Chapter 245: Returning to Norton

Translator: Double_L Editor: Hitesh_

Nevertheless, Martians had a totally different criterion when it came to the recognition of a strong fighter. To them, an ace had to be brave, ferocious, and never back down from any obstacles.

In the eyes of Earthlings and Ivantians, Lie Kent always looked like an irrational fool. Yet, in the eyes of fellow Martians, Lie Kent was a cool and straightforward person who followed his heart regardless of situations, which was why they admired him a lot.

After all, cultures were expected to vary on different planets.

In recent years, the development of Mars had increased significantly due to their strategic whereabout, causing Martians to become extremely proud of themselves. In their point of view, Martians were the toughest fighters throughout the human race, and they had sacrificed a lot in the development progress of mankind.

Many years ago, Mars was being known as the battleground of Martians and Kaedeians against Zergs, a living hell indeed.

Somehow, this was also another reason why Martians were born aggressive.

As soon as Lie Kent made that announcement, all fellow Martians cheered, and couldn’t wait for that day to come.

To be honest, Martians would be extremely disappointed if Lie Kent were to fight Einherjar Wannabe in the virtual arena of PA. Some even thought that it would be a disgrace to the great House of Lie!

Generally speaking, Martians were never fond of Li Shimin and Patroclus; they hated Li Shimin’s guts for playing down-to-earth. As for Patroclus, they disliked him because he would always distance himself and act like a sissy instead of showing off his actual power, and they had no idea why he would do that.

Without a doubt, everyone on Earth would be supporting Einherjar Wannabe if he were to face off against Lie Kent. After all, Earthlings were born with a great sense of pride for their own race, and not to mention they hated Lie Kent’s arrogance.

In fact, they couldn’t wait to see Lie Kent get his ass kicked by Einherjar Wannabe.

The supporters of both Einherjar Wannabe and Lie Kent soon began their "chat war" on the official forum, causing the traffic to become slow. As the "chat war" kept escalating, there was still no reply from Einherjar Wannabe himself.

Actually, Wang Tong was well aware of what was going on, yet he was uncertain about going to Mars.

It was not only because he couldn’t afford the travel ticket, but he would soon be joining the troops towards Norton. Hence, he decided to put it aside and let the uproar die on its own. After all, there was not enough time for him to bother that much.

Most importantly, Wang Tong couldn’t think of any ways to protect his secret identity if he agreed to do this. As Einherjar Wannabe, Wang Tong would be able to try out his new fighting ideas without any worries. Yet, if he chose to reveal himself, he would immediately be placed under the spotlight. Somehow, it also meant putting his life at stake, and he would never want that to happen.

Instead of paying attention to the uproar, Wang Tong would rather focus on training and perfecting his own elemental forces, especially when it came to the mastery of interchanging between two different elements.

Carl and the rest of the team were the first batch to leave for Norton, while Wang Tong and Zhou Sisi were scheduled to depart two days later.

As for Mr. Wannabe, he decided to do nothing but watch TV for as long as possible, because life would never be as easy as soon as they arrived at Norton.

Since Einherjar Wannabe wasn’t replying to Lie Kent’s request, the Martians immediately became arrogant and assumed that Einherjar Wannabe was afraid of Lie Kent. Almost all of their TV channels even began to trash Einherjar Wannabe and Li Shimin while flattering and touting their "almighty highness of Mars".

In the eyes of Martians, Einherjar Wannabe and Li Shimin were nothing but a couple of timid chickens.

Mr. Wannabe was infuriated when he saw that. How he wished he could strangle Lie Kent to death immediately!

"Yo Wang Tong, let’s teach that arrogant as*hole a lesson right now. I’m sick of him sullying my name!" Mr. Wannabe roared angrily, as mad as a lion.

"Chill man, we’re leaving for Norton in two days, and we have no time for this idiot at all. Most importantly, how are we supposed to get to Mars?"

"Ask him to come to Earth then!"

"Like I said, we’re leaving in two days. Right now, it’s already too late for us to make such a demand. Furthermore, how am I supposed to reveal myself as Einherjar Wannabe?" Wang Tong replied with a laugh.

