Lü Jinshan / Breaking Through the Mental Barrier

"Even if there are nails in the pie, I'll swallow it!"

The hand holding the cigarette stopped trembling.

Lu Zhao gathered his scattered belongings and saw his broken phone on the floor.

For now, he would borrow money from Old Zhang to buy a phone.

Chapter 6: Lü Jinshan

The border station's administration building.

Lu Zhao stood in the hallway smoking, waiting for Zhang Like's meeting to end.

Compared to Lu Zhao, a lowly mountain patrolman, Major Zhang Like was effectively the station's second-in-command.

The conference room doors opened.

A somewhat puffy middle-aged man was the first to emerge. He smiled when he saw Lu Zhao and praised him. "Little Lu, you've earned yourself another merit today."

Lu Zhao stubbed out his cigarette, stood at attention, and saluted, but couldn't be bothered to offer a single word of flattery.

His name was Lü Jinshan, the head of the border station.

"Keep up the good work. In time, I'll put in a good word for you with the higher-ups and try to get you promoted."

Lü Jinshan wore a genial smile, as if he wasn't the one who had been holding up Lu Zhao's promotions all along.

In Lu Zhao's first year at the station, Lü Jinshan had transferred him out of a frontline company on the grounds that he "needed experience in multiple posts."

In his second year, Lu Zhao had finally managed to get into a company and earned a second-class merit in a shootout with drug traffickers. But Lü Jinshan had delayed his promotion until he reached the minimum term of service, on the grounds that his "work performance required further evaluation."

In the third year, Lü Jinshan could no longer hold him back. Lu Zhao was promoted to lieutenant, but Lü Jinshan blocked him from battalion-level posts and gave him a position without real duties.

This year, with Zhang Like's help, Lu Zhao had finally been promoted to lieutenant and become a platoon leader in an outpost company.

He should have gotten that the year before.

After a few words of encouragement, Lü Jinshan put on an air of importance and left with his hands behind his back.

People began filing out of the conference room. Zhang Like came out and walked over to Lu Zhao, who got straight to the point.

"Lend me some more money."

"What for?" Zhang Like grew wary. "Didn't I just lend you money for your mother's treatment?"

"My phone broke."

Lu Zhao pulled out his double-folding phone.

Zhang Like hesitated for a long moment, then said, "I'll buy you one."

"You're hesitating over a thousand yuan? Afraid I won't pay you back?" Lu Zhao was at a loss for words. "If you're short on money, I'll ask your nephew."

"I already told him not to lend you any."

Seeing that everyone else had dispersed, Zhang Like put an arm around Lu Zhao's shoulders and lowered his voice. "I'm not afraid you won't pay me back. I'm afraid you'll use my money to buy a ticket to Cangwu City. If they dared push you this hard, they must have taken precautions. Listen to me. At worst, you can just quit."

That was what he was wary of. A thousand yuan was enough to get from the South Sea to Cangwu City.

Since ancient times, people had said that when an ordinary man flew into a rage, blood would be spilled within five paces. It held just as true in modern times. As a transcendent, Lu Zhao was capable of taking his enemies down with him.

The armory had been heavily guarded these past few days because of Lu Zhao. The station chief was afraid he would raid it. If Lu Zhao got his hands on a sniper rifle, the consequences would be unimaginable; the chief would probably have to flee overnight.

Whether the entire border station could stop Lu Zhao depended on how many bullets he had in his gun.

Lu Zhao said, "I come from a good, upstanding background. Would I do something like that?"

"Hard to say."

Even after Lu Zhao repeatedly assured him, Zhang Like refused to give him the money and took him out to buy a phone instead.

Afterward, they went to a restaurant together.

A few rounds of drinks in, Zhang Like said, "The fugitive you killed today was with Greenwood."

Greenwood referred to bandits who gathered in the mountains and forests. Since the thirties, it had referred specifically to a bandit organization.

In its early years, Greenwood roamed all over the country, burning, killing, and looting. There was no evil they wouldn't commit, and they were responsible for many major crimes.

"Then I've done a good deed." Lu Zhao smiled, unconcerned. With a hint of contempt, he added, "A bunch of chickens and dogs. What trouble could they possibly stir up?"

"Back then, the situation was unstable, and beast tides kept the army occupied, so they were able to run wild. Now that we're in peaceful times, they'll only be wiped out if they try gathering in the mountains again."

These so-called righteous heroes were gangsters at heart, doing nothing but bullying men, preying on women, and burning, killing, and looting.

Zhang Like was noncommittal. "That's true, but you still need to watch your own safety. The leadership said they'd give you some paid leave. What do you think?"

He hoped Lu Zhao could take some time to calm down.

Lu Zhao asked, "Afraid I'll run off with a gun?"

"Yes." Zhang Like poured Lu Zhao another drink. "Lü Jinshan said in private that they can't let you stay on the front line any longer. But with your record and merits, they can't demote you, and the Chen Family stands in the way of a promotion."

"The chief said he could arrange a deputy regiment-level post for you: assistant director of a retirement home."

Lu Zhao fell silent. For an instant, even Zhang Like's breathing slowed.

He naturally understood what Zhang Like was implying. The higher-ups still intended to hold him back, but they were also afraid of provoking him completely.

So they had come up with this arrangement: it looked like a two-rank promotion, a jump straight from lieutenant to deputy regiment level, but in reality they were throwing him into a retirement home.

