Chapter 90: Foil

Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales

The fragrance of Longjing tea was fresh and crisp, its taste mellow and sweet. This small pot of tea leaves that he had brought were picked before the rainy season, thus it was called Longjing Before Rain.

Usually, the tea plant would sprout only a single leaf before the rainy season, giving the Longjing tea a mellow and more elegant taste than the other variation, Long Jing Before Ming. There was only a tael worth of tea leaves in it, yet it was priced as much as twenty thousand Federal dollars.

Qin Mang took the purple-clay teacup and gently sipped from it. The old man broke into a delightful smile almost instantly. “What great tea! The flavor is even mellower than Snow-white Silverpins. If the Snow-white Silverpins are akin to a gorgeous woman, this type of tea leaves can be likened to be a budding teenager; to each its merits, both can be considered great tea. I’ve never known that your home planet has such wondrous tea leaves.”

Xia Fei chuckled. “If these tea leaves are brewed using the local Longjing spring water, the flavor will be richer than what you’re tasting now. Since you like them so much, I still have two boxes with me; let me give them to you, too.”

With that, Xia Fei pulled out two green jars from his spatial ring and placed them on the desk. Qin Mang was not in the least bit courteous and stored the jars of tea leaves into his drawer.

“Your performance during the extreme hovercar race wasn’t bad. For a stock model hovercar to achieve the speed of a professional racing hovercar after your modifications, who taught you your skills?” asked Qin Mang as he drank tea.

Xia Fei lit a cigarette. “I learned it from an uncle called Porter whom I met while I was in a warship graveyard. Actually, in terms of retrofitting skills, I’m still nowhere near his level, but Uncle Porter told me a principle: ‘Any and every machine has its limit.’ As long as I can identify this limit, I’ll be able to tap into the machine’s full potential.”

Qin Mang rubbed the sparse silver hair on his head almost as if he was trying to recall something.

“Porter? That name sounds familiar. How old is he, and what does he look like?” asked Qin Mang.

Xia Fei described how Porter looked to Qin Mang, as well as narrated everything that had happened while he was putting together his space vessel in the warship graveyard.

A barely perceptible spark flashed in Qin Mang’s eyes, revealing great excitement.

“Uncle Qin, do you know Old Porter?” asked Xia Fei.

Qin Mang shook his head. “I don’t, but I’m really interested in getting to know that person.”

“Heh, he’s currently managing an assembly factory in the warship graveyard. Though he’s a little kooky, as long as you get to know him more, you’ll realize that he’s actually quite easy to get along with. If there ever comes a day when you wish to buy a spaceship, I’ll bring you out there to look for him,” Xia Fei very earnestly offered.

Qin Mang laughed uproariously. “What use would a spaceship have for me? I have no wish to travel across the universe at my present age. All I want is a quiet retirement; if I could enjoy days of peace and quiet, I would be content.”

Xia Fei gave it some thought. “Indeed, you ought to be at home hugging your grandchildren at your age, enjoying days of familial bliss, so why are you still working?”

Qin Mang sighed. His eyes swept across the empty library once. “That’s easy for you to say. What’s going to happen to these treasures if I retire?”

“Isn’t that simple? Just find someone else to take over the library after you retire,” answered Xia Fei.

Qin Mang was quiet for some time before he changed the subject. “The day after tomorrow will be when the training camp officially begins operation. Which division do you plan to join?”

Xia Fei stubbed out his cigarette and shook his head. “No idea. There are just so many divisions that I’m having a lot of trouble choosing. If we’re talking about what I’m really drawn to, it’ll be that secretive internal division, but I don’t have the qualifications to join it, while all the other divisions are just so-so.”

“Oh,” Qin Mang very curiously asked, “why would you say that?”

Xia Fei organized his thoughts before answering. “I checked the training camp’s charter and realized that the facilities are open for all students to use. That is to say, no matter which division I end up joining, I can use all the different facilities to train; it’ll hardly have any effect where I go.

“Moreover, it isn’t every division mentor who will teach a cadet useful things once they join it. Be it their instructors or the courses offered, they all require a certain amount of points, and the different divisions allow cross-disciplinary studies. Which is to say, a cadet of the exotic beast division can pay a certain amount of points to learn battle strategy from the command division.

“Basically, what it means is that joining a division will give you free foundational courses in that particular division, and there’s no way anyone can become a powerful expert just by learning that stuff. The moment one decides on their specialization, they’ll need to buckle down and do their research.

“The way I see it, the most important aspect of this training camp is earning points, and as long as a cadet has points, that person can learn anything they want. As for the free foundational courses... honestly speaking, anyone with a sensible head on their shoulders can pick things up just by reading books relevant to any particular branch of study. There’s nothing appealing about that.”

Qin Mang nodded his head approvingly after he finished listening to Xia Fei’s answer, his eyes vaguely revealing a measure of surprise. “That’s a very astute assessment. The training camp isn’t a school, and what it provides is just a first-rate environment for people to train. As long as you are willing to work hard, you can easily see results in any of the divisions available.”

Xia Fei nodded. “I’ve also realized that the training camp is really big and filled with people, but actually most of them are just foils.”