"But.. that m*therf*cker is too cocky!" Mr. Wannabe couldn’t hold back his anger. Apparently, those television programs sure did a good job in teaching him how to swear.

"Haha, relax! Martians are all like that. Even the Blade Warrior himself had the lineage of Martians." Wang Tong smiled and said.

"What the f*ck man? How I wish I could teach them a lesson right here right now!" Mr. Wannabe was trying to cool down his fury. He would really consider teaching those Martians a lesson if only he had Blade Warrior’s legendary METAL Suit...

All of a sudden, Wang Tong and Mr. Wannabe turned towards each other the moment the word "METAL Suit" came across their minds.

No one would be able to recognize Wang Tong as long as he was equipping the METAL Suit!

Yet, there was another catch. Apparently, Wang Tong’s lack of Soul Energy would not be able to support the METAL Suit for a long period of time, and his face would be revealed the moment he unequipped the METAL Suit.

Suddenly, Wang Tong remembered the mask that he once wore on stage. That simple mask sure did a great job in protecting his identity. However, he was afraid that his identity would be discovered easily by using facial comparing technology. But perhaps, this problem would be solved if he would wear a ghoul mask that people normally wore during Halloween.

Nevertheless, Wang Tong shook his head and dropped that idea; he had no time for this kind of fuss.

As Old Fart always said, ‘Do the right thing instead of keeping it real.’

Mr. Wannabe was pretty upset, but there was nothing he could do except watching television. Within minutes, Mr. Wannabe’s anger was washed away by some funny sitcoms…

Two days later, Wang Tong had once again boarded the spacecraft towards Norton. Although he was travelling back to the same planet, yet it felt completely different, not to mention he was also accompanied by different people this time.

The first batch consisted of more than ten thousand students in all five spacecrafts, and they were also accompanied by teams of soldiers; it seemed like Earth Confederation was trying to eradicate the pests on Norton as quickly as possible.

For most of the students, this was their first time leaving Earth, and amongst them, only a few had been to Norton before. One of such students was Wang Tong, who had never dreamt of revisiting that living hell once again.

Even though there wasn’t much stuff inside a military spacecraft, yet it was way better than his previous ride, more comfortable to be exact. The cabin was filled with excitement from fellow students, yet it seemed like most of them were not aware of the purpose of this "field-trip".

Most people assumed that mankind had completely taken over Norton, and all that was left to do was to exterminate the remaining Zergs. Yet in reality, the military’s requests for reinforcement had been gradually increasing for the past two years, and based on the current situation, they were still far from gaining total control of the planet.

Back then, Wang Tong didn’t pay much attention to that, since it was none of his business. But now, things were different as he would be heading back to Norton again, and he needed to recollect his past experiences and new knowledge about dealing with Zergs as soon as possible. After spending months studying in Ayrlarng, Wang Tong realized that what worried him the most was not the number of Zerg’s legion, rather it was their huge and complicated species breakdown.

Wang Tong even began to suspect if there was actually another reason for Zergs to invade Norton instead of simply to ambush mankind’s army.

New species of Zergs had once again being discovered on Norton, and of course, those species had yet to be included in the latest textbooks. Somehow their process of evolution had become quicker in recent years, which was exceptionally strange, unless this was also part of their plan… What if they were able to think like humans and managed to combine R&D with their evolution abilities?

Wang Tong shook his head and decided not to let his imagination go wild. However, the whole universe would be in deep trouble if that really happened.

"Attention to all passengers… Extreme speed cruising will begin in one hour. Please gather at the vessel cabin immediately!"

Wang Tong proceeded as told. Apparently, the students of Ayrlarng were being distributed to different platoons, and there were no familiar faces in the one he got sent to. This time, the military had decided to combine students of all academies together and redistribute them to different groups, hopefully to balance the level of every team.

The students in this vessel were all from S-ranked, A-ranked, as well as B-ranked academies. Only a small amount of students from B-ranked academies were recruited as foot soldiers, because their performances were weaker compared to the others. As for the students from A-ranked academies, they served as the main forces, and were distributed to various departments in the army. Most of the students from S-ranked academies were recruited in the Battlecraft Fleet crew.

