Chapter 740.1: Standing Beside That Man, I Saw Another Possibility

In the operation command center, the meeting that had left Liam restless finally came to an end.

Although Lin Shangwen had not deliberately made an issue out of what happened during the meeting, the occasional glances drifting his way still made Liam feel as though thorns were pricking his back.

This was probably what it felt like to have a guilty conscience.

However, what surprised Liam was that, setting aside the discomfort, some of the points raised by that man named Vanus had actually left him with the strange feeling that he had learned quite a bit.

The man had conducted a thorough review of the coalition's mistakes from both tactical and strategic perspectives. Although the campaign had ended in victory, if the various armies had coordinated more effectively, the coalition would never have needed to suffer such heavy casualties.

Of course, hindsight analysis like this was something Liam himself could also do. But being able to organize all the problems so comprehensively in such a short amount of time and propose practical solutions required genuine ability.

As he stared at the man's prominent nose bridge, a sharp glint flickered in Liam's eyes.

Objectively speaking, this Vanus was truly talented! It was hard to imagine that someone this capable had previously been nothing more than a commander in a cannon-fodder unit of the Eastern Army.

If Liam had been his superior, he would have recommended him for a middle-ranking officer position in the Youth Army and eventually promoted him into the upper ranks once his record qualified him.

After the meeting was adjourned, Liam remained seated for a while. Once most of the attendees had left, he stopped Vanus just as he was preparing to leave. "Wait."

Seeing that it was Liam calling him, Vanus stopped and asked, "What is it now?"

Liam looked him up and down before suddenly smiling. "I don't understand. With your abilities, you could have achieved great things in the Army. Why become a traitor?"

He deliberately emphasized the word "traitor," trying to spot a trace of shame or discomfort on the man's face. That would make it easier for him to continue the conversation. However, to his surprise, Vanus's expression did not change in the slightest.

Instead, he looked at Liam and asked in return, "And what exactly do you mean by 'achieve great things'? Becoming a general? A governor-general? Owning tens of thousands of slaves and vast estates?"

Liam paused for a moment and thought before asking his next question. "What about honor? You're a soldier. Surely that means something to you."

Vanus smiled faintly. "To me, fighting for what I believe in is what honor means. Otherwise, even raiders could claim they fight for honor. Before robbing someone, they could simply shout that it was for their boss or whatever, justifying their actions."

Liam narrowed his eyes and grunted, "What are you trying to say?"

"I'm answering your question. Weren't you asking why I betrayed the Army?" Vanus glanced at him before looking toward the doorway. "Because standing beside that man, I saw another possibility."

Liam looked slightly stunned. "That's it?"

Vanus nodded. "That's all."

...

At noon, on the front lines of the war against the Torch Church, a group of young men from Ideal City waited on the Black Cloud Peak position, preparing to move toward Broken Blade Peak.

The unit responsible for taking over the Broken Blade Peak position from the Storm Corps was the First Corps of the 100th Mechanized Mountain Division.

Since arriving at the frontlines, these young men had not killed a single mutant. They had, however, collected quite a few colorful cards and gained a noticeable amount of weight.

Even so, none of them had forgotten why they had come here. Every face was filled with eagerness. They could hardly wait to prove that they weren't actually useless freeloaders.

Listening to the distant gunfire echoing from the mountain, Tang Feng felt his blood boiling. The thought that he would soon be fighting there caused him to unconsciously tighten his grip on his G9 assault rifle, his finger repeatedly brushing against the safety of his gun.

It wasn’t because he was afraid. Rather, he couldn’t be more excited! Months of training were finally about to be put to use!

He couldn’t help but ask, "The Mutant Humans in those mountains aren't all dead yet?"

The officer standing nearby nodded, squinting slightly as he looked ahead. "Those things are like cockroaches. Completely wiping them out takes almost as much time as defeating them on the battlefield. Doesn't matter whether it's by the sea, in the forest, or in the mountains."

As he spoke, he stepped to the front of the company, looked over the youthful faces before him, and raised his voice. "When we get to the frontline, stay alert at all times. Keep your eyes open and report anything suspicious! I'll only say this once. This isn't a game. One mistake could cost you your life, or all of your lives!"

"Yes, sir!"

The soldiers of First Corps shouted back in unison, their morale high and Tang Feng was among them.

The officer slowly nodded as he looked at the energetic young men. "You guys had better mean that."

