Chapter 170 - ‘Night Battle’ in the Mountain Pass (I)
Chapter 170: ‘Night Battle’ in the Mountain Pass (I)
Translator: GravityTales Editor: GravityTales
The conference lasted a short duration. After Sheng Lingxin’s little speech was over, ten officers came in from outside. They were the ten infantry battalion commanders, each of them leading a newly formed Demon Hunt Squad to the barracks. Naturally, they would not waste any time as the newcomers had already arrived.
Her eyes glued on Long Haochen, Cai’er left together with her 1st soldier grade Demon Hunt Squad. Lan Yanyu, controlled by her emotions, wanted to stand up to chase after her, but was stopped by Sheng Lingxin. The latter shook his head with a solemn face and Lan Yanyu’s beautiful eyes immediately turned moist.
Long Haochen’s group was assigned to the first infantry battalion. The battalion commander was a middle aged man with an external appearance somewhat resembling that of Gao Yingjie’s.
“All of you are amongst the Alliance’s elites. I feel deeply honored by the fact that you have, even if it is only temporarily, joined my battalion. I am the battalion commander of the first battalion, Zhang Hairong.”
Exiting the conference room, this commander of the first battalion simultaneously led the group to the barracks while introducing himself.
The responsibility of social interaction naturally fell upon Long Haochen. Faintly laughing, he said: “Battalion Commander Zhang, you are too modest. The soldiers of Exorcist City are all heroes who guard the nation, and it is more accurate to say that it is our honor to be able to enter the 1st Battalion. From now onwards, we will be a group of soldiers under your command. As the representative of the 1st Demon Hunt Squad, I guarantee you that, although we are not soldiers, we will obey strictly to each of your orders.”
Hearing Long Haochen’s declaration, Zhang Hairong felt comfortable deep inside. He really didn’t expect that this ten or so years-old youth would actually act in such a suitable manner.
Demon Hunt Squads were something every soldier from the Temple Alliance yearned to be a part of, but Zhang Hairong wasn’t really too interested in temporarily adding one of them to his troops. Even if these proud and talented youngsters had all at least reached the fourth step of cultivation, would they actually obey orders?
In fact, Zhang Hairong was a mere warrior of the fourth step himself. In the case that these young talents didn’t listen to his orders on the battlefield and started acting of their own accord, they would not only be of little use, but would also likely bring them a lot of trouble.
Although Sheng Lingxin said that these Demon Hunt Squads’ elites had to be treated like average soldiers, could they really do so? Each one of these Demon Hunt Squads were made up of the favorites of the Alliance, and if harm was to ever come to them, they would possibly be unable to bear the consequences. Furthermore, Sheng Lingxin had told these battalion commanders in private some time ago that, no matter what circumstances, their foremost priority was to guarantee the safety of these young talents.
In particular, when Zhang Hairong had seen this group that formed the 1st soldier grade Demon Hunt Squad for the first time, he felt even more disappointed. Among them, aside from the bald one who seemed a little older, it looked as if none of them were above twenty years old. And from the looks of it, the younger ones weren’t even eighteen! Only heavens knew how they became Demon Hunt Squad members. To have this privilege at such a young age was not necessarily a good thing; they would most likely be extremely arrogant upon arriving.
But when he felt worried over this, Long Haochen’s words melt those worries, those sentiments of unease, like a cup of hot tea.
To a soldier, the most important thing was to listen to his superior’s command. The words of the young captain Long Haochen were not only formulated politely, but also immediately settled the unease within him. Zhang Hairong immediately felt at great ease, and at the same time, could not help but feel full of praise, _He’s indeed worthy of being called a young talent! What great awareness!_
Long Haochen’s declaration was naturally not something he came up with by himself. Yesterday, Gao Yingjie warned him again and again on how to act when entering the army, and at the same time, told him what a soldier’s most important duties were. Although even without Gao Yingjie’s repeated warnings, Long Haochen would still have behaved correctly. With this declaration he just conveyed, it would undoubtedly become even easier for this new team to blend in with the soldiers.
Zhang Hairong laughed out loudly and responded, “Captain Long, you are too modest. With a vulgar old man such as me, politeness is not needed. From now onwards, your group will act as new soldiers. Your duty will be to follow me in assaulting the enemy.”
Sima Xian could not restrain himself from asking, “Battalion commander, will we get to fight in the front by your side?”
Zhang Hairong straightened up his own chest, formed a fist, and placed it on his chest, “You’re right to ask about this. The battalion under my command does not have a single coward in it. My sworn brothers and I will be staking our lives together with you, acting in the most suitable way for a soldier to act. You may be at ease; by my side, you will always be fighting in the frontlines, facing the most powerful enemies.”
At this point, everyone could only feel complete respect for this man. Zhang Hairong’s implication was very clear. On the battlefield, he would be at the very front. If the commander of the battalion, the one who commands a thousand soldiers, was assaulting the enemy in the front, how could the officers and soldiers not follow him?
“Yes.” Long Haochen performed a salute toward Zhang Hairong. Within the army, a salute was not a very standard way to show respect. Of course, a knight salute was even more unstandard.
The infantry battalions were located close to the city. With the great threat that was the demon race, the military power had to be robust. In the case that a battle was to break out right in front of the population, they would have no chance at survival. Thus, since long ago, the humans have been attaching great importance to the defenses, and the most important part of these defenses is naturally the infantry.
