Chapter Ninety-Nine: Furious Outburst Chapter One Hundred: The Reason for Existence

Sanders struck with increasing astonishment. He had already unleashed ten-tenths of his strength, yet the young man before him seemed completely unfazed, as if the blows were landing on nothing. Although the fellow was undoubtedly wearing body armor, Sanders was nonetheless a quasi-eighth-grade master; he knew precisely how much force was carried in his own fists.

Forget about Zhao Li—a mediocrity who, in Sanders's impression, had not even reached the sixth grade—even if they replaced him with a novice who had just crossed into the eighth grade, that person might not be able to receive so many of his punches and still remain so at ease.

Still, the gap in raw strength remained significant. The damage Zhao Li's Bone-Splitting and Tendon-Dislocating technique inflicted upon Sanders was not as great as Zhao Li had imagined. It could barely be considered a minor annoyance, hindering Sanders's ultimate offensive power and frequency. Yet for Zhao Li to attempt to defeat Sanders relying on this alone seemed somewhat less than straightforward.

Sanders's fists grew increasingly heavy. If not for the true qi condensed through the seventy-nine revolutions of the Fundamental Bodybuilding Art, it would have been utterly impossible for Zhao Li to endure. Fortunately, Sanders's attacks targeted the chest, abdomen, and back—areas precisely reached by the Fundamental Bodybuilding Art. Had they struck elsewhere, Zhao Li would have been defeated long ago.

Another heavy punch landed. It was evident that Sanders wished to end the fight quickly and knock Zhao Li down. Zhao Li employed the same response: while absorbing the blow, his body leapt up, and his hands seized Sanders's arm mid-air. Utilizing the moment of mid-air momentum-shedding and leveraging the force of Sanders's own arm, he executed a rapid spin. With a standard grappling maneuver, he applied a perfectly timed leverage principle to bend Sanders's extended arm back behind him.

Immediately following this, Zhao Li applied a bone-splitting and tendon-dislocating twist. Exerting force with both hands—*snap*—came a familiar sound. As Sanders's arm went limp, Zhao Li likewise seemed entirely drained of strength, collapsing onto the ground, unable to rise again.

His chest felt as though a massive boulder had been wedged against it. Following so many punches from Sanders, even with condensed true qi cushioning him, Zhao Li found the sensation far from pleasant. He wanted to cough, yet no cough would come; he could only lie there retching dryly, unable to expel a thing, experiencing extreme discomfort. Pain and this strange sensation intertwined, making Zhao Li feel as though he were being dismembered into eight pieces.

"Damn brat, you really can take a beating!" Sanders dragged his limp arm, unable to refrain from cursing aloud. He placed his dislocated joint onto the ground, spread his fingers somewhat clumsily to brace against his arm, and applied a sudden, forceful downward pressure. *Crack*. With a sound, the joint just dislocated by Zhao Li was forcibly pressed back into its original position. The motion was remarkably crisp.

Zhao Li lay unmoving, having yet to dispel all the pain coursing through his body. Retching a few times with nothing coming up, he wheezed, "Hey, Sanders. Was there any need to be this ruthless?"

"When you were turning me upside down in prison, you were far more ruthless than this." Sanders stroked his shoulder; regardless, the newly reset joint still ached.

"Why come here?" Zhao Li sat on the ground, struggling to circulate the Fundamental Bodybuilding Art for a full revolution. Only then did the pain slightly subside, and his dry retching ceased.

"No reason. I wanted to come, so I came." Sanders did not answer the question directly. Rubbing his shoulder and flexing his arm, he walked over to Zhao Li and sat down with his back against a tree.

It was evident that Sanders was not particularly eager to dwell on the subject. Zhao Li changed his angle: "Why appear before me? Surely not just to give me a simple beating to vent your spleen?"

"What? Not allowed?" Sanders did not feel he had completely recovered his face just yet. Although he had held the upper hand, his arm had still been snapped by Zhao Li using leverage, and his tone carried clear reluctance.

"Please, you're making things very difficult for me!" Having experienced so many events, Zhao Li was no longer that simple boy for whom one was one, two was two, right was right, and wrong was wrong.

"How so? Old man Kang can comfortably stay hoarded over there, but I'm not allowed to show up?" Sanders appeared rather dissatisfied with Zhao Li's double standard. "If I'd known, I would have let those gunmen finish you off!"

