2 Emergency Order

"Ah! Even though my dream is gone, I can still live easy for the rest of my life..." Qin Hao sighed as he looked at the ceiling. He was just taking a gamble back when he first joined the military. Only when he was on the frontlines did he learn the cruelty of war.

Just a year ago, Qin Hao was an ordinary senior high school student who was about to face his graduation examination. If everything had gone well, getting into the Federal Naval Academy with his excellent results would not have been too big a problem. As an officer, he could then be a fighter pilot or even a starship pilot.

Unfortunately, things had not gone as planned, and the day before his graduation exam, someone screwed him over. A sleeping pill made him miss the first subject of the examination, and the lack of a grade meant that Qin Hao would not be accepted into the Federal Naval Academy.

Seeing that his childhood sweetheart had been admitted into the Federal Naval Academy while he could only live a mediocre life on a migrant planet, their futures would definitely diverge. Qin Hao was not resigned to his face, and he joined the army. He wanted to start from the bottom as a foot soldier and hoped that the day his love graduated from the naval academy, he would have also become an officer through meritorious military service.

Sadly, with only high-school-level education, Qin Hao would never be admitted into any technical units. In the end, he could only join as a mechanized soldier of the lowest order and become cannon fodder on the battlefield.

While in the unit, Qin Hao had several interstellar video calls with his love, but due to the cost, he could not talk to her every single day. At first, he could still feel the bond between them, but later on, he could obviously tell that the distance was causing their hearts to drift apart as well. If two lovers were unable to be together for a long period of time, their feelings would likely fade with time.

Qin Hao did not bear any ill will toward her because of this. After all, she was now a student of the Federal Naval Academy, and after her graduation, she would be an officer. She would be serving on a clean and tidy starship while he was nothing but cannon fodder, spending his days in a trench with his head down.

So, Qin Hao later learned to let go. He only wanted to be able to live until his time of discharge. The girl's growing distance from him resulted in a loss of motivation to exert himself in the army. Now the opportunity had presented itself. Since he had lost an arm in battle, he could be discharged ahead of time.

"Argh... why is it so itchy?" Qin Hao frowned and felt an extreme itch in the area where his shoulder and the robotic arm were connected. It was as if tens of thousands of ants were gnawing at him.

As his shoulder had been completely wrapped by the robotic arm, Qin Hao could not scratch it even if he wanted to. He could only grit his teeth and endure it because he knew that a doctor would not bother with such a small problem. From his experience with battlefield injuries, Qin Hao knew that someone like him—who had been saved and was now waiting to be discharged—would receive the lowest priority when it came to getting treatment from the military doctors. They would prioritize wounded soldiers who could return to the battlefield. As for him, so long as he did not die, it would not be a problem.

"Private 1573, you can be discharged from the hospital!" Sure enough, just as Qin Hao wanted to consult the nurse about his itch, someone had already come to chase him away. After all, the Battle of Alpha was raging, and every moment, a large number of casualties would be sent in. People like Qin Hao, who would no longer return to the battlefield had no right to continue occupying the beds.

"Okay..." Qin Hao nodded. He also knew that someone else needed treatment more than him, so he gave up his bed. He took the maintenance kit for his robotic arm and some anti-inflammatory drugs before he left the ward. Then, Qin Hao departed from the hospital ship on a small shuttlecraft. He needed to return to his starship and report to the officer in charge to apply for a discharge.

...

"Private 1573... Seriously wounded on Isis Beach's landing on September 9th, 107 E.F.C... Lost an arm after an emergency rescue... Level 3 disability certificate..." The Military Affairs Department Officer studied the information Qin Hao had handed over and looked at him from time to time.

Qin Hao sat up straight opposite the officer and waited for his reply.

"All right! Your information is complete. Return to your barracks and await the news. It should take about three to five days," the officer said as he nodded. He saw a lot of wounded soldiers like Qin Hao applying for discharge every week, and it had become a routine thing now.

"Yes, Sir!" Qin Hao saluted the officer as he got up, then he returned to his barracks.

"Sigh!" Looking at the empty barracks, Qin Hao sighed. When they first arrived at Planet Alpha's Gravity Well, there were thirty-six soldiers in the barracks, including Qin Hao.

Now, however, he was the only one back there, with an arm missing to boot. But Qin Hao was also considered lucky as his other comrades lost more than an arm; they had lost their lives.

"Who knows when the next batch of mechanized infantry reinforcements will come." Qin Hao looked at the empty beds in the barracks and sighed again. In the Galactic Navy Federation, the lives of mechanized infantry were as good as worthless.

While he was full of sadness, Qin Hao knew that three to five days later, once his discharge orders arrived, he could follow the supply fleet back to the rear, and his military career would be over.

...

"Private 1573, please report to the Military Affairs Department immediately." Four days later, the comms rang out in Qin Hao's barracks.

"The discharge order is finally here!" Qin Hao was elated, and he could finally leave the wretched place.

A slightly excited Qin Hao soon arrived at the Military Affairs Department, and the same officer was waiting for him.

"Private 1573, your discharge order has been withdrawn!" the officer said to Qin Hao with a serious face.

"Huh?!" Qin Hao was dumbstruck since the Federal Military Law clearly stipulated that a soldier with a Level 3 disability could be discharged from the military.

"The Military Affairs Department has just issued an emergency notice because of the dire situation on the frontlines. Discharge orders for all wounded Federation soldiers who are still combat-capable have been suspended!" the officer explained to Qin Hao.

"This..." Qin Hao was in a daze. He had assumed that he could leave the battlefield. Never once did he think that he would eventually need to return to those filthy trenches.

"All right, private, you are now assigned to the 7th Mechanized Infantry Battalion of the 106th Mechanized Infantry Division. Report to your unit at the double!" The officer clearly did not want to talk to Qin Hao too much. After he changed Qin Hao's battlefield records back to "reassigned", the officer tossed him a map with the route to the 7th Mechanized Infantry Battalion. After all, a starship was massive, and without a map, who knows how long Qin Hao would take to find the designated point himself.

"Yes, Sir!" At this point, aside from saluting and receiving his orders, there was nothing else Qin Hao could do. With his application for a discharge suspended, he remained a soldier. Military orders were paramount, and he could only comply.