89: Chapter 89 is going viral online! Is the military region's atmosphere-building team still hiring?

Under Lieutenant Colonel Chu Feng's astonished gaze, that mountain-like corpse vanished into thin air, put away by Su Ming into his system space.

He took an extra look at Su Ming, but didn't ask anything.

Shen Qingci didn't have much of a reaction.

She knew Su Ming had spatial equipment, but she hadn't expected the capacity to be large enough to stuff a quasi-Tier 5 Source Beast inside.

Just then, Station Chief Zhou Ke trotted over with the dozen or so mercenaries who had survived the ordeal, saluting Lieutenant Colonel Chu Feng from afar.

"Lieutenant Colonel Chu!"

Lieutenant Colonel Chu Feng nodded in acknowledgment.

However, the mercenaries' gazes involuntarily fell beside Su Ming.

That two-headed magic hound with a shoulder height of over two meters was lying on the ground, its two heads scrambling to lick Su Ming's palm, its tail wagging as if it had a motor installed.

The pressure of a Tier 3 Source Beast was solidly enveloping the surroundings, yet this ferocious beast was no different from a pug in front of Su Ming.

Thinking back to that killing blow that descended from the sky... Station Chief Zhou Ke made up his mind to report to his superiors as soon as he returned; from now on, matters concerning this great deity, Su Ming, had to be handled with the highest priority.

"Brother, we are absolutely in awe of that battle just now."

Su Ming waved his hand: "You're too kind, Station Chief Zhou Ke. We are all fighting for humanity."

While saying polite pleasantries, he was mentally calculating how many mass points a quasi-Tier 5 Source Beast would give.

A bearded mercenary leaned into his companion's ear, lowering his voice: "That girl is his girlfriend, right?"

His companion rolled his eyes: "Duh, what else could a woman who can fight side-by-side with such a monster be besides his girlfriend?"

Shen Qingci had excellent hearing and heard it clearly, her pretty face flushing slightly.

Su Ming heard it too, the corners of his mouth curling up as he turned his head to look at Shen Qingci.

Shen Qingci shot him a glare that said, "Just try responding." Su Ming wisely shut his mouth.

Lieutenant Colonel Chu Feng watched this scene, a complex mix of emotions in his heart.

Three hours ago, he had received an encrypted communication from Commander Qin Luo, with only one sentence in the mission: "Protect Shen Qingci at all costs; if you are outmatched, you must die before her."

There were only a handful of people in the entire Southern Military Region who could make Commander Qin Luo issue an order in such a tone.

Yet, such a top-tier prodigy with an unfathomable background had her brilliance forcibly overshadowed in front of Su Ming.

This kid was not only shrewd and mercenary, but also had a sharp tongue, yet that unpretentious authenticity was exactly to his liking.

Lieutenant Colonel Chu Feng smacked his lips and took the initiative to approach them.

"You are all students from the Southern United Academy, right?"

He looked at Shen Qingci, "I went there for a one-year teaching rotation before; truly, heroes are born from the youth."

Shen Qingci responded politely: "Hello, Teacher. I am from Southern United, but he is not."

"Hm?" The smile on Lieutenant Colonel Chu Feng's face stiffened.

He had thought the South had finally produced a monstrous talent capable of rivaling top-tier prodigies, but it turned out not to be one of their own?

"Then which military academy is this little brother from?" Lieutenant Colonel Chu Feng turned to Su Ming, his tone eager, "Or perhaps a top student from those two comprehensive universities in the Imperial Capital or Demon Capital? What year are you in?"

Su Ming was squatting on the ground petting the big yellow dog's head; hearing this, he raised his head with a cocky look.

"University? I haven't decided yet. I'm only taking the Jiangcheng No. 1 High School college entrance exam tomorrow..."

"..." Lieutenant Colonel Chu Feng froze in place.

Then, an off-key exclamation: "College entrance exam?!"

His voice cracked, the pitch rising by a full octave.

"Holy shit! You're only eighteen?!"

The surrounding mercenaries also collectively turned to stone.

"Wait—Jiangcheng, Jiangcheng No. 1 High School??" Lieutenant Colonel Chu Feng's brain spun rapidly.

Su Ming looked at him in confusion: "What's wrong with Jiangcheng No. 1 High School? Looking down on the suburban people?"