Following this, both men seemed to have exhausted their energy in their recent meal-digesting workout. They leaned against the tree and rested for a long while, neither speaking a word.

The emergency communicator on Zhao Li's wrist suddenly began to vibrate, buzzing incessantly. This was the signal agreed upon between Zhao Li and Christine; barring exceptional circumstances, Christine would never activate the communicator at random.

"What is it?" Zhao Li straightened up and rose to his feet.

"One of our fighters has been killed. Get back immediately!" Christine's voice was brief and frantic. Hearing that a warrior had been killed caused a rush of heat to flood Zhao Li's brain. "Put everyone on alert and wait for my return!"

"Something happened?" Sanders observed Zhao Li's reaction and posed the question. Zhao Li had no time to explain the situation, nor did he know precisely what had transpired; he merely nodded and began calling Li Mengdie.

"I'll go take a look as well. My bones have been itching for action these past few years," Sanders dropped the remark, then immediately broke into a run toward the spot where they had just eaten, as his pack and gun were located there.

Contacting Li Mengdie, Zhao Li began to fret over the problem of Sanders. This fellow seemed enthusiastic, or perhaps, as he claimed, simply restless from boredom, and was now fully armed and planning to lend a hand. While the addition of Sanders—a specialist in special weaponry—would undoubtedly bolster Zhao Li's combat strength, his background presented a deeply troublesome complication.

"Besides you and old man Kang, who else would know my identity?" Sanders cared not a whit about this concern. "Those bastards wiped out all our records quite generously; doing whatever we please around here won't attract any notice."

"Just who were the ones that staged the prison break?" Zhao Li finally yielded to his curiosity and pressed Sanders on the matter once more.

"Hard to say, but they were definitely soldiers." Sanders still offered no definitive reply, though minor clues could be pieced together from his words. "The ones who broke us out that day certainly weren't a single faction; they raided separate facilities to pull people out and immediately hauled us away. Their exact identities and motives remain unclear. Still, you could say they did a good deed!"

This time, Zhao Li forcefully suppressed the urge to refute Sanders. He knew that from Sanders's perspective, this was all entirely natural; those individuals could well be considered benefactors who delivered them from prison. Even if Sanders said nothing, Zhao Li could not force him to speak further. Moreover, Sanders had clearly shown mercy by not using a gun to end his life from the outset.

While waiting for Li Mengdie's warship, Zhao Li spent the time in internal conflict. Should he accept Sanders's assistance or not? While it would undoubtedly benefit him, Sanders's background was a massive headache.

"You cannot act independently!" After pondering the matter, he concluded that help was needed. Though unaware of the exact trouble on the other end, anything that prompted Christine to trigger an emergency communication within days had to be a major crisis. With Sanders present, he might prove immensely useful.

"Yes, sir!" Sanders was a standard military man through and through, far more disciplined in his acknowledgment than old man Kang's joking attitude.

"Furthermore, you are forbidden to mention your past experiences to anyone, including old man Kang!" Zhao Li emphasized specifically, "Especially old man Kang. You are strictly prohibited from discussing past matters without cause."

"What can be said and what cannot be said, I know better than you." This time, Sanders did not stand on ceremony, directly dealing Zhao Li a minor blow. "When you were still wearing split-crotch pants, I was already an elite in the military."

"Can you locate the positions of the other team members?" The moment Zhao Li boarded the warship, he questioned Li Mengdie.

"Their positioning systems are all active; we can locate them immediately." Li Mengdie, presumably having also received Christine's notification, wasted zero time.

"Pick everyone up and return to the camp!" Time was life, but regardless of the crisis, team members could not simply be left behind. Moreover, judging by Christine's tone, the trouble was immense, and Zhao Li needed the strength of these soldiers.

"What on earth has happened?" Stepping off the warship, Zhao Li immediately sensed that the atmosphere in the base was wrong—it was taut with tension. Every soldier left behind was armed with live ammunition, and the automated defense systems were fully engaged. Could someone be launching a blatant assault on the military camp? Zhao Li already noted that the face of every single soldier bore an expression of fury pushed to its absolute limit.

Christine pointed toward a soldier whose four limbs were entirely encased in plaster casts. "Have him tell you!" Her face was dark, entirely stripped of the soul-stirring allure she usually possessed.

