88: Chapter 88: Can Merit Points Be Exchanged for the Rank of General?

Just as Su Ming was about to reach out and pry it loose, the diamond-shaped crystal shuddered violently, transformed into a streak of dark red light, and prepared to flee through the air!

"Another trick like that?" Su Ming snorted coldly, just about to leap up and grab it.

"Hum." A fist-sized cluster of deep blue ice crystals arrived first despite starting later, instantly freezing the streak of light in mid-air. It turned into a translucent block of ice and fell to the ground.

"This thing... it seems..." Lieutenant Colonel Chu Feng narrowed his eyes and examined it for a few seconds, his tone becoming a bit more solemn.

Su Ming was just about to reach out and pick it up when, out of the corner of his eye, he saw both of Dahuang's heads lean in simultaneously. Its four eyes were fixed intently on the ice crystal, and drool was almost dripping down.

"Woof!" It looked at Su Ming with eyes filled with extreme longing and fawning, pleading for it.

"What are you looking at? I gave the last one to you; you're not getting this one." Su Ming slapped Dahuang on its left head.

Dahuang whimpered aggrievedly, and both heads drooped down at the same time.

In that split-second gap between Su Ming and Dahuang, Lieutenant Colonel Chu Feng was quick-witted and agile. He nonchalantly pulled out a military-grade high-density containment box and "clicked" the frozen beast soul brand inside.

Although his movements were swift, Lieutenant Colonel Chu Feng's expression was somewhat shifty and unnatural.

Dahuang: "..." Su Ming: "..."

Su Ming raised an eyebrow, looking at Lieutenant Colonel Chu Feng's awkward "we're on the same team" expression with a smirk, and said slowly:

"Officer, why do you look like a thief when you pick something up? Feeling guilty?"

Lieutenant Colonel Chu Feng's hand paused, the corner of his mouth twitched, and he braced himself:

"This... military regulations, anomalous spoils of war must be turned in for inspection."

Su Ming didn't reply, just stared at him. That look clearly said: You're using my property to fulfill your quota, and you're talking to me about military regulations?

"Ahem!" Lieutenant Colonel Chu Feng felt thoroughly uncomfortable under his gaze.

"I haven't introduced myself yet. I am Lieutenant Colonel Chu Feng from the [Crisis Special Forces] stationed in Jiangcheng by the Southern Military Region."

He cleared his throat, trying hard to keep his expression calm and collected,

"I had some free time, so I happened to be traveling in this area. I accidentally encountered this Source Beast causing trouble, and I just happened to..."

Halfway through, he saw Su Ming's "keep making it up" look, and his old face flushed red; he couldn't continue.

He quickly switched back to the main topic:

"In the battle just now, little brother, you made the greatest contribution. According to the rules, the ownership of this Source Beast corpse should rightfully belong to you."

Su Ming's eyes lit up. He wasn't an unreasonable person; everyone had contributed to killing this Source Beast. Without the freezing skill, he couldn't have finished it off in one hit. He just needed an explanation.

"However..." Lieutenant Colonel Chu Feng changed the subject, pointing to the sealed container in his hand.

"This beast soul brand is very strange. Source Beast riots have broken out simultaneously in all four war zones, and I suspect the source is related to this thing. Therefore, I need to report it to the military research institute for analysis."

"Of course," Lieutenant Colonel Chu Feng patted his chest, "the military will not take a single needle or thread from the masses for free. After I report it, I will calculate the merit points for you based on the actual situation."

Su Ming narrowed his eyes. The last Wolf King's beast soul brand had allowed Dahuang to jump directly from Tier 2 to Tier 3. This brand from a pseudo-Tier 5 Source Beast would only be more valuable. But he looked down at the massive corpse weighing over twenty tons at his feet and did a quick calculation in his mind...

Just this pseudo-Tier 5 corpse alone would net him at least ten thousand mass points after consumption. No matter how valuable the brand was, to his system, it was just an "incompatible plug-in."

