The First Order

Chapter 854: Finding Zhang Xiaoman

Translator: Legge

When the office door closed, the patients, the students, the director of the medical center, and the commander of the forward operating base were left staring at one another in the hallway. No one could understand what was going on here.

To the students of Qinghe University, Ji Yi was a person of extremely high standing. Jiang Xu was the honorary principal of Qinghe University, and on top of that, he also taught the humanities and political science. Ji Yi was also a full professor at Qinghe University. In Luoyang City, these two people had extremely good reputations and were no different from celebrities.

Yet the respected Chief Editor Ji Yi actually addressed a young man as “sir”? This left the students who were reprimanding Ren Xiaosu earlier at a loss.

“Just who is that young man?” A student muttered, “Chief Editor Ji seems to respect him a lot. This is definitely not an act.”

“I’m not sure who he is, but since Chief Editor Ji is so respectful towards him, we probably acted too rashly earlier. Let’s apologize to him later...”

The students did not harbor any bad intentions. They only came here because they had a burning passion to protect their homes. That was why Ren Xiaosu did not confront them directly just now.

Students their age might look like they already had a mind of their own, but actually, they tend to have a lopsided view of things and were easily misled by what they saw.

Actually, if Ren Xiaosu were not a doctor, the students might just associate him with that young man who saved Luoyang City. But the difference between a doctor who saved lives and that of someone who went on a killing spree was simply too vast.

As a result, the students did not even think in that direction. To say nothing of the students, not even Ji Yi dared to believe it.

As the students were whispering among themselves, the director of the medical center asked the commander of the forward operating base, “Isn’t he a doctor from the Trinity Institute? Why haven’t I heard of someone with his reputation in the Trinity Institute?”

“I’m not sure.” The commander of the forward operating base shook his head. “A P5 commander who was leaving the forward operating base had specifically instructed us to look after him. It seems that he’s also on very good terms with that P5 commander....”

When P5092 left the forward operating base with his troops, he had indeed instructed them to take care of Ren Xiaosu. His standing within the Pyro Company was basically the same as Jiang Xu’s status in Luoyang City. Even if it was not as high, it wouldn’t be that much of a difference.

“T” represented the combat strength of an individual, while “P” represented the command authority levels. These designations ran parallel to each other.

In other words, a P5’s combat strength might only be at the level of a T4, but as they were commanding officers, they would generally not participate in close combat.

T5s and P5s were on the same level in principle, and they enjoyed the same treatment. But when it came to actual combat, T5s would be under the orders of P5s.

P5 was the highest rank within the command structure. Go any higher than that and it would be the five bosses of the Pyro Company. Therefore, a P3 commander in charge of the forward operating base would definitely bear in mind what P5092 had instructed him to do.

At this point, the commander of the forward operating base was also a little puzzled. Where did this young man hail from?!

Meanwhile, Ren Xiaosu interrupted Ji Yi’s rambling in the office and bluntly asked, “You’re the one leading the team conducting interviews on the front line this time?”

“Yes.” Ji Yi nodded and said, “Being a war correspondent is a very dangerous job, so I have to lead by example. I can’t just hide behind others while they do the job. But you, sir—”

“Stop calling me ‘sir.’ Mr. Ji, you don’t have to be so polite with me. I’m not used to hearing that either.” Ren Xiaosu corrected the way Ji Yi addressed him before asking, “I saw in the recent editions of Hope Media’s newspapers that Chief Editor Jiang Xu has been condemning the Wang Consortium a lot. Has Hope Media beefed up the security measures at HQ? The Wang Consortium has been making a lot of risky moves these days, so don’t let them hurt the chief editor.”

Ji Yi gave a bitter smile. “I’ve warned the chief editor, but you should also know him very well. No one can persuade him otherwise. Actually, before I came here, the Wang Consortium’s people had already gone to look for the chief editor to have a talk. However, he refused to see them. To avoid suspicions, he did not even let them into the building. But I don’t think the Wang Consortium will do anything shocking over some news articles, right?”

Ren Xiaosu sighed. “Hopefully not.”

“Oh right, when did you suddenly become a doctor?” Ji Yi wondered, “Are you... undercover? Are you planning on doing something to the Pyro Company here? Do you need my cooperation?”

Ren Xiaosu shook his head. “I really came here to save lives. Right now, I’m just a normal cardiac surgeon. By the way, it’s so dangerous being a war correspondent. Aren’t you afraid?”

Ji Yi smiled. “I was a little scared at first. But now that I know you’re on the front lines as well, I suddenly don’t feel that scared anymore.”

As someone who had personally witnessed how strong Ren Xiaosu was, Ji Yi trusted in the presence of his savior. It was as though nothing would happen to him as long as Ren Xiaosu was here.

As he was saying that, there came a sudden knock on the door. The commander of the forward operating base stood outside the door and said, “Sorry to disturb you, but there’s an urgent matter.”

Ren Xiaosu opened the door and asked, “What’s the matter?”

The commander of the forward operating base said solemnly, “We’ve just received orders from the main command center on the front lines that our soldiers in the north have engaged in a frontal battle with the barbarians. We need to transport our supplies in this forward operating base to the north, and all the medical center staff will also have to head north. A new medical center will be set up at the rear of the front line there.”

This forward operating base had been established to connect the south of the supply line at Mt. Dashi to the northern front line. However, it was still more than a 100 kilometers away from the front lines in the north. If the wounded needed to be transported back here from the north for treatment, it would be too late.

So setting up a new field hospital nearer to the front line was of extreme urgency.

Ren Xiaosu said, “I’ll go and tell Elder Wang Jing and the others so that we can set off as soon as possible.”

...

Outside Stronghold 144 in the Northwest.

Five supply trucks gradually approached the stronghold. Along the route from the Central Plains to the Northwest, Fortress 178 had set up six checkpoints in total. These checkpoints were responsible for conducting inspections in case anyone transported any undeclared dangerous goods into the Northwest.

However, these five trucks continued driving without being stopped along the way. Whenever the trucks reached a checkpoint, someone would have already informed them to let the vehicles through.

During this period, no one carried out any inspections of the vehicles.

When the five trucks came to a stop outside the stronghold, the drivers got out of the vehicles and opened the trailers. Wang Yun and the others could be seen sitting and resting inside with their eyes closed.

A driver smiled and said, “I’m sorry for the discomfort caused to you all by having to hide in the back of the truck for so long. You can disembark now. We’ve arrived.”

Wang Yun opened his eyes calmly. “There’s nothing to be sorry about. We’ve been through worse than this before, so this is nothing in comparison.”

On that day, they had nearly encountered the Pyro Company troops after escaping from Stronghold 31. Later, when they entered the Wang Consortium’s territory, the Great Hoodwinker had already arranged for the trucks to escort them to the Northwest secretly.

After all was said and done, the Great Hoodwinker was still very dependable this time.

“Sir, where do we go now?” Wang Yun’s subordinate asked while looking at the northwestern stronghold.

Wang Yun thought for a moment and said, “We have to find someone called Zhang Xiaoman first.”

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