The Treatment of Martial Artists

At Xi Qing's telling, Lin Chenxing finally learned everything that had happened while he was unconscious.

It was already April 26. Counting that day, he had been asleep for three whole months.

Since the Warrior Cultivation Plan had been put into effect, all the base's members had grown physically stronger. The former Elite Squad members had also continued to grow stronger through their cultivation. Apart from a few who had only reached Intermediate Warrior after training, most had become Advanced Warriors.

With the villas built and assigned, the differences between people had become more apparent, and the status of all the Martial Artists had risen.

Throughout history, a sudden rise in status had often led to changes in people's attitudes. The Xingyan Group was no exception.

On a rest day for the former First Exploration Team, now the Rescue and Material Collection Team, one of its members was rejected after pursuing a young woman. He secretly followed her, looking for a chance to force her into sleeping with him first, then make her submit.

But when he saw her go to another man and nestle in his arms, his resentment gradually grew. He attacked them outright, hurling every kind of insult at them.

In the end, the Law Enforcement Team intervened and saved the couple's lives, though they were seriously injured and were expected to spend a long time in the hospital.

After learning what had happened, the Law Enforcement Team arrested the Rescue Team member in accordance with the base's rules.

After He Qishun heard his team members' embellished account, a Board of Directors meeting happened to be taking place. He took the opportunity to voice his dissatisfaction directly to Gao Zheng, demanding that the Law Enforcement Team release his team member and publicly apologize to him.

As the person most familiar with the incident and the head of the Provisional Law Enforcement Team, Guo Qichang had to stand by his subordinates, since they had done nothing wrong. As one of the group's directors, he also had a duty to defend his position and authority. So he rejected He Qishun's demand outright and called for the team member to be severely punished, to show that the base treated everyone equally.

After hearing both sides, Gao Zheng stated his position as well: reward those who did good, and punish those who did wrong.

This incident became the fuse that set off conflict across the entire base.

The special privileges of Martial Artists were officially brought to the table.

Many Rescue Team members began speaking up for their teammate. Their first argument was that he had clearly held back; otherwise, the couple couldn't have gotten away with injuries that minor. They might even have been beaten to death.

Their second argument was that, as Martial Artists and members of the Rescue Team, they risked their lives every day for the base and the group, constantly entering dangerous areas. If they couldn't receive rights to match those risks within the base, they would no longer be willing to make such sacrifices.

The first argument didn't draw much attention, but the second struck a chord with many Martial Artists.

It was true. They risked their lives every day. Once they came back, what did they get besides a big house to live in? Were they really doing it for those meager rewards? If they couldn't relax and enjoy themselves even inside the base, then constantly heading out to explore and take on missions would only leave them more and more stifled.

The debate over this grew louder and louder, until it could no longer be suppressed.

At another Board of Directors meeting, He Qishun won over Ma Tianxing, and the two of them began jointly pressing Gao Zheng to improve the rights and treatment of Martial Artists.

Gao Zheng naturally agreed with this demand. After all, he was a Martial Artist himself and understood how hard things were for all Martial Artists. The only reason their treatment hadn't been improved earlier was that the base simply didn't have many resources.

But when He Qishun called for leniency in punishing Martial Artists who broke the rules, Gao Zheng rejected the proposal outright.

After a heated debate, Gao Zheng tabled the motion to improve Martial Artists' treatment until the next meeting.

Normally, news of something like this wouldn't have gotten out. But with certain people fanning the flames, every Martial Artist learned what had happened at the meeting.

Already dissatisfied with their treatment, the Martial Artists began to gather and make a commotion.

He Qishun now claimed he wanted to calm their anger and again called for a meeting to decide on Martial Artists' treatment. He also proposed expanding the meeting to include some Martial Artist representatives.

The move immediately won unanimous support from the Martial Artists, who began demanding that Gao Zheng step down as chairman and that He Qishun take his place.

The ranks of the Martial Artists had grown too large to ignore. There were now seven Exploration Teams, with a total of 125 members. Together with the Rescue Team, Trade Team, and Law Enforcement Team, the group had 194 Martial Artists in all.

Their demands couldn't be ignored, so Gao Zheng had no choice but to agree to hold another meeting on Martial Artists' treatment and allow Martial Artist representatives to attend.

The representatives chosen for the meeting were almost all supporters of the proposal. Gao Zheng and the few who stood by him had little say. They could only watch as the others proposed one measure after another in favor of Martial Artists, each one passing by majority vote.

Among the resolutions was the proposal at the heart of the dispute between Gao Zheng and He Qishun: reducing punishments for Martial Artists who broke the rules.

To some extent, passing the proposal could indeed attract more people to become Martial Artists, increase their numbers, and help the base develop.

But without rules, there could be no order. Reducing punishments for Martial Artists would inevitably lead to a host of problems, such as them bullying ordinary people, just like the Martial Artist who had been locked up earlier.

Gao Zheng watched it all helplessly, but there was nothing he could do to change things.

If he had enough strength, he could have used it to suppress the opposition. But he was only an Advanced Warrior. Though he stood at the top of the group, the gap between him and the others wasn't very large. He was especially evenly matched with the other three directors, including He Qishun.

At that moment, Gao Zheng felt an overwhelming desire to grow stronger. He had also seen how He Qishun had gained support through his own team, so he began forming a team of his own under the name of Emergency Support, hoping to close the gap in strength between them.

Gao Zheng began making frequent trips to the front lines, joining the various Warrior Exploration Teams on their explorations and rescue missions. Through this experience, he became the group's first Martial Artist to break through to the Battle General level.

At that moment, his prestige among the group's Martial Artists was firmly restored.

However, He Qishun and the others weren't far behind Gao Zheng. Within just a few days, they too had all broken through.

One day, the group received an urgent report from a Warrior Exploration Team. They had found a settlement of survivors in Chuilong Town and needed to rescue them. But the town was full of monsters, and a few Exploration Teams alone couldn't manage it. The group's strongest teams would have to go.

Given how dangerous Chuilong Town was, the Rescue Team led by He Qishun and the Emergency Team led by Gao Zheng set out together to carry out the rescue.