Zhang Hairong assigned them to a living quarter that accommodated ten people, though boys and girls living together there seemed a bit indecent. Because of the distinction of genders made within Demon Hunt Squads, the standard equipment wasn’t given to them, but everyone had only a set of clean military clothes.
There weren’t any uniforms for females, though Wang Yuanyuan wasn’t too bothered by it because she had a tall build which could be said to be a match for men. However, the uniforms were too baggy when worn by Cai’er and Chen Ying’er, making everyone have a hard time holding back their laughter.
At that moment, Chen Ying’er revealed another side of hers. This girl had actually taken a set of needles and threads with her, cutting up her uniform together with Cai’er’s and sewing it anew. And after only half an hour of work, the two girls’ uniforms fit them closely.
“I didn’t expect that you would have such a move up your sleeves, Ying’er. It’s no wonder that Yang Wenzhao is so conscious of you.” Lin Xin said with some surprise.
Chen Ying’er declared with pride, “Now is the time for this lady’s story to come to an end. Don’t associate me with that Yang Wenzhao, I’m not in the mood to hear his name.”
Lin Xin chuckled and said at his turn, “Okay, okay, I’m not digging any further in this matter. Come, it’s drug time, drug time.” As he said so, a few porcelain bottles appeared in his hand; there were actually two bottles per person.
Sima Xian gave him a thumbs up, “That ‘big bro has drugs’ really was no exaggeration; this is indeed quite impressive. What are these things this time?”
Lin Xin laughed out faintly and declared, “In the white bottles are Spiritual Replenishment Pills, once again named by Haochen. In the yellow bottles are Energy Pills. The Spiritual Replenishment Pills will recover 200 spiritual energy within a short time, approximately five to ten seconds. Everyone’s replenishment speed is not the same, so calculate it by yourself the first time you take one. As for the Energy Pill, it can increase your external spiritual energy by 500 units and it will persist for the duration of twenty breathes. After I improved these ones, their effects are now even better! The shame is that I don’t have the material for Spiritual Bursting Pills, otherwise, I would have made some more of those things for you.”
Long Haochen told him, “You already gave me some Spritual Bursting Pills last time so there’s no need for me. I still have ten of them left, let’s divide it out to everyone. With an equal share of it, our chances of survival will be a little better.”
However, this time, Lin Xin had emptied a great deal of his hard-earned savings. There were a total of thirty of the Spiritual Replenishment Pills and the so called Energy Pills. Further adding the Spiritual Bursting Pill that Long Haochen split with his teammates, the other newly formed Demon Hunt Squads could not possibly compare with them in terms of the quality of the supplemental items.
Han Yu chuckled, “Who said not having a priest won’t do? The utility of an alchemist like Brother Lin is even greater than that of a priest’s.”
Lin Xin grimaced, “Big bro has drugs! This catch phrase of mine is naturally no empty words. Brother Han, I’m counting on you to watch out for my back. Don’t let the enemies come from behind and burst my chrysanthemum!”
Wang Yuanyuan opened her both eyes wide, “Brother Has-Drugs, your words are so civilized!”
“Aight, aight.” Lin Xin stood up, stretching up his body, “I’m off to wash my handsome face. A?, every time I need to go find someone to worship, I just have to take a look at the mirror.”
“Pooh, truly shameless.” Wang Yuanyuan felt truly amused by his words.
The living quarters were very commonly built; there were ten beds and very simple cabinets beside each of them. Without a doubt, males were to go to one side, and females to the other. Although Wang Yuanyuan and Chen Ying’er were unsatisfied sharing a room, they had to calmly bear it as it would only last for a short duration of three months.
While neatly ordering their own beds, everyone got to see a stupefying scene.
Cai’er put her bamboo cane in a small crack on the bedside and pushed her bed to the side of Long Haochen’s bed. Although she was blind, the two beds were neatly joined together.
_Tcheh… Doing ‘that’ right in front of so many people… It is just too brazen._
Let alone the others, even though Long Haochen loved Cai’er deeply, he could still not help but feel embarrassed in such a situation and blushed, not knowing how he should act in these kinds of moments.
Sima Xian looked at Han Yu on the other side and said in a low voice, “It can’t be. Don’t tell me captain and vice-captain are going to do it in public tonight?”
Cai’er touched the bed that she had merged together, and after thinking deeply for a short time, proceeded to go before another bed. With a swing of her bamboo cane, a sharp glint shone and the wooden bed instantly turned into several wooden boards. With a sweep of her cane, these wooden boards merged with their own bed.
Once again, Cai’er’s speed astonished everyone. All they could see was a glint and an afterimage before the wooden boards surprisingly fell on the side of their bed, encircling their two beds that was merged together.
Although the living quarter’s floor was not too hard, to produce a two meters long and two-thirds of a meter large board from it was just astonishing. Furthermore, it was cut very neatly like a piece of art that came from pure craftsmanship. For her to have accomplished such a feat without the use of her eyes, how great was her perception?
The bedding next to the bed that Cai’er destroyed was now being carried by her.
Having already understood what she planned on doing, Long Haochen said in haste, “Let me help you.”
Cai’er shook her head and said, “I can handle this by myself.”
1. refers to a someone’s ‘anus’ in Chinese.