Celestial Human Diagram

The telegram from Garrison No. 73 was quickly received by the operations room at Command.

But upon receiving the news, the personnel in the operations room were stunned, then skeptical.

There was no reason to falsify such a report, as its authenticity could be easily verified, but the Iron Demon had been a thorn in their side for a very long time.

They had dispatched powerful squads to hunt them down before, but the enemy always managed to slip through a gap in their encirclement. These failed attempts had wasted significant manpower and resources to no effect.

The Iron Demon had picked the perfect time to strike, right when their rear defenses were at their weakest. Otherwise, they never would have sent their only available squad—a team that had just entered the Merging Land and had yet to fully acclimate—to handle the threat.

They hadn’t expected the squad to accomplish much. Their only goal was to have them trail the Iron Demon, keeping them pressured and preventing them from wreaking havoc in the rear unchecked.

But it had only been a few days, and now a report claimed they had annihilated the bulk of the Iron Demon’s forces?

After a brief discussion, they decided against reporting it up the chain of command immediately. Instead, they sent a telegram back in a severe tone, demanding confirmation of the report’s authenticity.

Although Advisor Rao’s reply came quickly, they still held off. They waited until that evening. Only after Chen Chuan returned to Garrison No. 73 with his trophies and the Iron Demon’s head, and the garrison filed an official report in its own name, did they finally confirm the matter and forward the news up the chain.

A few minutes later, the report was in the hands of Qiao Weiting, the head of Command. The first thing he noticed was that this squad had arrived less than seven days ago.

A new squad like this should have been running acclimatization missions, not sent into a situation like that.

He asked the adjutant at his side, "If I recall, this is the squad Specialist Liang requested to be formed, isn’t it?"

The adjutant replied, "Yes, Governor. That’s them."

"So it was them."

Qiao Weiting nodded. The squad had been formed by special request from his superiors and was staffed with hand-picked elites. He had a general idea of its purpose as well.

He said, "Mr. Chen is a First Level Executor, correct?"

"That is correct."

Qiao Weiting tapped his Realm Token and pulled up the service records for Chen Chuan’s three team members, focusing primarily on Chen Chuan.

He mused, "Hmm, according to his file, he’s already accumulated a significant number of merits. With this added to his record, he qualifies for a rank-up. Based on Command’s standards for rewards and punishments, he can be promoted to Execution Captain. His two squadmates can be promoted to Second Level Executioners accordingly."

The adjutant reminded him, "Governor, Mr. Chen was already promoted one rank when he joined the defense initiative, as is customary. It’s only been a few days. To promote him again... isn’t that a bit fast?"

Qiao Weiting said, "A great deed is a great deed. The timing is irrelevant. If we don’t promote a comrade for such an accomplishment, then no one will be willing to put in the effort in the future."

"Furthermore, a single squad solved a problem the garrison has struggled with for a long time. Once the procedures are complete, issue a formal commendation in Command’s name. And have someone bring them my personal sidearm. I expect them to continue their excellent work."

"Yes!"

Meanwhile, Chen Chuan spent one night at Garrison No. 73 before bidding farewell to Hai Cheng and the others. He returned to Garrison No. 4, their original point of departure, with the Iron Demon’s head and other trophies.

An official dispatched from Command was already waiting there. After inspecting the Iron Demon’s head, armor, and documents to confirm it was indeed the man himself, the official completed the handover procedures. Finally, he shook their hands and, with a smile, hinted at their impending promotions before departing.

Since they had only attended two days of briefings before their mission, some essential information hadn’t been covered. So, upon returning, they used their rest period to catch up on these lessons.

Besides what they had been told before, the remaining curriculum was primarily a basic introduction to the creatures of the Merging Land. In truth, these creatures were the most common danger the garrisoned troops had to face daily.

The current garrisons had all been carved out from the territory of these Merging Land creatures. Although firearms were effective against most of them, this was the Merging Land, after all. Many creatures here possessed Mutated Organizations nearly on par with a Fighter’s, and they had caused immense trouble during the early pioneering days.

The larger these creatures were, the harder they were to deal with, so contact was to be avoided whenever possible. Originally, the plan was to have them hunt some of these dangerous creatures to acclimatize, but they had now skipped that phase entirely.

「Five days later.」

In a public phone booth inside the garrison fortress, Yuan Qiuyuan was on the phone. A woman’s voice came through the receiver, "Your captain is really something else. You’d better stick close to him."

"I know."

"Oh? My little brother’s being so obedient now. Looks like sending you to the garrison was the right call after all."

"Alright, Sis, is there anything else? If not, I’m hanging up. The captain and my squadmate are waiting for me."

"Sticking together is a good thing. Out there, your teammates are the only ones you can rely on. You need to build a good relationship with them."

"I get it."

After hanging up, Yuan Qiuyuan stepped out of the phone booth, put on his hat, and headed toward the mess hall. As he walked, garrison personnel stopped to greet and salute him, and he returned each gesture with crisp precision.

