The First Order

The synchronization test was being carried out across the entire Li Consortium. Not only were Ren Xiaosu and the others tested, but even the Li Consortium’s own combat troops were also involved.

Looking in from outside the tent, Ren Xiaosu watched as those soldiers lined up and entered the tent. Whenever someone passed the synchronization test and got selected, others would come forward to congratulate them.

These troops from the Li Consortium should know exactly what they were being screened for. So seeing how they were all congratulating their comrades upon passing the test, it must be a matter that was extremely worth being happy about.

“Monitor, what is this synchronization screening about?” a student asked.

As they were all classmates, they continued addressing Ren Xiaosu as their class monitor, even calling him “teacher” sometimes.

Ren Xiaosu did not hide it from them. He gave it some thought before sharing his assumption with them. “The Li Consortium has made a breakthrough in nanorobotics and neurotechnology. It seems like they’re selecting suitable candidates as hosts for the nanomachines.”

Indeed, the Li Consortium had immediately put their nanorobotics technology into military use after they saw a breakthrough in their research. If it were really as Luo Lan had said, nanomachines could help humans gain a stronger skeletal structure, muscles, and even achieve other improvements. At that time, the Li Consortium would probably try to build an elite unit that was assisted by nanomachines.

However, Ren Xiaosu somehow felt that it would be extremely uncomfortable to have machines placed into his body.

The officer named Li Qingzheng looked at Ren Xiaosu and the others with a smile. “Everyone, follow me. We’ll go and handle the registration first. After that, you’ll all be my men starting from today. Stick with me, and we will have good food and wine together!”

Ren Xiaosu looked at him. At present, Li Qingzheng still wore his beret crookedly, while his collar was also unbuttoned. It was like he was just some ruffian. No, he was exactly what a real ruffian would look like.

Ren Xiaosu walked over and shook Li Qingzheng’s hand. At the same time, he stuffed two banknotes into his hand and said, “Pleased to meet you, Platoon Commander Li.”

Seeing how Ren Xiaosu understood the “rules,” Li Qingzheng beamed. “Don’t worry, everyone. I just become an officer, so let’s not have any bureaucracy between us. Let’s all be brothers from now on!”

With just two banknotes, their superior-subordinate relationship had now changed to a brotherly relationship. Ren Xiaosu asked, “Where are we heading now?”

“Let’s get all of your registrations completed first. Then we’ll head to an outpost at the front after getting your uniforms. The entire outpost will be all ours!” Li Qingzheng said in high spirits.

Ren Xiaosu had some doubts about this. Wasn’t Li Qingzheng just a platoon commander in the private troops. How could he possibly command an entire outpost?

“Aren’t we going to be carrying out our duties nearer to the stronghold?” Ren Xiaosu asked.

“There are still some factories out there. We need to protect those factories from being attacked,” Li Qingzheng explained. “We’ll be fine. Y’all don’t have to worry at all. I’ve been practicing martial arts with the blacksmiths in town since childhood. I’m proficient in many types of boxing now.”

When Ren Xiaosu heard that, he did not exactly feel better. It was fine that he had to serve in the private army, but how did he end up getting drafted into such a haphazardly assembled group of soldiers?

Li Qingzheng looked at Ren Xiaosu and said, “Although you look a little skinny, have a really low synchronization rate, and don’t look to be much of a soldier, you can rest assured that Big Brother Li here will protect you!”

“Mhm. Thanks, Big Brother Li,” Ren Xiaosu said. After his Dexterity went up, he did look a little on the skinny side.

The students beside them all looked at one another, not knowing what to say. To them, it looked more like Li Qingzheng’s brains would get smashed out of his head with just a single punch from Ren Xiaosu.

At this moment, seven other escapees in the group were also required to perform military service. These escapees looked grief-stricken. They had thought that refugees were the most inferior humans in the world and were only born to serve the stronghold residents. But they could never have expected they would end up becoming refugees themselves one day!

