Translator: CinderTL
Feng Qi felt awkward as he stood before Mu Qing, who was holding a black iron mask in her hand. He hadn't expected her to recognize him.
Just like in the movies—wearing a mask to disguise your identity is total nonsense.
With that thought, he immediately turned his gaze toward the Lord of the Mist, who was battling in the outer perimeter of the core combat zone. Fortunately, the Lord of the Mist was completely focused on the miracle bloodstone and hadn't noticed their situation. Otherwise, he would have been in real trouble.
"Feng Qi, what are you doing here?" Mu Qing asked, her face filled with confusion as she looked at the embarrassed Feng Qi.
In truth, she had noticed him on the plaza in front of the recruitment hall. The Scarlet rune crystal had not only granted her formidable physical abilities but also several peculiar powers, one of which was Aura Perception.
This unique ability allowed her to keenly perceive the emotional aura of others.
For example, if someone harbored murderous intent toward her, she could instantly detect the aura of that intent.
She called this ability Aura Perception.
Joy, anger, murderous intent, sorrow, despair... each emotion produced a unique change in aura, allowing her to roughly discern the other person's thoughts based on these changes.
This ability enabled her to accurately predict her enemies' next moves in combat.
Especially when an enemy feigned a move, she could easily exploit the opening.
Part of her combat awareness stemmed from this ability.
When she first encountered the Lord of the Mist in the recruitment hall, she sensed a familiar aura.
This familiar aura wasn't one she had generated herself.
Instead, she detected it from the Lord of the Mist, mixed with a trace of suppressed fear.
That's why she approached "Wang Yi" to ask if they had participated in a joint operation together.
When she met Feng Qi in the plaza before the recruitment hall, she also sensed a "familiar" emotional aura from him.
Feng Qi's gaze towards her felt like looking at someone familiar, yet his aura carried a hint of "avoidance." This sparked her curiosity. She had no prior connection to the Death Star Third Battle Group, so why did both its group leader and vice-commander seem to recognize her?
Puzzled, she kept observing Wang Yi and Feng Qi along the way.
Just moments ago, when the Lord of the Mist rushed into the core of the battle, Feng Qi's aura revealed a trace of something deeply familiar to her.
It was an aura of "resoluteness."
At that moment, Feng Qi's thoughts were: Even if it costs me my life, I must protect the Lord of the Mist.
A similar situation had occurred years ago by the lake at Star City Academy.
That summer night, when she asked Feng Qi about his future, his answer was tinged with an unforgettable "resoluteness" in his emotional aura.
It was a steadfast determination to try, even if the path ahead was fraught with peril—a willingness to throw his life on the line.
Since then, she had never doubted Feng Qi's resolve to lead humanity to greatness.
Even though Feng Qi no longer shone with the dazzling brilliance of his youth, and was no longer the peerless genius once lauded by the world, Mu Qing still believed he hadn't abandoned his ideals. She knew he was still striving toward them.
The sudden shift in Feng Qi's aura when he wore the mask brought a familiar figure to mind—a figure she hadn't contacted in years, one who usually only appeared in her memories and diaries.
Sensing that familiar aura once more, she couldn't resist investigating.
She approached Feng Qi and reached out to remove the black iron mask from his face.
Just as Mu Qing had suspected, it was indeed him beneath the mask.
Their last gathering had been at the Star City Academy graduation party years ago.
Staring at Feng Qi's familiar face, Mu Qing froze.
Memories surged and echoed in her mind.
Finally, the confident smile she remembered from his face merged with the man before her.
It struck her that eight years had passed.
As she prepared to question the stunned Feng Qi, her gaze suddenly shifted to the battle zone.
In the midst of the chaotic battle, the mask of the Lord of the Mist shattered, revealing his purple eyes.
At the same moment, he transformed part of his body into mist and surged toward the core of the conflict.
It was then that Mu Qing recognized the Lord of the Mist.
Though his aura had subtly changed since their last encounter, she still remembered him clearly.
After graduating from Star City Academy, she had thrown herself into the front lines.
The first intelligent domain creature she had ever fought was a purple-eyed, purple-haired youth from the Silent Domain Field.
She vividly recalled his ability to transform into gray mist—a memory that remained etched in her mind.
These details combined to confirm her identification of the Lord of the Mist.
Yet a flood of questions immediately arose in her mind.
Why was Feng Qi with the Lord of the Mist?
He was supposed to be at the Scarlet Research Institute, researching cultivation techniques. Why was he here?
From the moment the Domain Force attacked the supply bridge of the first supply zone during this joint escort mission, she had sensed something amiss.
There were three routes from the Old Day City East Supply Zone to Old Day City. Apart from the main road, the other two required significant detours.
The Domain Force chose to set up an ambush on the main road's supply bridge. She initially assumed they might have set up ambushes on all three routes.
However, only the battle group leaders involved in this escort mission knew the route.
The fact that the Domain Force knew the time and place seemed highly unusual.
She had reason to suspect there was a mole within the joint operation.
After the battle at the supply bridge ended, she began observing the joint operation team for anomalies, trying to figure out who the mole could be.
