Cognition

"Zero, do you think that Yue Ming, the new training officer, can handle this mess?"

Wang Qianduo looked at the intel in his hands, feeling that this was going to be tricky. The mission had gone this way—surely nothing would go wrong, right?

"I don't know, but General Huang should be fine!" Zero replied after giving it some serious thought.

"Fine, then. I'll go back and find Old Huang. If that doesn't work, I'll ask my master. I can't have taken him as my master for nothing!"

After speaking, Wang Qianduo got up and headed straight for Homeworld Base.

Old Luo's identity was actually no simple matter. The fact that Zero couldn't find any information about him at all made that clear.

After returning to Homeworld Base and calming himself down, Wang Qianduo went straight to General Huang.

"Didn't I tell you to come back after you reached level ten?" General Huang asked in confusion when he saw Wang Qianduo.

"I got some intel and wanted you to help me verify whether it's genuine!" Wang Qianduo said, then handed General Huang the intel Scarface had given him.

For some reason, players could no longer get to Old Huang. There wasn't a single player around now.

Wang Qianduo had gotten in because of his squad leader status, so he was willing to hand the intel over to Old Huang.

"Intel?"

General Huang took the intel Wang Qianduo offered him. The more he read, the darker his expression grew.

"Intel from Dark Night? They really are capable! They've investigated our people even more thoroughly than we have.

"I've been looking into this lately, too, but a few have still slipped through the net.

"I'll keep this. Take this to Yue Ming to report back, and make sure you collect your reward, too!"

After speaking, General Huang tossed a letter to Wang Qianduo. At the same time, a system notification appeared before him.

System Notification: You received 100 experience, 1,000 Merit, 1 Gold Crystal, and a Perfect-grade equipment blueprint [North Wind's Breath].

Your rank has been promoted to Sergeant First Class, and your world reputation has increased.

The generous reward let Wang Qianduo skip right over Corporal and Sergeant and enter the ranks of Sergeant First Class. The Gold Crystal and experience were a little disappointing, though.

But he had also received a piece of Perfect Equipment that every other player dreamed of owning: the level-five Reconnaissance Device [North Wind's Breath].

It wasn't much use to him, but he could sell it! This thing was worth a pretty penny.

"Hmm. Your mission with Yue Ming should be over now, but that's all right. I happen to have another mission for you."

"System Notification: General Huang has issued you a repeatable military-rank task: [1. Collect Ore]. Accept?"

Just as Wang Qianduo was checking his rewards, another system notification appeared.

What was there to think about? Of course he'd accept!

But from the sound of it, his hidden quest was probably gone for good. The new task wasn't even hidden.

[1. Collect Ore]: Go to the mining planet in Star Sector Three and gather three kinds of ore.

Task Requirements: Gather three kinds of ore.

Rewards: 10 Gold Crystals, 2,000 experience, 10 Merit, and 1 random Fine-Grade material.

After reading the task requirements and learning what repeatable tasks meant, Wang Qianduo narrowed his eyes and looked at General Huang.

"Don't look at me like that. I'm just doing my job," General Huang said with a knowing smile.

Wang Qianduo smiled and nodded, thanked him, then took his leave.

There was more to these repeatable tasks than met the eye!

Old Huang really was something. He must have known exactly what Wang Qianduo needed most right now. These repeatable tasks had hit him right where it mattered!

As the name suggested, repeatable tasks could be completed over and over. Five tasks made up one cycle, and he could complete two cycles each day.

Completing each round also earned him extra money and experience, along with a treasure chest.

He didn't know what the chests might contain, but the experience and money alone would be more than enough.

Repeatable tasks were basically the equivalent of daily tasks in an ordinary game.

The only difference was that, in this game, repeatable tasks could only be unlocked by Sergeant First Class.

That also explained why Old Huang had given him so little experience and money for the intel, but so much Merit.

It seemed his Merit and rewards hadn't been enough to promote him to Sergeant First Class, so Old Huang had adjusted the proportions of the three rewards and pushed him straight up to that rank.

In other words, Old Huang had pulled strings for him. The rewards from these repeatable tasks were so generous that other players could hardly imagine them.

It seemed the military-rank route was the right way to play this game. The mainstream routes of space exploration and joining a Mercenary Corps were completely off track!

