Chapter 96 - A Show of Strength and a Counter Show of Strength (1/2)

Under the curtain of night, all around the city was feasting and pleasure-seeking. Youngsters traveled back and forth between tall buildings, reflecting the city’s prosperity everywhere.

Qin Fen walked alone in the streets of Seoul tonight. He wasn’t in the mood to enjoy the scenery all around him. Aside from the destination point and time, Butcher gave him a set of ordinary civilian clothes upon landing. He had changed out of his soldier uniform.

He had no map, no compass, nor any assistant devices. Before Qin Fen could tell which was south, east, north, and west, Butcher and Phoenix had disappeared before his eyes.

Butcher didn’t give him an abundant amount of time. Qin Fen was quite clear about this, so he quickly made his way down the roads between the tall buildings of the city.

It wouldn’t be hard to find the rendezvous point for the mission, but it was quite the distance away.

Qin Fen hurried his way to the rendezvous point’s building and walked into the elevator in the reception hall. He indifferently sized up his surrounding environment. It was luxurious! Qin Fen was really surprised that the rendezvous point was set to be here.

The elevator’s door closed, and Qin Fen picked up the telephone the elevator was allocated with. He punched in a series of numbers, which were actually a secret code. The side of the elevator opened up, revealing a new elevator to a completely different world.

Qin Fen walked into the new elevator, closing the elevators and choosing to head down to the sub-tenth floor. He secretly admired this ingenious design.

“Oh man! Another recruit turd has come. It looks like we have an additional mission besides our original mission.”

“What sort of mission, Iron Hand?”

“Babysitting.”

The elevator’s door opened, and Qin Fen heard the peculiar voices of five seasoned veterans within the room. Qin Fen walked out from the elevator quite undisturbed, arriving before the seasoned soldier named Iron Hand.

Bam!

It was a standard military salute!

Qin Fen puffed out his chest and quickly said, “Recruit Qin Fen reporting for orders! Please give me an assignment, sir!”

Once you arrive, and you see that we’re not there yet, just ask about the combat mission from the one called Iron Hand. Qin Fen had memorized these words that Butcher had spoken to him before he left.

“Assignment?” Iron Hand, who possessed a pair of hands that were slender like a woman’s, pointed at a desk not too far away, his eyelids, not even raising. “First choose a gun from there. That’s the weapon you’ll be using for tonight’s mission.”

Qin Fen didn’t move. He remained standing ramrod-straight before Iron Hand. “I first need to know what’s the mission is about so that I can choose the best firearm to match with the mission’s environment, sir!”

The moment Qin Fen spoke these words, a hint of praise flashed in the eyes the five seasoned soldiers, who had been smiling in mockery. The mental quality of this recruit was quite decent. He had just entered the room and was mocked as a kid that needed a babysitter, yet he didn’t act as they expected upon hearing that he needed to choose a weapon. He didn’t immediately seek to prove that he wasn’t a kid that needed a babysitter. He didn’t impulsively or casually choose a weapon.

Aside from the five seasoned soldiers, there was a recruit around the same age as Qin Fen in the room as well. The recruit had spiked up hair, around an inch long. Below his thick eyebrows were large eyes curved into a smile of schadenfreude, as if he were ridiculing the five seasoned soldiers for their failed plan of mockery.

“This is the mission.” Iron Hand tossed Qin Fen a bag of documents nearby. Though the modern era was ripe with using digital information, it was best to use a paper medium to maintain secrecy. This medium could, at the very least, completely thwart high-level hackers from accessing the information.

Capturing terrorists in Seoul? Qin Fen’s forehead creased with a few wrinkles. According to the mission briefing, one mistake could easily cause a variety of bad situations, such as fighting in the downtown streets and so on.

“Finished yet?” Iron Hand asked.

“Yes.” Qin Fen responded in a simpler way than Iron Hand asked. Such a calm response could easily be misunderstood. Qin Fen did this on purpose, acting cool as a counterattack against Iron Hand.

“Choose a gun.” Iron Hand simply pointed at the table. I’ll let you act cool for now, kid! But I’ll have something good for you to see in a bit!

“….”

Qin Fen responded this time with silence and practical action. From his perspective, this was the method most effective in not wasting both of their time. He could see the signs of provocation within the eyes of the five seasoned soldiers.

Recruits always possessed a self-infallible arrogance. This was especially true of recruits taking part in a special forces mission; they were more likely to have inflated egos, act on their own, and not listen to commands.

There was a tradition in the military where the seasoned soldiers would give the recruits a show of strength. Squad Leader Hao had done the same when they first joined the military.

Qin Fen arrived before the table. There weren’t any truly assembled firearms here. It was just a pile of parts.

The mission might spread to the downtown area. It would be bad if the kinetic energy of the bullets shot from the primary firearm was too high; there was the possibility of piercing the enemy and injuring civilians. The strength of the firearm had to be controlled.

Qin Fen whipped out the HK45C from his waist. With a flick of his wrist, the completely intact firearm instantly became part of the pile of parts on the table.

There had been a few seasoned soldiers who wanted to deride and mock Qin Fen after he assembled a gun, seeking to display a show of strength, but their eyes lit up during this moment.

The recruit, who was looking at the lively situation, gaped slightly before closing his mouth. Qin Fen’s dismantling of his gun was, in a certain sense, a type of art.

Even some of the seasoned soldiers didn’t dare to say that they could dismantle a gun with the same ease and speed as Qin Fen.

This recruit can’t just know how to dismantle guns, right? The seasoned soldiers couldn’t refrain from being skeptical. It hadn’t been long since this young man joined the military, the air of a recruit was easily felt on him. It was very hard for people to have large expectations for him.