Thunder God
Ye Chen looked at the man in front of him, his eyes showing a hint of surprise. He never expected that the man he had casually saved back then would now be a battalion commander in the military base city of Huaxia.
After the apocalypse, the military was restructured, and the hierarchy was significantly different from before. It was divided into ten levels, with the highest being the Commander-in-Chief of the military department, who held military authority and was the leader of the base city.
Below the Commander-in-Chief, the ranks were: Senior Commander, Mid-level Commander, Junior Commander, General, Lieutenant General, Major General, Battalion Commander, Regiment Commander, and Squad Leader.
The traditional military ranks and positions were abolished and replaced with a unified position system. There were no distinctions between military rank and position anymore; everything was simplified and standardized.
The ranks above eliminated positions like Division Commander and Regiment Commander, and "regiments" were reduced in size, now only consisting of 100 people per regiment and 20 people per squad.
This was a reform in the base city's system.
To put it in perspective, the advertising departments in ancient times were nowhere near as complex as they are today. There were no creative teams, technical staff, or planning departments—everything was simpler. In ancient times, all they did was print flyers and put them up everywhere, because it was enough to get attention. Today, however, with the immense competition and a myriad of ads everywhere, this is how much the modern world has changed.
The types of professions in an era are defined by the needs of that era.
In the apocalypse, the skills required to rise in rank as a soldier were largely related to how well they could hunt monsters, knowing their weaknesses—but only after having the strength to kill them.
Hence, there was no traditional military rank system, and the rank names were just assigned to roles. They were all called "military rank levels" and reflected one's position in the hierarchy.
The Battalion Commander had an incredibly important rank, commanding immense authority, with each Battalion Commander overseeing ten regiments, and each regiment consisting of five squads. A single battalion could consist of 1,000 people.
To date...
A total of 108 battalions had been established, with Ye Chen's being the newest. As more people came, the battalion would continue to expand.
Each Battalion Commander managed thousands of soldiers and could achieve incredible results each month, earning plenty of base-altered meat and monster corpses, which could be sold to the commercial department to make meals.
Behind him, Bai Long and others initially didn't recognize Gu Xinghe. But upon hearing his words, they were stunned and exchanged surprised glances, and after a moment, they finally remembered.
"It's you?" Bai Long exclaimed, then grinned. "Long time no see! Didn't expect you to reach this level. Well done."
Gu Xinghe smiled slightly and, turning to Mo Feng and Bai Long, said, "I was lucky to arrive on time. Since I became Battalion Commander, I ordered those responsible for guarding the city gates to notify me immediately if they saw you. Unfortunately, I wasn't in a high enough position to be informed until today. After some investigation, I tracked you down here. It's a lucky coincidence."
Everyone laughed.
Gu Xinghe glanced at Ye Chen, but didn't ask what had happened. Instead, he turned his head, wiped away his smile, and looked sternly at the muscular man. "What happened?"
The muscular man inwardly cursed. From Gu Xinghe's attitude towards Ye Chen and the others, it was clear they weren't just acquaintances, but more likely friends. He had clearly run into a brick wall.
Although Ye Chen had killed someone...
In front of a Battalion Commander, it wasn't a big deal. Black could easily be made to appear white; this was corruption and miscarriage of justice.
To report him?
The muscular man didn't even think about it. As a mere Squad Leader who controlled just 20 people, reporting a Battalion Commander who controlled 1,000 would be pure folly unless he had some powerful backing. Otherwise, it would be a death sentence.
After all—
The person who died was just a clerk from the information department. Such a person could be replaced easily in the apocalypse, and the base city wouldn't punish a Battalion Commander for such a trivial loss. After all, the value of the two individuals was incomparable, and right now, talent was scarce in the base city. Everyone was needed, and the lives of insignificant weaklings were expendable.
This was the cruel reality of the base city's rulers after the apocalypse.
Of course, if this incident were to be exposed and cause a stir, the base city would have to execute the Battalion Commander to appease the public opinion. After all, who would want to join the base city if they saw the leadership abusing their power?
Sweat dripped down the muscular man's forehead as he lowered his head. "Nothing... nothing happened."
Gu Xinghe snorted coldly. "If there's nothing, then leave. If I hear any rumors, you know the consequences."
Rumors? The muscular man bitterly smiled. It wasn't a rumor, it was the truth, but now it was being spun into a rumor. He nodded silently, then waved to the soldiers around him. The soldiers immediately understood, lowering their heads and quickly getting into the truck.
"Vroom—"
The truck sped off into the distance, with another truck following closely behind. They dared not look at Ye Chen and the others any longer. They knew they were in trouble. Today's events had witnesses, and they couldn't say anything, nor could they let anyone else speak. Everything had to be kept quiet, or else Gu Xinghe, the Battalion Commander, might come after them. On the surface, he wouldn't do anything, but in secret, he could have them killed.
Once the soldiers left, Gu Xinghe smiled and turned back to Ye Chen. "Interested in going for a meal at a hotel?"
Ye Chen shook his head. "No need. Since things have settled, I've reported in. I'll head to the military now."
Gu Xinghe sighed. "Alright. With your abilities, I'm sure you'll earn military achievements quickly and rise to Battalion Commander yourself."
Ye Chen nodded. He didn't deny that.
"Then I'll leave. Let's catch up when we have time. The base city is expanding rapidly, and there's a lot to do."
"Go ahead," Ye Chen replied.
Gu Xinghe waved and walked away, getting into his luxurious BMW and driving off.
"Let's go," Ye Chen said without looking back, leading the group into the building. They returned to the office where several staff members were hiding in the corners, whispering.
When they saw Ye Chen return, they were startled and quickly stopped talking.
Ye Chen didn't bother with them. He walked over to the desk of the dead woman, opened the documents, searched through the vacant team roster, and randomly picked a team. He inserted their files into the system, then pulled out five cards and wrote down the names of himself and his group. He handed the cards to Bai Long and the others.
The entire registration process was smoother than the staff had done it, leaving the people watching in stunned silence. When they arrived, they had to be taught by the supervisor for a long time to understand the procedures, but Ye Chen, an outsider, knew them all.
After handing out the cards, Ye Chen led the way out of the office and walked toward the large residential building indicated on the card. Along the way, he couldn't help but reflect on his past life. In his previous life, when he joined a base city, he was assigned a similar task, but later a powerful figure took notice of him and had him transferred to the military, thus changing his destiny...
Without that figure's assistance, he would have only lived for another two or three years before dying.