"Did they just miss out on a fortune?"

What Wang Qianduo didn't know was that the others weren't off track—they couldn't even get through the door.

Even the group from Sword of Miracles, who had completed the hidden quest with him, hadn't unlocked military ranks. As for the other players, there was even less chance.

Still, Old Huang's series of moves had given Wang Qianduo a new understanding of how intelligent the NPCs in this game were.

After saying goodbye to General Huang, Wang Qianduo took the intel he'd received from him and went to find Yue Ming.

The intel General Huang gave him consisted of several names from the Dark Night intel.

"Looks like we were right. Yue Ming really wasn't capable of handling the complete intel," Wang Qianduo said to Zero.

"Actually, not necessarily. General Huang—your master—and Yue Ming seem to belong to two different factions. They appear to be rivals!"

Wang Qianduo: "???"

"How do you know?"

"I looked it up online! I found out through the news!" Zero said.

"Right! This is such an advanced age that you can find traces of almost anything on the internet.

"Wait, why are you only telling me now?"

"I just finished analyzing it!" Zero replied.

Wang Qianduo: "...Tell me about this kind of thing sooner next time. If we get dragged into it, how are we supposed to make any progress?"

"Understood!

"But, sir, you really shouldn't hand this intel to Yue Ming. He and his faction have no principles."

After speaking, Zero transmitted the information he'd gathered to Wang Qianduo. Once he'd read it, Wang Qianduo said quietly:

"Got it. Remind me to stay away from these brainless members of the Radical Faction from now on."

"Understood!"

Just as Wang Qianduo had expected, after he turned in the mission, Yue Ming only gave him the reward and said nothing about any follow-up tasks.

It seemed that this jerk already knew Wang Qianduo had gone to Old Wang first to turn in the mission.

What was even worse, apart from the required experience, money, and Merit, the reward Yue Ming gave him was an initial skill: Energy Bullet.

It wasn't a bad skill, exactly. There was no other way to get initial skills, so this mission might have been the only chance to acquire one.

But even though Wang Qianduo was an all-attribute Mecha, NPCs gave him rewards based on his highest attribute, just like Old Huang had done when he gave him Instant Slash.

This guy, however, was clearly just trying to annoy him. He'd given him an initial skill based on his lowest attribute.

Anyone who wasn't following the Intelligence route wouldn't bother training this skill.

What a jerk!

But this time, Yue Ming's plan had backfired, because Wang Qianduo had already decided to follow the Intelligence route.

The skill actually suited him even better. Wang Qianduo happily accepted it and left, leaving Yue Ming completely baffled.

(0_o)?

~~~

After saying goodbye to Yue Ming, Wang Qianduo logged off to get something to eat.

Although he'd barely done anything besides walk around and complete tasks, the whole morning had already passed.

The map in this game was a true 1:1 scale of the real world.

Wang Qianduo might not have seemed to do much that morning, but in the real world it was like taking calls from several clients, immediately riding the high-speed train and then a taxi to a nightclub in a neighboring city, then coming back to report to two bosses.

That was plenty to keep anyone busy all morning!

"I might spend a little more time in the game these next few days. If anything comes up on your end, just call me."

"What could possibly come up? The new system's basically stable now. Just enjoy yourself. I'm counting on you to help us win our year-end bonus!"

"I couldn't say that before, but now, as long as the professional players don't compete against us, we should have no trouble ranking near the top!"

While Wang Qianduo was eating and chatting with Wang Jun in the cafeteria, a familiar female voice came from behind them.

"So confident?"

"You're like a ghost—no, sorry! Why don't you make any noise when you walk?" Wang Qianduo and Wang Jun turned to look at Lin Qimeng at the same time. Wang Qianduo had nearly blurted out what he was thinking.

"My heels are pretty loud! You were just so absorbed in your conversation." Lin Qimeng slid into their booth, playfully biting her chopsticks.

Her sudden appearance nearly made Old Wang's heart leap out of his chest. Was this how they tested a cadre?

Who the hell could withstand that?!

"Ahem, Manager, what can I do for you? Please don't do that—my heart can't take it!" Wang Qianduo said at once. She really was a temptress.