Chapter Eighty: A New Official Takes Office

Zhao Li did not ask for the two women’s consent regarding this, but he was certain that neither would refuse. He had already hinted at this when he ordered these men to clean themselves up. At the very least, this way, they wouldn’t have to worry about getting anything filthy on their fists while beating these guys down.

After saying this, ignoring the reactions of the men opposite them, Zhao Li stepped back and stood in a line with the two women. At the same time, he said in a voice only they could hear, "Go ahead and hit hard later. As long as they don't die, it’s fine. I refuse to believe these guys can't be beaten into submission!"

This was a method Baolang had taught him when he first started his service. In the military, the only way to survive is to fight. If you beat those who defy you into submission, everything—whether it's issuing orders later on or living a peaceful life—becomes much easier. Facing these hooligan-like individuals, who even dared to arrange for snipers to wound their commanding officers, this was the best approach.

The opportunity to date one of the two beautiful women—in this place, everyone knew what a date implied. Lustful glints immediately ignited in the eyes of the crowd.

"One by one, no gang fights!" Zhao Li’s command arrived just in time. The man standing at the very front immediately felt he had a chance and rushed forward.

"Line up! Get in line!" The group behind scrambled and bickered over their place in the two queues. It seemed that, compared to the beauty on offer, no one could muster any interest in Zhao Li. They would rather face a beautiful woman; if they won, they could go on a date, and if they lost, they would at least get a massage from her soft fists. Where else could you find such a good deal?

It was likely that these men had never been so proactive in lining up since arriving here; this was truly an unprecedented sight.

"Officer Christine, I’m here to learn from your high skills, hehe!" The guy at the front walked up to Christine with a lecherous expression. He reached out with a smirk, aiming for her prominent chest, while teasingly reminding her, "Officer, I’m attacking!"

"Ouch! Ah..." The pained cry instantly morphed into a long, agonizing shriek. In less than a second, the man who had reached out was already lying on the ground. His arm was bent at a strange angle, and a white shard of bone even poked through a bloody gash in his arm. His uniform was torn, blood gushed out, and he fainted directly from the sheer pain.

At the same time, the man facing Li Die had not even managed to make a sound before being kicked in the lower abdomen by her. He was cleanly and swiftly knocked unconscious, vomiting blood. Judging by his injuries, they were, if anything, more severe than those inflicted by Christine.

In a single exchange, both men were lying on the ground—equally unconscious, equally bloodied, and equally severely injured. Looking at the two fallen men, Zhao Li couldn't help but shake his head. They truly didn't know how to spell the word "death." The instructors at the special prison had always been resentful that the Genius School had taken the championship in the All-Military Competition by sending only a single medic. And Christine happened to be a medic by trade.

The result of a beauty who was a champion-level martial artist facing someone as ordinary as they come—who likely had only learned some basic combat techniques—was predictable. And this was only because Zhao Li had ordered them to spare their lives. As for the man who faced Li Die, her reputation as an elite student of the Genius School's combat department was no exaggeration.

Old Lai and another man stayed far back. When they heard Zhao Li’s order, they had no intention of stepping forward. While others might not know, they two were very clear. Old Lai had seen with his own eyes how Li Die had casually tossed that bullet onto the ground. As for the other man, he was the one who had been responsible for pulling the trigger. No one understood the terror of Li Die better than the two of them.

If one Li Die was this terrifying, then was Lieutenant Colonel Christine, who held a higher rank, just for show? With an enigmatic Zhao Li also present, the two of them tacitly stayed at the very back of the pack.

The bloody scene stunned many. For a moment, no one dared to move. Everyone knew how they compared to one another; if those two had ended up like that, what chance did anyone else have?

A few clever ones immediately shifted their focus to the young Zhao Li. He was only a lieutenant; his backing was likely not as strong as the two female officers, and he looked young. He probably hadn't undergone any top-tier training, right?

"What, no one challenging me?" Zhao Li scanned the circle. Everyone seemed a bit timid. Seeing that the two women had already fought while no one dared to challenge him, he couldn't help but feel his hands itching. "Who’s next? I allow gang fights here!" His facial expression and the gestures he made were the very image of someone holding the enemy in absolute contempt.

Such an arrogant challenge would have provoked even a pig into charging forward, let alone these men, especially since Zhao Li had explicitly allowed gang fights. This was his own offer; if they injured him, it wouldn't be the group’s fault.

With a roar, the circle of men converged on Zhao Li. Zhao Li signaled the two women, and they stepped back, clearing the space in the center.

"Come on!" Having had the experience of taking down hundreds of prisoners and a dozen ordinary prison guards before, and having endured over a year of tempering by those sadistic instructors, Zhao Li was completely fearless in such a situation. He beckoned to the few men in front of him, and before they could act, he charged.

It must be said that skills require practical application to become increasingly proficient. At first, Zhao Li seemed to be stuck in the phase of merely dislocating bones, using a few elegant moves to pop the joints of the men around him. After dealing with a few, his body seemed to loosen up, and his techniques became even more refined.

Whenever someone was touched by him, they would involuntarily lose their coordination, though no one could say why. The parts of their bodies Zhao Li touched would, without exception, twitch with muscle spasms, rendering them unable to exert any force. Zhao Li showed no mercy; he subdued whoever he touched. He usually took a very short amount of time to forcibly bend his opponent's joints in the opposite direction, snapping them. The sickening crunch of dislocating joints could be heard from far away.

