Monster Dismantling Company

Xin'anzhou, a newly built fortress. It stands stubbornly beside the ruins of Xin'anzhou, where scattered and returning residents have armed themselves with military technology and are attempting to reclaim lost territory before the miasma's effects solidify.

Xin'an Prefecture differs from Ning Prefecture. Here, the disaster prevention committee, led by the defense force, wields far greater influence than the civil administration committee. The city is almost entirely under military control, with the civil administration committee merely an appendage of the disaster prevention committee.

Therefore, the commander of the Xin'an Prefecture Defense Army was one rank higher than that of Ning Prefecture.

The most significant difference between these two men is that Liu Haoran, the defense commander of Ningzhou, is also a commander, but generally no one calls him "commander." They either call him colonel or "Old Liu." On the other hand, everyone calls Commander Xia of Xin'anzhou "commander."

Although the Ningzhou Defense Army has a strength of several thousand men, it does not actually have the capability to conduct long-range operations outside the city and must rely on the support of city defense facilities or neighboring troops to complete battles.

In addition to several combat brigades, the Sinanju Defense Army also has a large number of subordinate units such as supply battalions, engineering battalions, and special operations battalions.

In particular, the special operations battalion of Sinanju was a meritorious unit awarded medals by the Defense Forces Headquarters, with the honorary title of "Fenfeng" (Burning Wind). Within the military system, they could be directly referred to as the "Fenfeng Unit." Just like the "Fire Crows" unit received an honorary title and became the "Fire Crow Unit" back then.

Foehn winds are a natural phenomenon unique to mountainous areas, consisting of a mass of dry, hot air that falls from the sky. Strong foehn winds can scorch vegetation, crack the ground, and ignite wildfires that spread throughout the region. This aligns with the operational style and vision of the foehn wind troops: to burn away all the miasma spreading across the land.

The red humanoid mechs Li Lin saw on the platform belonged to the Burning Wind Squad. They carried molten battle axes for slicing through monsters and miasma-infested beasts, as well as explosive rockets for traversing swampy environments. They could use short bursts of high-speed flight to close the distance to melee range, then use their fully powered molten battle axes to cut down attacking enemies.

—This is what's written in the promotional brochure.

Military honors are a key propaganda tool for the united government. Because the stories of heroes can transcend mountains and seas, reaching every isolated little world. The [Foehn Wind Force] even has its own character cards, which are included in small cards sold near school gates. If there weren't already nationwide instant noodle brands, the [Foehn Wind Force] would also have a card inside an instant noodle.

However, upon closer inspection, Li Lin seemed to discover something different:

They brought firearms.

To be precise, they were cannons. Through the car window, he saw that many of the mechs of the [Flaming Wind Force] were carrying machine guns.

This is the autocannon used by the tank, which is similar to a rifle to the mech. The 25mm caliber is just right for the mech to withstand, and it can be fired like an assault rifle.

Weapons of this caliber are unlikely to be effective against real monsters; at best, they might be useful against miasma-ridden wild boars. But those wild boars are unlikely to pose any real threat to organized human forces, so there's no need to deploy so many in special forces units.

A more likely goal is—they are here to deal with other humans.

That's understandable. After all, the United Government's enemies aren't just monsters, but also other humans. 25mm automatic cannons can easily wipe out those enemies.

For the United Government, there are still many independent or semi-independent forces on Earth. The situation on the Moon and Martian colonies remains unclear even after the monster scourge. Even if the monsters are completely eradicated, they could become new major threats.

This time, they clearly knew something that Li Lin didn't.

From afar, he saw Master Wang and the colonel get out of the car together. Surrounded by mechs, an officer with a general's star on his shoulder was exchanging intelligence with his adjutant. The appearance of Master Wang and the colonel made him stop his conversation, and he shook hands with each of his old comrades. After a brief exchange, he looked towards Li Lin.

He nodded to Li Lin and gestured for him to come out and talk.

"I'm going out for a bit." He said goodbye to Lin Zhiqing and then walked out of the carriage.

The carriage was quite soundproof. You could barely hear anything outside while inside, but once you stepped out, it was incredibly noisy outside.

A strong smell of diesel fuel wafted through the air. In the distance, soldiers were giving instructions before boarding the vehicles, while nearby, mechs were unloading supplies—this was the greatest use of mechs in non-combat situations.

He stood at the car door for a short while, waiting for a line of trailers carrying supply boxes to pass before walking up to the group of people.

"Hello." Commander Xia shook hands with him. "Your father and I are old acquaintances. I didn't expect you to have grown so much."

Everyone who saw Li Lin was amazed by his growth rate, as they had expected him to be smaller than he was now. However, considering that children these days are all quite tall, it wasn't a big deal.

"Have you arranged things at school since you came here to work with us?"

He asked Li Lin a question. Judging solely from his appearance, Li Lin looked exactly like a student. Aside from his somewhat "cool" sunglasses, he looked like a promising candidate for the imperial examinations in Beijing.

"I finished my credits ahead of schedule, so the school granted me a special leave of absence, allowing me to work without having to go to school."

"Oh...very good, very good." He glanced at the colonel beside him, then suddenly leaned closer. "Interested in taking the defense force exam in Xin'an Prefecture? We have designated quotas here; if you pass, you'll be sent directly to Shenhe Plain. Want to consider it?"

"Hey, hey, hey!" The colonel stopped him. "What, are you trying to snatch someone right in front of them?"

"Isn't it his right to choose where to take the exam? Being able to complete the required credits ahead of time—that's genius. Shouldn't geniuses deserve a better environment?"

"You two..." Li Lin raised his hand, "I'm not planning to take the exam anymore, things are fine at home."

"Huh?" The colonel was taken aback. "I didn't know that... You're not planning to take the exam? Don't you want to go to Guanzhong?"

Li Lin shook his head: "Home is fine, I don't want to go anywhere."

That's the truth. He really didn't want to participate in the exams held by the coalition government across the entire territory; he had no interest in going too far. Besides, given the current situation, who knows who might discover him if he went to Guanzhong? If he actually passed the exams, it would be too conspicuous if he didn't go. So the best option was to simply not participate in these exams in the first place.