Plaster casts meant all four limbs were broken; the soldier's face was still bruised and swollen in shades of blue and purple, making it certain he had been beaten. At a glance, Zhao Li's sense of justice flared into righteous indignation: "Who did this?"

Aside from Christine, no one in training would strike with such severity. And these soldiers would never provoke Christine at a time like this. Furthermore, one of them had died.

"Sir!" Upon seeing Zhao Li, the injured soldier nearly wept. Zhao Li's face turned leaden: "Who did this? Tell me slowly!"

---

"It was those damned bastards!" The soldier began to recount the sequence of events in a halting voice.

Lately, all operations had fallen into a regular routine. Consequently, two soldiers had requested leave from Christine to visit a nearby city. Christine had specifically checked their records and found that since arriving, neither soldier had ever taken leave; thus, she granted them a one-day pass to go out and unwind.

To their surprise, shortly after leaving the camp and before even reaching the city, they ran into a wandering band of guerrillas. The moment these fellows saw they were wearing military uniforms, they immediately swarmed them.

Given the previous behavior of these former military ruffians, running into guerrillas would normally prompt smooth talk, agreeing to whatever demands were made. However, everyone had recently begun to slowly cultivate a sort of military self-confidence, leading them to speak with considerably less deference than before.

Naturally, this provoked the displeasure of the guerrillas. Immediately, someone manufactured a pretext, stepping forward to shove and jostle them, intending to teach the pair a lesson. Having undergone rigorous, alternating training by Zhao Li and Li Mengdie for so long, the soldiers were hardly about to yield passively and instantly mounted a counterattack.

Because they were on leave, they carried no weapons, but fighting bare-handed, they still managed to floor at least three of their opponents. Consequently, the enraged thugs resorted to rogue tactics, using guns to coerce the two men into performing humiliating acts.

In the past, everyone would naturally have endured whatever they must, seeking no merit but striving to avoid trouble; now, however, the situation was entirely different. The two soldiers remained steadfast, refusing to submit despite being beaten black and blue.

Unable to save face, those thugs turned their fury onto the soldier who showed the most resilience, kicking and punching him in a brutal tag-team assault by over a dozen men until they beat him to death. The surviving soldier did not escape unscathed either; his limbs were broken, and he was dumped onto the main road outside the camp. After firing shots into the air with extreme arrogance as a warning, the thugs swaggered away.

"Do you know who those people were?" Zhao Li struggled to contain his rising fury, forcing his anger down as he questioned the surviving soldier.

"I don't know. They didn't reveal their identities." The soldier was equally unaware of the exact affiliation of the attackers.

"Focus on healing your injuries; the debt owed to you, I will collect!" Patting the soldier and bidding him rest well, Zhao Li turned and left the ward.

Li Mengdie and Christine followed closely behind, while Sanders and old man Kang also overheard the account from outside. Watching Zhao Li emerge with a face full of wrath, Christine bit her lip: "Zhao Li, don't be impulsive!" She had just noticed that while listening to the soldier's narrative, Zhao Li's fists had remained tightly clenched.

"Impulsive?" Hearing Christine's words, he instead grew calm. "Why be impulsive? Rest assured, impulsiveness solves nothing. I know this!"

"What channels are available to broadcast a message to all the guerrilla factions?" Zhao Li turned his attention toward old man Kang. "I want to issue an ultimatum to those guerrillas: whoever did this, hand the culprits over to me!"

"That's simple. Have the city's television station broadcast a few news segments," old man Kang replied offhandedly. "Though I doubt that alone will flush them out into the open."

"Then add a generous dose of arrogant provocation!" Zhao Li retorted instantly. "I want these bastards to jump out themselves! Having killed one of my men, they needn't think they can stroll about freely. If no one steps forward to confess, I'll hunt them down one by one according to the roster!"

"No problem. Those people will see it tonight." Kang Hongyuan seemed to recognize Zhao Li's current fury, offering no persuasion nor contradiction.

"Elite squad, all return to rest!" Zhao Li barked orders as he walked. "Other fighters, continue training. Double up on guard duty at the camp, and ensure everyone prepares for combat!"

"You, come with me!" Pointing at Li Mengdie, Zhao Li led her toward the underground fortification, leaving behind only Christine, Kang Hongyuan, and Sanders.

"If he really does this, it will be extremely dangerous." Christine frowned. "Aren't you going to talk him out of it? They're just two soldiers." Though unaware of Kang Hongyuan's true background, she had observed that Zhao Li frequently deferred to old man Kang's judgment.

