Comrade Lin Yuan, the Nation Needs You!

Shu Capital.

July's sun was brutal.

Heat shimmered off the baked roadway.

Even the cicadas in the trees were too hot to make a sound.

A battered electric scooter weaved constantly through the traffic.

Suddenly.

Lin Yuan slammed on the brakes.

The tires shrieked against the pavement, barely stopping short of a Porsche that had cut into his lane.

"Are you blind?!"

The Porsche window rolled down.

A fat man in sunglasses began cursing loudly.

Lin Yuan ignored him and glanced at the countdown on his phone screen.

Three minutes left.

This delivery was about to be late.

The next moment.

Lin Yuan changed direction.

The electric scooter beneath him squeezed straight through the gap between the two cars.

His movement was smooth and fluid, so fast that even the fat man failed to react.

It had been three months since he graduated from college.

Unable to find a job, he could only make a living delivering food.

His parents ran a small convenience store in the old district, but business was getting worse by the day.

Rent went up every year, while profits were as thin as paper.

His younger sister, Lin Xiaoxiao, had just been admitted to college this year. Her tuition and living expenses were no small burden.

When he had attended college, his family had nearly emptied its savings.

Now it was his sister's turn. As her older brother, he had to shoulder the burden.

Soon.

The electric scooter rushed into an aging residential complex.

There was no elevator.

Seventh floor.

Lin Yuan grabbed the takeout container and charged upstairs three steps at a time.

His breathing was deep and steady. He did not look like he was climbing stairs at all; instead, he looked like he was sprinting across level ground.

Years of physical labor, coupled with the boundless energy he had possessed since childhood, had given him a physique that could only be called freakish.

Bang, bang, bang.

Lin Yuan knocked on the door and checked the time.

One minute early.

"Your delivery."

The door opened.

A young man with hair like a bird's nest took the food, muttered something under his breath, and slammed the door shut.

Lin Yuan did not mind.

These days, nobody had it easy.

He headed downstairs and arrived at the mouth of the alley.

He twisted open a bottle of mineral water, tipped back his head, and gulped down a huge mouthful.

Just then.

A piercing screech of brakes rang out.

Three army-green Warrior SUVs charged into the alley without warning.

Brutal.

Wild.

The SUVs blocked off the alley entrance entirely.

The doors flew open.

Twelve fully armed special forces soldiers filed out.

Their tactical helmets, bulletproof vests, and assault rifles gleamed with cold metallic light.

Their movements were perfectly coordinated as they instantly took control of every high point and blind corner.

Their muzzles pointed downward, but they were ready to fire at any moment.

The air in the entire alley seemed to freeze in that instant.

Lin Yuan's hand holding the water bottle froze in midair.

What was going on?

Were they arresting terrorists?

A transnational drug lord?

Could his luck really be this bad? He had run into something this huge just while delivering food?

A senior colonel stepped out of the middle SUV.

The colonel swept his gaze around, then locked his sharp eyes on Lin Yuan.

He strode straight toward Lin Yuan.

His military boots struck the ground with heavy thuds.

Lin Yuan's heartbeat suddenly quickened.

His mind raced.

In his twenty-two years of life, he had not even run a red light.

His worst act of misconduct had been pulling the braids of the girl sitting in front of him in elementary school.

They wouldn't send out the military for that, would they?

The senior colonel stopped two meters in front of Lin Yuan.

He looked him over from head to toe.

Yellow delivery vest, sun-protection sleeves, faded jeans.

An utterly ordinary worker at the bottom of society.

This was the person the commander wanted?

The senior colonel was filled with doubts, but his face remained expressionless.

"Lin Yuan?"

The senior colonel's voice was low, carrying an unquestionable authority.

Lin Yuan swallowed.

"That's me."

"Sir, I haven't broken the law, have I?"

The senior colonel did not answer. He took a miniature terminal from his pocket.

The screen displayed every detail of Lin Yuan's background, including the Outstanding Student certificate he had received in the second grade of elementary school.

After confirming it repeatedly.

The senior colonel suddenly snapped his legs together.

Smack!

He delivered an exceptionally precise and powerful military salute.

That completely stunned Lin Yuan.

The passersby nearby were equally dumbfounded.

