Chapter 27: Senior Brother's Story

Lu Chen felt like he wanted to complain. What a good roommate? It's obvious you're treating me as a good meal ticket, right?

"Undoubtedly, Junior Brother, your first mission will be anything but simple, because you're the first S-rank in recent years, even though you're still a freshman. The only thing that can temper you into a sharp blade is the scorching heat of the flames. Junior Brother, I understand that you, being a martial artist at heart, have a penchant for combat. But you must remember, there can be no room for carelessness during missions, because the thinking of those dangerous hybrids is already completely different from that of humans."

When he saw a fallen hybrid in the movie theater, their behavior was definitely beyond rational comprehension.

"Senior Brother, what was your first mission like?"

Curious, Lu Chen asked, suddenly remembering that Feng'er seemed to have been A-rank back then.

"Do you want to know?"

Feng'er paused for a moment, a hint of reminiscence appearing on his face, a look Lu Chen had never seen on him before.

"Is it inconvenient to talk about?"

"...Not really. There's nothing inconvenient about it. It's good to let you know in advance about the incomprehensible nature of those dangerous hybrids."

Feng'er fell silent for a moment, rummaging under the bed and pulling out a box of DAVIDOFF MAGNUMs, taking one out and lighting it, his gaze obscured by the smoke.

"Care for one?"

Feng'er extended his arm to hand it to Lu Chen, who hesitated for a moment before accepting it. He hadn't smoked since coming to Cassell Academy.

"Phew..."

Feng'er exhaled a puff of smoke. "My first war practice class was in a small village on the border of California. Initially, there were frequent reports of cattle and sheep going missing in the village, with traces of blood on the ground. It was initially thought that some wild beast had entered the village, but after the local police investigated and searched the mountains, they found nothing but some wild rabbits."

"But it was just cattle and sheep going missing. The police couldn't keep devoting manpower to this case, so it was eventually classified as the work of a wild animal; but later, after the matter quieted down for a while, cattle and sheep started going missing again. Not only that, but people in the village also began disappearing inexplicably. By the time this matter reached the attention of the executive department, thirteen villagers had gone missing, leaving everyone in fear. Eventually, all the young people left to avoid the trouble."

Lu Chen listened attentively. "Didn't the local police station put in effort to patrol after the first disappearance?"

Normally, they should have done that when the cattle and sheep went missing, and even more so when people disappeared. It should have raised some red flags.

"They did. The local police station dispatched nearly thirty officers, deployed all over the village, but to no avail. It was quiet all night, and just when those officers thought nothing had happened, the next day, during roll call, they found someone missing. When they went to his house, they found it covered in blood, with blood splattered everywhere on the ground and ceiling. What's inexplicable is that two police officers had been squatting outside that house, one in front and one in the back, but they didn't hear any sound that night, let alone see any suspicious figures."

"Hybrids," Lu Chen said.

"Exactly. Only hybrids could do such a thing, and the target was an extremely powerful high-risk hybrid. Later, the local police were withdrawn, and the executive department took over the area. After nearly a week of surveillance, the target did not make any further moves."

"I and several other students conducted visits in the village to see if we could gather some useful information. During that time, I also made some new friends. After all, your senior brother can get along with anyone. The most memorable one among them was a young woman... Why are you looking at me like that, Junior Brother?"

Lu Chen's gaze was strange, but he said, "It's nothing, Senior Brother. Please continue. I won't criticize your taste."

"No, Junior Brother, you've got it wrong. Do I look like the kind of person who would be short of admirers? Back then, I was also an A-ranker, and there were countless girls chasing after me."

Feng'er was almost bursting with frustration.

"Alright, alright, I believe you. Please continue, Senior Brother."

Lu Chen nodded perfunctorily.

"Sigh, forget it. Let's not dwell on past glory... Continuing on, that woman was actually very pitiful. She was unmarried and pregnant. In that somewhat conservative village, she wasn't treated well. Besides working in the fields every day, she also had to do some handicrafts in town to make ends meet. She faced cold words and stares from others whenever she walked through the village."

"But during our conversations, I found out that she was actually a gentle and kind woman. She just seemed a little melancholic at times. After getting to know her better, I asked her, 'Do you hate the man who abandoned you?' She just shook her head and said, 'What's the use of hating? Our time together was beautiful. I just regret not being able to take care of the child.'"

"Then I asked her about her child. She said the child died shortly after birth due to the family's poverty and was buried on a small hill behind the house. She would lament, saying that if her child hadn't died, maybe he would have grown up to be a good man like me."

Lu Chen suppressed the urge to retort, thinking to himself that if her child had grown up to be like Feng'er, she would probably have vomited blood.

"Then I comforted her, saying that life must go on, and we can't dwell on the past. Looking back, I realize I was really heartless at the time, telling someone who hadn't lost anything to let go..."

Feng'er took another deep drag on the cigarette, exhaling a large cloud of smoke, obscuring Lu Chen's view of his eyes.

"Off-topic again. Continuing with the mission, after another week, the team deduced from various clues that the culprit was still in the village. We decided to do another thorough search, essentially out of options, resorting to brute force methods."

"We dispersed the local villagers under the pretext of clearing landmines and bombs, then went from house to house searching. Eventually, we found a cellar in one house, covered with a heavy iron lid, with a small window about the size of a book, and that house belonged to the young woman."

"I was dumbfounded at the time. I thought, how could such a gentle and kind woman have such a gloomy cellar? Did she like playing some kind of captivity game? But when we opened the cellar, everyone instinctively stepped back, overwhelmed by the stench of excrement, the damp mildew, and the pungent smell of blood mixed together. Coupled with the scene inside, for a moment, we thought we had opened the gates of hell."

"The commissioner led the team down for inspection and found bones—cattle bones, sheep bones, and... human bones. We found them all. This was the guy's dining room. All the missing creatures were there, except for the culprit. The commissioner immediately ordered the arrest of the young woman who had been driven out of the village. But just then, something unexpected happened."

"A fellow student of mine found a hole less than half a meter wide in the wall. He bent down to investigate, and a clawed hand pierced through his chest. Then he fell over. The culprit was hiding in there. It was his escape route. He could have fled directly, but being trapped in the village by the executive department for so long drove him mad with hunger. The moment he was discovered, he didn't think about running away; instead, he hid and planned to kill and eat all of us pursuers."

As he spoke, Feng'er extinguished the cigarette butt in his hand. In the blink of an eye, Lu Chen saw a fierce light in his eyes.