Chapter 102 - 102 85 Reinforcements

102: Chapter 85: Reinforcements 102: Chapter 85: Reinforcements “Lu Ping’an ranked ninth? And beat a third-tier? Teacher Qian, are you joking with me? Or perhaps, have you mistaken him for Li Dao’an….” When she hung up the phone, Xia Qin was still befuddled. She genuinely hadn’t expected this to happen. Even though she had high hopes for Lu Ping’an, she didn’t foresee this scenario unfolding. In her estimation, it would have been a commendable feat for Lu Ping’an, who only had a mere half a month of experience, to achieve a passing grade. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have gone through the effort of securing a special enrollment slot for him. But now, he had defeated a third-tier combatant? “…Even if it’s a level ZZZ pollution, this still wouldn’t be possible. The profession needs accumulation. Could it be that he came up with something…” After pondering for a moment, she made a phone call. “Lei Huoren? Can you do me a favor and make a run? Go to Director Qian… Old Qian from the Ancient City University, you know, the mouthy one who’s always lecturing, and fetch a recording. We have a meeting tonight to discuss the matter of reinforcements, right? We can watch it at that time.” After hanging up the phone, she rubbed her temples. Lately, she had been overloaded with work to the point of near-collapse, and she simply didn’t have the time to look after Lu Ping’an. Had she inadvertently given herself another headache to deal with? Half an hour later, the clock pointed to two-thirty in the morning, and the meeting began as scheduled in the office of the Special Service Team. However, before the meeting, a segment was added to preview a “recording.” All three team members were present, and after watching the recording of Lu Ping’an and Wang Hai’s fight, their discussion began. “How was it?” After watching the recording, Xia Qin sighed in relief, Lu Ping’an’s performance was still within the scope of understanding, and his displays were all within comprehension. Upon being asked by the Captain, Lei Huoren spoke directly. “…Rather than saying that his abilities are special, I’d say he himself is special. He’s skilled at war and could certainly be a reliable future fighting force, but I still stick to my previous opinion. If you look at his attitude towards a third-tier, clearly, he’s a double-edged sword…” When the recording continued to play and switched to Lu Ping’an’s confrontation with Lei Maomao, and the scene of Lu Ping’an disappearing in a flash of light… “…However, these are things that can be adjusted. As long as the blade is always pointed towards the enemy, in my personal opinion, the benefits outweigh the risks.” Alright then, indebted to others indeed makes one dutiful. The subtlety of Brother Lei’s stand wasn’t as firm due to an unanticipated obligation. “Old Ke? What do you think? Do you think he could be persuaded to our side in the future?” Ke Zhenmo, Old Ke, a veteran nearing fifty, hadn’t been out on front line operations in many years. However, in some sense, the other two team members were his “juniors,” as he had guided them both and would always show them enough respect. “Hehe, a good young man. I personally welcome him, we are in severe need of manpower, very much so. Even if I, an old soldier, am summoned to the front lines, I wouldn’t last long…” This response was also expected, and Xia Qin nodded. Since Lu Ping’an hadn’t unveiled any abilities that made one shout, “Damn, this guy needs to be locked up quickly!” there was no need to change the plan. The hour was late, and they still needed to patrol later on. Captain Xia quickly shifted the meeting to the next agenda item. “Alright, I’ll submit the application. Now onto today’s main topic. We’ve confirmed the plan for the reinforcements, the first batch will be mainly from Ancient City University, along with the ‘special enrollment’ batch. We’ll be the first team to get reinforcements, but it may not necessarily be favorable…” Xia Qin hesitated for a moment before deciding to continue. “…When they send people, it’s definitely not so we can have it easy. Once we have enough people, I reckon we’ll be making a move on the Sophists. We’re going to defuse these unexploded bombs. Lei Huoren? Do you have anything to say?” “They’re all student soldiers? To be brutally honest, I don’t have much faith in them. They’ll need at least a year or two to become useful… ” “We don’t have that kind of time. Besides, this batch of students is somewhat special. You’ll know when you see their profiles.” Ancient city is divided into seven districts, and each district generally has around ten Special Service Teams depending upon its size. Each team only has about ten members in full assembly and together with the internal teams directly under the district bureau, a district typically has no more than two hundred combat-ready members. But they do walk the elite path. The new members, even though they are freeloading 2-tiers, are still promising. They are usually high-quality professionals trained from top-class institutions whose occupational aptitude is outstanding and backgrounds are politically clear. The captain and deputy captains are invariably combat-oriented third-tier…at least until six months ago. The routine tasks were more than enough to cope with, and the Zion district worst hit after the incident half a month ago was the first to reach the scene. Originally, there were only seven Special Service Teams, three of which had immediately responded to the incident. The worst hit seventh team was directly disbanded, and the third team was reduced to three members (including one semi-retired logistician). The now Zion district could barely muster the strength of three full teams, but was burdened with more than double the patrol duties. A breakdown was imminent. This kind of situation was pointless to report to the superiors (central government, headquarters) because everyone was short of personnel and the demand for more talent was endless. Reaching out to them in an emergency is fine, but it’s impossible for the headquarters to station forces on secondment for a longer-term. While the direct superiors, the headquarters, can’t be relied upon, there’s merit in communicating with the local government of the Ancient City, local forces, and grey-market heavyweights. After all, everyone is essentially in the same boat; if the boat sank, no one would be comfortable. The local Special Service Teams are the front-line barriers of maintaining social order. If they collapse, anyone could be at risk of a burglar breaking in. This reinforcement event is actually the result of the local Administration Bureau leading negotiations with the “local major forces”. Information was being circulated in the small room. As he read, Lei Huoren’s furrowed brows relaxed a bit, and he breathed a sigh of relief. He was genuinely afraid that the higher-ups would send over a batch of “student soldiers” who still needed polishing. This would not only