Inside The Black Mist

An electronic eye was placed into the recovery box. After being sealed, it was labeled with the words "Night Walker Second Lieutenant Tianyang."

This electronic eye would be handed over to the Night Walker's technical team, where they would extract the chip inside and attempt to recover as much of the stored data as possible.

After securing the recovery box, Luo Shan, who was responsible for removing Tianyang’s electronic eye, turned around, crossed her arms, and said, "Well, do you feel uncomfortable anywhere else?"

Tianyang closed his eyes and focused for a moment before shaking his head. "Just some superficial wounds and minor bruises. No need to trouble the physician."

Luo Shan smiled, her eyes narrowing into crescents. She used a single finger to gently lift Tianyang's chin. "I am your personal physician. If there's any problem, you must honestly tell me, whether it’s physical... or psychological."

Her finger lightly moved downward. The boy could feel the cool fingertip gliding down his neck to his chest, with no sign of stopping...

Tianyang’s mind was in chaos, his body tense, unsure of how to respond.

"Haha, look how nervous you are!"

Her finger stopped at Tianyang's abdomen as Luo Shan burst into laughter, clutching her stomach. "You’re just too adorable. Thanks to you, all the stress I’ve been carrying lately has vanished."

After calming down, Luo Shan leaned close to the boy’s face, blowing softly into his ear. "So, tell me, how should I repay you?"

The relief Tianyang had just begun to feel instantly vanished again.

Then he heard Luo Shan chuckling mischievously. "How about I gift you a comprehensive full-body examination package? What do you think of that?"

*I think not…*

Tianyang didn’t dare say this out loud; he just wanted to decline.

Unexpectedly, Luo Shan became serious. "You can’t refuse. This is your duty—don’t forget the deal you made with the Fortress. It’s decided then. When we’re back at the Fortress, I’ll contact you for the examination."

"I’ll be thorough, inch by inch, leaving no corner unchecked!"@@novelbin@@

Seeing Luo Shan’s earnest expression, Tianyang swallowed nervously, worried that certain changes in his body might be detected by this woman.

A knock at the door interrupted them.

Luo Shan adjusted her collar and said calmly, "Come in."

Xun pushed open the door, her face slightly flushed. "Teacher, Tianyang, he..."

Luo Shan smiled warmly. "You couldn’t wait for just one hour? Don’t worry, I won’t eat him up. He’s the dear friend of my beloved student. I wouldn’t be so indiscriminate. Besides, little boys aren’t to my taste."

Xun’s cheeks turned even redder. "Teacher, that’s not what I meant!"

Luo Shan shrugged and patted Tianyang on the backside. "Off you go, little boy. Don’t keep Xun waiting too long."

Tianyang gave a wry smile, draped on his uniform, and bowed to Luo Shan. "Thank you for your trouble, Dr. Luo Shan."

Luo Shan laughed melodiously, making Tianyang feel uneasy. He quickly took his leave.

Once outside Luo Shan’s examination room, Tianyang heaved a long sigh of relief. Beside him, Xun glanced at him and asked softly, "Did Teacher… do anything strange to you?"

*Does she often do strange things to others?* Tianyang thought about Adam. The personality difference between these siblings was truly vast.

"No, but Dr. Luo Shan’s aura is intimidating," Tianyang emphasized, "even more so than my captain."

Xun chuckled. "That’s true. When Teacher gets serious, she can be really scary."

Tianyang asked curiously, "Is it stressful for you to be around her?"

Xun clasped her hands behind her back. "Not really. Teacher is very kind to me. When I ask questions, she always answers patiently. It’s just that… she’s a bit too nosy sometimes, which can be a headache."

Tianyang let out an awkward laugh, then suddenly noticed something. "Xun, you’ve already reached Rank 2?"

Only now did he realize that the emblem on the girl’s rank insignia had changed.

Xun looked down bashfully, staring at her toes. "Maybe it’s because I’ve been saving people every day recently. Before I knew it, my Ascension Progress maxed out. Yesterday, I suddenly advanced—it scared me a bit."

So the Ascension mechanism for Radiance was related to saving people. That was fitting, considering the nature of the rank. Tianyang now understood that his rank ascension was tied to revenge; for the War God rank, it was definitely linked to combat. But what about the Hunter rank? He wondered what its mechanism might be.

As he was lost in thought, someone shouted, "Tianyang, what happened to your left eye?!"

Snapping back to reality, the boy looked up to see a breathtakingly beautiful face full of worry hurrying toward him.

It was Kotori, a member of the Silver Rose Squad.

Tianyang suddenly remembered that after Luo Shan removed his electronic eye, he was now wearing an eye patch on his face.

He hadn’t mentioned the electronic eye to Kotori before, so she was only now getting worried.