The purpose of combining students from various academies together was to build-up relationships between academies, as well as to stimulate the competitiveness amongst students.

Most of the students in Wang Tong’s platoon had not seen each other before, and some outgoing ones had even begun to chat with the other team members. Although Wang Tong was quite talkative himself, yet the mixed feelings about revisiting Norton had killed his mood of talking.

Wang Tong’s platoon consisted of about twenty students, and without a doubt, the most popular student had to be the one from Yalden. After all that was the student from one of Earth Confederation’s strongest academy. Soon, that person became the center of attraction, and was seen happily chatting with the other platoon members.

Instead of joining their chit-chat, Wang Tong decided to close his eyes and get some sleep before extreme speed cruising, he was hoping to get enough rest before reaching Centaurus Cluster. It appeared that Wang Tong wasn’t the only one who remained silent, but Wang Tong could tell that they kept quiet due to nervousness.

Mankind might have found ways to boost up one’s physical strength, yet they still couldn’t find a way to overcome their shyness.

As the spacecraft shut all cabin doors and began to cruise at extreme speed, most of the students soon began to fall asleep. Wang Tong had fallen into a deep slumber, and soon, he would be waking up in a different continent of the universe.

Wang Tong saw Ma Xiaoru in his dream. The charming lady was gently smiling at him while whispering his name in her sweet voice…

"Ladies and gentlemen, we would be arriving planet Norton shortly. This is the first planet being discovered in the Centaurus Cluster that is suitable for mankind to live in, as well as full of mineral resources..." A brief introduction of Norton was being played on the cabin’s monitor as students began to come out from their sleeping capsules and gather in the lobby. Many of them were startled by the magnificent view of the outer space and that beautiful planet.

Most of the students were extremely excited. Some were even seen grabbing their fists, as this would be their chance to perform and build up their own portfolios!

"Haha, it seems like our future generals are quite excited."

"Sir, would you like to teach them a lesson?"

"Not now. Let them be for the moment. I’m sure their officer-in-charge will shape them up later."

Two officers sneered while observing the excited students through the glass window. Somehow, they were extremely annoyed by the fact that they were given orders for taking care of those kids by the military. After all, they were all trained fighters and proud warriors, not nannies and babysitters!

Without a doubt, the garrisons were absolutely not fond of those lucky little brats, yet they had no choice but to obey for the order from their superiors.

"At least they can be our "housekeepers" for the time being, since they’re still weaker in terms of combat performances."

"Well, perhaps that kid from the S-ranked academy would be more useful."

"Compared to the others, he might be better in terms of abilities, yet his lack of experience would only make him a burden for us on the battlefield. Hence, we have to teach all of them the rules of this place. Even though they have signed the life and death agreement before getting on board and the Confederation is okay with a number of casualties, still they need to know the basics of surviving this war between the mankind and Zergs!"

"Yes, sir!"

Planet Norton’s five times stronger gravity kicked in as their spacecraft entered its thick atmosphere. Almost all of the students began to cheer as the vessel prepared to land.

However, Wang Tong kept calm while the others were busy getting excited. He was amused by their crazy cheers like "Men conquer all!" or "Send Zergs to Hell!" and so on. Those people had no idea what was going to happen in the future.

Anyhow, they were just a group of students filled with passion. Sooner or later, their passion would be washed away by reality for sure. Hopefully, the whole mission would only be "exterminating the remaining Zergs", as stated by the military.

Finally, their spacecraft landed on Norton’s Headquarter Base. Apparently, the reconstructed building was five times bigger than the last one that was destroyed by Zergs, and it also had a better defense system.

Everyone got off the vessel and queued up at the assembly area according to their ID number, and each unit was then being ordered to different places under the lead of their respective handling officer.

Wang Tong’s unit of twenty students was then finally greeted by their handling officer, "Ladies, welcome to Norton. I’m Sergeant Turner, and I’ll be responsible for shaping you bunch of sissies into real men. Only then we’ll be able to kick some Zerg-asses!"

Turner arrogantly scanned across the whole team. He was pissed off by this bunch of weaklings who couldn’t even stand straight!

