180: Chapter 180 Military Camp Conflict

"Out of the way!"

Jiang Mo and several others were at the very front, carrying Qin Ce. Behind them were over twenty team members soaked in blood, followed by limping Pet Beasts.

The group was like a turbid torrent, surging through the gates of the Wuji Army camp.

In the camp, the various squads had just finished their training.

Some were grooming their Pet Beasts, some were squatting at the barracks entrance eating, and others were gathered together gambling on today's training results.

Hearing the commotion, they looked up. Seeing the blood-stained team, they were momentarily stunned before crowding around.

"Yo, isn't this the Seventh Squad?"

"They actually came back? I bet on their total annihilation; isn't this intentionally making me lose money?"

"Wait, let me count. One, two, three... over twenty? All in one piece? Are you kidding me?"

"Could it be they didn't actually fight any beasts and just hid in a ravine for the day?"

"Looks like it to me. Look at half of them—they don't even have a wound on them, just Earth Lizard blood. They probably just picked up a few carcasses to come back and complete the mission."

The murmurs rose from all directions like a swarm of flies smelling blood.

More people crowded around: soldiers in uniform, bare-chested veterans, and squad leaders riding their Pet Beasts.

They blocked the Seventh Squad at the camp entrance, surrounding them several layers deep until it was completely impassable.

"Let us through!" Jiang Mo's voice was hoarse, like sandpaper grinding on wood. "We have wounded, let us through!"

No one moved.

A burly, fierce-looking veteran stepped forward, reaching out to pull back the blanket covering Qin Ce. "Let me see, where's the injury? Don't tell me he's faking it?"

Jiang Mo stepped sideways to block him. The man's hand slapped Jiang Mo's shoulder, causing him to stagger.

Jiang Mo's leg injury hadn't fully healed, and he nearly fell from the blow, but he stubbornly protected Qin Ce behind him and managed to steady himself.

"I said move!" Jiang Mo's voice rose, carrying a suppressed, extreme fury.

Still, no one moved.

Some were laughing, some were heckling, and others were whispering about how many military merits the Seventh Squad could get or how the gambling pool at the cafeteria entrance should be settled.

Those who had bet on the Seventh Squad's total annihilation shouted for refunds, while those who bet on a few returning argued for payouts based on the head count.

It was chaotic, like a boiling pot of porridge.

Someone else tried to pull back the blanket to check on Qin Ce's condition.

But before that hand could touch Qin Ce's collar, it was seized by another hand.

Feng Bao.

He stood behind Jiang Mo, his face ashen, his knuckles turning white as he gripped the wrist.

The man grimaced in pain and tried to pull his hand back, but he couldn't budge.

"You motherf—"

Feng Bao did not let go.

He raised his other hand, and as the light of summoning flashed in his palm, the massive silhouette of the Chi Tiger Beast appeared beside him.

The Silver Rank Pet Beast's fur bristled all over, a low growl vibrating in its throat, while thunder crackled at the tips of its claws.

"I said," Feng Bao's voice wasn't loud, but every word seemed squeezed through his teeth, "move."

Thunder Light Claw.

The Chi Tiger Beast's claw swung out violently, and the thunder exploded into a dazzling electric arc in the air.

The arc connected the person in front and those in the fan-shaped area behind him, slamming into the flagpole next to the camp gate.

Boom—!

The flagpole was snapped in two by the lightning. The upper half collapsed with a crash, kicking up a cloud of dust as it hit the ground.

Following that, like dumplings being dropped into a pot, over a dozen people tumbled onto the flagpole.

The onlookers felt as if a bucket of ice water had been poured over their heads.

The laughter, the murmurs, and the arguments all vanished in that instant.

Everyone retreated, driven by an instinctive dread of this Silver Rank attack.

Feng Bao stood in the center of the area with the Chi Tiger Beast crouching at his feet, thunder still crackling at its claws.

His gaze swept over those who were retreating and those shocked and uncertain faces, finally landing on the thuggish soldiers at the front who had been heckling the loudest.

