Chapter 856: The Glorious Years
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Meng Chao was stunned.
“That’s the Red Dragon Army?” he muttered.
“That’s right, that’s the Red Dragon Army.”
Long Feijun gripped his knees tightly, and the veins on the back of his hands popped up.
He seemed to be calm as he said, “When the Red Dragon Army was first established, it was an army of cannon fodder, a motley crew, and a group of ineffective underlings that followed the peerless experts.
“Our main responsibility was to carry out the hard, dirty, and tiring tasks. We simply experienced low-level battles repeatedly and did not make much progress in our cultivation. Maybe we would not meet an enemy for half a year, but whenever we did, it would be an overwhelming beast horde. We had to use our lives to sound the alarm and buy precious time.
.
“Therefore, what that superhuman from Universe Corporation said in the cafeteria the other day was absolutely correct.
“It was precisely because he wasn’t wrong that he hit a sore spot. It was precisely because he hit a sore spot that Ma Hong and the others became so angry.”
“This…”
Meng Chao did not know what to say.
“Originally, the heads of the nine major gangs or families had planned things out perfectly. With the cannon fodder army of the Red Dragon Army to carry out simple and repet.i.tive low-level missions and take the monsters’ sharp claws and fangs with their flesh and bones when the torrential beast horde appeared, the peerless experts and the elite troops they raised would be able to complete their missions. Although it was not easy, the missions with the highest ‘profit margin’ would be ‘taking the general’s head from the army of ten thousand soldiers.’ They would be able to kill the Nightmarish Beasts, the h.e.l.l Beasts, and the Apocalyptic Beasts effortlessly. They would be able to harvest and monopolize the most abundant resources from the superbeasts.”
Long Feijun continued, “However heavy the casualties of the cannon fodder troops, it didn’t matter because the Red Dragon Army was under the direct command of the Survival Committee. In theory, it belonged to all the citizens of Dragon City. It wasn’t the mega corporations’ private armed forces.
“In that case, the life of the disabled soldiers and the compensation for the dead soldiers would naturally not be the responsibility of the mega corporations. The heavy financial pressure would fall on the Survival Committee.
“I have to admit that the plan was indeed well-conceived.
“It was as perfect as when the ‘gangs’ transformed into ‘corporations’ and threw all their burdens to the Survival Committee, only to take all the benefits for themselves.
“During the first ten years, the mechanism worked very ‘well.’
“With the Red Dragon Army taking on all the hard, dirty, and tiring work, the superhumans from the nine major families were finally able to free themselves from the simple, repet.i.tive, low-level battles of attrition, which were like a millstone of flesh and blood. They could then focus on more interesting missions with higher profit margins.
“They also had a lot of free time to explore the mysteries of the spirit energy domain, construct brand-new spirit magnetic fields, and develop more complicated and powerful combat modes.
“The Red Dragon Army sacrificed a million tons of blood to help the powerhouses triumph over the overwhelming beast horde. They also used torrents of steel and indiscriminate bombardment to knock out the high-level monsters, allowing the powerhouses to easily kill the monsters, then harvest, occupy, and devour their flesh and blood.
“As a result, the powerhouses of the nine great families, the descendants of the peerless experts, naturally became stronger and stronger. The status of the so-called ‘cultivation aristocratic families’ also grew more and more stable.
“The powerhouses became stronger, which in turn highlighted their importance and their rationality of controlling Dragon City. After all, although the Red Dragon Army had shed blood and sweat, as well as suffered heavy casualties, their combat ability was not strong. Many battles were quite ugly. When they encountered enemies above the ‘h.e.l.l level,’ they had to call for support from the powerhouses or even peerless warriors.
“At that time, a typical encounter was often like this. First of all, Red Dragon Army troops, which was patrolling in the wilderness in order to seek the enemy would get what they want and alert the monsters lurking in the depths of the mist.
“The Red Dragon Army relied on firearms, bayonets, fists, and teeth to fight the monsters to the death first. They would drain each other till the last drop of blood, and at the same time, they would call for backup.
“When the Nightmarish Beasts, h.e.l.l Beasts, and even the Apocalyptic Beasts on the monsters’ side swaggered into the battlefield, the Red Dragon Army, which had suffered heavy casualties, finally wouldn’t be able to hold on any longer.
“Of course, our desperate counterattacks also cost a lot of the low-level soldiers of the monster civilization and consumed the spirit energy and ‘health bar’ of the high-level monsters.
“Seeing that we were about to be completely annihilated, the experts affiliated to the nine super corporations and the nine n.o.ble families finally arrived late. They appeared in front of us in the posture of ‘divine weapons falling from the sky and shining gloriously,’ slaying the high-level monsters and securing victory. While they harvested all the resources, they also became our saviors.
“The nine mega corporations all have their own public relations departments.
“The powerhouses who come from rich families pay great attention to publicity.
“When they come out to train and fight, most of them take their own teams and take a lot of photos and videos in real time.
“Therefore, in the press releases that are sent back to Dragon City, the powerhouses are the absolute protagonists.
“Standing in the air, surrounded by electric arcs and covered in a layer of golden armor by the sunlight, they look like heavenly soldiers and generals. They are in sharp contrast to the Red Dragon Army, whose faces are covered in blood, dust, ragged clothes, and bruises.
