There was still one day left before Zhang Daowen would return from the frontlines.
At this moment, Feng Qi sat at his desk, flipping through the Star City Database.
He focused specifically on virtual games.
Virtual games had always been one of Star City's hidden trump cards, especially in terms of combat power development. They had made tremendous contributions to Star City's growth.
They also helped supplement research simulations, greatly reducing the consumption of resources.
But that was only part of the virtual game's functionality.
There were still many features that hadn't been made public.
Among them were the Domain Instance and Custom Instance functions.
It wasn't that the higher-ups in Star City didn't want to make these features public—once released, their impact would be massive, likely making Star City a prime target.
The development of the Domain Instance feature had been proposed many timelines ago, and it was now quite refined.
The original goal of this feature was to allow players to simulate raids on instance zones, immersing themselves in the experience of fighting domain creatures. Every domain creature inside was modeled after real ones.
For example, warriors of the Silver Moon Clan.
If Star City fully released the Domain Instance system, it would surely alarm potential forces from the domain world.
Because at its core, the Domain Instance system was a war simulator.
Once this function was launched, humanity would produce countless battle-hardened "veterans."
Take the Silver Moon instance, for example.
Players entering the instance would train by battling Silver Moon warriors, honing their combat awareness and technical skills.
It would also be an excellent way to train team coordination and tactical efficiency.
If there were one flaw in the Domain Instance feature, it would be the difference between virtual and real experiences. A player's mindset while gaming would never be the same as in real combat.
Each year, graduates from combat classes suffered high casualties after entering the frontlines.
Compared to a century ago, the casualty rate had decreased significantly.
But the numbers were still staggering.
By introducing the Domain Instance feature, even academy students who hadn't yet stepped onto the battlefield could experience and adapt to the brutality of fighting domain creatures ahead of time.
According to Star City's latest plan, this feature would only be opened after the military reform was complete and the city's comprehensive combat strength had risen significantly.
That way, even if trouble came, Star City would have the confidence to face it head-on.
Tentatively, the plan was to launch it 200 years from now.
But exactly when to release it would be left to the next generation to decide.
Maybe the plan would be moved up. Maybe it would be delayed. The future was always full of change.
By then, this generation of Star City citizens would have long passed.
The old plant trees, the young enjoy the shade.
Future planning was the direction this generation laid out for their successors, and though they'd build the foundation, it would be up to those in the future to implement it.
The second hidden feature was the Custom Instance.
This function allowed players to access a resource library and personally design domain instances or any kind of challenge.
Players could also contribute new content to the resource library themselves.
At first glance, it seemed like an entertainment feature—but it had enormous potential.
A race's growth could be driven by many factors: survival pressure, desire, ambition...
But all forms of growth were tied to one thing—imagination.
In a way, imagination mattered even more than knowledge.
Because knowledge was limited. But imagination encompassed everything—even things that didn't yet exist. It was imagination that propelled the progress of knowledge itself.
Language, culture, science… all were fruits born of imagination.
The development of civilization had become vibrant because of imagination.
Granting players creative freedom through this system, driven by imagination, might lead to endless possibilities.
Maybe some combination of features within the resource library would, by sheer chance, give birth to a groundbreaking invention that would shape the future.
Maybe some bizarre instance design would spark a revolution in how humanity built combat power.
In the Custom Instance, players could create anything their imagination allowed.
But because this function was tied to the Domain Instance system, it had never been openly promoted in Star City or any of the Five Great Cities.
The ripple effect was just too big.
For humanity, it was a risk.
From the perspective of the Psionic Race—
Right now, they saw humanity as no threat at all.
So the homeland Psionic Race kept focusing on expanding their territory's domain fields. Even Hei Xuan, who stayed behind in the human world, didn't think humanity's development could threaten the Psionic Race's future.
But once the hidden card of virtual games was exposed…
It would be like announcing to the lurking domain powers: humanity has unveiled a high-potential trump card.
Its emergence might bring humanity endless possibilities.
To Psionic Race members with sharp insight into future trends, humanity would become a potential threat.
Maybe humans were weak now—but the future held countless unknown variables.
Feng Qi believed it still wasn't time to reveal this long-prepared trump card.
Because humanity didn't yet have the strength to control it.
The Psionic Race's Ling Zhan had faced a similar dilemma.
Back when they were up against the powerful Mist Tribe, even with the Sacred Spirit Consciousness Vault in hand, Ling Zhan never revealed its secrets.
Even when facing close family or elders, he never revealed this trump card.
He chose instead to hold onto it, develop steadily, and wait for the right time to play it.
Later, the Sacred Spirit Transformation Plan was carried out entirely in secret, completely cutting off ties with the previous generation to ensure that trump card would never be exposed. That's what forged the current glory of the Psionic Race.
