Chapter 1 The Beginning

“In 1900, the second district hasn't opened its servers yet, they couldn't possibly recognize me as a Star Official, let alone associate me with Lieutenant Haas,” Zhang Yuanqing thought to himself, lying on his bed in the dormitory.

It was a pity that he didn't get to see the true appearance of the extraterrestrial meteorite, but judging from the heartbeat-like sound, it should be some kind of life form.

The Holy See's Lingjing Xingzhe have been living in the hold, guarding that thing.

"If only I could take a look, then I would know the true nature of the extraterrestrial object, and I could see what the Holy See is suppressing," Zhang Yuanqing sighed.

At that moment, his inspiration was inexplicably touched, and he felt something watching him from the shadows.

Zhang Yuanqing immediately got up and strode out of the dormitory, into the corridor.

The narrow corridor was silent, and from the dormitory doors on either side came the sound of even breathing and snoring. An hour ago, they were still gambling and playing cards in their rooms, but now they were all asleep.

Sailing was a monotonous and boring job. Except for the soldiers on duty patrolling, others were allowed to drink moderately, and gambling was also within the permitted scope of entertainment.

Zhang Yuanqing stood in the silent corridor, his face solemn as he looked around. The feeling of being watched had disappeared.

"What the hell..." Zhang Yuanqing muttered, returned to the dormitory, closed the door, and didn't dare to sleep. He just sat at the desk by the window, waiting for dawn.

"Tomorrow, I'll test the people from the Holy See. If they're not on the same side as the captain, then I'll directly control the captain. Doing so is a bit radical, and it's easy to trigger a major crisis..."

While thinking, he looked aimlessly around the dormitory.

As he looked, Zhang Yuanqing suddenly felt that something was wrong. This dormitory was too clean. Apart from a few sets of lieutenant uniforms and toiletries, there was basically nothing else.

A normal person's room would have something. Even the poorest second-class soldier would have a lighter, cigarettes, and pin-up pictures of female celebrities, but his room had nothing.

"Is it because Lieutenant Haas is a temporarily created character, so everything about him is blank? Otherwise, it would be terrifying to think about..."

It was simple. The situation in the room was either as he guessed, or...everything about Lieutenant Haas had been wiped clean, which was why it was so clean.

If that was the case, then Lieutenant Haas's identity was not simple.

But considering the mysterious feeling of being watched just now, he forcibly restrained himself, took off his shoes, lay on the bed, and guarded against the unknown gaze in the night.

Time passed slowly, and the sky gradually brightened outside the window. The warm sunlight shone on the sea, and the entire surface of the sea was reflecting shimmering light.

Dawn had broken.

Zhang Yuanqing pretended to be full of energy, holding an iron basin containing a toothbrush and towel, and went to the deck to wash up.

The railings of the deck were crowded with sailors and soldiers washing up, describing women's breasts and buttocks in vulgar language, longing for the preaching and teaching after returning to port.

Seeing Zhang Yuanqing coming over, the discussion stopped instantly, and everyone silently brushed their teeth and washed their faces.

Zhang Yuanqing glanced at the navy men on the deck and smiled, "Where is your respect for the officer?"

The navy men hurriedly stood up and saluted, shouting "Officer" and "Lieutenant."

Zhang Yuanqing smiled and pressed his hand down, signaling everyone to continue washing up. He also squatted down to brush his teeth and wash his face. They were very afraid of me, not just the fear of subordinates towards officers... Zhang Yuanqing's face was expressionless, but he was even more certain in his heart that the character of Lieutenant Haas had a problem.

After washing up, Zhang Yuanqing went to the ship's restaurant to enjoy breakfast. Halfway through the meal, a soldier carrying a rifle approached and said, "Lieutenant Haas, the captain invites you to come over."

"What's the matter?" Zhang Yuanqing asked, taking a sip of warm milk.

The soldier shook his head. Zhang Yuanqing unhurriedly finished the toast, bacon, sausage, and fried eggs, then drank the warm milk in the cup, and stood up, following the soldier out of the cafeteria, through the ship's cabin, to the second floor. The two stopped outside the captain's office.

The soldier knocked on the door of the captain's office and then retreated.

"Come in!" Captain James's voice rang out.

Zhang Yuanqing pushed open the door and entered the captain's office, seeing the middle-aged man with the rank of captain sitting behind his desk, his deep blue eyes looking over, his voice calm, with a hint of majesty, "Did you sleep well last night, Lieutenant Haas?"

"I didn't sleep very well, because I was missing my lover at the Red Powder Bar," Zhang Yuanqing shrugged. "Oh my God, I've been on the ship for more than ten days, and I think about women every day. Fortunately, we'll be home in a week at most." After saying that, he saw that Captain James's expression had become a bit serious.

"I summoned you here to inform you that, starting tonight, you will participate in the patrols, until we return to the Port of Surry," Captain James said.

"Yes, sir!" Zhang Yuanqing stood at attention and saluted.

James nodded with satisfaction, "Go do your job."

Zhang Yuanqing turned to leave, but then stopped again, turned his head and asked, "Captain, I had a craving for cigarettes last night, but I couldn't find even a little bit of tobacco in my room. You know I can't live without cigarettes, and without them, I can't complete my patrol work properly."

James was stunned for a moment, then nodded, "I'll have a sailor send eight packs of cigarettes to your room."

Watching Lieutenant Haas's retreating figure, James's blue eyes were as deep as the sea.

