Before we continue to explore what happened to Khan, we must first rewind the clock eight months.
When Qin Zhongquan set foot on the Enceladus orbital station for the second time in his life, what he encountered was not the bustling crowd of pilgrims he had imagined, but a mass of mixed matter emitting superheated gas.
External scans indicated the station had been subjected to a saturation bombardment by at least six anti-ship missiles. The fire control team estimated the engagement lasted no more than four hours. The instantaneous overload was sufficient to disable any station's self-defense systems. Its energy, power, and life-cycle systems were severely damaged, making the chances of survival extremely slim.
Fortunately, the wreckage still contained some supplies of salvageable value, preventing the Terminus from being completely shut down. They remained there for two weeks, looting the orbital station for what remained and acting as a minor space rescue team. Eventually, Red Fox's body was discovered in a tavern, and according to clues provided by his terminal, a cargo ship that had been docked at the station had naturally vanished.
Freelance mercenaries had no precedent for commemorating their victims, so Qin Zhongquan privately held a unique space funeral for Red Fox. Not many people attended, but the few survivors from the orbital station were driven to the scene by the boys. Their heads were covered with black sacks, their limbs were tied behind their backs, and they were tightly bound with polymer tape.
Qin Zhongquan attributed the non-combat casualties during the implementation of the plan to the inaction of the orbital station managers, so he planned to ask these fat and big-eared survivors to experience a thrilling unprotected space walk after interrogating them.
He sat on Red Fox's coffin and smoked a whole box of cigarettes. When the watch on his left hand rang for the third time, he finally stopped what he was doing and waved behind him without looking back.
The masks were removed one by one, and the people in the line quickly understood the tragic fate that was about to befall them. They let out cries like pigs being slaughtered. Only the station manager and Thuzer priest remained calm. His cloudy eyes seemed unable to distinguish right from wrong. He stared forward like a dead fish, and he spoke in a slurred voice, as if holding something in his mouth: "Returner, the secret you seek is not here."
"Returnees? Is that what you call outsiders?" Qin Zhongquan sneered.
"No, this is the prophecy of the God of Thor. He said that those who return will set out from here and return to where they should go. This is the starting point of everything. People will only take what they cherish and leave nothing behind." The priest paused and continued, "If you take my life, then the promise of God will be fulfilled."
"No, no, no, it's not me who takes you away, but my friend." Qin Zhongquan knocked on the aluminum coffin lid.
"Perhaps." The priest easily tore free the bonds that bound him. With a tremendous burst of force, his upper garments ripped apart in an instant, revealing his dragon-like muscles, resembling mountains and hills. The group of boys tried to intervene, but he knocked them all down with a single arm.
So Qin Zhongquan calmed down.
"What else did the God of Thor predict?" he said. "You know, my Terminus doesn't have many supplies."
"If you convert to Thorze, you will know everything you want to know." The priest bent an iron pipe and fixed a guy who wanted to fight back to the handrail of the airlock cabin.
"Alright." Qin Zhongquan promptly ordered the remaining men to cease all hostile actions. He then walked up to the priest and removed the firearm he had snatched from his hand. "Although I'm not religious, I don't mind having a highly respected missionary on board."
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