By the time the Mist Tribe realized something was wrong, the Psionic Race—enslaved for generations—had already broken their chains and secured a boundless future. The threat looming overhead had been wiped away.
The hidden functions of the virtual game were a crucial trump card for humanity's future development.
Revealing those hidden features would be like the Psionic Race publicly announcing to the outside world: "Our people are syncing with the Sacred Spirit Consciousness Vault. We're undergoing Sacred Spirit Transformation."
Old Mist, Ling Zhan, Hei Xuan, Hei Lin… Feng Qi had learned a lot from those long-sighted old schemers.
Having passion was important, but it wasn't how you solved problems.
Learning to think, to strategize—that was what a pioneer of a race truly needed.
Sitting at the desk, Feng Qi kept reading through the database, thinking about Star City's future.
He was the planner of the future—but not its participant.
Many of the hopes in his heart would need to be realized by Star City's descendants.
At that moment, he suddenly thought of Lü Yue.
If he was the planner of the future, then Lü Yue had always been one of his most steadfast implementers.
Right now, Lü Yue was the chief instructor of the Combat Division at Breaking Dawn Academy.
For over a century, he had trained countless elite soldiers for the frontlines and the military department.
When they met again a month ago, Lü Yue's hair had already turned white, but the sharpness in his eyes hadn't dulled at all.
Maybe it was all those years teaching—Lü Yue had become much more talkative, no longer the silent type he used to be.
But Feng Qi knew Lü Yue didn't have much time left either.
He came from the Path of Ascension. Without Mu Yan to guide him, he could never return there.
And there was still one mystery about Lü Yue that Feng Qi had never figured out.
But even Lü Yue didn't know the answer.
The Lü Clan entered the Path of Ascension around the time Lü Yue was born. That timeline had records.
The problem was—Mu Yan had already been trapped on the relic island in the Void World and hadn't returned since.
So who brought the Lü Clan to the Path of Ascension?
Training in Sword Momentum was far ahead of the old cultivation system. Who released the concept of "Momentum" in secret? Who taught the Lü Clan how to train in Sword Momentum?
That Lü Yue knew of Mu Yan wasn't surprising.
Mu Yan's legend had always circulated on the Path of Ascension. Lü Yue grew up there, so he'd naturally been influenced.
She wasn't just a miracle in Lü Yue's eyes. She was a miracle in the eyes of all the warriors on the Path of Ascension.
She was their only hope for humanity to beat back the domain invasion.
But the Lü Clan's disappearance and their journey to the Path of Ascension didn't match the time Mu Yan went missing.
From that, it could be inferred—someone had taken Mu Yan's place.
Someone had continued seeking combat power in the human world and brought them into the Path of Ascension to resist the domain's invasion.
Also, how did Lü Yue enter Star City Academy after returning?
As a descendant of the long-lost Lü Clan sword lineage, his sudden appearance should've been a major event.
Yet the public opinion was clearly suppressed, and he was quietly arranged into Star City Academy.
Feng Qi had asked Bai Fusheng back then who had orchestrated Lü Yue's admission into the academy.
But Bai Fusheng only shook his head. He didn't know. Lü Yue's entry had been arranged by the United Military Department using its highest level of authority.
As for who specifically approved it, he had no access to that information.
Even Lü Yue himself didn't know who was behind it. When he returned to the human world, he simply received an envelope containing an admission letter from Star City Academy.
That alone proved—there were others working behind the scenes in the human world.
They just hadn't exposed their identity.
Like Li Xingchen from the Future Research Institute, always hidden in the shadows.
This mystery remained one of the unsolved puzzles in Feng Qi's heart.
But he now had a clear direction for his investigation.
The United Research Institute.
Since Lü Yue was arranged into Star City Academy by them, then the institute based in Victory City was likely the force behind the mysterious figure.
But Feng Qi wasn't in a hurry to pursue this mystery.
The Star City crisis had already been resolved. He was currently focused on solving the crisis in Winterfell.
Victory City—and its many institutions—were goals in his future plans. For now, it was better to approach things step by step.
Truthfully, he could've handed these matters over to Star City's upper echelon.
There was no need to handle everything personally.
It wasn't that he didn't trust Star City's leaders and warriors. It was that some issues were too sensitive.
Like the current Sacrificial Line—everything was unfolding exactly as he had planned.
Even if problems cropped up during execution, he could use historical data to lock onto them and solve them in the next timeline.
But if too many parties got involved, things could go sideways.
If any part of the plan went wrong, it would become very difficult to trace the root of the issue through history.
For example—
If he investigated potential problems across multiple cities simultaneously in a single Sacrificial Line, and Star City was ultimately destroyed by a hidden force, he wouldn't be able to identify the enemy quickly. The enemy would remain unknown.
