At the main entrance of Bright Moon Residential Area.
When Luo Zhe arrived, seven or eight soldiers were unloading things from a moving truck, carrying them in their hands and on their shoulders. Luo Feng stood at the entrance to the residential area, pushing a thin boy with unusually pale skin. He followed two middle-aged adults and listened as the gray-haired old man in the guard post explained the area's features.
"Luo Feng." Luo Zhe quickened his pace and headed over.
Luo Feng's eyes lit up with delight. He hadn't expected Luo Zhe to arrive so quickly. He'd been planning to call him a little later.
"Brother Zhe, how did you get here so fast?"
Luo Zhe rolled his eyes and pointed toward the Extreme Dojo in the center of the residential area, its tower rising far above the surrounding buildings. "It takes less than ten minutes to walk from the dojo to the main entrance, even at your pace, if you hurry a little. If you hadn't contacted me so late, I'd have been waiting here already."
"And besides, we agreed after the Quasi-Warrior Assessment that we'd exchange numbers, keep in touch, and find a time to get a meal together. Now you're moving into Bright Moon Residential Area and only telling me at the last minute. You've really hurt me." Luo Zhe put on a wounded expression and beat his chest, leaving Luo Feng a little embarrassed.
He quickly admitted his fault. "Brother Zhe, I'm really sorry. I was planning to find a time to invite you out in the next couple of days, but one thing after another came up, and I couldn't get away."
Luo Zhe hadn't really been angry in the first place. Seeing Luo Feng sincerely apologize, he readily let the matter go and waved a hand. "Let's forget about that. Have you brought everything over already?"
Luo Feng nodded and glanced at the soldiers carrying things. "Everything's here. We can buy whatever else we need."
"By the way, Brother Zhe, let me introduce you." Luo Feng put an arm around his somewhat nervous parents and brought them over to Luo Zhe. "These are my parents."
Then he looked toward Luo Hua, who sat in his wheelchair behind them, eyes wide as he watched the two of them with curiosity. Luo Feng smiled. "This is my younger brother, Luo Hua."
"Hello, Uncle and Auntie. Hello, Luo Hua." Luo Zhe waved and greeted them with a smile.
"H-hello, Luo Zhe." Luo Feng's parents were somewhat ill at ease. They weren't used to interacting with someone who was a warrior, just like their son.
Luo Hua, on the other hand, wasn't shy at all. He waved and said, "Hello, Brother Luo Zhe! You look so young, about the same age as my brother. Are you a talented warrior who just joined the Extreme Martial Arts Hall, too?"
Luo Zhe reached out and ruffled Luo Hua's hair. "I'm no genius. Your brother's much more impressive than I am. But you got one thing right: I just joined the Extreme Martial Arts Hall, and I've only been living here for a little over half a month."
The gray-haired old man nearby teased, "Xiao Hua, don't listen to him. The Yangzhou City Extreme Dojo recruited only two warriors early this year: your brother and Luo Zhe. If he doesn't count as a genius, there aren't many people who do."
The old man turned to a young woman holding some documents and said, "The villa next to Luo Zhe's, number 199, is still vacant, right? Why not let the two of them be neighbors? They'll have each other for company."
The young woman nodded and flipped through the documents until she found the page for villa number 200.
"Please come with me."
Luo Zhe and the Luo family followed the young woman into Bright Moon Residential Area. They looked around at its bridges and flowing streams, the rockeries and ponds, and the detached villas nestled among the waterways.
"Starting today, this is our home." Luo Feng turned to look at his parents and his brother in his wheelchair. His parents and Luo Hua were gazing at the residential area with excitement.
"Mr. Luo Feng, villa number 199 up ahead belongs to Mr. Luo Zhe. Yours is the one next door." The young woman led the way, documents in hand, while several soldiers carried the family's belongings behind them. "Villa number 200 will be your home in Bright Moon Residential Area. It has three floors and a basement, as well as a huge terrace on the third floor. Like villa number 199, it has bedrooms and a media room on the second floor, along with a large Martial Arts Training Hall, which will be very convenient for your daily training. The villa covers 536 square meters. Including the basement, courtyard, and spacious terrace, the total area is over 850 square meters."
In the small bar on the first floor of the Extreme Dojo.
Luo Zhe, Luo Feng, and Chen Gu sat facing one another. Wu Tong brought over several cocktails from the bar and smiled. "Don't just sit there. Here, have some cocktails. They're one of the special features of our Extreme Dojo. I specially invited this bartender, a top-notch mixologist, from the HR Alliance headquarters. Give them a try."
Luo Zhe and Luo Feng had both been to the dojo before, but this was their first time trying the bar's cocktails. Wu Tong's introduction piqued their interest, and they each picked up a drink to taste.
Chen Gu laughed. "Brother Wu, you say that every time a newcomer arrives. You'd think we all joined the Extreme Martial Arts Hall just for these cocktails."
"You brat." Wu Tong pointed at Chen Gu. "You've got some nerve saying that. I've never seen you pass up a drink here. What, are you starting to look down on our bartender?"
"Not at all. Old Guan is one of the dojo's treasures. I wouldn't dare look down on him." Chen Gu quickly waved his hands, making it clear he wouldn't take the blame.
Wu Tong shook his head and grew serious. "All right, enough joking. Let's talk business."
"Luo Zhe, Luo Feng," Wu Tong said with a smile. "As Supervisor Zhuge instructed, we're going to assign you both to a War General Level warrior squad. That way, you'll get more experience outside the Base City and be safer, too. Neither of you is weak, but you'll still be much better off with a squad than on your own. Chen Gu and I discussed it, and we think you should both join the Fire Hammer Squad for now. Chen Gu is its vice-captain, so you can ask him for advice whenever you need it."
Luo Zhe paused. "Was that Supervisor Zhuge's idea?"
Wu Tong nodded. "That's right. The Fire Hammer Squad isn't among the best War General Level squads, but its captain, Gao Feng, has years of experience in the Wilderness Zone and is good at training newcomers. It's a very good fit for you at this stage."
Luo Feng didn't mind. Being assigned to a War General Level squad right off the bat showed that they took him seriously despite his being a newcomer. And Chen Gu was on the team, so having someone he knew from the same residential area looking out for him was better than joining a squad full of strangers.
Luo Zhe thought it over for a while, then nodded to show that he agreed.
The Fire Hammer Squad only had two War General Level warriors and couldn't offer him much help, but he still owed Supervisor Zhuge and Wu Tong some consideration.
Besides, he was still a newcomer. He couldn't possibly know as much about the Wilderness Zone as the veterans who had spent years there.
Rather than waste Supervisor Zhuge and Wu Tong's goodwill by joining a top War General Level squad without knowing what he was doing and struggling to keep up, he'd be better off joining the Fire Hammer Squad for now.
Besides, once his Special Training Contract application was approved in a little while, he'd still have to go to the Extreme Martial Arts Hall headquarters in Hongning Base City for training.
"Hey, you two." Cannon Chen Gu clapped Luo Zhe on the shoulder and laughed. "I'm the vice-captain of the Fire Hammer Squad! Just stick with me from now on, and I'll look after you."
"But, Luo Zhe and Luo Feng, I should make one thing clear. The Fire Hammer Squad will give you chances to train and get used to fighting monsters, but you'll have to work hard, too. You can't always count on the other squad members to help. As warriors, you'll ultimately have to rely on your own efforts to make a place for yourselves in the Wilderness Zone."
Luo Zhe and Luo Feng nodded.
Warrior squads operated on the edge of life and death. Having a deadweight on the team could seriously affect everyone.
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