Star Hunter.

Chapter 270 The Place Where "He" Disappeared

Volume 1, Chapter 270: The Place Where "Them" Disappeared

Guan Feng likes to prepare his own food, so there are several kitchens in his house. (Please remember this when reading the novel) But now, looking at the kitchen, all the machines inside have stopped. The housekeeping robot stands quietly in the corner, showing no reaction to Xilin's arrival, not even its indicator lights are flashing.

I opened one of the ovens in the kitchen, and there were still some Guan's special cookies half-baked inside. Everything else was arranged just as I remembered, without any mess or signs of conflict.

Xilin went upstairs to take another look. Guan Feng's bedroom and study were all tightly closed and password-protected. They could not be opened, and there were no signs of forced entry. It was as if Guan Feng had suddenly disappeared.

Walking back down to the living room, the gray cat was jumping out of the fish tank, a fish in its mouth. After jumping back to the ground, it stepped on the fish with its paws and then tore the whole fish apart from head to tail.

It had no flesh and blood; it was a mechanical fish.

"Trying to fool me? No way!" The gray cat swallowed the entire mechanical fish whole, then looked at Xilin: "Where's Guan Feng?"

Xilin shook his head. "I didn't see anyone."

His gaze fell on the sofa, where a projector sat on the table in front of it, displaying a preset image with a flashing indicator light. Xilin pressed a button, and all the lights in the living room went out, and the curtains automatically closed. The living room was plunged into darkness.

A figure appeared on the sofa, an ordinary-looking figure that wouldn't stand out in a crowd, but Xilin knew it was a robot. As for why he could tell it was a robot at a glance from a projection, Xilin could only say—it was intuition.

"Dear visitor, we apologize that the owner was unable to greet you. Our boss simply invited him over for a chat, and we don't know when he'll be back. If you have urgent business, you can come here..."

Although the voice brought forth a massive star map, with planets arranged in rows, clearly showing the empire's more than twenty star regions, one planet stood out brightly among them—the target planet the robot had mentioned. However, if Xilin remembered correctly, this planet wasn't on the star map he had previously obtained.

The star map appeared for five seconds before disappearing. The robot figure sitting on the sofa also vanished, the curtains were drawn back open, the lights were turned on, and the living room returned to its previous state.

Although the star chart only appeared for five seconds, Xilin had already memorized it. After the projector was turned off, Xilin dimmed the lights in the living room and took out the star chart from his hand.

Comparing the star map provided by the robot, it's clear that the star in Xilin's hand doesn't include the one he just marked. Besides that one, several other planets and one star are also missing from the map, but aside from these missing stars, the other planets are roughly the same. However, by examining the positions of the surrounding planets, it's evident that gravity is pulling all the planets in this region towards the missing spot. This means that there should be a star there.

The gravity image is still there, but some of the planets at the center have disappeared.

This area is just an inconspicuous corner of the entire Lansa Empire, and no one would pay special attention to it. No one would delve into the secrets behind it. Of course, perhaps someone has discovered it, but has not found the answer, or perhaps it has "disappeared" in the process of searching for the answer.

Leaving aside all of them, the vast majority of people in the Lansa Empire who possess the star map of the entire empire have star maps that are exactly the same as the one in Xilin's possession, and there is no planet marked on them at all. That is to say, someone has erased the files, traces, and star map traces of this planet and a planet next to it.

Only high-ranking members of the Lanza Empire could have done this, but who exactly? And why? Was it an inside man for Black Viper?

Xilin didn't know, nor could he guess. He knew too little about the affairs of this empire. He wasn't involved much in the power struggles at the top or the behind-the-scenes battles, nor did he want to get involved. However, Guan Feng's matter gave Xilin a different idea.

Xilin sat on the sofa, lost in thought. The gray cat didn't disturb him. Bored, it circled the living room once before running to Guan Feng's kitchen to steal some cookies.

Not long after.

"Oh my god!"

