36: Chapter 36 Huangfu Jing

The explosion-proof glass cracked.

A spiderweb of cracks burst from the center, the fine lines spreading outwards.

Immediately after, a shrill alarm pierced the sky across the entire steel defensive line!

"Level One Alert! Sonar tracking activated! All turrets entering automatic defense mode!"

The one-armed officer's roar was hoarse and cracking.

He stared fixedly at the gray, hazy horizon in the distance.

Just then.

Several blood-soaked medics were carrying stretchers.

They rushed out like madmen from the trenches behind the checkpoint.

The stretchers were covered with white cloths already soaked through to a dark red.

They couldn't hide the twisted shapes underneath at all.

An arm, charred black and reduced to bone, slid from the edge of the white cloth.

It dragged a glaring streak of blood across the ground.

The wailing, the rapid beeping of equipment alarms, and the smell of gunpowder mixed with the stench of blood.

Poured into the car window all at once.

The one-armed officer's face turned deathly pale, and his eyes instantly filled with bloodshot veins.

He spun around suddenly and slammed his hand hard onto the hood of the SUV.

"Bang!"

The massive, dull thud caused the entire vehicle to shudder.

"Do you see that?!"

He pointed at the stretchers being hurriedly carried toward the field hospital in the rear.

He roared at the two people in the car, spittle almost spraying onto Shen Qingci's face.

"An hour ago! The exact same roar!

My squad, twelve brothers! Less than half can be brought back in one piece now!"

"Now! Immediately! Get back to Jiangcheng!

This is no place for pampered young masters and misses like you!"

His voice carried a long-suppressed rage and sorrow.

The veteran garrison soldiers nearby, who had just recovered from their alert state.

Upon hearing this, they all cast cold and disgusted looks.

Su Ming was very familiar with that kind of gaze.

The rejection of the privileged class by those at the bottom needed no reason; it was carved into their bones.

"We are not here to play."

Shen Qingci's hands tightened on the steering wheel, her voice cold and clear, yet suppressing anger.

"Play?"

The one-armed officer acted as if he had heard a massive joke.

He pointed to the line on Shen Qingci's pass that read "Federal Central Military University, Training Mission," his smile uglier than crying.

"Do you know what a training mission is? It's filling gaps with your life!

It's not about having my elite soldiers, who crawled out of mountains of corpses and seas of blood, act as your nannies! Your cannon fodder!"

"I don't care who your father is, or how much power your family has in the Federation! It doesn't work with me!"

"My bottom line as a soldier is not to let my brothers die just to pad the resumes of wealthy heirs!"

His words were resonant and forceful.

The surrounding soldiers silently gathered around, no one speaking.

But those cold gazes had already formed an invisible wall.

They were the object of universal condemnation.

Su Ming leaned back in the passenger seat.

On the surface, he remained the same indifferent, aloof academic, saying nothing.

But in his heart, he felt no offense at all.

In this screwed-up era.

There were indeed too many children of conglomerates who treated the Source Abyss as a "gilded playground."

In the eyes of those people, the lives of bottom-tier soldiers were not lives, but "low-value consumables."

They would fret for ages over a scratched paint job on a set of C-grade armor.

But the lives of dozens of veterans.

Were not even worth a fraction of the pension paid to their families afterward.

Therefore, for this rough-hewn officer who dared to risk dismissal to point at the noses of the powerful and scold them.

Su Ming actually held him in higher regard.

Facing the rage and hostility, Shen Qingci did not argue.

She calmly raised her left wrist, revealing a simple military communicator.

"I'm contacting my instructor."

She pressed a shortcut key on the communicator.

The corners of the surrounding veterans' mouths curled with a bit of mockery.

Instructor? How impressive could they be?

At best, a field officer; could they really influence the frontline command?

The next second.

A ghostly blue holographic projection "whooshed" open above the hood of the SUV.

Amidst the interweaving light and shadow, the upper body image of a woman emerged.

She wore crimson combat armor, her eye-catching red hair tied casually behind her head.

The tight design outlined her breathtaking, fiery curves.

There were a few spots of dried blood on her face.

Far from ruining her beauty, it added a touch of wildness and sharpness.

Most eye-catching of all was the gleaming Colonel insignia on her shoulder.

She glanced at the camera and casually wiped the beast blood rolling down her forehead.

She had clearly just finished a fierce battle.

Shen Qingci looked at the woman in the projection, her voice filled with respect and admiration.

"Teacher, I'm stuck at Checkpoint 3."

The red-haired woman wiped the blood from her temple, her magnetic, husky voice sounding out.

"Give the communicator to the sentry."

The one-armed officer frowned and took the communicator from Shen Qingci's hand.

Calling for backup?

Let's see who you can call; these are the rules, it doesn't matter who comes!

He was just about to start questioning, but the woman in the projection spoke first.

"I am Commander Huangfu Jing."

Three words.

No title, no buildup, no nonsense.

"Shen Qingci was sent by me to execute a special mission. I take full responsibility for anything that happens."

The one-armed officer's mouth opened, but no sound came out.

His gaze met the face in the image, met that iconic red hair.

The whole person was frozen in place, as if struck on the crown of the head by a heavy hammer.

Commander Huangfu Jing.

This name, in the Southern Military Region.

Especially among the frontline troops that dealt with the Source Abyss year-round.

Was a living legend, a taboo forged in slaughter!

The surrounding veterans who had originally harbored hostility.

Were like ducks whose necks had been pinched.

All their expressions froze.

Just the moment her voice fell.

Everyone heard a loud crash coming from the projection.

Boom!!!

The communicator's screen shook violently.

Behind Commander Huangfu Jing, a hideous Source Beast, as large as a small mountain and with three pairs of compound eyes, crashed to the ground.

On its thick carapace, which was capable of withstanding the shelling of main battle tanks.

A terrifying, bone-deep slash ran from its head to its tail.

Almost splitting it in two.

Blood, bone, and gore splashed into the sky, staining the screen a shocking dark red.

That... that is a Tier 4 Six-Eyed Ghost Spider!

A sharp-eyed soldier recognized the identity of that Source Beast and gasped.

To confirm he wasn't dreaming.

He shifted his gaze to the top right corner of the holographic projection.

As he took the communicator.

The system automatically verified the officer's authorization.

A line of small text appeared.

[Name]: Commander Huangfu Jing

[Rank]: Colonel

[Affiliation]: Southern Military Region · Vermilion Bird Legion

[Position]: Commander of the Vermilion Bird Seventh Independent Regiment, Special Combat Instructor at the Southern Theater Joint Military Academy.

When he saw the gold-stamped Song typeface characters for "Vermilion Bird."

The color on the one-armed officer's face drained away completely in a flash.

His throat went dry, and countless thoughts surged in his mind!

Heavens above, earth below! You can't play the pig to eat the tiger like this!

I, this little brother, spoke too loudly just now!

Is it too late for me to kneel down and kowtow now...?!