2: The first little brother

Turning off the communication channel, Li Xiao spread his hand, and two conscription orders, similar to mobile USB drives, appeared in his hand.

He pondered for a moment, and one of the conscription orders vanished, followed by the appearance of a young Asian man outside the door, dressed in combat fatigues, fully armed, with yellow skin and a black buzz cut.

“Reporting! G-Class 1-Star Private Di Yun reports for duty as ordered!”

A booming voice, a sturdy and upright posture, and a resolute, masculine appearance were Li Xiao's first impressions of Di Yun.

“Haha! Is this my first subordinate?”

As the system stated, although he was a newly refreshed subordinate, he was still a living, breathing individual with his own thoughts, just like Li Xiao.

Li Xiao quickly went to greet him; it was said that a good attitude was necessary to win the support of one's subordinates.

He also checked Di Yun's personal information.

【Name: Di Yun】

【Occupation: Army Infantry】

【Loyalty: 60】

【Overall Ability: G-Class 1-Star / Health 100, Rank / Private (0 / 20), Position / None】

【Equipment: Type 03 Combat Uniform / Kevlar Tactical Helmet, Tactical Rucksack, QBZ19 Assault Rifle / 300 rounds, Type 05 Automatic Pistol / 40 rounds, Type 91 All-Plastic Offensive/Defensive Hand Grenade / 1, Flashbang / 1, Smoke Grenade / 1, Individual Field Rations / 1】

...Di Yun's personal data was quite detailed, and a nice bonus was that newly conscripted troops came with a basic load of ammunition and supplies.

Li Xiao had just been thinking that if someone had no gun, it would be pure cannon fodder, but now he was spared a lot of trouble.

However, from the overall ability, it seemed that each soldier's combat power depended on their rating and equipment. In other words, even if they were both Army Infantry, different levels, star ratings, and equipment could lead to vastly different outcomes in combat.

“Good, Di Yun, from now on we will fight side by side. But I don't have a gun yet, could I borrow your pistol?”

Li Xiao stared enviously at the pistol hanging on Di Yun's right thigh; he had never seen a real one before.

“Of course, Commander!”

Li Xiao had only asked out of curiosity, not expecting Di Yun to actually agree.

The other party pulled out the square, exquisite pistol with a black brushed metal texture: “Commander, would you like me to explain it to you?”

“Of course!”

Li Xiao hadn't even seen a gun, let alone fired one. If not now, when would he learn?

“The Type 05 automatic pistol is currently the standard close-quarters weapon in service in my Dragon Country. It uses 9mm caliber universal pistol rounds, has an effective range of fifty meters, a magazine capacity of 10+1 rounds, and features both single-shot and automatic firing modes. It can be fitted with various tactical accessories, including extended magazines and holographic sights!”

Di Yun rattled off the pistol's specifications as if he knew them by heart, making Li Xiao itch with anticipation, especially when he heard that the gun could achieve full-auto rapid firing like a rifle or submachine gun. He couldn't wait to try it out.

“However, in automatic mode, the recoil is quite large, and the shooting accuracy will be greatly reduced, requiring a shooter with profound shooting experience to unleash its power.”

“Then you should teach me to practice single-shot first.”

Li Xiao had wanted to try the pistol's full-auto mode, but after hearing that a beginner might dislocate his wrist, he decided against it.

After half an hour of basic explanation and ten live rounds of shooting, Li Xiao mastered his first skill in this world.

With a pistol, his uneasy mood eased considerably. Now, at least, he would have some ability to fight back if he encountered danger.

Li Xiao then used the second conscription order. This time, it was still a soldier in combat fatigues and a helmet, but unlike the first, he did not carry a main weapon like an assault rifle.

Instead, he carried a dark green alloy toolbox, and besides the same rucksack, he also had a multi-functional Engineer's shovel on his back.

“Reporting! Engineer Ye Ming reports for duty as ordered!”

“Ha, an Engineer, that's great!”

Li Xiao was overjoyed when he heard Ye Ming was an Engineer. Engineers specialize in resource collection and building construction.

Getting an Engineer on the first day meant he could start collecting resources and upgrading the base earlier.

It was certainly better than players who had two combat units.

“Alright, what should we do now? Let me think... Hmm, let's collect resources first. Ye Ming, do you know where to collect resources?”

The information instilled by the system only included basic knowledge and operating methods, but more specific information was missing. So, he had to ask Ye Ming, as he was the professional.

“Reporting, Commander, if you want to upgrade the base, you need three types of resources: steel, fuel, and rare minerals. The best way to obtain these three resources is to occupy corresponding production buildings or mining points.”

Ye Ming paused and continued: “For example, steel corresponds to steel mills/iron mines, fuel corresponds to oil refineries/oil wells, and rare minerals correspond to rare mineral processing plants/rare mineral deposits.”

“However, most of these places are currently occupied by the Black Hawk Empire, and usually, large-scale main forces of the Empire are stationed there!”

At this point, Di Yun spoke from behind, and Ye Ming nodded in agreement: “Yes, Squad Leader Di is telling the truth.”

In the military, new recruits usually call older soldiers who served before them “Squad Leader,” and Ye Ming was very respectful of this tradition.

“Then what should we do? Can we steal them?” Li Xiao frowned, somewhat displeased.

“Commander, given our current sparse forces, we cannot launch an effective attack on regular resource points. Therefore, we can only conduct scattered collection, which means infiltrating the combat zone and collecting scattered resources from within, accumulating small amounts into large ones.”

As soon as Ye Ming said this, Li Xiao immediately understood. So, the Engineer's resource collection ability was essentially sneaking into the combat zone to pick up scraps... “Although the speed cannot compare to the automatic mass production of resource buildings, this is currently the most effective plan. With my current ability, I should be able to collect 5 points of steel or fuel per hour. Of course, rare minerals will be slower, as they need to be extracted from a large amount of electrical equipment.”

“Alright, it seems this is the only way. Then, without further ado, let's set off now!”

“Commander, are you also going to act personally?” Di Yun asked, puzzled.

“Of course!”

Although the base was 100% safe, he couldn't just stay in his small plot of land and wait to die.

Only by going out and gaining more information could he hope to survive in the harsh war environment of the future. If he was afraid of death, he would die even faster!

What Li Xiao didn't know was that when he decided to act together, the loyalty values of the two soldiers had already begun to quietly increase.

Li Xiao opened the map system. This map system could switch between 3D and planar displays, and the altitude and climate characteristics of various terrains were presented in real-time dynamic display, which was very conducive to observation and action.

However, currently, he could only see the terrain within a one-kilometer radius centered on his base; everything beyond that was covered by a black mist.

“It seems we need to explore the situation outside!”

Li Xiao pondered for a moment and decided to explore eastward first, because on the map, there was a highway running southwest to northeast, and perhaps along the way, they could collect some resources.