Novel Full Chapter 76: Winning Over
With the matter at the warship graveyard coming to a close, not only did Xia Fei manage to get his hands on the coveted top-grade frigate, he gained a twenty-cubic-meter spatial ring, too.
After registering Lunar Eclipse with the Spaceship Authority, Xia Fei piloted it into the endless starry expanse; his destination this time was Hek, the Heaven Execution Training Camp’s headquarters.
Xia Fei wanted to hire Boateng as Lunar Eclipse’s stay-in mechanic, but that simple-minded man was unwilling to leave Porter’s side, so he had no choice but to give up.
Xiao Tian, Murray, and Collins still chose to leave after helping Old Porter get through the crisis; while they could all be considered spaceship maintenance experts, Xia Fei did not extend an invitation for them to join him on Planet Hek.
Xia Fei’s admiration toward Boateng was not simply about his skills as a mechanic but his character as well. The man was willing to go through with a divorce than to abandon Old Porter, and Xia Fei was very touched by this. Compared to his skills when it came to spaceship repairs, Xia Fei valued his loyalty more.
Xia Fei sat in the captain’s seat in the command deck; he could feel his heart surging.
“Plot a course for Endaro Star Region’s Hek,” ordered Xia Fei to the AI computer. “Optimize the navigation route to choose the nearest flight path while also avoiding accident-prone areas, as well as those with any incidents occurring in the last seventy-two hours.”
“Course set. Engage autopilot mode?” inquired the spacecraft’s female synthetic voice.
“Engage!”
“Warp engine engaged. Reactor in ninety percent operation, energy reserves at ninety-nine percent. Warping in fifteen seconds.”
Fifteen seconds later, a bright wormhole promptly opened up in front of the frigate, to which Lunar Eclipse slowly glided into. The wormhole closed right moments after he entered, and the view of countless stars streaking past appeared beyond the heavily reinforced glass of the command deck.
After a while, the frigate exited the wormhole to appear on a beautiful starfield which was as blue as a deep ocean.
“Warp complete. Engine energy replenishment underway. The second warp will begin in forty-five minutes thirty-seven seconds.” The synthetic voice could be heard announcing.
Xia Fei lit a stick and leaned back in that spacious captain’s chair, enjoying the fun of space navigation.
That warp earlier covered a distance of 63,750 light-years. “Indeed, the performance of this spaceship isn’t bad.” Phantom looked at the numbers on the command console and gave this remark.
Xia Fei was somewhat pleased, and he replied, “I spent over seven hundred million star coins on this spaceship, and that’s excluding the Black Mamba 130 engine and the overclocking chip. I pretty much paid blood money for this, so how could this frigate be terrible in any sense?”
Phantom pondered on it for a moment. “Now that you have a spatial ring with over twenty cubic meters of space, you’ll need to find a chance to sell that old ring of yours once you reach Heaven Execution Training Camp, for you no longer have any use for it.”
“Sell it?” Xia Fei had his doubts. “I’ve still got almost a billion-star coins left in my account, so it’s not like I’m lacking money. Why do I have to sell it?”
Phantom flashed him a smile that bore ill intent. “Your body will soon finish absorbing all the drug residues. When that time comes, you’ll need something new to raise your cultivation, so of course, that’s going to cost you quite a bit.”
“No way!” Xia Fei got agitated that he nearly leaped out of his chair. “Didn’t you say that that high-quality medicine, Luan Spirit, is very potent? Why will I need to buy more of it?”
“The Luan Spirit contains a large number of the sun’s calories. The human body has no way of resisting too much of that energy if it’s taken directly, so we’ll need to use another medicinal ingredient called Amberice Crystal in conjunction with it. Using ingredients that were pure yang and pure yin source respectively, combining the two can perfectly make up for each other’s flaws and greatly increase your cultivation.”
Before Phantom could finish explaining, Xia Fei glumly retreated to his quarters. “Fine, I get it. No matter how much money I have, it still won’t be enough for you to spend. I should’ve come to this realization earlier…”
Phantom very innocently protested. “How could you say that? It’s not like we’ll be spending a lot. It’ll be several billion at most.”
…
Heaven Execution Training Camp was located on the outskirts of Otter City, the largest metropolis on Hek.
Xia Fei deposited his Lunar Eclipse in a fairly desolate yet closeby hangar to the training grounds.
A frigate would not take up much space, so the holding fee was relatively cheap, only needing two hundred star coins a day. Xia Fei handed a sum enough for a hundred days, then exited the place.
All sorts of plants and trees, which Xia Fei did not know the names of, grew around the hangar. Pristine, forest-covered mountains could be seen in the distance, and there was even a clear river running by the bases of these mountains. The crisp air and the view formed a wonderful picture of the surrounding environment.
Compared to the terrible weather he experienced on ACG-21, this was like heaven. What made Xia Fei more pleased was the fact that Planet Hek’s sidereal day was twenty-three hours forty-two minutes, which was almost the same as Earth’s, so there was no need for him to adapt at all.
A wide, muddy road greeted Xia Fei’s sight when he exited the hangar. A blue hovercar was parked by the entrance, with a scrawny man seated inside; this person was currently pointing at the projected screen of his handheld computer.
Xia Fei opened his microcomputer to check the location of the training camp and moved to go on foot. For a Speed Ability user like Xia Fei, the distance was not a problem.
It was at this time when the man in the hovercar spotted him. The former opened the door and made his way toward the latter.
“Xia Fei?” The man smiled at him.
Xia Fei nodded, puzzledly thinking, ‘How did he recognize me?’
“I’m Hou Baishan, the supervisor of the reconnaissance division. ” The guy flashed his badge and kindly extended his hand. “I’m here to pick you up.”