"N-no, nothing." Lieutenant Colonel Chu Feng realized he had lost his composure and tried hard to look calm, "Since that's the case... how about we add each other as friends?"

"Classmate...! No, Brother Su! From now on, in this Southern region, if you have any trouble, just mention my name, Lieutenant Colonel Chu Feng!"

He pulled out his military terminal and handed it to Su Ming, a hint of obsequiousness in his smile.

A dignified Tier 5 Lieutenant Colonel, his posture at this moment was no different from the big yellow dog wagging its tail.

Su Ming took a look at him and generously pulled out his own old civilian terminal.

"Sure."

Station Chief Zhou Ke was restless on the side, hesitated for two seconds, but still restrained himself.

But the dozen or so mercenaries behind him weren't so reserved.

"Big Brother! Add us, add us!"

"Little brother, let's work together on jobs in the future!"

"My name is Wang Hubao, B-rank mercenary group, call me anytime you need anything!"

Su Ming didn't have many people on his friends list to begin with. He thought about how, in the future when he wanted to show off and post on Moments, he needed people to like it, right?

Anyway, his cool, cold-hearted top student persona had already collapsed, so he might as well be a happy, funny powerhouse!

"Come, come, everyone add me." After a round of scanning codes, Lieutenant Colonel Chu Feng stepped onto the ice and leaped onto the hovering military aircraft.

Before leaving, he turned back to look at Su Ming, wanting to say something but stopping, eventually leaving only one sentence: "Good luck on the college entrance exam, Brother Su! I'll handle the merit points matter as soon as possible."

The cabin door closed, and the aircraft shot up, disappearing into the night.

Su Ming watched him leave, then turned and followed the crowd toward Entrance No. 3.

Shen Qingci was riding the big yellow dog next to him, glancing sideways at him.

"Your expression just now was like you'd won the lottery."

"Isn't it?" Su Ming chuckled, "Gained a Tier 5 Lieutenant Colonel as a friend; if I ever get bullied in the future, I'll just take a screenshot and post it on Moments—'Brothers, who's coming to back me up?'"

Shen Qingci: "...Can you have some ambition."

"People with ambition don't have friends." Su Ming said solemnly, "I choose to have friends."

...

Meanwhile. Mercenary Captain Wang Hubao, who had just added Su Ming as a friend, opened his team group chat.

Group name: [Federation's Strongest Mercenary Group Ranked (10th)]

[Strongest on Earth Wang Hubao: That was such a big scene just now, how many followers did the livestream gain?]

[Wu Yanzu: Only gained two. There was only a tiny bit of signal near the exit, and once the energy fluctuated, you couldn't see anything, so I closed it early.]

[Foot Bath Explorer: Don't panic! I recorded the whole thing! Everyone send the footage to the group to compile; selling the footage will also generate quite a bit of income, so we can go for a foot bath again.]

[Share Joys, Leave Group on Woes: I'll contact the Prodigy Star News Agency and Firmament Pictures. The college entrance exam season is coming up, and the Elite School Rumor Mill also needs content; we must sell this for a big price this time!]

[Wu Yanzu: Then for this multiplayer team battle, I suggest arranging No. 6, No. 9, and No. 12 all together!]

[Girly-Hearted Tough Guy: Um... I just joined the group, I have mysophobia, can I go first?]

[Cyber Judge: No. Those with mysophobia clean up last.]

[Girly-Hearted Tough Guy: ??? What kind of rule is this?]

[Bald Little Baby: Group rule. Who told you to have mysophobia? Serves you right.]

[...Stop blathering, who's doing the video editing? That part where the kid smashed down from the sky, my hand shook and it's a bit blurry.]

[...It's fine, blurry has more impact.]

[...I've already thought of the title—《Shocking! Human Nuclear Bomb Appears in Jiangcheng, 18-Year-Old High School Examinee Actually Does This to a Tier 5 Source Beast...》]

[...This title reeks of clickbait.]

[...Clickbait is what gets traffic, brother!]

[...Look at this one of mine—《Internal Breakthrough! Revealing the Non-Human Brawl of a Jiangcheng Suburban High School Student! Live Footage Leaked!》]

[...You guys are all sick.]

Amidst the banter, a carefully edited video, titled [Jiangcheng Shocking Change! Mysterious High School Student Punches and Explodes a Tier 5 Source Beast's Skull!], began to quietly spread on the Federation's social platforms.