"Whoever blocks the way next," Feng Bao's voice remained quiet, "the next one won't just be blasted away."

No one moved again.

No one spoke.

Even their breathing was hushed.

Jiang Mo carried Qin Ce through the gap the crowd had opened.

Then the others followed, one by one, silently passing through the narrow path formed by the wall of people.

No one reached out again, no one heckled, and no one made sarcastic remarks.

Those thuggish soldiers watched this blood-soaked team pass before them—watching the wounded, the battered survivors, and the greenhorns recently recruited from the refugee camp—and they saw the expressions on their faces.

It wasn't fear, but tension, and something deeper and heavier.

Like a blade, like iron, like a spring compressed to its limit.

The members of the Seventh Squad didn't give those people another look.

They crossed the crowd, the training grounds, and the narrow paths between barracks, rushing straight for the infirmary.

Behind them, Feng Bao still stood where he was.

He watched the Seventh Squad walk away, then turned to face the crowd that had not yet dispersed.

His expression was very calm, as calm as a pool of stagnant water.

"What just happened was my doing alone," his voice wasn't loud, but it carried far in the deathly silent camp. "It has nothing to do with the Seventh Squad, nor was it ordered by Captain Qin Ce. Whatever the punishment, I will take full responsibility."

No one answered. No one dared to answer.

In the distance, members of the Law Enforcement Team were running toward them.

Feng Bao saw them. He didn't run, he didn't hide, he didn't even move.

He just stood there with the Chi Tiger Beast crouching at his feet. The thunder had already dissipated, and the beast was licking a wound on its paw as if nothing had happened.

"Let's go," Feng Bao said to the Chi Tiger Beast.

The Chi Tiger Beast stood up and followed behind him as the man and beast were led away by the Law Enforcement Team.

Infirmary.

When the door was burst open, the military doctor inside was startled.

Jiang Mo rushed in carrying Qin Ce, with Lei Gang and Sun Lie following behind, and over twenty wounded team members behind them.

They placed Qin Ce on a bed, and then, as if all their strength had been drained, some slid down the wall to sit on the floor, some slumped by the bedside, and some simply lay down on the ground.

"Doctor! Quick!" Jiang Mo's voice was so hoarse it was almost inaudible.

The military doctor was a woman in her forties, a Silver Rank healing-type Beast Tamer.

She glanced at the blood-covered young man on the bed, then at the injured team members crowding the infirmary. Her brow furrowed, but she didn't ask questions.

She summoned her Pet Beast—a pure white Silver Horned Deer, palm-sized, with antlers emitting a soft white light.

The Silver Horned Deer hopped onto Qin Ce's chest, and the white light from its antlers poured down, enveloping Qin Ce entirely.

Qin Ce's body gave a sudden jolt.

The bits of Healing Condensed Light fell onto his skin like raindrops on parched earth, absorbed instantly.

His body greedily devoured this energy—meridians, muscles, bones, and internal organs were all frantically absorbing it.

Then, Reborn was activated.

As the Healing Condensed Light flooded into Qin Ce's body, Reborn converted this external energy into restorative power, flowing through his meridians to his entire body. Severed meridians reconnected, torn muscles regrew, and damaged organs healed.

Qin Ce's complexion changed at a speed visible to the naked eye, from deathly pale to ashen, and then to normal.

His breathing went from faint to steady, then to strong. His fingers twitched, followed by his eyelids, then his lips.

The military doctor's brow furrowed even deeper.

She had treated many wounded, but she had never seen anyone recover this quickly.

This young man's body was like a precise machine; her Healing Condensed Light had merely refueled it, and it had started running on its own.

"He's fine now." The military doctor withdrew the Spiritual Light Rabbit, her voice flat. "He's tough; he won't die."

Jiang Mo's body suddenly went limp, and he slid down against the edge of the bed to sit on the floor.

Lei Gang lay directly on the ground, gasping for air. Sun Lie leaned against the wall with his eyes closed, his shoulders trembling slightly.

Then, one by one, those team members who had been holding on, gritting their teeth, and not daring to collapse, fell to the ground like dominoes.