Xia Fei hesitantly extended his right hand. “I didn’t inform the training camp that I’d be arriving today. How did you know?”
Hou Baishan chuckled. “I’m the division supervisor of the reconnaissance division. As long as there’s something I wish to know, I’ll of course have knowledge of it. Let’s get in the car first, then we can talk.”
Hou Baishan slowly drove Xia Fei along the road, his speed never exceeding eighty kilometers per hour. It was much slower compared to Xia Fei’s running speed.
He had the hovercar on auto-drive as he began a discussion with Xia Fei.
“There are many different divisions in the Heaven Execution Training Camp, each one specializing in a different area. Take our reconnaissance division as an example; it was established mainly to nurture high-level recon scouts. I saw the video of your assessment, and I was very impressed with the adaptability and persistence you demonstrated in achieving victory then.”
“When you arrive at the training camp, the first thing you’ll be asked to do is choose the direction of your development according to your forte. Having suitable development goals is very important. Since you have the potential to be an outstanding recon scout, I hope that you’ll consider joining us in the reconnaissance division to learn reconnaissance and anti-surveillance skills.”
Hou Baishan spoke in a straightforward manner, immediately laying out his intentions while praising his reconnaissance division using veiled words. It was evident that he had practiced that speech before.
Xia Fei was quite bewildered by this experience. Xia Fei had not considered which division he would join, or what skills he wished to develop. Thus, he simply said that he would seriously consider Hou Baishan’s suggestion.
Once he was done with his spiel, Hou Baishan did not say anything more. The speed of the hover car also gradually picked up, and soon, they were at the main entrance to the Heaven Execution Training Camp.
The main entrance, which was a hundred meters in width, had been carved out from a huge boulder. The ground was paved with white stones, and the walls were made from basalt. Overall, it was hardly an impressive sight.
There were two golden words hanging above the entrance: Heaven Execution. They were enough to fill anyone with a sense of awe.
The car stopped before the entrance, and Hou Baishan said, “This is where I’m dropping you off. There’s someone here to receive you.”
Just as he said this, Xia Fei spotted a portly old man in his sixties waddling over, a face-splitting grin on his face.
“Hou Baishan, oh Hou Baishan, I had this guess that you would oppose Xia Fei joining my command division and would surely get in touch with him ahead of time.” The rotund, old man walked over as he spoke. “It’s just that I didn’t expect you to have moved so fast.”
Hou Baishan smiled. “I’m from the reconnaissance division.”
The rotund man ignored Hou Baishan and very warmly gripped Xia Fei’s hand when he approached him.
Xia Fei was completely befuddled. He had not even stepped through the entrance of the training grounds, and he had already met two division supervisors—one even more courteous than the next. Just what was going on here?
There were several solo hover discs parked near the entrance. Qiu Xiangji led Xia Fei over. “Look, these are the transportation gadgets the training camp is providing for free. All cadets and tutors of the Heaven Execution Training Camp are welcome to use them. Try one out.”
Underneath these hover discs were roughly 0.5-meter white plates, with T-shaped handles, which came out from the center, making them look like scooters without wheels.
Qiu Xiangji somewhat clumsily climbed onto one and used his fat finger to push the button.
The hover disc immediately lifted off the ground and maintained a distance from it of about ten centimeters.
“Look, turning the handle lets you control the direction; twisting the right handle will make the hover disc move forward while moving the left handle will let you reverse. These two here are the brakes.
“Heaven Execution Training Camp roughly covers an area of five thousand square kilometers. Many students don’t possess an outstanding Speed Ability as you do, so they’ll have to rely on these hover discs to get around.” Qiu Xiangji grinned as he explained this.
Xia Fei was nettled. He was only at the intermediate Star Base rank, and he was most likely the first few ranked if they were to count backward. There was no way he could be called outstanding, yet this old man kept praising him as such.
Nevertheless, such a novelty item would naturally attract Xia Fei’s interest. He got on the hover disc and tried using it.
It worked like a motorbike, but it was several times more advanced. It made no sound as it moved, responsive, and fast to boot. It would be quite romantic if he could drive the hover disc with a girl he loved and go for a spin.
Qiu Xiangji toured Xia Fei around the training camp; he was so friendly that Xia Fei found it quite hard to accept.
Along the way, Qiu Xiangji introduced the facilities in and merits of the Heaven Execution Training Camp, yet he did not mention a word about the command division.
Unlike Hou Baishan, this old fox Qiu Xiangji tried playing the sentimentality card to gain Xia Fei’s favor and win him over.
Along the way, the other cadets pointed and looked in Xia Fei’s direction, exchanging words with one another. Xia Fei found the entire situation strange and had a very uncomfortable feeling about it.
“Heh… Everyone in the training camp is aware of your superb showdown with Chen Dong. You’ve earned yourself quite a bit of prestige by now.” Qiu Xiangji chuckled.
The hover discs stopped at a three-story spherical building. Qiu Xiangji beamed as he said, “This here is the place for new cadets to get ranked. Get in and register your rank first.”
Xia Fei nodded, wishing he had more time on the hover disc as he hopped off it.
“You need only to remember just one thing: No matter what conditions the exotic beast division or the reconnaissance division offer you, we in the command division are willing to double it. You’re a smart man; I believe in your ability to judge.” Qiu Xiangji had a big smile.
Xia Fei helplessly watched Qiu Xiangji depart.
That was when a thunderous yell could be heard from behind him. “Xia Fei, you’re finally here! I’ve already made arrangements for you to join the exotic beast division; quickly come and sign your name!”
Xia Fei felt completely helpless. ‘This man has already finished making arrangements for which department I’ll be? Just what kind of reception is this?’