What About My Family?

Lu Feng's voice tightened. "Are you... planning to hand me over?"

Gao Zhan was silent for a moment, his gaze sweeping over the figure hovering outside the window. "By the rules, I should hand you over."

He paused, then his tone turned hard. "But my mission is to protect your family. No one's taking you from me."

Behind him, Lu Dahai and Li Qinglan's tense shoulders finally relaxed a fraction.

"Does the military... have any Grandmasters?" Lu Feng suddenly asked.

Gao Zhan glanced sideways at him, a look that said, Isn't that a stupid question?

"Every Expeditionary Force battalion Commander is at least at the Grandmaster Realm. The Grand Commander of the Military Region is beyond even that."

"Beyond Grandmaster!" Shock flickered in Lu Feng's eyes. He was about to ask more when Nie Song emerged from his room and looked up at the mid-air figure.

"Since Lord Zheng has come, why be so angry? Why not come in for a cup of tea?"

Zheng Henian immediately descended before him, clasping his hands in salute. "Lord Nie! My grandson died a brutal death, yet the suspect Lu Feng has been taken away by your military—how do you explain this?"

"Lord Zheng, my condolences." Nie Song's tone was calm. "Lu Feng's enlistment has nothing to do with the murder. He's on the roster for this term's Expeditionary Force Training Camp and came to report."

"Report?" Zheng Henian sneered. "He needed to come in the dead of night, dragging his entire family along?"

"Who said his family came?" Nie Song's voice remained steady. "Lord Zheng, do you have evidence?"

The two stood facing each other, one representing the government, the other commanding the military region. They addressed each other as "Lord," but the atmosphere grew taut by the second.

Even as a Grandmaster, Zheng Henian wouldn't dare cause trouble in a military base.

There were too many experts here. If he tried to force his way in and seize someone, even as the Vice City Lord of Jinzhou, he'd likely be killed on the spot.

Nie Song had come out and said a few polite words, already giving him face.

To take Lu Feng away, he'd need direct evidence that Lu Feng killed Zheng Tong in the Beast Fighting Arena.

"Dad! What are you doing here?"

Just then, a Military Region Warrior returning from a mission led a squad into the base's residential area.

This man was Zheng Henian's son, Zheng Yi, Captain of the Night Owl Squad in the 113th Expeditionary Legion—and Zheng Tong's father.

He didn't yet know his son had been killed.

Coming back from outside, he saw his father at the military base, clearly furious.

Zheng Yi hurried to his father's side. "Dad, what's wrong? Why are you at the base?"

Seeing his son, the anger in Zheng Henian's eyes flared even brighter, mixed with pain.

He took a deep breath, his voice hoarse. "Xiaotong... he's gone."

"What?" Zheng Yi froze. "Dad, are you joking?"

He stopped mid-sentence, because he saw his father's red-rimmed eyes and clenched fists.

"Xiaotong was killed in the Beast Fighting Arena." Each word seemed squeezed through Zheng Henian's teeth. "And the murderer is in this base right now."

Zheng Yi whipped his head toward Nie Song, his voice trembling. "Instructor Nie... is what my father said true?"

Nie Song's expression didn't change. "Captain Zheng, I'm sorry for your son's death. But your father coming to the base to arrest someone without evidence is clearly against the rules."

"Rules?" Zheng Yi suddenly laughed, a crazed edge to it. "My son is dead, and you're talking to me about rules?"

He stepped forward, the muscles under his military uniform tensing. "Dad! Who killed Xiaotong?"

Zheng Henian grabbed his son's shoulder, lowering his voice. "Don't be impulsive."

He knew his son's temper too well. If he learned the truth now, the situation would spiral out of control.

Zheng Yi was only forty, his cultivation already close to Innate Realm Peak. He'd earned considerable Military Merit over the years in the military region. With a few more years of seniority, he had a shot at being promoted to Expeditionary Force Battalion Commander.

If he started a fight in the base for revenge now, his entire future would be ruined.

"Come with me!"

Zheng Henian said no more. He clamped down on Zheng Yi's shoulder and forcibly lifted them both into the air, quickly leaving the military base.

After they left, it was as if a dry wind had swept through the base—swift to come, swift to go—and in an instant, calm returned.

It wasn't until Nie Song and Xie An walked into the Chasing Wind Squad's dormitory building and entered Gao Zhan's room.

Gao Zhan saluted them both. "Instructor, Minister Xie, will they come looking for trouble again?"

Nie Song replied, "As long as Lu Feng is in the base, Zheng Henian won't dare act rashly. He'll also keep Zheng Yi in line. Once the 115th Legion departs for the expedition in three months, this matter will naturally settle down for now."

Hearing this, the tension in everyone's hearts finally eased.

But Lu Feng pressed on. "After I leave, what about my family? The Zheng Family won't let them off easily."

Xie An smiled reassuringly. "Don't worry. I'll take care of your parents. As for your sister, her leg is healed now. She should be starting Martial High School, right? If she's willing, I can arrange for her to enter Jinzhou Tenth Martial High School."

Jinzhou Tenth Martial High School was a local elite school. Almost all its students were children of Military Region Warriors. No one dared cause trouble there, and children from ordinary families couldn't even qualify for admission.

"Really?"

Hearing she could go to Martial High School, Lu Mingxue grew excited.

Only Lu Dahai and Li Qinglan remained downcast.

As ordinary citizens, they truly couldn't understand—when had their son gotten so close to the military?

September 2nd, Jinzhou Military Region.

Under Gao Zhan's lead, the five martial artists from Skyfire Club participating in the Expedition Mission arrived at the mecha training camp.

Though they had never actually piloted an Alloy Mecha, with years of maintenance experience, the few of them were already quite familiar with the mecha's structure and performance.

Lu Feng was the sole exception.

He had worked at the club for less than three months, and most of that time had been spent taming Exotic Beasts; his understanding of mecha fell far short of the others'.

Therefore, he had to invest more time in piloting training.

As one of humanity's auxiliary planets, Tianlan Star boasted twenty-six Giant Cities, each housing roughly fifty million people, with a total population of around 1.5 Billion—a typical colonial planet scale.

Yet over twenty thousand years ago, Tianlan Star was a desolate expanse of Ruins.

The atmosphere was thin, radiation ran rampant, and Exotic Beasts roamed unchecked.

It wasn't until humanity deployed twenty-six "Star River Energy Shields" here that the twenty-six Giant Cities of today were gradually established—a classic chapter in humanity's conquest of alien worlds.

Now, only within the cities of Tianlan Star was the environment suitable for human habitation; the wilderness Ruins beyond the city walls remained untrodden.

Only the military bases near the cities, which had been modified, could serve as footholds for humanity in the wild.

The Jinzhou Military Region governed twelve Expeditionary Force legions, and each year at least two legions would leave the planet to carry out Expedition Missions.

The legions set to depart at year's end were precisely the 115th Legion, to which Gao Zhan belonged, and the 116th Legion.

Each legion consisted of twenty Warrior Squads.

This time, Skyfire Club was assigned under the Chasing Wind Squad led by Gao Zhan, and would train alongside them, then carry out missions together after the expedition began.

In response to readers' requests, we are now launching the VIP Member ad-free feature.

Click to View