"Mr. Turner Sir, but we’re already men!" Some random guy from an A-ranked academy replied proudly. He was unhappy to be called a sissy, since he was already the well respected top-notch in his academy. But most of all, he didn’t sign up for this to be treated like a low-ranked foot soldier.

Turner walked towards the boy and stared at him ferociously, yet the male student bravely stood still and stared back.

All of a sudden, Turner attacked the student without giving any warning, and broke the student’s left arm before he could defend with his GN Force.

The student was left alone crying in pain.

"Medics, get this weak-ass sissy out of my sight!" Turner roared.

"Listen up you bunch of p*ssies, I don’t care how you were pampered back then. From now onwards, you will be treated like a low ranked soldier, and you have no choice but to obey to my orders, IS THAT CLEAR?" Turner roared again, and the rest of the team replied discreetly.

"I CAN’T HEAR YOU!"

"UNDERSTOOD, SIR!"

"From today onwards, your only reply will be YES SIR! DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR?"

"Yes, Sir!"

"LOUDER, YOU BUNCH OF PUNK-A*S WEAKLINGS!"

"YES, SIR!"

"Good! That’s the first step of becoming a standard soldier. Now, pay attention. As soldiers, there are three rules that you need to obey; Number 1, follow orders! Number 2, follow orders! Number 3, follow orders! Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, Sir!"

Turner scanned through the team of nineteen dumbasses once again. All of the students were given the same military uniforms as normal soldiers, yet they were instructed to wear their school badges on the right side of their uniforms in order to tell them apart.

Turner walked around the team and stopped in front of the boy from Yalden, "Forward private, announce yourself!"

"Zhao Zhiting from S-Ranked Academy of Yalden, Sir!" Zhao Zhiting stepped forward and announced himself briefly yet full of spirit. After all, S-ranked academies like Yalden did provide an excellent academic training to their students. The only problem would be his lack of military exposure.

Nevertheless, Turner was quite happy with Zhao Zhiting’s soldier-like performance, and could even do better if he were given proper military training.

"I’d like you to become the unit captain in-charge for this group of ladies. Do you accept?"

"Yes, Sir!" Zhao Zhiting answered spontaneously and saluted. To him, this was his opportunity to shine brightly.

Becoming a captain was fairly important, as it meant that he or she would be a few steps ahead compared to the other students. Generally speaking, students would be assigned to respective annihilation teams across Norton upon completion of their training. As for those who became unit captains, they would be recognized as mankind’s future leaders, and would even be given the title of Corporal if they passed with flying colors. Hence, being two steps ahead of the race was extremely important for one’s career path.

However, Turner didn’t let Zhao Zhiting return to his position, because he noticed that some of the students were unconvinced by his decision.

"It appears that some of you are not convinced by my decision, but let me be straight, only the toughest would be chosen as leaders, or else, the safety of the rest of the team would be jeopardized due to one’s weak performance. So, anyone would like to challenge him?" Turner sneered with his ruthless expression. Without a doubt, higher ranked officers were allowed to directly appoint someone to become captain, yet he or she would still need to go through the whole team in order to convince them.

Meanwhile, some other teams had already begun their challenges in the training field. This would be the first round of duel that students had to participate in Norton.

Even though Yalden was the strongest academy amongst the rest, that didn’t mean that all of its students were the strongest. There could still be chance for the students of the other academies as long as the students of Yalden didn’t major in METAL Combat!

Clearly, one’s combat intelligence totally had nothing to do with one’s academic performance.

Suddenly, a tiger-like roar echoed from the other end of the training field. It appeared that one of the students was being surrounded by the rest of the unit.

Of course, the owner of that familiar roar was none other than Earth Confederation’s direct descendant of Fist of the Racing Tiger!

Wang Ben’s actual strength was obviously the mightiest amongst his unit. Hence, he would have to go through the whole team in order to convince them! Anyhow, it was clear that none of them would be able to win, since Wang Ben was already a Level 5 fighter, not to mention he was armed with Fist of the Racing Tiger.

"That’s enough. I now declare Wang Ben as your new unit captain!"

