Old Acquaintance

The moment Han Tieshan finished speaking, the officers in the command post exchanged glances.

Fortress No. 7 stood on the front line of the Northern Wasteland, and the people who came here were normally all military personnel on the official roster.

Outsiders? What were they here for?

The communications soldier wiped away his sweat. "They say they have a letter of introduction from the Military Region Logistics Department and want an actual-combat kill mission arranged. They look like they're from the inland, and they brought two attendants."

Han Tieshan frowned. "What level?"

"The letter says they're assisting the local martial arts education system with an actual-combat assessment and need an opportunity to kill a Fourth-Rank Magic Beast."

"Fourth-Rank?" A battalion commander beside him gave a cold laugh. "Civilian office workers from the inland coming to Fortress No. 7 to kill a Fourth-Rank Magic Beast? Who approved that?"

The communications soldier pulled a photocopy from his pocket and handed it over.

Han Tieshan gave it a glance, and his brow relaxed.

"The Military Region Logistics Department's seal. It's Old Xiao's connection. Fine, handle it according to procedure."

He turned his head and looked at Li Zhengyang.

"Didn't you just get back? Perfect, take them there. Arrange some Fourth-Rank mission while you're at it. Just don't let them die on my turf."

Li Zhengyang slung his spear over his shoulder, left the command post, and headed for the south gate.

When he reached the south gate, he spotted them from afar.

Two people stood outside the checkpoint, followed by two attendants carrying backpacks.

The one on the left was around fifty, his hair combed immaculately. He wore a wool overcoat with a scarf around his neck and carried a briefcase in one hand.

The one on the right was barely over twenty. His right arm was in a brace, his complexion waxy yellow. He wore designer brands from head to toe, yet his whole body was gaunt.

Director Wang, Wang Dewen.

His nephew, Wang Ming.

Li Zhengyang's steps slowed by half a beat.

He stood in the shadows inside the south gate and did not hurry over.

Wang Dewen. He remembered him.

Last time at the Academic Affairs Office, Director Wang had kept saying "let's discuss this," while slipping him two hundred thousand under the table to make him give up his spot. Later, he had stirred up public opinion, hired thugs, and drawn up a Liability Waiver, all to get the money back.

Wang Ming, that young master who had bought a spot with two hundred thousand and had his right arm's meridians crippled by one punch in the ring.

What were these two doing in the Northern Frontier?

Here to gild their résumés?

Kill a Fourth-Rank Magic Beast, then go back and get promoted straight into Martial Arts University, adding a glittering line of "Northern Frontier actual-combat experience" to their record.

Li Zhengyang shifted the spear to his other shoulder and walked toward the checkpoint.

The sentry at the checkpoint was checking their letter of introduction.

Wang Dewen stood to one side with both hands in his overcoat pockets, looking around. Every so often, he patted Wang Ming's shoulder and whispered a few words.

"Nephew, don't be nervous. It's all arranged. The military will cooperate when the time comes. We just need to go through the motions. They'll beat the Fourth-Rank Magic Beast half to death, you go up and finish it with one strike, take a picture, and that's that."

Wang Ming did not look well.

His right arm had not been completely ruined, but the meridians were severely damaged. Before coming here, he had sought out several physicians, and every one of them had said recovering to his former level was basically impossible.

"Uncle, this place is way too barren."

Wang Ming shrank his neck as the Northern Wasteland wind cut across his face like knives.

"Barren means safe. Nobody knows us here." Wang Dewen lowered his voice. "Once we get back, your university spot will be secure. Who cares whether your arm is crippled or not? As long as you get the diploma."

Wang Ming nodded, then glanced into the fortress again.

Then he saw someone.

A man in a black training uniform, carrying a long spear across his back, strode out from within the fortress.

His gait was casual, yet every time he stepped down, the gravel beneath his feet bounced to either side.

Wang Ming narrowed his eyes.

"He looks kind of familiar..."

Wang Dewen followed his gaze but did not recognize him.

The main reason was that Li Zhengyang looked far too different from a few months ago.

He had once been a skinny student. Now, dressed in military training gear, he was proportioned evenly, broad-shouldered and thick-backed, his entire bearing completely transformed.

Li Zhengyang walked out of the checkpoint and stopped five meters away.

The sentry saw him turn around and immediately snapped to attention.

"Greetings, sir!"

"What's the situation with these two?"

"Reporting, sir. They hold a letter of introduction from the Military Region Logistics Department and have applied for an actual-combat kill mission."

Li Zhengyang took the letter, glanced over it, then looked at the attached photographs.

Then he raised his head and looked at Wang Dewen and Wang Ming.

He smiled.

That smile sent a chill down the back of Wang Ming's neck.

"Director Wang."

Li Zhengyang folded the letter and called out leisurely.

Wang Dewen froze.

The title was too precise. He was no longer at the school; he had been suspended. No one called him Director Wang anymore.

He studied the young man's face before him carefully.

Three seconds later, the color drained from his face.

"You... you are..."

"Oh, Director Wang, important people really do forget things." Li Zhengyang stepped forward. "Buying a spot with two hundred thousand, the Liability Waiver, hiring people to attack me... have you forgotten all that?"

Wang Ming's legs went weak.

He recognized him.

This was the man who had slapped him flying in the ring, then lifted him by the throat with one hand.

The meridians in his right arm had been crippled by this man's punch.

"Li Zhengyang?"

Wang Dewen took a step back, his lips beginning to tremble.

"What are you doing here?"

"I'm stationed here." Li Zhengyang patted the rank insignia on his shoulder. "I'll be leading your actual-combat mission."

Wang Dewen's face turned completely white.

He instinctively swept his gaze around, looking for someone to ask for help.

