Chapter 36: The Peculiar Gong Qing
The light of dawn seeped into Tang Mu's room. He turned in bed, rubbed his unfocused eyes, and glanced at his watch. It was 10:29 AM. He had already slept for more than six hours.
After his adventure to the Federal Mercenary Guild's branch office, he had only managed to return to his room at around four in the morning. He had been so exhausted due to his repeated use of his abilities. As such, he had gone straight to bed without doing anything else.
I really need some freedom as an adult. I can't wait to get out of this hostel.
Such thoughts flashed through Tang Mu's mind.
Yes, the hostel was cheap, secure, and conducive for high school students. However, it also imposed a lot of constraints on them. One such restriction was for all residents to be in the hostel by eleven every night, with the punishment of disregarding the decree being eviction.
Tang Mu was still a poor bloke with less than 200 Earth Dollars in his bank account. He couldn't afford even the one-roomed cheap apartments in the worst residential areas of the 4th district. And because of that, he couldn't bear to be evicted from the hostel. He had to remain careful while going out at night until he joined university and gained some freedom.
Tang Mu sighed and glanced at his bedside table. His quasi-one-star mercenary badge was there. He smiled as his eyes took in its sparkling silver surface and the half-star on it. He was finally a part of the Federal Mercenary Guild, and his next course of action was to do some missions and get rich.
While brimming with hope, Tang Mu jumped out of bed before heading to the bathroom and cleaning up. He then made a breakfast of sweet rice porridge, peanuts, and eggs before settling on his kitchen table to enjoy it.
After finishing the food, he pulled his old laptop from under his bed and placed it on his kitchen table. He immediately switched it on, eager to register an account on the Federal Mercenary Guild's intranet.
The computer was really a bit ancient. It was nothing like the modern virtual reality headsets or holographic smartwatches and took more than ten seconds to boot. Tang Mu had taken it from his late parents' collection and repaired it, hoping to maintain it as a keepsake that reminded him of his previous life. But at the moment, it was the perfect tool to log into the guild's intranet since he had never registered it in his name or connected it on the internet before. At least, it would make it hard for those who wanted to unearth his real identity from his web activity history.
After the laptop finished booting up, Tang Mu searched for the guild intranet before navigating to its home page. In less than a minute, he used the one-time sign-in code to register his account on the site and gain access to its contents.
Tang Mu was surprised by how spartan and bland the Federal Mercenary Guild's intranet was. Its home page only comprised a large silver logo in the middle, his user name, Kraken Darkblaze, in the top corner, and the tabs - Intro, Missions, Contracts, Mercenary Rankings, FAQs, Forum, and Contact Us arranged in a line close to the bottom of the screen.
Tang Mu ignored everything else for the time being. He clicked on the Missions tab, and all sorts of F and E-grade missions appeared before his eyes. Thousands of commissions were on the celestial bodies and outer space zones beyond the borders of Mother Earth's solar system, while only a few were on his home planet.
For instance, there were many E-grade missions to guard groups of scientists researching or conducting ecological modifications in recently discovered life planets in the Raging Kepler Star Cluster. These missions required one to only be at the level of a rank-one psionic, but they paid 600,000 Earth Dollars and twelve low-grade psionic crystals for every year of guard duty.
Such a sum was surprising to Tang Mu. It was even much more than all the cumulative money he had spent in the seventeen years of his second life.
Tang Mu also saw other missions requiring rank-ones to guard ships, mines, and other facilities of Mother Earth in outer space. They were even more generous with their pay and offered one million Earth Dollars and 50 low-grade psionic crystals for a year of guard duty.
But the danger associated with them was even more apparent since the mercenaries that took them on could meet space pirates, hostile alien races, and terrifying space-dwelling lifeforms while in space.
These missions in outer space are still far away from me. I must focus on only the missions I can complete in the two months before I head for university.
Tang Mu used a filter to remove all missions outside Mother Earth from the list. But he didn't just stop at that. He also filtered out everything long-term, like guard duties that required more than two months to complete, before trimming the list to an acceptable number of about a hundred tasks.
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Tang Mu then quickly perused through the list.
He could see tasks like hunting down a drug cartel hiding in the Amazon Metropolitan Region, tracking criminals, finding missing artifacts, and so on and so forth. He couldn't complete these with his current resources, so he continued looking until he finally saw a few commissions targeting Asia Metropolitan Region's 4th district in the middle of the list.
"Find out the whereabouts of the two Crimsonblades of the Crimson Brotherhood hiding in Asia Metropolitan Region's 4th district," the mission info read.
"Please note that the suspects are most likely in disguise. They might also be at the level of rank two and can be highly dangerous if you face them alone. A reward of 1,200 Earth Dollars and one low-grade psionic crystal will be offered to any mercenary who provides a clue leading to the successful capture of the two."
