"Xue'er!" Wei Xiaoqing repeated with a bright smile before walking closer to him. She had been taken away by the MAA during the week Yang Xue had suddenly disappeared.
With everything that had happened to her during her stay on Earth, she had been enrolled in one of the MAA's metal and physical wellbeing programs so she hadn't been able to reach out.
After determining that she was okay, the MAA had given her the choice of either remaining on Earth or moving back to Cladis. She'd swiftly picked Cladis but before leaving, she tried to reach out to Yang Xue and that was when she found out about everything that had happened these past weeks.
She heard about his Private award ceremony and subsequent report to the army and had rushed here as soon as she could.
Her eyes looked pained as she reached out to hold He Yuan's arms. Yang Xue was such a sweet young man, he absolutely did not deserve what he got and even after he'd received everything that belonged to him, nobody seemed to truly care about him. All they saw was just another mandron.
She slowly placed her hand against his cheek before asking, "You're okay?"
A stiff smile fell upon He Yuan's face. The thing was, he was okay. Very okay in fact. He wasn't Yang Xue so he was okay. As for whether Yang Xue was truly okay or not... Only Yang Xue would know. Although he'd like to believe that Yang Xue would at least be fairly content.
After watching Yang Xue nod, Wei Xiaoqing's smile brightened. This was good then. She slowly withdrew her hand. "Xue'er."
He Yuan clasped his hands behind his back. "Hm?"
"Thank you..." She said softly. Yang Xue had taken details of the bad man at the Planetary Immigration Office and the MAA had come to get her some days later. It was definitely Yang Xue's doing.
He Yuan scratched his nose and laughed dryly. "It's nothing." Although her situation had irked him, the major push had been to cause trouble for Yang Zhi so he felt a little embarrassed by her gratitude.
888 rolled his eyes. [You helped her means you helped her. What does your reasons have to do with it?]
He Yuan's embarrassment deepened and a slight flush appeared on Yang Xue's cheeks. He lowered his head. "I may not have been raised by my parents but I managed to adopt good manners. Let me be."
888 chuckled but remained silent.
--------------------------------
12 hours later, He Yuan's Spaceship landed on Crest. The Third army base Planet was a minor Planet 100 times smaller than Earth and held a capacity of over 300,000 soldiers.
All armies of the Twelve-army Coalition had a total of ten Divisions -each containing around 7,000 to 22,000 soldiers. These divisions were spread out in various camps on the base Planet where each new recruit was posted after their training period.
He Yuan looked around the Planet as he stepped out of the dock with his luggage. Compared to Earth -which was closer to the Plex- the light on Crest had a much milder red hue. Moving about were soldiers dressed in the pristine navy blue uniform of the Twelve-army Coalition with the insignias of their ranks lining their shoulders and the special logo of the Third army stamped on their right chests, right above their names.
Dressed in a neatly styled white dress shirt and black pants, He Yuan looked a little out of place in the sea of blue but he kept his expression stoic and composed.
"Sergeant Major... Yang?"
He Yuan looked to the side to find a human male staring at him with a constipated expression. His eyes trailed to the insignia on the man's shoulder. Three white cheverons and a black hexagon. The Twelve-army Coalition insignia for Sergeant Major. "That's me."
The soldier nodded. "I'm in charge of showing you your quarters in the Official Barrack and office."
He Yuan nodded and made a please gesture.
For some reason, He Yuan's calm attitude annoyed the soldier. He felt disgruntled. The person before him was just a mandron so what was he being such a stuck up for?
In fact, for what reason was he granted a Special Division? Granted it was full of mandrons so nothing major there but it was still a Division! The both of them had the same rank so why did the mandron's situation seem so much better than his?
Just because the mental defect managed to accidentally kill a Xor queen? What was there to be proud of? Who didn't know that the main reason the mandron was given a Special Division was because of his mutated genes? This was basically the same as using the back door!
"Keep up." The soldier threw out before briskly walking towards a hover car some distance away.
He Yuan rolled his eyes and simply followed after.
Thirty minutes later, the hover car drove past a massive nine storey building made of some type of glass that He Yuan was unable to recognize. This was the Third army Headquarters on Crest.
Moving past the building was an area that was sealed off by a large electric fence. The Official Barrack, He Yuan assumed and was proven correct when they drove in. There were rows of storey buildings lined up with considerable amount of space in between and some greenery. The living arrangements of the officers did not seem bad at all.
Recruits and army Privates had their barracks located on a different side of Crest so Yang Xue had never been here. Comparing what he was seeing to the barracks of the lower ranked... Well...
The hover car drove for another thirty minutes and the more they drove, the less lavish the buildings became until the hover car came to a stop before a simple two storey building. It was less exquisite than the other buildings on the way but definitely a huge leap from the barracks of the recruits and Privates.