"Talk him out of it? How? This is a military camp; when people ride roughshod over your head, are you supposed to pull your head in like a turtle?" Kang Hongyuan displayed a rare burst of spirit. "If your own people suffer a major grievance and you fail to reclaim your honor, it will chill the hearts of every subordinate. Some things simply cannot be swallowed."

"Who are you?" Only now did Christine have the opportunity to inquire about Sanders's identity.

"I'm a friend of Zhao Li!" Sanders spoke in a booming voice. "Besides, I agree with this old man's view. You're not a pure soldier; you don't understand many things!"

The reason Zhao Li had dragged Li Mengdie down with him was his inability to open the hidden weapon vault door. It was shameful to admit: despite possessing the access codes and keys, he lacked the physical strength required to open it.

Halfway there, however, Zhao Li halted his steps. After pondering briefly along the way, he realized such a move was highly inappropriate and instinctively diverted into an adjacent conference room.

At the time, this conference room had housed two boxes of amethyst stones weighing a total of two tons—the very place where Christine had achieved a breakthrough upon beholding that pile of amethysts. Now, the previously cluttered space had been tidied back to normal, and Zhao Li selected a chair and sat down.

"A-Die, I want retaliation. Do you think it's justified?" Zhao Li asked Li Mengdie, who had followed him in. "Or do you have any words to dissuade me?" At some point, Zhao Li had begun calling Li Mengdie "A-Die" when they were alone. And on every such occasion, Li Mengdie's icy demeanor invariably seemed to melt.

Li Mengdie shook her head. "There's nothing to discuss. If they dare to kill, they must bear the consequences of killing."

"Yet Christine seems to hold a different view." Zhao Li was somewhat surprised; despite both hailing from the Genius Academy, their viewpoints diverged sharply.

"She is not combat personnel!" Li Mengdie dismissed the discrepancy in a single sentence. "Her specialization makes her more attentive to your safety and wider outcomes." Remarkably, though Li Mengdie frequently felt displeased by Christine's flirtatious proximity to Zhao Li, she refrained from speaking ill of her.

"I'm sorry, A-Die, for dragging you into this!" Zhao Li felt a tinge of embarrassment; after all, he was considered the commanding officer here, and everything that had transpired stemmed from his orders. Both Li Mengdie and Christine had been dragged down into this morass because of him, and now they might be sucked into this fresh turmoil.

"No need for apologies, Zhao Li." Li Mengdie cared not a whit, wearing an indifferent expression. "The assignment I received upon graduation was simply to participate in various combat scenarios whenever possible to temper myself. Where is combat not combat? This does not conflict."

The Genius Academy's method of training combat cadets was indeed far from simple. Such a solitary arrangement revealed that beyond putting them through rigorous training at the academy, they utilized diverse methods to accumulate practical combat experience.

"Perhaps I should hear out the thoughts of others!" Zhao Li nodded, remaining seated and closing his eyes to rest his mind. Hearing this unpleasant news the moment he returned—though he had managed a brief rest aboard the warship—was still far from enough; days of survival training had expended a vast amount of his energy.

Having given everyone ample time to digest the news, Zhao Li once more gathered the key figures to deliberate on the potential consequences of the upcoming military operation. Aside from Zhao Li and the two women, those participating in the meeting included Old Lai, Gunner, Kang Hongyuan, and the newly returned Sanders.

"Old man, if I launch an attack, what kind of negative repercussions will it produce for us?" The first person Zhao Li consulted was Kang Hongyuan. While this old man might not excel in military tactics, when it came to political foresight, everyone present combined could not match his little finger.

"Trouble!" Kang Hongyuan used a single word to describe it. "The laws here are independent of the Federation; rash military action will cause severe complications for the military. Moreover, a justifiable and reasonable pretext is required. While we possess such a reason, the general public may not necessarily accept it."

Kang Hongyuan's response took Christine somewhat aback. Having solemnly agreed on the need for retaliation only a short while ago, he now declared that such a course of action was extremely troublesome. Exactly whose side was this old man on?