"A character who can't live without cigarettes, how could there be no cigarettes in the room? Lieutenant Haas's room has been cleaned," Zhang Yuanqing "heh"ed as he walked on the deck.

Of course, if Lieutenant Haas was just a temporarily created character, this detail wouldn't need to be paid attention to. But Zhang Yuanqing possessed the ability to sense emotions and had already confirmed that the sailors and navy seemed very afraid of "Lieutenant Haas," which meant that the character of Lieutenant Haas had a plot.

From another perspective, if Lingjing Xingzhe ignored the "soldiers' fear" and the overly clean room, they would miss certain clues.

Thinking of this, Zhang Yuanqing decided to verify it again. He turned a corner, entered the cabin, and found the supply department of the logistics department.

The head of the supply department was a pot-bellied man with gray eyes, a high hairline, and loose skin. Seeing Zhang Yuanqing coming in, he shivered violently and stood up somewhat cautiously and nervously, "Ha, Lieutenant Haas, what are your orders..."

Before he could finish speaking, Zhang Yuanqing snapped his fingers and pulled him into an illusion. The gray-eyed man took out a crew registration form from the file rack and checked the supply of cigarettes, alcohol, cheese, vitamin C, and other materials.

Zhang Yuanqing bypassed the gray-eyed administrator who was dazed in place, walked to the wooden rack, and took out the personnel registration form.

The registration form had a full ten pages, with more than five hundred people, and nearly half of the names were crossed out in red ink.

"So many people have died..." Zhang Yuanqing flipped back to the first page and looked at the list at the very beginning.

As soon as he saw it, his brows furrowed immediately. There were only two lieutenants on the list, one named Stephen Simpson, and one named Walter Ricardo. There was no "Lieutenant Haas."

"Lieutenant Ricardo I saw yesterday, but I didn't see Stephen Simpson. There are only two lieutenants on board... Zhang Yuanqing narrowed his eyes. He put down the crew registration form and looked at the gray-eyed administrator who was trapped in the illusion."

"Pa!" With a snap of his fingers, the gray-eyed middle-aged man "thumped" to the ground, falling into a deep sleep. Zhang Yuanqing's body disappeared into the room and came to the gray-eyed middle-aged man's dream.

"Lieutenant Haas?" the gray-eyed middle-aged man was a little dazed. He was clearly working, and in the blink of an eye, Lieutenant Haas had appeared.

Zhang Yuanqing asked directly, "Where is Lieutenant Stephen Simpson?"

Hearing this, the gray-eyed administrator's expression suddenly changed drastically, his face as pale as paper, and his fat body trembled.

"Where is Lieutenant Stephen Simpson?" Zhang Yuanqing asked again.

The gray-eyed middle-aged man trembled even more violently, his lips trembling, his face twitching, as if some terrible memory had been triggered.

The dream began to shake, on the verge of collapse.

This was the self-protection mechanism of a person in extreme fear. Zhang Yuanqing hesitated for a second between stabilizing the dream and withdrawing from it, and chose the latter.

He felt that asking further would trigger bad changes. He jumped out of the dream, ignored the unconscious gray-eyed administrator, and left directly.

He was not a Lingjing Xingzhe from the first district. Jue Ming Du Shi (Breaking Bad) did not have illusion or dream abilities. Obtaining information through dream abilities might trigger a crisis in advance, and he was not ready yet.

Zhang Yuanqing returned to the dormitory in the hold and saw two packs of cigarettes and a box of matches on the small desk.

He lit a filterless cigarette and smoked it like a professional, his thoughts flowing as the smoke curled up.

"There are two lieutenants on the ship, Lieutenant Stephen is gone, and there is an extra Lieutenant Haas... Could it be that this role of mine is replacing Stephen Simpson?"

"The room has been cleaned. Why was it cleaned? I understand. Lieutenant Simpson left something behind, and the things that were cleaned are the hints given to the Lingjing Xingzhe by the instance..."

Zhang Yuanqing threw away the cigarette and looked around the room again. He exhaled a mouthful of Yin Qi, which transformed into a round and lovely baby.

"Aba..." The little rascal waved his arms, hugged Zhang Yuanqing's calf, raised his head, and looked happily at his master and old father.

He hadn't played with his master for a long time.

"Find something valuable in the room." Zhang Yuanqing touched his sparsely haired head and casually promised, "When we leave here, I'll take you to play games."

Hearing this, the little rascal seemed to have been injected with chicken blood, his little face serious, and he cocked his head to look around.

After the little rascal crossed the Saint stage, his treasure hunting ability had a breakthrough, and Zhang Yuanqing was looking forward to what items he could find.

The little rascal turned around in place, then suddenly floated into the air, came to the desk, grabbed the two packs of cigarettes, and handed them to his master like a treasure.

"You like cigarettes at such a young age?" Zhang Yuanqing slapped his Q-bomb little butt, "Not them, continue!"

The little rascal put down the cigarettes in disappointment, cocked his head, seeming to sense something.

After a dozen seconds, he climbed down from the table and quickly crawled under the bed, not coming out for a long time.

Zhang Yuanqing then dragged out the wooden box containing clothes, leaned over and looked, and the little rascal was under the bed, raising his head and looking at the bed board.

Zhang Yuanqing followed his line of sight and saw a palm-sized notebook stuck to the bed board with yellow tape.

"Did Lieutenant Stephen leave it behind?" He reached out and peeled off the tape, and took out the booklet.