Xilin's thoughts were interrupted by the strange, muffled sounds that had filled his life, like the meows of a cat trapped in a jar.

"What's wrong with you now?!"

  

Xilin reluctantly got up and went to the kitchen. As soon as he entered, he saw a fluffy, fat butt sticking out and wagging its tail. The gray cat's head was stuck inside a cookie machine, and it was trying hard to pull it out.

"Are you stuck?" Xilin went over and helped pull it out.

"Hey, wait! Don't pull! It's stuck!" the gray cat cried from inside.

"Can't you change your form...?"

Xilin was speaking when a "click" came from inside, followed by several more clicking sounds. After a few more clicks, the gray cat finally emerged, its face covered in green biscuit crumbs and droppings, dragging out a small, round tube.

"This is all we can take out. There's another box inside that we can't get out," the gray cat said, licking its paws and wiping its face.

There was something else hidden underneath the cookie maker. Gray Cat discovered it while eating cookies, so he bit open the cookie maker to try and get the contents out. But it was so hard to get it out; he got stuck several times.

Xilin picked up the small tube, looked at it, and shook it. He didn't know what was inside. It would take some effort to open the tube. Instead of dealing with the tube immediately, Xilin looked through the cracked bottom of the cookie machine at the boxes that hadn't been taken out.

While it's certainly wrong to do such destructive things without Guan Feng's consent, these aren't extraordinary times.

Xilin took out his tools and disassembled the multi-functional kitchenware, then took out the box inside.

The box, like the cylinder in front, was also set with a password and could not be opened immediately.

"What exactly is in here?" Xilin asked the gray cat.

"I don't know, the outer shell is made of a special material. You can't see what's inside," the gray cat said, taking another bite of a cookie.

"Be careful not to get diarrhea from eating these undercooked cookies."

"No way! It's not like we haven't eaten it before."

"Suit yourself. Come over and decipher the code after you've eaten." After saying that, Xilin picked up the tools and reassembled the disassembled composite kitchenware.

After finishing the biscuits, the gray cat cooperatively began to decipher the codes on the two items. It started with the cylindrical one, and after deciphering it, the front of the cylinder opened, revealing a design blueprint—the design blueprint for the Razer DeathAdder S.

It looks like I've seen something secret...

After stuffing the design drawings back into the cylinder, Xilin could roughly guess what was inside the box.

As Xilin had predicted, the box did indeed contain the Razer DeathAdder S.

The white gun barrel gave off a chilling feeling, pure and indifferent. The muzzle was hexagonal, reminding Xilin of snowflakes.

The gun has a Razer logo and an "s" symbol on it.

Guan Feng actually designed it so quickly!

Placing such a precious gun under the cookie machine in the kitchen... Only Guan Feng would do something like that. Of course, no one would expect Guan Feng to leave his priceless, brand-new Razer S in such a place.

However, this also made Xilin realize a problem: Guan Feng hadn't even taken the Hellfire Razer S with him. Was it because he left in too much of a hurry? Or because he didn't have the chance? Or perhaps he simply didn't want the Black Viper people to know?

Xilin put away the cylinder and box, then sat on the sofa in the living room thinking about what to do next.

The gray cat lay on its back on the sofa, rubbing against it, and yawned boredly. Suddenly, its ears twitched, and it looked towards the door.

Di-

The door opened. A person walked in.

He's an acquaintance; Xilin had met him not long ago.

"white night?"

Xilin looked at Bai Ye with a puzzled expression. Guan Feng must have set up entry requirements here; Xilin was able to enter because he was Guan Feng's student. But what about Bai Ye? How was Bai Ye able to get in?

Bai Ye wasn't surprised to see Xilin there. He looked around and then remained on the fish tank. One of the fish was missing.

"There was a mechanical fish inside, which has been disposed of," Xilin explained.

"I know. I've been here before, but I didn't deal with it."

Bai Ye walked to the sofa and sat down. Behind him, the snow wolf Ruby followed him in. As soon as they entered, the wolf and the cat faced off.

