Dark Moon Era

The nurses were running back and forth. It seemed like Van Persie was not in good shape.

 Major General Li Lie stood by Van Persie’s bed, looking at the crippled major whose limbs were all heavily distorted. Even a part of his face had caved in. Van Persie had once been a brave man, yet here he was, weeping silently and hopelessly on the sickbed. The major general could not even spew a word of consolation because he understood the pain all too well. He had once shed similar tears, not once, but thrice. After all, he had served Iron-Blooded City for two decades, had he not?

 Sometimes, the things that one did not want to remember was precisely what was the hardest to forget. Some wounds could never heal no matter the consolation. Those who had never been on the battlefield and had never experienced friends and brothers dying right in front of their eyes could never experience the torment.

 “Call my aide in,” said Li Lie after his gaze met with Van Persie’s teary eyes.

 Van Persie was a fierce soldier. If he had not experienced this tragedy, he would certainly have been promoted to lieutenant colonel in less than 2 years.

 Besides grievance in Van Persie’s teary eyes, Li Lie saw a burning will to fight, and the best reward for a soldier whose blood was still boiling would be to answer his request.

 The aide arrived in the ward and stood beside Li Lie respectfully. He also showed a sympathetic gaze at the heavily injured Van Persie on the sickbed.

 “Five highest quality cell regeneration serums, three muscle nourishment serums, and three therapy sessions of microcurrent nerve regenerator, together with two nerve regeneration serums. Mark it down. I want all these for Van Persie and it must be the best he can get.” The order came out of Li Lie’s mouth one after another. Unlike his angry yell outside the ward, it was a direct order to his aide.

 “Commander Li, I’m afraid it’s difficult to meet your demands. There are a lot of injured soldiers in this battle, including a lot of heavily injured high-ranking officers…Our resources…” The struggle was apparent on the aide’s face. The aide was not lying. This battle was unlike the others because there was a subspecies among the tiger-bulls! On top of that, this subspecies remained a mystery as it involved many complicated things. More importantly, the death toll was high.

 “I don’t care. Who else had it worse other than Van Persie’s Iron-Blooded Company? Besides, he achieved a meritorious deed by capturing a subspecies. If that’s not enough, I’ll pay for it with my own portion in advance. I don’t care what you do, just make it happen. I will never let the hero under my wings be treated badly.” Li Lie was calm, but his words had resounding determination.

 The aide was familiar with his superior’s way. If he argued, he would probably suffer the wrath of Li Lie. Moreover, his superior was willing to sacrifice his portion for Van Persie, so all he had to do was get what Li Lie asked for.

 “Yes, Sir,” the aide saluted and answered loudly.

 Nodding, Li Lie walked to Van Persie’s side and said, “You’ll recover. The battle will be endless after this and Iron-Blooded City awaits your return.”

 Van Persie fixed his gaze at the major general. In his mid-40s, Li Lie seemed to be the youngest Rank 5 Purple Moon Warrior. Besides being the idol of many people in Iron-Blooded City, he was also the strongest in the 5 km section where Van Persie was stationed.

 Indeed, Rank 5 was considered the strongest in the 5 km section of the wall. Furthermore, the 5 km section of Iron-Blooded City was not a child’s play. Half of humanity’s combatants were stationed in Iron-Blooded City. Therefore, even if it was just a short 5 km section of the wall, there were many experts. In order to stand out from the rest, one must rely on cold, hard strength!

 There were many legends regarding this major general and Van Persie finally witnessed it for his own eyes today.

 If it was not for Li Lie, who single-handedly slashed three subspecies’ experts and expelled tens of thousands of Autol tiger-bulls, humanity would have welcomed another tragic defeat at Iron-Blooded City. Countless lives must be lost in order to protect the wall.

 When Van Persie captured a small commander of the subspecies while facing hundreds of Autol tiger-bulls, it was the legendary major-general that had saved him from being completely trampled by the stampede of tiger-bulls.

 Van Persie would never forget the long blade in the major general’s hand. It was similar to a weapon wielded by a legendary general from the tales of ancient Huaxia—the Crescent Blade.

 With a single swing from the blade, countless wind blades with fiery crimson fire had exploded at the enemies. Several hundred Autol tiger-bulls had been slammed to the ground instantly and a lot of them had died on impact.

 If a man was this powerful and valiant, the man must be a hero! The major general was tough and fearless on the battlefield, but even the toughest had a soft side like when he stood by Van Persie’s sickbed.

 Major General Li Lie knows my feelings! He knew I wanted to return to the battlefield and my determination!

 Van Persie tried his best to nod but could not even perform the slightest movement. The best he could do was a grunt from his throat.

 “I get it.” Li Lie stopped Van Persie from making any further movement.

 It was then the aide came back with a news update for Li Lie. He said softly, “The three marshals are having a meeting. Sir, you are summoned there.”

 …

 “We’re still trying to identify the subspecies and the genetic comparison is happening as we speak. We are determined to identify the subspecies within the week.”

 Inside the strict meeting room, a well-mannered lieutenant general was summarizing the report on his hand. He was not a combatant but a scientist.

