At this moment, everyone around was glaring fiercely, almost on the verge of mutiny. The older Special Commissioner hurriedly patted the gun-wielding guy beside him, signaling him to calm down.
That trigger-happy Commissioner had clearly spent too long in the upper echelons, thought he was some kind of emperor—nobody else even registered in his eyes. But faced with this scene, he was forced to rein it in a bit. Still, as he holstered his gun, he snorted coldly, and kept muttering 'thug soldiers' under his breath.
Right after that, the older Special Commissioner spoke up: "Commander Li, this isn’t our first meeting. I’m here on Chairman Victor Hua’s orders. I advise you not to be impulsive. No matter how big a victory you brought to China, you did mobilize the troops without permission—this is a clear breach of military orders. I’m here to deliver the Central Military Commission’s directive. I hope you and your men won’t get worked up!"
"Go on, I’m listening!" Kenneth Li gritted his teeth, keeping it short and to the point.
"Alright, let me read out the top directive from the Central Military Commission!" The older Special Commissioner whipped out a telegram, cleared his throat, and bellowed: "Effective immediately, Kenneth Li is stripped of his post as Commander of the Jinling Military Region. Gabriel Xue is out as vice-commander. Harvey Jin, Jason Lin, Warren Yuan, Frank Qin and the rest of you army group bosses—you're all canned. The whole lot of you are getting hauled off to Beijing today for investigation. And every single soldier who fought the Anti-Japan War? Hand over your weapons, right now, and get locked down on the spot!"
"What did you just say? Say it again! I’m going straight to the Commission to ask—are they out of their minds? Do they really dare to execute us war heroes?" At this point, it wasn’t just Harvey “Million” Jin—Gabriel Xue shot up too.
No one could accept an order like this!
"What’s wrong? You soldier punks really want to rebel out in the open? This is a Commission order! Did you forget the most basic thing a soldier does? Following orders is the bare minimum—what, you all want to run off and be mountain bandits?" The trigger-happy Commissioner started shouting again, even more full of himself than before!
"Kenneth Li, Commander Li, this is the last time I’ll call you Commander. You’d better think carefully. If you refuse to comply, I have the authority to use force against you. As a general, I hope you know the rules—don’t make us take action!" The older Special Commissioner sneered.
At that, Kenneth Li couldn’t help but burst out laughing.
"What are you laughing at?" The gun-happy Special Commissioner couldn’t help reaching for his gun again!
"I’m laughing because—General Howard Huang of the missile forces, Admiral Leonard Liu of the South Sea Fleet, and a bunch of other Commission-affiliated air force commanders, weren’t they all detained by you under these bullshit orders too? My own superior, the pillar of the Central Military Commission, Daniel Deng—did you shameless bastards lock him up the same way? You’re all nothing but parasites in the Chinese army, scum who specialize in killing war heroes. You think a few useless staff officers like you deserve to wear this uniform and talk to me like that? I’m telling you, you’re not even qualified. If you want me to surrender, you’ll have to get Chairman Victor Hua to come here himself!" As Kenneth Li finished, the older Special Commissioner’s face twisted, turning even more vicious as he started shrieking.
"Shut up, just shut up! You refuse the wine of honor, so you’ll drink the wine of punishment! Grab these mutinous thug soldiers!" As he spoke, a squad of men in black suits charged out from behind—obviously hitmen lying in wait to spring the trap.
"Screw it, I’ll blow your head off right now! You really think us Special Commissioners are just here to eat dry rations?" The trigger-happy bastard yelled, clearly about to snap.
"Let’s see who dares make a move!" Ryan Ling couldn’t hold back any longer. Earlier, he’d only let Dragon King go because Kenneth Li asked him to, but now, hearing Kenneth’s words, he’d clearly made up his mind—Ryan wasn’t about to hesitate for even a second.
"Eat dry rations? You’re not even fit to eat shit!" Ryan Ling sneered, then crushed the guy’s skull like a rotten melon.
Morality means nothing here—only real power gives you the right to speak!
"Fuck it, I’ll shoot you right now! You really think us Special Commissioners are just here to eat dry rations?" The gun-happy Special Commissioner yelled, clearly at the end of his rope.
But before he could act, Ryan Ling darted forward and grabbed the guy by the neck—bones started cracking instantly.
"Eat dry rations? You’re not even qualified to eat shit!" Ryan Ling snorted coldly and crushed the guy’s skull in an instant.
"Who—who are you? You dare kill a Central Military Commission envoy? Are you trying to rebel?" The older Special Commissioner’s face went deathly pale. As soon as he said this, Kenneth Li and the others crowded in, all wounded but clearly fearless now.
If they went to Beijing with these bastards today, their fate would be worse than any army that ever got purged. So screw it—better to rebel now than get butchered later.
"Ryan Ling? You—you’re that murder demon, Ryan Ling!" Of course the older Special Commissioner knew who Ryan was—his face went totally white, and he started backing away in terror.
"In your eyes, I’m a murder demon—but I’m the Anti-Japan War God! If that’s how you see me, then today I’ll slaughter every last one of you bastards!" Ryan said, then shot into the air again. Kenneth Li might’ve tried to stop him before, but now, seeing Ryan’s killing intent explode, he was cheering on the side.
Everyone knew perfectly well—compromise was a dead end!
If they went to Imperial City with these people today, their fate would be worse than any purged unit. So why not just rebel outright?
He wanted the whole country to judge—who was really bringing disaster to the nation?
"I’m a Commission general—here’s my badge, this is Chairman Victor Hua’s personal directive. You—You’d better not do anything crazy! Step back now!" The older Special Commissioner’s crotch went cold—he was actually starting to piss himself.
"Heh, with how cowardly you are, you think you deserve to be a Special Commissioner? Or a Commission general? You want to wipe out my Jinling Military Region? Bastards like you ought to go straight to the Eighteenth Hell!" Ryan scoffed, not wasting another word. He shot a look at the so-called directive from Chairman Victor Hua, and it instantly burned to ash. Then, some mysterious force yanked the Special Commissioner up by the neck.
"Let’s talk! Let’s talk! Don’t do anything rash, we’re all military colleagues here! We can sit down and discuss everything!" The older Special Commissioner started shouting, all his earlier swagger completely gone.
"Talk, my ass! You Chinese traitors are even worse than those Japanese bastards. Today I’m going to butcher you right here, in front of all Jinling!" Ryan Ling knew perfectly well—since he’d already started killing, he might as well go all the way and slaughter until the sky went dark.
"Sp—sp—" The older Special Commissioner didn’t even get to finish the word "spare" before he was ripped clean in half, blood instantly staining the whole camp.
"Good kill! Kill, kill, kill—wipe out every last bastard! Starting today, the Jinling Military Region is officially raising troops—rebelling against the World Dominion Society and every corrupt authority!" Kenneth Li didn’t hesitate for a second, shouting at the top of his lungs.
In no time, battle reports started flying out, and all of Southriver Region instantly went to first-level combat readiness.
"Holy shit, these guys are insane!" Dragon King was still alive, but he didn’t dare stick around—he tried to sneak away through the crowd.
"You bastard, trying to run? Today I’ll sacrifice you as our battle standard!" Ryan Ling’s sharp eyes had already locked onto Dragon King. Before Dragon King could take half a step, Ryan had him snatched up and hung upside down.
"I’m the Dragon of China—I’m the totem of the nation! You can’t treat me like this…" Dragon King was still struggling to the bitter end.