Compared to combat, Feng Yi found sneaking attacks to be the greatest pleasure in a soldier's life. He set a not-so-distant goal for everyone. Anyone who successfully sneaks up on him in their daily life could immediately be promoted to team leader. Nevertheless, despite Feng Yi suppressing his own strength, only one person has actually succeeded in such an attack.

Every day at sunrise, Feng Yi and his soldiers would greet the dawn with morning exercises. At sunset, tour buses passing by would often witness a fascinating sight—soldiers clambering up cliffs with their bare hands, undeterred by wind or rain. Looking up from the foot of the mountain to the peak, it's at least a hundred meters. Nonetheless, the soldiers would exhaust all means to try and pull down those climbing ahead of them. The team leader often faced several attacks at once.

One could hardly imagine their resistance to falls. Taking a fall from such heights would be life-threatening for an ordinary person, yet these soldiers, like dumplings dropped into boiling water, would grip the rock wall mid-fall, or get caught by a comrade below. Some would even hit the ground and act as if they were pain-proof iron men, guarding their heads and other vital parts as they fell, only to get up and continue climbing. Only a small number of soldiers who happened to break a leg or foot would end up in the recovery vehicles for treatment.

The instructor at the top of the cliff would hold a stopwatch, timing each soldier. This time, their average efficiency had only improved by a second since yesterday. Feng Yi shook his head dissatisfiedly and ordered the soldiers to climb back and repeat the exercise.

Hum was situated on the edge of the desert area southwest of Olympus Mons. Known for its unique landscape and production of rare native crops, it was a famous agricultural zone. Because large transport vehicles were unsuitable for the magnetic field, in the hot summer, Hum became the must-pass area for many smugglers and tourists. Due to the constant trade, and the ongoing full-scale war, the Hum area had recently become a hotspot for crime, looters, and mercenaries.

In this area of tens of thousands of square kilometers, desert looters were often spotted. One trade caravan was captivated by the remarkable training routine of God's Thorn soldiers, and they stopped to watch for a full hour.

The weather on Mars was unpredictable. As the sky grew darker, the leader of the caravan realized the problem: a northerly wind was picking up. In such conditions, it would be inconvenient for the caravan to continue on. This kind of weather also provided the perfect cover for local looters. The local armed forces usually stand watch until 11 p.m., but in these conditions, they would finish earlier, so the caravan must reach Hum as early as possible.

What a terrible season! The wind was strong enough to disrupt their training, yet soon it started raining as well. Reluctantly, Feng Yi ordered the soldiers to wrap things up quickly.

At 10 p.m., when it was supposed to be lights out, the base Intelligence Officer suddenly received an SOS signal from the Hum area to the north. The signal, sent by a small trade caravan, was inconsistent due to the weather conditions.

Upon receiving the information, Feng Yi quickly got dressed and sounded the emergency assembly alarm. With the short, sharp blares resonating through the training base, the tranquility was abruptly shattered.

The sleeping soldiers wasted no time. They quickly got dressed and rushed outside without a second thought.

The mess team was in chaos, moving like ants on a hot pan, searching for compressed biscuits. The canteen was full of the noise of pots and pans, reflecting the mess team's poor organization.

The medical staff, entirely women, picked up their medical boxes and emergency equipment. They moved just as quickly as the soldiers.

The communications team had already opened the ammunition and equipment warehouse early on. Soldiers promptly picked up their night vision goggles and automatic rifles. Each team leader was also given a digital map. The five team leaders Balun, Wang Gan, Old Smoke, Nicolas, and Doug who had successfully sneak attacked Feng Yi, were ready for battle within less than five minutes.

The captain barked out, "Roll call."

"Never mind." Feng Yi waved his hand and said sternly, "We received a distress signal from a caravan at position X. The caravan is currently negotiating with the criminals. I'm afraid the caravan won't be able to stall for much time. They are dealing with the Sunset Legion, a notorious crime organization that's active around the edge of Hum throughout the year. Their effort is classified as A-level. Remember, you have to use your wisdom, strength, experience, and countless military skills to ensure their personal and property safety before any severe personnel casualty occurs. Keep in mind, this is not a drill. Time waits for no one, captains, quickly organize your soldiers to act."

"Understood."

At the same time, 33 kilometers away from the Hum region, alongside a desert road, a crime organization and a caravan are engaged in intense negotiations. If they manage to escape the Sky Eye scanning, it will be only because of the use of a shielding device combined with the special geographic conditions of the desert. It has to be said, they are highly skilled.

The caravan has already sent out a distress signal, but the hearts of the accompanying transport personnel are racing. No one knows whether Hum will receive the signal in this terrible weather. If armed personnel do not arrive immediately...

Indeed, ever since the Sunset Legion's number was disclosed, the hearts of the people have been chilled to the bone. The Sunset Legion is a famously ruthless organization in the area, known for killing without a second thought. Thankfully, the presence of 20 freelancers who came with the caravan had a deterring effect. Darl, a Rank 3 freelancer and a renowned old warrior in the vicinity, was hired because of his extensive combat experience and knowledge of the surrounding terrain.

Usually, when encountering Looters, paying a certain toll enables one to pass. But who would have thought that they would run into the Sunset Legion today? the Sunset Legion's condition was to hand over all their property before they could leave alive. It seemed like they didn't even understand the rationale behind not wanting to kill the goose that lays golden eggs.

In fact, of course, the Sunset Legion understood this. Unfortunately, ever since they learned from General C that a total war was about to break out in a month's time, they had escalated their inhuman plundering of local caravans.

It was precisely because they knew that Darl was guarding the caravan, the Sunset Legion was considering whether to conduct a forced plunder. Although Darl was powerful, getting rid of a few dozen people wouldn't be much of a challenge for them.

At this moment, the leader of the caravan was nervous. Even the twenty freelancers started to sweat. With cold gun barrels aimed at their bodies, most of the accompanying merchants gave in. However, there were also those who were filled with a sense of justice. A young girl in her twenties plucked up the courage to step forward from the crowd and said in a cold voice, "The caravan has already handed over half of the property, why do you still want to stop us?"

"Heh heh heh, little girl, who are you?"

"It doesn't matter who I am, you just promised that you would let people go if we gave you half the money. Even Looters should have a bottom line, what's your response to that?"

The head of the caravan wanted to urge the girl not to say any more. This girl filled with a sense of justice was a recent graduate from the Asian School of Finance and Economics who now worked as the caravan's finance officer. She usually led with humility and manners, so it was unexpected that a docile girl like her would bravely stand in front of others in such a moment. This moved the leader of the caravan quite a bit.

In response to her challenge, the Sunset Legion fired a single shot. The girl fell into a pool of blood like a swan that could no longer flap its wings. She blinked her large eyes and moved her mouth slightly, as if she wanted to say something, but she didn't utter a single word...

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