252: Chapter 252 No one greets us; the beginning of the show of force.

Su Chen put away the holographic map. He paid no further attention to the logistics officer who was trembling with fear.

With his hands in his trench coat pockets, Su Chen turned and left the registration desk. Jiang Feng and Lin Qinghan followed closely behind.

Under the complex and horrified gazes of thousands of veterans in the barracks hall, the three of them walked along the internal corridor of the fortress, heading toward the outermost, most peripheral defense zone of the Far North Defense Line.

The further they walked, the dimmer the light became. The spiritual energy lamps on the ceiling of the corridor were in disrepair, occasionally emitting a "buzzing" electrical sound and flickering on and off.

They had only walked a few kilometers when the surrounding environment deteriorated sharply!

"Hiss..." Jiang Feng gasped, the white breath he exhaled instantly freezing into ice crystals in the air. "Brother Chen, why did the temperature drop so quickly?"

Jiang Feng rubbed his thick arms. He was horrified to discover that a thick layer of black ice had formed on the metal walls on both sides of the corridor at some point!

The large-scale spiritual energy heating Formation that had been operating steadily inside the fortress had completely disappeared in this area! There wasn't even a trace of warmth!

Gale-force winds poured in through the cracks in the corridor, whistling past their ears like ghosts wailing.

"The heating Formation has been cut off." Lin Qinghan gripped her frost sword, a hint of coldness flashing in her clear, cold eyes.

She looked at the howling wind and snow at the end of the corridor. "This is the defense zone closest to the ground projection point of the Star Gate rift."

"Every time the Abyss beasts strike the Steel Great Wall, this place is the primary Breakthrough point."

"Therefore, it is also called the 'Number One Meat Grinder' by the frontline soldiers."

Lin Qinghan turned her head to look at Su Chen.

"The conservative warlords assigned you here and deliberately cut off all logistical heating. Their malicious intent is obvious."

"They never intended for you to leave the Far North alive."

Faced with this death trap of a defense zone, Su Chen's pace didn't even falter for a second.

"They won't give us a way to live." Su Chen's voice echoed in the icy corridor, revealing an arrogance that would trample everything underfoot.

"Then I will carve out a path myself."

The three of them braved the biting cold wind and walked to the end of the corridor.

The view ahead suddenly opened up. The blizzard rushed toward them once again.

"We're here." Jiang Feng narrowed his eyes and looked forward.

This was Death Ridge. The garrison of the [Shura Camp]—the cannon fodder battalion with a 90% mortality rate across the entire Great Xia military!

According to the ironclad military regulations of Great Xia, when a new Major General Battalion Commander takes office, the battalion's Deputy Battalion Commander must lead all the officers of the battalion, dressed in full uniform, to line up outside the camp gate and fire a salute in welcome!

This is a soldier's rule! And even more so, the most basic respect for a superior officer!

However, when the three of them stepped through the heavy snow that reached over their knees and arrived in front of the gate to the Shura Camp's garrison, the scene before them was so desolate that it made one's blood boil with rage!

There was a deathly silence all around. Only the wind and snow were howling.

Outside the gate, there was no one!

No orderly honor guard! No welcoming adjutant! Not even a single private standing guard!

"Where are these bastards?" Jiang Feng widened his eyes and looked around.

What appeared before them was an extremely dilapidated, one might even say shabby, gate.

This gate was not a standard military defensive hatch at all. Instead, it was crudely welded and pieced together from a few discarded heavy mecha wrecks!

The surface of the wreckage was covered in dark red dried bloodstains and thick rust, exuding a strong aura of death and decay.

Next to the gate, a watchtower originally used for surveillance had long since collapsed halfway. It was covered in thick black snow.

"Caw! Caw!" A few extremely harsh and unpleasant strange cries suddenly came from the watchtower.

Jiang Feng looked up. He saw a few "Carrion Mutant Crows," large as vicious dogs, perched on the broken wooden pillar.

These Crows' eyes were a bloodthirsty scarlet. In their sharp beaks, they were tightly gripping a piece of withered bone that was either human or beast.

