Super Rookie

At the headquarters of the Sole Witness Legion in Azure Huaxia, a gaunt old man in a coarse, earthy-gray peasant jacket appeared at the open doorway of the conference room. Within a second, dozens of young staff officers inside the room stood up in unison. *Clatter—* a chorus of knees bumping against stools and chairs rang out. "Does the Legion Commander need something?" Xu Xiaohong glanced over impatiently. While he wasn't strictly lecturing the young officers, what he was doing wasn't far from it. Those standing below were the reserve command talents who couldn't yet head to the front lines in Antarctica. They had been assembled here before Xu Xiaohong to undergo battlefield simulation drills. "Yeah, something came up." Over the decades, Old Scoundrel Chen had essentially formed the habit of treating his chief of staff as a walking encyclopedia and fortune-teller. Passing forward the document in his hand, the old man said, "Take a look at this and tell me what went on. I’ve been thinking about it all day and still can’t make sense of it." "Oh?" Curiously, Xu Xiaohong walked over, took the document, held it at arm's length, and squinted at it. "You mean this business with Pure Purgatory yesterday? I already know about it." In fact, it wasn't just Xu Xiaohong who knew; word had already reached Antarctica. Every young officer present had heard about it without exception. "Good. Then hurry up and explain it to me. How did they pull it off?" The Legion Commander had abandoned all attempts at thinking. In his own words, that wasn't his job. Come to think of it, during Chen Buer's decades as legion commander, his level of education had hardly improved at all—and Xu Xiaohong was largely to blame. "Mm..." Xu Xiaohong bowed his head in contemplation for a few seconds before looking up and speaking. "To be specific, the first point is inevitably Yang Qingbai's tracking." The moment he lifted his head, he caught the helpless looks on the young officers' faces. Analyzing Stream Vanguard's operations alongside the Legion Commander and Chief of Staff was something they felt wasn't meant for their ears. Yet how could they not listen when they were right here and neither superior had dismissed them? "Don't worry. This matter no longer carries that high a security classification. You're welcome to learn from it, or even join in the discussion," Xu Xiaohong said to put them at ease. Then he turned his gaze onto one of the young men. "Come on, Zhang Ziyue, pick up where I left off." "Yes, sir!" The young officer named Zhang Ziyue snapped to attention and tried his best to compose himself before speaking. "On the day of the hostage incident at Xinbienong in Shenghai, Colonel Yang Qingbai and his airship didn't seem to show up at all." "Right. He vanished after returning from the military funeral." "Following that logic, he must have been preparing to track them from the very beginning," Zhang Ziyue said. "As for the possible tracking paths, I can think of two for now." "Go on." "The first is that at the scene of the confrontation in Shenghai, Stream Vanguard deliberately let one or two people following Zhe Shouzhao slip away. Meanwhile, Lieutenant Colonel Yang Qingbai was waiting in the shadows for them to make their escape." Having outlined the first possibility, Zhang Ziyue paused, his eyes darting toward the chief of staff... before giving voice to an idea that had just popped into his head: "This means that back then, before the conflict on site had even been resolved, someone in Stream Vanguard had already planned to cut the weeds and dig out the roots, laying out their designs for it in advance." At this, the other young staff officers looked at one another with stirred, admiring expressions. Truth be told, any one of them could have deduced the first half of Zhang Ziyue's hypothesis; such tactics were neither novel nor unexpected. But the logic he pointed out in the latter half forced everyone to see the true scheming taking place beneath the surface of events. That was the unique mark of a strategist facing any situation. So-called profound wisdom and foresight generally began from such subtle details. And as for who in Stream Vanguard had specifically planned this out, the junior staff officers knew all too well. Rumors about Second Lieutenant Wen Jifei in this world told of how he was actually a 'Dice.' Back when he was in the recruit camp, Azure had nearly persuaded him to withdraw. In the end, he had shamelessly clung on in the capacity of a logistics equipment administrator, which made all the ensuing stories possible. "Good. Keep going." A flash of approval passed through the chief of staff's eyes as he gestured for Zhang Ziyue to continue. "The second possibility is that Lieutenant Colonel Yang Qingbai immediately headed to the other conflict site at the time. The conflict there was much larger in scale. I suspect Pure Purgatory definitely had people stationed in the rear to observe without charging in... They likely got away afterward, but they were also trailed by Lieutenant Colonel Yang Qingbai." "Well said." Xu Xiaohong nodded and was about to elaborate. "So after running your mouth in circles and making it sound so complicated, it all boils down to one sentence: someone on their side got tailed by that Yang kid, didn't they?" Chen Buer cut in, asking Zhang Ziyue. Put on the spot by the Legion Commander, Zhang Ziyue looked nervous and nodded vigorously. "Yes, reporting to the Legion Commander, I believe no one can escape the tracking of Lieutenant Colonel Yang Qingbai and his modified airship." "So that's how they found Pure Purgatory's headquarters?!" Chen Buer's brow furrowed as he turned to Xu Xiaohong. "What, are all of us in Azure a bunch of good-for-nothing bums? If something so simple could be pulled off by Stream Vanguard, why