"Retreat! Fall back!"
The Great Flame Dynasty's reinforcements arrived, and the Barbarians immediately fled in disarray. Li Xuancang, who had been on the brink of death, escaped with his life.
After the Barbarians withdrew, Li Xuancang thought he would receive treatment. More than an hour passed, but no one even glanced at him.
The wound on his shoulder was deep enough to expose bone. The pain had already numbed him. His only consolation was that the 1% enhancement had stopped the bleeding. Otherwise, he would have died from blood loss long ago.
Even so, his condition was dire. If he didn't receive treatment soon, an infection would kill him.
"I can't give up. I have to get back up."
Li Xuancang summoned every ounce of strength he had, and his indomitable will forced his body to move.
Every movement brought a stabbing pain that made him bare his teeth, his face contorting. Still, he could only grit his teeth and endure.
"There's someone still alive over there. Take him back to camp."
The Great Flame Dynasty soldiers were surprised to see Li Xuancang still alive, but they came over to him anyway.
Li Xuancang had reached his limit. Cold sweat streamed down his face, his body staggered, and his vision blurred.
Through the haze, he could just make out the Great Flame Dynasty soldiers approaching. A glimmer of hope rose in his heart, then his vision went black, and he collapsed completely.
When Li Xuancang opened his eyes again, he was no longer on the battlefield. He was in a dilapidated room.
The room was bare, with nothing but four walls. He could even see the gloomy sky through the roof. The howling wind blew inside, and Li Xuancang instinctively curled up.
"Ah!"
Even the slightest movement sent a burst of agony through him.
"Kid, you're awake. You sure are lucky. With wounds that bad, it's a wonder you came around. If you'd taken another day, they would've dumped you in the wilderness to become a feast for the beasts."
The man beside him, who looked to be in his thirties, seemed quite surprised to see Li Xuancang awake.
Hearing the man's words, Li Xuancang's heart tightened, and he became even more aware of how cruel this world was.
It was a lawless age where Demons devoured people. Commoners were no more than ants; only strength could earn them a place in the world.
Ordinary people like them, forcibly conscripted into service, were cannon fodder. Even when wounded, they received only the most rudimentary treatment.
If they couldn't be cured, the army would abandon them. No one would even bother to dispose of their bodies; they would simply be thrown into the wilderness to become food for beasts.
"Big brother, how long was I unconscious?"
Even speaking tugged at Li Xuancang's wound, sending pain lancing through him.
He asked the man who had spoken, wanting to know how long he had been out.
"You've been asleep for a whole day and night."
The man answered honestly, without hiding anything.
"Thank you, big brother."
Li Xuancang thanked him, and realized that he had survived not because the army had treated him, but because his body had received another enhancement.
"As long as I'm alive, anything is possible."
Li Xuancang steeled his resolve. As long as he stayed alive, he could change his desperate circumstances.
In a chaotic age, strength and military merit were the only ways to stay alive.
Squad Leader, Hundred-Man Commander, Battalion Commander, general...
The higher the rank, the better the benefits and the greater the privileges.
Once he had risen high enough, he could free his family from taxes and have soldiers sent to guard their village. His parents and sisters would no longer have to live in hunger, cold, and fear.
The thought took root, and his resolve grew ever stronger.
Over the next few days, Li Xuancang's wounds healed at a visible rate.
"No, no! I can still be saved. Please, don't throw me away..."
A pleading voice rang out in the room as a wounded soldier was carried away against his will.
His wounds were less severe than Li Xuancang's, but after several days, they hadn't improved at all. In fact, they had only gotten worse.
The army had decided to abandon him and dump him in the wilderness.
As though he knew what fate awaited him, the wounded soldier ignored his injuries and used the last of his strength to beg desperately for his life.
The men from the army showed no mercy. Without so much as a change of expression, they carried him away.
"Alas!"
At the sight, the other wounded soldiers in the room looked stricken, sharing the grief of a rabbit watching its kind die.
Li Xuancang clenched his fists. The sight had shaken him to the core. They didn't treat people as people at all.
The Great Flame Dynasty imposed one harsh tax after another, and its tyranny was fiercer than a tiger's. Forced labor and military service were only two of its many burdens.
They had all been forcibly conscripted, yet the Imperial Court gave them only crude weapons and a little food. They received not a single coin in wages.
More than a thousand men had begun their service. After two years, only a little over three hundred remained. That was how brutal the battlefield was.