Since Ren Xiaosu was the one who paid the money, he was Li Qingzheng’s brother. But these other escapees did not have any money on them to pay him with. Li Qingzheng looked at them with a different expression. “You people over there, hurry it up. Who are you trying to gain sympathy from with your crying? You’ll feel better once we get to the outpost.”

Originally, Li Qingzheng only had about a dozen soldiers under him. But now he had finally gathered up to a total of 30 soldiers to make up a full platoon.

Ren Xiaosu learned from Li Qingzheng that they were going to be serving under Eighth Platoon, the Iron Second Battalion of the private army.

At this moment, Li Qingzheng was still unaware of what kind of people had joined his unit.

Their group went and registered. When they were collecting their uniforms, the soldiers of the Logistics Division informed them there was a shortage of uniforms, and they would be issued at a later date.

Ren Xiaosu wondered just how big of an expansion the military was undertaking that they could not even afford to issue them with uniforms. Were they going to guard the outpost in their current attire?

Wasn’t the conscription carried out too fucking hastily?! Even though the stronghold had expanded the size of the private army, they did not give them any priority. When it was time for them to collect their weapons, they were not even issued with firearms!

Along the way, he suddenly saw Yan Liuyuan standing outside the military base. Neither of them spoke, and Yan Liuyuan simply threw a note over the wooden fence. Ren Xiaosu opened it up and read: We’ve settled down in town. Everything is fine.

Ren Xiaosu could finally feel relieved.

At this moment, Li Qingzheng shouted from a military transport truck not far away, “Brothers, get in! We’re setting off to the outpost!”

Ren Xiaosu walked to the truck after giving a nod to Yan Liuyuan. He was unsure of what kind of outpost he would be assigned to. The moment he figured out his situation, he would take Yan Liuyuan and the others away.

Meanwhile, the bottle of silvery, liquidlike nanomachines was being sent into the stronghold. A researcher draped in a white coat was standing in front of the stronghold’s gate and having his ID checked. When the garrison guards saw his special identification papers, they immediately let him through. They even prepared an exclusive car for him to send him to Research Facility 613, located on the inside of the stronghold.

As the researcher sat in the car, he thought about something. Since their nanorobotics technology had become mature, it would still be justifiable if only one or two of the nanomachines were defective. But for an entire bottle to be defective was a little strange. The number of nanomachines contained within this bottle of silvery liquid was simply astronomical. They couldn’t possibly all be defective, right?

Nanomachines were not exactly smaller than a nanometer. They would just have to ensure that their operating tentacles were in the range of nanoscale levels, with the individual body size of each nanomachine at approximately four nanometers.

What is a nanometer? A nanometer is equivalent to 0.000000001 meters. If this entire bottle of nanomachines were defective, then it would definitely not be due to a technical issue but some other reason.

He was extremely confused and also highly suspicious.

When he arrived at Research Facility 613, he walked straight into the research building and said to the secretary, “I would like to see Mr. Li!”

The pretty secretary adjusted her glasses. “If you have anything, just tell it to me. Mr. Li is very busy.”

“We’ve encountered a minor problem with this thing here.” The researcher said, “Please let Mr. Li know immediately.”

“You can place it here with me and write down your contact information. I’ll inform you when we get results. Multiple cases of defective nanomachines due to operational error have occurred across the various strongholds today. Mr. Li is busy handling all that right now,” the pretty secretary said nonchalantly.

The researcher was stunned. The nanomachines were damaged due to operational error? But why did he somehow feel that their situation here was different? He clearly remembered that there was no mistake in the way he operated the machine!

He said in earnest, “I’ll go back and wait for your news. But please make sure to explain to Mr. Li that there was no operational error with our bottle of nanomachines. The circumstances surrounding its failure were extremely suspicious!”

The secretary gave him a look and then pasted an “urgent” label on that bottle of nanomachines right before his eyes. Only then did the researcher give a sigh of relief. “Thank you!”

But what he did not know was that there were already hundreds of bottles of samples labeled “urgent” that had been sent into the laboratory.