Chapter 85

At 6:06 PM, Ji Qing submitted the mission report.

After receiving a prompt reply from Li Xuehua, Ji Qing stared at her message for a long time. Although he knew she was fine, he was quite curious about how she felt after being struck by his Spiritual Energy. However, asking that would be a bit too blatant...

Ji Qing regretfully abandoned the idea.

He walked quickly to the bed and let his body collapse onto the soft mattress. The incandescent light on the ceiling stung his eyes slightly, and he instinctively reached out to cover them.

At this moment, he had completed his short-term goals.

Ji Qing suddenly felt a loss of motivation to move forward. There was still one month until their Hunter Guild accounts were issued, and a month and a half until the next semester began. Where could he go during this time?

He did not need to investigate an orphanage like Xie Chang’an, nor did he have a home to return to like the others.

Ji Qing let out a soft chuckle.

He felt that Song Xiaoran was likely in the same predicament, but since the school emphasized not returning, he should find something to do for himself first.

Sitting up, Ji Qing quietly opened his terminal, his fingertips quickly sliding to the hidden communication software.

He gazed at the three contacts inside the software, his brow furrowing involuntarily.

To be honest... Ji Qing was currently conflicted: as a cadre of the Dawn Society, if Raven completed a mission, whom should he report the results to? Normally, it should be the organization's BOSS, but quite coincidentally—

The BOSS of the Dawn Society was also him.

That made the situation a bit delicate. In any case, it couldn't be Red Heart, whom he had communicated with beforehand. Does that mean he had to choose one of the other two cadres?

A 50% probability; should he gamble?

"Hmm..." Ji Qing suddenly took a sharp breath.

He instinctively returned to the home page of the hidden communication software, attempting to gauge the other person’s personality from his sparse conversations with Red Heart. Ji Qing thought hesitantly: Does he have a talkative personality like Jiang Cuo?

How about trying to fish for information?

Ji Qing decided to act immediately and sent a message to the other party: [It’s done.]

One minute, two minutes, three minutes... time drifted slowly.

After waiting for over ten minutes, Ji Qing expressionlessly took off his terminal bracelet, intending to wash up first. Regardless of whether Red Heart replied or not, the remaining tasks for today still had to be done. It would also be a good time for him to read the manga and chat with the System...

Perhaps he could also think about how to make money?

Click—

With the turn of a handle, the shower room was instantly covered in steam.

Ji Qing walked out of the bathroom while drying his wet hair. Heat was still radiating from his body, and he looked lazy, like a cat that had just basked in the winter sun. Just as he picked up the hair dryer, he caught sight of the flashing notification light on his terminal.

When Ji Qing opened the terminal, six messages instantly popped up in the communication software:

Red Heart: [Wow, did you finally get it for me?]

Red Heart: [Going to school is quite fun, isn't it? I feel like you’re about to forget our organization (resentful.jpg). Tsk tsk, when I talked to White Night last time, he even told me not to bother you all the time. I don't do it all the time!]

Red Heart: [Raven, we should finally meet this time, right?]

Red Heart: [Don't look down on the newcomer. I just joined a little later than you guys, just a tiny bit later!]

Red Heart: [By the way, do you know what Emerald looks like? Or does Emerald know what you look like? According to White Night, you two joined the organization at the same time. Does that mean our BOSS recruited you both directly?]

Red Heart: [Have you two ever seen the BOSS? (star-eyes.jpg) Do you know what the BOSS looks like? Is he a wrinkly old man in his fifties? (star-eyes.jpg)]

Ji Qing’s brow twitched. He could now confirm that Red Heart belonged to the same category of flighty, energetic people as Jiang Cuo.

A fortunate thing, Ji Qing thought.

This way, he could easily fish for information from the other party, but before that, Ji Qing slowly typed out a few words.

Raven: [You talk too much.]

Red Heart: [How hateful!]

Red Heart: [This is called being sunny, cheerful, lively, and extroverted! Raven, you simply don't understand the happiness of having a lively and extroverted junior in the workplace! I curse you to run into an S-rank Hunter the moment you step out the door, and to encounter those lunatics from the Special Operations Department even while sitting at home!!!]

Raven: [Oh.]

Red Heart: [...Heh.]

After saying that, Red Heart suddenly went silent.

But a second later, he quickly sent a paragraph: [I’m currently in Haiding City and will be returning to the base of operations soon. When the time comes, just leave the World Book in any town along the Haiding City-Huicheng route, and I’ll pick it up for you. My mutation has deepened, and White Night wants me to return to the base (excited.jpg)]

Red Heart: [Heehee, I can finally see what Emerald looks like. My cadre collection is about to be 1/4 complete, hahaha.]

? A question mark slowly formed in Ji Qing’s mind.

