t [V6C150 – Sorrow of a Silent Parting]
“T-This…” The logistics office walked up and opened the box. In the end, the contents poured out with a crash and almost buried him.
“So many! How come there’s so many!!!” the logistics officer exclaimed as he struggled free.
He had just seen what it was that had crashed onto his body. They were vampiric fangs, werewolf skins with totemic tattoos, demonkin heads, arachne nuclei, etc. All of them were things that could serve as proof of contribution. Of course, a good part of them were military insignias representing the dark race combat squads.
Just like imperial soldiers, high-ranking dark race warriors possessed tokens of ident.i.ty. These insignias were highly durable and wouldn’t be completely destroyed in most cases, hence their value as proof of contribution. Especially in large-scale wars, it wasn’t a great idea to go around carving heads and body parts after eliminating every squad.
What shocked everyone was the sheer number of these insignias. There were so many of them that the logistics officer’s calves were buried in them—there should be thousands of them at the very least.
Even for an all-out war, this was an outstanding number. One had to know that only regular army soldiers possessed insignias. These troops were the core of the organized armies and would always be accompanied by numerous rookies and cannon fodder. On the Evernight side, a standard ten-thousand-strong army consisted of little over a thousand regular soldiers.
Even if the troops pa.s.sing through the Misty Wood were all elites, they would still be accompanied by cannon-fodder and ordinary soldiers. They might not number in the tens of thousands, but such a squad was more than enough to beat most aristocratic combat squads. Moreover, one could see a fair number of high-grade insignias in this small mountain, not to mention spoils representing dark race n.o.bility like their vampiric fangs.
The colonel was shocked out of his wits after witnessing this scene. He calmed himself down with great difficulty and shot a glance at Qianye. His expression seemed rather complicated, but the evil in his eyes grew even more intense.
The colonel kicked the logistics officer and shouted, “Stop staring, get all free personnel here and start counting!”
The logistics officer snapped out of his reverie and bolted away. He returned with a dozen or so men after a brief moment. These people were quite familiar with the registration process, yet it still took over an hour of concentrated effort. Finally, the proofs of contribution were all counted and filled into the register.
Qianye would check on them from time to time and was quite satisfied to find no big discrepancy in the appraisal. These were all skilled staff—despite the occasional fluctuation in grade, there weren’t any obvious errors like a viscount fang being appraised as a baron’s.
The colonel watched on with his hands folded and his back leaning on the wall, his eyes flickering with malice. His expression changed evidently as he picked up the register and gave it a glance. The final numbers had far exceeded his expectations. This meant that Qianye’s targets were all high-ranked experts and not cannon fodder.
The colonel suddenly fished out a pen and drew a line across the column containing the insignias Qianye had collected. Owing to the sheer number of emblems Qianye had submitted, this column represented almost half of his total contribution points.
“These contributions are temporarily on hold.” The colonel ordered as he pa.s.sed the book back. The logistics officer’s expression froze up, but he actually said nothing on the spot.
“Hold it!” Qianye reached out and held the booklet. “Why are these contributions not counted?”
“Why? Do you need to ask why?” The colonel sneered. He sized Qianye up from head to toe with an unfriendly expression.
A cold intent emerged in Qianye’s eyes. “Of course I must ask.”
The colonel said in a relaxed tone, “Your insignias add up to a thousand-strong squad at least. Don’t tell me you won them all on your own? Perhaps you picked them up from somewhere? Maybe these insignias aren’t authentic at all. We must investigate this matter thoroughly before issuing your contributions.”
At this point, the colonel laughed coldly. “The empire’s contributions are a serious matter. They are only rewarded to warriors who fight for the empire with their lives on the line, not something just anyone can falsify!”
Qianye pointed slowly at the ground. “This is the Misty Wood, you know. Do you dare say that one more time?”
The colonel froze up. “So what if it’s the Misty Wood?”
The ident.i.ty insignias of the regular armies weren’t easy to forge. Moreover, the main use of such objects is to count casualties on the front lines, so there wasn’t a need to forge them, either. And the Misty Wood was no ordinary battleground because the purple substance would swallow everything clean after a while. Even high-grade weapons weren’t an exception, to speak nothing of an alloy plate. There was no possibility of picking anything up.
There was no way the colonel had thought this through since he was only spouting a random excuse.
Qianye said calmly, “Do you also not count other people’s insignias?”
The question was intentional. In fact, there were two aristocratic families submitting insignias for registration. The process there was naturally quite smooth.
The colonel was furious. “I suspect your insignias are suspicious. Are you deaf? Did you not hear me?”
Qianye replied slowly, “That means, the Li family is planning to embezzle these insignias and contribution points?”
Qianye’s words caused the entire exchange area to turn silent. He hadn’t raised his voice, and his tone was also quite calm. However, his voice echoed clearly in everyone’s ears.
The colonel was shocked. The flames of rage surged up as he shouted, “What are you doing? Are you trying to incite trouble?”
Qianye’s expression remained unchanged, and his tone was just as calm. “You’re not counting these insignias. Does this mean the Li family is looking to embezzle them?”
