The way to earn military merit is simple—by completing tasks.
Ye Chen entered a spacious building with a bright and well-lit hall. This building was originally a community center in a residential area, but now it had become an office space. Many people were scattered throughout the hall, and on the clean and neat wall on the right, there was a long row of announcements.
With Ye Chen's sharp eyesight, he could easily read the words on the wall from a distance of over a hundred meters. So, instead of pushing through the crowd, he simply observed from afar.
The announcement stated:
Tasks are divided into five levels: A, B, C, D, and F.
A-level: The recipient must reach the intermediate commander rank.B-level: The recipient must reach the general rank.C-level: The recipient must reach the major-general rank....
At his current soldier rank, Ye Chen could only take on F-level tasks. Despite his strength, which would allow him to easily complete A-level tasks, the rules set by the base city were rather unfair.
Why is it unfair?
Because completing an A-level task casually could earn you tens of thousands of military merit points, which could instantly elevate you to the rank of battalion commander. However, military merit points reset with each rank-up, making it seem like a form of perpetual struggle.
A soldier needs 2,000 merit points to be promoted to a team leader. From team leader to squad leader requires 5,000 merit points. From squad leader to battalion commander requires 50,000 merit points.
Each level requires you to accumulate points from scratch—when you rank up, all your progress resets. This system encourages people to constantly chase after military merit, without allowing them to keep their points.
Every rank comes with its own perks and benefits.
Soldier: If a soldier fails to accumulate 1,000 merit points in one month, they are expelled. Benefits: one Type-64 handgun, two sets of military uniforms, 200 rounds of ammunition every week.Team Leader: After deducting 2,000 merit points, a soldier automatically becomes a team leader. Benefits: two Type-64 handguns, one rifle, two sets of military uniforms, 400 rounds of ammunition every week. Rights: ability to dismiss and assign team members.Squad Leader: After deducting 5,000 merit points, a soldier becomes a squad leader. Benefits: sniper rifle, submachine gun, rifle, pistol (one of each), 1,000 rounds of ammunition every week.Battalion Commander: After deducting 50,000 merit points, a soldier becomes a battalion commander. Benefits: submachine gun, rifle, artillery, and other weapons, as well as monthly tasks issued by headquarters. Performance determines promotion; failure to perform may result in demotion.
For those ranks above battalion commander, the details are unclear on the public notice. These are figures at the "general" level. Such people are treasures of the base city. They receive a certain amount of genetically enhanced meat each month, unlike battalion commanders or squad leaders who must work to meet their merit requirements, or face demotion.
10g of genetically enhanced meat equals 1 point of military merit.
A soldier who earns 1,000 merit points in a month is equivalent to 10,000g of genetically enhanced meat. By using 150g of this meat, a bottle of gene serum can be created, which grants the equivalent strength of one person. This serum increases the strength of a normal soldier to about 35 people. After reaching 10 people's worth of strength, it requires Level 2 genetically enhanced meat to continue, and so on.
Without reaching the required level of merit, one cannot use the military merit points to buy weapons, ammo, or other resources.
Each rank also enjoys better benefits, for example, a team leader enjoys a 10% discount when purchasing weapons or ammunition. The higher the rank, the better the discount.
Ye Chen knew that with the excavation of ancient ruins, many treasures would end up in the commercial vaults of the base city, under the management of the commercial department. The advanced items from those ruins were priceless, often worth tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of points. This made high-ranking individuals particularly sought after, as they could buy items at a significant discount, saving many merit points.
For example, his infinite-energy bullet handgun, if sold, would certainly attract countless buyers. After all, no one had yet managed to excavate an ancient ruin.
However, Ye Chen wasn't planning to sell such a treasure just yet. He would wait until the ruins became more accessible and sell it then. If his memory served him correctly, the first ancient ruin discovered in his previous life by the China Base City was Atlantis, an ancient civilization of extraordinary value. It was far more advanced than the relatively minor ruin he had discovered—this so-called "rune civilization," which was small and weak by comparison.
Time was running out.
Besides discounts, the benefits of higher military ranks were numerous.
Some crafty people chose to stay at the soldier rank, paying their 1,000 merit points each month, then using the remaining merit points to strengthen themselves. After all, a team leader had to pay 2,000 points, a squad leader 5,000, and a battalion commander 50,000.
However, the base city was too large for people to exploit such loopholes. Otherwise, it would become a "militia army."
A soldier only received 200 rounds of ammunition each week, and they could only use one Type-64 handgun. This weapon, against monsters of level 10, would be almost useless. In combat, only close-range fighting would be possible.
However, in hand-to-hand combat, monsters were far stronger than humans. Their claws, teeth, and skin were tough, with some monsters having impenetrable scales. Without good weapons, one would be trapped in the same predicament Ye Chen had faced earlier—fighting with just their fists.
At this point, a level 10 human could barely fight a level 9 or level 8 monster. Against a monster of the same level, the only option would be to escape. This drastically reduced the efficiency of hunting monsters.
Only by increasing military rank could one receive better weapons and significantly increase the speed at which they hunted monsters.
Additionally, as one's rank increased, more military merit tasks could be undertaken.
A soldier could only take on F-level tasks, each yielding only a few dozen merit points. They would need to complete dozens of them to match the reward of a single D-level task. This made the process of completing tasks feel slow and tedious.
Thus, the system prevented people from staying stuck at the soldier rank, avoiding the scenario of people exploiting it to stay at the bottom forever.
Ye Chen's eyes moved down the list of tasks:
"Normal Task: Hunt 100 zombies and collect 500g of genetically enhanced meat. Reward: 50 merit points." This was a daily task, available for repeated completion and mainly for those who used genetically enhanced meat to exchange for military merit.
"Normal Task: Find various food items such as eggs, candy, instant noodles, etc., and exchange them for merit points based on their value as assessed by the commercial department."
"Normal Task: Collect daily necessities such as gas, gasoline, lamps, bulldozers, etc., and exchange them for merit points based on their value."
"Normal Tasks..."
There were dozens of other simple and repeatable tasks. Many soldiers would record them on their personal task list and collect items they encountered while killing zombies to exchange for merit points, which would help them grow stronger. The base city also benefited from this as it rapidly accumulated resources.
Further down the list, there were other tasks:
"There is a power station in Shanghai, and a retrieval convoy is waiting. They are short of escorts. Completion of this task by a soldier will reward 800 merit points, by a team leader 1,600 merit points. Additionally, if you receive the second prize from the convoy, you get a 50% merit point bonus; if you receive the first prize, you get a 100% merit point bonus."
Ye Chen glanced at the task and noticed that the rewards were much higher in the D-level task list. A squad leader would earn 4,000 merit points for the same task, and a battalion commander would receive 40,000 merit points.
"That's too time-consuming." Ye Chen shook his head. The journey from here to Shanghai would be slow, especially with monsters everywhere. It might take him half a month to complete it.
He moved on to the next task...
Unknowingly, the people around him had started to notice him. Some stood near the entrance, their eyes widening as they saw Ye Chen reading the small text on the wall from several meters away. How sharp must his eyesight be to do that?