411 Selling medals

A sniper rifle was very novel to Ren Xiaosu and he really liked it a lot. Otherwise, he would not have asked to learn about it from Yang Xiaojin.

Although supernatural beings now existed in this era, they were still not powerful enough to ignore the power of a sniper rifle.

Ren Xiaosu was unsure of what that black-tipped bullet was used for. After all, he did not have the chance to try it out and could only wait until he got into the wilderness to find out.

At this moment, Zhang Xiaoman and the others were still drunk as they stumbled around the chow hall. Ren Xiaosu did not know whether to laugh or cry as he carried these people back to their barracks two at a time. Meanwhile, the troops at the forward operating base all watched in amazement as Ren Xiaosu made more than 60 trips between the chow hall and the barracks to carry everyone back.

On the same day, news of Ren Xiaosu carrying his comrades back to their barracks became the talk of the forward operating base.

In the evening, Zhang Xiaoman and the others were still drunk after waking up. But when they heard it was Ren Xiaosu who had carried them back, they quickly thanked him, "Xiaosu, thank you for bringing us back. We definitely won't drink that much again in the future. That was so embarrassing."

However, Zhang Xiaoman realized Ren Xiaosu had turned unhappy. He heard Ren Xiaosu say, "Keep drinking! How can a man not have alcohol?"

If they did not drink, where would he get all his gratitude tokens from?

Before the drinking session, he only had a little over 800 gratitude tokens. But afterwards, he still had more than 500 gratitude tokens even after the new weapon was unlocked!

Ren Xiaosu even wanted to tell Zhang Xiaoman that they should stop going into battle and just keep drinking every day if they could.

After unlocking the sniper rifle, the palace issued another side quest for the third weapon. This time, it would require 10,000 gratitude tokens to unlock.

Ren Xiaosu did not even know where he was going to get so many gratitude tokens from.

Suddenly, Zhou Yinglong entered the barracks where the Razor Sharp Company was staying. When he detected the smell of alcohol in the barracks, he frowned. "Zhang Xiaoman, get up right now."

Everyone from the Razor Sharp Company got out of bed and smartly stood at attention in two rows on either side of the walkway. Zhou Yinglong walked around and inspected them. "Look at how drunk you got! Do you know how to act like soldiers?"

Zhang Xiaoman muttered, "We're all heroes. Aren't we being assigned a new mission in another two days?"

Zhou Yinglong was so angry he laughed. "You aren't obeying the chain of command after drinking, eh? You have to add the word 'sir' when you're speaking to me!"

Zhang Xiaoman was stunned for a moment before saying, "Sir! I'm a war hero!"

With a loud crash, Zhou Yinglong kicked Zhang Xiaoman to the floor. "You better sober up. Your Razor Sharp Company will be assigned a new mission tomorrow. Come and report to me after your head clears up!"

Upon hearing that there was a new mission, Zhang Xiaoman immediately got off the floor. "Battalion Commander, what mission is it? Is it urgent?"

"It's a covert op. Come and talk to me after you've sobered up." Zhou Yinglong left the barracks with his hands folded behind his back.

The Razor Sharp Company's soldiers in the barracks all looked at one another. What was this covert op about?

In the past, covert operations like these would never be given to the Razor Sharp Company. Although they could handle the tough battles and defeat strong foes, infiltration and ambushes were not exactly what they were best at. So these covert ops were always carried out by the Reconnaissance Battalion. The soldiers in the Reconnaissance Battalion were savage. Whenever combat competitions were held in the military, the top ten places would almost always be taken by soldiers from the Recon Battalion.

So why was the Razor Sharp Company suddenly assigned to a covert op?

The next day, Zhang Xiaoman had a frown on his face after returning from Zhou Yinglong's place. He said to the soldiers of the Razor Sharp Company, "The main forces will be heading towards the Blackstone River in the north. Right across that river is Mt. Wuchuan, where the Zong Consortium's defensive line is set up."

"Then what about us?" Jiao Xiaochen asked.

"We'll set off this afternoon and head to the front line at Mt. Qiangwan and Beiwan River before crossing to the flank of the main battlefield. We're to destroy the bridge there to sever the supply lines east of the Zong Consortium. Then we're to join up with our main forces at Mt. Wuchuan."

"We're only one company. Do they really expect us to infiltrate deep into the rear to sever the supply lines there? And we have to blow up the bridge too? The bridge there is heavily guarded by Zong Consortium troops." Jiao Xiaochen was shocked. "Battalion Commander Zhou thinks too highly of us, right?"

"That's the order." Zhang Xiaoman said in a serious tone, "Pack up your stuff. We set off at 1600 sharp. We must reach the Beiwan River in seven days and blow up the Zong Consortium's bridge there. We have to make sure that our main forces arriving at Blackstone River won't have any worries of a rear attack."

The Blackstone River and Beiwan River were in two completely different locations. Headquarters believed the potential price of breaking through at the Beiwan River was too costly, so they would rather build a pontoon bridge on the Blackstone River to attack the defensive line at Mt. Wuchuan, as it was much safer than going to Beiwan River.

The only thing they needed to worry about was that the enemies at Beiwan River might seize the opportunity to sneak attack the flanks of the main forces of Fortress 178 when the main battle broke out at the front line of Mt. Wuchuan. Hence, they sent the Razor Sharp Company to cut off this route to prevent the Zong Consortium from being able to temporarily cross the Beiwan River.

The only problem was that this operation was too difficult. It was akin to letting the Razor Sharp Company infiltrate deep behind enemy lines on their own.

However, Zhou Yinglong said that the operation to blow up Beiwan Bridge had to be carried out in secret. There would be a predetermined time for the operation, so the fewer people carried out this operation, the better.

At this moment, most of the people at the forward operating base did not know what strategy headquarters had drawn up. But all of a sudden, the Razor Sharp Company announced they were going out to head for a multiday ruck. The group put on their field packs and carried their weapons and ran out of the forward operating base. Everyone thought the Razor Sharp Company would take at most three days to return from their training. But after a few days passed, they finally realized the Razor Sharp Company was not going to be coming back.

…

The soldiers of the Razor Sharp Company trekking in the wilderness all had a new medal on their chests. The medals were engraved with the word "Shichuan" on them and were obtained by all soldiers who had participated in the Battle of Shichuan Village.

Fu Rao mumbled as he walked, "Hey, Captain, how much do you think this medal can fetch?"

Zhang Xiaoman gave it some thought and said, "This was the first true battle since our military started its campaign. Since the raid on Mt. Dingyuan was against bandits, the Shichuan Village battle should hold a greater significance. Furthermore, there's only a few hundred of these medals in total, so I estimate that it can be sold for up to 10,000 yuan."

"That's not too bad." Fu Rao was overjoyed. "I'll sell it once we get back."

Ren Xiaosu was stunned when he heard that. "Isn't this medal a symbol of honor? Are y'all going to sell it just like that?"

He pondered over how he thought the Razor Sharp Company had a strong sense of honor.

"What's the big deal?" Zhang Xiaoman chuckled and said, "Even if we sell the medal to someone else, would that make us feel any less honorable? Our third-class citations still exist, so wouldn't it be better to exchange the medals for something more practical? Wouldn't it be nicer to use that 10,000 yuan to buy some lamb chops?"

When they were given medals, their third-class unit citations that had been withheld previously were reinstated. However, all of this was carried out in secret, and they would probably have to wait until this operation was completed before the decoration ceremony would be made up to them.

Ren Xiaosu thought to himself that these thugs from the Razor Sharp Company were too shameless. They would even sell their medals for money? Yet a company like this was so fierce and fearless when it came to combat.