71: Chapter 71 The Stubbornness of a Beautiful Girl, A Feast at Hongmen!

In the center of the Ninth Squad's courtyard, the haggard-looking women were stunned upon hearing Qin Feng say, "You will directly become Middle-tier Servants, sparing you from the suffering of the lowest level."

In the bone-crushing Servant District, having lost the protection of their men, they had assumed they were about to fall into a dark, hopeless Hell...

Who could have imagined that this newly appointed, ruthless young captain would actually be willing to go to the Management Hall to request quotas for worthless burdens like them?

"Thump!" An older woman's legs gave way, and she knelt heavily into the muddy water, tears instantly streaming down her face. "Captain Qin, your great kindness and virtue, we will never forget..."

"You are our savior..."

"Bang! Bang! Bang!" The women snapped out of their daze, kneeling one after another, pressing their foreheads heavily against the cold, hard bluestone slabs, creating dull thuds.

Watching the women kneeling on the ground, Qin Feng's expression remained calm, his deep black eyes showing little fluctuation.

He was no compassionate saint; it was just that the Ninth Squad was currently in need of restoration, and he needed the hearts of the people. He needed the surviving guards to work for him with unwavering loyalty.

Comforting the families of the fallen was the sharpest blade for winning people's hearts.

As for whether he truly possessed kindness, perhaps he did, perhaps he didn't—it didn't matter. Since ancient times, heroes and villains alike have never been constrained by moral frameworks...

"Everyone, get up." Qin Feng spoke lightly. His voice was not loud, yet it carried an unquestionable authority. "I, Qin, keep my word. Tomorrow morning, I will naturally go and apply for the quotas for you."

With that, Qin Feng turned around, preparing to take Su Yourong and the other women back into the house. After today's ordeal, he felt a bit hungry and planned to have a good meal.

However, the moment he took a step, "Sir, wait a moment." A crisp, girlish voice suddenly rang out abruptly from the kneeling crowd.

Qin Feng paused, slowly turning his head. He saw that among the women, a figure dressed in coarse linen clothes was slowly standing up.

As the girl raised her head, a face—though stained with a bit of mud, yet unable to conceal its stunning beauty—caught his eye.

The girl was only about eighteen years old. Although her figure was slightly slender, she stood like a poplar tree proudly erect in the cold wind, exuding a stubbornness that would rather break than bend.

In her clear eyes, there was none of the relief of surviving a catastrophe seen in the other women; instead, a raging fire burned within them.

"I don't want to be a Middle-tier Servant!" The girl stared fixedly into Qin Feng's eyes, her hands tightly clenched into fists, her nails digging deep into her palms. She said loudly, "I ask Captain Qin to give me a chance. I want to be like my father—a guard! I want to hold a blade with my own hands!"

As soon as these words were spoken, the courtyard instantly fell silent. Chen Pingan, standing to the side, saw the girl's face, and his expression changed abruptly. He quickly stepped forward and whispered a reminder, "Captain, this girl's name is Zhao Linger. She is Old Zhao's daughter from our squad. Old Zhao... he was the one who was split in two by Zhang Zhongjiu while covering everyone in the Luanzang Mountain Range..."

Qin Feng narrowed his eyes slightly, sizing up Zhao Linger before him.

"Hum—" A trace of obscure True Essence flashed across Qin Feng's eyes. Mortal Rank 6.

In the Servant District, for an eighteen-year-old girl to have the cultivation of Mortal Rank 6 could barely be considered promising, indicating that Old Zhao had spent no small amount of resources on her. However, to be a guard? That was a line of work that required licking blood off the tip of a blade and fighting against Yao Beasts and desperate criminals; a Rank 6 cultivation seemed a bit weak.

"Just with your Mortal Rank 6 cultivation? To be a guard—not only would you be unable to kill anyone, but you would also become a burden to the brothers!" Hearing Qin Feng's merciless blow, Zhao Linger's eyes instantly turned red, but she bit her lower lip tightly, stubbornly refusing to let the tears fall.

"I am not afraid of death." Zhao Linger took a sudden step forward, her voice sharp and mournful. "My father is dead, his body mutilated. I do not want to live out my life in the Servant District. I want to kill Zhang Zhongjiu, I want to avenge my father! Even if it means death, I am willing!"

Looking into those eyes filled with hatred and determination, a flash of subtle appreciation crossed Qin Feng's eyes. In the cannibalistic Servant District, what was least lacking were spineless cowards; what was most rare was the kind of madness that could rise from the ashes of death. However, he didn't intend to agree easily...

"Not afraid of death? Very good! But death can be lighter than a feather or heavier than Mount Tai." Qin Feng withdrew his gaze, hands behind his back, his voice as cold as ice. "The guards of the Management Hall are not playing house. You are still far from ready."