Their fellow comrades from the Second Corps had already moved out toward the front. After waiting a long time without receiving any orders, the companies of the First Corps were eventually told to disperse and rest. The only requirement was that they not wander too far from the assembly point.

After all, Black Cloud Peak was Wislander territory and they weren’t in a boot camp. The officer didn't want to micromanage his troops, but he also worried that these energetic young men might get into trouble with the Wislanders. After all, the two groups seemed naturally unable to get along.

Tang Feng did not wander off. Instead, he sat together with the men of the second platoon of the first company, casually chatting while watching the battered big-nosed Wislanders nearby.

"Is that the second battalion?"

"I think it's the first..."

"But wasn't the second battalion the one that led the assault last night? Why do they look like they got beaten up too?"

A machine gunner curled his lips into a mocking sneer. "Well, that's where the big noses got clever. Apparently they wanted to show us what they could do, so they sent the second battalion, who were supposed to be rotating out, straight to the frontlines. Then they discovered that mountain wasn't easy to crack and got mauled by the Mutant Humans. After that, Liam probably couldn't accept losing and got angry enough to throw the defensive force into the fight too."

"So they ended up dropping a rock on their own foot?" a rifleman quipped.

The machine gunner laughed. "Exactly."

First battalion?

Tang Feng vaguely remembered that designation. That exhibitionist who was always taking off his shirt and showing off his muscles seemed to belong to that unit.

He wondered how the guy was doing. After all, getting beaten black and blue by a bunch of Mutant Humans was pretty embarrassing. The next time they played cards together, Tang Feng was definitely going to mock him mercilessly.

Especially when he used his Blue-Eyes White Dragon...

Just as he was thinking about it, a limping Wislander approached them with the help of a crutch. Judging by the uniform and insignia, he appeared to be a decurion. His left leg seemed broken, and his head was wrapped in bandages. From the burns visible beneath the wrappings, he had clearly been injured in the fighting.

Seeing a Wislander approaching, the men of the second platoon stopped talking and watched him cautiously. Based on past experience, a Wislander coming over voluntarily rarely meant anything good. To their surprise, however, the battered-looking man didn't seem interested in picking a fight.

He merely glanced at them and asked, "Are you from the first company?"

The platoon leader sitting among them looked up. "Yeah. Why?"

The Wislander grinned slightly. "I’m looking for someone. Got a guy named Tang Feng here?"

As everyone turned toward him, Tang Feng set down his rifle and jumped off the rock he had been sitting on. He looked the man over before asking, "That's me. What do you want?"

The Wislander nodded. Without wasting words, he pulled a package from beneath his arm and tossed it into Tang Feng's hands.

Looking at Tang Feng's confused expression, he continued, "My brother wrote it in his will. He wanted me to send his letters and belongings home... except for that. He told me to find a guy named Tang Feng from the 100th Mechanized Mountain Division and throw this thing at you."

Tang Feng instinctively opened the package and looked inside, only to see a bunch of colorful cards. For a moment, he froze.

"Your brother was..." He slowly looked up while asking.

"Daemon." The decurion forced a slight grin. Perhaps he was trying to make his expression look less stiff, or perhaps the burned muscles on his face were twitching involuntarily, he wore a strange look on his face.

Looking at Tang Feng, he recited the dead man's final message. "He told me to tell his family that he died a true warrior. They shouldn't be sad for him. To sleep before growing old is an honor. They should be proud of his courage."

After dropping a portion of his speech, the decurion snorted. "This idiot had a lot more nonsense to say, but real warriors don't need that kind of thing, right? Keep this for him."

After a brief pause, his throat bobbed and his eyes turned red as he continued, "He also asked me to tell you that playing cards with you was actually pretty fun, though it's a shame he never got to punch you in the face. Anyway, that's how we make friends where I'm from."

After saying that, the decurion limped away on his crutch.

Only Tang Feng remained standing there, holding the package, while the men around him stared at one another in silence.

That guy is dead?

Looking down at the package in his hands, Tang Feng unconsciously gulped. The fingers inside his exoskeleton gloves suddenly felt cold. Only when a voice sounded in the distance did he snap back to reality.

"Form up!"

Hearing his officer's command, he jolted awake. Without time to think further, he instinctively tied up the package, slung it over his back, and picked up the rifle beside him.

Only then did it truly hit him. They weren’t in Ideal City, and neither were they in a game on Endpoint Cloud. They were standing in a real battlefield.

...

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