“What do you mean by that?” Qin Mang was puzzled. “Are you implying that the facilities in the training camp aren’t good enough?”

Xia Fei poured tea anew for himself and Qin Mang before very politely handing him a teacup. “I discovered a secret after observing the training camp.”

Qin Mang was evidently very intrigued by this, and he pricked his ear to listen eagerly.

“Actually, the real Heaven Execution Training Camp is just the internal division, and all the other divisions are nothing but foils to the internal division.

“It is like a round of trials; tens of thousands of cadets are all candidates who have been picked and brought into the training camp, and ultimately, there’s only one goal for all of them: to be chosen by the internal division.

“Unfortunately, only the cream of the crop gets chosen by the internal division, so what’s going to happen to the tens of thousands of cadets who are left? They’re also chosen after going through many selections. Though none of them can be considered top-tier geniuses, they’re still talented people; there’s no way the camp can just eliminate them all, is there?

“That is why the training camp set up so many branch divisions aside from the internal division. The sole reason is to help these cadets who fail in joining the internal division find a new path. After all, these people can’t be peak experts, but there’s no reason to give them up and prevent them from shining in other places.

“Besides, Heaven Execution Training Camp is also part of the Adjudicator Union’s branding. It simply can’t ruin its namesake in this manner, can it?” Xia Fei softly asked.

The tea in Qin Mang’s cup quivered slightly. Excitement could not accurately describe what he was feeling right now. He had been completely shocked after hearing Xia Fei’s reasoning.

“You thought about all these by yourself?” Qin Mang asked with a slight tremble in his voice.

Xia Fei shrugged. “Yeah, but it will be far too cruel to tell it to those cadets who have no idea. They worked very hard to get here, slaughtering out a bloody path from the thousands upon thousands of people before they made it into the training camp. Their parents and family must’ve been excited for days on their behalf just getting here.

“But they’re no more than foils to a few others this entire time. They’ve been eliminated, and if they were to learn of this, they would no doubt be very upset.”

“Xia Fei, how did you learn all this?” asked Qin Mang once again.

Xia Fei flashed him a slight smile. “All this is actually very apparent. There are so many divisions that can be considered as external, while there’s just this one internal division that only enlists warriors in its midst. Logically speaking, if the internal division is reserved for elites, then the internal division should also be like the rest, setting up an equal amount of subdivisions to recruit the elites of the various branch divisions and not specifically picking out the warriors.

“This more or less proves my hypothesis that only the internal division is considered as the real Heaven Execution Training Camp. The so-called branch divisions were only set up to give the rejects a way out so that they will at least pick up skills applicable to life after they leave the training camp and find themselves a job out there.

“Furthermore, doing so will also help increase the prestige of Heaven Execution Training Camp, telling people out there that anyone who leaves the camp can do well for themselves.”

After hearing all this, Qin Mang abruptly got up and could not help but applaud. “Amazing! Brilliant! This is the most remarkable analysis I’ve heard my entire life.

“You’re absolutely right; all the branch divisions are nothing but foils to the internal division, and the only reason why there are so many outstanding cadets gathered together is to make it easier for the internal division to take its pick. After all, an internal division member mustn’t just be formidable in martial arts, their character, intelligence, and all other characteristics they have are also very important. Every individual who joins the internal division is only chosen after long-term inspection before they can be determined,” readily concurred Qin Mang.

“This point is something that many old faculty members, who have practically worked in the training camp their whole lives, have not been able to grasp even now. You’ve only been here for a handful of days, yet you’ve already identified the essence of this training camp. Just this point alone means that your analytical thinking has already achieved the criteria to join the internal division.”

It was unknown when that black cat, which had been sound asleep, opened its golden eyes and trained them onto Xia Fei as it examined him from head to toe.

It got up and walked to Xia Fei’s side in its indolent, feline behavior. It meowed a few times, almost as if asking for Xia Fei to carry it.

Xia Fei placed the cat in his arms. “D*mn buddy, you’re really heavy.”

The black cat sprawled in Xia Fei’s arms and rubbed its chubby face against him before it lowered its head and fell asleep.

“Looks like Old Black here is hungry.” Qin Mang smiled. He pulled out a silver key and handed it to Xia Fei. “Help me run an errand. Head down to the basement and bring out Old Black’s cat food. I am old and don’t wish to walk that far.”

“Understood.” Xia Fei placed Old Black on the desk and headed down the basement. “Which room is the cat food in?”

“The key’s in your hand, so find it yourself,” Qin Mang said.

Watching Xia Fei disappear as he took the corner, Qin Mang held Old Black in his arms and caressed it. “You’re still the one who knows me best. He’s been given a chance, so now it’s up to that rascal Xia Fei to see if he’s really clever enough.”

There were two doors in the basement, one on the left and on the right. Made from silver alloy, both looked completely identical with no distinguishing features.

Xia Fei first stepped to the door on his right, fitted the key into the keyhole, and twisted at the knob for quite some time, but it did not budge. Thus, he went over to his left.

He very easily opened this door, and when Xia Fei took a look at what was inside the room, he was momentarily dumbfounded.