With that, he turned slowly and walked straight toward the main room. Just as Zhao Linger's eyes dimmed completely, thinking her hope was shattered, a light but heavy-as-a-thousand-jin sentence drifted into her ears on the cold wind.

"I will give you seven days. If you can make me look at you in a new light within seven days, then I will grant you special permission to be a guard." As the words fell, Qin Feng had already left with the women, leaving behind only a cold and domineering back.

Zhao Linger stood blankly in place, watching the departing figure. In her originally despairing eyes, a fanatical light, unprecedented before, instantly erupted. "Seven days... Good! I can definitely do it." She gritted her teeth tightly, engraving the seven-day period into her bones.

Meanwhile, on the other side. Inside the courtyard of the Fifth Squad in the Intermediate Laborer District, the atmosphere was so oppressive it felt as if it could drip water.

"Ouch... it hurts so much... my face..." Vice Captain Zhang Hu lay on the carpet of the main hall like a dead dog. His face, originally full of fat, was now swollen into a purple-red pig's head. He spoke with a whistle, most of his teeth were shattered, and blood mixed with saliva kept dripping down.

In front of him, on a grand armchair covered with the luxurious fur of a Yao Beast, reclined a woman wearing a deep V-neck crimson dress, her figure seductive and explosive. The Captain of the Fifth Squad, Captain Zhang Yan!

Captain Zhang Yan held a glass of crimson fruit wine, her narrow, cold, and fierce eyes sweeping down at her brother on the ground, her eyes filled with disgust and rage.

"Useless trash!" "Bang!" Captain Zhang Yan smashed the wine glass onto the floor, the crystal glass instantly shattering into pieces, and the crimson wine splashed all over Vice Captain Zhang Hu's face.

"Captain... Captain, please calm down, Sis... It's really not that the brothers are useless; it's that newly appointed Qin Feng... He is simply not human..." Vice Captain Zhang Hu wailed, beginning to wildly exaggerate, saying: "That Qin Feng, relying on a bit of brute strength, doesn't put our Fifth Squad in his eyes at all. I was speaking to him nicely at the time, saying it was to help the Ninth Squad relieve some pressure from comforting the families of the fallen..."

"As a result, this brat didn't say a word and just attacked. Not only did he cripple our brothers, but he also... also..." Vice Captain Zhang Hu deliberately stammered, stealing glances at Captain Zhang Yan's expression.

"Also what?! Speak!" Captain Zhang Yan's willow-leaf eyebrows arched, and she shouted sternly.

"He even insulted you by name in front of everyone in the Ninth Squad..." Vice Captain Zhang Hu gritted his teeth and poured out the fabricated filth, "He said our Fifth Squad is just a bunch of trash who climbed up by relying on women's crotches. He said you... you are a whore ridden by thousands of men..." "...He also said... also said, if you want to get any benefit from his hands, you have to wash up and go beg him on your knees..."

"Boom!!!" As soon as the fabricated words fell, a violent, extreme power of Qi and blood erupted from Captain Zhang Yan's body like a volcanic eruption. "Crack!" She slammed her palm on the armrest, and the entire grand armchair, crafted from thousand-year iron wood, instantly turned into dust under the terrifying power!

"Arrogant!!!" Captain Zhang Yan was shaking with anger, her beautiful face instantly twisted. She gritted her teeth, "A mere little beast who just became a captain and hasn't even grown his hair out, daring to insult me like this?!"

She had been struggling in the Management Hall for so many years, relying on her beauty and ruthless methods, and had finally climbed to the position of Captain of the Fifth Squad. What she hated most was others using her chastity to talk. The words just now had clearly stabbed her in the heart.

"Qin Feng... Good, very good!" Her eyes were red, her chest heaving violently. Captain Zhang Yan's voice was as cold as if it had drifted out of Hell. "A newcomer, a dog thing. I will let him know tomorrow who the real living Yama is in the 666th Menial District!"

Vice Captain Zhang Hu suppressed his inner wild joy, cautiously raised his head, and asked: "Sis, then shall we take people and attack them directly tomorrow?"

"Sis your mother, call me Captain, you idiot!" Captain Zhang Yan glared at him fiercely and sneered, "If we provoke a full-scale fight between two squads for no reason, and the higher-ups blame us, who can bear the responsibility?"

"Go, send an invitation to the Ninth Squad immediately!" "Say that the Fifth Squad has prepared 'good wine and good food' at the Fifth Squad's garrison tomorrow night to celebrate Qin Feng's inauguration, and ask him to be sure to grace us with his presence." "Tomorrow, I want to see exactly what he has to be so arrogant about!!!"