"I agree with the old man's assessment. I still advise against acting rashly." Christine glanced at Sanders, alongside Old Lai and Gunner, keeping her tone guarded. "Such an approach is unfavorable to our safety. If it must be done, I suggest appealing upward for reinforcements first—at least submitting a report." Her words offered a subtle reminder concerning their safety. After all, they numbered fewer than two hundred people, whereas the adversary was brazen, and regardless of which faction they belonged to, none were foes the garrison could easily contend with.

"Old Lai, Gunner, you two are familiar with this place; do you have any opinions?" Zhao Li did not answer directly, turning his attention to Old Lai and Gunner instead.

"It's troublesome, sir!" Old Lai spoke on behalf of both. "Still, if we do nothing at all, how would that differ from the past?"

"We're merely discussing *how* to do it, not *whether* we should do it!" Zhao Li nodded, offering them a reassuring look. Hearing those words, the two men fell silent, offering no further objection.

"When is the declaration scheduled to be broadcast?" Zhao Li inquired again.

"Tonight, or by tomorrow night at the latest, we should have a response," Kang Hongyuan answered succinctly. "Besides, Christine has a point; at the very least, we cannot launch an operation within a day or two, and reporting upward to your superiors is only proper."

"Old Lai, Gunner, I need all available intelligence concerning the organizations operating in this region. Gather and organize everything you can find." Zhao Li began issuing directives.

"Yes, sir!" The two snapped to their feet in unison.

"Old man, you take charge of our propaganda tone—ensure every local resident feels we have suffered a monstrous grievance, and make sure public opinion overwhelmingly supports and sympathizes with us." There was no one more suited for the task than Kang Hongyuan; Zhao Li made no empty polite gestures and issued the command directly.

"Entirely? Impossible." Kang Hongyuan was not a military man, and his style of answering differed from a soldier's. "Still, I can only do my utmost; I cannot guarantee the outcome." Even in his reply, he remained airtight, leaving no loophole for anyone to find fault with his phrasing.

"Sanders, for the next few days, I need you to train everyone as thoroughly as possible in the essentials of team-tactical firing." Zhao Li did not spare Sanders either; since the man had arrived, he had to be put to work.

"Yes, sir!" Sanders was a pure soldier. Though holding no official rank, his manner of responding was identical to that of the two enlisted men. "If time permits, I suggest you seek out James. He's also here, and I believe he will prove immensely helpful."

"James?" Zhao Li felt a flicker of surprise, though he quickly regained his composure. It was from James's lips that he had first heard the designation of the Five-Star Gold region, which was why Zhao Li had chosen this place. His presence here was not entirely unbelievable; what remained unknown was why they had all concentrated in this location.

Sanders's words carried weight. If James, an aviation expert, stepped in, the combat capability of the base's warships would instantly increase tenfold. Backed by military warships, their odds of victory would be far greater.

"Where is he located? Bring me to him tomorrow." Zhao Li shifted from calm to excitement; reuniting with another prison companion could certainly be counted as good news.

"Christine, we need to talk!" Having settled these arrangements, Zhao Li finally addressed Christine. Regardless of everything, Christine was a supporter, and at least internally, no discord could be permitted. Zhao Li still needed to maintain essential communication with her. Christine nodded and followed Zhao Li out of the conference room.

"...I want to understand!" On the screen, General Lucas furrowed his brows. From the moment he heard what Zhao Li intended to do, he had kept his brow furrowed in silence.

"General!" Seeing that General Lucas remained silent, Zhao Li could not help calling out. What on earth was this General Lucas pondering? Could it be that he had no desire to alter the current status of the border planets? Surely, with his strength as at least an eighth-grade master, bringing along a single special operations team would be enough to sweep through the entire region!

"You surely know the special circumstances of the border regions, don't you?" General Lucas finally smoothed his furrowed brow, as if having reached a decision.

"Yes, General, I do!" Zhao Li stood rigidly at attention, maintaining the posture even before the communication screen separated by a thousand miles—a display of a subordinate's etiquette and respect toward a superior. "However..." He paused slightly, looking at the general with mild uncertainty, hoping to secure permission.

"Continue!" Anticipating that Zhao Li was about to utter something unpleasant, General Lucas remained unbothered; he, too, wished to hear precisely what the people below were thinking. And apart from someone as audacious as Zhao Li, no one else would dare speak such truths to him.

"I believe, General, that the military holds certain flaws in its strategy for handling the border planets." Zhao Li carefully marshaled his vocabulary, striving not to provoke excessive resentment from above. "The indulgence toward these underground factions is simply too great—to an absurd degree, where anyone dares point fingers at the military garrison stationed here, and even subjects it to humiliation."