“It’s nothing. My electronic eye broke, and the doctor just removed it. I haven’t replaced it yet, so I’m wearing an eye patch for now. Don’t worry.”

Kotori gently covered her mouth with her hand. “Are you saying your left eye has always been an electronic eye?”

Tianyang nodded. “My eye was damaged during a mission and was later replaced with an electronic one.”

Kotori frowned, her delicate eyebrows furrowing like willow leaves. “Having an electronic eye isn’t great. It’s prone to infection. After we get back, you should install a bio-eye instead. It can also have electronic functions.”

“If you don’t have enough contribution points, I can lend you some. I don’t have much use for mine anyway…”

Tianyang was stunned and was about to politely refuse when a petite figure appeared behind Kotori.

It was a small girl with an exceptionally ample figure despite her petite frame.

The girl had cherry-colored hair, and crimson eyes, and wore cat-ear-shaped hair clips on her head. She quickly approached Tianyang.

She blinked curiously at him, circled him once, and suddenly hugged his arm. “So this is the boy Kotori likes? He’s so special. I want to be friends with him too!”

Tianyang was dumbfounded, not understanding what was happening.

“He has a refreshing scent, like hay dried in the sun.”

Unexpectedly, a slightly husky and magnetic female voice sounded near his ear. Just hearing the voice gave Tianyang a strange impulse.

He turned to see a tall girl standing to his left, even slightly taller than him.

Her long black hair, tinged with a raven-blue hue, exuded a fragrant scent of shampoo. Her fair face had a beauty mark under her right eye, giving her a hint of melancholy.

When Tianyang’s gaze drifted down to her legs, clad in long black military boots, his heart involuntarily started beating faster.

She was truly a stunning beauty.

“Sakura Yuki! Sister Shiso! You were following me!” Kotori exclaimed in surprise.

The tall, mature woman lightly tossed her hair, her beautiful eyes shimmering. “Don’t put it that way, Kotori. We were just curious about what the boy you like looks like.”

“Exactly, exactly.” The petite girl with the cat-ear hair clips clung tighter to Tianyang’s arm.

Kotori couldn’t resist and tried to pull the cat-eared girl away. “Sakura Yuki, come here! Stop clinging to him like that!”

“But how can you keep such a good boy to yourself? I really like his scent too,” the tall beauty said, taking a deep sniff of Tianyang’s hair with a look of bliss.

Beside them, Xun, unable to bear the scene any longer, raised her voice a few notches. “Enough of this nonsense! This is a medical camp. If you’re not here for treatment, please leave!”

The three girls froze, then spoke in unison to Xun. “We’re sorry. We didn’t mean to.”

Pulling and tugging at each other, they left the area while playfully bickering.

Tianyang cautiously looked at Xun. “Um…”

Xun, exasperated, said, “You should go back too. It’s getting late. Get some rest and don’t wander around.”

“Alright… understood.”

For some reason, Tianyang felt that Xun’s aura was especially strong at this moment. It also seemed like she was angry.

Girls truly were strange, he thought. She was fine just a moment ago, so why was she upset now?

Lacking any experience with relationships, the boy couldn’t figure out the reason and didn’t dare linger. He quickly left.

When Tianyang returned to the Night Walker camp and found his tent, he discovered that Ji Yu and Cang Du had both returned.

Cang Du’s leg had been bandaged, and the tent was filled with the smell of antiseptic. Ji Yu only had minor injuries, with a few adhesive bandages on her face and arms.

Seeing Tianyang, both of them called out in surprise, “You’re still alive, kid!”

Tianyang laughed awkwardly and looked around. “The captain hasn’t returned yet?”

Ji Yu replied, “He’s on her way back. The Black Prince has been slain by General Fei Mei, and the captain said we might be able to leave tomorrow.”

“Really?”

Tianyang said sincerely, “That’s great. We can finally leave. It feels like I’ve been stuck in the Inverse Universe for years. These days have been far too long.”

The next day, the Night Walkers indeed received orders to return. When the command came, cheers erupted across the camp.

However, only the Night Walkers, part of the Storm forces, and the medical team were withdrawing that day.

The regular army, another Storm unit, and the logistics team remained in Wild Valley Town.

Just recovering the dark creature's materials from the town and underground would take quite some time. From the current outlook, the forces would have to stay at least ten more days.

Standing on the ruins of the collapsed ground where the incident occurred, Fei Mei raised a hand to tidy her windblown hair.

Her right hand was wrapped in bandages, indicating it wouldn’t be usable for some time.

“General! General Fei Mei!”

A young, handsome man came running hurriedly toward Fei Mei. He was her adjutant. Handing her an electronic tablet, he said, “The Lord Mayor… the Lord Mayor is looking for you. He’s online now.”

Fei Mei unfolded the tablet, which had been folded to card size. On the screen appeared a majestic figure with his back to the camera…