Chapter 32: It Was Rather Convenient for Him

"Who was laughing at him yesterday for being cursed? Feng Huohuo explicitly stated that these blood pearls were provided by the girl herself. She had originally intended to have them drilled into pendants to match the engagement photos released by the Feng family. It was Feng Huohuo who felt that would be a waste of such treasures and managed to buy them two days of time..."

"Drilled? Drilling blood pearls? That kid Feng Yanqing is really getting carried away!..."

"What was his fiancée's optical network handle again? I'm going to look for leads on these pearls..."

"Don't bother, upstairs! Feng Huohuo said she's snapped up the whole lot! If you want to buy pearls, you'll have to go through her!"

"Wait, are pearls that easy to find now? Are these even real blood pearls? They aren't dyed, are they? What kind of good things could someone from the fringe star systems possibly have!"

"Admin! Throw the person above out! Don't let that regional bigot pollute the air..."

"Agreed +1!"

"Agreed +10086!"

...

"Legion Commander... I am so sorry! I was being rude!"

Goodness, how exactly did the Legion Commander sculpt these muscles? No matter how hard they trained, they could never achieve such sexually charged, fluid lines! No wonder those women on the StarNet were constantly clamoring over the Legion Commander's physique!

Before, it wasn't as if there hadn't been lucky women who shared a night of passion with the Legion Commander. He had been known to be indiscriminate, unable to live without women, and would pursue anyone who caught his eye.

But ever since he returned from the Desolate Star three months ago, the Legion Commander had suddenly changed his nature! There were no more women around him!

Actually, that wasn't entirely true. At first, the Legion Commander still sought women for release, but for some reason, he was dissatisfied with everyone they brought him. Eventually, it reached a point where women couldn't even get close to him!

Xiong Sheng, standing with his back to Tang Chao, silently buttoned his shirt and asked, "What are you being so clumsy about?"

"Oh! This—you ordered us to track down the pearls. Just now, Feng Yanqing, captain of the First Legion's First Battle Team, released a photo..."

Tang Chao held his optical device out to Xiong Sheng.

Xiong Sheng glared at him. How dare he make him look at another man showing off his physique.

"No, look at this..."

Tang Chao zoomed in on the photo. How was he to know that Feng Yanqing, known as a cold-blooded, emotionless combat machine, could be so shamelessly smug?

Xiong Sheng took another look. This was it?

"The pearls! Didn't you ask us to keep an eye on the pearls? This Ye Moxi... is Feng Yanqing's fiancée. She also comes from the fringe star systems, and her travel routes highly overlap with the safe zones where Yuan Xi once appeared. We also discovered that Ye Moxi has a younger brother, Ye Ximo, who has had several interstellar credit transactions with Yuan Xi. Besides, Yuan Xi is a wood-attribute esper, and so is Ye Moxi..."

There couldn't be that many coincidences in this world! A safe zone was no place for an ordinary girl; those who survived there and thrived were all ruthless characters!

Mercenaries who had gone on missions with "Yuan Xi" also said that she was highly skilled with her wood-attribute abilities, especially with a whip. Someone had suggested she take the exam for junior sentinels, and she had said she would do it when she turned twenty...

And this year, Ye Moxi's brother, Ye Ximo, had just been admitted to the Imperial Military Academy, reportedly as an S-class sentinel. If they had found her sooner and used the brother to command the sister... no, wait! If they had used the brother-in-law to command the situation, wouldn't their Legion Commander have...

"I want to see the entire contents of Ye Moxi's optical network account within three minutes."

Huh? Using public resources for personal matters wasn't ideal...

"Understood! I'll get it done immediately!"

Ye Moxi...

Xiong Sheng leaned back in his office chair, tracing his lips. Those from the fringe star systems were so easy to deceive! What could that kid Feng Yanqing possibly offer?

"By the way, who is her mentor? If it's not a suitable arrangement, we'll switch her to a dedicated guide from our Third Legion..."

"She... she isn't a first-year guide student!" Tang Chao said, looking embarrassed.

"How could she not be a guide?" If she wasn't a guide, how could she have lowered his berserk levels so significantly? And how could the residual energy she left in his mental sea have continued to reduce his berserk levels even further? Xiong Sheng had always assumed "Yuan Xi" had never received systematic guide training because she lacked a mentor; he had never imagined she wasn't a guide at all!

"Didn't you say she was a freshman at the Talent Academy?"

"Yes! She's in the Planting Department of the Talent Academy, a level-five wood-attribute esper."

"Tch! The Feng family must have intentionally hidden her in the Planting Department, right?"

"It doesn't seem so! The application deadline was a month early, and Feng Yanqing only met Ye Moxi after she had already passed the assessment..."

However, Feng Yanqing had indeed used his privileges, but only to change the roommates for the siblings.

"Legion Commander, given Feng Yanqing's status, anyone with sense knows that his high-profile engagement to a girl from the fringe star systems... do you think he might have known the truth about Ye Moxi all along?"

After all, a man who had been exiled to the Desolate Star for three years suddenly acting normal was already suspicious enough. But the Feng family and the First Legion had kept their lips sealed, and Feng Yanqing himself was impervious to both soft and hard tactics. Before his exile, he had been one of the top killing machines in the Moyun star system, and upon his return, he became the first 3S-class peak sentinel in the system. Those who tried to plot against him were either killed or beaten into submission!

"Hmph! A stroke of fortune that belonged to me has instead benefited him!"

"Who could have guessed? None of us knew back then that Ye Moxi was Yuan Xi. Whoever plotted against her was surely just looking to kill her and steal her goods, right?"

Someone from the fringe star systems wouldn't lack experience in jungle survival. She was originally sent to serve the Legion Commander, but she ended up beating him black and blue instead. According to the survival laws of the safe zones, she would have had to run for her life, wouldn't she? Through a twist of fate, Feng Yanqing ended up with the prize for free!

"Feng Yanqing, did you really think you could take my things without even greeting the owner?"

"What's wrong?" Ye Moxi asked curiously.

"Nothing! Just some official business. I'll step out to take the call."

"Oh!" Ye Moxi nodded and went back to listening to her mentor's lecture.

"What was Legion Commander Xiong babbling about, some 'thing' and its 'owner'?"

"How you left the Desolate Star—did you really think you could hide it forever? Or did you think that by tethering her to your belt, she would be safe?"

Feng Yanqing frowned at his vulgarity. When the Xiong family was pouring all their resources into grooming his second brother to be the family head, Xiong Sheng, as a scion of a noble family, had disguised himself as a commoner, starting as a junior sentinel and climbing the ranks to become a battle team captain and deputy legion commander... If his second brother hadn't suddenly died, even if he had become a Legion Commander, no one would have known he was the former tyrant of the Imperial Star, Xiong Sheng—Xiong Jiaqi! Having been a military ruffian for so long, his boorish nature was truly a headache.

"I don't think we're on familiar enough terms to chat about family matters!"

Feng Yanqing hung up directly.

Xiong Sheng sneered.

"I'll lead the patrol team myself this time!"

At the joint school anniversary in a month, he would make sure Feng Yanqing understood: what belongs to someone will always belong to them! Whatever is stolen must eventually be returned!