While greedily gnawing on the remaining flesh on the bone, they turned their heads and stared fixedly at the three of them—Su Chen, Jiang Feng, and Lin Qinghan—standing outside the gate with their scarlet eyes.

"Caw caw! Caw!" The mutant Crows let out bursts of strange cries at them. In the shrill wind and snow, this sound seemed like extremely harsh mockery! It was as if they were mocking these three pieces of prey that were about to become their meal.

"You're courting death!" Jiang Feng was furious. He casually dug a stone frozen hard from the ground, swung his arm, and hurled it fiercely at the Crows!

"Bang!" The stone hit the watchtower, smashing the wooden pillar to pieces. The mutant Crows flapped their black wings, let out a series of strange cries, and flew into the blizzard.

"These bastards!" Lin Qinghan looked at the tightly closed camp gate, a raging fire instantly igniting in her clear, cold eyes.

"Have they abandoned even the most basic military discipline! A new officer takes office, and they won't even open the gate!"

Lin Qinghan gripped her sword hilt tightly. This was not some oversight. This was blatant disregard for military discipline! It was an open provocation!

"Brother Chen, let me open the gate!" Jiang Feng was so angry that the muscles all over his body bulged.

He strode to the gate made of mecha wreckage and placed his hands on the rusty door panels.

"Open for me!"

Jiang Feng let out a low roar and exerted force with his arms! The A-rank Titan Giant Bear Bloodline power erupted instantly, enough to push aside a multi-ton boulder.

However, "Bang." The gate emitted an extremely dull metallic clanging sound. It didn't budge at all!

"Huh?" Jiang Feng was stunned for a moment. He thought it was frozen shut by the ice and snow.

"I don't believe it!" Jiang Feng took a deep breath and pushed the Qi and blood in his body to the limit. His feet dug two deep pits in the snow.

"Open!!!"

Jiang Feng pushed forward with all his might!

"Clang!" The gate shook violently, shaking off a sky full of rust. But! It remained tightly closed, not even budging by a crack!

This definitely wasn't frozen shut! There was something jamming it from behind!

Jiang Feng's expression changed. He leaned forward abruptly and looked inside the gate through the gaps in the welded mecha wreckage.

At this sight, Jiang Feng's face instantly turned livid! A violent rage rushed straight to his head!

"Brother Chen!" Jiang Feng turned his head abruptly, his eyes bloodshot. His teeth chattered as he gritted them, almost biting until they bled.

"The gate won't open! These sons of bitches used chains to lock the gate shut!"

Upon hearing this, Lin Qinghan stepped forward quickly and looked through the gap in the gate.

She saw that on the inside of the gate, a steel chain thicker than an adult's thigh was wrapping the two heavy scrap-iron doors tightly together!

On the chain, there was even a huge spiritual energy heavy lock hanging!

This was not a case of not receiving notice at all! This was a blatant cold shoulder!

"These rogue soldiers are trying to give us a show of force!" Jiang Feng cursed angrily, punching the iron gate and denting it.

"They knew the new Battalion Commander was coming to report today! They deliberately locked the gate from the inside!"

"They want a dignified Major General Battalion Commander to stand outside in minus seventy degrees and freeze!"

Jiang Feng turned his head and looked at Su Chen. "Brother Chen! These troublemakers are too arrogant! They don't take you seriously at all!"

Lin Qinghan's eyes were also cold to the extreme.

This was not just the unruly nature of this band of outlaws in the Shura Camp. Behind this, there was definitely the tacit approval and indulgence of the conservative high-ups!

They wanted to use this most despicable and humiliating method to break the spine of this youngest Major General in Great Xia on his first day in office! To trample his dignity into the ice and snow of the Far North!

The wind and snow grew heavier.

Standing in the howling wind, Su Chen looked at the tightly closed scrap-iron gate and listened to Jiang Feng's angry curses.

No expression of flustered rage appeared on his face.

Su Chen calmly pulled his hands out of his trench coat pockets.

He looked at the thick steel chain in the gap of the gate.

In those deep, jet-black eyes, there was no anger.

Only a sneer of extreme violence slowly curled at the corners of his mouth.