What mattered about a position wasn't its rank, but how much power it held.

Before, Lu Zhao would never have agreed. Once he left the front line, he really would have no chance to turn things around.

But now that he had Refining Essence into Qi, he was absolutely confident he could reach fifty points of vitality in a short time and qualify to transfer to civilian work freely.

The Marquis of Wu was a behemoth to an individual, but the Yan Federation didn't belong to her Chen Family. Different fields were worlds apart; the Chen Family had influence in the border defense system, but that wouldn't necessarily be true elsewhere.

He considered it. I can add a deputy regiment-level post to my record, then transfer out.

A sense of ease he had never felt before welled up in him. Perhaps this was freedom.

As long as he kept steadily increasing his degree of life development, he wouldn't need to bow his head to anyone.

Lu Zhao asked, "The rainy season will make the demonic beasts more active. If I leave, who'll be responsible for the Ant Ridge outpost?"

Zhang Like answered, "It's not certain yet, but most likely they'll choose between Qin Ze and Liang Fei."

"Qin Ze just goes through the motions on missions. He can't handle a major responsibility. Liang Fei is tactful, but he's too opportunistic to be entrusted with it. Zhang Yanfeng has only done clerical work before and has no frontline experience."

Lu Zhao shook his head, rejecting them. He didn't think the three of them could properly guard Ant Ridge.

All three were border defense veterans who had spent over a decade living off their pay and waiting to die.

Zhang Like laughed. "Do you really think everyone is like you? As I see it, they're capable enough. If they could do a better job than you, Imperial Capital University might as well shut its doors."

There had always been a saying in the Yan Federation: Imperial Capital produced the Hall of Martial Virtue, while generals came from Red Water.

They were the two giants of the education world, and the vast majority of leading figures in the military and government came from those two places.

Everyone at the border station, including Lü Jinshan, was a functionary or a soldier, and their prospects were basically fixed. Lu Zhao, on the other hand, had been trained as a future ruler.

His ability was beyond question. It was too demanding to hold others to his standard.

Lu Zhao frowned and shook his head. "I still don't think they're right for it."

"Lü Jinshan is being very sincere this time. He should be promoted and transferred in another two years, so there's no need for us to quarrel with him." Zhang Like tried to persuade him. "Just put up with it for two years, as a favor to me..."

Lu Zhao cut him off. "The rainy season starts in another month. Flash floods will sweep demonic beasts across the border. Can they do their jobs? I can leave, but it has to wait until the rainy season is over."

Zhang Like was a little taken aback. He had thought Lu Zhao was unwilling to leave the front line because of power.

Then again, this was in keeping with his character. If he had been a little more tactful, he might not have ended up where he was today.

Yet no one could fault Lu Zhao. He was simply standing by what was right.

He sighed. "Lü Jinshan will just think you don't know what's good for you. I'll go talk to him with you."

Lu Zhao knew this put him in a difficult position and promised, "I don't want to stay here for the rest of my life either. I'll accept the promotion after the rainy season."

He wouldn't spend his life in this little place, but he could spare a month. Staying another month could mean a few fewer deaths in the three counties and eight townships nearby.

To be honest, if Lu Zhao was determined to stay in his post, the leadership could only promote him. Procedurally, as long as he committed no error of principle, no official, however senior, could do anything to him.

With the matter settled, Zhang Like finally ate and drank his fill. Once he was pleasantly tipsy, he said:

"You should still be careful of Greenwood. What this guy did wasn't simple. At the meeting just now, they said the prefecture would be sending a special investigation team."

"He's already dead. What's there left to investigate? Can they make a dead man talk?"

But Lu Zhao sobered slightly. He had seen the world and been exposed to many things at Imperial Capital University.

For example, the state did have the ability to make the dead talk.

He recalled his university mentor.

One class had been called "The Relationship Between Mind and Memory." It had covered how inwardly developed mental power could read minds, even the minds of the dead.

Things like that couldn't be publicized, or people would start spreading rumors again that the authorities were brainwashing people.

A dead person's "mind" had lost its subjective consciousness and was easier to read than a living person's, but the brain had to be fresh and intact.

Chapter 7: Breaking Through the Mental Barrier

The air carried a chill at one in the morning.

Lu Zhao approached the guardroom. An old man in military uniform was curled up in a hardwood chair, his head nodding and his gaunt body rising and falling slightly with each breath.

The guard at the officers' quarters was a veteran from the Great Cataclysm era. His right arm was missing part of it, and he had trouble walking. The old man had a terrible temper and would curse at anyone who displeased him, as if everyone owed him their lives.

His name was Zhang Xiaoniu, but after he grew old, he had people call him Zhang Laoniu.

At first, Lu Zhao and the old guard hadn't gotten along very well either. Every time he went drinking with Zhang Like, the old man would scold him for lacking discipline. Border defense wasn't the army, and those who could stay at the camp were generally resting between rotations. With him meddling so much, it would have been strange if he could get along with people.

Later, Lu Zhao discovered that Zhang Laoniu knew Ant Ridge well and humbly sought his advice. The two gradually became acquainted.

Two years ago, after Lu Zhao saved Zhang Like, he learned that the little old man was Zhang Like's second uncle.

A glimmer of killing intent flashed in Zhang Laoniu's aged, sunken eyes. When he saw that it was Lu Zhao, he visibly relaxed.