That Won't Be Necessary

*Bang.* The moment he raised his hand, the round fired. The muzzle was less than two centimeters from his forehead. Nearly every recruit on the field reacted instinctively—shrugging shoulders inward, shutting eyes, raising elbows to shield their faces, or leaping backward, regardless of whether they were Grade A or Grade B. Then, *Clatter.* A brass slug hit the ground. The blue light on the three-dimensional apparatus strapped to Qi Shantong's back flared for a split second and died. "Thrilling, isn't it?" He lifted his head, smiling earnestly. After smiling for a few moments, he became as earnest as the most patient, encouraging teacher, speaking placidly: "We aren't Great Spikes. We're not as strong as them, nor do we have full-body dead iron armor... That is why the speed at which we stimulate and mobilize source energy decides our life or death. It must be fast. Extremely fast..." What he meant was that the surging nature of source energy dictated that it could never continuously envelop and protect the wearer's entire body all at once. Thus, the speed of its activation, the proficiency of its control, and the frequency of its mobilization decided everything in offense and defense. Put another way, he was telling them: right now, a gun could still kill them. "Then what if we are subjected to continuous blanket fire?" He Xianyou asked. Qi Shantong smiled faintly and shook his head. "No one can sustain blanket fire against an Azure soldier equipped with a three-dimensional apparatus... No one." As the final words left his lips, he fell silent, never turning his head, and merely drew his arm back behind him. *Bang, bang, bang, bang...* He emptied his magazine toward an assistant instructor less than five meters behind him. The firing arc ranged from calves to head, tracking the instructor's rapid movements. *Clang.* *Clang.* ... *Clang!* *Clatter.* The instructor dodged three of the rounds, drew his blade, and used the flat of it to swat away the seventh bullet aimed straight between his brows before coming to a firm halt... At that very moment, the brass slug of the sixth bullet had only just deflected from his neck and struck the dirt. "Damn it, you scared the hell out of me." The assistant instructor, who was now standing at least thirty meters away, his apparatus's blue light just fading, sheathed his blade, spat, and cursed. Consider this: had he counterattacked, he would have closed the distance and slain Qi Shantong more than six times over by now. Qi Shantong didn't mind in the least. He merely beamed. "That's my soldier." The recruits finally came to their senses, buzzing with murmurs. Yet at that moment, Han Qingyu's thought was: *If those two from Pure Purgatory at Reserve Station 700 were at this level, or even anywhere close to it, I would have died a long time ago.* Up on the command platform, Qi Shantong had already risen to his feet, pacing back and forth. "There are thirty-four of you left here. Some are Grade A, some are even Grade A+, and naturally, the vast majority are Grade B. I remember all of you... Aside from the one whose name I didn't recognize, I remember every single one of your names and files. "In one month, I will shoot at you just like this." With that, he turned, waved his hand, and barked, "Dismissed!" *** In truth, the person most shaken by the display just now was not the recruits standing before the command platform; their eyes burned with excitement and fervor. The one truly shaken, enveloped in a bleak despondency, was Wen Jifei, who had witnessed the entire scene from the edge of the training grounds alongside Milla and Zhang Dao'an. At that moment, he was clutching the custom "Milla 9" automatic rifle Milla had lent him for target practice. "Feeling down?" Milla asked with a smile, keenly perceiving his mood. "Ah..." Wen Jifei turned his head, forgetting to deny it. "Give me the rifle, and come with me." Milla took the black, customized automatic rifle from his arms, gripped it casually at an angle, and marched forward. Wen Jifei hurriedly followed. In front of the command platform, the crowd was about to disperse when Milla strode over with rifle in hand, drawing every eye and halting their departure... Everyone stared at her. "Hello," Milla said, offering a crisp salute. "May I give it a try? That is to say, I just watched the demonstration... and I think the Chief Drill Instructor's marksmanship was rather poor." Qi Shantong froze, as did the assistant instructor. "Be my guest, then." Qi Shantong flashed his usual infuriating smile. The assistant instructor spat out the cigarette he had just lit and nodded. "I'm about to fire," Milla even took the care to warn him. Then she raised the rifle. *Crack. Crack-crack.* Three shots. The first shot, aimed right at his face, was dodged. The second shot was an anticipatory lead, landing squarely in the path of the instructor's evasive trajectory... Having just initiated his dodge, he could not shift again in time and had to raise his arm to block it. The third shot struck his ankle. There was no blood, but he lost his balance, staggered two steps, and crashed to the ground. Milla lowered her rifle, turned around, and handed the weapon back to Wen Jifei. "This is what we can do... seizing that fleeting instant of source energy transition and surging to carve out breathing room and lethal openings for our teammates. So..." "I'd be glad to, Miss Milla," Wen Jifei said, accepting the rifle and examining it closely. *Clap, clap, clap-clap-clap...* Qi Shantong applauded, then called out to the scowling instructor who was just picking himself up from the ground. "Don't look so indignant... If I'm not mistaken, you went down fair and square." Then he turned to Milla, his smile turning earnest. "If I'm not mistaken, you must be... Miss Milla Joe? The only Azure soldier in the Ninth Army permitted and approved to employ firearms on the sighting frontline?" The word "only" carried immense weight, and Milla had just demonstrated precisely why she was granted that solitary exception. The recruits' admiring gazes toward the foreign beauty grew distinctly more reverent. Milla nodded and saluted. "Yes, Major General Qi." A collective gasp ripped through the recruits. A... Major General?! This madman was actually a Major General! "If he weren't a madman, he would probably be... even higher than a Major General," Zhang Dao'an remarked, having appeared behind Han Qingyu at some point. "So what on earth did he do?" "Qi Shantong was the fastest new recruit ever kicked out of a squad in the history of the Huaxia Coalition, and also the one kicked out the most times," Zhang Dao'an said. "On his third day out of boot camp after joining his squad, he began instructing the captain and veteran members on how to refine their tactical positioning..." "Did they listen?" "Of course not. So he was kicked out." Zhang Dao'an paused, his narrative jumping ahead. "Later on, he got married and had a son. When the boy turned ten, his degree of fusion was tested at E-. Qi Shantong started training him in assassination and disguise, intending to send him undercover into the Cleansing Faction once he came of age at sixteen..." "..." "His wife divorced him over it and revealed everything to protect their child. After that, within a single year, Qi Shantong fell madly in love with eight female soldiers and publicly proposed to each of them one by one..." By this point, Qi Shantong had already hopped down from the command platform. He saluted, extended a hand, and beamed with warm enthusiasm. "I have admired you for a long time, Miss Milla. At last... may we become acquainted?" "..." Han Qingyu dashed forward in an instant, planting himself right in front of Milla. Seeing this, Wen Jifei hurried over as well. He Tangtang, thoroughly bewildered, wandered over and stood beside them too. "That won't be necessary," Han Qingyu said, facing Qi Shantong's baffled gaze. Qi Shantong blinked in surprise, then stood on tiptoe to peer past him at Milla. "Miss Milla, what do you say...?" Milla snapped out of her flustered thoughts, jerking her head up... then smiled faintly. "I agree... That won't be necessary." Qi Shantong stood frozen in place, utterly dumbfounded. Amid smothered chuckles, the recruits dispersed.