32: Chapter 32 The Commander Who Wet His Pants

Wu Feng shook his head. "It wasn't my doing."

Then he stepped aside, revealing Lin Mo behind him.

"This one deserves the most credit; you should thank him."

The Lieutenant looked at Lin Mo, momentarily unsure of how to address him.

Call him comrade? Too formal. Use a military rank? He didn't have one. He couldn't exactly call him 'little brother,' could he? Not with that kind of strength on display.

"His name is Lin Mo, and he's currently a member of my squad!"

Wu Feng introduced him with a smile.

"Oh, Student Lin Mo!"

The Lieutenant spoke gratefully.

"Great kindness needs no words. I, Old Zhou, owe you a life—no! I owe you thirty-six lives!"

Lin Mo nodded and didn't say much in the way of pleasantries; he wasn't very good at handling these kinds of situations.

He walked to the side and checked his attribute panel.

He focused specifically on the slaughter value column.

Then he froze.

[slaughter value: 1992]

He stared at the number for a long while.

1992.

Only 8 points short.

If he had known, he would have killed two more Wind Wolves to reach 2000 slaughter value...

At 2000 slaughter value, he could unlock the Entry Enchantment function.

He had been looking forward to this for a long time ever since he drew the Entry Enchantment Stone.

It could enchant an existing entry, granting it additional traits.

Although he didn't know what traits would be added or if it was worth spending 2000 slaughter value...

He was simply curious.

That curiosity was like a kitten's claws lightly scratching at his heart, making him so restless he couldn't sit still.

Should I...

Lin Mo looked up and scanned the battlefield.

The ground was covered in beast corpses and the stench of blood was overwhelming, but the living beasts had already fled. Even those lying wounded and whimpering had just been finished off one by one by the veterans.

Not a single one was left alive.

He pursed his lips, forced himself to look away, and closed the system panel.

Damn it, if I'd known, I would have chased them down and slaughtered that whole pack of Wind Wolves...

...

Wu Feng and the Lieutenant exchanged a few pleasantries.

They soon became acquainted. After exchanging their unit designations, Wu Feng suddenly lowered his voice and asked:

"Old Zhou, with the troops in your sector, against this number of beasts... how did it end up like this?"

He spoke with restraint.

But everyone could hear the subtext.

You had at least forty veterans here, plus this group of student soldiers—your numbers were over a hundred. Even if the students' combat quality isn't high, defending from fortifications should have been more than enough. Why did so many people die?

Why did you fight like a disorganized remnant that just collapsed?

Zhou Qiming's eyes suddenly turned red.

He didn't answer immediately, staring at a patch of dried blood on the ground, his Adam's apple bobbing several times.

"Captain Wu, to tell you the truth, I wasn't the commander of this defense sector. I was only the deputy!"

"The real commander is Li Chengxi, a twenty-six-year-old Major who just came down from War Zone Command Headquarters."

Wu Feng's brow furrowed.

A twenty-six-year-old Major?!

So young? That promotion speed is fast enough to violate military regulations!

You had to consider that Yuan Shoucheng, the commander of the Seventh Battalion, was only a Lieutenant Colonel.

And he had earned that through over a decade of illustrious military service.

How much military merit could a twenty-six-year-old Major possibly have?

Needless to say, the guy definitely had connections at the top!

Wu Feng realized immediately that there was something wrong with this Major.

"When the beast tide came, that bastard was so scared he wet his pants in the command post."

Old Yu and Lao Hei were squatting on the ground smoking; hearing this, their movements instantly froze.

Zhou Qiming paused before continuing:

"He didn't give a single order. No defensive formation! No fire distribution! Emergency plans? Hell, he didn't even know where the plans were kept."

Zhou Qiming's nails dug into his palms, his emotions highly agitated.

"When I and the other deputy commander rushed into the command post, he was cowering under a desk, his crotch already soaked!"

"I knew he was a useless hack and hadn't expected much from him. I thought I'd just take over and organize the defense, but who would have thought that piece of trash would actually scream for a retreat!"

"We didn't have many people to begin with; forty-odd veterans could have barely managed this wave, but that piece of trash Li Chengxi insisted on retreating. He took a dozen people with him—three out of the four patrol squad leaders left, and several Rank Two Awakeners were taken too!"

"You tell me, how are we supposed to fight that?"

Zhou Qiming was shaking with rage.

Dead silence.

Even the sound of the wind seemed to stop.

Lin Mo leaned against a nearby tree trunk, listening quietly.

His face remained expressionless, but his fingers unconsciously brushed against the hilt of zhan chao.

Wu Feng remained silent for a long time before finally asking in a low voice, "Where did he take his people?"

"Who the hell knows! Better if they're dead!"

Zhou Qiming said hatefully.

Wu Feng didn't ask further.

He couldn't bring himself to.

The defense line wasn't fully deployed, the command system wasn't established, and at the moment when a commander's calm coordination was needed most, the commander fled and took most of the sector's Rank Two combat power with him.

Then the people left behind used their lives to fill the gap for nearly two hours.

Out of a hundred or so people, only these thirty-six remained!

The other fifty or sixty, including the students who came for experience, had all become beast fodder!

...

The team rested for about half an hour.

Zhou Qiming was counting the survivors. The patrol sector could no longer be held; the fortifications were over seventy percent damaged, and they'd lost more than half their strength. They had to retreat.

Retreat to the Second Defense Line!

At Zhou Qiming's command, the surviving students helped the wounded, carried the bodies of their companions, and silently moved toward the Second Defense Line.

Lin Mo and his group didn't immediately rejoin their original unit.

According to the battle plan, they had come to support Zhou Qiming's patrol squad in holding the sector.

Now that the sector had been breached, the mission was naturally a failure.

But Wu Feng didn't suggest leaving.

In the current state of this group, if they encountered even a small pack of beasts, they would certainly be doomed.

Since Wu Feng didn't give the order, the other team members naturally wouldn't ask to return.

Lin Mo certainly wouldn't mention it; he was only eight slaughter value points away and was hoping to run into some stray beasts while escorting the students.

After walking for over half an hour, they finally saw the Second Defense Line in the distance.

The temporary outpost of the Second Defense Line was a semi-permanent fortification group consisting of three reinforced bunkers and a ring of trenches.

The sentries recognized Zhou Qiming's unit number and let them through.

As soon as they entered the temporary outpost, Zhou Qiming nearly went berserk.

In front of the largest bunker in the center of the outpost stood a group of people in clean clothes.

The Major leading them was excessively young, his clean, pale face looking completely out of place among the surroundings.

Lin Mo had excellent eyesight; with just a glance, he noticed the Major's combat uniform was brand new, without a single bloodstain or mud speck. Even the buckles on his tactical vest were fastened in the wrong order—what a damn genius!

The young Major was talking to several veterans beside him, his face filled with an obvious air of bravado.

To someone who didn't know better, it would look like this guy had just won a great victory and was grandiosely lecturing his subordinates.

It was hard to believe that such a haughty presence had wet his pants out of fear of a pack of beasts just three hours ago.

Zhou Qiming recognized those faces.

"Li Chengxi—!!"

"I'm going to skin you alive!"