Book 5 Chapter 2.6 - Growth
In Su's world, aside from Li Gaolei, the other person who was the busiest was the somewhat delicate and pretty young man Tegan. Each day, he only slept two or three hours, and almost all of his waking hours were spent on work: training the troops, preparing military supplies, leading troops to suppress the armed mobs in the surroundings, and training his own abilities.
Tegan was crazily working, crazily training, and similarly crazily fighting and sleeping. He used every minute, every second of his sleep to recover his exhausted mind and body. Tegan always maintained communications with Victor, listened to Victor's construction concepts of Midnight City, demands towards the military, and all other knowledge related to the construction of Midnight City. The young man was extremely smart, knowing that he himself would always carry some humiliation as someone who surrendered on the battlefield. No matter how high his position became, he would still never become someone like Victor who had provided Su with assistance when he first faced troubles, someone who hadn't betrayed Su even during the dark period when Su vanished. Moreover, Victor's current status and abilities were even higher than Tegan's. That was why whenever Victor made a request, Tegan would always complete it as soon as possible, and for things that he truly couldn't complete, he would still make intelligent decisions on. Tegan knew that in front of those more powerful than himself, honesty was an extremely good quality.
The young man's hard work already exceeded the limits of a workaholic. During this period of time, regardless of whether it was the improvement of abilities or knowledge, it was extremely apparent, making him appear more and more qualified to become the army commander of Midnight City. On the battlefield, Tegan didn't cherish his life extensively purely because he was the commander, instead becoming even more courageous, rushing at the very front in every battle, using the superiority of his own abilities and willpower to crush the enemies' defenses. That was why in the recent month, Tegan's military accomplishments were even greater than Li Gaolei's, even though regardless of whether it was numbers or equipment, the army Li Gaolei commanded was greater.
The continuous bloody close combat slaughter left Tegan with more than a hundred injuries, but most of them were light injuries that would completely recover in one or two days, and the two or three medium level injuries only landed on his flesh, so they would recover after a few days, not affecting his ability to move. Even Victor felt that this young man was an extremely lucky individual. Tegan himself understood his own intrinsic luck quite well.
However, even the luckiest person, if possible, would not be willing to rush headfirst into the enemies' hail of bullets. Tegan wasn't an idiot, so he wasn't willing to do this either.
However, Tegan still tried to grasp every opportunity, to the extent where he didn't even hesitate to gamble with his life. He only wished to prove to Su that he would become someone who was extremely useful and loyal. Proving this point didn't need him to work so frantically, but Tegan always felt a deep fear, fearing that if he himself didn't prove enough worth, then there would be an extremely terrifying fate awaiting him. The only one who could save him, was Su.
This was an ordinary early morning. Several off-road vehicles packed with soldiers departed from Midnight City, heading south. Tegan sat on the roof of the first vehicle, his military cap in hand. His eyes were narrowed as he stared into the horizon. At his side, an anti-aircraft machine gun was currently slowly moving, its ice-cold muzzle sweeping through the completely barren wilderness. Meanwhile, the shooter had on a pair of goggles, using his trained eyes to scan ruins and trees one after another, as well as any place that could be hiding people.
Tegan's left hand had a cigarette wedged between his fingers, currently taking hit after hit. The roof of this speeding vehicle experienced powerful winds, so the cigarette burned especially fast. That was why Tegan was smoking it frantically, so as to not waste even the slightest breath of smoke. His current monthly income wasn't enough to exchange for many packs of cigarettes. In Su's country, the amount of goods was far more abundant than in the wilderness. After all, with food and water, all foundations were already covered. Su who was now used the the Black Dragonriders' extravagant line of thought, treated his subordinates and core members quite generously. With Tegan's current status, he could completely provide for seven or eight young and pretty women, and simultaneously smoke a pack of cigarettes every day. However, he abandoned all salary that he could receive, only taking the same amount of money as the other soldiers. The portion he gave up were all converted to ammunition and medications so that his own soldiers could have slightly higher chances of surviving. However, Tegan didn't require the officers to do this, to the extent where he even stopped them from bringing out too much money to subsidize the soldiers. This won him the hearts of both the officers and soldiers.
"Commander, this battle doesn't seem that easy! I heard that the other party has more than a hundred people, while we only have thirty!" The machine gun marksman, perhaps out of fatigue, loudly said this to Tegan.
"Don't give me that bullshit! The one rushing in first is this old one, so if we really can't beat them, then the first one to die will be myself. What do you even have to worry about? When we start fighting, just aim a bit better and that's enough! Heng, thirty is already enough. If we have anymore, I fear that they might even be scared off!" Tegan scolded jokingly, spitting out a string of profanity without stopping. This was the language of soldiers, allowing him who looked delicate and pretty to bond better with these rough and straightforward soldiers. On the battlefield, Tegan was definitely a death god that reaped lives, his weapon precisely the 12.7mm large caliber machine gun placed at his side. Strength was the true weapon in suppressing these murderers; cursing a few times was far from enough.
The fleet proceeded forward for another few minutes. Tegan's body suddenly trembled. He looked all around him, but aside from the scattered ruins that appeared in his surroundings from time to time, there wasn't anything else.
Tegan's face gradually paled. He asked the machine gun shooter, "Do you see something? I have a bad feeling!"