Chapter 33: The First Kill!

"This is not a big deal."

"When I just arrived here, there was an old bird who dirtied the scarf my mother knitted for me. I immediately broke his nose!" 

Halen rushed towards Zhou Yuan and blinked, then leaned in close to Zhou Yuan's ear and asked in a low voice, 

"How did you do it?"

"How did you manage to do that?" 

Zhou Yuan had taken down a total of forty-seven people. Although he only faced three or four people at a time due to space constraints, it was still terrifying. 

For soldiers who had undergone long-term professional training, three or four people attacking together could definitely defeat any federal combat champion. 

And yet, Zhou Yuan managed to defeat more than ten of them in a row.

"It's probably a combination of talent and hard work," Zhou Yuan replied. "If I have to give a secret, I suggest you undergo waist bridge training. It greatly strengthens the muscles in the neck, chest, waist, and abdomen, enhancing your ability to withstand blows. Just persevere for a year, and a normal person's heavy punch will feel no different than cotton to you."

Zhou Yuan glanced left and right, then whispered his 'secret' to Halen. 

"Just go do it! I'm not lying to you. Tyson trained this way."

"Waist bridge training?" Halen widened his eyes, showing some interest. 

He believed it because he actually knew what waist bridge training was. 

Boxers before the Dawn Era used this training method, which could turn people into superhuman shields. 

However, this training method was very dangerous, as improper movements could cause damage to the neck and spine. Therefore, it was buried in history by the Federation.

"Friend, keep it a secret for me, you know the rules," Zhou Yuan patted Halen's shoulder, wearing a mysterious expression.

"Don't worry, I understand," Halen nodded seriously, showing a 'I understand' expression.

Next, Zhou Yuan and Halen chatted for a while before parting ways to attend to their respective tasks.

They needed to hand over items to the Arms Department within ten minutes, one after another.

...

"So that's how it is!"

Zhou Yuan waited with his team, recalling what Halen had said just now.

He had asked Halen why the Third Platoon had recruited so many new members this time.

Since it was not classified information, Halen didn't hide it from him.

Not long ago, something big happened at the Tarsus Fortress.

A transport plane carrying a strategic force lieutenant general was shot down by plasma cannons from the plasma insects on its way from the Mars Base to the Tarsus Fortress.

Strategic force personnel were already precious, let alone a lieutenant general.

The Tarsus Fortress immediately organized a search and rescue team to go to the crash site for rescue.

Due to time constraints, they didn't have enough time to assemble a special operations force, so they had to hastily gather a rescue team nearby.

This team happened to be the Third Platoon of the Western Military Defense Force.

Just as a group stationed on the defense wall was pulled away, they rushed to the crash site. 

However, by the time the group arrived, the crash site was already swarming with insects, and the transport plane was reduced to fragments, with no communication signals nearby.

In theory, they could just withdraw when encountering such a situation without even needing to engage in ground combat.

"However...

What if a strategic army general was on that transport plane? What if the accompanying guards managed to escape when the plane crashed? The aftermath was devastating, with casualties in the entire operation. If it weren't for the support of the second and third teams, as well as the special operations team, none of the soldiers would have returned alive. The battle was rushed, and every participating unit suffered casualties, with the earlier arrivals suffering the most. Afterwards, the strategic army blamed the mobile troops, citing their slow actions as the reason for the failed rescue mission. The third platoon was hit hardest, causing subsequent reinforcements to be delayed and new recruits to be picked from the training camp. Of course, Harren didn't reveal much, as a mere lieutenant captain, he didn't have the authority to know the truth of such grades, it was just hearsay.

Overall, it was similar to what Zhou Yuan had guessed. Normally, the defense forces wouldn't leave the fortress. Today, with so many new recruits arriving all at once, it was clear that they had encountered a special situation and lost many veterans.

...

Ten minutes later, the handover with the armament department was completed. Harren led the third and eighth teams out of the defense wall, while Zhou Yuan led the first platoon of the eighth team to begin their watch.

"Number two to number five, split up for patrol. Numbers six to ten, go to the watchtowers. Rotate after four hours."

"Keep your eyes peeled and notify me if there are any bug swarms."

After arming his team, Zhou Yuan immediately gave orders. He assigned numbers to each member, from one to ten, with himself as number one, to make task allocation easier.

The eighth squad was responsible for only a hundred meters of defense line, a short section of patrol wall and five watchtowers. Half of them were patrolling sentries and the other half were fixed sentries. It was that simple.

"Yes, sir!"

The team members were ecstatic and saluted before going to their respective positions, leaving Zhou Yuan alone.

"Let's use the sniper rifle..."

After hesitating for a moment, Zhou Yuan found out where his subordinate James was stationed.

There were many bug soldiers attacking the electric grid wall, but they hadn't gathered into a group yet. Compared to the large pineapple machine gun on his body, the sniper rifle was more suitable for reaping.

"Boss, you want to kill bugs?"

Seeing Zhou Yuan take out a Barrett, James suddenly became curious.

"I came here to kill bugs."

Zhou Yuan opened the tactical goggles' night vision function, pulled the bolt, and aimed at the bug soldiers outside the electric grid wall.

"Bang!"

With a deafening gunshot, a bug soldier exploded two hundred meters away, its head splintered into several pieces.

"Cool!"

"Boss, you blew off its head!"

Looking through the night vision scope, James was excited beyond words. This was his first time seeing live bug soldiers and the first time seeing them being killed. It felt indescribably wonderful.

"James, don't just stand there."

"You only have four hours, and after that, you'll be patrolling."

Zhou Yuan glanced at James, indicating him to pick up his gun.

James was a very honest black man with not much initiative and a little cowardice. He even asked Zhou Yuan earlier, what if the gunshot attracts attention from others? Come on! This is the battlefield! Everyone is shooting everywhere, who has time to pay attention to you? To be shy because of someone else's attention, this kind of character in a black person is really rare.

"Let me try!"

Hearing Zhou Yuan's words, James took a deep breath and picked up a sniper rifle from beside him.

It's not easy to get on the defense wall, of course, he also wants to have a good fight. He just felt a little embarrassed before, thinking that new recruits should be low-key and just stand on the watchtower. Now that Zhou Yuan, the squad leader, had set a precedent, he felt less pressure.

"Good, let's do this."

Zhou Yuan patted James on the shoulder and continued to aim and pull the bolt.

But before firing, he glanced at the system prompt.