Once He Yuan was registered in Yang Xue's quarters and properly dressed in his uniform, he was taken over to the head quarters and led to his office. Not every Sergeant Major had an office iof course but as a Commander of a Special division, Yang Xue was an exception.
Staring as He Yuan checked out the office with a bored expression, anger flared up in the heart of the Soldier guide once more but he was quick to rein it in and click on his bracelet.
PING!
PING!
PING!.....
The nonstop stream of pings coming from the holographic interface on the desk caused He Yuan's brows to furrow a bit. The soldier sneered in satisfaction. "Those are the paperwork and applications that need to be prepared and submitted to the Superiors in order to receive clearance for the operation of your Division.
-It must be completed in three days time."
"Sure." He Yuan answered and walked over to seat behind his desk. After taking a quick glance through some of the files, he could barely hide his amused smile. The Superiors were not holding back and were doing everything they could to make things difficult for Yang Xue.
The files appeared to be intentionally complexified and unnecessarily verbose with multiple repetitions of the same message in many different ways. Although mandrons had no problems reading, this jumble of repeated sentences would be sure to make a mandron face huge confusion. It would also take a mandron a great deal of time to organize.
It was such a low blow that it was almost laughable. Too bad... He Yuan finally lifted his head and seeing that the fellow Sergeant Major hadn't left yet, he subconsciously quirked the impatient brow he used on his subordinates in the past. "What else?"
The soldier did not get the satisfaction of seeing the mandron panic at the small time frame so he felt disappointment. He also felt that he'd lost some of his dignity with the mandron's dismissive attitude so he straightened.
"Don't think that just because you are a Commander of a Special Division then you would be exempted of getting hands on missions and being assigned to the frontlines. You are still just a Sergeant Major!"
He Yuan mocked a dumbfounded expression. "What does that have to do with the fact that you are still in my office?"
"You!" The soldier stopped himself from exploding and making a bigger fool of himself before walking out of the office in large strides.
Up on the Sixth floor of the Third army HQ;
Jin Qi confidently walked out of the office of the Major General of the Fourth Division of the Third army with an accomplished smile on her face. Major General Bing was originally on the Twelveth Marshal's side but after finding out that the Twelveth Marshal, who was an ally to the former Third Marshal seemed to be thinking of ways to secretly boost Ding Weimin after his return, she was able to convince the Major General with incentive and pull him to her side.
It was quite easy. She could only thank the Twelveth Marshal for being so dumb and sticking to Ding Weimin even till this moment. Who was he kidding? Ding Weimin had no chance of rising ever again! The only way that man could succeed is if all other Marshals suddenly left their seats!
At first all she wanted was to use her huge supporters to draw in powerful allies for her grandfather but at this point, the Jin family did not need allies! If she was able to place her grandfather's candidate in the seat of Third Marshal then when the time came, it wouldn't be too difficult to take over and become the Third Marshal herself!
She wouldn't have to go over to the Second army and work so hard from scratch in order to take over from her grandfather!
PING!
The notification from her bracelet disrupted Jin Qi's fancuful thoughts but it did nothing to dampen her mood. She looked down.
[[Yang Xue has arrived in Crest and is currently in his assigned office.]]
Jin Qi raised a brow. Yang Xue was in this building? She had the urge to go over and demand what game he was playing by this silence but she was in such a good mood and as someone who would definitely climb into higher positions soon, she didn't need to bother herself with a mandron!
She was not like Ding Weimin. She saw through Yang Xue's plans clearly. It would be best to just quickly do away with him now than wait for him to silently accumulate power.
A minute later, Jin Qi sent out a communication request to her direct Superior. "Colonel Wang." She said with a quick salute in front of her bracelet.
Colonel Wang, on the other end, nodded. "Lieutenant Colonel Jin?"
"Sir I have a simple request to make." After recieving the go ahead, she continued. "The Special forces team were assigned a mission to a Sub-planet that is suspected to contain traces of overlooked Xors, I request that Sergeant Major Yang be invited on this mission."
Colonel Wang frowned. The mandron was a special commodity now. Going on this mission... "I'm afraid not Lieutenant Colonel."
Jin Qi frowned but did not give up. "Sergeant Major Yang is immune to magnetic energy. I believe he would make a valuable asset to this mission. Besides watching Yan- I mean Sergeant Major Yang in action would be beneficial to the comprehension of the soldiers in preparation for the moment when his mutated genes are replicated and infused with theirs."
A thoughtful expression came upon Colonel Wang's face but after a while... "No. Too risky. Do not make this request ever again."
"Si-" Jin Qi was cut off when the holographic screen suddenly flicked shut. Her chest heaved slightly. That narrow-minded idiot! After a while, she looked back at Major General Bing's office with a smirk. Why bother with a Colonel when she could get a Major General to do it for her?
She simply adjusted her posture and walked back into Major General Bing's office.
An hour later, Major General Bing had a very satisfied smile on his sweaty face as he sent an official command to the office of Sergeant Major Yang.