173: Chapter 173 Li Feng's Transfer, The Silent End (1)

Su Qingli glanced at him—then flipped the Formation diagram back to the front side.

She picked up the Formation brush—and added three lines of small text next to the main receiving Formation node.

The first line: Record File, Full-Band. The second line: Alert File, Foundation Establishment and above. The third line: Emergency File, Golden Core and above.

After writing the three lines, she added a transmission marker next to the Emergency File—the recipient of the marker was Lu Changyuan.

She set down the Formation brush. Then, she picked up a transmission Jade Slip from the corner of the table—the Jade Slip had been sent from Commander Tie Zhan.

There was no seal on the front of the Jade Slip—only a few extremely fine gold marks carved into the surface by Commander Tie Zhan using his Sword Intent.

She handed the Jade Slip to Lu Changyuan.

"It arrived an hour ago—sent from Commander Tie Zhan's side."

Lu Changyuan took the Jade Slip. He rubbed the surface with his thumb—the gold marks glowed for half a breath under the touch of his Spiritual Pressure.

The message was extremely short—only a dozen characters long. After reading it, he clenched the Jade Slip in his palm. The knuckles on the back of his hand stood out.

"What is it?" Su Qingli looked at him.

"It concerns Right Commander Li Feng." Lu Changyuan tucked the Jade Slip into his sleeve—his movement was not fast, but after putting it away, he did not withdraw his fingers from his cuff.

His fingers gripped that military merit bronze medallion inside his sleeve—the edge of the medallion pressed a tiny white mark into his knuckle.

"Commander Tie Zhan wants me to go back as soon as possible—he says it is time to close the net."

Su Qingli did not respond. She flipped to the last page of the Formation diagram—and continued drawing the installation angle diagram for the sensor Formation chips on the back.

The Formation brush moved across the beast hide—moving nearly twice as fast as before.

Lu Changyuan walked out of the Formation Affairs Room. When he reached the door—he stopped.

He turned back to look at Su Qingli—Su Qingli was looking down, drawing, the Formation brush making a faint scratching sound on the beast hide.

"Continue working on the alert layer. Ensure the sensor Formation chips are laid out before the Old Formation Master leaves—you can finish the receiving end yourself. I will return once the matter at the fortress is handled."

Su Qingli did not look up. She twirled the Formation brush between her fingertips—then continued drawing.

Lu Changyuan arrived at the Zhenhai Fortress on the evening of the next day.

The setting sun leaked in through the crenellations of the fortress's outer wall—slicing the stone floor outside the Central Army's main tent into strips of dark gold.

Adjutant Tie stood outside the tent—he was wearing that set of black light armor, the plates half as thick as standard battle armor, but the density of the Array Patterns was twice as high.

The old leather cord on the handle of the black gold short whip at his waist had been polished shiny by years of gripping the whip.

He saw Lu Changyuan walking over from the direction of the plank path—but did not move. His stance had his center of gravity shifted forward—a stance ready to act at any moment.

"The Commander is waiting for you inside." Adjutant Tie stepped aside—and pushed open the tent flap with his palm.

As the tent flap was pushed open, the light from inside the tent leaked out through the gap—the leaking light spread a faint layer of warm yellow across the stone floor.

Lu Changyuan walked into the Central Army's main tent. Only Commander Tie Zhan was inside.

Commander Tie Zhan sat on a tiger-skin chair—a large patch of fur on the hind leg area of the tiger skin covering the chair had been worn away, revealing the dark brown leather underneath.

Three of the Spirit Stone lamps in the four corners of the tent were lit—the fourth was not, and a thin layer of dust had accumulated on its lamp shade.

A draft of a military order was spread out on the low table in front of Commander Tie Zhan—the ink had already dried.

The military order draft rested on top of the Star Sea map on the low table—positioned exactly over the section of the Deep Water Zone defense line.

"Sit." Commander Tie Zhan did not look up.

He held a vermilion brush in his hand—the tip of the brush was suspended over the last page of the military order draft, less than half an inch from the paper.

The ink had already been dipped—a drop of cinnabar ink hung on the tip of the vermilion brush, about to fall but not yet fallen.

Lu Changyuan sat down on the meditation cushion opposite the low table. As he sat, his knees pressed against the edge of the cushion—the grass core inside the cushion emitted a faint sound of friction from the grass stalks.

Commander Tie Zhan placed the vermilion brush on the brush rest. He raised his head—his eyes fixed on Lu Changyuan.

His expression was different from usual—usually, when Commander Tie Zhan looked at someone, his eyeballs were fixed, his pupils unmoving.

Now, his pupils were slowly contracting—the rhythm of the contraction matched the rhythm of his breathing.

"The matter regarding Right Commander Li Feng—" Commander Tie Zhan picked up the military order draft from the low table.

The draft was densely packed with writing—every page bore the military seal of the Command Headquarters.

The ink for the military seal was dark red—reflecting a faint, oily sheen under the light.

"I have been preparing for half a month."

He spread out the military order draft—and turned to the first page.

The first page was a military intelligence summary.

The military intelligence summary listed the combat loss data for the Deep Water Zone defense line over the past three months—the combat loss rate for the first month was approximately fifteen percent, rising to twenty-three percent in the second month, and rising to nearly thirty percent in the third month.

Beneath the data were three red lines—the red lines marked the combat loss warning thresholds set by the Command Headquarters.

The data for the third month had already exceeded the topmost red line by nearly half a finger's width.

"The combat loss rate in the Deep Water Zone has nearly doubled over the past three months."

Commander Tie Zhan tapped his finger on the red line of the military intelligence summary. The force of the tap was not heavy—but the calluses on his knuckles pressed a very shallow indentation into the paper.

"The main force of the Haiyuan Clan is gathering from the deep sea—the Deep Water Zone is one of their main attack directions."

"The garrison there cannot hold—the combat loss rate is still climbing."

He turned the military order draft to the second page.

On the second page was a wartime deployment regulation—the title of the regulation read "Procedures for Dispatching Frontline Supervisory Envoys."

The third article of the regulation was circled in vermilion ink: The Command Headquarters has the right to dispatch officers of Deputy Commander rank or higher to act as Supervisory Envoys at defense lines where combat loss rates are continuously climbing during wartime—the Supervisory Envoy shall report directly to the Command Headquarters regarding the combat situation of said defense line.

"The Deep Water Zone needs someone to oversee the battle."

Commander Tie Zhan moved his finger away from the regulation—to the third page of the draft.

On the third page was a prepared transfer order.

The format of the transfer order was the standard format of the Command Headquarters—title, body, signature, and military seal; every item had already been filled out.

Only the last column—the material quota column—was blank.