A soldier's bounden duty

"Cough cough..."

Chang Lan lay on the ground, coughing violently.

During this process, blood flowed rapidly from her abdomen downwards.

A moment later, as her cough subsided slightly, she lay down weakly, staring blankly upwards.

In the field of vision, the pitch-black sky dominated, with occasional flashes of firelight at the edges.

The sounds of roars and gunfire rang out incessantly in the background.

She lay there quietly on the ground.

After an unknown amount of time, the noise around me suddenly stopped.

Chang Lan's eyebrows twitched slightly, and her previously scattered spirit stirred once more.

Is it over?

Was it the inspectors from the camp who came to provide support, or...?

Suddenly, a shadow crept in from the side, obscuring her face.

Following closely behind was a tall figure walking slowly.

Did we... lose?

Chang Lan lay peacefully on the ground.

The dull pupils reflected the fangs and bloody maw pressing down.

The next moment.

"Laugh--"

Blood splattered everywhere!

His dark pupils widened slightly.

The broadsword reflected the spot where it had Calamity Beast's chest and shoulder...

Erosion Zone.

Li Daoyi sat on the edge of the roof.

The black snow fell, but before it could reach him, it was blown away by a gentle breeze.

He turned his head and looked in several directions, only to see that the once blazing flames were gradually thinning out.

Is it almost resolved?

Let's turn our gaze back.

He looked up, his eyes narrowing slightly as they landed on the narrow Light Gate.

The Light Gate rotated, and starlight flowed down like a waterfall...

"Tsk, looks like I'm not coming out today..."

"Whoosh--"

The long sword slashed down.

After killing the last Calamity Beast, Shen Heng finally stopped.

He stood atop the Calamity Beast corpse, breathing slightly heavily, a thoughtful look in his eyes.

"The effects of insufficient oxygen seem to be greater than I anticipated."

"This impact is mainly manifested in its persistence."

"Therefore, it's alright in one-on-one battles, since both sides will be affected."

"But in sustained combat, we can't afford to be careless..."

After briefly summarizing the lessons learned from this battle, Shen Heng sheathed his longsword and turned his gaze elsewhere.

The sound is everywhere, but so far, there are only two places where it is still quite loud.

Is one place 20 kilometers away and the other nearly 30 kilometers away?

Shen Heng's gaze swept between the two directions from which the sound came.

They were too far away; even knowing their locations, they could only barely make out the faint lights shining in those two directions.

But judging from this frequency, will it still be a while...?

Shen Heng withdrew his gaze and looked at the figure walking towards him.

"How's it going? What's the situation in other places?" Tang Yuanyang asked as he walked over.

"The specifics are unclear, but judging from the sounds of battle, it should be a while longer." Shen Heng jumped down from the corpse of the Calamity Beast.

"Will it be a little longer...?"

Tang Yuanyang nodded and let out a heavy sigh.

"By the way," he suddenly looked at Shen Heng, "Are your abilities really limited to the three things you mentioned: hearing, sound waves, and emotions?"

Shen Heng glanced at Tang Yuanyang with some doubt, then nodded and said, "Yes."

"If you only have these three abilities, then why did you just demonstrate...?"

Tang Yuanyang frowned as he recalled that although he had only glanced at it briefly and hadn't looked at it for long.

But based on the speed of the other party that I saw in those few glances.

It is by no means something that an ordinary, Fourth Tier martial artist, whose abilities and physique are unrelated, could easily accomplish.

Are you struggling with this?... Shen Heng looked up and explained simply:

"It's just a combat technique developed around an ability."

"Combat techniques?" Tang Yuanyang's eyes widened slightly.

Just as he was about to ask what kind of combat technique it was, he remembered what the other person had said.

This combat technique was developed around the user's abilities!

Developed around capabilities, it means that you need to have the capability to use it.

In this situation, it's obvious that almost no one other than the person in question can learn it.

"Can combat skills reach this level?" Tang Yuanyang sighed softly.

"Yes, but there will be very few!" Shen Heng turned his gaze back and continued looking into the distance.

"Combat skills and abilities are merely different ways of applying Origin Power."

"Theoretically, they should have the same upper limit."

"Otherwise, wouldn't martial artists without ability be destined to be a lower class than those with ability?"

"But a martial artist without ability is indeed a level below a martial artist with ability," Tang Yuanyang said solemnly.

Shen Heng remained silent and did not reply.

Although he didn't like it very much, he had to admit that at this stage, there was a growing trend within the Martial Arts Association to look down on martial artists who lacked ability.

Of course, currently, only a minority of martial artists have the money and the ability to awaken their abilities.

Therefore, this phenomenon is not very serious at present.

However, with the rapid expansion of ordinary martial artists, this phenomenon will likely spread rapidly.

Of course, this doesn't mean that Shen Heng's words were wrong.

He was right, and Tang Yuanyang was right too.

The only difference is that one person is talking about the upper limit, while the other is talking about reality.

The two waited there for a while.

Then one armored vehicle after another drove back from a distance.

The soldiers entered the camp one by one and began to reorganize it, hoping to restore the camp to the standard of a firing point as quickly as possible.

Two other figures walked towards them.

"How is the situation?" Shen Heng asked Han Ling as she approached.

"The Calamity Beast attacked an armored vehicle. There were four soldiers on board, two of whom were killed. Of the other two, one is seriously injured and unconscious, and the other has a broken leg. Qin Ye is taking them to the hospital for treatment," Han Ling explained concisely.

Shen Heng nodded slightly and looked away.

War inherently means the loss of a large number of lives.

This death is not only directed at the Calamity Beast, but also at humanity.

"By the way," Lü Wenrui turned to look at the three of them, "Aren't we going to provide support elsewhere?"

It seems that Lü Wenrui was also an ordinary person who awakened and then joined the Supervision Bureau... Shen Heng glanced at Lü Wenrui, then turned his gaze to Tang Yuanyang.

Do you know what a soldier's duty is?

"This..." Lü Wenrui hesitated for a moment, somewhat uncertainly saying, "Protect the people?"

"That's a soldier's mission!" Tang Yuanyang said in a deep voice.

Lü Wenrui's eyes became a little blurry.

"A calling? A mission?"