But if he focused on just one city, then even if Star City fell, he could use historical data to quickly pinpoint which city harbored the hidden threat.
Greed only brought more variables.
That was the main reason he chose a steady approach.
The road to an ideal, prosperous age would never be achieved overnight. He needed patience.
Once the crisis in Winterfell was resolved, Victory City would be his next target.
Victory City had always been the strongest among the Five Great Cities. Feng Qi had high hopes for it.
The Five Great Cities might not all have been infiltrated by domain forces.
He might even find a surprise waiting for him in Victory City—a large group of potential companions.
"Boss, I'm hungry."
Just then, Xiao You's voice broke through his thoughts.
He looked up in the direction of the voice and saw Xiao You hanging in the air like a limp noodle, hovering over his head. Her voice was weak as she looked down at him.
Hearing that, Feng Qi shook his head helplessly.
She'd just eaten three hours ago.
But he understood why she got hungry so fast.
The spiritual food provided by the Tiger Soul Research Institute was mostly made from mixed spirit plants. It didn't contain much spiritual energy.
Although the meal area also provided raw spirit plants for direct consumption…
Most of the staff wouldn't eat them raw, afraid their bodies couldn't handle the potency.
Xiao You loved human food, but she didn't get much energy from it.
Mu Qing had faced the same issue.
She kept eating nonstop—not only because of her fast digestion, but because the food simply didn't contain enough energy. Her body was never fully satisfied.
Xiao You didn't have Mu Qing's digestion speed, so she always ended up overeating. But shortly after, she'd feel hungry again.
Feng Qi checked the time and stood up.
"Come on, let's eat."
Hearing his reply, Xiao You perked up, eyes brightening as she gave him a thumbs-up.
"Okay!"
...
The next day.
Star City Military Department.
Feng Qi arrived by invitation.
Today marked Zhang Daowen's retirement from the frontlines and his official entry into the Star City Military Department.
Seated in the front row of the main hall, Feng Qi glanced around at the decorations.
In front of him was a stage, with three flags flanking the backdrop on both the left and right.
The flags represented Star City, the Military Department, and Breaking Dawn.
Each flag stood for something different.
The Star City flag was the city's emblem—a symbol of unity after the Cataclysm, when multiple cities had merged into one shared home.
The Military Department flag symbolized the department itself. The burning wings on it represented rebirth from the ashes after the Cataclysm.
The Breaking Dawn flag stood for the future and for faith.
Flowers surrounded the stage.
When he looked behind him, nearly the entire upper echelon of the Military Department was present. On top of that, a huge media presence had shown up.
Not just Star City's reporters—media from other cities had come as well.
Zhang Daowen's retirement from the war corps was a hot topic, not just for Star City citizens but for those from all Five Great Cities.
Once retired, Zhang Daowen would no longer participate in the selection for the Ten Great War Gods.
A new generation would take his place.
An icon of an era was stepping down. A new stage was opening.
But Zhang Daowen's achievements had already been etched into the history books. Time would not forget.
People from all Five Great Cities were excited to see what he'd do next in the Military Department.
This was a fresh start for Zhang Daowen. For the public, it was the new chapter for the Ice War God. Everyone hoped he would continue creating miracles.
The ceremony began. The Supreme Commander of Star City's Military Department stepped onto the stage to speak.
His speech listed Zhang Daowen's many accomplishments over the years.
Behind him, the giant screen played clips of Zhang Daowen's journey.
Every image had a story behind it.
When the speech ended, Lei Tingous applause followed.
As the commander announced the start of the medal ceremony, Zhang Daowen stepped out from behind the stage.
Applause surged louder.
Every camera lens locked onto Zhang Daowen, waiting for him to speak.
But he didn't say much.
He simply smiled at the cameras and briefly shared his hopes and plans for the future.
When he finished, the screen showed the Supreme Commander receiving a red wooden box from a staff member. Inside was a golden medal.
The Outstanding Contribution to Humanity Gold Medal.
Technically, Zhang Daowen had already earned this medal long ago.
Back when he was named one of the Ten Great War Gods, his feats had fully qualified him for it.
But stationed on the frontlines, Zhang Daowen had never attended a ceremony to receive it.
Now, countless people were watching the live broadcast, waiting to see him put on the medal that symbolized the highest honor of humanity.
In this moment, they would become witnesses to a key chapter in human history.
Then, in the live broadcast, the commander respectfully stepped aside.
A strange man walked onto the stage, catching the audience off guard.
Bullet comments began flying across the livestream like rain.