But as the convoy entered the canyon, she realized her assumption was wrong.
There wasn't just one mole—nearly everyone involved in the operation was a mole.
The only ones she couldn't see through were the overall commander, Wang Yi, and Qin Shikong of the Heavenly Pillar Battle Group.
Both of these battle groups had retreated to a distance during the bloodstone battle and hadn't participated in the fight.
She couldn't discern their allegiances.
As for the battle groups that had fought for the bloodstone, she initially thought some of them might be on her side.
But she quickly changed her mind.
Their desperate struggle for the bloodstone was filled with greed and hysteria.
They made it clear they coveted the bloodstone, showing none of the restraint expected of escorts.
More disturbingly, several battle groups had allied with Domain Forces to seize the bloodstone, and some warriors even displayed obvious domain creature traits.
She, who had initially intended to join the fray, abruptly halted.
She realized these battle groups were actually being controlled by Domain Forces, and even contained domain creatures within their ranks.
But speculation was one thing; concrete evidence was another. Without it, she wouldn't attack her own kind.
So she chose to observe, using the time to distinguish friend from foe.
She memorized the names of all the battle groups.
During the hours of combat, she confirmed that six of the battle groups contained domain creatures. The remaining groups still required analysis.
After all, some domain creatures' life signs closely resembled those of humans.
Without careful examination, it was difficult to tell them apart.
Moreover, some Domain-Transcending Creatures possessed mimicry abilities, concealing their true nature and perfectly impersonating humans.
While various Domain Forces vied for the bloodstone, Mu Qing devised a plan to catch them all in one net.
She noted down the names of these battle groups, preparing to enlist the Scarlet Research Institute's help in identifying friend from foe later.
When it came to research on domain creatures, the Scarlet Research Institute stood unrivaled.
Since its founding, the institute had remained at the forefront of domain creature research, leaving other research institutions far behind.
If the Scarlet Research Institute was involved, they would surely have a method to identify Mimicry-transformed domain creatures.
As this thought took shape, her mind already outlined her next steps.
She decided that she could, in the name of the Scarlet Research Institute, invite all the domain combat teams she had listed, and as many others as possible, to a conference.
Then, she would have the Scarlet Research Institute identify the domain forces among them.
Once the results were in, she would launch a decisive strike, crushing all the battle groups identified as domain forces at the conference.
Coming back to the present, her gaze turned to Feng Qi.
One thing was certain: Wang Yi was problematic and was a domain creature.
As the vice-commander of the Death Star Third Battle Group, Feng Qi held a position of high authority, clearly earning Wang Yi's trust.
Yet she still couldn't believe Feng Qi would betray humanity.
She firmly believed that Feng Qi upheld justice in his heart and would never abandon his ideals.
So... he must have been bewitched by a domain creature!
It had to be some special ability to manipulate minds that drove Feng Qi to this point.
Everything was beyond his control.
As these thoughts raced through her mind, a surge of murderous intent rose within Mu Qing.
Without waiting for Feng Qi's reply, she turned and fixed her gaze on the distant Lord of the Mist.
The murderous intent surged and churned in her heart.
Seeing Mu Qing suddenly turn toward the Lord of the Mist, her fists clenched, Feng Qi was startled.
He had reason to suspect she was about to beat the Lord of the Mist to death.
"Senior Sister, don't act rashly! Let me explain!" he blurted out.
Mu Qing turned back to face him.
"You think I've been bewitched by the Domain Force, don't you?"
"Isn't it true? The Feng Qi I know would never serve the Domain Force like a dog."
Realizing Mu Qing had indeed misunderstood, Feng Qi felt a pang of bitterness. He replied, "Senior Sister, let's talk somewhere else. Let me explain."
With that, Feng Qi took the lead and sprinted toward the distance.
Mu Qing frowned slightly at his sudden departure but followed close behind.
A moment later, they stopped five kilometers from the canyon.
Feng Qi turned around, and Mu Qing landed beside him.
At this point, explanation was less effective than honesty. He decided to reveal some of the secrets he knew to Mu Qing, but not all of them.
Especially the secrets of the Scarlet Research Institute—those absolutely could not be told to Mu Qing.
The Scarlet Research Institute was the core of every Sacrifice Line. If anything went wrong with it, all the efforts of the entire timeline would be reduced to nothing.
More importantly, there was a werewolf by Mu Qing's side.
In the early timelines, he had tried giving Mu Qing a mailbox, but all the information inside had been deleted.
If the secrets of the Scarlet Research Institute were revealed to Mu Qing, there was a chance the institute would be destroyed prematurely, and the Scarlet Secret Base would never exist in 1,500 years.
Keeping some secrets was his responsibility to his fellow travelers who were working together on this Sacrifice Line.
With this thought, he looked at Mu Qing and said:
"Senior Sister, I wasn't actually controlled. I deliberately went undercover by his side."
"Deliberately undercover? What was your goal?"
"If I told you I'd been to the future, 1,500 years from now, would you believe me?"
Mu Qing, who had been looking serious, was stunned by his words.
"I think... you might have really been bewitched by a domain creature."
Feng Qi: ...
(End of the Chapter)
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