Scarlet Institute

The historical records about Mu Qing in the Database left Feng Qi incredulous.

But the facts lay right before him, and he had no choice but to believe them.

The future in his dream was closely connected to reality; that had long since been proven.

The Dawn Rebels, Rune Modifiers, innocent deaths... Countless pieces of information tangled in Feng Qi's mind, and it took him a long while to recover.

At that moment, a thought surfaced in his mind: before Mu Qing became a disaster, he should eliminate her in advance.

As long as she died, there would be no Dawn Rebels, nor would there be the more than thirty years of darkness recorded in history.

But then countless doubts arose in Feng Qi's heart.

As a human, why would Mu Qing betray humanity? What had driven her to make that choice?

Just then, the narrator's voice surfaced in his mind.

There must be a reason behind this. You felt that the truth of the matter did not seem as simple as you had imagined, so you decided to investigate it further!

"What do you mean? Narrator, are you hinting that there was some hidden reason behind Mu Qing's betrayal of all humanity?" Feng Qi asked hurriedly.

Heh~ heh~ heh~!

Feng Qi: ...

Though the narrator was infuriating, its hints often seemed to guide him. Feng Qi therefore felt that his guess might be right—there could be many undiscovered secrets behind Mu Qing's betrayal of humanity.

With that in mind, he began browsing the historical records in the Database, trying to find the specific reason Mu Qing had betrayed humanity.

As a visitor, he only had three chances to search historical information, so he directly skipped over entries with unreliable-sounding titles.

As he searched, he discovered that the records about Mu Qing in the Star City Database generally concerned her experiences and actions after betraying humanity.

However, there was very little information about her before that betrayal. Most of the records concerned some of Mu Qing's experiences at Star City Academy.

All of those records described one thing: during her time at Star City Academy, Mu Qing had constantly been ostracized by her classmates, and no one had been willing to be her friend.

When it came time to form Domain Battle Squads before graduation, not a single trainee team had been willing to accept her as a companion.

This made him suspect that perhaps her experiences at the academy had caused Mu Qing to hate humanity, leading her to become humanity's enemy.

Unable to find a definite answer, he continued looking through information related to Mu Qing after graduation.

The later records stated that although Mu Qing had no friends, she was exceptionally strong. The Rune Crystal fused with her body had also granted her a special ability: drawing power from food.

Her stomach had undergone unusual changes under the Rune Crystal's modification, giving her digestive capacity thirty times that of an ordinary person. Once normal food entered her stomach, it was rapidly digested and absorbed, its nutrients turning into a faint force of vital energy and blood that flowed into Mu Qing's limbs and bones, strengthening her body.

Relying on her special physique and outstanding performance during Domain training, Mu Qing was recruited into the A-rank Domain Battle Squad Black Reef after graduation. Once her trainee period ended, she rose in one leap to become a core combatant in Black Reef Battle Squad's Group A.

After that, Mu Qing's performance remained dazzling. She participated in several operations to disperse Domain Fields and earned numerous military merits.

Judging from those experiences, Feng Qi could not connect her with a world-destroying demon.

After all, she had once fought on the front lines against Domain Creatures. Even when facing Life and Death Crises several times, she had never retreated. She had also taken the lead to cover her teammates' retreat, suffering severe injuries and nearly losing her life.

Skipping over that information, Feng Qi found the final mission that had changed Mu Qing.

Mission Number: 321529

Mission Issuer: Scarlet Institute Headquarters

Mission-Accepting Battle Squad: Black Reef (A-rank Domain Battle Squad)

Mission Details:

At 3:00 p.m. on April 23, 2031, an underground laboratory located outside Mu Lin City suddenly lost contact with our headquarters. It may have come under attack by Domain Transcendents. Assistance is requested from all battle squads to investigate the situation.

Danger Level: Unknown

Mission Reward: 3,000 custom spirit stones, three sets of B-rank custom alloy battle armor, ten level-three spirit plants, 50 million in cash, and three C-rank Rune Creature Death Calamity remains.

It was during this mission that Mu Qing's temperament changed drastically. She personally killed the captain who had selected her for Black Reef Battle Squad. After leaving, she recruited a large number of Scavengers, established the Dawn Rebels, and began opposing all of humanity.

This made Feng Qi curious about the underground laboratory of the Scarlet Institute branch.

Had Mu Qing been hiding her true nature all along, or had the laboratory influenced her?

To find the answer, Feng Qi began searching for information on the Scarlet Institute.

But to his disappointment, he lacked the authority to view information about the Scarlet Institute and could not obtain any related records from the Database.

After closing the search page, Feng Qi fell into deep thought.

Now that he knew Mu Qing would betray humanity in the future, he naturally could not stand by and do nothing. Two choices lay before him.

Kill Mu Qing!

Change Mu Qing!

After considering it again and again, he decided that once he returned to reality, he would first try to approach Mu Qing before making a decision.

Next, Feng Qi opened the martial arts manual list and resumed studying the general principles of the Fierce Tiger Fist.

Last time, he had only grasped the basic essentials of the Fierce Tiger Fist, learning no more than roughly one-third of its content. There was still much left unfinished because Little Black had arrived.

While he still had time, Feng Qi decided to finish learning the advanced content of the Fierce Tiger Fist.

After opening the instructional video, a man in military uniform appeared on the screen. Feng Qi began practicing the fist technique along with his movements and listened carefully to the explanation.

Learning the Fierce Tiger Fist itself did not mean much to him. His growth mainly relied on killing monsters in his dreams and gaining Bloodline Evolution Points, so mastering the teaching principles of the Fierce Tiger Fist was what truly mattered.

Time passed bit by bit. After watching it several times, Feng Qi had roughly memorized the contents of the Fierce Tiger Fist.

Glancing at the time in the upper-right corner of the screen, he knew he no longer had enough time to watch the Fierce Tiger Fist once more.

In about two minutes and thirty seconds, Little Black would appear in the underground laboratory.

He had actually considered closing the Metal Passage's door, but he could not find the switch at all, and the Database contained no related information.

As he waited, just as he had expected, a black shadow came through the Metal Passage and entered the Underground Shelter.

Rolling Black Mist covered its entire body, preventing Feng Qi from seeing the Domain Creature's exact appearance. However, he could clearly see the dark-red Rune Crystal embedded in the creature's forehead beneath the shadow.

"When will you return from this journey? Do not linger when the time comes. At the edge of heaven, at the corner of earth, half of dear friends have scattered away. Gatherings in life are hard to come by; only partings are many."

The narrator popped up at just the right moment to bid Feng Qi farewell.

Feng Qi: ...

Watching the shadow approach him, he was curious what kind of Prefix Title he would gain after killing it, and what special ability it would grant him.

But that was all he could do—think about it. He knew that at his current level of strength, he was no match for Little Black.

As the shadow drew closer, Feng Qi grabbed the "leg bone" resting on the control console and strode toward it, carrying the air of a hero who would never return.

This time, no miracle occurred either. The instant they came into contact, Feng Qi was engulfed by the Black Mist, and the familiar sound of chewing rang beside his ears.

As darkness swallowed his vision, he thought he would return to reality, but a passage of text instead appeared in his mind.

Initial energy depleted. Energy replenishment required. Current energy: 0%

Energy depleted. Reality Feedback Panel automatically activated.