"What's going on? Seriously, Star City? Weren't we told the Supreme Commander would do the medal presentation? Why the last-minute switch? (Victory City)"
"As someone from Star City, I'm confused too. I remember months ago they announced the commander would award the medal. Why suddenly change it? What are they trying to say? (Star City)"
"Knew it! Star City's been infiltrated. Even the Ice War God's ceremony gets this kind of 'special treatment'? Come over to our Winterfell Military Department instead. We'll give Ice War God the highest-level welcome. Our commander can award him a medal a day for 100 days straight—give him all the respect he deserves. (Winterfell)"
"Suddenly feeling kinda cold. What the hell is going on? (Old Day City)"
...
The original plan had the Supreme Commander of Star City Military Department presenting the medal, but now a total stranger had stepped in. Viewers watching the livestream couldn't wrap their heads around it.
In their eyes, Zhang Daowen's achievements absolutely deserved a ceremony led by the commander himself, in full honor.
While the chat exploded with debate, Feng Qi appeared in the broadcast—smiling as he embraced Zhang Daowen.
The ceremony ended amidst Lei Tingous applause, and Feng Qi stepped down from the stage.
But at that moment, something shifted in the livestream comments.
People had started noticing that the man who presented the medal looked eerily similar to a legendary figure from history.
"Guys, am I the only one who thinks the guy giving Ice War God the medal looks just like the great man Feng Qi?"
"I thought he looked familiar when he walked up. Now that you say it, I remember! No way... I thought Feng the Great disappeared over 100 years ago."
"Holy crap. This reminds me—just a few days ago, someone said they scanned a payment at a night food stall in Star City and the account name that popped up was 'Feng the Great.' I thought that was fake news. But now… what if it was real?"
"No way. Feng Qi's actually back? How come there was no announcement? Is this for real? I'm from Star City and I'm fired up just thinking about it."
"Rewatched the footage just now. Look closely at the expression on the Supreme Commander's face—he clearly shows deep respect when the mystery man walks on stage. Here, I'm posting a screenshot (image.jpg). I mean, who else could make the commander act like that? His identity practically speaks for itself."
"I visit the memorial for Feng Qi every year at Central Park. I first learned about him through my parents. Now hearing you guys say he was the one who gave Ice War God the medal—I'm honestly stunned. Feels like time itself is unraveling."
...
The initial complaints about Star City's military were quickly replaced by frenzied speculation about the mystery man's identity.
Netizens dug up countless old photos of Feng Qi, comparing them with screenshots of the man who walked on stage to honor Zhang Daowen.
The more they compared, the more shocked they became.
Time had indeed left its marks on Feng Qi, but his appearance hadn't changed much.
And when paired with the commander's respectful demeanor, people gradually accepted the truth—
The man was none other than Feng Qi from the history books.
The comment stream flooded the screen like a rainstorm.
The news of Feng Qi's return was just too explosive. People from all Five Great Cities were going crazy.
There was something miraculous about this legendary figure.
Even in his youth, he was hailed as a once-in-a-generation genius. By 17, he had already developed several major cultivation techniques. Everything he did afterward felt like cheating reality.
If you had to pick the greatest human genius in the post-Cataclysm era—
The top 10 might be up for debate, and people could argue endlessly over them.
But the number 1?
There'd be no argument.
The name at the top would be: Feng Qi.
Even the people in Winterfell, who often complained about Star City lately, still agreed—when it came to raw talent, no one surpassed Feng Qi. No doubt about it.
Feng Qi's rise was a legend in itself.
To the people of Star City, he wasn't just a legend—he was a belief.
He had brought countless changes to the city.
The Breaking Dawn Academy that Star City citizens now took pride in, and the city's western supply zone—both had been personally planned and initiated by Feng Qi.
That belief endured across generations during the 100-plus years of his disappearance.
Now that the legend from those stories had returned, no one could believe it. Excitement flooded every corner of their hearts.
As the people of Star City flooded toward the Military Department, all hoping to catch a glimpse of the legendary figure they'd only heard about in tales—
Feng Qi had already returned to the Tiger Soul Research Institute.
He boarded a private Tiger Soul aircraft with Xiao You and the others, as planned.
Up next was the final stop of his God Ascension Challenge.
Looking out at the night view of Star City passing by the window, Feng Qi thought of Mu Qing.
The silly foodie in his memories gradually overlapped with the Mu Qing he'd seen online, and a smile spread across his face.
"Boss, where are we going next?"
Floating beside him with a lollipop in her mouth, Xiao You asked the question.
Feng Qi reached out and rubbed her head with a smile.
"God Ascension Challenge."
"Ugh, I don't like the God Ascension Challenge. I know you'll win, but you always get hurt."
Her cheeks puffed up like balloons, clearly unhappy.
Hearing that, Feng Qi burst out laughing.
He turned back to the window. The clouds had thickened, hiding the city lights.
His heart felt completely calm.
Jian Ji might be strong, but he wasn't afraid.
He felt a fire burning in his chest.
Just like Xiao You said—he wouldn't lose.