Soul of Huaxia (Part 1)

"Chief Jia?" Yang Yu had nothing much to do, so he joined everyone in gathering useful materials. In particular, the Beast General Level Rat King from earlier had been buried beneath a pile of rat corpses, making it the perfect time to dig it out for materials.

"Yes, Chief Jia Yi!"

"Chief Jia Yi once killed a Mutated Wolf King all by himself, one that even Heavy Machine Guns and Grenade Launchers could not touch. He drove off the Mutated Wolf Pack and saved several hundred Soldiers and tens of thousands of Civilians. That battle was also Chief Jia Yi's rise to fame."

At the mention of Jia Yi, Zhang Tieshan's face was full of admiration.

Jia Yi, later known as the Huaxia military's number one figure, and one of the Five Heroes of Earth who voluntarily sacrificed themselves during the Golden Horned Behemoth battle. Yang Yu had been deeply impressed by him when reading the Original Work in his previous life. As expected, he was already quite strong now. From Old Zhang's description, he was probably around the Intermediate War General level.

As Yang Yu helped process the rat hides, he said, "Chief Jia truly is a heroic man. If I get the chance, I must meet him."

"Haha, that chance is easy enough to find. Chief Jia is currently at the Military Region Command Headquarters. Wherever powerful Monsters break through the defense perimeter, he rushes there to provide support. The Chief has also directly issued us an order: once we finish sorting out these spoils, we are to take you to meet him. You can meet Chief Jia while we're at it."

Zhang Tieshan said this while swiftly skinning rat hides.

"The Chief?" Yang Yu asked, puzzled. "All right, then. Once we're done here, I'll go meet him." With Yang Yu's strength, he could not avoid the military's true High Level forever. Sooner or later, he would have to meet them all.

Besides, Yang Yu did not actually reject them. He simply had no intention of joining the military. With his freedom-loving nature, he could not stand being restrained.

Once the Grand Nirvana had passed, Yang Yu still needed to travel the world in search of Ancient Civilization Ruins, obtaining as many inheritances and spacecraft as possible.

After all, even after surviving the Grand Nirvana, there would still be crises such as the Golden Horned Behemoth, Nuo Lanshan, and more.

The existence of these inevitable crises meant Yang Yu could not stop striving upward.

Although these crises could be resolved after Luo Feng appeared, the price paid before then was far too steep. Yang Yu wanted to struggle as hard as he could and see whether he could leave humanity with a few more Genius Martial Artists. It would also make up for some of his past regrets.

But to accomplish that, he needed sufficient strength!

Fortunately, there was still plenty of time. The most urgent task now was to stabilize the situation as quickly as possible, help the authorities establish Base Cities, and save as many ordinary Civilians as he could.

Of course, Yang Yu himself could also be tempered in the process. Through this battle, he had deeply realized the importance of combat in improving one's strength.

Simply burying one's head in hard training could never cultivate great strength or an unyielding will.

After spending two and a half hours extracting all materials from the rats that had reached Beast Soldier Level, Yang Yu followed Zhang Tieshan into an armored vehicle and headed toward the Jiangnan City Defense Command Center.

"Little Yang, you killed all these Mutated Rats by yourself, so these Military Merits naturally all belong to you. Whether you join the army in the future or become a Freelance Martial Artist like Chief Jia, these Military Merits will be useful to you."

Along the way, Zhang Tieshan introduced Yang Yu to the current Military Merits system.

Killing an ordinary Monster earned ten Military Merits, while killing a Monster Commander earned one thousand Military Merits.

Naturally, this Military Merits system was still crude. Even the more specific strength classifications for ordinary Monsters and Monster Commanders had not yet been organized.

Of course, that might also be because they had not killed enough Monsters yet, and the corresponding system for human Martial Artists had not been established either.

By this calculation, the Military Merits for an Advanced Beast Soldier and an Initial Beast Soldier Level Monster would be the same.

That was naturally quite unfair.

However, Yang Yu did not care much about such things. What did it matter if he had many Military Merits? He had no intention of developing within the army, and there were very limited good things available for exchange right now anyway.

"So, Little Yang, you currently have 20,230 Military Merits. The Rat King alone was worth 1,000 Military Merits, while the other Mutated Rats that had reached Monster strength were worth 19,230 Military Merits."

Zhang Tieshan said as he looked at the compiled Military Merits record on his Specialized Watch.

"Twenty thousand Military Merits already? Then what can these Military Merits be exchanged for? Old Zhang, tell me about it."

Though he did not hold out much hope, Yang Yu was still somewhat curious.

"Ahem. Since this Military Merits system is still being refined, the items available for exchange are actually limited. If you're already in the army, you can use Military Merits to raise your rank, position, obtain better weapons and equipment, and so on. If you're a Freelance Martial Artist, you can choose to join the army, or exchange them for money, various weapons and equipment, and such. There's a detailed exchange list. You'll understand once you look at it later, Little Yang."

Chatting with Old Zhang along the way, the two soon arrived at the Command Center. After getting out of the vehicle, Yang Yu followed Old Zhang into a heavily guarded building.

After passing through multiple security checks and confirming that there were no issues, the two entered the building.

Along the way, Yang Yu saw that everyone in every room was exceptionally busy, monitoring battle footage on huge screens. Whenever a location called for aid, the person in charge of that area would dispatch reinforcements, ammunition, and weapons.

"We've divided all of Jiangnan City into one hundred specific Defense Nodes. Each node has a dedicated Monitoring Center, staffed around the clock by specialized administrative personnel," Old Zhang explained.

Watching every surveillance screen display scenes of people resisting Monster attacks, Yang Yu's previously relaxed heart grew heavy.

In many scenes, human Soldiers outside the defense perimeter had exhausted their machine-gun ammunition and encountered Monsters that had slipped through gaps before they could reload.

Left with no choice, they could only grab blades, swords, and other weapons to resist.

But how could Soldiers who were only slightly stronger than ordinary people possibly be a match for Monsters? Most were killed by the Monsters within just two or three exchanges.

Yet they would not die in vain. Their comrades nearby would use that time to reload their ammunition and kill the Monsters as quickly as possible.

Of course, the worst-case scenario could also occur.

That was when too many Monsters suddenly poured in, causing the first defensive line in a local area to collapse without warning and wiping out all the defending Soldiers.

Then a second line would appear, while Soldiers in the army who had reached the Martial Artist level would deploy and do their best to eliminate every Monster that had broken through within the third line of defense.

If a Monster appeared that they could not handle, Jia Yi would be called in.

As he watched the brutally cruel battles on the screens, Yang Yu's Killing desire, which had only just calmed, surged once more.

"Those goddamn Monsters!"

"Just wait until I come deal with you!"

Though he was inwardly anxious, Yang Yu remained silent and followed Old Zhang upstairs.