Chapter 51: Preparing for the Intensive Training

A massive stack of documents rested on the table. Wang Feng looked at them expressionlessly, occasionally drawing a cross here and a circle there. They were all personnel files, consisting entirely of trainees without a single teacher among them.

"Let's go with these," Wang Feng said, handing the files to his secretary. "Have their instructors do one final round of screening. Well... just narrow it down to under ten people will do. But tell them, I definitely want Ye Yang! He is indispensable!"

"Him and that Ouyang brat happen to form a perfect combination of superpower and demonic energy. Once properly trained, they'll become absolute mainstays!"

"By the way, inform Ling Fengyan that he shouldn't take on any major missions for the next few days. Hand his tasks over to others and have him ready to depart at any moment. The capital of Yanhuang should be arriving soon."

The secretary nodded and stepped out. Wang Feng, however, pulled out a map and began sketching something on it—perhaps routes, or perhaps the distribution of various forces.

"Sigh, going to the European Domain right now is truly difficult," Wang Feng muttered, shaking his head and sighing. "But if these kids don't train diligently, it simply won't do. There's not much time left."

Ye Yang was suffering from a hangover yet again. When he woke up at noon, his head felt as though it were splitting apart. This was the first time he had gotten completely drunk since his deep freeze...

For reasons unknown, after dropping off Chen Yun, a sudden impulse had driven him to a convenience store to buy two more bottles of Erguotou. He had sat there drinking them all night long with a plate of salted beans. Perhaps he really had wanted to drink himself to death and be done with it, just as Wang Feng suggested.

He turned on the tap and frantically splashed cold water onto his face, yet the foggy haze in his mind refused to dissipate. Ye Yang let out a bitter laugh; drinking felt wonderful in the moment, but hangovers were truly agonizing.

"Ring, ring, ring..." His phone rang. It wasn't Qi Fang's life-threatening alarm clock, but a call from Lin Tian.

"Busy? Oh... if you're not busy, come over to military headquarters—the Hall of Supreme Harmony. You've been here before. There are some matters to discuss with you." Lin Tian hung up immediately after speaking, not even offering a single word of explanation.

Scratching his head, Ye Yang felt a wave of depression wash over him. What on earth was this about now? Ever since he arrived in Beijing, neither Lin Tian nor Wang Feng had ever summoned him for anything good, excluding drinking sessions...

At military headquarters, Lin Tian was present, and so was Wang Feng, along with Ling Fengyan. The moment Ye Yang stepped through the door, he was stunned. A major matter? All three top executives of the Hunters were here.

"It's not a major matter, just asking if you're willing to join a specialized training camp. Well... a training camp in the European Domain," Lin Tian said with a smile.

"Asking is pointless, you're going whether you're willing or not!" Wang Feng said coldly.

Ye Yang was left speechless. Did this guy always love making decisions for others without their consent? He did it during the internship, and now what kind of training camp was this? They had to go to the European Domain too?

"It's an elite training camp, hehe. Little Yang can be considered an elite now too," Ling Fengyan remarked, a single sentence sparking Ye Yang's interest. An elite training camp? Was he really an elite?

"Of course not, if not for your old man—" Wang Feng continued to pour cold water on him, though Ye Yang couldn't even be bothered to engage. In truth, he had long known that Wang Feng valued him for reasons beyond his father's influence, but he had no desire to expose it.

"Well... this counts as a major training camp, jointly organized by the China Alliance and the Capital of Yanhuang. Each side provides one instructor and a few trainees to go experience the world in the European Domain. Consider it a publicly funded trip," Lin Tian laughed heartily.

"A trip?" Ye Yang felt awkward. When would he ever have time for a trip?

"A trip my ass! It is publicly funded indeed, but it's meant for you all to learn how others combat demons. Even though your father invented the Hunters and everyone has been imitating it ever since, every region has different development strategies. Learning more will only benefit you."

Wang Feng's explanation was far more reliable. Ye Yang immediately shot a look of disdain at Lin Tian, then nodded. The European Domain? He was starting to get interested. If it were truly as Wang Feng said, and their methods of fighting demons differed, what would those methods be like? Would there be combat styles that didn't rely on superpowers?

"Fine then, I'll go! Roughly when do we set off?"

"The sooner the better, but a few trainees are still out on missions. Let's say in five days. Get yourself prepared, and make sure to rest well during these five days!" With that, Wang Feng waved his hand to dismiss him. Ye Yang felt another surge of frustration; this guy always loved bossing people around at will, and his superior attitude was genuinely exasperated.

"Oh right, Teacher Ling, what is the European Domain like right now? Also, are you leading us there? Ha, that would be wonderful!" Ye Yang said, his face lighting up with joy. Aside from Wang Feng and Lin Tian, Ling Fengyan was arguably his favorite instructor.

Nodding with a smile, Ling Fengyan walked toward the door and said, "The European Domain is actually slightly better off than we are. A total of three cities survived. Alas... Asia only has Beijing and Shanghai."

"Milan, London, Vienna—the last pure sanctuaries for the people of the European Domain. Their population is much smaller than ours, but they still manage to hold on desperately, and their battle records in recent years far surpass ours. This trip is primarily for learning."

"Wang Feng's idea is to go to Milan, but we still have to wait for the higher-ups to decide. It'll probably be either Milan or London."

"The higher-ups?" Ye Yang froze. Wasn't Wang Feng the commander-in-chief? Who else was above him?

"Well... a group of veteran figures at the leadership level, the existence of Chinese elders. Although there's no government to speak of anymore and they've all retreated into seclusion, whenever major events occur, they still like to consult and report to one another."

"Oh..." Ye Yang nodded. Were these the so-called retired senior cadres? Well, respecting the elderly and caring for the young was a must.

