Social Death!

Dai Chun smiled. "Of course."

Lin Yan did not hesitate any longer. "During our mission in City 032, we encountered a Gray Gorilla. It was likewise an unknown species and, according to Professor Wen, should also have been a monster that underwent Gene Modification."

"It possessed exceptional intelligence. Though it was only as strong as a mid-level Beast General, it could command an Earth Giant Lizard close to Lord level. Moreover, it was clearly not afraid of the Lord-level Iron Armored Dragon."

"It stole Zhang Wei out of the city prison and forced him to jump through fire hoops, bite wood, and perform other acts for its amusement. It punished him with a whip, and after Zhang Wei angered it, it trapped him in an office building."

"That building was very strange. Though it had been separated by forty years, there was not a trace of any monsters inside."

"Because there were so many suspicious details, after we escaped successfully, I found the contact information for the marketing director who had worked at Tomorrow Star Toy Manufacturing Company forty years ago. After asking around, I learned something just now."

Lin Yan spoke smoothly, laying out the details one by one.

"The owner of Tomorrow Star Toy Manufacturing Company came from a poor family when he was young and barely attended school. He began traveling with performers at a very young age and even learned monkey-training acts. Later, he entered the children's toy industry and made a great deal of money, but he still loved training monkeys. Through special channels, he illegally kept two monkeys. Yes, two."

Dai Chun looked at his calm expression and smiled. "What do you think?"

Lin Yan said, "A mid-level Beast General could not hold such a position, no matter how intelligent it was. I believe that, of those two monkeys, one underwent mutation and Gene Modification to become the present Gray Gorilla, while the other became Lord level. That office building was its territory."

"Furthermore, I suspect it is the monster currently hiding within the military district."

"Although this monster can assume other identities using human skin, the fact that its disguises are so flawless shows that it possesses extremely strong learning and imitation abilities."

When it had still been "Yang Bin," Zhang Wei's instincts as a scout had only found it somewhat rash and unlike its usual self. He had assumed it was simply in a bad mood.

After it abandoned the identity of "Yang Bin" and became "Zhang Wei's squad leader," it had already gained a certain understanding of the military, its habits of life, and its disciplinary requirements. Subsequent investigations showed that during the days it operated under that identity, no one noticed anything abnormal about it.

Lin Yan voiced his conclusion. "It is astonishing for a monster to possess such abilities. So I thought that if its genes were naturally close to those of humans, and if it had been trained from childhood to imitate humans, that might be the most plausible explanation."

"What we need to do is capture that Gray Gorilla alive and bring it back with great fanfare. If my guess is correct, they grew up together. Even animals, even monsters, can possess emotions that transcend everything else."

"It will be our best bait for drawing out the prey."

His voice was calm. He showed no reluctance at the thought of exploiting their feelings; if anything, he seemed even more cold-blooded.

Nothing was crueler than war, and nothing was more foolish than showing mercy to the enemy.

The conference hall fell silent for a moment.

Dai Chun's gaze was clear. Rather than comment on Lin Yan's opinion, he smiled and asked, "What is your name? Whose soldier are you?"

Lin Yan stood at attention and saluted. "Reporting, sir. My name is Lin Yan. In September last year, I entered the first year at National Defense University. At the end of this semester, my classmates and I applied to the school for two months of military training. Because Defense Line 021 was in urgent danger, I was transferred to the 154th Regiment to participate in the beast tide war. On the sixteenth of this month, I successfully passed the Quasi-Warrior assessment. Afterward, I joined the Star Special Operations Team and took part in the City 032 rescue mission."

This résumé did not appear particularly remarkable, but those present could see something different in these simple experiences.

A student who had only just entered military training had taken part in a beast tide war, quickly become a Warrior, then joined a Special Operations Squad to venture deep into the Wilderness Area for a rescue mission.

How could that possibly be as easy as it sounded?

Most of them knew something about this rescue mission. They knew that a young man who had only just become a Warrior could not possibly have been allowed to join such a dangerous mission unless his combat abilities were exceptionally outstanding.

And he also possessed excellent observation, judgment, and execution abilities.

Only after considering it for a moment did Dai Chun speak. "I want the complete operation report for this rescue mission, as well as the records of your contact with that toy company's marketing director. Is that possible?"