In the video, a shirtless youth swoops down from a hundred meters in the air, punching the head of a giant beast, which was the size of a small building, and snapping it clean off.

The two most upvoted comments in the comment section: "Is this even human?" "How is a Tier 5 so trash?"

That night. Jiangcheng Military Region base, senior officer dormitory.

Lieutenant Colonel Chu Feng was sprawled on the leather sofa, holding a cup of soda with his own original-flavor ice cubes in his left hand, and his military terminal in his right, bragging wildly in the theater's high-ranking officer group chat.

[Southern Region's Handsomest Ice (Lieutenant Colonel Chu Feng): Sigh, Old Li, you don't know how dangerous Jiangcheng was today. A mutated Tier 5 Iron-Spine Rhinoceros! If I hadn't been ordered to step in at the critical moment, Jiangcheng would definitely have had to sound a Level 1 alarm today.]

[A Certain Theater Senior Colonel: You did it by yourself? That was a quasi-Tier 5!]

Lieutenant Colonel Chu Feng's mouth crooked, his fingertips tapping rapidly.

[Southern Region's Handsomest Ice (Lieutenant Colonel Chu Feng): Who else could it be? I used a single move, Ice Seal of Ten Thousand Li, and taught that beast a lesson on the spot! Although I brought two dead weights along, I maintained a cool, high-level, and controlled presence the whole time, eliminating it while chatting and laughing! [Smug]]

The message had been sent for less than half a minute. A video link from the creator "Thunder Mercenary Group" suddenly popped up in the group.

Immediately after, the entire high-ranking theater group was flooded with screens full of "???" and "Holy shit".

[Theater Senior Colonel: Old Chu, is this what you called... cool, high-level, and controlled?]

[A Certain Military Region Commander: Lieutenant Colonel Chu Feng, is it trendy for you Ice-types to skate on the battlefield as cheerleaders now?]

"What the heck?" Lieutenant Colonel Chu Feng sat up, bewildered, and clicked on the video whose view count was skyrocketing by hundreds of thousands.

[Jiangcheng Shocking Change! Mysterious High School Student Punches and Explodes a Tier 5 Source Beast's Skull!] Views: 1.87 million Likes: 230,000 Comments: 12,000

In the footage, a shirtless youth falls from a hundred meters in the air, smashing his fist onto the giant beast's head, the shockwave blowing away half the screen.

The video quality was a bit rough, and the specific facial features couldn't be seen clearly. But one had to say, the editor was a genius.

Su Ming's arrogant words came through clearly in the video: "I'll be merciful and tell you, punch its entire bull head off for me."

Immediately after, there was the ultimate social suicide footage of Lieutenant Colonel Chu Feng himself sliding around in a sorry state, neck stiff, shouting, "My low-spec version can't hold on much longer!"

Finally, the end of the video gave a close-up of Lieutenant Colonel Chu Feng's dumbfounded, scared face, doing an exquisite, memetic, slow-motion close-up of a petrified toad.

Although it was humanely censored, who else could it be but the Tier 5 Ice-type Lieutenant Colonel of the Southern Military Region?

"Pfft—!!!" Lieutenant Colonel Chu Feng sprayed a mouthful of iced cola directly onto the entire screen on the coffee table.

His eyes were wider than they had been in the video just now.

The leather sofa under his butt instantly froze with a layer of white frost... his Source Energy had lost control!

"F*ck, f*ck, f*ck!!!" He sprang up from the sofa and slapped himself twice hard.

"Damn it!!! I always felt like I forgot something!!!"

"Son of a b*tch mercenaries!!! They actually went and posted it online for me!!!"

Messages on his military terminal were still popping up frantically. All ridicule from colleagues. All of them.

Lieutenant Colonel Chu Feng watched the constantly jumping view count on the screen, feeling his vision go black. 1.97 million. 2.08 million. 3.2 million...

The bullet comments were also flooding the screen frantically: "Holy sh*t, this is a high school student?" "What's this youth's background?" "A Tier 5 Lieutenant Colonel is clapping on the side???" "Is the Military Region's atmosphere team still hiring?"

Lieutenant Colonel Chu Feng slowly sat back down on the frozen sofa, staring at the ceiling with lifeless eyes.

Twenty years. The image of a cool, high-ranking male god he had cultivated in the Southern Military Region for twenty years. Tonight, it completely collapsed...