The gray cat had just rubbed against the sofa, except for a small sofa opposite it, which Bai Ye had already sat on. Rub wanted to lie down on the sofa, but the smell of the cat made him unhappy, as if the place had already been claimed.

The gray cat showed no embarrassment whatsoever, lying on the sofa without moving an inch, its tail swishing idly as it defiantly looked at the snow wolf, Rub.

Ruble grinned.

The gray cat flicked its ears but ignored it.

"Have you already seen the information inside?" Xilin pointed to the preset projector on the table and said to Bai Ye.

"I've seen it."

Xilin raised an eyebrow. So calm?!

Now Xilin really wonders, who is this for? Xilin himself, or Bai Ye?

"What are you going to do?" Bai Ye asked.

Xilin tapped his forehead. "Go take a look. What about you?"

"go."

"Because of the wind?"

"Because I'm bored."

Xilin: "..."

Facing the Black Viper alone would indeed be very risky for Xilin, but Xilin doesn't want to ask the Yuan family for help right now. Even among the Yuan family members, apart from Yuan Ye, Xilin doesn't want to get too close. If he were to ask someone to go with him, what about this guy in front of him?

Just then, Bai Ye's communicator rang.

"What's wrong?" Bai Ye asked, turning on his communicator.

"Have you found the person yet? I need the money urgently!" Serdiye shouted from the other end.

"No, but there's news."

Xilin looked at Bai Ye. Was he preparing to leak Guan Feng's information?

"Where is he?! Is Director Guan hiding? Even if he is Director Guan, he can't withhold our wages!"

"You come over here first. Director Guan, call Chi Lafang and Niqi over here."

"There's work to do? Wait here, I'll be right there!"

After Bai Ye ended the call, Xi Lin asked him, "Are you planning to release the news?"

"No, it's just that for the two of us, going to Black Viper's territory would be pure suicide."

Xilin thought about it and agreed. After all, Bai Ye and his group didn't have any deep entanglements with other forces in the Empire. Being on the free side made their actions easier and wouldn't trigger a chain of actions from other factions.

Serdiye and his group did arrive very quickly, probably because of Guan Feng's disappearance. They hadn't received the money, so they came full of resentment.

"Hey, you're the cat that made Dahl cry?" Armadillo Amadeo looked with interest at the gray cat who was lying lazily on the sofa, swishing its tail.

"Who are you?" the gray cat asked back.

Amadiro chuckled as he crawled over and introduced himself and the snow wolf Rub. Rub remained arrogant and ignored the gray cat.

The gray cat ignored the big dog, its attention drawn to something else. Sniffing the air, the gray cat looked at Serdie, who was sitting casually on the sofa next to it.

"What are you looking at?" Serdie reached out to pinch the gray cat's ear. The gray cat scratched her away with its paw.

"You smell like fish."

"Fish?" Sediye sniffed. "No, I didn't eat fish today."

The gray cat flicked its tail. "I know. You're a mutant! A mutant from the sea."

This time, not only Serdiye, but also Baiye and the others were surprised. They didn't expect that this cat could even sniff out this.

Serdiye grinned, and his neat teeth turned into rows of sharp fangs, which was quite frightening.

"I am a mutant from the sea. What do you want?"

The gray cat yawned: "What's so special about that? What are you bragging about!"

Serdiye: "..."

The gray cat jumped onto Xilin's shoulder. "Xilin, are these guys coming with us to find Guan Feng?"

Before Xilin could answer, Sediye started shouting, "What happened to Guan Feng? Does he owe you wages too?"

Bai Ye briefly recounted the events, then dimmed the preset projector and replayed the footage.

"Oh, I see. I happen to be pretty free lately. I can go shopping. But I'll have to ask Guan Feng for a raise. Hey, Bai Ye, if Guan Feng tries to back out, you'll have to cover the salary yourself. After all, he's your mentor," Sediye said.