This time, Qianye’s voice was filled with origin power. The windows surrounding the exchange area shattered, and his voice traveled far across the base.
Countless gazes were drawn toward this place and people began crowding near the exchange area. These words were just too sensitive. Up to this point in the war, the expansion of dark race forces had far surpa.s.sed the empire’s expectations, and they would soon enter a phase involving organized armies. There was a fundamental difference between a single viscount and a viscount leading a hundred elites. If insignias weren’t being counted, what’s the point in fighting?
Moreover, a large number of insignias was more convincing as proof of contribution compared to submitting proof for a small number of experts. This proved that an elite squad of the Evernight army had been wiped out, and its value far exceeded the death of disorganized warriors with empty t.i.tles.
The bigger the crowd, the angrier the colonel became. His finger trembled as he pointed at Qianye. “Y-You, are you mad?! I’m telling you, nothing good will come out of blowing things up. This daddy here will find someone to kill you!”
Qianye looked on with cold eyes. He was about to speak again, and this time, his origin power was rippling outward with great momentum—apparently, the entire base would hear him this time.
The colonel’s expression grew pale. He suddenly cried out, “Robbery at the exchange area, seize him!”
It would seem his authority was quite high normally. Despite the chaos, several soldiers nearby responded to his call and moved toward Qianye.
The colonel himself took several steps back. He secretly drew his handgun and stared intently at Qianye with a sinister expression, waiting for the latter to attack. Qianye could be easily framed once he had killed or injured one of the guards—even killing him on the spot wasn’t out of the question.
In the off chance that Qianye didn’t resist, the colonel had plans to bring him into an isolated cell where he would be forced to confess to whatever the latter wished. The colonel was looking forward to Qianye’s gunshot because that would give him ample reason to pull the trigger. There was a high-caliber black-t.i.tanium bullet in his handgun. The target would surely be crippled, if not dead outright.
Qianye remained still as the guards rushed over. His gaze was firmly on the colonel, looking at him as he would, a dead person.
A sudden shout emerged from outside at this critical moment. “Hold it!”
This roar was infused with intense origin power and came surging in like thunder. Even the frames of the shattered windows weren’t spared—all of them rattled, cracked, and fell down. For a moment, even those with high cultivation felt their heads spinning. The Li family soldiers naturally couldn’t endure the impact. They were sent into immediate disarray and almost collapsed to the ground.
Soon, a figure rushed in between Qianye and the guards.
The guards had barely regained their footing when they saw, to their great shock, the person who had just arrived. “Elder Steward!”
The one who had arrived was Li Weis.h.i.+. He had never offended anyone during normal times. Who would’ve thought a single shout from him possessed so much power.
The man hadn’t given Qianye a satisfactory explanation last time, but he didn’t seem to have any bad intentions, either. Qianye said with a smile, “You’re pretty fast.”
Li Weis.h.i.+ laughed wryly, “I ran over with all my might after hearing your voice. Things would’ve gotten serious if I had gotten here just a bit later.”
Qianye glanced around and said calmly, “It’s not that small now, either.”
Li Weis.h.i.+’s turned pale after checking his surroundings. There were several aristocratic family combat squads in the exchange area looking over thoughtfully and with interest. There were many people rus.h.i.+ng over from outside, and even the entrance had become fully congested.
Li Weis.h.i.+’s forehead was drenched in cold sweat. He bowed hurriedly toward the crowd and said, “It was just a small misunderstanding just now. Please give our Li family some face and disperse here.”
The audience broke into spirited chatter—they seemed to have no intention of meddling, but it would seem they weren’t planning on leaving, either. Speaking frankly, many among the aristocracy were attendants and lineal scions of great status. These people had no need to give the Li family excessive respect.
Li Weis.h.i.+ saw that the situation wasn’t quite right. He observed the scene thoroughly and then pointed at the small mountain of insignias. “They’re all yours?”
“Indeed.”
Astonishment flashed through Li Weis.h.i.+’s eye, but he soon calmed himself and shouted at the colonel, “Li Ji, what’s going on?”
The colonel said with a cold smile, “He collected so many insignias in such a short period. Of course, I have to investigate things thoroughly. Who knows where he picked them up from...”
His words hadn’t even ended when Li Weis.h.i.+ slapped the man with a bang. This attack was so fast and powerful that it sent the colonel into a daze.
The man held his face with a blank expression. “Y-You, you dare hit me?!”
Li Weis.h.i.+ shouted with a stern voice, “You’ve thrown away the Li family’s prestige entirely! Scram immediately! Pack up your things and return immediately to the family. You won’t get away so easily the next time I see you!”
After the reprimand, Li Weis.h.i.+’s anger subsided, but his voice remained stern. “Do you think the second elder will protect you still? Even he will have to face consequences if this matter blows up.”
The colonel was livid. He glared fiercely at Li Weis.h.i.+ and said through gritted teeth, “You, just you wait. This matter won’t end here. I’ll definitely play with you once I get back!”
Li Weis.h.i.+ sneered, “Anytime.”