To everyone, the two beauties felt ruthless. One strike, and it was a severe injury; there was no room for negotiation. Relatively speaking, while Zhao Li’s one-versus-many approach seemed fierce, it was extremely physically demanding. With all those "brothers" who had fallen before them, surely even his momentum would be exhausted by attrition, right?

The men behind continued to rush forward one after another, each thinking they would be the one to break the camel's back. Unfortunately, each one realized how wrong they were the moment they rushed in. Sadly, once they were down, they had no way to warn the others.

On the military camp's parade ground, a series of rhythmic cracking sounds echoed—a rare and peculiar sound with a strange, musical cadence. Accompanied by cries of agony, it was a truly unique spectacle.

These men, who had wasted away for who knows how long and hadn't even performed basic formation training, how could they possibly withstand Zhao Li’s brutal assault? Eventually, it became dozens of men fleeing while Zhao Li chased them alone.

Some of the clever ones tried to run back to their barracks, but the moment their feet crossed the edge of the parade ground, a bullet would pierce their thigh. The marksmanship was precise, just like the marksmanship of those who had tried to ambush Zhao Li. But they didn't have a bodyguard as formidable as Li Die. Watching their thighs get pierced by a shot and bleeding profusely, they could only cry out in pain and wish for everyone else to fall immediately so that the newcomers might stop and treat them.

Needless to say, those still conscious on the ground held the same thought. Seeing others still running and hiding, some couldn't help but curse through their pain.

Zhao Li didn't care how they ran. As long as he set his sights on someone, no one could escape his grasp. A few steps to catch up, then the raw force to snap a joint—no one was an exception.

Those fleeing finally realized that as long as they didn't leave the parade ground, they wouldn't be shot. This was a forced confrontation with Zhao Li. But after seeing Zhao Li take down over a hundred men, no one had the confidence to fight back.

For nearly half an hour, Zhao Li continuously grabbed people and snapped joints. Only when there wasn't a single person left standing did he look around and stop.

Li Die and Christine appeared like ghosts. No one had seen where they went, but seeing the gun in Li Die’s hand, they knew who had fired the shots.

Christine was still smiling. She walked up to each man who had been shot in the thigh, handing them a piece of emergency gauze and telling them to press it to stop the bleeding themselves. As for medical treatment, that would have to wait until Zhao Li had successfully established his dominance.

"Quiet!" Zhao Li’s voice was not loud, and he did not deliberately shout, but the scene fell almost instantly silent. Aside from a few suppressed groans, there was no other noise.

"To be honest, I am disappointed!" Standing among the group of men lying in disarray, Zhao Li began his first official lecture since taking command.

"Do you really think you look like soldiers of the Federation?" The harsh questioning erupted from Zhao Li’s throat, carrying an irresistible authority that swept across the entire parade ground.

"Look at you! In this camp, you haven't even posted sentries, you can't even stand in a basic formation, and you show no basic courtesy when encountering your superior officers!" At this point, Zhao Li was practically roaring.

"Today is my first day on the job, and I didn't want it to turn out like this," Zhao Li’s tone softened slightly, "but you have collectively made me very unhappy!"

"I don't care what kind of life you lived before, or if other officers didn't dare to discipline you. But under my command, I will not allow such trash to fill my ranks." Scanning the group once more, Zhao Li shouted loudly.

"From today on, from this moment on, as long as you are soldiers of the Federation and as long as you are under my command, you will follow my rules and execute my orders! I don't want to see anyone executed for insubordination!" After all, Zhao Li had served as a prison warden for over a year. He had seen all kinds of people, from political heavyweights like Kang Hongyuan to high-ranking officials like General Thomas, and even titans like the old warden who could quietly manipulate the military landscape. He possessed a genuine aura of power.

"In this camp, there are quotas for injuries, and there are even quotas for deaths," Zhao Li’s threatening words echoed once more across the ground. "If any of you wish to spend the rest of your lives as disabled persons or hope to be posthumously honored as martyrs, I welcome it with open arms! I believe you are aware that if a dozen or twenty people go missing here, the higher-ups don't even need a report!"

It was a naked threat, a blatant act of coercion. But Zhao Li knew that when dealing with men who had long been corrupted, the softer you were, the more arrogant they would become. It was better to beat them into submission once and for all. This way, at least on the surface, they would be much more obedient. As for what went on behind his back, that was a matter for another day.

Having taken down so many people without a single one being able to stand, Zhao Li’s words shocked them deeply. As an officer, he was the first to arrive and mercilessly put everyone down, openly boasting about allowing injury and death quotas.

However, this method seemed effective, especially against these "old soldiers." Having been left unmanaged for years, they had become derelict. With no outside forces to help them save face, and with no way to resist Zhao Li without facing certain doom, they were effectively broken.

At least for the duration of Zhao Li’s lecture, no one dared to make a loud sound. Even those who couldn't help but groan did so with forced restraint.

"From now on, when you are able to move freely, the first thing you will do is clean every single barracks from top to bottom. If I find even a speck of dust, I don't mind letting you lie in those trash heaps for a few days! Dismissed!" Zhao Li ended his lecture with a new order.

Only when the order to dismiss was given did a chorus of wails and cries break out. However, the moment Zhao Li turned his head, the noise dimmed significantly.

"The medical room in the barracks has been cleaned. Those with dislocated upper limbs, walk yourselves to the medical room. After you are treated, come back and help carry these wounded to the medical room," Zhao Li issued another command. "If anyone dies, just throw them into the trash heap over there. We'll cremate them tomorrow!"

After saying this, Zhao Li turned and left the parade ground. Christine and Li Die glanced at the men, then turned and followed him away.