Ling Cage: I am a spiritual master, devouring source matter to become a god.

"Brother Jingyuan!"

"Brother Jingyuan!"

The two said in unison.

Jing Yuan quickly said, "We're the same age, don't call me 'big brother,' just call me Jing Yuan."

"No, no, no! Let's talk about strength. With your strength, you're definitely capable of being the leader!"

"Yeah! The scene where you killed the Devouring Beast yesterday was so cool!"

"You flatter me." He quickly waved his hand, not expecting to gain two little admirers.

Chu Feng looked around and decided this wasn't the place to talk, so he said, "How about this? We'll get together at your place later. Dehai, you two come too!"

"Okay!"

After saying goodbye to the others, Jingyuan went to settle his contribution points.

During this mission, Jingyuan, Erica, Penny, and others all had relatively high contribution points because they found some useful equipment.

As a result, even Mo Dong and his group gained a lot of contribution points.

On the lighthouse, there are no leisure activities other than work and tasks.

Getting together with a few friends to chat is a form of leisure and entertainment.

Later that evening, Mo Dong, Chu Feng, Neil, along with De Hai and Lin Ge, gathered at Jing Yuan's residence for drinks.

As they chatted, the conversation inevitably turned to the mission.

Chu Feng recalled, "This mission was really too dangerous! In the end, that Devouring Beast chased us onto our vehicle. If Jing Yuan hadn't appeared in time, we probably wouldn't have made it back!"

Mo Dong also said, "After we finished loading the equipment, a fierce battle broke out on Captain Mark's side. Fortunately, Senior Penny remained calm and directed us to retreat. That's how our vehicle got ahead. Otherwise, we would have been in serious trouble!"

Jing Yuan looked at the group and asked, "Were all five of you in one car at the time?"

"Yes! The situation was quite chaotic at the time, so we didn't take the bus in the seats we came in."

Jingyuan also recalled the scene at that time, where Penny's car was running ahead, using the vehicle-mounted machine gun to block many Devouring Beasts.

The vehicles behind were not so lucky.

"Isn't it said that missions involving new recruits for assessments are generally not very dangerous? I almost died on my first time on the ground, that's so unlucky!" Neil was still shaken.

Lin Ge, who was standing next to him, said, "I also heard that the risk of going on a mission with Captain Mark is the lowest. I thought that with Captain Mark leading the team, everything would be fine, but I never expected that we would almost not come back."

Dehai also complained, "Because of this failure, Captain Mark's reputation has also been greatly affected."

“In the past, when Captain Mark led the team on missions, although there were casualties, the supplies were always brought back. So no one paid much attention. This time, they didn’t even bring back the supplies, so everyone is complaining.”

"The ones with the biggest complaints are the members of the Light and Shadow Society. They say Captain Mark went against the will of the Lord of Light and Shadow, which is why he was punished!"

"Those charlatans from the Light and Shadow Society haven't done anything, all they do is spout nonsense."

"By the way, I heard that the higher-ups are very dissatisfied with Captain Mark's operation this time..."

As Jingyuan listened to the others' teasing and banter, he suddenly realized something.

Mark's reputation has been affected by the mission's failure, and the Light and Shadow Society is still fueling the fire?

Jingyuan increasingly felt that Charles was behind this whole thing.

Listening to their conversation, Jingyuan suddenly asked, "You said the higher-ups are dissatisfied with Mark? Which higher-ups?"

"Who else could it be but Lord Morgan!"

"The city lord is not satisfied with Mark?" Jing Yuan was a little skeptical. Morgan had always valued Mark and would not be dissatisfied with him over something like this.

"Yes, I heard that the Hunters are planning to appoint a vice-captain."

"Vice-captain? Don't the Hunters have vice-captains?"

"Who?"

"Lieutenant Ran Bing!"

"She's just an adjutant, assisting Captain Mark. It's said that the newly appointed vice-captain is second only to Captain Mark in rank and also has independent command authority."

"So who will be the new vice-captain?"