Lieutenant Colonel Chu Feng turned to look at Shen Qingci: "Miss Shen should know the value of merit points, right?"

Shen Qingci nodded: "Merit points can be exchanged for exclusive military resources, special titles, and even powerful, lost martial arts techniques. Their value far exceeds Federal currency."

Lieutenant Colonel Chu Feng gave her an approving look, then turned to Su Ming: "Little brother, you are fierce, but to be honest, your fighting style relies too much on talent and brute force, and lacks systematic combat techniques. If you were to face an opponent of equal size who is proficient in close-quarters combat, you would suffer a great loss."

Su Ming recalled the hand-to-hand combat with the Iron-Spine Rhinoceros just now. Indeed, aside from hammering, ramming, and wrestling, his repertoire of moves was roughly equivalent to a street fight.

"Can merit points be exchanged for things like that?"

"The military martial arts library has combat systems specifically optimized for the physiques of Awakened ones." Shen Qingci paused after saying this, her speaking speed half a beat faster than usual, "Once you enter the military academy, you can learn them systematically."

Lieutenant Colonel Chu Feng also chimed in: "Given your performance today, we will certainly not be stingy with the rewards."

Su Ming rubbed his hands together after hearing this. His money-grubbing nature was fully exposed.

"Really? Can merit points be exchanged for a General's rank?"

Both of them twitched the corners of their mouths simultaneously.

Lieutenant Colonel Chu Feng felt like he was communicating with someone ignorant of the law who had come to the vegetable market to buy cabbage: "Kid, do you know what the term 'General' means in the Federation?"

Su Ming blinked and asked back, extremely naturally: "What? Is it hard to test for?"

"Test? Do you think this is a driver's license exam!" Lieutenant Colonel Chu Feng was so amused by his bizarre exam-oriented logic that he laughed, then extended three fingers impatiently, "The entire Southern Military Region, a million-strong army, has fewer than fifty active-duty general officers! The youngest Major General in the Federation currently also fought their way through mountains of corpses and seas of blood, and they are already thirty-five years old this year!"

Looking at Lieutenant Colonel Chu Feng's constipated expression, Su Ming felt somewhat innocent. There was no helping it; this wasn't on the college entrance exam syllabus. Anyone who has taken the college entrance exam knows: you study what's tested, and you don't study what isn't. You can't blame a top student from Jiangcheng like him for lacking common sense... Sigh, this is probably the main tragedy brought about by exam-oriented education.

"Then how can one become a General?"

"Want to become a General? At the very least, you must have suppressed a Source Beast tide of S-rank or higher single-handedly, or pioneered an alien ruin of A-rank or higher for all of humanity! Take this Tier 5 Iron-Spine Rhinoceros today... if you single-handedly kill a hundred of them, you might be able to trade for a Major General rank."

"A hundred of them?" Su Ming lowered his head and calculated, "Two thousand tons of meat..."

Lieutenant Colonel Chu Feng almost choked on his own saliva: "That's merit, not pork! Do you think you're raising pigs?"

Su Ming rubbed his chin and grinned. "You have to have dreams; otherwise, what's the difference between you and this dead rhinoceros? It's just an S-rank beast tide; I'll have a chance to bump into one someday."

Lieutenant Colonel Chu Feng was momentarily speechless.

Shen Qingci looked at Su Ming's unserious demeanor and wanted to roll her eyes, but the images flashing in her mind were of him falling like a star from a hundred meters and smashing the head of the pseudo-Tier 5 beast with one punch. If anyone else said this, she would treat it as nonsense. But this bastard... actually seemed to have the qualifications to be arrogant.

She remained calm on the surface and mercilessly poured cold water on him: "Aiming too high. General officer evaluations look at comprehensive command skills more than destructive power. If someone like you went to the battlefield, at best, you'd just be a super-powered foot soldier with a bit more destructive capability."

"A super-powered foot soldier is still... super." Su Ming snorted conceitedly. Then, he walked over to the Iron-Spine Rhinoceros's massive headless corpse and placed his hands on it. ...