Everyone could tell that the officer-in-charge was very fond of Wang Ben, not to forget that General Hu Ben’s popularity across the land force as well as Wang Ben’s dramatic life experiences. Hence, most officers did treat Wang Ben like a real fighter.

After all, an eagle would never hatch a dove!

As for the rest of his teammates, they were finally convinced by the might of this peer.

"Quit staring the others. Come out if you want to become the unit captain. Don’t say I didn’t warn you that your unit captain has to be the strongest amongst all of you, or else, the whole unit would be doomed!" Turner yelled, and a few stood up to challenge Zhao Zhiting immediately.

The rules were simple, which was to win by knocking out the opponent. Three amongst the unit decided to challenge, yet none of them were able to knockout Zao Zhiting. After all, he was a Level 4 fighter who possessed approximately one hundred and fifty sols of Soul Energy. Clearly those who were still at Level 3 or even Level 2 would never be able to knock him out.

Same went for the other units. Basically, those who became unit captains were third or fourth graders who possessed the Soul Energy of a Level 4 fighter.

Soon, most teams had finished with their own duels, as there was obviously a distinctive difference in terms of skills and Soul Energy.

Zhao Zhiting frowned as he stared at his teammates. He didn’t expect that they were so weak, and he couldn’t even imagine how good this team would be able to perform.

As for Wang Tong, he originally assumed that the missions on Norton would be individual assignments, yet he didn’t expect that new recruits were arranged to act as a unit in order to ensure their safety on this dangerous planet. In other words, he would have to obey his superiors, since he was in the military, and he didn’t like the idea of having his life held in the hands of another person.

In the end, Wang Tong realized that he had no choice but to compete for the unit captain position. At least, Wang Tong knew that he would be able to make all the right decisions if he became captain, and most importantly, he would not have to put his own fate in the palms of another person.

Wang Tong made up his mind and got up, "Sir, I’d like to challenge!"

"Hurry up then!" Turner didn’t expect someone else would be willing to challenge Zhao Zhiting. After all, there was a huge difference in terms of skill between him and the rest of the team.

Zhao Zhiting glanced at Wang Tong for a few seconds, then threw out a punch without giving any warning. However, Wang Tong had no intentions to dodge. Just as Zhao Zhiting’s fist was about to land on Wang Tong’s face, Wang Tong swiftly countered with a chop attack onto the back of Zhao Zhiting’s neck, instantly knocking him out without a fuss.

One hit K.O. in a blink of an eye.

Turner was stunned. Being one of the veterans in the military, he was pretty experienced himself, yet he was not as observant as Massa.

"Who are you? What sort of concealed weapon were you using?!" Turner said after examined Zhao Zhiting. He couldn’t believe that a Level 4 fighter like Zhao Zhiting would be knocked out that easily.

"Sir, my name is Wang Tong, I’m a student of A-ranked Academy of Ayrlarng, and I didn’t use any concealed weapons, sir!" Wang Tong stood still and said confidently.

Turner turned towards Wang Tong with a suspicious look. After all, he couldn’t detect any sign of Soul Energy from Wang Tong, not to mention Wang Tong managed to negate and counter Zhao Zhiting’s attack without breaking any sweat, which was fairly impossible if the boy weren’t equipped with concealed weapons.

"Stand straight you punk. Are you trying to mock me?!"

"No, Sir!"

"Then spill it out. What are you hiding?!"

"Sir, I’m not hiding any weapon, and I’m not familiar with concealed weapons!"

Unfortunately, not everyone would be easily pleased in the military, and for those hard-headed officers, they would stick to their own thoughts no matter what sort of reasons or excuses were given.

Turner was pretty upset. Not only that Zhao Zhititng, the person he chose, was defeated by a kid from nowhere, but he was also unhappy about Wang Tong’s "arrogant" attitude.

Without giving any warning, Turner raised his baton and smashed onto Wang Tong.

Wang Tong was a straightforward person. He would never escape from punishment if he knew that he was wrong, but that didn’t mean that he was an obedient sheep. Since he didn’t do anything wrong, his mind automatically classified the incoming baton-strike as an "attack".

As Old Fart used to say, ‘No mercy against enemies.’

