Chapter 475 - Striking at the Roots (2/2)
“Alright!” Qin Fen accelerated his step towards the exit as well. Lin Ling, as always, followed quietly behind him. If not for her striking appearance, she looked more like Qin Fen’s shadow sometimes.
Qin Fen came to Zhao Huzi’s room, who was a lieutenant general now.
“Kid, if you’re here for help, don’t even speak about it.” Zhao Huzi shrugged his shoulders, helplessly. “The biggest difference between the Snake King and Lion King is that the Lion will take care of its cubs. Although it might push the cubs down the cliff to get them to climb up, it would still take care of the cubs as long as they climbed their way up the cliff. But the snake is different. Have you ever seen a snake taking care of its hatchlings? If the Snake King took care of its hatchlings, Du Zhanpeng would not be dead.”
Qin Fen listened to Zhao Huzi’s grumbling-like speech calmly. “What I want to ask is, will the army reimburse the expense for recruiting the personnel?”
…
Zhao Huzi’s eyes went as wide as the size of bull’s eyes, staring straight at Qin Fen for a long while before he could regain his wits. Immediately after, his every facial muscle twisted into an inexplicable bitter smile.
Zhao Huzi could not believe that, at the critical junction when everyone was having a headache about the scores, Qin Fen had run to him to ask him whether his travel expenses would be reimbursed or not.
“Kid, I know you are acquainted with those genius martial artists from the recruit tournament.” Zhao Huzi shook his head gently with a very unhappy look. “But my personal suggestion would that you better not rely on them. First, they are too young. Even if they had entered the Sacred Martial Hall, they have been there for only a short period of time, it hasn’t even been a year. How strong they are now… Only the people of inner Sacred Martial Hall would know about it, but I am not so optimistic about them.”
Looking at Qin Fen’s Lin Ling-like expressionless face, Zhao Huzi took a long breath before he could speak, “Second, even if their strengths have soared, even if they are seventeen-star martial artists, if you went looking for them, it’s not guaranteed that they would help you… because..”
Helplessness flickered in the depth of Zhao Huzi’s eyes. “Almost all of them have a backing. As such, there are many things for which they can not make a decision personally. If these people’s families want to carry out a certain transaction with the Zuo Family, their patriarch or matriarch would only need to issue a command and they would have to obey it unconditionally. Therefore…”Read the next chapter on our novelhall.com
Zhao Huzi rubbed his temples and the bridge of his nose. “If you put pressure on them, I’m afraid you will be disappointed this time. Take this list, you have not come in contact with them. They all are worth many points. You can see it for yourself. You can recruit them one by one.”
“I want to try.”
“Try?” Zhao Huzi furrowed his brow tightly. “Kid, I know you have a good relationship with them but don’t forget, sometimes the higher your hopes are, the greater your disappointment is.”
“I want to try.”
“Why don’t you understand?” Zhao Huzi’s pair of eyebrows were raised erect. “They have families, and many times, they must submit for the best interest of the family first.”
“I want to try.” Qin Fen repeated for the third time. “Would I be reimbursed for my travel expenses?”
“You will be!” Zhao Huzi’s hair was standing on their roots end from his anger. Although he had known a long time ago that Qin Fen may appear very easy to reason with but in fact, will not budge once he had made a decision, he was still very unhappy watching him walking in the wrong direction, step by step.
With only five days, every second was precious. The list Zhao Huzi had given was devised after a long and thorough consideration. As long as Qin Fen had the patience to explain the invitation to these people, nothing was impossible.
But, five days! Zhao Huzi believed that even if he himself went immediately, it would be impossible to convince them all. And Qin Fen was still wasting the time to go to the Sacred Martial Hall to look for those youngsters who had the backings of their families.
“Kid!” Zhao Huzi said Qin Fen, who turned around and walked towards the entrance after giving a military salute and saying ‘thank you’, “I’m not afraid that you can’t invite them, I’m afraid that you will be disappointed after you fail to invite them. Them more you trust someone, the better it is, but it is equally unbearable the moment he betrays you.”
Qin Fen shook his head gently, a smile that was rarely seen these days appeared on his face. “They are my friends.”
Zhao Huzi, looking at Qin Fen who had already left through the door, pursed the corner of his lips into a helpless smile of agony, “Friends!? The person who hurts you the most in the world isn’t your enemy. The person who can truly hurt you is only the one person you believe him to be your friend.”