harm the students but also sabotage their own operation. There were truly some bureaucratic individuals who randomly assigned tasks based on rank and paper data. Such decisions could lead to major issues. “…So they’re recruiting ready-to-fight forces from the civilian population? I don’t have any objections to that, though it seems the numbers aren’t very high?” Both Lu Ping’an, Xia Qin, and Maomao knew about this recruitment, but Lei Huoren hadn’t had the time to understand the specifics. “This is the first trial run, and pay and other conditions haven’t been settled yet; they are still discussing the specifics. I think they may be introducing a policy soon. Also, many people are waiting to see how things turn out for the first batch of recruits.” “We’re just pawns, not generals. We don’t need to worry about these things. We just need to pick the ‘new recruits’ that are useful. If we are short on numbers, the Administration Bureau will pay; there are several institutions that are willing to compensate… But you know what the deal is with mercenary forces bought with money; you cannot expect too much from them.” Lei Huoren nodded his head, he had now realized the purpose of this meeting: to ask for his opinion on recruitment, in preparation for a competition with other teams for personnel. “Why are most of them sophomores?” “They’ll be juniors soon. Presently, most seniors are not on campus; they’re going through the standard employment process. Even if any of them were willing to join us, it would take some time. Honestly, expectations for higher-level students from Ancient City University shouldn’t be too high… Most of the capable ones have been taken by the military for their ‘internship’, and they’ve been away for more than half a year now. I heard they won’t be returning any time soon.” Lei Huoren had heard about this, there were conflicts in both the east and the west. He nodded and didn’t ask any further questions. Good steel is used on the knife’s blade. In comparison to some of the “war zones”, their area can indeed only be considered to have “public safety” level risk. The reason Ancient City University is so prominent is not only because of its far superior strength as compared to other top training institutions but also because of its official background. At this point, it must take on the responsibility. After all, students from Ancient City University are given bereavement funds and resettlement allowances as soon as they join, and they also become rookie Secret Keepers. Most other institutions are merely “providing educational services for your money”, it’s not acceptable to ask the “bosses” to go directly to the battlefield. Although many among them will also become professional Secret Keepers and go on the front lines, a series of procedures are needed like recruitment, training, and dispatching. Many of them are employed directly by the civilian sector and large companies. “So, do we prioritize those with titles first?” “That’s difficult, everyone will be vying for those with a reputation. What the other teams can offer, we might not be able to provide. However, Director Qian told me that he has a good relationship with a few of the supportive recruits and can help negotiate. We will make the first move and make a list. Whether or not that works, will have to be seen…” Scampering around is one aspect of a Secret Keeper’s duties, but pay and extra rewards are the real showstoppers; otherwise, why would people risk their lives for you? Compared to their fixed salaries, many young Secret Keepers value their future and safety more, especially their chances and resources for promotion. Some would even reduce their income to follow a famous big shot. While the three were discussing potential support forces, the phone suddenly rang. The brows of everyone in the meeting furrowed. It had to be an emergency; otherwise, why would someone call in the middle of the night? “Hello, is this me? Oh…” This time, however, it was an exception. Xia Qin, who had hung up the phone, looked delighted. “It’s good news. Ancient City University plans to hold a ‘New Student Orientation Week’ in the coming days. Along with the first batch of auxiliaries, they’ll transfer a group of freshmen over to help.” If that’s all there was to it, it wouldn’t necessarily be good news. Newly graduated individuals all have a heap of problems, not to mention students who haven’t enrolled yet. “The ones coming are the top hundred from the recent admissions, with an average combat power of 1.86 tiers. Most of them can be used as immediate combat forces.” Hearing this, Lei Huoren automatically glanced at the screen and saw Lu Ping’an’s name, nodding in approval. If they were all at this level, a bit of guidance and training would be enough to prepare them for immediate combat duty. They could let these examinees hold the fort for a few weeks. By the time they start their school, the second batch of auxiliaries should also have been decided upon. Lei Huoren sighed again; this guy was growing up too quickly. It was initially anticipated that it would take at least a year to reach this level. How many weeks has it been? “Are they willing to do it?” “They said it’s voluntary, but you know how it is; it’s the kind of ‘voluntary’ that the school hopes for. If they don’t come, it might reduce some benefits, like the additional rewards they just obtained, and delay the development of high-level knowledge permissions…” Silver Taboo items? Mass production of Taboo items? A lot of things are not necessarily free. Or rather, the free items are actually more expensive, such as the rewards this time, and the tuition exemption and living expenses provided by Ancient City University. The latter “permission delay” is even more toxic. Many people enter various training institutions for the Taboo knowledge above the first tier. This is the best information for improvement they can get. If even the “Permission for Tier 1-2 knowledge” was frozen, what would they learn in school? At this point, everyone breathed a sigh of relief; at least Lu Ping’an was secured. That’s one immediate combat force in hand. “Lu Ping’an is growing faster than expected, I thought it would take at least half a year…” The dispatching can only manage the big picture, the final destination still depends on people’s wishes… To put it bluntly, all teams have to give conditions and grab people, but they are really impoverished, they can only find help nearby. “We definitely can’t get Li Dao’an; he’s already arranged. But considering how tough our situation is, we should be able to get a third-tier recruit. Think about who you want.” “Maybe, we can ask Lu Ping’an? He has competed with many people; he should have some first-hand opinions.” “Are you sure? I think he might be annoyed because he has to come and help out. You’re really pointing to your sister’s name…” “…Actually, I really think it would be a good thing for Shuiyun to come over. Given the increasing unrest, we can’t let her continue to slack off.”