Wang Tong effortlessly angled his body and dodged the attack, then countered with another chop attack and instantly knocked out Sergeant Turner.

The whole training field was dead silent. Everyone understood that their lives laid in the hands of their respective officers-in-charge, not to mention those officers were also their superiors in the battlefield. Hence, everyone knew that they were not allowed to attack their officer-in-charge!

Yet, Wang Tong knocked out his officer-in-charge.

To be honest, most of the students were sick of their officer in-charge’s arrogant attitude, but since they had chosen to join the military, they learned to obey orders. Since they were new recruits, of course, they would also learn how to bear with it. After all, it was rather normal for officers to act a little arrogant.

Unless one’s name was Wang Ben, who had a powerful military family to back him up…

Soon, Wang Tong found himself surrounded by a group of fighters equipped with METAL Suits, instantly causing the situation to escalate.

All of a sudden, one of the fighters charged towards Wang Tong without any warning. It startled Wang Tong a bit, yet he managed to negate and fight back. For some reason, Wang Tong believed that this was a setup from Li Ruoer. After all, the House of Li was powerful enough to hire a few people to mess with him.

Wham! Wang Tong countered by throwing out a punch towards the fighter who was wearing a 2nd Class METAL Suit, knocking him back for more than ten meters and shattering the entire suit. The fighter was seen lying on the ground unconscious.

The rest of the gang of fighters then drew their blades and charged angrily towards Wang Tong. However, it didn’t scare Wang Tong at all. Instead, he was pissed that they were really trying to kill him.

In a blink of an eye, Wang Tong threw out another punch towards the other fighters and shattered all of their armors. Somehow, their METAL Suits were not as tough as they seemed.

Within seconds, all four fighters were seen moaning in pain while rolling on the ground.

Suddenly, the siren rang, followed by the entrance of an officer as well as a huge group of METAL Fighters. "WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?"

"Colonel, this student attacked his officer-in-charge as well as four METAL Fighters."

Wang Tong stood still fearlessly. After all, he would not be able to undo what was done. As Wang Tong turned towards the colonel, he was surprised by what he saw, and so was the colonel.

It was Massa!

Massa kept his cool and said, "Hmph, you little b*stard, how dare you attack your officer-in-charge. Explain yourself right now!"

The other soldiers expected that Massa would immediately take the kid into custody. Instead, he chose to question the kid on the spot, but no one said anything, as Massa was not an ordinary officer.

"I’m here to become a soldier, but not a slave!" Wang Tong explained confidently. He was relieved for being able to meet Massa in this place.

After listening to the further explanation from his men, Massa replied, "Seems like you’re quite confident about yourself, kid."

"Sorta."

"Very well, you’re excused from the training program. From tomorrow onwards, you’ll report for duty at Praddo District D instead!"

Massa’s decision of sending Wang Tong to Praddo District D caused an uproar amongst the other students, while a few other instructors were seen shaking their heads. Colonel Massa was originally serving in the special force, but he was assigned to Norton recently, and became one of the main officers. Soon, he was even given the nickname "Viper".

In fact, the whole Norton was the battleground of mankind against Zergs, yet Praddo District D was a living hell. The chances of Wang Tong making it back in one piece was very rare.

"Yes, Sir!" Wang Tong replied and saluted.

"Follow me!"

Wang Ben, who was standing amongst the crowd, intended to stand up for Wang Tong. Yet upon seeing Massa’s arrival, Wang Ben knew than Wang Tong would be alright.

"Hehe, long time no see, coach!" Wang Tong said in a happy tone as he followed behind Massa.

"Knock it off, you troublemaking good-for-nothing. Were you planning to kill everyone if I didn’t barge in?" Massa replied in a cold tone.

"Of course not, coach. However, it seemed like your men were trying to bully me, and I am rather pissed right now." Wang Tong complained.

Massa was well aware of such "bullying", as most soldiers were not very fond of those pampered students. Yet, everyone would leave one eye open as long as the bullying wasn’t too much. After all, pampered students had to be taught a lesson in order to grow tougher.

Unfortunately for those guys, Wang Tong was not the kind of kid to be messed with.