“The main point of the report was also, ‘a certain expert killed a h.e.l.l Beast; a certain expert heavily wounded and forced back the Apocalyptic Beast; a certain expert received a distress signal from a certain division of the Red Dragon Army and stopped his crucial training without hesitation. He arrived in time at the critical moment and saved the situation’, and so on.
“As for the b.l.o.o.d.y battle between the Red Dragon Army and the overwhelming beast horde in the dozens of hours before the experts of the major clans arrived, n.o.body publicized it or cared about it. After all, it was just a low-level battle between cannon fodder and cannon fodder.
“On one side is cannon fodder, and on the other side is the savior who turned the tide. Whoever has the greater battle merits is more qualified to get the strategic resources. If there is only one high-level monster and it can only harvest one rare material, who should it belong to? Isn’t it d.a.m.n obvious?”
Long Feijun was excited.
He slapped out his palm, leaving a palm print so deep that his bones could be seen.
Meng Chao’s pupils constricted as he said, “Senior brother long, you’re drunk.”
“That’s right. I’m drunk. Just treat it as if I’m drunk. These are all drunken words. They’re all nonsense.”
Long Feijun’s eyes were red, but his lips were frighteningly white. His teeth had even left several rows of deep teeth marks. He patted Meng Chao’s shoulder forcefully and said with a hoa.r.s.e voice, “You have no idea, Meng Chao. You are still too young. You have no idea how tough and difficult the red dragon army was at that time.
“Let’s not talk about anything else. Let’s talk about the ten great expeditions, the millions of Red Dragon Army, the millions of hot-blooded young men, the sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, husbands, and wives of the millions of citizens of Dragon City. They were all sent to the primitive forests where the mist lingered and the Miasma was everywhere. There were no roads at all. Spiritual plants were growing crazily, and snakes, insects, rats, and ants were lurking in the darkness.
“In fact, judging from the strategic situation at that time, the human beings who had not fully grasped the spiritual energy training, rune technology, and genetic modification had neither the ability nor the need to launch such a large-scale expedition rashly.
“Even those without military common sense could see that such an expedition would certainly suffer heavy casualties.
“Since the monsters were constantly coming at us, we could certainly defend the fortified city and wait for them to be exhausted. While we recovered our vitality and acc.u.mulated technology, we could also patiently wait for the mist to become thinner and for the s.p.a.ce and climate to become more stable.
“But those supreme experts can’t wait any longer.
“In order to break through the limits of their lives and peek into the secrets of surpa.s.sing the Deity Realm, they can’t wait to find the lair of the high-level monsters. They want to exchange blows with more Nightmarish Beasts, h.e.l.l Beasts, and Apocalyptic Beasts. They want to seize the natural treasures near the lair of the high-level monsters. They want to acc.u.mulate more cultivation resources and battle data so that they can prepare for the next stage of their evolution.
“They got what they wanted.
“During the ten great expeditions, those peerless experts killed a large number of high-level monsters and acc.u.mulated abundant data and resources. Many Heaven Realm experts broke through to the Deity realm, while seven-star Deities broke through to eight-star or even nine-star Deities. They became extremely powerful existences that were on par with the Battle G.o.d.
“Their families and businesses also received generous rewards through the expeditions.
“However, millions of casualties occurred in the Red Dragon Army. Countless of the most enthusiastic and excellent young men were turned into broken bones in the wilderness.
“No. The Red Dragon Army is not afraid of sacrifice.
“If it is for Dragon City, for all the citizens, for our homeland and civilization, even if we have another hundred expeditions, even if the Red Dragon Army has to fight until the last drop of blood is shed, we will still face death without any regrets!
“I’m afraid that –”
“Brother Long, you are drunk.”
Meng Chao reminded him for the second time.
He grabbed long Feijun’s trembling arm.
Long Feijun was slightly dazed. He wiped his face with the cold rain and took a few deep breaths before he smiled and said, “That’s right. I am drunk. Very drunk.
“Forget it. Today is the day of victory. There is no need to talk about such unhappy things. Let’s talk about something happy!
“Originally, the Red Dragon Army would have been a ragtag army for the rest of their lives. They would never have been able to become the main force to defend Dragon City.
“However, unlike so many weak ragtag armies from the past and the present, we have something that they would never have. For an army, it is the most important thing.
“That is inheritance and glory. That is the soul of the army!
“Wu Tiedao, the founder of the Red Dragon Army, was one of the few survivors of the army of glory that had been wiped out in order to protect Dragon City in the past.
“Although he was just an ordinary soldier in the past…
“Glory, pride, responsibility, and mission had long been pa.s.sed on to him. They had been integrated into his blood and marrow. After the Red Dragon Army was established, they were branded into every soldier’s chest.
“The Red Dragon Army had nothing when it was founded.
“There were no magnificent killing techniques, no abundant spiritual energy, no rune machines, and no genetic technology. Even the guns, ammunition, and heavy weaponry from the old world were seriously inadequate.
“There was only one thing that was burning in the chest of every red dragon soldier and would never be extinguished.
“That is the mind.
“Fortunately, the Other World happens to be a world where the mind can influence and even decide the matter.
“The boiling brain waves are more powerful than sharp swords and whistling bullets.”