couldn't Azure ever find it?" That question stumped everyone present except Xu Xiaohong. Back during the Zenith War, Pure Purgatory had already rebuilt its strength and seized the chaos to stir up trouble. Yet from the end of the Zenith War to this day, Azure had never located their headquarters. Anyone considering this would naturally assume that Pure Purgatory's organizational structure—especially its headquarters—must be exceptionally well-hidden, with alert and escape mechanisms far beyond imagination. And yet, just like that, it was found?! ...The logic ground to a halt right there. "I never said Azure was full of good-for-nothing bums. We're all Azure people ourselves; there's no need to demean ourselves like that," Xu Xiaohong said with a wry smile. "Because in truth, they didn't find it either." ... "You're mistaken. They didn't actually find Pure Purgatory's headquarters back then." At the Azure Source Energy Power Research Institute, Zhe Qiuhong looked at the tense Voyage subordinates before her and smiled faintly. "If they had found it back then, they would have dealt with it right then and there. Why wait until now?" When Voyage first began discussing this matter, the atmosphere had been terrible, choked with terror and dread. Stream Vanguard's retaliation had come so quietly, terrifyingly, and thoroughly. When Pure Purgatory was wiped out out of nowhere, they couldn't help worrying about their own fate, dreading whether Voyage would be next. Yet Zhe Qiuhong wasn't worried, because Wen Jifei had actually spoken to her—a message that only she could hear... By completely wiping out Pure Purgatory, Wen Jifei was telling Zhe Qiuhong: *This matter ends here. I won't drag you into this or seek revenge against you; but if you make another move, consider the consequences.* "If Plague Chicken really wanted to deal with Voyage and me, he wouldn't have slaughtered all of Pure Purgatory's leaders and core cadres. He could have easily made a massive issue out of Shouzhao's ties with Pure Purgatory." As intelligent people, Zhe Qiuhong understood clearly in her heart that the ties of their old friendship had truly run their course. At this thought, she felt a pang of sorrow and loss, but she overcame it quickly. Zhe Qiuhong knew that for both them and herself, the rift in reality could never be mended. "Miss, are you saying they didn't find Voyage's headquarters?" a subordinate spoke up, pulling Zhe Qiuhong's thoughts back to the analysis. "Then..." "Yes. At most, they only narrowed it down to a rough area. Pure Purgatory was hidden so well that they couldn't pinpoint it at all..." Zhe Qiuhong smiled as she spoke, though she felt a trace of wariness underneath. Plague Chicken seemed to have grown once again—at his age, he had learned not to rush! A strategist who knew how to wait had reached yet another plane. "They knew the general area, but couldn't find the exact spot no matter what." Back at Sole Witness Legion headquarters, Xu Xiaohong echoed almost the exact same sentiment as Zhe Qiuhong. He looked around. "If it were you, what would you have done?" No one answered. The youngsters couldn't respond: getting it wrong would be humiliating, while getting it right would leave the Chief of Staff with nothing to build upon. "The mastermind behind Stream Vanguard chose to wait for them to come out on their own and relocate," Xu Xiaohong said. "This required a few actions to facilitate, and an opportunity to trigger it—not Stream Vanguard's timing, but the timing of the voyage." "And so, they conducted persistent searches in that region for over a month. Yang Qingbai, Theodore, Corpse Man Weize... prominent figures appeared one after another, exerting continuous pressure. This gradually induced panic in Pure Purgatory, making them think they were no longer safe." "And then, do you know what that voyage's timing was?" the Chief of Staff asked. The answer couldn't have been more obvious. The officers replied, "The Lost Continent Expedition." "Correct. A global expedition, an all-in gamble. Stream Vanguard deployed seven thousand troops bound for Antarctica," Xu Xiaohong said. "No one expected that when their ships sailed south, the airships that took to the sky didn't head for Antarctica at all. Instead, they waited..." "And they got what they waited for. When a moment finally seemed safe, Pure Purgatory decided to relocate and abandon that region. And so, every last one of them died." Xu Xiaohong directed his final words at Chen Buer, as if asking: *Did you understand that, Legion Commander?* "More or less." Chen Buer nodded. "So where are they now? Are they heading to Antarctica after all?" "Of course they are." Xu Xiaohong laughed. "In fact, they might already be arriving. While Azure's six hundred thousand recruits need to face Great Spikes for the first time and gain their first taste of brutal slaughter, don't forget that Stream Vanguard also has a rookie who has never slain a Great Spike and needs training." *Right.* Only then did everyone realize that Stream Vanguard truly had such a rookie—a super rookie bearing one of the most illustrious titles in the entire world. Laughter gradually rippled through the room. Amidst the laughter, Xu Xiaohong looked at the documents on the desk and let out a slow sigh. Everything just now had been his deduction... If this reasoning had unfolded in front of Wen Jifei, he was certain it would have been quite fascinating. *How many years has it been since a young man made me feel such regret? I'm old, even older than Chen Buer. You brats... are you really never coming back?* Around the same time, on the Antarctic Peninsula, officers and soldiers of the expeditionary force looked up at the sky, watching three source energy airships bearing the insignia of flame-drawn red moths grow larger and larger as they descended.