Duan Chenhui had indeed gotten busy. He Qing hadn’t seen him for several days, likely because he had gone to the base. It wasn’t until a week later that Duan Chenhui finally reappeared.

That day, after He Qing had finished cheering for Zhang Yi and the others, he saw Duan Chenhui approaching. He Qing put down his pom-poms. “General, it’s been a while.”

Duan Chenhui glanced at the arena. “Looks like you’re advancing.”

“Yes,” He Qing nodded. “It seems I don’t need to step in.”

“That’s for the best,” Duan Chenhui smiled before continuing, “There’s been some trouble at the border. I need to go check it out.”

He Qing couldn’t help but ask, “What kind of trouble?” Normally, small matters wouldn’t require Duan Chenhui to personally go, and his reinstatement had been quite swift.

Duan Chenhui lowered his voice slightly, “There’s been intel suggesting the Zerg have reappeared. I need to assess the situation.”

He Qing hadn’t expected that and grew worried. “But you’re not fully healed yet.”

“It’s alright. I’ve recovered a lot after taking your medicine,” Duan Chenhui said as he checked the time. “I need to go now. Good luck to you.”

“Take care, General.” He Qing paused for a moment before waving goodbye.

“Mhm.” Duan Chenhui raised his hand slightly in a farewell wave and turned to leave.

He Qing lowered his hand and sat on the bench. Shi Lei slid over to sit next to him. “I thought the General was going to ask you out for dinner.”

“He just came to say goodbye,” He Qing replied, taking a sip of water. Suddenly, he remembered something. His lotus! He closed his eyes and sensed that his lotus had been taken by Duan Chenhui and was now inside the hovering car, heading toward the airport for the spaceship.

“…” He Qing took another sip of water, feeling a bit more at ease. At least this way, he could still keep tabs on Duan Chenhui.

“Oh,” Shi Lei took a sip of his own water. “Seems like the General is quite busy.”

He Qing nodded. Duan Chenhui had gone to the border, and soon after, the fighting matches ended, and the competition moved to a new location.

What He Qing didn’t expect was that the new competition site was on an exploration planet near the border. The host announced, “Next is the field shooting match. Teams of three, and if someone is knocked out, substitutes can step in.”

Live chat:

[The cameras will be so scattered this time! Can we have a tracking ball for each team?]
[+1, I agree!]

Opinions online were mixed, but the competition continued. Once aboard the spaceship, Zhang Lin and the others started discussing team strategies.

He Qing remained quiet, and Chu Lin looked around at them. “Any thoughts?”

Chu Yan spoke up, “He Qing should team up with Shi Lei and Zhang Yi. I’ll go off for training.”

Shi Lei, looking unsure, asked, “What if I heroically sacrifice myself?”

Zhang Yi patted his shoulder with a grin. “Don’t worry, we have substitutes. It’s settled.”

He Qing had no objections. The equipment this time was very comprehensive, including helmets that covered the lower half of their faces, leaving only their eyes exposed. It was unlikely anyone would recognize him.

On the day of the competition, He Qing had just finished dressing when he received a message from Duan Chenhui: Good luck.

Thanks, I think we’ll win soon, He Qing replied. Only then did he realize Duan Chenhui was also at the border, meaning he might be nearby. But He Qing didn’t ask, as he wasn’t sure if Duan Chenhui could disclose that information.

After messaging Duan Chenhui, He Qing left his room and joined the others to disembark from the spaceship.

The host explained the rules: “If you get hit in a vital area, you’re out! You have fifteen minutes to hide in the forest before the competition begins! The event lasts a week! Find your own food in the wild!”

“Yes!” the crowd shouted in unison before dashing into the forest.

He Qing followed, with Zhang Yi saying, “Let’s find a spot to hide first.”

He Qing chuckled and veered away from the others. “This way. There’s a cave ahead that could be our base.”

Shi Lei, running behind him, said, “I know a lot of wild plants. As long as we lie low for a week, we’ll win.”

Zhang Yi couldn’t help but sigh. “Can’t you have a bit more ambition? We should take them all down!”

Shi Lei immediately corrected himself, “Take them all down!” He then looked at He Qing, signaling for him to join in the slogan.

He Qing paused for a moment. “Amitabha, you guys are too aggressive.”

“We’re just competing!” Shi Lei was exasperated. Once they reached the cave, and the time to start the competition had come, he said, “We’ll search in three directions. Take out anyone we find.”

