Li Xiang looked straight into the second lieutenant's eyes and said, each word deliberate, "I don't care what meeting he's holding or whom he's seeing. Take me to him immediately."
"Tell him Special Operations Team Captain Li Xiang has military intelligence of the utmost urgency that must be reported directly, face-to-face."
The second lieutenant's expression changed sharply at those words, and a sheen of cold sweat instantly formed on his forehead.
"Sir, this..." The second lieutenant looked troubled. "By rights, since you carry the Special Operations Token, I should obey unconditionally, but..."
The second lieutenant swallowed, pointed toward the top floor of the building, and lowered his voice. "But Demon City's defensive line is under heavy pressure right now. The ghost army outside could break in at any moment. Our branch's highest-ranking officer is in the secure Operations Room on the top floor, personally overseeing the situation and directing frontline deployments."
"He gave an absolute order: without his personal summons, no one may come anywhere near the Operations Room, even if the sky falls. Otherwise... they'll be dealt with under military law and executed on the spot!"
Guo Kai's brows shot up at those words. His volatile temper was about to erupt, but Li Xiang raised a hand to stop him.
"Oh? Dealt with under military law?"
Rather than getting angry, Li Xiang's lips curved into a meaningful smile.
He knew the ways of these Beiyang Warlords' generals all too well.
At a moment of life and death like this, with the great edifice about to collapse and the Million Ghost Army pressing at the gates, someone who could sit firmly in the command tent, issue such an almost inhumanly uncompromising order, and still make these proud, hardened soldiers submit wholeheartedly, not even daring to breathe loudly...
Aside from that