 A new subspecies had been discovered during the battle, and as a scientist, he had the duty to perform a quick and precise study on the subject. The world beyond the wall was getting more and more complicated. Should humanity lowered their guard at any part, they would probably welcome a destructive end.

 After the lieutenant general completed his update, one of the iron-masked marshals on the three giant screens grunted. “Mm-hmm.”

 The marshals’ identities were kept a secret as a common agreement in Iron-Blooded City. Their position and status were far too important. In order to avoid unwanted trouble such as assassination, the secrecy was necessary.

 After all, the soldiers in Iron-Blooded City had discarded the arrogant thinking of human beings as the supreme species. Even since the Purple Moon era started, humankind was no longer the supreme race on this planet.

 The lieutenant general sat down whilst the atmosphere in the meeting room was heavy. Iron-Blooded City had faced far too many battles, among which were battles against some unimaginable powerful beings. However, with humanity’s persistence and unyielding attitude, and the participants of the human race’s strongest combatants, plus the aid from the super-advanced weapons, Iron-Blooded City sailed through the battles.

 As a matter of fact, after countless harsh battles, the soldiers were no longer afraid of beings with absurd powers. They were more afraid of subspecies that possessed similar intellect levels as human beings and had formed an organized structure among themselves.

 The Underground race had proven to be one of such subspecies, and if a new one was discovered, it would be a bolt from the blue. With the appearance of an unidentified subspecies during the battle, this bolt of thunder struck the meeting room with a heavy atmosphere.

 “In times of calamity, a shining hero will descend. Those casual squabbles behind the wall that have acted as entertainment should be paused for now,” said the marshal on the right screen. His iron man had the carvings of a star.

 “I agree. The light of a hero can never be diminished. It is destined to shine since young. They shouldn’t be consumed by internal conflicts. I suggest initiating Iron-Blooded City’s supreme summoning order,” said the marshal who had grunted at the lieutenant general’s update earlier. He was on the left screen and on his iron mask were carvings of the moon, not the Purple Moon but the yellow moon of the old civilization.

 “It’s settled then. Initiate the supreme summoning order. All major factions must send their best geniuses to us and they will be arranged into a secret company. They will join the soldiers in the battle of Iron-Blooded City,” concluded the marshal on the center screen. His iron mask had the carvings of a towering sun and it seemed like he had the highest authority among the marshals as he made the decision on behalf of the other two.

 Li Lie was sitting in an inconspicuous corner. With his rank as a major general, he actually did not have the right to join such meetings. The reason he was in the meeting was that the battle had happened in the section of the wall under his jurisdiction. However, after hearing the marshals’ decision, he could not help but question the ridiculousness behind it.

 Damn it! This is a subspecies with an intellect that we are talking about! This is huge for us all! And they even seem to possess the ability to gather the vicious beasts beyond the wall! Yet the marshals’ decision isn’t to deploy humanity’s strongest combatant into battle but forming some teenaged choir?

 Are the marshals having a long-sighted view on the matter or am I the short-sighted one here? Don’t they notice how serious the matter is? Why are they thinking about raising some teenagers? Must we suffer some severe damage for them to wake up?

 Those teenagers can grind themselves with the internal conflict behind the wall! The battle in Iron-Blooded City is no child’s play!

 Nonetheless, Li Lie would never express his thoughts. Following orders was a soldier’s nature and his rank was not high enough to allow him to object the superiors’ decision. If there were higher-ranking officers that shared the same thought, they would surely have voiced it out.

 Strangely, those generals that were qualified to question remained quiet. After half a minute of silence, a white-haired general asked a question, “By general selection?” The meaning of his words was simple: how should they select the teenagers for the three top-secret companies?

 “All we have to do is send out the supreme summoning order. As for the selection, those fools behind the wall have already done it for us. There will be a ranking competition next year and the result is believed to be fair and convincing. We will hold our selection based on the results of the competition,” the marshal in the middle followed up with an elaborate decision.

 The general nodded and suggested, “In order to ensure the rightfulness of the result, I suggest sending the supreme summoning order after the selection matches. Otherwise, those bastards will have all kinds of reasons not to send their strongest to the competition.”

 “Hmm.” All three of the marshals agreed.

 It was then that the Moon Marshal said, “I suggest we initiate another summoning order and expand the summoning range to all the safety sectors and the factions within. The number of Purple Moon Warriors, pre-Purple Moon Warriors, elite warriors, and common warriors must be adjusted and fixed. On top of that, as for mercenary groups, freelancers, and individuals, we must also—”

 “Pardon me. Let me stop you there. I agree with the expansion of the summoning order but try not to touch a certain group and individuals first. Things aren’t that bad yet. We need to protect the seeds of humanity. Iron-Blooded City is important, but humanity has something more important to attend to, don’t they?” said the Sun Marshal.

 “I agree.” The Moon Marshal thought for a while and after two seconds of silence, he agreed to the Sun Marshal’s suggestion.

 However, even though everyone was in the same meeting, some words were only made clear to the marshals, generals, and a few lieutenant generals.

 On the other hand, Li Lie had no idea what the Sun Marshal just said.