The sentry at the checkpoint stood ramrod straight, while the two patrol soldiers passing nearby showed no intention of speaking up.

Wang Ming forced himself to act tough. "We have a letter of introduction from the Military Region Logistics Department. You—"

Before he could finish.

The sentry beside him raised a hand and slapped him.

Smack.

Crisp and sharp.

Wang Ming's left cheek immediately swelled, blood seeping from half his gums.

"Show some respect." The sentry's voice was neither loud nor soft. "This is our sergeant major. Do not be rude."

Wang Dewen and Wang Ming both turned to stone.

The two looked at each other, their heads buzzing.

A few months ago, this kid had been a poor student. Now he was a sergeant major of the Northern Frontier Military Region? Soldiers under his command snapped to attention and saluted when they saw him, and could casually slap them across the face?

Wang Dewen forced out a smile.

"Zhengyang, I never expected you to be doing so well. What happened at the school back then... it was all a misunderstanding. Your uncle was helpless too..."

"Enough, stop acting." Li Zhengyang waved a hand. "Didn't you come to kill a Fourth-Rank Magic Beast? I'll personally take you there."

Personally take them.

When those three words came from Li Zhengyang's mouth, a layer of cold sweat broke out across Wang Dewen's back.

"N-No need to trouble yourself. Just arrange anyone at random."

"No trouble." Li Zhengyang had already turned and begun walking into the fortress. "The commander personally ordered me to lead the team. Come on, while it's still light."

Wang Ming tugged Wang Dewen's sleeve, his voice lowered to a whisper.

"Uncle, something's wrong. This guy has a grudge against us."

"I'm not blind." Wang Dewen's voice trembled too. "But what can we do now? Run? Where would we run? This is a Northern Frontier military fortress."

The two stared at each other for two seconds, then followed with their scalps prickling.

Li Zhengyang led them to the Quartermaster Department to collect basic equipment, then brought them to the landing pad.

When they passed the training field, several soldiers sparring there saw Li Zhengyang and immediately stopped.

"Sergeant Major!"

"Greetings, Sergeant Major!"

Every time Wang Dewen heard it, his face turned a shade paler.

A light reconnaissance aircraft sat on the landing pad.

Li Zhengyang said a few words to the pilot, who nodded and started the engine.

"Get on."

Wang Dewen and Wang Ming climbed into the rear seats, and the two attendants squeezed in after them.

The aircraft rose into the air and flew north.

They flew for twenty minutes.

The terrain below changed from wasteland into black rocky ground, barren of even a blade of grass, with vast patches of dried dark-red stains across the earth.

That was blood.

Old blood. The blood of countless Magic Beasts mixed together, seeping into the cracks in the rock and never fading over the years.

Wang Dewen pressed himself against the window and looked down. The longer he looked, the more wrong it felt.

"Sergeant Major Li, where are you taking us?"

"To kill Magic Beasts. Didn't you ask for Fourth-Rank ones?"

"This direction doesn't seem to be a Fourth-Rank Magic Beast activity zone, does it?"

Li Zhengyang did not turn around.

"Fourth-Rank is too weak. Killing one wouldn't look impressive. I've arranged something bigger for you. Your résumé will look even better when you go back."

All color had drained from Wang Ming's face.

"What do you mean, bigger? How big?"

The aircraft began to descend.

In the middle of the rocky ground below was a collapsed stretch of earth, forming a sinkhole-like depression.

The edges of the depression were charred black, as if something enormous had repeatedly crushed them beneath its body.

The air was thick with an intense fishy stench that slipped through the sealed gaps in the cabin.

Wang Dewen's pupils suddenly contracted.

He was not a Martial Warrior, but he had worked in the martial arts system for more than twenty years. He knew better than anyone what that aura meant.

"Stop! Tell him to stop!" Wang Dewen suddenly grabbed the front seat. "This isn't a Fourth-Rank territory! That aura..."

Too late.

The aircraft had already landed.

Li Zhengyang was the first to jump down. He took the Dragon-Gallbladder Golden Spear from his back and planted it against the ground.

He turned back to look at Wang Dewen and Wang Ming, who still sat in the cabin with faces drained of blood.

"Get down."

"What are you trying to do?!" Wang Dewen's voice cracked.

"Director Wang, doesn't your nephew need an actual-combat assessment? Three hundred meters ahead, there's a Fifth-Rank Magic Beast—an Abyssal Giant Lizard."

Li Zhengyang pointed at the collapsed ground ahead.

"It's a mission Commander Han assigned to me. I had originally planned to go alone, but since you happened to come, let's do it together."

Wang Ming had already started shrinking deeper into the aircraft.

"I'm not going! I'm not going! A Fifth-Rank Magic Beast is Martial Sect level! Are you insane?!"

Li Zhengyang walked back beside the aircraft, grabbed Wang Ming by the back of his collar with one hand, and lifted him from his seat.

Wang Ming kicked both legs in midair, but the strength of a Third-Rank Martial Artist was no different from an infant's before a Martial Sect.

"Put me down! Put me down!"

Li Zhengyang set him on the ground.

Then he looked at Wang Dewen.

"Director Wang, you get down too."

Wang Dewen gripped the armrest, unable to bring himself to let go.

"You want to kill us."

"Why would I kill you?" Li Zhengyang's tone was very light. "I'm just taking you on a mission. Kill a Fifth-Rank Magic Beast and go back—forget Martial Arts University, that would be enough to get you directly recommended into a top martial arts university."

"What a wonderful opportunity."

The lighter he spoke, the more terrified Wang Dewen became.

From the collapsed ground three hundred meters away came a deep, rumbling breath.

The ground trembled faintly.