though their legs had turned completely limp and dared not move forward again.

"Ding!"

The elevator had finally arrived.

Qin Feng turned and looked toward the elevator. As the elevator's door opened, he could see the people inside too.

He could feel almost immediately a surge of powerful energy bursting out from within.

"Pzzt!! Pzzt!!!"

Ray after ray of energy bullets were fired at him as though they were an oncoming storm! There was no room for evasion at all. And these bullets were fired from decomposition blasters!

Qin Feng lightly pinched his conscious energy and formed a barrier in front of him—a barrier that could deflect energies!

It did not matter if these were decomposition blasters' beams. If they landed on this barrier, they would be deflected back to where they came from.

"Arghh!!!"

The men inside the elevator let out excruciating cries before dropping dead. They did not expect that Qin Feng was not only an ancient warrior but also an aptitude user.

His barrier was formed so quickly that they could not respond in time.

"Poof!! Poof! Poof!"

Hence, the men inside the elevator were completely slaughtered as they were decomposed into shattering crystals.

Even though the back of the elevator was completely dissolved too, the elevator was still functioning.

Qin Feng stepped into the elevator with Bai Li, who was still wearing her black robe.

"Ding!"

Qin Feng pressed on the button "8"!

The aptitude users on the 1st floor could only watch helplessly as the elevator's door closed up on them.

Qin Feng was too powerful. To them, this man was something that crept out from a nightmare. There was no way they could hold him off.

However, the ones at the Genesis' security center had witnessed what happened via the cameras. The head of the center yelled into the microphone, "Stop him! We can't let him reach his destination! Stop him!!"

As such, when the elevator reached the 2nd floor, the elevator stopped!

It was quite obvious someone had controlled it from outside.

As the elevator door opened, this time Qin Feng was the one inside. He took a look at the ones waiting outside—these were mere lowly thugs.

It seemed that they too were prepared to fight him. Some of them were emitting conscious energies similar to that of beast generals and beast kings.

With a closer look, not one of these people had any traces of human features. Some of them looked like wolves while the others looked like bears. There were also fox people in the crowd too.

A smile beamed up in Qin Feng's eyes.

"Well, it would appear that we are in the right place after all. I'm now at the headquarters of the Z Organization!"

Even if this was not the Z Organization's headquarters, Qin Feng was hoping that he could at least find their labs.

Suddenly, the experimental mutants outside of the elevator rushed toward them furiously!

"Kill!!!"

"I will crush you and feed you to wolves!"

"Die!!!!"

They bellowed angrily as they hurled their sharp claws at Qin Feng.

Qin Feng, again, did not move an inch at all.

A fox darted toward him with his terrifying energy claws, intending to tear out Qin Feng's eyes.

Snap!

Qin Feng was, unfortunately for him, much faster and grabbed his neck in under a second before snapping it.

"Roar!!"

An E-tier beast king bear mutant dashed toward Qin Feng with open arms, intending to grab hold of him so he could not move. However, by doing so, his chest was left wide open.

Qin Feng hurled out his fist.

Thud!

Like hitting on a drum, his fist landed on the bear man's stomach, sounding a loud thud from the punch. Not only that, a powerful energy shaped like a fist burst out from his back as his stomach was hit.

Qin Feng's punch was so powerful that it completely crushed the bear man's heart!