"Are you losing your mind? You stupid fool," the Splinter Faction cadet sneered, drawing his blade and charging toward the door as his device roared to life.
The distance from the courtyard to the door was actually very short.
Even so—*pew!*
Fitted with a specialized silencer, Captain Lady's first bullet felt like a bit of a waste.
Hurled violently backward mid-charge, the cadet slammed onto the ground, groaning in agony as he curled up and writhed.
Milla had not killed him. The bullet had torn through a non-lethal spot on the right side of his chest; with prompt emergency treatment, he would survive.
The clamor persisted outside, but the courtyard finally fell dead silent.
A brief, dazed stupor hung over them...
In that moment, they finally recalled the rumors of those rare source energy firearms. None of them had imagined one would appear here.
Yelena's expression went blank for a second. "Whoa!"
Naturally, she had heard about it too, especially that story from over a year ago when Second Lieutenant Wen had held off a thousand men alone in the City of Iniquity.
*Heavens, I know so much, yet I never even considered that Miss Milla might have a source energy firearm too! Just how stupid am I?!*
Originally, Yelena had wanted to play the hero rescuing the beauty...
*Well, being the one who gets rescued isn't bad either.*
*A bit embarrassing, so I guess I'll just take the role of the delicate damsel in distress.*
*...*
At the same time, Colonel Boris, standing before her, hesitated for less than two seconds before quickly flicking his gaze up at the window.
He wanted to move, to slip behind Yelena and conceal himself—even crouch right behind her rear.
Because even though rumors said these weapons broke easily and could only fire three or four shots, Boris knew, by sheer rotten luck, that he was the prime target worth sniping on the spot.
Before he could make a move, Milla's voice rang out first.
"Hush. Don't move a muscle, and don't shout, Colonel."
The voice drifting from the room was remarkably calm.
"It seems you are aware of source energy firearms, Colonel. In that case, with any luck, you might have heard my name. I am Milla Joe."
"Please harbor no delusions."
*If he doesn't know, well, that'll be pretty awkward. Then I'll just have to keep going and say I'm Second Lieutenant Wen Jifei's teacher—the teacher of the guy most famous right now in all those rumors about source energy firearms... Honestly. Who told everyone to ignore gun users in the past?!*
Milla thought, feeling a little sullen inside.
Boris knew the name. Before the operation, they had received a list of key figures—officers specially dispatched by the Azure Alliance over the past three years.
The academy had six such officers. The primary target among them was the top combat power, Aleksei, while this Lieutenant Colonel Milla was merely one of the rest.
[Milla Joe. Rank: Lieutenant Colonel. Grade E degree of fusion. Low combat capability.]
It was precisely that appraisal that had caused Boris to completely overlook and dismiss the line that followed:
[Served long-term in the Huaxia Front's Ninth Army; the sole individual in the military granted special permission to use firearms on the frontline battlefield.]
"..." Boris chose to stand still and remain silent.
Because right now, that gunner defined by the phrase "sole special permission" was aiming a source energy firearm straight at him.
He did not believe he could dodge that bullet. Even Great Spikes could not dodge it.
Seeing Boris freeze, the others in the courtyard naturally dared not move either, leaving only the cadet on the ground bleeding and groaning.
"Come inside, Yelena," Milla said gently.
"Okay." Yelena was not one to panic.
She reached out, pinched the blade before her between two fingers, shoved it aside, and stepped forward.
"Pick up your blade," Milla's voice continued from inside the room.
"Right. Hold it to the colonel's neck."
"Very good. Now bring him inside with you."
Yelena complied. Moving cautiously, she took a moment to swoon internally: *Wow, Miss Milla Joe is so composed. She's even more enchanting like this.*
"Please don't worry, Colonel."
"As long as you and your men make no dangerous attempts, we certainly won't harm you. Losing you would put us in jeopardy, after all, so please rest assured."
Milla spoke to pacify the situation, waiting as Yelena ushered Boris into the room.
*Creak.*
Finally, the door shut.
With no lights on, the room was pitch-black.
"You won't get away," Boris said in a low voice.
"We'll see," Milla said calmly.
"Is that so? I hope you don't try," Boris said. "Because the entire region—I mean virtually all of Siberia—is already in our hands."
"General Ivan has returned. The Xiongzhanli Front will officially declare independence and assume state sovereignty," he added.
Milla and Yelena froze at the same time.
***
"What the hell is going on?" Chen Buer was awakened in the middle of the night.
The old chief of staff looked at him with heavy eyes. "Xiongzhanli has officially broken away. The Alliance Speaker just called, requesting that our Huaxia Front deploy troops to Siberia to stabilize the situation first, and then wait for Europa's reinforcements to arrive."
"What about that kid Hua Bixuan?" Chen Buer asked first, completely ignoring the Alliance's request.
The old chief of staff shook his head. "No news for now. Word is that Butcher Ivan is there..."
The implication was clear: Marshal Hua was in grave danger, or at the very least, powerless to act.
"Does the Alliance have no other preparations?" Chen Buer followed up.
"You might be their greatest preparation—a last resort. Europa has some preparations as well, but that's likely the extent of it. They held over a dozen classified meetings, yet never seemed to reach a decisive conclusion. You know how it is. They're used to debating every single matter back and forth. It's precisely because of how formidable centralized power is that they fear you."
The old chief of staff furrowed his brow.
"Antarctica's forces certainly cannot be redeployed, nor would they make it in time. The situation in Argentina is a massive headache as well; all available support units from South America have already been piled over there... In truth, at this stage, every front is struggling just to maintain its own defense. There are even a few fronts watching from the sidelines, vaguely intending to follow Xiongzhanli's lead."
"Nonsense! Does that mean our Huaxia isn't struggling?!" Chen Buer snapped in irritation. "Let them do whatever they want. I couldn't care less."
"Stop talking nonsense; saying it changes nothing." The old chief of staff saw right through him. Beneath Chen Buer's apparent recklessness and disregard for rules lay an endurance and devotion that no one understood better than he did... If Chen Buer truly wanted a military dictatorship, could the Alliance have ever suppressed him?
Sighing inwardly, the old chief of staff continued, "There's another very troublesome situation right now."
"What is it?" Chen Buer asked.
"The moment Xiongzhanli broke away, top-tier combat powers from nearly every faction, including Snow Lotus, sprang into action. They're infiltrating key targets across various nations."
Chen Buer thought for a moment. "Meaning?"
"They are doing everything they can to tie down the deployment of each nation's elite combatants—threatening research institutes, for instance... And their primary target of infiltration is us. So, as I see it, neither Lü Moyi nor Shao Xuan and the others will be able to move."
"...Oh, I get it." Chen Buer understood. Standing up, he asked, "Then how many men can we send?"
The old chief of staff looked at him, concealing the helplessness and worry in his eyes as he replied,
"Around ten thousand, plus one man unrivaled under heaven."
Chapter 536