"Qin Tian, what’s going on here?" Yan Qing asked in a deep voice.
Unaware of the truth, Yan Qing’s mind immediately conjured up a scenario upon seeing Qin Tian and the young man dressed as a waiter, who was already dead.
Soldiers just back from the battlefield, due to being in a high-pressure state for a long time, tend to have tense spirits and can easily become irritable and angry, making irrational decisions.
This is an issue many veterans cannot avoid, requiring post-war psychological counseling from professionals.
As a clone with mental deficiencies, Qin Tian impulsively killing was not surprising to him.
Qin Tian glanced at Elis’s corpse. His appearance had already changed to that of an ordinary-looking young Caucasian man with a few freckles on his face.
"Here’s what happened..."
Qin Tian remained calm and recounted the earlier events in detail, without omitting anything.
"...As to whether what I said is true, you can check the surveillance footage."
The security captain immediately opened the surveillance logs, and sure enough, in the elevator footage, two "Qin Tian"s appeared one after the other, and from the clothing, the one lying on the ground was the fake Qin Tian.
Infrared light scanned across Elis’s face, and the system automatically cross-referenced massive data in the background.
"Captain, this person is a wanted criminal. His name is Elis Wayne, nicknamed Thousand-Faced Man. He’s been charged with theft and fraud, and is currently wanted by the Empire with a bounty of one million."
A team member stood up with a machine and said.
Turns out he was a wanted criminal.
The security captain smiled, extending a hand to Qin Tian, courteously saying, "Major Qin Tian, I apologize for the earlier offense."
Qin Tian shook hands, nodded, and said:
"No worries, you were just doing your job."
Seeing this scene, a look of surprise rose in Yan Qing’s eyes.
Considering what Qin Tian had recounted and the footage on-site, throughout the process he remained composed and restrained, refraining from killing just because of Elis’s disguise and theft. Out of reverence for the Empire’s laws, he merely restrained Elis.
Stable mindset, thoughtful consideration, clear logic.
And could even exchange pleasantries with others.
This was unlike the behavior expected from a clone.
"Could it be, I’ve finally unearthed a treasure?"
Yan Qing raised his eyebrows slightly, a sense of joy surged in his heart.
The Seventh Bureau had many tasks: intelligence gathering, personnel security, secret operations... among these, the easiest to achieve results and catch the superior’s attention was the nurturing of clones.
If in his hands, there was a promising individual that gained Marshal Lin’s favor and was successfully transferred to the Imperial Capital, then his long-unchanging position and rank would surely advance.
At this moment, the doctor equipped aboard the spaceship arrived on the scene. At the security captain’s indication, a medical detection device made contact with Elis’s body and soon after, the device displayed the results.
"This individual died of a sudden heart attack."
A strange look flashed in the security captain’s eyes; an esper, a wanted criminal with a bounty of one million, unexpectedly died of an acute heart attack, which seemed rather incongruent.
"He likely developed a heart condition due to excessive use of his powers and insufficient physical condition."
The doctor stood up, shook his head, and said, "Many superpower users encounter similar situations; relying on the body to harness powers over time is bound to have hidden dangers."
"So ultimately, superpowers are a minor path after all."
The security captain smiled, his words reflecting his pride as a spiritualist and his disdain for superpowers.
Of course, he couldn’t be blamed for that.
The entire Empire was like that, always valuing spiritual energy as paramount.
Only when one couldn’t become a spiritualist did some opt to take the risk of high mortality rates to inject superpower potions.
"Doctor, can this problem be solved?"
Qin Tian asked, thinking of his two teammates, Qin Dadi and Liu Zhaozhao.
If using superpowers long-term would harm the body, he’d have to figure out a solution for them.
The doctor said, "There isn’t any particularly good solution, other than improving physical fitness and spiritual power, and not overusing superpowers."
Improving physical fitness, the Life Spirit Liquid should be helpful too.
Qin Tian breathed a slight sigh of relief.
At this point, he finally had the leisure to check out the new talent he had acquired.
[Name] Thousand Faces (Green)
[Introduction] Adjust facial skin, muscles, and bones to change appearance.
But it was more or less as I expected~
Qin Tian’s eyes flickered. The application of Thousand Faces was rather limited, able only to change facial appearance. However, individual characteristics also include height, body type, voice, and so on.
If any condition didn’t match, exposure would be likely.
Fortunately, he could add points to it.
If he upgraded [Thousand Faces] to blue or purple, then perhaps, he could replicate like Mystique in X-Men, even duplicating fingerprints, irises, and even DNA perfectly.
However, it also seemed like a talent suited for assassination.
Could it be that I’m destined for this line of work?
"Major Qin Tian, we’re going to handle Elis’s body first. Rest assured, we won’t touch a cent of his bounty. Once reported and confirmed, the one million will be transferred to your account entirely," the security captain said courteously.
"Alright, thank you." Qin Tian nodded.
"Since there’s nothing else, we’ll take our leave first." The security captain withdrew with his men.
Yan Qing patted Qin Tian on the shoulder, laughing, "Qin Tian, any interest in having a drink with me?"
Qin Tian slightly bowed, "Sir, it would be my honor." ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ 𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹·𝗳𝗶𝗿𝗲·𝗻𝗲𝘁
More than ten days of interstellar voyage wasn’t particularly dull.
Qin Tian spent most of his time in his cabin, cultivating spiritual energy, spiritual power, sharpening his combat and swordsmanship skills. Occasionally, Yan Qing would invite him out for drinks.
While interacting with Yan Qing, Qin Tian adhered to the principle of speaking too much could lead to mistakes. Essentially, every question Yan Qing asked, he would only answer one by one, and had to be exceptionally cautious in the content of his replies to avoid revealing any flaws.
Honestly, this kind of communication was tiring. After the second conversation, he sincerely hoped Yan Qing wouldn’t seek him out again.
Regrettably, things didn’t turn out as he wished.
Yan Qing seemed to become increasingly interested in him, eventually seeking him out daily for a drink, leaving him physically and mentally exhausted.
Of course, everything had two sides: if he could get along well with Yan Qing, entering the Seventh Bureau in the future would mean having someone to rely on.
Additionally, during the voyage, he learned about a term,
In simple terms, subspace navigation is when a spaceship employs special technology to enter a subspace dimension.
Within this subspace dimension, time and space are distorted to some extent, and the spaceship navigates using star markers to reach its destination.
This technology can significantly shorten voyage times and is the ultimate choice for long-distance and cross-galaxy, cross-star realm travel.
However, it’s said that many dangers exist in subspace, but outcomes of this nature are akin to air disasters, very low probability, yet once encountered, there’s nothing to do but wait for death.