My Professions Have Too Much Personality - Chapter 324 - 195: A Little Blunder (2)

Wan Chen had come down a little before him, and Su Chen approached to ask what was going on.

“Lan Hao left the spaceship this morning and hasn’t returned.” Wan Chen’s brows furrowed slightly. Even though he and Lan Hao didn’t get along, this still wasn’t good news.

Su Chen’s expression shifted slightly. He glanced in the direction of Chong Jingtian and his group. Old Xia was standing at the back of the line, his gaze dark as he looked over at him.

’It couldn’t have been Old Xia, could it?’ Su Chen’s heart skipped a beat as he began to speculate. Killing Lan Hao right now was not a good idea; it would only cause unnecessary trouble.

Lin Yue came down just then. After getting a grasp of the situation, her eyes also swept over Chong Jingtian’s people.

There were only their two parties in this place. Wan Chen and his group wouldn’t have acted, so the only possibility was Chong Jingtian and his people.

Chong Jingtian’s group realized this as well. The anxiety on their faces was genuine; if this mess was pinned on them, they would be in serious trouble.

They directed their stationed guards to spread out into the surrounding Nether Fog, apparently to search for any sign of Lan Hao.

Wan Chen’s group didn’t stand by idly, either, and joined the search party.

Qing Cang’s brow was furrowed in a tight knot as his gaze swept over the crowd. He couldn’t think of any reason to kill Lan Hao, but he couldn’t dismiss the possibility that someone had acted foolishly.

If something truly happened to Lan Hao under his protection, the repercussions would be significant.

At this thought, he couldn’t help but feel vexed. He glanced around at the profoundly dark environment. If only this Nether Fog didn’t suppress Mental Perception so severely.

Su Chen blended into the crowd and casually drifted into the Nether Fog.

Soon enough, the master and disciple happened to find each other.

Neither of them spoke at first. They walked deeper into the fog until they couldn’t see another soul, at which point Xia Hanshi sent out a mental ripple. “Were your hands clean?”

Su Chen’s expression froze. ’So Old Xia thought it was me?’

He did indeed covet Lan Hao’s recovery-type profession, but he hadn’t found an opportunity yet. With a helpless expression, he replied, “I was about to ask you the same thing.”

Despite his words, he breathed a sigh of relief internally. ’As long as it wasn’t Old Xia, everything is fine.’

He’d had some conflict with Lan Hao, but if that guy died on Red Thunder Star, there was no telling what the consequences would be.

“That’s good.” Xia Hanshi also let out a breath of relief. He had genuinely been afraid that Su Chen had impatiently moved to eliminate a potential threat. Then, his expression turned suspicious. “If it wasn’t you or me, who else would want him dead?”

To that… Su Chen fell silent for a moment, unable to come up with an answer.

The two of them wandered around in the Nether Fog for a long time but found no clues, so they had no choice but to head back.

But as soon as they emerged from the Nether Fog, they heard Qing Cang’s furious roar. “You damn bastard! You go into the Nether Fog without even leaving a message!”

“I thought your body had been torn to pieces!”

In front of the spaceship, Lan Hao was standing there, alive and well. Not far behind him lay the corpse of a black, elephantine behemoth the size of a small hill, the stench of blood thick in the air.

Lan Hao lowered his head and explained, “I was just curious. I mean, I’ve only ever read about planets like this in books, so I wanted to see what it was really like.”

“But after I went into the Nether Fog, I just kept walking and got a little lost.”

“Curious!” Qing Cang couldn’t suppress his fury and berated him, “Why don’t you go be curious about how the Deceitful God came into being? If your Foggy Robe had been damaged, you’d have had hell to pay when we got back!”

Lan Hao wore a helpless expression, able to do nothing but accept the tongue-lashing.

Chong Jingtian and his group returned one by one. Seeing that Lan Hao was still alive, they all breathed a collective sigh of relief. But after learning the reason for his disappearance, they couldn’t help but curse him under their breath.

’Curious, my ass! I was about to go fucking crazy from all this trouble!’

“Something’s not right with that kid,” Xia Hanshi said, he and Su Chen having stopped at a distance. His gaze was dark. “Judging by the coagulation of the blood on that elephant corpse, it’s been dead for the better part of a day.”

“The Mutant Species in this vicinity were cleared out long ago. He must have run quite a distance, and after killing it, he didn’t return right away.”

Since Lan Hao wasn’t dead, no one would pay any mind to the mental fluctuations between the two of them.

Su Chen’s heart stirred. “You mean…?”

“I don’t know,” Xia Hanshi said, shaking his head. “It’s just speculation. Perhaps he really did just get lost.”

After the whole false alarm, Qing Cang told him to stay put, but Lan Hao argued, “I’m cooped up in my room with nothing to do. It’s incredibly boring.”

Qing Cang paused. Before, in an attempt to get on Su Chen’s good side, Lan Hao had given away his own Spiritual Pressure Ring.

