66: Chapter 66 Family is never a choice

The red text was as glaring as blood.

In the conference room, the captains of several squads gathered around. After seeing the content, they all gasped in unison.

"Th-this is too much, isn't it?!"

"If they won't approve the transfer, fine, but why restrict communications? And warn of defection?"

"How is Yuntai Town a 'non-strategic location'? It's still territory of Fengling City!"

"This is clearly someone messing with him!"

"Why?!"

"It was just a transfer request, how is that disrupting military discipline? And to be treated as defection?!"

"This punishment is too severe! It's clearly targeted!"

"Someone must be pulling strings! Could it be Wu Zhou's family?" The quick-witted students had already guessed the culprit behind the scenes.

The crowd was instantly incensed.

These were all students who had received better postings because Qin Ce had given up his spot.

If Qin Ce couldn't transfer, wouldn't they also be demoted?

At this moment, just like Qin Ce, they felt a huge sense of injustice and anger.

Wartime regulations were indeed strict, but Qin Ce's application was reasonable. Even if it wasn't approved, it shouldn't have been labeled as "avoiding battle," "fearing battle," or "disrupting deployment," let alone the severe punishment of restricting communications and treating it as defection—a move that practically cut off all his paths.

This had already exceeded the scope of a normal rejection and was filled with the intent of naked retaliation.

Wei Ming's face instantly darkened.

He immediately pulled out his phone and quickly scanned the official military notice he had just received—the content was consistent with what was displayed on Qin Ce's squad badge, but the wording was even harsher, signed by the "Fengling City Military Department · Special Inspection Office."

Special Inspection Office... that was the department headed by Wu Zhou's father!

Wei Ming looked up abruptly, his gaze shooting toward Sun Hao like a blade.

Sun Hao shivered all over under his stare and instinctively took a step back.

"Was it you?" Wei Ming's tone was as cold as ice.

"N-no, it wasn't me!" Sun Hao denied it flatly, but his voice was trembling.

However, everyone around them understood instantly.

In the original Thunder Squad, who else but Sun Hao had the closest relationship with Wu Zhou and the strongest motive to do such a thing?

"Not you? Then we'll investigate!" Jiang Ruowei's voice rang out, cold as frost. "Teacher Wei, I request to review the communication records. I want to see who dares to pull such petty tricks during wartime!"

The members of the Starlight Squad behind her immediately stepped forward, ready to seize Sun Hao.

"Wait." Qin Ce spoke up suddenly.

He raised his hand, stopping the Starlight Squad members, then looked at Teacher Wei, his tone eerily calm:

"Teacher, it's pointless to investigate who did this now. We don't have much time left!"

"I only want to ask—besides a transfer, is there any other way I can go to Yuntai Town?"

Wei Ming looked at him, then at the glaring words "Treated as wartime defection" on the squad badge, his teeth grinding.

He knew the Wu family was going for the kill.

They hadn't just rejected the transfer order; they had shackled Qin Ce—restricting communications, forbidding him from leaving his post, and labeling any slight movement as "defection." This was to nail Qin Ce firmly to his assigned defense zone, not giving him a shred of room for independent action!

Wei Ming was anxious now, too.

He had approved the application, and he couldn't afford the post-war accountability.

The only way was to have this rejection overturned and the application approved at this current stage.

However, Wei Ming's fingers flew across his communicator screen, sending message after message, leveraging every connection, only for reply after reply to bounce back with words like "Rejected," "Insufficient authority," and "Wartime exceptions not approved."

His face grew darker, and the veins on his forehead throbbed faintly.

In the conference room, everyone waited in silence.

The other five members of the original Thunder Squad had quietly retreated into the distance, looking at the stiff, pale-faced Sun Hao with complex and distant eyes.

They weren't stupid; Sun Hao's loss of composure and Wei Ming's questioning just now had explained everything.

But no one spoke. The beast tide was approaching; no one had the energy to deal with such "internal conflicts."

Time ticked by, second by second.

Less than fifteen minutes remained until the end of combat readiness.

"Hoo..."

Wei Ming finally put down the communicator and let out a long, weary sigh. He looked up at Qin Ce and shook his head.

"I've tried every channel I could reach." His voice was hoarse. "Everything was blocked by that rejection order. The Special Inspection Office directly characterized the transfer application as 'wartime evasion,' and all subsequent operations require overturning this characterization first... but overturning it requires the intervention of a higher-level military court, which would take at least three days."

Three days?

The vanguard of the beast tide might reach the outskirts of Fengling City by tomorrow.

Qin Ce listened in silence.

He had no expression on his face, only looking down at the squad badge on his wrist—it still displayed the glaring red warning and the shackles of "Forbidden to leave without authorization."

"The only way now," Wei Ming said with difficulty, "is to bypass the Elite Class system and arrange for you to be sent to one of the lower-level township defense zones as 'temporary support personnel.' But as for which specific township... I don't have the final say."

He paused, his tone heavy: "And with someone deliberately watching, Yuntai Town... is basically impossible."

Basically impossible.

These four words were like ice picks piercing Qin Ce's heart.

He slowly raised his hand, his fingers brushing over the cold surface of the squad badge.

Then, he did something that stunned everyone—he unbuckled the wristband and took off the squad badge.

The dark silver metal badge lay in his palm, shimmering under the lights of the training ground. It was still engraved with the words "Thunder Squad," and although it had been changed to "First Battle Institute Special Ops Squad," the traces of the original were still there.

"Teacher Wei," Qin Ce spoke, his voice very calm, "if I leave the academy now and head to Yuntai Town as a civilian, what will be the consequences?"

Wei Ming's pupils constricted: "Are you crazy?! That would mean giving up all the rights of a Battle Academy student! No logistical supplies, no intelligence support, no rescue authorization! Once you're caught in the beast tide, there might not even be anyone to collect your body!"

"And," Jiang Ruowei stepped forward, her voice filled with suppressed anger, "if you leave now, the military can treat you directly as a 'deserter' or even a 'traitor'! During a beast tide, deserters can be executed on the spot!"

Qin Ce looked at her, then at Wei Ming, and finally, his gaze returned to the squad badge in his hand.

He smiled faintly.

The smile was soft, yet it exuded a kind of near-tragic determination.

"Then I'll be a traitor."

"Qin Ce!" Wei Ming barked.

"Is it worth it?" Jiang Ruowei stared into his eyes, asking word by word.

Qin Ce raised his head, meeting her gaze.

In that instant, Jiang Ruowei saw something she had never seen in those eyes before—not anger, not despair, but a kind of determination that was pure to the extreme, devoid of any impurities.

"Family," Qin Ce said, every word sounding as if it were chiseled from his chest, "is never a question of 'worth it or not.'"

He paused, his voice suddenly rising:

"It is a mandatory option!"