He was inwardly delighted. ’Even though the official orders haven’t come down yet, my promotion to Second Level Executor is basically confirmed. It’s only been a few days! Even my old sis wasn’t promoted this fast. If this keeps up, and I put in a bit more effort, surpassing her won’t be hard at all. Then it’ll be my turn to be the smug one at home!’

Arriving at the mess hall, he saw that Chen Chuan and Qin Qingque were already there. He hurried over, quickly ordered a meal, and sat down with them. After just a few bites, he asked, "Captain, when’s our next mission?"

Qin Qingque looked at him and said, "We were just promoted a rank. It’s not possible to get promoted again so soon."

"Nah, I’m not thinking about promotions. I just want to go on missions with the Captain. It’s so boring being stuck here all day reading about this and that."

Chen Chuan said, "There will be missions. Just make sure you’re prepared."

Hearing him say that, both of them knew he must have gotten some news. Yuan Qiuyuan was instantly relieved and began to eat with gusto.

After finishing his lunch, Chen Chuan left the mess hall. Out in the corridor, an orderly saluted him and said, "Mr. Chen, please come this way."

Chen Chuan nodded and followed him to a reception room. Counselor Pei was already waiting inside. Seeing him enter, he dismissed the orderly, then smiled and extended a hand. "The order from above has been issued. Someone will be here today to formally announce your appointment as Execution Captain. Congratulations, Captain Chen."

Chen Chuan shook his hand. "Thank you."

The rank of Execution Captain was not easy to attain. Typically, even a capable person would have to be in their late thirties or forties to reach it, as it represented a significant threshold.

In terms of status, it was a transition from a simple combatant to a military officer. Here at the garrison, he would now be qualified to attend military council meetings.

As for the rank itself, even if he were transferred laterally to a post in Central City, he would be qualified to directly assume a key position within one of the major enforcement agencies.

He felt it was a good thing—at the very least, his salary and benefits would increase again. But he knew all of this was a result of his own power. ’That’s the foundation of it all,’ he thought. ’Without strength, there is nothing.’

Counselor Pei gestured for him to sit, then brought over a canister of tea. He smiled and said, "Everything is kept simple here at the garrison. It’s not easy to transport goods up from the rear. This is some aged tea I brought with me when I first arrived. I’ve had no one to share it with, so today, I’ll invite Captain Chen to have a taste."

He personally poured the tea for Chen Chuan. As the leaves danced and unfurled in the cup, a fresh, clean aroma began to fill the air.

As he did, he said, "Captain Chen, did you know? The Merging Land actually has many unique natural resources that can bring us great benefits. Quite a few companies have set up factories and research institutes far in the rear."

Chen Chuan asked, "Are there any here at our garrison?"

Counselor Pei shook his head and sat down. "Though this place is considered a rear area, that’s only relative to the absolute front. In reality, this is still a combat zone. As you’ve seen, it’s not particularly secure. Those research institutes are in even safer locations, with defense levels much higher than ours."

He then reached down, retrieved a case from beside his feet, and placed it on the table. "What you and your team did solved a major problem for the higher-ups. This case contains special medicines allocated to your team by Command. The superiors gave the word to issue them to you ahead of schedule. As for how they are distributed, that’s for you and your squadmates to discuss."

Chen Chuan understood. "For you to discuss" was just a nice way of saying it was the captain’s prerogative to decide on the distribution. This was the captain’s authority.

So, within a squad, if a member didn’t listen to their captain, they would often find their share of medicine withheld or find themselves assigned to especially dangerous missions. In the end, they either had to submit or find a way to get transferred.

And that was on the tamer side of things. Some captains would deliberately find excuses to make life difficult for their squadmates just to take more of the medicine for themselves.

He, however, would never use these tactics against his teammates. Not to mention he had his own supply of medicine from the Fusion Boundary Company; even without it, he would never take what wasn’t his.

He said, "Thank you, Counselor Pei."

Counselor Pei smiled, then added, "Your commendation should have come through earlier, actually. But certain people insisted on making an issue of procedure. They reviewed and double-checked it several times, holding it up until the very last day before finally letting it go through."

He gestured toward the case on the table. "And these medicines... without a nod from the top, they could have been held up by some procedural snag. You might have been waiting months to receive them."

Though he didn’t name names, Chen Chuan knew the garrison was divided into factions. He had figured as much from the way certain people had pressured him the other day.

Because Counselor Pei had brought him in, he was naturally considered part of Pei’s faction. Others were likely pressuring him and making trouble for him intentionally. It had nothing to do with personal likes or dislikes; it was simply a matter of taking sides.

It was unavoidable.

However, his ultimate belief was in his own strength. He was convinced that as long as his power reached a certain level, he could gradually break free from all external restraints and shackles.

Counselor Pei didn’t dwell on the topic, but moved on. "Also..."

He glanced outside, then leaned forward slightly on the sofa and lowered his voice. "That one person... although they were cleared of suspicion on the surface, they were still put on mandatory leave. They will be passing through here in the next two days and may stay for a bit. Captain Chen, remember to keep an eye out for them..."

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