"I don't know, I heard they're selecting from the current team members!"

"Oh? Then do we also have a chance?"

"Come on! What chance do you have?"

"There are only rumors about it right now; the specific requirements haven't been announced yet."

"No matter what, if we have the opportunity, we can give it a try. Becoming the vice captain will at least earn us a lot more contribution points."

The group chatted on one side, while Jingyuan stood there in a daze, wondering how Charles would arrange for him to be the vice-captain.

Chu Feng looked at Jing Yuan and asked with a smile, "Jing Yuan, why aren't you saying anything?" Chu Feng grinned mischievously and asked, "You're not thinking about that blonde beauty from today, are you?"

"A blonde beauty?" Mo Dong said with a smile, "You mean Senior Penny?"

Chu Feng joked, "Senior Penny is indeed very good. She's probably one of the top hunters among us!"

When a group of men get together, talking about beautiful women is an inevitable topic.

Chu Feng's teasing sparked a discussion about beautiful women.

Lin Ge said with a smile, "Speaking of beautiful women, those two Lightbringers from the law firm are quite good!"

"Don't let the Lightbringers find out, or they'll come and give you a good whipping." Dehai said with a smile, "My friend works in the flight control room, and he says there are a few really gorgeous women there. Especially the chief flight control commander, Jing Nan, whose figure and temperament are superb. I wonder if there's any chance of meeting her in the Dawn Hall."

"Stop dreaming. She's the city lord's daughter. Do you really think you'd run into her in the Dawn Hall?"

"Actually, you don't know this, do you? Commander-in-Chief Jingnan is just the city lord's adopted daughter. Of course, these are all family relationships from the old world."

Hearing their conversation, Jingyuan suddenly moved closer to Dehai and asked, "What did you just say?"

Dehai was somewhat puzzled, but he tried to answer: "Jingnan is the city lord's adopted daughter."

"Not that sentence, the one before! You said you have a friend who works in the flight control room?"

Dehai nodded.

Jingyuan suddenly raised an eyebrow and asked, "Could you please ask your friend for a favor?"

Chapter 39 Trials

The next day, Jingyuan, led by Dehai, arrived outside the navigation control room to wait for his friend.

The lighthouse is currently flying in a stable area, and the navigation control room is relatively quiet.

Dehai's friends took some time to meet with them.

The visitor was a young man who greeted Dehai warmly upon seeing him.

“Wick, this is Jing Yuan, one of our hunters.”

"Jingyuan, this is my friend Wick!"

Dehai introduced the two to each other.

Hello Wick!

"I need your help with something!" Jing Yuan stated the purpose of his visit directly. "I want to check the data on ground missions stored in the flight control room."

Wick hesitated for a moment, then looked at Dehai and readily agreed.

Actually, the data from ground missions isn't considered classified; many people have access to it.

For a normal hunter to come and check the information, all they need to do is submit a report and go through the proper procedures.

Jingyuan simply skipped one step in the process.

In a small room in the flight control center, Jing Yuan used a computer to retrieve reconnaissance data related to the ground mission from the previous day.

Before conducting ground missions, the flight control room flew over the energy storage center and took many photos using a ground-based telescope.

Jingyuan also retrieved these photos for review.

Based on the information, there is indeed no problem.

No traces of Devourer activity were found near the energy storage center, suggesting that the area is relatively low-risk.

After reviewing the information, Jingyuan's thoughts were somewhat jumbled.

Is it really an accident?

Jing Yuan knew that there were a large number of snake dogs in a ruined area near the energy storage center.

This ruin is very close to the energy storage center, so in theory, the activity traces of these snakes and dogs should be reported as valid reference information.

However, Jingyuan could not find any reports about the Devouring Beasts' activities.

Jingyuan scrolled through the photos on his computer, trying to find some clues.

Suddenly, he noticed that each photo had a number.

The last digit of the number is arranged in a cycle from 1 to 9.

However, during Jingyuan's browsing of the numbers, a large number of numbers disappeared.