New Recruit's "Welcome Ceremony"

The night was as black as ink, and a cold wind whistled through the camp like a mournful cry.

Inside the tents, the new recruits had long since fallen asleep, their tired snores rising and falling in waves.

Only Wei Zhe's eyes were open in the darkness, shining like cold stars.

His hearing had become exceptionally sharp after his physique improved. The footsteps outside, treading stealthily with bated breath, were crystal clear to him.

"Looks like this so-called 'welcome ceremony' is unavoidable in any military camp."

Wei Zhe sneered inwardly.

This was an unwritten rule in the military. On the first night a recruit joined, the veterans would give them a "bone-chilling" lesson, using their fists to show them who was in charge and, at the same time, to weed out the weak. It was a brutal way to knock the rough edges and pampered attitudes off the new recruits.

If it were anyone else, they would either be completely unaware or panic and prepare to be beaten.

But Wei Zhe was different.

Not only was he not nervous, he was… looking forward to it.

He had been worried about not having a chance to establish his authority, and now the opportunity had come knocking so quickly.

The footsteps stopped outside the tent.

"This is the tent. The kid named Wei Zhe is inside," a hushed voice said.

"Hmph, he was quite full of himself at the recruitment office this afternoon. Tonight, we'll let him know that in the Northern Frontier Camp, dragons must coil and tigers must lie low!" another voice said, full of malice.

"Keep it light, don't kill anyone. Instructor Shi Meng said we're just supposed to loosen them up a bit."

"Got it! Go in! Start with the big guy named Hu Lei!"

With a low command, the tent flap was violently thrown open, and five or six shadowy figures crept in silently.

The veteran leading them, using the faint moonlight, immediately spotted Hu Lei, who was sleeping in the middle and was the most robust. He grinned menacingly and raised his foot, ready to kick.

However, the instant he lifted his foot, a black shadow moved faster than him!

Thump!

A dull thud, jarringly out of place in the quiet night.

The leading veteran felt a sharp pain in his lower abdomen, as if he'd been hit by a wild bull. Without even a chance to cry out, he doubled over and was sent flying backward, crashing heavily against the tent's wooden supports with a loud bang.

"Who?!"

"What's going on?"

The other veterans were greatly alarmed and stopped in their tracks.

The new recruits inside the tent were also awakened by the commotion. They sat up groggily, looking at the scene before them in confusion.

"Who dares cause trouble in the camp!"

Hu Lei was also startled awake. He scrambled to his feet, saw the shadowy figures, and without thinking, roared and charged forward with his fists, as big as sandpots.

"You're asking for death!"

A veteran snorted disdainfully, sidestepped Hu Lei's powerful punch, and delivered a cunning whip kick to the back of his knee.

"Ouch!"

Hu Lei cried out and fell to his knees. He had brute strength but was no match for these veterans who had honed their skills on the battlefield.

Another veteran stepped forward and knocked him to the ground with a single punch.

"All of you, behave yourselves!" Once they realized what was happening, the veterans' fierce expressions emerged as they prepared to teach all the new recruits a lesson.

But just then, the instigator, Wei Zhe, moved.

He didn't charge in blindly like Hu Lei. Instead, he moved through the darkness like a phantom.

As one veteran raised his fist to strike a terrified recruit, his wrist was suddenly seized as if by iron pincers, rendering him immobile. He turned in horror, only to meet a pair of icy eyes.

Crack!

Wei Zhe twisted his wrist, bending the veteran's arm at an unnatural angle with a sickening crunch of bone.

"Ah—!"

A shrill scream finally pierced the night sky.

Wei Zhe had held nothing back this time.

He knew that dealing with these veterans who believed in the law of the jungle, mercy towards them was cruelty to oneself. You had to be more ruthless, stronger, to make them fear you from the bottom of their hearts.

He didn't stop. He kicked the screaming veteran in the chest, sending him flying out of the tent.

Immediately after, he flickered and moved to face the remaining three stunned veterans.

Thousand Refinement Force!

He didn't use internal energy, but he had incorporated the force-generating techniques from that martial art into his fists and feet. Every punch, every block, carried a simple yet efficient rhythm, as if he weren't fighting but engaging in precise forging.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Dull thuds echoed incessantly, accompanied by suppressed groans of pain and the sound of colliding bones.

The new recruits in the tent were all dumbfounded.

In the dim light, they could only see Wei Zhe's figure, like a cheetah, swift and deadly. Those three veterans, who seemed incredibly powerful to them, were completely defenseless against Wei Zhe. They were like three clumsy puppets, easily dismantled and defeated.

Less than ten breaths of time.

The battle was over.

Except for the first one who was kicked away, the remaining five veterans lay in the tent, curled up and groaning in pain. Each of them had sustained not minor injuries, but Wei Zhe had handled them with great precision, avoiding vital points and merely incapacitating them temporarily.

The entire tent fell into a dead silence.

All the new recruits, including Hu Lei who had been knocked to the ground, stared at Wei Zhe with the eyes of someone looking at a monster.

Wei Zhe stood in the center of the tent, his chest rising and falling slightly, his gaze as sharp as a knife.

He swept his eyes around, and wherever his gaze fell, the new recruits instinctively lowered their heads, not daring to meet his eyes.

"Get up, and throw them out."

Wei Zhe's voice was not loud, but it carried an undeniable authority.

Several new recruits jolted, quickly scrambling to their feet. They fumbled to lift the groaning veterans and tossed them out of the tent like garbage.

After doing this, they stood before Wei Zhe, each one trembling and too afraid to breathe.

"Sleep."

Wei Zhe uttered two simple words and then went back to his own bunk to lie down, as if nothing had happened.

It was only then that the commotion and curses from outside the tent reached them.

"What's going on!"

"Which tent is causing trouble!"

Instructor Shi Meng's booming voice approached, clearly alerted by the disturbance.

Soon, heavy footsteps stopped outside the tent.

Shi Meng lifted the tent flap and immediately saw the bruised and battered veterans lying on the ground outside, and Wei Zhe standing inside, unharmed.

His pupils contracted sharply.

As an instructor, he was aware of the "welcome ceremony" planned for tonight. He had tacitly approved it.

But the scene before him completely exceeded his expectations.

The new recruits had beaten up the veterans responsible for the "welcome"?

And one person had beaten a group?

"You did this?"

Shi Meng's gaze locked onto Wei Zhe, his voice low as if dripping with water.

"Ding, Consecutive Mission Released: Military Fame."

"Mission 1: Stand out in the recruit camp and be promoted to Squad Leader. Reward: 100 Tempering Points."

At that very moment, a cold system prompt sounded quietly in Wei Zhe's mind.