Old Zhou?
Qin Shi was a little surprised. He had never expected the first familiar face he'd run into on the Frontline to be Zhou Yuanchen!
Zhou Yuanchen wore camouflage fatigues and a beret. His face carried a familiar sharpness amid the windblown sand and gun smoke, and the area between his brows bore the fatigue peculiar to frontline soldiers.
He hadn't changed much overall.
He just seemed more mature.
"Qin Shi?"
Zhou Yuanchen jumped down from the lead armored vehicle, his gaze sweeping over the somewhat battered outpost as if he were instinctively surveying his surroundings.
Then he spotted Qin Shi, who had just finished holding back the Pollution Black Tide.
He was visibly stunned for a moment, then strode over.
"It really is you! I knew that Second Lieutenant Qin on the Frontline sounded a lot like you! But your name wasn't in the briefing."
Zhou Yuanchen was overjoyed. He and Qin Shi might not have been close friends, but running into someone he knew from the past in an unfamiliar place was always a good thing.
"Didn't you watch the live broadcast from White Poplar Fortress City?"
Qin Shi smiled.
"I was on a sweep operation at the time. First-Class Combat Hero and the Great Star Sea Medal—just hearing about it makes me envious."
Zhou Yuanchen was much steadier than before. In Qin Shi's perception, Zhou Yuanchen's Life Force had become more condensed, like finely tempered steel.
Both its quality and its total amount had increased more than twofold.
With every breath, his radiance grew richer and his energy surged, carrying the sharpness and resilience forged on the battlefield.
Late Professional Level 7.
That was Qin Shi's estimate.
I wonder if Old Zhou's debt crisis has eased up.
"It's all thanks to the investment plan you came