The following day was briefing day, though the recruitment briefings would not officially begin until nine in the morning.
The group from Dorm 22 woke up early and went down for breakfast. Practically the entire dining hall was watching them, accompanied by murmurs and chatter of all volumes.
Familiar recruits stood up to greet Han Qingyu, calling directly to him, "Golden Eraser... if my squad ever requests backup in the future, make sure you get there fast, alright?"
Saying this was not merely a joke, as on the sighting frontline during actual combat, all sorts of accidents were genuinely not uncommon.
Therefore, all six armies under the Sole Witness Legion shared a common institution: the mobile unit system.
Aside from being regional squads, the top ten squads in each army were also mobile units—or special operations squads.
All of them were equipped with helicopters to facilitate regional rescues at any moment.
And among the Legion's regulations regarding this was a rule: if a regional squad was on a mission and ran into an unexpected crisis or could no longer hold out and requested backup, all the credit and rewards for that mission would go to the squad that successfully executed the rescue.
It was precisely for this reason that the combat rewards, merit awards, and ranking bonuses of those elite squads were exceptionally high.
Specifically in the Ninth Army, the two color Erasers were the most exceptional of the exceptional. Each had an authorized complement of forty-eight members and an enormous operational radius. Beyond the mandatory minimum requirement of fifteen personnel staying behind on guard duty, their remaining personnel and strength could reinforce at least two to three regions simultaneously.
In other words, with their average strength, around fifteen members were enough to take down two ordinary Great Spikes. In special circumstances, if the squad's top combatants or the captain personally participated in the rescue, often fewer than ten were needed.
This was the prowess of the color Erasers, and also why they were so "wealthy," so revered and yearned for, without drawing much objection.
"Qingzi, Golden Eraser already, huh... congratulations!"
"Yeah! Next time we meet, don't pretend you don't know your old pals!"
Some people joined in the banter right then and there.
Han Qingyu could only smile at this, then sat down to eat.
"What should we do? Word that you rejected the White Eraser yesterday seems to have already spread... No wonder so many people suddenly started calling you 'Golden Eraser' this morning."
Wen Jifei had taken a detour to ask around while getting food, and returned looking somewhat worried.
"Even the part about how things ended on bad terms is being described in vivid detail, talked about everywhere," Liu Shiheng said as he sat down, also frowning.
Their worry stemmed from the fact that the two ways of framing the very same matter were completely different. Han Qingyu could refuse the White Eraser in private, but now that it had spread and everyone was talking about it, the nature of the situation had changed. It was equivalent to making the White Eraser lose face before the entire army, thoroughly embarrassing them.
There was no fixed hierarchy between the color Erasers. Every year, Gold and White competed in merit rankings and vied for prestige, constantly locked in rivalry.
Not to mention that in terms of factional stance, the two squads had always been sharply opposed to each other.
"Well, I didn't spread the word," Han Qingyu said, looking unconcerned as he lowered his head to sip his porridge.
He had an appointment shortly to spar with Captain Qin Guowen of the Golden Eraser, so as a rule, he couldn't eat too full.
"Then it could only be the White Eraser and Qi Shantong... but they have even less reason to blab about it. After all, it just makes them look like they took a blow." Wen Jifei thought for a moment and said, "Could someone have eavesdropped and leaked it to screw with you on purpose?"
"Not necessarily. But even if someone really wants to screw with me, it doesn't matter." Han Qingyu paused, then said, "I was just thinking: in our current situation, the more people who know that I tore off the pleasantries and offended the White Eraser and Qi Shantong, the better the outcome. The safer and more at ease we'll be in the future."
"I wouldn't even mind offending them more severely," he added, picking up some pickled vegetables to go with his porridge.
Wen Jifei and the others exchanged glances, pondered the thought carefully, understood, and relaxed to eat their breakfast.
After the meal, they got up and headed toward the simulated combat arena.
The way was packed with people.
The Erasers' strongest recruit in a decade, Han Qingyu, vs. Golden Eraser Captain Qin Guowen.
Although this match carried no hostility or stakes of winning and losing, and anyone could tell it was merely an instructional assessment of a newcomer by a Golden Eraser senior, it was still a rare opportunity to watch and learn during the final phase of recruit training.
Unfortunately, the vast majority of the bustling crowd of recruits along the way still failed to gain entry in the end.
As for the reason, it wasn't that the arena was closed to recruits like it had been during "Han Qingyu versus Instructor Lao," but that there were simply too many people.
Because today was briefing day and the recruitment briefings would officially open at nine o'clock, and tomorrow was the day recruits graduated and underwent mutual selection, there was an enormous number of visitors: captains and vice-captains returning from the frontline regions, as well as regimental commanders, staff officers, and instructors coming up from each regiment to the combat training base.
These people alone took up more than half of the seats in the venue, so recruits without someone guiding them couldn't get in at all.
...
As one of the combatants, Han Qingyu barely managed to bring Wen Jifei and the others inside, finding seats for them in a corner.
Then, glancing inadvertently, he was surprised to spot Regimental Commander Li and the delegation from Regiment 425 sitting in an even more secluded corner, in the very back row against the wall.
"Greetings, Regimental Commander Li, Chief of Staff... Captain Lao..." Having not seen them for a while, he hurried over to salute and offer his greetings.
"Ah, good... go on... In short, put on a good performance."
Regimental Commander Li spoke on behalf of the group. Putting on an air of generosity and forcing a smile, he offered words of "parting blessings"—and his heart ached terribly once they left his mouth.
"Yes, sir." Han Qingyu saluted once more.
Then he found an open space and began inspecting his device.
At the same time, in the corner, Regimental Commander Li muttered and complained to the people beside him, "I told you earlier we shouldn't come to watch, but you insisted... Aren't we just looking to make ourselves miserable?"
"Give it a rest, Old Li. Stop dumping the blame on us," the Regimental Chief of Staff said, rolling his eyes at him. "You were obviously the one who wanted to watch. While acting unwilling, you dragged all of us along anyway..."
"Forget it. Since we're already here, let's just watch. To tell the truth, it's not just you—we all wanted to see our precious genius from 425 perform once more."
"I... Bah!" Regimental Commander Li stubbornly retorted, "I only came to see him get beaten till his teeth are knocked out so I can have a good laugh!"
The others beside him exchanged glances, feeling that exposing their regimental commander right now would be too cruel, yet unable to offer any real comfort. Thus, they simply ignored him.
A moment later, Regimental Commander Li had someone call He Tangtang over, asking about his selection preference under the pretext of checking in on him.
"I'll follow Qingzi. If possible, I want to go to the same squad as him," He Tangtang said bluntly. "Unless they really don't want me... That said, my B+ is actually pretty impressive too, and I train with Qingzi all the time, so my combat skills aren't bad either..."
Chief of Staff: "Cough. You... haven't you considered staying in our 425 to be our prized darling?"
He Tangtang: "I'll follow Qingzi." Datang was as blunt as ever.
"..."
Regimental Commander Li's heart silently shattered into pieces once again.
Chapter 95