Serenity returned to the room, once again. Zhao Huzi opened the drawer and took out a dust ladened photo. Immediately, an inexplicable sadness appeared on his face as he rubbed his fingers back and forth on the photo gently. The mumbling voice coming out of his mouth sounded even sadder. “Friend… friend…”
In another room of the army headquarters, Zuo Lin was listening to various reports from everyone. His index finger was spinning an expensive golden pen with an expression of remunerating plastered on his face. “Zhao Huzi is usually careless but quite sharp at times. As a straightforward person, he has many contacts. As a soldier of Du Hen’s clique, he should not do something which would go against everything Du Hen stands for. Therefore, he should not have found candidates for Qin Fen in advance. So, he will submit a list of people who haven’t made any contact with Qin Fen for him to invite.”
Several colonels who had quit the assessment midway looked at Zuo Lin with admiration. In just three seconds after he had received the news that Qin Fen had entered Zhao Huzi’s room, he had already made a sound, plausible speculation.
Zuo Lin’s fingers swiftly danced on the virtual keyboard, seemingly having entered a highly concentrated mental state. He quickly went through various personal information. From time to time, he would retrieve someone’s information and classify it into a new document.
This went on for thirty minutes. Zuo Lin heaved a long breath and rested his back against the chair as he picked up a glass of cold lemonade to moisturize his lips. “Print and distribute this list. Go and talk with the people on it, tell them that our Zuo Family is interested in inviting them for the second batch to go to Saturn.”
The few colonels who had withdrawn from the assessment were stunned after going through it. They looked at the calm Zuo Ling and the list on the screen once again. Immediately, everyone felt a chill in their hearts despite trying to suppress it as they realized something.
That’s right! Zuo Lin’s martial strength might be only at the fourteen-star level, it might not be as good as Qin Fen’s martial dao master level, but when it comes to strategizing… The few colonels felt beads of cold sweat dripping down their temples. In such a short time, not only has he discerned Zhao Huzi’s probable choices, but he also managed to speculate the list handed to Qin Fen by Zhao Huzi and immediately used the resources in his hand to send out the invitations. As soon as he had done the matter of striking at the roots, Qin Fen really might not find anyone.
“Also!” Zuo Lin thought for a moment before he typed out the data of a few people. “Talk to the family of these people, tell them that our Zuo Family is very sincere.”
The several colonels looked through the list, stupified. They stared at each other with a look of disbelief in their eyes. This Zuo Lin is too cautious, isn’t he? Caesar!? Brooks!? Yang Lie!? These young recruits had shown outstanding performance in the recruit tournament, but judging by their intel, they were only in the ten-star realm before they entered the Sacred Martial Hall. And now, it has not been a year since they had been in the Sacred Martial Hall. How could they be worth any points? Even if Saturn has abundant resources, do you need to gift them like a prodigal son?
“Qin Fen was in the Sacred Martial Hall for a shorter period of time.” Zuo Lin, staring at the screen, said in a low voice as if he was mumbling to himself. “But he had killed three martial dao master after he came out. The Elysium martial dao master found dead in the suburbs of Shengjing was also killed by him.”
The few colonels were stupified once more. The Zuo Family’s intelligence network was too strong. Many people still didn’t know who killed the fifteen-star Elysium martial dao master. Who would have thought they would get the proof from Zuo Lin today?
“Since Qin Fen could make such rapid progress in the Sacred Martial Hall in a short period of time,” Zuo Lin turned his seat and gazed into the eyes of the colonels. “Then, why can’t the other people who had joined Qin Fen do the same? Although the data on the star-class of Sacred Martial Hall martial artists is very tightly controlled, we can’t get accurate information, it’s still better to be prepared.”
Zuo Lin turned his seat back to the computer screen as he raised his index finger of the left hand and shook it from side to side gently. “You can despise a person for doing anything but you can’t underestimate him, ever. Although Qin Fen is not my opponent, he has entered this competition. As such, it’s necessary for me to temporarily treat and strategize against him as my opponent. Don’t forget how hard it is to finish True Inborn Blood Marrow Transfusion, and these people had been with Qin Fen only for so long, yet they had rapidly advanced through the star-classes.”
“Therefore!” Zuo Lin stood up. “I despise him but I will never underestimate him since he’s become my temporary rival! A lion will hunt even a rabbit with every ounce of his strength!”
The colonels were somewhat pleased with their previous choice of withdrawing from the assessment.
A commander may seem wildly arrogant after getting his hands on such a huge amount of resources but in fact, a commander still treats his opponent carefully. And this was a very unpleasant thing.
The colonels, looking at Zuo Lin’s confident back, began to look forward to the abundant resources they would be enjoying from Saturn. At the same time, they began to mourn for Qin Fen, the youngster who had become a rising star in the military world after he joined the army, for he did not even have a half a percent chance of winning now.