"Furthermore, I contend," Zhao Li reiterated that this was merely his personal perspective, "that the military has completely forfeited its majesty in this region. The deterrent effect of the former garrison has been reduced to a mere formality. The soldiers suffer from low morale and lack even the most basic sense of belonging. It is a terrible state of affairs, General!"

"Finished?" General Lucas had listened quietly throughout, never interrupting Zhao Li. Hearing him pause, the general finally spoke.

"Yes, General!" Zhao Li answered earnestly. Realizing that what he had said was indeed somewhat excessive, he quickly added an apology: "I apologize, General; I spoke out of turn."

"It doesn't matter!" General Lucas cared nothing for such trifles. What concerned him was that Zhao Li had spent merely a few months here, yet had somehow managed to rekindle the pride of those hopeless military ruffians as soldiers.

"Then, in your opinion, does the military possess the strength to completely straighten out the border regions?" Casually posing a question to Zhao Li, General Lucas picked up the coffee cup on his desk and took a slow sip.

"Yes!" In the strength of the military, Zhao Li held absolute faith. Even if they could not simultaneously eliminate every underground faction across the entire border region, eradicating them one or a few at a time was well within their capability. And that was merely employing the forces of the military district, without even mobilizing the entire Federal military.

"Then do you suppose we are willing to watch the military degenerate into this state?" Instead, General Lucas grew relaxed, setting down his coffee and leaning comfortably back into his spacious chair. "Sit down and speak."

"Thank you, General!" Zhao Li obediently took a seat, gazing at the general on the screen. Regarding General Lucas's question, he harbored lingering doubts: "Could there be some special reason behind this?"

The law? Zhao Li certainly did not believe that a region swarming with terrorists and drug traffickers possessed some sort of democratic legal framework capable of halting military operations. Manufacturing a pretext was far too easy—so easy that one could grab a handful at will. Since that was the case, a deeper underlying reason must exist.

"Naturally!" General Lucas did not conceal it in the slightest. "Every phenomenon exists for a reason, and the same holds true here."

Since the general phrased it thus, he evidently intended to offer an explanation. Zhao Li straightened his posture, waiting to receive instruction.

"First, under circumstances where the situation in all other regions is flourishing and stable, the military requires a chaotic region to maintain the combat bloodline of its troops and serve as a training ground!" General Lucas explained unhurriedly. Though his tone was casual, Zhao Li knew that what the general was now revealing could be considered top-secret among the military high command. Speaking of it to him was a clear sign that he was regarded as one of their own.

"A training ground?" Just as Zhao Li hesitated for a fraction of a second, General Lucas on the opposite end chuckled. "Naturally. Could there be a more suitable location than this? You have troops, you have factions; drug lords if you want them, terrorists if you need them. Every year, our special operations forces conduct actual combat training right here, and the results have been remarkable."

In Zhao Li's mind, the image of the secret underground armory beneath the garrison instantly flashed. The weaponry stored there was certainly not meant for ordinary soldiers; it had previously been designated for specialized personnel, and now the purpose finally made sense. As the general stated, the region suffered no shortage of mission targets.

"Secondly, the existence of such a chaotic region helps elevate the military's standing within the government." Regarding this point, General Lucas did not elaborate further, merely dropping the single sentence. Zhao Li did not fully grasp the implications; political matters were sometimes simple to the point of absurdity, yet at other times complex beyond measure.

"Do those government officials simply turn a blind eye?" Zhao Li remained perplexed as to why a border region would enhance the military's stature, though he understood that for politicians, the prosperity and stability of all regions under their governance reflected their administrative achievements—a goal diametrically opposed to the military's original intention of preserving chaos here.

"What do they know?" General Lucas dismissed those so-called politicians with palpable disdain. "Aside from talking about democracy, they know only elections, or else power and influence. To legally alter the border region, one would have to amend its laws. Yet how could the underground factions of the border regions ever permit such an amendment? Their representatives and spokesmen either dare not come, or are eliminated the moment they arrive. How could change ever occur?"

"If the combat capability of the troops is being maintained, why are we still suffering defeats in the war against the rebels?" While Zhao Li remained noncommittal regarding the reasons for the border region's existence, his concern for the ongoing war with the rebels remained paramount.