After this, everyone in the room fell silent. No one spoke casually anymore.
Even Old Du, usually the most talkative of them all, grew quiet. The atmosphere was oppressive.
Several more days passed. Li Xuancang had now been in this world for ten days.
His wounds had mostly healed, and his body had been enhanced. His strength had reached 1.1 times that of an ordinary person—not much of a difference.
"I still need more time. I hope war doesn't break out."
What Li Xuancang needed most was time. If he had another ten days or half a month, he could protect himself on the battlefield.
Unfortunately, things didn't go as he wished. Three days later, the Barbarians attacked again, and a major battle was about to begin.
"Bang! Bang-bang-bang..."
The sharp, frantic clang of a copper gong suddenly rang out, echoing through the entire camp.
"All personnel, assemble! All conscripts, laborers, and Battle Soldiers, report to the Drill Ground at once! Anyone who disobeys will be dealt with under military law and executed on the spot!"
The brutal order rang out again and again, cold and merciless.
The battered conscripts' expressions changed. Daring not to hesitate, they endured their pain, picked up their crude weapons, and staggered toward the central Drill Ground.
Li Xuancang also hurried to the Drill Ground, his heart heavy.
A man clad in thick iron armor stood on the Drill Ground, one hand resting on his saber, his expression grim.
Behind him stood several fully armed elite soldiers, lined up shoulder to shoulder. Their eyes were cold as they looked down on the crowd like ants.
In this age of Demons and chaos, human life was the cheapest thing of all.
Conscripts like Li Xuancang, dragged into service by force, had never truly counted as Great Flame soldiers.
They had no wages, no benefits. If they died, no one would bury them. While alive, they were expendable, fit only to fill the battle line and take blows behind shields.
Wang Tianshan, the Battalion Commander, swept his gaze across the crowd and spoke in a stern voice.
"In the last battle, the Barbarians suffered heavy losses, but they were not routed."
"They've gathered a large force and are advancing in strength, intending to raze Lakeside Station and slaughter every last one of us."
His words fell, and the Drill Ground went dead silent.
Many soldiers trembled from head to toe, despair filling their eyes.
The Barbarians were savage and bloodthirsty, their methods vicious. If the camp fell, everyone would be slaughtered, their bones left without a trace.
Wang Tianshan continued coldly, "You were conscripted laborers, not proper soldiers. You get no pay, no compensation, and no privileges."
Wang Tianshan's words rang in everyone's ears. Some clenched their fists, anger and resentment filling their hearts.
Every battle, they were the ones sent to the most dangerous places, where death lurked at every turn.
Yet they were the ones risking their lives, while others claimed the credit. How could they not resent it?
Wang Tianshan saw their dissatisfaction and unwillingness, then changed tack.
His voice suddenly grew more emphatic as he made a promise sure to set their hearts pounding.
"The rules will be different in this battle."
"Anyone who kills one Barbarian will earn military merit, along with a reward of food and medicine."
"Anyone who kills three Barbarians will be directly admitted into the regular army as an official Battle Soldier, regardless of the usual requirements."
The moment he said this, the crowd erupted. Countless dull eyes lit up, fixed intently on Wang Tianshan.
In this dark world, where commoners were cheap as grass, becoming an official Battle Soldier was the dream of countless people at the bottom.
Wang Tianshan slowly laid out the benefits everyone longed for, each word brimming with temptation.
"Once you're enrolled in the regular army, you'll receive a monthly salary in silver and be issued fine armor and weapons."
"You'll be removed from the commoner register and no longer be beaten and bullied at the whim of officials."
"You'll be allowed to live in the barracks and receive rations and meat. You'll never have to go hungry again."
"From then on, you'll have a path to promotion: Five-Man Leader, Squad Leader, Hundred-Man Commander."
"Your family will also be exempted from taxes and forced labor, and protected from bullying by local tyrants and unruly soldiers."
Hearing Wang Tianshan describe this bright future, everyone's eyes turned red and gleamed. Many were already burning with fervor, eager to rush onto the battlefield and kill the enemy.
The brutal promise tore the rules of this chaotic age wide open.
Want security? Want a full stomach? Want to protect your family? Want to escape the status of commoners and stop being slaughtered at will?
Then kill. Fight with your life. Trade your flesh and blood for a future.
Li Xuancang was no exception. He slowly clenched his fists, a cold glint flashing in his eyes.
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