“I’ll take the left,” Zhang Yi said. “Stay in touch.”

“Got it,” He Qing pointed to the right. “See you in a bit.”

Shi Lei took the middle path. Soon, the sound of gunfire rang out in the forest. The shots weren’t silenced, so any enemies nearby would be alerted.

Soon enough, the sound of someone surrendering followed.

A little later, Shi Lei couldn’t help but ask, “Report your kill count. How many enemies have you taken down?”

Zhang Yi: “Ten.”

He Qing: “Thirty.”

“…!” Shi Lei grumbled, “Classmate He, you’re the biggest killer here, yet you said we were too aggressive!”

“…I just want to finish the competition quickly.”

“Can’t we just wipe them all out?”

“That might be too discouraging for them.”

Shi Lei wiped his face, “Forget it. Let’s not talk about it anymore. I’m feeling discouraged myself.”

He Qing thought that might be true. He strolled leisurely through the forest, spotting a sika deer. He walked over, found a rock to sit on, and waved a blade of grass. The deer came over and ate it from his hand.

Live chat:

[Wait, how many did he say he took down? That fast?!]
[Whoa, thirty?! And he’s just been casually enjoying the scenery, shooting here and there—was he really wiping out enemies all along?]
[Based on other camera feeds, yes, he was!]
[Wow, I thought he was just shooting randomly!]
[And now he’s feeding a deer? So relaxed… Truly impressive.]

After feeding the deer, He Qing noticed something strange. He waved the deer away and decided to investigate. Following the odd sound, he walked for a while, pushed aside some foliage, and found a massive cave entrance. He Qing thought for a moment, then jumped in.

Live chat:

[What’s he doing?! Where’s the camera? Follow him!]

The camera followed closely, showing viewers a stalactite cave.

He Qing looked up. Inside the cave, stalagmites and stalactites were scattered everywhere, and the cold sound of dripping water echoed, making the atmosphere eerie. The most unsettling part, however, was whatever might be deeper in the cave.

He Qing sighed and glanced back at the floating camera, his eyes dark and intense.

Viewers grew nervous:

[What did he find? What’s he going to do?]
[Oh no, is he going to destroy the camera? Please, no!]

After giving the camera one last look, He Qing decided not to destroy it and continued walking forward.

Viewers sighed in relief and started getting excited:

[This guy is amazing. Did he discover something?]
[I want to know! But is it dangerous?]
[I’m scared a monster might suddenly pop out!]

He Qing brightened the light on his helmet and proceeded down the sloping path. When he reached a narrow gap, he paused, seemingly unsure whether to enter.

Viewers were on edge:

[It’s so dark in there… What if something jumps out?]
[I think I have a fear of deep, dark places…]
[Same here. I hope he turns back.]

But He Qing didn’t turn back. He squeezed through the gap.

Viewers:

[!!! I don’t know if I can keep watching!]

Inside, glowing mushrooms illuminated the space. He Qing glanced at them, picked a few, and stored them away, quickening his pace as he moved forward. After a long while, he finally emerged from the narrow passage.

Up ahead, there was another cave, this one with a stream running through it.

The viewers sighed in relief:

[Why hasn’t the referee reacted? He’s gone so deep into the cave.]

The referees were indeed reacting but couldn’t seem to stop He Qing!

They rushed to the dean, asking, “Should we send someone to look for him?”

The dean glanced at He Qing’s data and shook his head. “No need. He’s stronger than you.”

“…!” The referees felt a bit deflated!

Meanwhile, He Qing continued walking. He arrived at a series of cascading pools. He peered down into the lowest pool, which was quite deep, its depths unknown. Around the pool’s edges grew sparkling stone flowers.

He Qing hadn’t expected to find a spirit stone purification pool here. He smiled, climbed down, and began collecting the crystal-like stone flowers.

He left a portion behind, then stood there, contemplating the pool.

Viewers:

[These stones are so pretty! What are they?]
[Not sure, but I bet he’s collecting them because they look nice.]

Just when the viewers thought He Qing would climb back up, he suddenly dove into the water.

Viewers:

[!!!]

The dean spat out his tea. What was He Qing doing?! What could possibly be down there? If he kept diving, he could end up in the underground water system and be swept away…

The dean immediately notified Duan Chenhui.