Chapter 172 : Chapter 172
Chapter 172. Jiang Yichen Receives Special Class Merit, and Zhou Yu Is Dumbstruck
At the city wall of the East China Third Military District,
Lei Zhen, dressed in a brand-new military uniform, stood staring blankly at the desert in the distance, lost in thought.
The shrill alarm of the beast tide kept assaulting his nerves without pause.
“I only returned to the army a month ago, and I already ran into an SS-Rank Beast Tide. This luck of mine... ah.”
Lei Zhen shook his head, a trace of remembrance in his eyes.
Four years ago, an A-Rank Beast Tide broke out in the Third Military District, killing more than ten thousand people. He himself had been bitten by a demonic beast and lost his right arm, forcing him to retire.
And now, with this SS-Rank Beast Tide, the battlefield would likely be littered with corpses.
Lei Zhen no longer even dared imagine the sight of that endless black mass of beasts trampling the Third Military District flat.
He stared at the horizon of the distant desert, and there was not the slightest hint of retreat in his eyes.
“Mom, your son has made something of himself. I have killed so many demonic beasts at the border. I was amazing. I did not bring you shame...”
Hm?
Hearing the voice, Lei Zhen turned to look and saw a soldier writing a letter with pen and paper while muttering the words aloud.
He slowly walked over, glanced at the contents of the letter, hesitated for a moment, then patted the soldier on the shoulder.
The soldier turned to look at Lei Zhen and hurriedly put away the paper and pen. “Squad Leader Lei.”
Lei Zhen gave a slight nod. “Do not write such discouraging words before a battle. We will definitely win!”
The soldier slowly lowered his head. “Squad Leader Lei, I have never been afraid of death. I just do not want my mother to worry. Her health is poor. I only wanted to write her a letter because...”
As he spoke, his voice began to choke with emotion.
Lei Zhen sighed and patted him on the back. Even iron-blooded soldiers could be so fragile when it came to their loved ones.
He snatched the paper and pen from the soldier. “You are already a grown man, and your handwriting is still this crooked. Recite it. I will write it for you.”
Tears rolled down the soldier’s face, but he broke into a foolish grin.
“Squad Leader Lei, my dad used to say the exact same thing to me.”
“I cannot be your father.” Lei Zhen smiled and signaled for him to continue. The soldier nodded and began reciting some bold words about rendering meritorious service.
The soft rustling of writing sounded beside them. There were not many words, and it was finished quickly.
The soldier took the letter, placed it into the virtual mailbox, then looked into the distance and sighed. “I used to have so much to say, but when the moment really came to say it, I could not get the words out.”
“Squad Leader Lei, are you going to write one?” He held out the pen and paper.
Lei Zhen shook his head. Looking at his intact right arm, he said slowly, “My parents are gone. The only person I feel I owe is my boss.”
“I may not make it back alive this time to repay his kindness.”
The soldier fell silent. They both knew exactly how terrifying an SS-Rank Beast Tide was.
Beep, beep, beep—
The beast tide alarm kept blaring, yet there was still no sign of the charging beast tide in the distance.
Even so, a stifling atmosphere hung over the entire Third Military District.
A full two minutes passed. What they had expected was not the beast tide arriving at the gates, but the sudden disappearance of the alarm.
Hm?
The soldiers stationed atop the city wall all looked up at the flashing warning light overhead, only to find that it had already gone dark.
“The beast tide alert has been lifted!”
Surprise appeared in Lei Zhen’s eyes.
Then the broadcast rang out.
“The SS-Rank Beast Tide crisis has been resolved!”
“The SS-Rank Beast Tide crisis...”
The broadcast echoed in everyone’s ears, and all of them wore puzzled expressions.
They had not even seen a single strand of demonic beast fur, and yet the beast tide crisis had already been resolved?
“What is going on? Our Third Military District is the closest military district to the Great Rift Valley, yet we have not seen a single demonic beast. How has the crisis already been resolved?”
“It really is a little strange. Could the beast tide have retreated on its own?”
“You are overthinking it. I think someone must have stopped it. I heard that three Martial Gods were called in this time. Could it be that they directly drove the beast tide back?”
“That cannot be possible, can it? The number of SS-Rank demonic beasts was close to a million. Even three Martial Gods would have difficulty stopping all of them.”
“Then what exactly happened?”
“...”
Listening to the discussion around him, Lei Zhen was equally bewildered.
Only two hours had passed since the SS-Rank Beast Tide crisis broke out. It should not have ended this quickly.
