Recruitment Briefing

"Yeah, just like that. What do you think?" The Captain of the Golden Eraser gave an on-the-spot lesson on wooing girls, looking quite pleased with himself after he finished speaking. Muffled chuckles rippled across the spectator stands. The female soldiers, captains, and vice-captains clustered together in groups, unable to suppress their snickers as they gossiped. "Shameless. Utterly shameless." Captain Lei Guan muttered under his breath in deep disdain. He felt that the Erasers' foremost combatant stooping to teaching someone how to sweet-talk girls just to recruit a newcomer was simply going too far. Over by Regiment 425, Regimental Commander Li was feeling a bit disgruntled as well. "Acting like we couldn't teach him this stuff ourselves... Sigh. Come to think of it, we should've taught him earlier. If we had, maybe he’d already have something anchoring him here, and he wouldn't leave." He sighed and turned to glare at Lao Jian, venting his unprovoked frustration onto him. "Why didn't you have the good sense to have a daughter back then?!" With that, he cast him a look of utter disdain. Then he turned to look at the chief of staff. The Regimental Chief of Staff rolled his eyes. "What are you looking at? You think you can teach him? With your mind full of nothing but hook-ups and rekindling old flames, you'd teach him straight into staying a bachelor for life." "Or maybe he'd fill Azure with descendants," Commander Li said with a fawning grin. "Besides, don't we still have you?" "Me?" The chief of staff's tone suddenly faltered. "Teach my ass. If I could teach anyone, would I and Senior Sister... would I have needed you to urge me to reconnect with her this year?" He looked somewhat sorrowful as he said it. Commander Li fell silent. The chief of staff continued his summary: "Speaking of which, someone in the army had too much time on their hands last year and ran statistics. Turns out our Regiment 425 has the most bachelors and the fewest Azure children in the entire Ninth Army. As the regimental commander, along with the rest of us regimental leaders, you can hardly shrug off the blame." "Ah... is that so?" From the perspective of the soldiers' welfare, this was actually quite serious and probably required some thought. Commander Li frowned in thought for a moment, then said helplessly, "But our regiment doesn't seem to have anyone particularly skilled at this sort of thing, does it?" "There is. In fact, there's one," Lao Jian interjected, tilting his head toward the back of Wen Jifei's head not far ahead. "That kid. He's practically running a harem at the equipment grounds." "Really?! Then why hasn't he taught kid Han a trick or two? The two of them are so close," the Regimental Chief of Staff asked curiously. "Uh..." Lao Jian gave it some careful thought. "Probably because that kid himself is truly hopeless." Meanwhile, on the arena platform. Han Qingyu finally ended a two-minute round of contemplation. Looking up at Shao Xuan, he asked earnestly: "What's a dimple?" Shao Xuan: "..." All the female squad leaders in the arena: "..." "Never mind." Chuckling helplessly, Shao Xuan walked over and patted Han Qingyu on the shoulder. "Just train hard. Rely on your strength, and then rely on your face... And if you ever attend the matchmaking sessions organized by the army, remember: talk as little as possible." With that, he pulled Han Qingyu down from the platform. Arm slung over the young man's shoulders, he chatted with him as they walked toward the auditorium together. The spectators inside the simulated combat arena followed suit and filed out. The main event of the day, the recruitment briefing, was about to officially begin. Meanwhile, in the second-floor observation room. Qi Shantong suddenly turned his head and asked, "What did you think, watching him?" "For a recruit, he is indeed very strong," the White Eraser member answered honestly. "How does he compare to Bai Ji?" "Right now, Bai Ji is naturally still stronger," the squad member replied with certainty. "Whether in the density of source energy, mastery of control, or real combat experience, Bai Ji still has the edge over him." "Good." Qi Shantong stood up and walked toward the door, saying, "Then have Bai Ji come over in a personal capacity. It just so happens that he spent half a year recuperating from injuries last year, never took part in the recruits' graduation, and hasn't formally enlisted into a roster yet. Following protocol, we can slot him into this year's batch." Behind him, the White Eraser member stared blankly for a second before catching on: no matter what, the face the White Erasers had lost today had to be reclaimed. Captain Qi could never bring himself to willingly play second fiddle to the Goldens. "Understood, Captain Qi," he said. "Then how should we..." He wanted to ask how they could suitably prove Bai Ji's strength. Qi Shantong took hold of the doorknob, paused, and said: "Announce later that since a precedent for recruits' practical combat assessments was reopened today, the White Eraser is willing to put up five source energy blocks to welcome all recruits of Grade B and above to participate in a practical combat trial." With that, Qi Shantong walked out the door. ... The auditorium of the Ninth Army War Training Base was colossal. It took several thousand recruits, along with leaders from every regiment and veteran soldiers returning from various regional squads, to barely fill it to capacity. At the briefing's opening commemorative ceremony, several thousand people stood solemnly in unison. On the rostrum, standing beside Acting Army Commander Lu Wuzheng, was a tall, gaunt old man named Chen Buer—the current Legion Commander of the Sole Witness Legion. He had rushed here in haste, completely unrelated to the recruits' graduation. "Over a month ago, a bloody battle was fought in Area 1123—the most brutal battle our entire Huaxia Front has seen in the past six years. In this engagement, our Ninth Army suffered a tremendous blow: fourteen instructors across two regiments, one hundred and forty-one newly enlisted soldiers, and the entirety of Squad 1123—forty-six people—laid down their lives. Yet, we still successfully held Area 1123 and prevented the crisis from escalating..." Lu Wuzheng's speech drew toward its close. On the platform stood the regimental commanders and relevant personnel of the three regiments waiting to receive the Collective First-Class Merit and the Starry Sky Medal: Regiment 425, Regiment 491, and Regiment 453, to which Squad 1123 had belonged. Chen Buer stepped forward to present the medals. "Regiment 425," he called. "Present." Beside Li Wangqiang's solemnly standing figure stood Milla and the other two surviving instructors. "I still remember the might of the Red Eraser, and I remember Wang Liuzheng. That kid was good at everything, except he didn't like to talk..." Chen Buer murmured softly as he presented the medals. Li Wangqiang didn't utter a word, his eyes rimmed in red. More than ten years after its disbandment, the Red Eraser's hall of honors was finally receiving a new medal—earned by their former Second Formation Left Wing, a man named Zhang Dao'an. "Regiment 491," Chen Buer continued calling out. "Present." Beside the commander of Regiment 491 were likewise three instructors who had survived Area 1123. Chen Buer spoke to them just the same as he presented the medals. Then, taking another step forward, he paused. "...Regiment 453, Squad 1123." The old man's words seemed heavy, uttered with difficulty. "Present." A solitary voice rang out. The commander of Regiment 453 stood there alone, snapping to attention and answering at the top of his lungs, "Former Captain of Squad 1123, Qiu Youchuan... present!" Alone, he shouted that roll call response with every ounce of his voice. As if all of them were still here. As if 1123 still lived on. Regimental Commander Qiu held his head high, chest thrust out. He did not weep aloud, nor did he say another word. He simply stood there, his eyes crimson, silent tears streaming steadily down his cheeks. Chen Buer's hands holding the medal trembled. He tilted his head back and closed his eyes.