Prelude to War

After arriving at the logistics department, Lin Maoxian found the place to be quite vast, and for a moment, he didn't know exactly who he should look for.

After a moment of thought, Lin Maoxian walked straight up to a soldier on guard duty and asked, "Brother, we are new here. May I ask where we should go to collect our military equipment?"

The soldier pointed toward a certain area and said, "New recruits usually collect their gear over there. Once you arrive, there will be designated personnel responsible for issuing it to you."

Lin Maoxian thanked the soldier and led the others toward the indicated spot. Upon arriving, he found many people busy working inside. He reached out and pulled over someone passing by, asking, "We are new soldiers; who should we go to for our equipment?"

The man he grabbed shook his arm vigorously, but finding he couldn't break free, he said helplessly, "Just go straight inside. There is a specific area set up for new recruits to collect their gear. There's a sign placed next to it; it's easy to spot."

Hearing this, Lin Maoxian released his grip and led the others inside. Once there, he saw that there was indeed a station for new recruits, where several soldiers were currently standing.

Lin Maoxian stepped forward first and said to them, "Hello, we are new recruits here to collect our equipment."

One of them looked Lin Maoxian over, straightened the roster in his hand, and said, "You must be their Squad Leader, right? Show me your token."

Lin Maoxian immediately handed over his token.

The man took the token, examined it carefully, and tossed it back to Lin Maoxian. "The token is genuine. Each new recruit may collect two war knives and one set of coarse armor. One knife is for daily combat, and the other is a spare in case of emergency. The coarse armor is to be worn for protection; while its defense is average, it's better than nothing. As for you, Squad Leader, you are entitled to one exquisite weapon or piece of armor. What would you like to choose?"

Lin Maoxian listened to his words and asked, "Besides war knives, do you have any weapons like iron staves here?"

"An iron stave? Why would you need that when you have a knife to kill on the battlefield? The standard issue in the army is the war knife. If you want something better, you'll have to wait until you've been promoted to Centurion." Although he didn't know why the man was asking this, the soldier still shared what he knew.

Knowing there was no way to get a weapon like an iron stave, Lin Maoxian had to say, "Then can you give me a bow and some arrows?"

"That, we have. Alright, wait here for a moment; I'll go with them to the warehouse to fetch your gear." The soldier said this, called over a few others, and went to the warehouse to retrieve the equipment.

Seeing those soldiers leave, Eel, who was standing to the side, asked, "Captain, why do you want a bow and arrows? You'd be better off asking for a better weapon."

Lin Maoxian shook his head and didn't answer Eel's question. He couldn't reveal everything; it was better to keep some things to himself. "I have my reasons for wanting the bow and arrows. As for you lot, you'll just have to fight with your war knives. If you aren't used to them, I hope you'll just use your fists instead."

Shasha said from the side, somewhat helplessly, "It's not like we have a choice if we aren't used to them. A longer weapon has its advantages, and a war knife is at least much more useful than a fist."

The others nodded in agreement with Shasha; in their view, having a weapon was better than having none at all.

Lin Maoxian had a rough idea of what they were thinking. When dealing with foot soldiers, he also felt that using a knife was more convenient. However, if he were to face an expert on the level of a Centurion, his current techniques would make him more prone to openings if he fought with a war knife, so he would be better off using his fists.

After thinking for a moment, Lin Maoxian said to the group, "I won't ask about what happened earlier. After all, you are only my temporary subordinates in this world, so I shouldn't say too much. But I want to make it clear: during battle, no matter what happens, do not pull any funny business. You must coordinate well. If anyone causes trouble, I will send them straight to the King of Hell. Do you understand?" As he finished, Lin Maoxian's tone turned icy. He didn't want to have to guard against his own people during a fight; that would be absolutely ridiculous.

Seeing the cold expression on the Captain's face, Scar immediately said, "Don't worry, Captain. It was just that my tone was a bit off earlier. We didn't have a real argument; it's just that we aren't very familiar with each other yet, and the atmosphere was a bit awkward."

Hearing Scar's words, Lin Maoxian's expression softened immediately. It was good that there hadn't been a real fight; he was worried about internal conflict, which would be hard to resolve. "If things are as you say, that's fine. After all, everyone just wants to complete the mission more easily. If possible, I hope you won't have any conflicts. Even if you do, I hope you can endure it for the duration of this mission world. Once we return to the space, I won't care how you fight it out."

Just as they were talking, the soldiers returned carrying some knives and armor.