Chen Lian had already finished the report last night, but had not submitted it yet. It was still at the base.

He hurried back to retrieve the report, while Lin Yan handed his communications watch to the staff. It contained his chat records and call recordings, which would be displayed on the screen for verification.

When the contact list appeared on the display, Wen Xiuyong gave his daughter a strange look.

Though the page scrolled quickly, a father's instincts still let him spot Wen Zhi'an's contact avatar at once. A sense of crisis rose within him, like he had to guard his precious cabbage against a wild boar.

Who was this little brat?

Lin Yan had been perfectly fine, but Wen Xiuyong suddenly shot him an inexplicable glare.

He was utterly baffled. Was I incompatible with the Military Medical Research Institute or something?

Can someone tell me how I offended someone again?

"...I'm very sorry, but my father really is old. He truly can't remember much about something that happened more than forty years ago..."

"It's all right. I'm very sorry for disturbing you..."

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Miss, please help me out!

Is this really you? (_`)

Yeah.

Send another one. (_`)

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All right, I'll go ask for you. No guarantee I'll succeed, okay? (_`)

Thank you.

I asked for ages before I finally got it out of him. My grandfather said that General Manager Xiao at Tomorrow Star really did keep two monkeys back then. He used to work in that line when he was young and liked training monkeys, but what does any of this have to do with my grandfather? Don't drag me into trouble, okay? (_`)

I won't. But he really kept two monkeys?

Are you sure?

That's what my grandfather said. It shouldn't be wrong. (_`)

The unbearable weight of social death!

Lin Yan stared at his chat records and the two handsome online photos of himself striking flirtatious poses, feeling as though his entire world had gone wrong.

One strange gaze after another swept over him.

Lin Yan kept a straight face, but inwardly wailed, I was too careless!

Dai Chun instructed a Senior Colonel beside him, "Arrange for someone to visit her family and verify whether the information is true. Be polite, bring gifts, and don't frighten them. That girl Lin Yan promised he would not drag her into trouble."

"But if she asks, tell her the person in those pictures has absolutely nothing to do with us. Hmm, it would be wrong for us soldiers to lie to ordinary citizens!"

Ah, this...

A direct blow to my soul!

The Senior Colonel glanced at Lin Yan and said with a smile, "I'll make the arrangements right away."

Chen Lian had returned by then and handed the operation report to Dai Chun.

It was only ten thousand words, yet Dai Chun read it very carefully. Only after a long while did he raise his head, look at Lin Yan, and reveal a spark of admiration in his eyes. "Good lad. Not bad."

"Minghai, the boys under your command are all excellent. You need to keep an eye on them!"

Given his status, such praise for a student soldier was anything but ordinary.

Some of those present knew Dai Chun's personality well. They knew he had always been sharp-tempered and sparing with praise. Even when he had encouraged Liu Mingxuan earlier, his words had not been particularly warm.

Yet his regard for Lin Yan was plain for all to see.

Xu Minghai smiled. "Even if you hadn't said anything, I would definitely have kept an eye on him."

Jiang Long was somewhat curious. "What did Commander Dai see? This attitude is something else."

Dai Chun handed the report to Jiang Long and glared at him. "If you had just become a Warrior and could keep yourself alive in such a dangerous environment, I'd praise you too. Not to mention firing the M92 Sniper Rifle seven times in a row and killing seven mid-level Beast Generals!"

In truth, Lin Yan had directly killed only two of those seven beasts.

Those two had relatively weak defenses.

However, he had also been primarily responsible for the other five kills in cooperation with his teammates, so there was nothing inappropriate about Dai Chun putting it that way.

"Seriously?" Jiang Long froze and unfolded the report to read it.

Even he reacted like that, let alone everyone else. A young man who had only just become a Warrior had killed seven mid-level Beast Generals. Was this some kind of myth?!

They all understood the power of the M92. If they had been Primary Beast Generals, perhaps one could say luck played some part. But against mid-level Beast Generals, no amount of luck would be enough.

It was fucking absurd!

After reading it, Jiang Long patted Lin Yan on the shoulder. After holding it in for a long time, he finally managed to say, "Impressive!"