Tang Mu's eyes gleamed, and he focused on the next mission on the list.
"Track down and 'capture/kill' the two Crimson Brotherhood's Crimsonblades hiding in Asia Metropolitan Region's 4th district. Suspected combat ability of suspects: rank two, with fire and lightning manipulation abilities. Reward: 20,000 Earth Dollars and ten low-grade psionic crystals."
"This..." Tang Mu felt his heart go on a wild caper after he saw the second mission's prize.
The 20,000-dollar reward aside, one low-grade psionic crystal could be traded for 50,000 Earth Dollars, even in the worst exchange markets. Ten would be equivalent to a whooping 500,000 Earth Dollars. So, if he could complete the mission even with the help of others, he would say goodbye to poverty for some time.
"It's a pity that these Crimsonblades are at rank two." Tang Mu sighed after calming himself down. "Taking them on with my current rank-one psionic abilities would be the true definition of courting death. I can only take the mission to find clues about them. Maybe if I'm lucky, I'll meet one of them on the streets tomorrow."
Tang Mu chuckled, thinking that he was delusional. But he still accepted the mission, especially since there were no penalties or fines in case he didn't deliver. He would try his luck, and even if he failed to find any clues, he wouldn't lose anything.
Tang Mu let out a breath and continued looking through the missions on Mother Earth. However, he didn't find anything suitable for him even after going through the whole list. He sighed dejectedly and eventually logged off the intranet before powering his old laptop off.
Most missions on Mother Earth are related to hunting down hidden criminals. Such tasks require a lot of time, which I clearly don't have. I might have to change my plans a bit.
Tang Mu had wanted to earn some money through his mercenary work to pay for membership in one of the decent gyms around his neighborhood. But he could only change his plans since missions suitable to him were scarce in the Federal Mercenary Guild. A way forward would be to utilize his time in the painting world more effectively.
He was already a rank-one with spiritual sense and potent psionic superpowers. He was confident that he would not face much danger during his next adventure in the painting world. At least the peak rank one beings, like the shadow serpent and the golden lion, wouldn't manage to sneak up on him if he was careful.
Two days remain until my next adventure into the painting world. I can use this time to further the mastery of my recently improved powers. I should give priority to the shadow teleportation ability. It will allow me to escape in times of danger.
Tang Mu's eyes gleamed with resolve. He left the kitchen and pushed his old laptop back under the bed. Then, out of a recent habit, he extended his spiritual sense, intending to sense if there were abnormalities in the surroundings.
The Psionic Society's assessment had finally ended a day ago. Tang Mu 'saw' most candidates in the same year as him, lazing around the hostel. Most were still sleeping even this late in the morning, while some, like Ning'er and the Loverboy - Huang An, had on their virtual reality headsets. Whether they were watching movies or playing virtual reality games, only they themselves knew.
Tang Mu continued extending his spiritual senses as more scenes appeared in his mind's eye. He forced himself to ignore the girls taking showers in the rooms on the floors below and the two boys, who were often jerking off. He continued spreading his awareness and gradually approached his one-kilometer limit of perception.
Just then, a jolt of surprise went through his mind as his spiritual sense caught something disturbingly abnormal in an alley two buildings away from his hostel. He 'saw' Gong Qing enjoying a long, steamy kiss with another guy. They were chewing their lips like nothing without any care in the world.
Just how many guys does this girl have?
A day ago, she had been intimately romping in a small creaking bed with Huang An. Now, just after a single night, she was kissing another unfamiliar guy. Just how horny was she?
Tang Mu sighed, thinking how his new perception ability had allowed him to understand the hidden sides of a few people around him.
Gong Qing had always looked like a girl who was serious about her studies and psionic training. She had always been the perfect example of a girl who had overcome the tragedy of being kidnapped before gradually getting her life on track. Even Tang Mu had never known that she had another side to her before observing her with his covert spiritual sense.
And who's this dude?
The guy had already ended his kiss with Gong Qing. Tang Mu could clearly map out his features using his spiritual sense.
He looked to be in his late twenties. He was of medium build and average height. His hair was black and short but not styled in a flashy way. His face was like that of many other males in Asia Metropolitan Region's 4th district, and he was neither too handsome nor ugly.
Isn't this dude a bit too plain? What does Gong Qing see in him? He's even much shorter than her!
Tang Mu felt that if the guy was in a crowd, he might ignore him completely. He was just like one of those background characters with abnormally average features whom you saw and never gave a second look. In fact, if he hadn't been kissing Gong Qing, Tang Mu felt he would have overlooked his presence in the neighborhood.
Well, Gong Qing has been behaving weirdly.
I should make some time to find out who this guy is. I should also find a way to warn Huang An about this without giving my identity away. I don't want him to get hurt later because of this girl.
Tang Mu resolved and swiftly withdrew his spiritual sense.