The First Order

When Zhang Jinglin heard Ren Xiaosu’s reply, he burst into laughter. “Well said! Same goes for bravery, huh?”

In reality, Zhang Jinglin did not know that for Ren Xiaosu, ensuring the survival of all his Razor Sharp Company’s comrades had become an obsession in the course of his revenge. That obsession dictated whether he was qualified to protect some things.

The things Ren Xiaosu wanted to protect in the past had been destroyed by the Zong Consortium. This led to Ren Xiaosu looking back on his beautiful vision from before and thinking about whether he could protect anything in this chaotic world.

As a result, he had even taken on the survival of the Razor Sharp Company as his personal mission. Only by ensuring that the Razor Sharp Company remained intact could he have the right to go to the Central Plains later to search for his family and friends to continue living in this chaotic world.

“I can sense conflict within you.” Zhang Jinglin said calmly, “It’s exactly the same as when I was young. Back then, everyone wanted me to pick up a gun, saying how the battlefield needed soldiers who could fire a gun, how it was no place for a useless medic. Sometimes, even I wondered if my persistence was correct, and whether I should also pick up a gun and attack alongside them?”

Zhang Jinglin continued, “At that time, I was thinking about bending to the will of this chaotic world. Only that way could I live a better life.”

“What happened?” Ren Xiaosu asked.

“Persistence is persistence. Being correct doesn’t matter.” Zhang Jinglin said, “Never deny yourself. Life should be a candle, burning brightly from tip to end.”

Ren Xiaosu silently muttered the words to himself. “Life should be a candle, burning brightly from tip to end.”

He suddenly realized Zhang Jinglin might have called him over because he saw the conflict inside him, so he wanted to tell him these words.

Zhang Jinglin smiled and said, “Where do you plan on going after destroying the Zong Consortium?”

“To the Central Plains.” Ren Xiaosu said with certainty, “I want to find Big Sister Xiaoyu, Yan Liuyuan, and the others and bring them back.”

“Hm.” Zhang Jinglin asked again, “Will you return to Fortress 178?”

“I’m not sure.” Ren Xiaosu could not answer that question.

“You should know why I had you join the Razor Sharp Company. I won’t stop you from going to the Central Plains, but if there’s something you wish to protect, then Fortress 178 is your best choice.”

Ren Xiaosu said in a serious tone, “Commander, if you don’t let me go and eat now, there won’t be any food left.”

Ren Xiaosu suddenly remembered he had just come out of the shower and had not eaten yet.

When Ren Xiaosu arrived at the chow hall, Zhang Xiaoman was already on the verge of blacking out.

Ren Xiaosu sat nearby and ate the food everyone had left for him. However, they had kept so much food for him that it felt like they were afraid he wouldn’t have enough to eat.

Zhang Xiaoman dragged Ren Xiaosu to drink with him, but Ren Xiaosu refused to drink anything at all. When Zhang Xiaoman realized he could not persuade Ren Xiaosu, he turned around to look for someone else.

While drinking, Zhang Xiaoman suddenly hugged Jiao Xiaochen and said, “Wei Yunlin, I missed you.”

Jiao Xiaochen quickly pushed Zhang Xiaoman off and chided him with a laugh, “You miss your wife now?”

Someone laughed at Zhang Xiaoman while drinking and said, “Your wife getting married to you is like sticking a flower in a cow pie!”

Zhang Xiaoman sobered up a little and said unhappily, “If she’s a flower, then cows ain’t gonna shit anymore!”

“Stop acting like it was a pity to marry her. You don’t know what kind of a treasure you’ve picked up. All you know is how to pretend to be tough when you’re outside,” Jiao Xiaochen said with a laugh.

Ren Xiaosu was an outsider in the noisy chow hall. He might be obsessed with keeping the Razor Sharp Company alive, but even now, it was very difficult for him to feel like he truly belonged in the Razor Sharp Company.

And he had the same feeling for Fortress 178 as well.