"Hmph, stop causing me troubles, will ya? Go on and get your arms and legs stretched in Praddo!" Massa said.

"Thanks, coach!"

"Listen up kid, that area is infested with Zergs, as well as the toughest territory to conquer throughout Norton. Be careful, and don’t miss me if you die!"

"Don’t worry coach, I won’t let you down!" Wang Tong replied.

Wang Tong was well aware that this was the only way for Massa to save his a*s. After all, Wang Tong still had hit a superior officer, regardless of reasons, and it would upset the veterans if Massa didn’t punish Wang Tong. Hence, since Wang Tong was not afraid of challenges, and it would be meaningless to have Wang Tong training with the bunch of newbies, Massa decided to send him to Praddo, literally killing two birds with one stone.

Massa even noticed that Wang Tong had improved significantly over this period of time.

In the end, Wang Tong was officially assigned to Praddo District D.

Fortunately, Wang Tong’s incident didn’t cause the uproar to escalate. It was obvious that students were all terrified of Praddo District D upon hearing the high number of casualties in that area. For some reason, Zergs in that area were extremely aggressive, unlike the other areas where Zergs were playing guerrilla. Praddo District D would be covered with blood and gore every day.

Military recruited students from various academies in order to assign them to the less aggressive secured territories, while focusing their main firepower on those Zerg infested areas. The main reason of all that was to seize those important mining areas that the legion of Zergs was currently sitting on.

The war had been going on for a long period of time, yet the military was still unable to fully control Norton, which upset the congressmen a lot, because that meant higher military expenses as well as greater pressure from the public. The confederation was afraid of getting disgraced from its own people, as well as being discriminated by Martians and Ivantians.

As a matter of fact, Massa’s arrival on Norton had nothing to do with the war. He and his men were actually sent to Norton for a special mission. In short, "Colonel" was only his cover for the classified assignment.

"Lorr, what happened just now? Why were they attacking the kid named Wang Tong?" Massa asked coldly while flipping through his documents.

Lieutenant Lorr was one of those who knew about Massa’s real identity. He found out that those fighters were from another department, which was being handled by a ruthless man with great authorities, someone not to be messed with.

However, Lorr decided not to tell the truth, "It’s just a small misunderstanding, Colonel."

Massa lifted his head and glared at Lorr fiercely. Since Lorr was in-charge of the personnel department, of course, he would know what was going on. Even though taking down an officer was a serious offense, yet armed METAL Fighters had no reasons to barge in.

After all, Wang Tong was just a normal student from a military academy, and based on Massa’s understanding towards Wang Tong, he would never hurt anyone unless he felt threatened.

"Cut the crap, Lieutenant Lorr. Stop wasting my time!"

Lorr wiped the sweat from his forehead and replied, "I’m sorry Colonel… Actually… the party who’s responsible for the fuss is rather… untouchable."

"Do continue. If that’s really the case, I’ll pretend I didn’t hear anything." Massa said with a stiff smile.

Finally, Lorr was relieved and said, "It’s the House of Li. They wanted us to teach Wang Tong a lesson. I’m sorry sir, but it’s not up to me to disobey their request."

"Oh, really? Tell me everything. Perhaps, I can help you as well." Massa smiled and said.

Realizing that Massa was also trying to kiss House of Li’s ass, Lorr decided to tell him everything...

To Wang Ben as well as the sons and daughters or relatives of a few other congressmen, this trip to Norton was a chance for them to "polish" their portfolios.

However, the biggest "celebrities" of all had to be Li Shimin, Li Ruoer, and Ma Xiaoru. To be honest, their participation had given the military a hard time, because they had to ensure the safety of these "princes and princesses". If anything happened to them, those military officers would be doomed.

As for Li Shimin, he was known as one of Earth’s top-notches amongst the younger generation, as well as the descendant of Einherjar Li Taoche. Everyone knew that Li Shimin was mature and had a finesse in terms of handling problems. Since he was quite experienced himself, he was assigned to one of the main battlefields in Norton. So far, Li Shimin’s performance on the battlefield had received many praises. Some even thought that he was fit to become a general.

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