Cillin greeted Blueskin briefly before heading into the house to speak with Genya. Czedow read books that were written in the imperial language, and Tang Qiuqiu enjoyed sweets that were produced by the empire while waiting at the courtyard.
As soon as they got some privacy, Cillin began playing videos of Angenia and her family for Genya. His master broke into tears practically the second he saw the wife and son he once thought he would never see again in his life. The last time he saw Gensheng, he was just a little wee thing that nested just right in the crook of his arm. Now, his son had his own children, and they both had the word “Xing” in their names. In that moment, he felt all of the hardships he had faced in his life was worth it.
Some of the videos were recorded by Cillin himself, and some were given to him by Angenia. The footages containing Gensheng, Gen Xingfu and Gen Xingji’s growth were all from Angenia’s collection.
After Genya had finally collected himself, Cillin told him about the current state of GAL next. His master was worried that the chaos ripping through GAL would bring harm to his family, but there was nothing he could do at the moment. Until the Shortcut was stable enough for mass teleportation, he could not do something like dispatch his private army to the other galaxy.
“Sector S is now in a relatively stable state, and so are the three major factions controlling it. I don’t believe they will be pulled into the ongoing war because they’re now cooperating with each other, not to mention that they have a vast network of connections to begin with.”
Genya felt a lot better after hearing Cillin’s assessment.
When Cillin brought up the Food King Hara, Genya had broken into a wide smile immediately. The chuckles would not stop when he saw the videos Hara had recorded himself. He was very happy that his best friend had achieved his dream and leading a great life.
Genya felt much younger after hearing so many good news from Cillin. For the longest time, he thought and felt like an old man despite his physical health improving steadily after he returned to the Gen Family. Now, he felt like there was a spring in his step.
Some time during the day, his master suddenly said, “Oh right, are you planning to visit Guan Feng soon? If so, I’d advise you to delay your plans for a couple of days before heading over. I don’t know why, but the guy’s been acting like he’s eaten a barrel of explosives or something. Many of his students got absolutely destroyed by him as of late.”
That was a surprise. As far as he knew, Guan Feng rarely revealed his hot-tempered side unless something really bugged him the wrong way. So the question was, what could possibly annoy his second teacher so much?
“But don’t worry, I guarantee it’s not a serious issue. It’s probably a private matter that he’s pissed off about,” Genya added.
Cillin relaxed when he heard that. For a second, he thought it might be related to the Black Viper, the RAS, or even imperial politics, but if it was a private matter that annoyed his teacher, then there was no need to risk his neck. He could head over after his senior brothers and sisters had detonated most of the land mines.
Genya treated Czedow and Tang Qiuqiu very well during the few days they stayed at his residence. He gifted Czedow a ton of collector’s edition paperbacks because the robot loved books, and Tang Qiuqiu candies of all kinds and some teeth protection products. One should protect their teeth as diligently as they ate their candies after all.
After staying at Genya’s place for a couple of days, Cillin finally departed for the affiliated schools.
As the honorary scholar of the RAS, Cillin enjoyed a great deal more freedom than most people in the affiliated schools. Although he was the most famous person in AF3 a few months ago, few people paid attention to him these days because he had disappeared for too long. A lot of people doubted his abilities during this period, and those who did not think highly of him in the first place believed even more that the young man had escaped to hide the fact that he was really just a charlatan.
That was until Guan Feng announced one of the findings of his big project a while ago, and the second biggest contributor after Guan Feng himself was none other than Cillin. Not only that, the introduction listed a summary of Cillin’s contributions and achievements in the project, and suffice to say, it was a lot. The voices of doubt vanished like magic, and the journalists and paparazzi mobilized to seek out Cillin for an interview. Unfortunately for them, they could not find the Hunter no matter how much time, money and effort they spent to track him down. it was almost as if the young man had vanished from the galaxy itself.
It was lunch time when Cillin arrived at Guan Feng’s residence, so when he walked inside his teacher was just taking a seat and getting ready to eat the super nutritious meal he had cooked for himself. Guan Feng had not greeted him or even smiled at him when he saw Cillin, but he did not criticize Wheeze when it leaped onto the table and ate some of the food either.
Cillin sat down on a sofa at the living room and waited patiently for Guan Feng to finish his lunch. After he was done, his teacher went to the back to rinse his mouth and wash his face while the cleaner robot took the dishes away for cleaning. After he poured himself a cup of tea, Guan Feng finally walked up to Cillin and leaned against the sofa, saying, “So. The prodigal son finally returns home.”
Wow, he’s mad. Cillin chuckled, but did not attempt to excuse or explain himself.
“Well, you’ve shown your face, so you can fuck off now. I have an afternoon nap to catch up to,” Guan Feng said leisurely before turning around to head upstairs.
“Two things, Teacher Guan. I’ll fuck off immediately after I’m done.”
Guan Feng stopped in his tracks and looked at Cillin. “You have half a minute.”
“Got it.”
Cillin handed the older man a document containing various statistics and images, to which he began reading immediately. It wasn’t until two minutes later before he finally looked up from the document. Since Guan Feng had gone over his own time limit, it meant that Cillin did not have to fuck off for the time being.
The document detailed Cillin’s usage of the PTS C and the modifications he had done to its original design. He was able to spot a number of issues and improve on the design thanks to his experience of assembling and using the weapon in live combat.
Instead of commenting on the document, Guan Feng asked, “What’s the second matter?”
“I gave a girl the PTS B, E, and K, and she was able to use them all to a very high level. I would like you to meet with her in person.”