He took the opportunity to ask Ling Fengyan about the situation in London and Milan. To his surprise, these two cities were currently ruled and protected by religious organizations.

London was governed by the Heavenly Creation Sacred Church, a newly emerged sect combining the Anglican Church of the hidden kingdom with a revived form of Catholicism, while Milan was under the ancient Roman Curia. Both belonged to branches of Catholicism, yet they seemed somewhat distinct and not entirely on friendly terms.

"That's their internal affair, so we shouldn't get involved. Besides, at this very moment... humanity can no longer afford its own internal conflicts," Ling Fengyan sighed.

Ye Yang nodded. Conflicts between religious factions in Western nations had a long historical precedent and were endlessly messy, so he couldn't be bothered to deal with them. Besides, this sort of thing fell under diplomacy, leaving Wang Feng to burn his brain cells over it.

Five days was neither long nor short. Ye Yang's original intention was to step up his training, as he didn't consider himself elite in the slightest. However, Ling Fengyan advised him to rest properly and at most review some documents, considering that the upcoming training camp in the European Domain would be extremely grueling and fraught with all sorts of dangers.

"Bodyguard Number One..."

Upon returning home and seeing Qi Fang's tearful expression, Ye Yang knew that not only had his training plan been shattered, but his pleasant aspirations of reading documents were also thoroughly obliterated.

"What is it this time?" Ye Yang asked powerlessly.

"Accompany me to play video games... Over the past few days, that jerk has KO'd me over seventy times! I'm so mad!!" Qi Fang said, grinding her teeth in fierce resentment.

"Jerk? You mean Ouyang Yu?" Ye Yang was taken aback. So this girl had been sneaking off to challenge Ouyang Yu in solo matches of King of Fighters. No wonder—even though she was a gaming genius, her experience lagged far behind his.

"Alright!" Ye Yang agreed immediately. Ouyang Yu? Hmph! His superpowers might not match that brat's, but beating him to a pulp in a video game would at least vent some frustration. More importantly, he simply couldn't refuse Qi Fang's request. As Wang Feng had put it: you go whether you agree or not, and you go even if you refuse, so it was better to save his breath.

Even if he had to go, however, that was tomorrow's problem. Right now, his aching head made walking in a straight line difficult enough, let alone playing video games. Hangovers were genuinely lethal.

"Great! Great! Bodyguard Number One, get some good rest. I'll cook dinner for you, and tomorrow you absolutely must help me beat the living daylights out of that jerk!" Qi Fang smiled brightly and scurried straight into the kitchen.

"Ah? You're cooking? You know how to cook? Is your... is it delicious?"

"Why do you care so much? As long as it's edible, that's fine. Anyway... it'll definitely be edible!"

Ye Yang felt like bursting into tears. He began to seriously consider hiring a chef to cook at home, especially since he wasn't short on money now. But if he had to eat Qi Fang's so-called "edible" cooking every day... he estimated his demonic energy level would plummet drastically.

Sure enough, the meal Qi Fang prepared was strictly "edible"—provided one pinched their nose, numbed their taste buds with strong liquor, and chased it down by pouring a cup of cold water straight into their throat.

Ye Yang rarely cooked, so he only kept a minimal selection of seasonings at home. Yet this girl managed to use such a limited palette of spices to create such bizarre and wondrous flavors, truly making her a rare anomaly in the culinary world.

"You... aren't you going to eat?" Ye Yang asked through clenched teeth, feeling as though his tongue was about to rot, his throat was blocked up, and even his stomach was staging a violent rebellion as it churned relentlessly.

"Ah? I made this specially for you! Eat up, eat up, this chicken is delicious... Of course I didn't taste it, I said I was making it just for you."

"Ugh..." Ye Yang finally lost it. Who said food needed poison to be fatal? Qi Fang's cooking was an invisible assassin!

Early the next morning, Qi Fang dragged Ye Yang right out of bed and gave him a severe beating.

"Pervert! Stinky pervert! You sleep without pants on!" the girl shouted, her face flushed red with anger.

"I..." Ye Yang felt deeply wronged. What was wrong with sleeping naked with the door locked inside his own home? Where on earth did this girl get a key? How did she even get in?

"Pfft, does this young lady even need a key?" Qi Fang said, disdainfully waving a nail file in her hand. "Uncle Zheng taught me. He's amazing—he can use a single pack of instant noodles to bypass security in any residential compound within the ruined cities!"

"..." Ye Yang was left speechless. Uncle Zheng? Wasn't that guy supposed to be a scavenger? Turns out scavengers also moonlighted as pickpockets!

"Hurry up, hurry up! Help me go teach that jerk a lesson! Skip breakfast, skip brushing your teeth and washing your face—can't you just grab a few tissues and wipe yourself down on the way?!"

"..." Dragged out the door by Qi Fang, Ye Yang looked up at the sky and let out a long sigh. What kind of terrible karma had he accumulated in his past life?

Since they started out far too early, when the pair strolled up to the gaming arcade, the owner hadn't even opened the doors yet. After grumbling angrily for a bit, Qi Fang felt her stomach rumbling and decided to sit down at a roadside stall to drink a bowl of sweet bean curd.

Whether Beijing residents simply had a habit of early morning jogs or they had run into some special occasion today, halfway through drinking the bean curd, the street suddenly erupted into chaos as a massive crowd began running frantically in one direction.

"What's going on? What happened?" Qi Fang craned her neck to look, but unfortunately she was far too short; even standing on a chair wouldn't get her past two meters.

"Come on! Let's go take a look!" Displaying her insatiable curiosity once more, Qi Fang grabbed Ye Yang by the hand and sprinted off, completely ignoring his protests and paying no mind to the miserable state of his clothes, which were now splattered with bean curd.