Lin Yuze, the manager of the chow hall, was watching the Razor Sharp Company with his arms folded and laughing. He smiled at the chefs beside him and said, “See that? These are the war heroes of our army. They’re the ones who fought in the two battles recently, and they even won both of them.”

Someone muttered, “Chief Lin, is that young man sitting by them and eating also from the Razor Sharp Company? Why does it feel like he doesn’t fit in?”

Lin Yuze turned his gaze to Ren Xiaosu and saw him eating quietly. He looked unaffected by the noise around him. “Is he the guy called Ren Xiaosu?”

“Rumor has it that Ren Xiaosu’s a beast in battle, yeah? I heard that half the credit for capturing Shichuan Village goes to him. That young man looks so soft it doesn’t fit the descriptions at all!”

But then Zhang Xiaoman came up to Ren Xiaosu in his drunken stupor and clutched Ren Xiaosu’s left hand. “Bro! If it weren’t for you, our brothers wouldn’t’ve made it back this time. Thank you again for saving our lives!”

Then Lin Yuze and the chow staff watched with their jaws hanging as Zhang Xiaoman knelt on the ground to thank him. He nearly even kowtowed to Ren Xiaosu!

When someone had too much to drink, they were fucking capable of doing anything!

Ren Xiaosu had not finished his meal yet, but he quickly pulled Zhang Xiaoman up. “Can you fucking stop drinking already?!”

But while he was pulling Zhang Xiaoman up, his comrades from the Razor Sharp Company beside him also came over to toast him. “Thank you, Ren Xiaosu, for saving our lives!”

Ren Xiaosu did not expect his second weapon to get unlocked while everyone in the chow hall was watching.

After this group of Northwestern men had too much to drink, they started thanking him to no end. They easily said it seven or eight times in a row, and all of them were even sincere in their gratitude!

Ren Xiaosu was wondering if he should keep some alcohol in his storage space in the future. When they had nothing better to do, he could get his comrades of the Razor Sharp Company together for a drink or two…

The voice from the palace said, “You have reached the number of gratitude tokens required to unlock the side quest’s weapon. Confirm unlock?”

Ren Xiaosu took a deep breath. “Unlock!”

The palace suddenly filled with a faint glow. Along the circular walls of the palace, a display cabinet that was originally shrouded in a dark fog brightened. The black mist within it slowly dissipated as well.

Ren Xiaosu looked at it and saw a large, black sniper rifle stored inside the long and extensive display cabinet.

Ren Xiaosu was guessing if the second weapon would be another saber, a sword, or perhaps, a bow?

But he did not expect a sniper rifle.

He was even more surprised that the sniper rifle also appeared on the back of the shadow clone.

It was like his originally unrelated skills would eventually undergo a chemical reaction and combine.

There were two black sniper rifles and two black sabers. When the sniper rifle was revealed behind the black mist, Ren Xiaosu immediately understood the properties of the sniper rifle. It had an effective range of 2,800 meters and did not need to be loaded with any bullets, and even the bullets could be conjured with his mind. He could also switch between incendiary bullets and armor-piercing bullets as he wished.

These days, the most effective sniper rifle in the world only had an effective range of 2,300 meters.

“Effective range” referred to the typical engagement distances in normal situations. As long as someone wasn’t shooting at a specific target, bullet drop need not be considered.

If a sniper calculated the trajectory precisely and had good marksmanship, hitting a further target would not be a problem at all.

For example, the maximum effective range of a sniper rifle was 2,300 meters. However, the longest recorded kill was at 2,475 meters.

Wait! While Ren Xiaosu was exploring the black sniper rifle in his mind, he discovered a type of bullet he had never seen before.

Under normal circumstances, there were generally several types of sniper bullets: white, red, green, brass, orange, and so on. The difference in color was to differentiate between normal lead bullets, armor-piercing bullets, incendiary bullets, and tracers.

But what was this black-tipped bullet?