"Tch."
Kicking a rock, Ye Chen clicks his tongue.
It was already nighttime, and Long Hua was still nowhere to be seen.
While there was still daylight out, they had searched the area a bit more, but nothing was found.
"Take a breather. The fact that we haven't found a corpse, means he's still alive somewhere."
Leaning against the truck, Li Xue remarks on this.
"An Immortal descended as well a few hours ago. The longer we stay here, the worse it seems to get."
"Ai, captain, we really drew the short end of the stick, didn't we?"
"Next time we take an odd job, I'm doing a roll first. If it's R, it's a no go."
"Captain, you seriously going to decide whether or not to take a job based off that?"
"You got a better idea, 2nd Lieut. Yu Ji?"
Cutting Ye Chen and Yu Ji off, Li Xue says—
"Ai, knock it off you two. Let's eat first. We can always search more tomorrow."
"Right? I'm starving. C'mon, captain get the pot out."
It was also then that another voice joined the conversation, and it was not Qing Yue's.
"So be it I guess."
"…"
"…"
"What's wrong?"
"Welcome back."
Compared to Ye Chen, Qing Yue, and Yu Ji—who all looked as if they had seen a ghost, Li Xue's reaction to Long Hua's sudden appearance at the camp site is much calmer.
"Well then, 2nd lieutenant Long Hua, anything to say for yourself before I knock you on the head?"
"Captain, have a heart. I've been chased by a dog, then ran into an Immortal while trying to lose that dog. My body on the outside might seem fine, but I'm pretty battered up on the inside."
To make it seem more convincing, Long Hua shows his right hand that was scratched up from grabbing onto Kun when it was still connected to Huang Wu as their personal magic treasure.
"Tch. When I say, not to stray too far from the search area, I mean it, so keep it in mind next time."
"Sir, yes, sir."
"You ain't regretting it for shit."
"As the one who lead that beast to the squad, I felt it to be my responsibility to act as decoy. What's there to feel regret over now that the task is done, and I'm still alive?"
Placing a hand in front of his chest, Long Hua presents himself as a responsible recruit while smiling on the inside.
"That face of yours right now only makes me want to beat you even more, but whatever. So, what happened to the hound and the Immortal in the end?"
"Hopefully, they killed each other off. I didn't stick around long enough to find out."
It goes without saying that the steel hound is still alive, but since it had fled during his exchange with Huang Wu, Long Hua wasn't interested in chasing after it.
At the same time, that steel hound can also be considered his lucky star for having held Huang Wu back for as long as it did—to buy him time to ascend to Qi Condensation stage seven.
(I get the feeling that I'll meet that hound again in the future.)
...…
Back in the area where Long Hua and Huang Wu had their exchange—
"Hmm this should be the area, but…"
A man who looks to be in his early twenties appears on the site.
With him being dressed in a fancy white suit, along with a pair of black leather shoes, he couldn't be anything but an odd sight amidst this land of barren rubble.
Other than the man's white hair being an odd trait, his left eye is covered up with a cloth styled eyepatch.
"Nuó'er, what do you think?"
Turning his one golden eye towards his small companion, the white-haired man with the eyepatch smiles.
"Bái Wén, I'm hungry."
The expressionless companion of the man answers as such.
Much like the man, she also possesses white hair but has purple eyes.
Worn on top of the girl's head is a black military cap, while the rest of her body is wrapped around a uniform of the same color with a skirt.
"Ai, hold it in for now. A clansman had died a… Most unusual death."
Kicking a rock with her black boot, Nuo'er tilts her head to the side in boredom, while Bai Wen shuts his right eye and concentrates.
(Interesting. Not only was there an Apotheosized Sinner—as the people of this world would call them, but there was another practitioner here as well. However, they are not a clansman of mine, and…)
A solemn expression appears on the handsome man's face.
"Sword intent, one that not even I can hope to understand…"
Smiling suddenly, the white-haired man seems amused.
"As he is not a clansman of my household, he shouldn't have a medallion on his person, and yet he was still able to rotate his cultivation base… Whoever this visitor of Ling Beng Realm is, I do hope to invite them over for a cup of wine or tea."
"They might not be interested."
"So be it if they are not. Nay, even if they refuse, I'll still force them to sit at the same table for a bit. Should this individual come close to an Immortal detection system, they'll be found immediately. Shouldn't be too difficult to find them."
Turning around, Bai Wen nods to himself.
"Come then, Nuo'er. Let us return for a meal."
...…
"Mm anything tastes good when you're starved."
Unaware of what had happened back at the site where he had fought Huang Wu, Long Hua eats his meal with an expression of satisfaction.
Using a special method that came from his fragmented memories, he has sealed off his cultivation base completely.
Prior to returning to the squad, he had also tested himself with a computer terminal that had been on the way.
(Still how interesting. This world has machines capable of detecting spirit Qi.)