Guan Feng is Bai Ye's mentor? His direct mentor? Xi Lin really didn't know that. In that case, it's understandable why Bai Ye was able to enter Guan Feng's residence.

In fact, Pisturami should address Bai Ye as "Senior Brother." However, Bai Ye doesn't require Xilin to do so; it doesn't matter to him. He doesn't care, and he doesn't even bother with Goryo.

The preset projector on the table had played the video once when Bai Ye came, and then Xi Lin played it a second time. After this third playback, the preset projector was completely destroyed, all the records inside were destroyed, and the star map image on it could not be copied at all.

"Interesting. I didn't expect the Black Viper's people to be in that little corner." Chi Cifang, who hadn't said much until now, spoke up.

Bai Ye didn't answer, but looked at Xi Lin. "The rest of us will go together. What are your plans? Will you join us?"

"Of course, I'd be asking for death if I went alone," Xilin said.

Gray Cat stood up. "Me too! This time, we'll teach those trash robots a lesson!"

Xilin could also see that Bai Ye and his group often cooperated and were very knowledgeable about the Empire's affairs. It would be much safer for Xilin to act with them.

"If you hold us back, we'll kick you out anytime," Nikki said.

"no problem."

Bai Ye and Xi Lin used their identification documents to open Guan Feng's warehouse, took some equipment and supplies, and also dispatched a high-quality aircraft.

Judging from Bai Ye's familiarity with the process, Xi Lin guessed that this guy had been doing this kind of thing for a long time. However, it seems that all of Guan Feng's direct students are pretty much the same, taking Guan's things with such natural ease.

Since he was going to Black Viper's territory, he would definitely be away for a while. During this time, Xilin would have a test for one of his courses. If he didn't take the test, he would fail the course. Guan Feng would never allow him to fail a course, and Xilin himself was too embarrassed to fail the first course. So, before leaving, Xilin had to talk to the course instructor.

Xilin had already read through the reference materials Guan Feng had given him several times regarding the course content. He was certain he wouldn't fail if he took the test. Xilin's goal this time was to apply for an early test.

The tutor was quite old, and I heard that his seniority at the affiliated school was no less than Guan Feng's. He had a full head of white hair, and although his face was covered with wrinkles, they were not as deep as those of an average elderly person. I wondered if it was because he taught classes often. His voice was also very loud and full of energy.

Knowing that Xilin wanted to apply for early testing, the old man was very angry. "I don't care how many things you have to do, or what your background is. You're here first and foremost a student, and a student should prioritize their studies! Students from the First Affiliated High School shouldn't try to compete with those spoiled brats from the Third Affiliated High School to see who lives a more carefree life..."

Xilin was impressed by Xilin's long and rambling speech. As expected of a veteran teacher with so many years of experience, Xilin could speak eloquently and righteously about profound principles. As a senior educator and one of the few academicians in the Royal Academy of Sciences who had given hundreds of lectures, Xilin never lacked anything to say.

After enduring two hours of reprimands from his old mentor without pause or repetition, Xilin finally got to take the test ahead of schedule.

The tutor supervised the entire process to prevent Xilin from engaging in any cheating. The test questions were quite difficult, but they were manageable for Xilin, who completed them relatively smoothly, except for one section of extended questions that took a little longer.

When Xilin solves a problem, the tutor immediately gives him a score in his mind. When Xilin finishes the problem, the total score is also given.

He didn't give Xilin a friendly look, snorted, and waved for Xilin to leave.

That should count as passing the test. Having resolved this major problem, Xilin left his old mentor's place.

After Xilin left, the old mentor's previously displeased expression turned to helplessness. "What a troublesome matter. What were you all doing, making such a fuss?"

"There's nothing we can do about it." A young man walked out of one of the rooms in the old mentor's house.

"Suit yourself, I'm too old to get involved." The old tutor took Xilin's test questions and walked towards his study. As he passed the young man, he paused and added, "Watch your manners!"

"I understand, don't worry!"