Strongest Soldier King

Late at night.

Luo Zheng laid on his bed to rest for a while, feeling restless as something seemed off. To be safe, Luo Zheng loaded his bullets, disguised his pillow under the quilt, took his Mitsubishi Military Dagger and Type 65 Army Dagger with him, and after a thought, he decided to rest in a private room of the dining hall. He closed the door, locked it from the inside, barricaded it with a table, and then arranged the chairs in a row, lying on top of them to rest.

As he was dozing off, Luo Zheng suddenly heard a strange noise and woke up with a start. He quickly moved to the door, peered through the crack and saw three people in the dining hall whom he had not noticed before. Startled, he thought to himself, "Three? Weren't there supposed to be two? Are they not the enemy, or did the enemy send reinforcements?"

With this in mind, Luo Zheng quietly picked up the sniper rifle, which he had already disengaged the safety on, got ready for battle, and began to carefully observe. He noticed these people confidently heading straight towards his bedroom, which didn't make sense. If they were enemies, there was no reason for them to be so familiar with his sleeping area. Doubt crept in, and he watched more closely.

Before long, Luo Zheng saw one of the individuals carefully push open the bedroom door and fire several shots inside, then the other two poured gasoline around the room and set it alight before quickly withdrawing. Under the flames, Luo Zheng clearly saw that all three had their faces covered and were unrecognizable, but one of them had a very familiar figure. Suddenly thinking of Song Yang, the more he looked, the more he was convinced it was him. Furious, he couldn't believe that this guy actually wanted to kill him over a minor conflict. Why? He was about to open fire, but then he thought better of it and restrained himself.

It was easy to act in a moment of anger and kill someone, but what would come after? He wouldn't just face a military court; he'd also be thrown out of the team, which would disappoint Lan Xue. Before he had absolute power and influence, it was better to keep a low profile. With this in mind, Luo Zheng pointed his gun downwards, etched the hatred deep into his mind, and silently swore to settle this score one day.

The fire grew quickly, engulfing the room in moments. Luo Zheng opened the door to the private room and ran up to fight the flames. He grabbed a bucket of water and doused the bed, reducing the fire significantly. Not daring to delay, he continued to carry water to extinguish the fire, and after a short while, he had put it out. However, the room was charred black, and the bed was beyond salvage.

The sentry responsible for guard duty saw the fire and rushed over, looking at Luo Zheng in surprise and asked, "What happened?"

"I don't know what happened, the room suddenly caught fire," Luo Zheng said sharply, noticing a flash of surprise across the sentry's face, but there was no chance to investigate the room, which was now in shambles.

The guard sentry observed for a moment, said nothing more, and quickly ran to report the situation to the instructor. Luo Zheng smirked, knowing what was coming, and without asking further, waited. The sentry returned and coldly said to Luo Zheng, "Hey, the instructor said that due to your negligence that led to the fire, you will bear all the losses. The cost will be deducted from your subsidy. Do you have any objections?"

"No objections," Luo Zheng said coldly, barely suppressing his rage.

At that moment, Lan Xue came hurrying over, looking at the scene of the fire with shock and suspicion. After seeing that Luo Zheng was unharmed, she let out a sigh of relief. Once the sentry had left, she asked in a low voice, "What happened?"

"Nothing," Luo Zheng replied, not wanting to elaborate further.

Lan Xue, still looking shocked and suspicious, observed the scene once more and guessed what might have happened. Her complexion turned ashen as she considered that Luo Zheng had been targeted by the Song family because of her. With a sense of guilt, she said, "Be careful. I need to leave now, but come find me if you need anything."

"Okay," Luo Zheng nodded, keeping his vow of revenge in his heart and returned to the private room to rest.

─ ─

The next morning, the Training Team continued their routine training on the field when a military vehicle roared in. With a handsome drift, it came to a halt with a screech, and a burly middle-aged man jumped out. He stood about six-foot-one, broad-shouldered and sturdy-waisted, his resolute face marked by sharp eyes like daggers as he strode forward, each step as if measured.

Seeing the newcomer, the instructor hastened to meet him and saluted promptly, respectfully saying, "Good day, Commander."

"I hope I'm not intruding on your training with my visit," said the person identified as the Commander, his eyes scanning the others, inadvertently pausing on Lan Xue.

"Not at all, Commander. May I ask if there's any particular directive you have for us today?" the instructor asked politely.

"The Training Team is the place that supplies fresh blood to my Special Forces, and with you in charge, I'm very reassured. There's no special directive. I just wanted to see if there are any promising recruits for the Special Forces snipers, as there's a gap that needs filling," the Commander said with a chuckle.

"Sniper?" the instructor echoed in surprise, contemplating for a moment before realizing there weren't any particularly outstanding prospects among the current members of the Training Team and suggested, "It's not up to me to say who is a good prospect—they need to have real skill. How about this? It might delay you a bit, but we can do a live-fire exercise and you can personally assess them. What do you think?"

"That's a great idea. Let's get to it," the Commander said cheerfully. "By the way, my time is limited, so I won't be able to review everyone. Have the sniper instructor pick ten people, and we'll proceed with ten targets all at once. If I spot the right one, I'll take them with me right away. Is that okay?"

"No problem," the instructor replied, sensing something amiss but unable to pinpoint what it was. With the Commander there to select recruits, the instructor couldn't openly dissent and thus agreed, beckoning Lan Xue over to say, "You're in charge of sniping, you know best. Select ten team members for the sniper training. The Commander is watching. Tell those kids to show their real skills."

"Yes," Lan Xue answered with a hoarse voice.

Watching Lan Xue leave, the Commander couldn't help but smile wryly. His sister seemed composed and cool, but she was just as tough as the other whimsical sister, he thought without highlighting the point, waiting patiently for a while.

The instructor, unaware that the Commander had come to select recruits, left the others equally in the dark; they took it as just another ordinary training session and didn't dwell on it. Seeing the sniper instructor selecting Luo Zheng didn't bother anyone, and although the instructor looked at Luo Zheng doubtfully and felt some dissatisfaction, he didn't vent it in front of the Commander. Seeing Lan Xue also choose Song Yang made him feel better, given that Song Yang's sniper performance was one of the best in the Training Team, making his selection reasonable.

Once the candidates were determined, Lan Xue had everyone retrieve their sniper rifles and take their positions, one to ten in a straight line. She then ran back, saluted, and asked whether to start.

The Commander was surprised by Lan Xue's actions, given she didn't hint at who the promising recruit might be. His interest piqued, he gestured for them to begin, saying, "Hurry up, I have limited time."

"Then let us begin," the instructor agreed, instructing Lan Xue.