Lin Yue’s gaze shifted from the massive corpse, her own hands itching for a fight. “Master Qing, it’s rare for us to experience an environment like this. I’m curious too. Please let us go out and hone our skills.”

Qing Cang frowned, but even Wan Chen seemed eager, chiming in with his agreement.

He mulled it over for a long while but still shook his head.

However, the next day, while Qing Cang was deep within the Red Thunder Cauldron, Lin Yue still snuck out. She returned dragging a giant boar whose bristles were as tough as refined iron.

’This woman…’ Su Chen leaned against the porthole, watching Lin Yue, who was covered in blood but wore a thrilled expression. ’Isn’t she afraid of her Foggy Robe getting damaged?’

When Qing Cang emerged and learned of this, he merely frowned but didn’t say anything.

With his tacit approval, over the next few days, Wan Chen and the others began to venture out frequently, heading deep into the Nether Fog.

Su Chen, however, merely increased the frequency of his trips to the gathering point.

Early that day, Lin Yue disappeared into the Nether Fog. Two or three hours later, Lan Cang also emerged and entered the fog from a different direction. By now, no one thought anything of it.

Su Chen, meanwhile, descended from the spaceship and vanished into the gathering point, his figure quickly lost from sight.

…

The fog swirled gently. Su Chen, wearing a Metal Mask, moved like a phantom. Thanks to his Wind Dance Instinct, he drifted by without causing so much as a ripple in the mists.

He watched the faint, flickering figure up ahead, tailing it from a great distance. Employing multiple techniques, combined with the Nether Fog’s innate ability to block detection, it was nearly impossible for his target to spot him.

Su Chen mused to himself, ’This guy is really strange. He’s not like Lin Yue and Wan Chen, who are actually hunting for prey. He just seems to come out, stay for a set amount of time, and then go back.’

Lan Hao had come out several times, and Su Chen had followed him each time. He was genuinely interested in that Phoenix profession, and on several occasions, he was tempted to make a move but managed to restrain himself.

Lan Hao was a Tier Five Professional. Whether Su Chen could even defeat him was one thing, but starting a fight was easy—it was cleaning up the mess afterward that was hard.

This time, just as he always did, Lan Hao stopped after venturing deep enough into the Nether Fog.

However, unlike the other times, not long after he stopped, the fog nearby began to churn violently.

Su Chen’s heart leaped, and he instantly concealed himself within a spatial rift. From out of the fog emerged a burly figure, a good two meters tall. He wore a leather jacket, his two thick, muscular arms, tough as refined iron, left bare.

The distance was too great for him to make out the man’s face; he could only see a blurry outline.

’So all of Lan Hao’s preparations were just to meet this person?’ Su Chen had a sudden moment of clarity.

Lan Hao’s first disappearance was likely a test to see just how effective the Nether Fog’s screening properties were.

His subsequent trips were all a pretense, a buildup for this one meeting.

’Who is this person? Someone worth going to all this trouble to meet…’

’Definitely not a native of Red Thunder Star,’ Su Chen’s mind raced, a faint thrill of excitement running through him.

…

“Ni Chuan…” Lan Hao was quite surprised to see him. This man was one of the top brass of the Royal Court Guard Army.

“The apple truly doesn’t fall far from the tree…” Ni Chuan laughed heartily, pulling his gaze back from the distance, a strange, subtle feeling pricking at him.

“Commander Ni.” Lan Hao didn’t know if this was the person who had spoken to him in the Netherworld Space, but face-to-face, he didn’t dare act arrogant.

“What’s the situation?” Ni Chuan asked, nodding curtly.

“Red Sun left his weapon here—the Red Thunder Cauldron.” Perhaps this act of betrayal didn’t sit well with him, as Lan Hao seemed slightly tense. “Qing Cang is doing his best to overcome the obstruction.”

“The Red Thunder Cauldron!” A sharp glint flashed in Ni Chuan’s eyes. That was a Morning Star Tier weapon, something that cost a fortune to forge and was incredibly valuable.

“According to Qing Cang, it’s already severely damaged,” Lan Hao said, seeing through his thoughts. “As for the consciousness splintered from the Ancient King, it has yet to appear. I only ever heard Wan Chen mention it, so it might just be a rumor.”

“Otherwise, Qing Cang wouldn’t have to be struggling so hard to resist the Sinful Fire Punishment Thunder.”

The glint in Ni Chuan’s eyes faded somewhat. He pondered for a moment. “If it’s just Qing Cang, I can still contend with him. But if the Ancient King’s consciousness is involved, then our only option is to find a way to stall for time.”

“It’s best if we don’t stall,” Lan Hao said, his expression turning anxious. “The Deceitful God’s Followers on this planet have already begun preparing for the Holy Banquet. If we drag this out for too long, I’m afraid something unexpected will happen.”