Twelve armed special forces soldiers and a senior colonel saluting a food delivery rider?

The sight was too surreal.

"Comrade Lin Yuan!"

"By order of the Northwest Military Region's highest command!"

"You are hereby specially recruited into military service!"

"Come with us immediately!"

The senior colonel lowered his arm, his voice rising an octave.

Special recruitment?

Lin Yuan's mind was full of question marks.

"Sir."

"Have you made a mistake?"

"I'm just an ordinary college graduate, and I studied marketing."

"Why would the military specially recruit me? To sell things for the army?"

Faced with Lin Yuan's questions, the senior colonel offered no explanation.

Or rather, even he did not know why they were recruiting this delivery rider.

"This is top secret."

"Comrade Lin Yuan, the nation needs you."

The senior colonel's tone was stiff.

But those words, the nation needs you, struck Lin Yuan's heart like a hammer.

Deep down, Lin Yuan was an extremely traditional person.

He had grown up listening to his grandfather's stories about the war against the invaders.

He possessed a natural reverence and love for that uniform and this land.

But.

The pressure of reality was too heavy.

"My sister is still in school, and my parents aren't in good health either."

"If I leave, what will happen to them?"

Lin Yuan hesitated before voicing his concerns.

"You don't need to worry about any of that."

The senior colonel made a gesture.

An adjutant immediately handed over a document.

"Your sister's tuition and living expenses will be fully covered by the military until she completes her doctorate."

"Your parents' convenience store will be purchased by the military logistics department and designated as a special-supply outlet."

"They will be arranged to live in the military district's retirement facility and receive medical benefits equivalent to a major's rank."

"Any other questions?"

The senior colonel stared into Lin Yuan's eyes.

Lin Yuan was stunned.

These terms were practically a pie falling from the sky.

No, it was a gold brick falling from the sky.

They solved every concern he had, even allowing his family to leap across social classes.

But there was no such thing as a free lunch.

The military would never offer such generous terms just so he could enjoy an easy life in the army.

"No more questions."

"Let's go."

Lin Yuan took off his delivery helmet and casually set it on the electric scooter's seat.

There was no hesitation whatsoever.

Since the nation needed him, and since his family had been taken care of.

What was wrong with giving his life to the nation?

A flash of approval crossed the senior colonel's eyes.

This kid was decisive enough.

"Get in!"

The engines roared.

The three SUVs shot out of the alley like black lightning.

Several hours later.

A military transport plane landed in the Northwest Military Region.

The cabin door opened.

Bitterly cold wind, mixed with yellow sand, blasted into his face.

Completely unlike the stifling heat of Shu Capital, the air here carried an aura of grim menace.

Flanked by two special forces soldiers, Lin Yuan quickly descended the boarding stairs.

Towering electric fences and fully armed patrols surrounded him.

In the distant airfield, rows upon rows of heavily armed helicopters stood parked.

The scale of it was even more exaggerated than in the movies.

Lin Yuan remained silent the entire way.

He observed everything around him.

The soldiers looked at him with not only curiosity, but also an inexplicable reverence.

That was utterly absurd.

He was neither wearing a uniform nor had rank insignia.

What were they revering?

They did not head to the dormitory area.

Nor did they go to the administrative building.

Lin Yuan was led directly into a concealed underground elevator.

The elevator descended at high speed.

The sensation of weightlessness made Lin Yuan frown slightly.

It descended for nearly a full minute before the doors opened again.

This was an enormous underground space.

It was brightly lit.

All kinds of precision instruments flickered with light.

Researchers in white lab coats hurried back and forth.

"Go in."

The officer leading the way pointed at a heavy alloy door ahead.

Lin Yuan pushed open the door.

It was an empty training ground nearly half the size of a football field.

At the center of the training ground stood a woman.

She wore a sleek black combat uniform, her ponytail tied high.

As she watched Lin Yuan enter,

Su Qingxue's face was cold, but her eyes were exceedingly complicated.

It was that man.

The man who, in the future, had fought the beast tide alone and ultimately died of exhaustion.

Right now, he was still very young.

He did not yet possess the Sha Qi tempered in mountains of corpses and seas of blood.

Yet the unhurried composure at his core was exactly the same.