He looked down at the horizontal blade in his hand, only to see that the originally sharp and smooth blade was now pitted and uneven, clearly unusable.
This blade was made of ordinary steel, and its current state was to be expected.
He had seen weapons made of higher-strength alloys in the exchange list on the Zhu Xi website before, and he could try to exchange for one when he returned this time.
Thinking of this, Hu Qi took out his phone from his pocket, thought for a moment, and directly dialed a number.
Beep beep…
After only two brief rings, the call was answered.
"Hello, Zhu Xi employee number 1076, at your service! Mr. Hu Qi, how may I help you?" At this moment, a clear, cold female voice came from the other end.
"I accepted the mission at Anxin Cemetery in the suburbs of Anshan City. The mission is now complete, but there was an unexpected incident during it. My teammate was attacked and died…"
Hu Qi briefly described the situation he had encountered.
"Okay, we will immediately dispatch a Restrainer. Please keep your phone line open."
The woman's voice also became serious.
After hanging up the phone, Hu Qi felt his pocket and found that the bottle containing the woman's Black Blood had shattered during the previous fight.
Seeing this, he got up and went to the security room to get an empty mineral water bottle, then came to the man's side and collected some.
Chen Fan's Black Blood appeared darker than the woman's, but unfortunately, due to the time that had passed, only a small half-bottle of Black Blood could be collected from the man's body.
After securing the bottle, he casually buried it outside the cemetery and then walked back.
Then, Hu Qi sat down on a tilted tombstone nearby to rest.
Not long after, a group of forty to fifty people, dressed in black and wearing masks, walked into the cemetery from outside.
"Hello, you can leave the subsequent matters to us."
The leading man said to Hu Qi, his voice calm and unperturbed.
The bloody scene before them seemed commonplace to them.
Restrainers, as their name suggests, are the personnel within Zhu Xi responsible for cleaning up such scenes and then disguising them as accidental incidents.
For a long time, their figures have been present in the Black Blood Species devouring incidents that occur in various places, as well as the commotions caused by Zhu Xi members hunting Black Blood Species.
They operate behind the scenes, a group of true professionals who can handle matters cleanly, disguising and covering up these events, replacing them with other explanations.
Zhu Xi members only need to focus on hunting Black Blood Species; other matters do not require their intervention.
Of course, the premise is that it's best not to fight in crowded urban areas to avoid too many people seeing it, as even Restrainers would find it very difficult to conceal then.
"Thank you for your trouble."
Hu Qi nodded and turned to leave.
After walking out of the cemetery gate, he met someone approaching.
This was a black-clad man with an indifferent expression. Based on the Qi and oppressive sensation emanating from him, he was clearly also a Martial Artist who had cultivated Qi and Blood.
Upon seeing Hu Qi, he scanned Hu Qi up and down and spoke.
"I am Yang Mo, the Zhu Xi intelligence officer. Due to a change in the mission, please come with me to Zhu Xi to register a statement. Additionally, the content of this mission needs to be verified."
"No problem, but can I change my clothes first?"
Hu Qi pointed to his tattered clothes, stained with dark red blood, hanging on his body.
"Of course, that's fine."
Yang Mo glanced at him and nodded.
Subsequently, the two got into a car and, without any delay, quickly arrived at the Anshan City Science Park where Zhu Xi was located.
After Hu Qi had washed up and changed into a new set of clothes, he was led into a room.
The room had minimal furnishings, with a light overhead and a table in the center, resembling an interrogation room.
The two sat facing each other.
"Now, tell me everything that happened earlier."
Yang Mo turned on the recorder beside him.
Hu Qi did not hide much, only omitting some irrelevant details concerning his strength.
He attributed the credit for killing the Black Blood Species that was undergoing transformation to the injuries Xie Fei had inflicted on it earlier.
As Hu Qi recounted, Yang Mo's expression grew increasingly solemn.
"According to your description, that guy should have been in the transformation period. If he had succeeded, he would have become a Lower Black-Blood Species."
At this point, he looked at Hu Qi with a look of surprise and uncertainty.
"Hu Qi, right? If I remember correctly, you should be one of this year's new students. I didn't expect you to have such strength."
"If the other party hadn't been injured, I wouldn't have been able to succeed at all."
Hu Qi shook his head.
"Regardless, you killed him. Thank you for your contribution.
If that guy had successfully completed his transformation, who knows how many people would have died!"
At this point, Yang Mo stood up and bowed slightly to Hu Qi with a serious expression.
"The intelligence for this mission was an oversight by the intelligence department. There will be an adjustment to this reward."
"It's nothing, I was just doing my job."
Hu Qi smiled.
"If there's nothing else, can I go back now?"
"Of course!"
Yang Mo nodded.
Then, as if remembering something, he said, "I'll see you out!"
Just as the two walked out of the room, they saw a figure standing by the side of the doorway.
This was a middle-aged man with graying temples. Upon closer inspection, his appearance bore a three to four tenths resemblance to Xie Fei.
His eyes were red, and the moment the door opened, his gaze locked onto Hu Qi.
"You were the one who carried out the mission with my son?"
"Xie Guang, what do you want to do?"
Before Hu Qi could speak, Yang Mo, who was on the side, frowned and stepped forward, blocking between the two.
"Why? My son died, and you're perfectly fine. Did you harm him?"
Xie Guang ignored Yang Mo and stared intently at Hu Qi, his gaze as if he wanted to devour Hu Qi alive.
"Very simple, because he was too weak."
Hu Qi said indifferently.
Facing the other party's hostility, he had no intention of backing down. This matter was originally unrelated to him.
"You!" Xie Guang's eyes were cold, as if he was about to make a move.
"Xie Guang, have you thought clearly about the consequences of attacking a fellow Zhu Xi member!"
At this moment, Yang Mo spoke again from the side.
"Moreover, the injury report from your son's death scene has come out. It can be confirmed that the Black Blood Species that was about to transform was responsible, and it has nothing to do with Hu Qi."
Upon hearing this, Xie Guang's face immediately became extremely grim, but he moved his body to the side, no longer blocking the two.
He watched the two walk past him.
"Don't worry, Team Leader Yang, how could I possibly attack a fellow member?"
Saying this,
His gaze was fixed on Hu Qi.
As if wanting to completely memorize his face and physique.
"I just want to remind this gentleman not to run around at night. It's too dangerous outside."
