bestfiction Chapter 372 Eve of the Victory Celebration Banquet
Chapter 372 Eve of the Victory Celebration Banquet
"Alright, Zhang Youcai, stop crying." Zhong Ming's voice suddenly turned stern. "Tell me, Fang Qianqian's order was 'No one is allowed to enter, kill them all without mercy.' Did you carry out that order?"
"Me? I....."
"You let an enemy escape, how could you do that?"
Although everyone in the talisman shop was lying there, some of the robbers still managed to escape.
Zhong Ming demanded sternly, "What are your duties? Tell me!"
"Hold the camp."
“No, it’s about following your superior’s orders. You, Zhang Youcai, didn’t do it well. I’m punishing you by making you responsible for cleaning up this ruin. I don’t want to see anything broken here within seven days. Throw all these floorboards and broken walls out. Tear it down until only the pillars are left.”
Zhong Ming recalled his first battle, his first time killing someone. Death swept past him like flowing water, and amidst the surging blood, he felt only endless killing intent. He didn't even realize at the time that his opponent was already dead.
Zhang Youcai is too young; he hasn't yet witnessed the evil in the world.
"Zhang Youcai, answer me! Did you hear my command?"
"I heard you... Captain."
His eyes lost their luster, and he stood up like a puppet, staggering forward.
“Go and see, go and clean up, see what the people you killed did to our camp! Do you really think they were all good people? Let me tell you, I saw Foundation Establishment cultivators disguised as civilians coming to me for refuge by the city walls. They knelt down, they begged for mercy, they hid in the darkness, they committed all sorts of evil deeds, and you, you just watched them shouting that you were good people, forgetting that they stormed the military camp, stole military supplies and refused to return them, do you know that? When they took things, it was considered theft, but when they refused to return them, it was considered robbery! Robbing a military camp is a capital offense!”
Zhong Ming's stern words stunned him.
The facts of the crime are clear, but something is not right.
Zhang Youcai left in a daze. His hands had stopped trembling, but he was still depressed and his face was gloomy.
It's hard to call this battle a victory, but calling it a defeat doesn't seem quite right either.
A few days later, the celebration meeting was held as scheduled.
For Cliff City, this was hardly a major event. There was no disturbance at the "Tower" in the main city, the place where they fished. Any troublemakers who approached were wiped out by a mysterious force when they were still hundreds of feet away.
The higher-ups even felt that using a large number of people to create a human encirclement was much cheaper than activating a city-wide formation.
The victory celebration was held in a spacious area, a core area of the battle, surrounded by ruins. The houses here were going to be demolished and rebuilt anyway, so they decided to hold a victory celebration after the area was leveled.
Yue Xingtian found Zhong Ming and Yue Kaishan before the celebration banquet began.
"Cousin...hehehe, I've joined the Shield Guard Battalion too." Yue Kaishan was very excited, as if he had a thousand words to say to Yue Xingtian, but when the words came out, only this sentence remained.
"Good lad, my Yue family has produced another reserve soldier for the Shield Guard. Keep up the good work, and when you reach the Foundation Establishment stage, you can become a full member. The old man will be very happy."
Zhong Ming then realized that Yue Kaishan wasn't a formal member yet.
So he asked, "If you get into the Shield Guard Battalion, can you still get into military academy? How is that calculated?"
"Of course I'll go to military academy, but the Shield Guard Battalion has its own military academy, and it's not with the others." Yue Xingtian specifically looked up information about this at the academy.
He wasn't a soldier in the Shield Guard Battalion; he was too weak. He was a supply team leader who also served as a recruiter. He just happened to be lucky enough to advance to the Foundation Establishment stage in his last year. Even in the military academy, he was someone with no status.
But his younger brother was different; his younger brother had great potential.
"Master Cuihong, you're almost at the Foundation Establishment stage too. Ah, you're so young. At your age, I was... recuperating from my injuries while being punched by the old man."
Zhong Ming immediately interrupted, "Hey, cousin, you're at the prime of your life. From the higher-ups' perspective, you're still a newcomer. How can you expect to be promoted back in the day?"
"Haha, let's not talk about that, come on, let's drink."
He took out a flask of wine from his storage bag. "This is Quanxin Bingniang, a special wine supplied to the military academy. Hmm... Come on, little brother, let me pour you half a cup. It's not that I'm stingy, but half a cup will keep you meditating for half a day."
Zhong Ming no longer uses He Guang's products. Everyone is happy today, so there's no need to argue about who's better. Eating and drinking well is the most important thing.
"Oh my, the military academy's goods are really good. Let me see, this would be worth several hundred military merit points at the military merit point exchange point."
Yue Xingtian smiled and mysteriously leaned closer, "Guess how many military merit points you had at the military academy?"
"Military academies, they're all heavily investing in cultivating the future of the dynasty, shouldn't you give me a discount? Two hundred military merit points?"
He shook his head, held up one finger, and said, "No, guess again."
"Could it be 150 points?"
“No, no, no,” he pointed upwards, “guess upwards.”
"Still too expensive? Four hundred military merit points!" Zhong Ming slapped his thigh and said, "I wouldn't dare drink it if it were any more expensive."
Yue Xingtian laughed heartily, “Oh, just right, 399 points. Drink up, come on, bottoms up.”
After a glass of wine, the faces of the group were flushed. Yue Xingtian was a little embarrassed and hesitated for a while before finally speaking: "There will be a big banquet later. I will be with the people from the military academy, so you two don't need to come looking for me. Here, we are still divided according to military rank. Our military academy students have special ranks, so you can't come over."
"That's true. Come on, let's have a few more drinks while we have the chance."
"Yes, cousin, don't worry, I'll catch up with you soon."
"You're still too green to catch up with me. Let's talk about it when I'm old."
The three of them toasted and drank for a while, and only dispersed when the celebratory banquet was about to begin.
Zhong Ming was quite drunk. He meditated for a while to dissipate the alcohol and arrived at the banquet just in time, only to find that Fang Qianqian had been pulled away by her sister, and Zhang Youcai had also been taken away. The Third Guard Team hadn't even set up a banquet table, and he had been counted as part of the maintenance group.
Where is the maintenance team?
He was wandering around the banquet hall when suddenly his clothes were tugged.
"Hmm, oh my, Akame, it's been so long..."
As soon as Zhong Ming opened his mouth, he saw several familiar faces staring at him with fierce eyes, especially an old woman and a guy who had a crush on Akame, who looked like they wanted to devour him.