Chapter 372 - 7: Messenger, Part 2

Chapter 372: Chapter 7: Messenger, Part 2

Once he passed the third stage, he would not only be able to return to Cuiwei Star at any time, but also remain in his territory indefinitely.

A lord who reached the fourth stage held a pivotal position within the Human Empire; ordinary families would be no threat to him.

Besides, with his current abilities, he no longer had to fear anyone plotting against him. When one’s power is absolute, a single punch is all it takes to shatter any and all conspiracies.

Then, Lin Yu opened the envelope and glanced inside. ’They want me to send someone to discuss a joint defense initiative?’

’It feels unnecessary. My defensive line is stretched thin as it is; I might not be able to spare any resources for them...’

’Ah, whatever. I’ll send someone anyway. It’s good to maintain some goodwill. Who knows, it might come in handy when I reach the fourth stage.’

(There was very little information available about the fourth stage. Even the lord specialization curriculum didn’t cover it. The only widely circulated fact was that fourth-stage lords could teleport back to their home planet at any time.)

"Chenxi, take this messenger to see Mirage later. Have Yuan Xiaobo take a team of trained Gladiators to Li Hua’s joint defense meeting. They know each other, after all."

"My lord, Yuan Xiaobo is out on a mission. Mirage assigned him to lead a scout team into enemy territory."

"It’s fine. You can go. Yuan Xiaobo should be back by now. Just take the messenger to him."

Lin Yu’s consciousness swept over the military center in a flash. He saw Yuan Xiaobo and Dong Lin, along with their men, talking with Mirage.

"Yes! My lord."

Although Chenxi was confused, she didn’t ask any more questions since the lord himself had told her to find Yuan Xiaobo. She simply led the messenger away.

...

At the military center, in the Supreme Commander’s office, Chenxi walked in with Li Hua’s messenger just in time to hear Yuan Xiaobo shouting.

"No! I don’t care what you say, I am not going scouting with Dong Lin again! Either let me lead a scout team by myself, or transfer me to another unit!"

"What’s wrong? What’s going on? I thought you two got along great. Why are you fighting now?"

Chenxi stepped closer to ask.

"Ask him!" Yuan Xiaobo huffed, gesturing for Chenxi to ask Dong Lin.

Chenxi turned to Dong Lin. The big man’s face flushed slightly under her gaze before he spoke, full of righteous indignation. "So what if I didn’t hide!"

"All that sneaking around is for wimps. So slow and fussy."

"Huh? You didn’t hide?" Chenxi asked, confused.

"We went scouting together," Yuan Xiaobo began, "and we agreed not to expose our position, to focus on gathering as much useful intel as possible."

"But what happened? He didn’t want to bother with hiding. He just brazenly charged into enemy territory with the scouts."

"I had no choice but to run ahead of him the entire time, clearing out hidden sentries just to keep him from being discovered."

"Then, he saw a squad of enemy soldiers on their way to assemble, and without a second thought, he charged straight at them."

"He and his scouts then proceeded to wipe out the entire enemy squad. And get this—he said, ’If everyone who sees you is dead, then you haven’t been discovered.’"

Seeing that Dong Lin was too embarrassed to explain, Yuan Xiaobo laid out the cause of their disagreement himself.

Chenxi almost blacked out. A thousand sarcastic remarks were caught in her throat, all fighting to get out.

"But it’s true! As long as no one is left alive to report it, it’s a successful stealth mission!" Dong Lin argued, completely serious.

Yuan Xiaobo shot back, "And what about the bodies and the signs of a struggle? What if someone finds those?"

"Then you just kill whoever finds them. Simple!" Dong Lin retorted.

"See?!" Yuan Xiaobo threw up his hands in exasperation at Chenxi. He had clearly given up on trying to reason with this blockhead.

"Umm... why exactly do you think that way?" Chenxi asked Dong Lin, her curiosity piqued.

"I read it in a book! Weren’t you guys the ones who told me to study more and read more? So I found a few books and spent the last month reading."

"What book? How come I’ve never seen it? Is it one of *their* books?"

"Of course not! They got wiped out by a single corpse, why would I read their books? I found it in the Wisdom Library, of course. Let me think... the title was *1001 Stealth Techniques for Assassins*."

"It’s written by a total pro, definitely a real assassin. And assassins are basically the same as scouts, right? So their stealth methods should be similar, too."

Dong Lin spoke with complete conviction, even taking out the book to show them. Chenxi flipped through it; it looked like a legitimate book, but its contents were... unconventional, to say the least.

Yuan Xiaobo added, "We tried to get him to lead the garrison legion, but he refused. He says there’s no fighting in the territory right now, and he’d be bored out of his mind with nothing to do, so he insists on going on scouting missions."

Dong Lin pouted. "It’s true! I had nothing to do all last month. Now there’s finally a combat mission and you won’t let me go. Are you picking on me because I’m not from here? I’m going to report you to the lord."

’As a Warrior,’ Dong Lin thought, ’my duty is to fight, not to be a Legion Commander.’

’With no battles, all I’d do is watch my subordinates train and worry about logistics and all that crap. It would be boring as hell.’

’And once a war starts, the Legion Commander can’t even join the fray. They have to stay in the back and command the troops.’

’SO BORING!!!’

"Alright, how about this," Chenxi proposed. "Dong Lin is our territory’s top general, after all. Having him lead scouting missions is a waste of his talent. Since we haven’t officially engaged the enemy yet, let’s have him go to the Spiritual Ability Comprehensive In-service College and teach the cadets about combat for a while."

"Besides, the combat-track students are too unruly. They’re always acting up in strategy class. Let’s have him sit in on their strategy lessons and manage their discipline!"