What had happened, exactly?
...
“That is impossible! There is no way the SS-Rank Beast Tide crisis was resolved in just two hours!”
First Military District, Recruit Training Camp.
In the office, Zhou Yu heard that the beast tide alert had been lifted, and disbelief filled his face.
If a Martial God did not intervene, even an A-Rank Beast Tide would take at least twelve hours to resolve.
Even if three Martial Gods had been sent to deal with an SS-Rank Beast Tide, it still could not possibly have ended this quickly!
“Xiao Yu, do not panic yet. Jiang Yichen and the others were in the Great Rift Valley. Since an SS-Rank Beast Tide broke out, there is no way they are still alive. Our objective has been achieved.”
Zhou Mingyuan analyzed calmly.
Within an SS-Rank Beast Tide, the number of beasts was close to a million, and there was a strong possibility that it contained a Ninth-Rank demonic beast comparable to a Martial God.
Jiang Yichen was only in the Seventh Realm. There was no possible way he could have escaped.
A smug smile curved across Zhou Mingyuan’s lips. This way, the only person who could become the Jiang family’s heir would be Jiang Feng.
Then, by using the evidence that Jiang Feng had triggered the beast tide to blackmail him, they could completely seize control of the Jiang family after Jiang Zhentian stepped down.
And if Jiang Zhentian traced the matter back to them, they could simply have Jiang Feng take the blame. It was the perfect plan.
The anxiety on Zhou Yu’s face slowly faded. “That is true. Even I did not expect the beast tide, which had only been S-Rank, to reach SS-Rank in such a short time.”
“There was no chance at all for Jiang Yichen to survive an SS-Rank Beast Tide. But Su Linyu...”
He quickly checked the vital-sign monitor on Su Linyu’s mission wristband. When it showed that everything was normal, he could not help but breathe a sigh of relief.
Once Jiang Yichen died, there would no longer be any need for the marriage alliance between the Su family and the Jiang family to exist.
When that time came, he could slowly find a way to make the Su family form a marriage alliance with the Zhou family instead.
A peerless genius who had reached the Sixth Realm as a recruit and possessed supreme martial talent was simply a perfect match for me.
The corners of Zhou Yu’s lips slowly lifted. Just as he was about to check Jiang Yichen’s wristband, a call notification popped up in the virtual window before him. It was Xu Lin, the commander of the military district.
He froze for a moment. “Commander Xu? Why is he calling me?”
Zhou Mingyuan, dressed in a Zhongshan suit, stood up from his seat, a trace of tension on his face.
“Have we already fallen under suspicion? Xiao Yu, did you fail to clean up the evidence completely?”
Zhou Yu thought for a moment, then shook his head. “The trigger disc and the brain-computer unit were both automatically destroyed. There is no way they can trace any evidence back to me.”
“And only two hours have passed. They probably have not even finished cleaning up the demonic beast battlefield yet. How could Commander Xu possibly suspect me already?”
Zhou Yu was also puzzled.
After thinking it through carefully, Zhou Mingyuan agreed that it should not be happening this quickly.
He thought for a moment, then stepped out of the virtual window’s view. “Xiao Yu, answer it first. Let us see what Xu Lin wants to say.”
Zhou Yu straightened his clothes. Truthfully, he was a little panicked inside.
He tapped to accept the call, and Xu Lin’s stern face appeared as a projection.
“Commander Xu.” Zhou Yu saluted.
Xu Lin gave a slight nod. “Zhou Yu, Jiang Yichen, Su Linyu... they are recruits from your First Military District who are out on internship, correct?”
Hm?
Zhou Yu’s expression stiffened, and his palm unconsciously tightened. Swallowing hard, he replied, “Yes, Commander Xu.”
“Good.” Xu Lin took out a document. “When Jiang Yichen and the others return to the military district training camp, notify the heads of all ten military districts of East China to be present immediately. I will personally award them their honorary medals.”
???
The moment those words were spoken, Zhou Yu and Zhou Mingyuan were both stunned.
“Commander Xu, why are they being awarded?” Zhou Yu asked in confusion.
Xu Lin smiled. “Jiang Yichen helped the border defense of Rift Valley Town hold back the SS-Rank Beast Tide and made a major contribution. The Commander-in-Chief personally gave the order to award him the honor of ‘Special Class Merit’!”
What?!
Zhou Yu and Zhou Mingyuan’s eyes widened into circles.
What was going on here?!