The group stopped their conversation and went to meet the soldiers. Lin Maoxian took the only bow from the soldier's hand. Since it wasn't a good time to inspect its stats, he decided to wait until he returned to his tent. He turned to Xiao Zhang and said, "Kid, bring my arrows back, and take my share of the gear as well." With that, he turned and headed back to the military tent.

Once inside the tent, Lin Maoxian sat down and carefully examined the bow's stats:

Exquisite War Bow (This equipment cannot be taken out of this world)

[Quality]: Fine

[Level]: Level 1

[Category]: Weapon

[Description]: The bow body is made of century-old wood, and the string is made of high-quality ox tendon, refined repeatedly by the army's blacksmiths. It cannot be used by ordinary soldiers; only those with the rank of Squad Leader or higher can use it.

[Stats]: Damage +5

Armor Piercing (Passive)---Has a 10% chance to ignore the target's armor and skills, calculating only the target's base physical defense value.

After looking at the bow's stats, Lin Maoxian realized it was a good piece of equipment, but if it couldn't be taken back to the space, then no matter how good it was, it had no lasting value. However, when he thought about how he hadn't spent any effort to obtain it, he stopped minding. It was free, after all, so he couldn't expect too much.

While Lin Maoxian was checking the gear, the others arrived one after another. Lin Maoxian took the equipment Xiao Zhang handed him and looked it over; none of it could be taken out of this world. Furthermore, the stats were very average—the war knife's stats weren't even as good as the one he gave Xiao Zhang, and the armor only added 2 points of defense. Moreover, wearing the armor would inevitably affect his reaction speed.

Seeing that everyone else had put on their armor, Lin Maoxian said to them, "From now on, combat could start at any moment. Everyone should get some rest shortly. We don't want to be caught off guard if the fighting becomes too intense later."

"Captain, can you tell us how much of a stat bonus the Squad Leader position gives?" It was Knife who asked. He was very concerned about this, as he had been only a hair's breadth away from becoming a Squad Leader himself.

"There's nothing wrong with telling you that. The Squad Leader's stat bonus is three times that of a regular soldier—it adds 3 points to each of the three main attributes. However, just like the soldier's stats, it can only be used during the second main mission. To bring it back to that place, you must earn 100 battle merits." Lin Maoxian didn't intend to hide this; it wasn't as if he were the only one who would obtain it. They would find out from other Squad Leaders eventually, and if he didn't tell them now, they might harbor resentment.

Hearing this, Eel said with a hint of jealousy, "Captain, that's basically the same as having no restrictions. With your strength, 100 Yellow Turban Soldiers are nothing to you. Once you exchange for it, you'll get 9 points of stats for free."

Lin Maoxian gave a bitter laugh at Eel's words. "Eel, if only things were as smooth as you imagine. Not to mention anything else, the Yellow Turban Soldiers aren't stupid; they won't line up one by one for me to kill. Besides, if there are too many people on the battlefield, I'll be lucky just to save my own life; I won't have the leisure time to go hunting Yellow Turban Soldiers."

Seeing their skeptical expressions, Lin Maoxian had to say, "I am very confident about obtaining this status bonus, but not in the way Eel describes. I am focusing my main targets on the guards of the Squad Leaders and Centurions. Otherwise, if I killed all those Yellow Turban Soldiers, what would you have left to kill? You know that battle merits will definitely be used to exchange for items later."

"Even if we can exchange for items, I won't be able to get any, since my stats aren't high." It was Shasha who spoke. Upon hearing that battle merits could be used to exchange for items, she didn't look very happy. She knew that her role in the team was mainly to restore health, so she wouldn't have many opportunities to kill Yellow Turban Soldiers.

Lin Maoxian thought about her situation and said to the others, "Shasha has a point. Because she only restores our health, she has no way to earn battle merits. We should give her some appropriate compensation. What do you think?"

"It's only fair." "No problem."...

Seeing that everyone agreed, Lin Maoxian continued, "My idea is this: when the time comes, we'll see if battle merits can be traded. If they can, we'll each trade some to Shasha. If they can't be traded, we'll see what we can exchange them for and provide compensation accordingly. How does that sound?"

Tiger was the first to express his stance. "I have no problem with that. Shasha restoring our health is very important; it's inevitable that we'll get injured on the battlefield."

After Tiger finished, the others also agreed that they could accept this plan.

"Thank you everyone, thank you, Captain." Seeing that no one had any objections, Shasha expressed her gratitude to everyone.

Hearing Shasha's thanks, Lin Maoxian waved his hand and said, "There's nothing to thank me for. It's what you deserve."