Book 3, Chapter 212: Reward

The Intelligence Department of the Command Center soon received the telegram from Fort 73.

The people there were first stunned, then filled with skepticism.

Even though there was no good reason to falsify such information because they would know whether it was true or not by just doing a quick check, the Iron Monster had been a thorn in their side for a long time.

In the past, they had sent powerful units after him, but the Iron Monster was always able to flee by finding openings in their encirclement. Even after spending a large amount of resources and mobilizing tons of manpower, they hadn’t been able to produce any results.

This time, the Iron Monster had picked the perfect time to attack too. Their rear had been too weak to face his rampage. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have asked a new, inexperienced unit to go into the merged space to fight him.

They hadn’t expected the unit to be able to do anything. All they wanted from them was to keep an eye out on the Iron Monster so he would feel threatened and not wreak havoc on the rear as he pleased.

It had only been a few days since, yet the new unit had killed most of the Iron Monster’s platoon?

After some discussion, the Intelligence Department decided not to report this to the higher-ups right away. Instead, they sent a sternly worded telegram back to ask for verification.

Rao Qili soon sent a telegram back, but the Intelligence Department still didn’t report it to the higher-ups. Instead, they waited until night. When Chen Chuan brought the spoils and the Iron Monster’s head back to Fort 73, then sent another telegram in the name of the fort, the Intelligence Department finally confirmed that the news was true. It was only then that they reported it to the higher-ups.

A few minutes later, the report was delivered to Qiao Weiting, the commander of the Command Center, and the first thing he noticed was that it had been less than seven days since the unit had entered the merged space.

Usually, such units would take up missions that would help them adapt to the environment. They would not be sent out to fight right away.

“Isn’t this the unit Special Officer Liang requested to build?” he asked his aide-de-camp.

“Yes, it is,” his aide-de-camp replied.

“I see.” Qiao Weiting nodded at that. The higher-ups had specially requested these three people, who were all elites in their own fields, to form a unit, and he now had a general idea of what they were to be used for.

“Isn’t Officer Chen a Class One Law Enforcer now?” he asked.

“Yes, he is.”

Qiao Weiting tapped his Realm Pass and checked Chen Chuan, Yuan Qiuyuan, and Qin Qingque’s resumes, though his attention was mostly on Chen Chuan.

“Hmm, he has quite a number of achievements under his name. If you add them all together, he could be promoted again. Based on our reward standards, we can make him a squad captain. We can promote his team members to Class Two Officers as well.”

“Commander, after Officer Chen joined the World Ring Defense System, he was promoted by a rank. It has only been a few days since then, so it’d be too soon to promote him again.”

“Doesn’t change the fact that he has a new achievement under his belt. We shouldn’t be thinking about whether it’s too soon or too late. If we don’t promote soldiers who make achievements, no one is going to fight for us.

“Also, they managed to solve a long-standing problem by themselves. Once we finish the filing procedure, reward them in the name of the Command Center. Give them my gun too as a motivation to work harder.”

“Understood!”

***

Chen Chuan rested for a night in Fort 73 before saying goodbye to Hai Cheng and the rest in the fort. Then, with the Iron Monster’s head and the rest of their spoils, they returned to Fort 4.

A military officer sent by the Command Center was already waiting for them. Once he checked the Iron Monster’s head, the other cavalrymen’s helmets, armor, and imperial decrees, he confirmed that Chen Chuan, Yuan Qiuyuan, and Qin Qingque had indeed killed the Iron Monster. Then, the military officer proceeded with the paperwork to hand over the spoils and shook their hands. With a smile, he said that they were about to be promoted.

Since they had only taken two days’ worth of lessons, they still hadn’t learned some of the necessary things. After they came back, they rested and went through the rest of the lessons.

They contained mainly basic information about the creatures in the merged space and the dangers the army had to face on a daily basis.

Their bases were built upon the creatures’ territories. While firearms could take out most of the creatures, the merged space was a dangerous space. A number of the creatures had mutated tissue similar to that of martial artists. During the early days of building their bases, these creatures had brought them a lot of trouble.

The larger these creatures were, the more difficult they were to deal with, so they should avoid them. The original plan was for Chen Chuan’s unit to get rid of some of these dangerous creatures to get used to life here, but they had skipped that stage.

Five days later, Yuan Qiuyuan was talking to his sister on the public phone in the fort. She said, “Your captain is no simple man. Be sure to stick to him.”

“I know.”

“Oh? Has my brother finally become a good boy? Looks like we were right to send you to the merged space.”

“Enough of that. Do you have anything else to say to me? If not, I’m hanging up. My team is waiting for me.”

“Being united is a good thing. You can only rely on your team members when you’re out there. Make sure to form a good relationship with them.”

“I know.”