What exactly was going on with this organization? Could it be that the four cadres were all unaware of each other's appearances? The more Ji Qing read, the more incredible it seemed. When he was stealing the World Book, he had intentionally avoided revealing the name "Raven" just to guard against this.

But he hadn't expected the Dawn Society’s internal security to be even more extreme.

Ji Qing really couldn't help but send a message: [As long as you're happy.]

Red Heart: [As per our agreement, you’ll be taking over all my work for the next six months. You’ve been having a pretty easy time at school, while I’ve been working in your stead the whole time! (pouting.jpg) I’ve gifted White Night to you as a token of friendship; his support work is quite good, he just never agrees to meet me (resentful.jpg)]

Raven: [Alright.]

Red Heart: [...]

Red Heart: [I’ll say it again, you really are a mute.]

With that familiar closing line, Red Heart stopped talking altogether.

Ji Qing felt his mind go a bit numb. Although he had predicted beforehand that someone must have been working in his stead during Raven's semester of infiltration, he hadn't expected the internal situation of the Dawn Society to be so bizarre...

Perhaps I should have talked to Red Heart earlier, Ji Qing thought with regret.

But it had already happened, and being annoyed now was truly useless. Ji Qing scrolled up through his chat history with Red Heart and suddenly fell into thought: For now, it seems White Night and Red Heart don't know what Raven looks like. Only Emerald might...

"Recruited at the same time?" Ji Qing murmured softly.

He felt that Emerald should know something. Ji Qing couldn't help but click on Emerald’s chat box, but his fingers soon paused: If she isn't an acquaintance, wouldn't that be disastrous?

So Ji Qing calmed himself and began to break down the intelligence.

Based on Red Heart's words, Raven and Red Heart belonged to the mission-execution type, White Night belonged to the intelligence-support type, and Emerald was stationed at the base, belonging to the rear-support type. Ji Qing marveled inwardly: Such a configuration is actually quite reasonable.

It was possible that the Dawn Society wasn't held together by beliefs or goals.

Ji Qing couldn't help but think of Principal He Yun’s words. He murmured softly, "A serum that suppresses infection..."

For now, that seemed to be the case.

If such a serum truly existed, even if the members of the organization had never met, there was no need to worry about the risk of betrayal. The Infected were already discriminated against by the Federation, and their lives were constantly under threat...

Frequent use of infection talents might ensure temporary safety, but it jeopardized their lives in the long run.

If an organization for the Infected that could suppress infection appeared at such a time, how could one not want to join? Furthermore, since the Infected themselves possessed no human rights as Federation citizens, it didn't matter whether the organization was a terrorist group or not.

Ji Qing lamented, "It’s practically holding the lifeblood of the Infected."

But then again—

The current Ji Qing was the BOSS of this terrorist organization; it was truly ironic.

Ji Qing had finally cleared up the current situation.

Although he still wasn't sure what he would be doing during this period, the general situation was basically set: he would experience the double workload of a Dawn Society cadre for the next six months. Coincidentally, the Class S students could move freely in the following semesters.

Once he had adapted sufficiently, he could do the work of three people by himself.

"Truly a life as a beast of burden," Ji Qing grumbled expressionlessly. "I really know how to find work for myself."

In the remaining time, Ji Qing booked a train ticket to Huicheng.

This was the town nearest to him on the route Red Heart had requested.

After that... Ji Qing looked down thoughtfully at the chat box in front of him. He was still hesitating whether to try asking Emerald; he felt he could get some incredible clues from her...

After much hesitation, Ji Qing finally sent an emoji: [(Knocking on the door.jpg)]

Emerald: [In.]

Emerald’s reply was surprisingly fast; the interval between their messages didn't even exceed ten seconds. Ji Qing thought hesitantly: Is this person literally waiting by the terminal?

Raven: [Mission complete.]

Emerald: [Good.]

One minute, two minutes, three minutes... time drifted slowly, yet the conversation between the two remained at that conclusion.

Ji Qing blinked in surprise.

At this point, he finally realized something was wrong. Ji Qing’s figure seemed to teeter: How is he, a "mute," supposed to pry information out of the mouth of another "mute"?

Would it be okay to directly reveal that he had amnesia? Would it really be okay?

"It's over..." Ji Qing said self-mockingly. "Should I be glad now that my contact person is Red Heart and not Emerald?"

But once the self-mockery ended, Ji Qing quickly calmed down.

The situation hadn't reached the point where he absolutely had to reveal his amnesia.

Red Heart was about to meet Emerald, and he would soon be in contact with White Night; he didn't necessarily have to cling to Emerald for information, even though the clues on her side were visibly more abundant. Ji Qing took a deep breath and comforted himself:

"Forget it, I’ll read the manga first..."