Guan Feng stopped sipping his tea. Then, he took two steps to another sofa and sat down. His behavior reassured Cillin because it meant that his teacher was now open to a proper discussion. The older man set down his cup on the table before saying, “Profile.”
Cillin handed over the other set of documents he had brought with him before saying, “She’s not been formally educated, but she is easily the most gifted shooter I’ve ever met in my life.”
Guan Feng did not respond to Cillin’s unusually high praise, but he could not deny feeling a bit of shock when he read Tang Qiuqiu’s data. The girl was young, uneducated, and ridiculously weak when she first came to Cillin’s attention. But so what? Assuming that Cillin wasn’t bullshitting him, her gun stats easily rendered all these issues a moot point.
Why was Guan Feng so pissed off as of late? It was because he could not find a single person besides Cillin who could use the PTS S. That would’ve been fine, he had been dealing with a similar kind of disappointment for way longer before Cillin had shown up, but his students, whom he thought would knew better, had been requesting to use the PTS S as well. Goryeo, Pistura, Fu Qingqing. They should’ve known better, but they didn’t! In Goryeo’s case, he could’ve strangled the boy if he didn’t have an image to maintain, thin as it was before those who knew his true personality. It hadn’t been long since he upgraded from the E model to the K model, and the foolish boy actually believed he had mastered the K model enough that he could now use the PTS S!
Of course, Guan Feng had scolded the crap out of them before kicking them out of his house. He gave no quarter even when some of his friends visited him to plead on their behalf. He was stubborn like that.
Recently, he had been thinking if he should put aside his responsibilities for the moment and scour the galaxy for his talent, because there certainly wasn’t any in the three affiliated schools at all. They were all arrogant bastards who overestimated their abilities way too much, and he wouldn’t even give them a side eye, much less his Purgatory Thunder Snakes.
But now?
Guan Feng thought long and hard as he stared at the document in his hands.
Outside Guan Feng’s residence, Czedow and Tang Qiuqiu were sitting in a flying car and doing their own thing. They had to stay outside because Guan Feng didn’t allow strangers into his house.
Tang Qiuqiu was just putting a candy into her mouth when her communicator beeped. It was Cillin asking her to enter the house.
The girl grabbed her candy pack with one hand and her sniper rifle with the other, or at least she tried to. Her left hand touched nothing because she had left behind her sniper rifle at GAL. She had come to this galaxy with only the PTSs Cillin had given her, but Cillin had taken them away temporarily because he said it would make today’s meeting go smoother, whatever that meant. There was also the fact that gun carrying was forbidden in many places in the affiliated schools.
Tang Qiuqiu could not help but feel insecure without a gun by her side. She strode quickly into the house and only relaxed a little when she caught sight of Cillin. After she took a seat next to her captain, she finally examined the older man sitting on the opposite side of the table with a curious but critical eye. Is this the man who designed the Purgatory Thunder Snake series?
Tang Qiuqiu wasn’t the only one who was examining Guan Feng. Guan Feng was examining her as well. He spotted a tinge of worry in her eyes, but that was it. She was an incredibly pure person.
In that moment, he decided that his first impression of Tang Qiuqiu was a good one.
“You look worried,” Guan Feng started.
“I am,” Tang Qiuqiu admitted honestly. She had never been one for guile, not to mention that Cillin was around to bail her out if anything bad happened.
“Why’s that?”
“I don’t have my gun with me.”
Guan Feng broke into a smile when he heard her answer. In fact, it was the first time he smiled in almost a month.
“Come with me.”
Guan Feng rose to his feet and led Cillin and Tang Qiuqiu to his shooting range.
From the moment she laid eyes on the room, Tang Qiuqiu knew that it was the best shooting range she had ever been in her life. There was practically everything a shooter could ask for in a shooting range, and the items—even the safety gear—were all high-quality, well-made goods.
Guan Feng pressed a button that caused one wall to split inward and reveal rows and rows of equipment. He grabbed a metallic box from the racks and opened it to reveal a bunch of gun parts. The box was marked with the symbol of the Purgatory Thunder Snake.
It took Guan Feng no time to turn the parts into a complete gun. Tang Qiuqiu recognized it immediately because Cillin carried one with him. It was the PTS K.
Guan Feng then handed the gun to Tang Qiuqiu and said, “Give it a try.”
Cillin shot the girl an encouraging look when she glanced at him. She accepted the gun after she got the assurance she sought.
Speaking of which, the remote control that controlled the targets’ configuration was in Guan Feng’s hands. This meant that Tang Qiuqiu wouldn’t have a clue where the targets would come out from, how big they were, and fast they would move and so on.
“Are you ready?” Guan Feng asked in a rare show of concern. Most of the time, the older man would kick off the test without any warning at all.
“No.”
To his surprise, Tang Qiuqiu grabbed a set of safety gear from the racks and put them on. It was only then she walked to the firing point and said, “I’m ready now.”
When taking one of his tests, Guan Feng had never had a student who volunteered to put on safety gear unless he made them. Tang Qiuqiu was literally the first person to do so. He didn’t comment on it though. He pressed a button on the remote control, and the interior of the shooting range changed all of a sudden. The images looked so real that Tang Qiuqiu could almost believe that she was standing in the middle of a jungle.
Swoosh—
A green object suddenly shot toward her.
Bang!
Tang Qiuqiu took her first shot.
The girl kept shooting as more and more targets appeared. Her movements were slightly rigid at the beginning, but she quickly adjusted to the point where her aiming time was almost zero.
Cillin pulled a chair from nearby and sat down. Tang Qiuqiu was in the zone now, and he was sure she would give Guan Feng a pleasant surprise.