Yuan Qiuyuan walked out of the phone booth and put his cap on. As he walked to the restaurant, the people in the fort stopped to greet and salute him. He also saluted them properly.

He was feeling pleased with himself. Even though the official order hadn’t been issued, it had still been confirmed that he was going to be promoted to a Class Two Officer. It had only been a few days since he came here, so not even his sister had been promoted this quickly. If this continued and he worked even harder, it wouldn’t be hard for him to surpass his sister. Then, it would be his turn to gloat at home.

When he arrived at the restaurant, Chen Chuan and Qin Qingque were already there, so he hurried over, ordered his meal, and sat down. After taking a few bites, he asked, “When are we receiving our next mission, Captain?”

Qin Qingque gave him a look. “We’ve just been promoted. We aren’t going to be promoted again anytime soon.”

“Hey, I’m not thinking about getting promoted, okay? I just want to go out on more missions with the captain. It’s boring staying here and reading all that pointless stuff.”

“We’ll get our mission soon, so get ready for it,” Chen Chuan said.

Upon hearing that, they guessed that he had received some sort of information. Yuan Qiuyuan was relieved and started eating heartily.

After lunch, Chen Chuan left the restaurant. While he was walking in the corridor, a logistician saluted him and said, “Please come with me, Officer Chen.”

Chen Chuan nodded and went with him to a reception room. Advisor Pei was waiting for him there. Once he saw him, he asked the logistician to leave the room before smiling and extending his hand to Chen Chuan. “The higher-ups have issued an order. Someone will come to promote you to a squad captain today. Congratulations, Captain Chen.”

“Thank you.” Chen Chuan shook his hand.

It wasn’t easy to become a squad captain. Even the capable ones would only reach this rank when they were in their thirties and forties, because it was a prerequisite for many things.

In terms of status, he would now be a proper military officer instead of a pure combatant and have the right to participate in war councils.

In terms of rank, even if he was no longer stationed here and returned to Central City, he could take up key positions in various combat forces.

This was good. At the very least, he got more benefits and wages. This promotion came because of his strength. Hence, it was the foundation for all that he had. Without it, he would have nothing.

Advisor Pei asked him to sit before bringing over a can of tea. “We keep everything simple here at the base, since it’s not easy shipping things over. This is aged tea I brought in the past, but had no one to drink it with me. I’d like to treat you to some today.”

He poured a cup for Chen Chuan. As the tea leaves floated in the cup, a refreshing scent filled the air.

“Did you know that the merged space has a lot of exotic products with various benefits? Many companies have set up factories and research centers at the rear,” he said in an off-handed manner.

“Do we have such things here?” Chen Chuan asked.

Advisor Pei shook his head. “While we’re also in the rear, we’re positioned further to the front, and we can be considered to be in a combat zone. I’m sure you’ve seen it; the forts aren’t built in safe, stable places. The research centers are in safer areas, and their security level is much higher than ours.”

He dragged out a box by his feet and put it on the table. “You’ve taken care of a huge problem for the higher-ups, so the Command Center has issued special medicine for your unit. They also ordered us to give them to you ahead of time. You can discuss with your unit as to how you’ll distribute it.”

While Advisor Pei said that he should discuss with his unit, the unit captain actually had the right to decide how they wanted to distribute the special medicine.

Hence, if a team member refused to obey orders, the amount of the special medicine they received would be reduced or they would be sent to dangerous missions. In the end, they would either have to give in or find a way to get transferred.

And those were the better scenarios. Some unit captains would find excuses to take their team members’ special medicine for themselves.

Chen Chuan wouldn’t do his team members dirty. He had the special medicine from Border Fusion, but even if he didn’t, he wouldn’t take what didn’t belong to him.

“Thank you, Advisor Pei,” he said.

Advisor Pei laughed at that. “You should have been rewarded much earlier, but some people just had to argue about it, saying that we have to follow procedure. They held it up for several rounds of reviews and only agreed to give you your rewards just before the deadline.”

He then motioned at the box. “Also, if the higher-ups hadn’t agreed to give you the special medicine, the moment some part of the review process is stuck, you would only be able to get this a few months later.”

Even though he didn’t name names, once people started pressuring their team to take action while they were at Fort 73, Chen Chuan realized that there were different factions at the base.

Since Advisor Pei had brought him here, he was treated as someone on his side. Hence, some people started putting pressure on him and giving him trouble. This had nothing to do with whether they were good or bad. It was all an issue born from them being on different sides.

And it was unavoidable.

But Chen Chuan only believed in his own strength. Once he was strong enough, the shackles and restraints on him would slowly fall apart.

Advisor Pei didn’t continue on with this issue. Instead, he looked outside, leaned forward a little, and whispered, “Also, while a certain person has been cleared of suspicion, he has been forced to take leave. He’s going to pass through here in the next few days, and he might stay here for some time. Keep an eye out, Captain Chen.”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep