The First Order

Be it Liang Ce, Meng Nan, or Wang Jing, all of them had lived in the Wang Consortium’s strongholds. Therefore, they could not really empathize with the wars happening in the outside world.

In their world, war seemed to be just words that appeared in the newspapers. It was something that was very detached from them.

But now, they first got threatened by a deserter in the wilderness and almost had a glimpse of how tragic the war was. What made these elite soldiers unwilling to go onto the battlefield again? It was as though they were so scared out of their wits that they wanted to flee all the way to the South.

After that encounter, everyone realized the world was about to change.

Wang Jing kept lamenting to himself that a chaotic era was about to arrive.

After that, they were required to go through a spy screening by the Kong Consortium’s intelligence agency. The heavily armed troops from the 1st Military Intelligence Division looked extremely fearsome, and they pointed the barrels of their guns at them too.

All of this was very common for Ren Xiaosu and Yang Xiaojin, but it was still quite a cruel reality for the doctors who lived in the stronghold all year round.

Ren Xiaosu clearly noticed one of the doctors speaking in a trembling voice when he was answering the questions earlier. He was afraid that if he answered them wrong, he would get pulled aside and be executed.

When the convoy entered the stronghold, Wang Jing sighed in the vehicle and said, “I’m not sure now if it was right to bring you all to the Kong Consortium.”

Liang Ce said, “This isn’t your fault. Why blame yourself for other people’s mistakes?”

Wang Jing looked at Liang Ce and said with a smile, “Young man, you’ve performed very well. In the past, I only thought you had an excellent moral character. But after going through so much this time, I finally saw the bravery in you.”

Truthfully, Liang Ce had done quite well. When he encountered the deserter, he did not cry or make a fuss about wanting to go home. In fact, he even regained his composure very quickly. When he answered the questions earlier, he also remained very calm throughout.

In Wang Jing’s opinion, Liang Ce was a potential candidate to become a chief surgeon in the future.

Liang Ce was a little embarrassed by Wang Jing’s praise. He said modestly, “No, I think Ren Xiaosu performed much better than me.”

Wang Jing nodded. “Yes, he did perform better than you, but you don’t have to compare yourself with him. Just be yourself.”

These words sounded like: “Ren Xiaosu is a genius, so there’s no need for mortals to compare themselves with him. Otherwise, it will only add to their worries.”

Liang Ce did not know whether to laugh or cry. He turned around and looked at the off-road vehicle Ren Xiaosu was in. He thought to himself that Elder Wang was really good at consoling people.

Wang Jing looked at Liang Ce with a smile and continued, “He’s an anomaly. When I was his age, I was still only an intern like you. So long as you’re willing to work hard in the future, you can reach my current position too. As for him… I don’t know where he’ll end up either.”

Liang Ce smiled and said, “I’m happy if I can become a doctor like you.”

What Wang Jing did not say at this moment was that he was not even sure if Ren Xiaosu would be a doctor in the future.

Although Wang Jing was old, he was not foolish.

On the night the deserter appeared, when Ren Xiaosu had asked to see his pistol, he remembered very clearly that he had kept the firearm’s safety on so that a “novice” like Ren Xiaosu would not accidentally fire it.

But when Ren Xiaosu fired it, the safety had been switched off.

For someone who had never handled a gun before, he would probably not know how to flip off the safety, right?

Moreover, he realized that Ren Xiaosu and Yang Xiaojin were the calmest of them all now that he had calmed down as well and recalled the events earlier when Zhong Zhen was trying to identify the spy. It could be said that Ren Xiaosu’s calmness was due to his talent, but Yang Xiaojin should not have acted that way as well.

There were only two girls in the group, Yang Xiaojin and Meng Nan.

At this moment, Meng Nan was sitting in the front passenger seat without saying a word. Wang Jing and Liang Ce could tell that Meng Nan still had some lingering fear after the intelligence agency’s screening.

Therefore, in comparison, Yang Xiaojin’s composure made Wang Jing realize Ren Xiaosu and Yang Xiaojin’s reason for joining the group was not that simple.

However, Wang Jing was thinking that since the two of them looked so young, their mission at the Kong Consortium should not be anything particularly dangerous, right? If he were to guide them carefully along the way, he might still be able to pull Ren Xiaosu and Yang Xiaojin back onto the path of becoming doctors.

The convoy drove for more than 30 minutes in Stronghold 31 before coming to a stop. At the front, Yang Shiruo got out of his vehicle and said, “Elder Wang, this is the residence we’ve arranged for you all. It’s rather simple and crude, so we seek your understanding if we haven’t been a good host.”

Ren Xiaosu looked at the residence and saw it was clearly a terraced villa that occupied more than a 1,000 square meters.

Wang Jing sighed and said, “It’s still the Kong Consortium’s hospitals that make good money.”

Yang Shiruo laughed a little awkwardly and said, “You’re teasing us. The medical exchange will officially begin tomorrow afternoon. It will go on for seven days straight, so you should rest well today. We’ll see you all tomorrow.”

“Alright, thank you for your hospitality,” Wang Jing said with a nod.

After saying their goodbyes, Liang Ce and the others felt hot air blowing at them the moment they stepped into the villa. Someone said in surprise, “There’s even a heater in the house?”

“Alright, everyone, rest early.” Wang Jing said, “We still have a meeting to attend tomorrow afternoon. That’s our main business here in the Kong Consortium.”

Ren Xiaosu and Yang Xiaojin carried their luggage upstairs. There were a total of 17 rooms in the terraced villa, more than enough to house all of them in the group.

As Liang Ce watched the two of them head upstairs, he suddenly felt envious.

While they were upstairs, Ren Xiaosu said to Yang Xiaojin in a low voice while the others were still checking out the place, “I’ll head out for a while later tonight. There’s only two sentries keeping watch outside, so they won’t discover that I’ve left the house. If anything happens here, you’ll have to cover for me.”

Yang Xiaojin nodded. “Can I use the black bullet if the situation calls for it?”

“Yes.” Ren Xiaosu said generously, “If you really encounter any danger, feel free to use it!”

Yang Xiaojin looked at him in surprise. “You’re quite generous today. Don’t worry, I won’t use it recklessly unless I encounter a difficult-to-deal-with supernatural being.”

Ren Xiaosu would of course be generous at this moment. When he left the Wang Consortium, his gratitude tokens had already reached over 3,000. After he finished with the consultation at the Kong Consortium’s town this morning, his gratitude tokens had almost broken through the 4,000 mark!

Calculating based on Yang Xiaojin’s strength alone, that equated to the lives of 40 supernatural beings. No one could avoid her attacks!

Of course, it would definitely not go as expected in actual combat since there would always be unforeseen circumstances.

In the middle of the night, Ren Xiaosu opened a gap in the curtains and reconfirmed the positions of the sentries outside the villa. He found a blind spot in the villa where they would not spot him leaving and went out through the kitchen window on the first floor.

In the villa, Ren Xiaosu could hear snoring coming from the other rooms. Perhaps no one would have expected that a supernatural being like Ren Xiaosu would be hiding in this villa.

In the night, Ren Xiaosu pulled up his hood and headed north to where the Great Hoodwinker had agreed to meet him.