The authority of the man in charge

Yang Wenqing went to his office first, where everything was already bustling.

The Staff Advisory Group, Training Operations Group, and Communications Unit were all fully staffed and at their posts. Every Rune Terminal at their workstations was lit, with training data, weather reports, and ship dispatch information scrolling across the water screens. Occasionally, someone would rise and hurry to a neighboring workstation to confirm a figure in a low voice, then hurry back.

Kang He, the chief of staff standing before the water-screen map, immediately came forward when he saw Yang Wenqing enter. He looked to be in his early fifties, wore the insignia of a second-grade field officer, and had reached the Entry Realm, Late Stage. He had spent nearly two hundred years fighting his way through the Prefectural Soldier System, having started as an operations staff officer.

He held a dark gray folder marked with a red label—the master control plan for that day's exercise. Dispensing with pleasantries, he said directly:

"Commander, today's exercise plan has been finalized. As you instructed, every formation installation at the Redstone Archipelago simulated training grounds has undergone three inspections, and the command links of all participating units have completed their final integration with the Communications Center."

Yang Wenqing listened as he walked into his office. Once he sat down, Lan Ying flew off to play again, while Kang He continued his report:

"The First Guard's fifteen thousand troops will embark from the Port District for a simulated cross-sea deployment. Their objective is to get everyone ashore and establish initial positions within eighty minutes. The Water Police Detachment will circle in through the eastern shipping lane to provide naval fire support and flank security. Sixty thousand auxiliary soldiers will land alongside the First Guard. Once ashore, they will have one hour to erect