Chapter 247: Call of Duty
Translator: Oneshotwonder Editor: Hitesh_
Big Head's strike was effective. However, he would not be able to even scratch Wang Tong.
Wang Tong blocked Big Head's fist with a palm and pushed his opponent; the tremendous GN force threw Big Head flying backward and then thudded heavily on the ground. Wang Tong had defeated Big Head without even delivering a strike.
"Balls! This little jerk is way overpowered. You guys must know it and wanted to make fun of me." Big Head complained loudly as he struggled to get back to his feet. Everyone laughed, their voice laced with a certain degree of respect.
Wang Tong pulled Big Head up. He didn't consider Big Head an unworthy opponent because he knew that on the battlefield, it was hundreds of opponents like Big Head he would have to deal with.
The glory belonged to only a few at the very top, but these foot soldiers were the real hero.
Big Head shook his head and glared at his comrades.
"Wang Tong, what exactly is your soul level?"
Jansining was very pleased with Wang Tong's performance. It was excellent news for the team to have such a capable new addition. What made Wang Tong even more likable was the lack of arrogance and self-importance. Jansining had seen so many kids from the ivory tower who played hero like a pompous idiot on the battlefield, making themselves the perfect formula for the doom of their entire squad.
Therefore, Jansining was not only impressed by Wang Tong's incredible power but more so by his ability to be a team player. Jansining had observed him over the two days, and he noticed that Wang Tong had been following his orders and never caused any extra burden to the team.
Jansining also noticed that Wang Tong didn't complain about the seemingly mundane orders, and he reasoned that it was because Wang Tong had understood his intention. Jansining figured that if all the students from the academies were like Wang Tong, the humans might have a chance in the war against the Zergs after all.
"I have just reached the fifth level. But please keep it between you and me. Not even my close friends knew about that yet." Wang Tong scratched his head and said.
Wang Tong's answer made Third choke on the water he was gulping down.
"Sh*t! How old are you? Your profile says you are in your first year at Ayrlarng, and you said are at the fifth level already?"
"I ...was lucky… Haha" Wang Tong answered. He could choose to omit the details, but he had to be honest about his strength with his comrades who shared the same fate with him.
"Haha, Lieutenant, we have picked up a life saver! If we have a fifth level as our vanguard, we would be invincible." Big Head laughed candidly; he was relieved that Wang Tong was much stronger than him, which explained his defeat.
"Given time, I believe this kiddo would be our company's best fighter" Big O announced.
"Ha ha, Big O, perhaps it would be safer to let little O follow behind this kid instead of you. I think our child soldier here could protect your younger brother better than you."
The Orien brothers were not identical twins; the big one was called big O, and the one with the smaller frame but no less muscular was called little O. Although Little O didn't want to admit it, he was not as tough as Big O, and therefore, Big O always protected him on the battlefield while Little O focused on dealing damage.
"Hey, you a*shole, I can protect my brother, alright?"
"Common bro, I had told you many times, I can protect myself! I am a soldier too, a veteran at that!" Little O bawled out at his brother. Wang Tong reckoned then that the Orien brothers were only 3 or 4 years older than him, but they had the bearings of being much older and experienced warriors.
"Wang Tong, would you like to be our vanguard?"
"Yea Sir!" Wang Tong answered without hesitation.
"Good lad!"
"Kiddo, tomorrow, we kill Zergs!"
Everyone encouraged Wang Tong in their own ways. They hoped that this young but robust soldier would be able to increase the team's damage output significantly.
The ninth platoon that Wang Tong was stationed at was fighting at the forefront of the army. They killed Zergs during the day and rested in the night. Depending on how far they had to travel into the hostile area, their mission could last a few days.
Human force dominated the air. However, when bombing failed to kill off all the Zergs, which happened a lot, the ground force would be put into use.
Most of Wang Tong's mission involved little skirmishes, and therefore, the ninth platoon wouldn't have the support of armored vehicles, since those were reserved for only large-scale assaults involving at least a dozen regiments. These massive battles had been becoming rare each day, thanks to the Zerg's guerrilla tactics.
The military kept a Bug Score for each platoon. However, the ninth platoon would not be on the top of the list, since platoons filled those positions with an average solider level of at least four.
Although Wang Tong had been accepted into the platoon, he wasn't as excited about killing Zergs as a fresh recruit would. After all, he had killed tons of Zergs before.
The district D covered a large area on a planet that was three times larger than Earth. The sheer size had increased the difficulty in the search for the enemy. The military researchers had concluded that the best method to eradicate an entire population of Zergs was to kill its queen. Although the rate of reproduction of normal Zergs was extremely rapid, the time it took for the queen to copy itself and become mature was very long.
Only while wearing the METAL could the soldiers withstand the 5G environment, but their steps were still cumbersome and laborious. They knew that killing all the Zergs on Norton was a wishful thinking of the government. So, their current focus had been to protect the human settlements. Not only the military lacked the resources to eradicate the Zerg completely, they also felt the lack of motivation in doing so, since the human world had no interest in this barren planet other than a few of the mines.
"Wang Tong, when we spot Zergs later, don't rush into action. Attack only on my mark. Do you understand? There would be plenty of Zergs for you to kill, I promise!" Jansining said.
The duty of the fourth regiment was to scout nearby areas of the human settlement to make sure that Zergs would not suddenly overrun the settlement. They were also permitted to actively find and kill any Zergs within the proximity of the settlement.
Their search covered a large area inside District D. Although they fought mostly in small skirmishes, they could never let their guard down. Those who did were already dead
"Aren't you excited kiddo? " Overbite laughed, displaying a row of gleaming teeth.
"Calm down Overbite. " Third laughed at Overbite and turned to Wang Tong as he said, "When this wimp killed his first Zergs, he puked for three days! Haha"
"Buzz off! I know we are friends and all, but watch what you are saying."
Overbite was in charge of the detection equipment that could sense any biological activities within a few hundred meters. However, every soldier would tell that he or she would never rely solely on machines; instead, they followed their sixth sense.
The vehicle had been running for about an hour when the alarm on the detection unit suddenly went off. Wang Tong jumped off the car with his teammates.
"How many?"
"Five at twelve o'clock and three at three o'clock," Overbite answered.
"Wang Tong, why don't you take a shot at this."
Jansining knew that as a fifth level fighter, Wang Tong would not have any difficulty finishing off at least a few dozen Zergs by himself in theory. But he wanted to make sure Wang Tong's mettle and bravery, so he had only assigned him five lower-tier Zergs.
Wang Tong's senses tingled and noticed that the machine was wrong: there were six Zergs in front of them instead of five. A Skulk was lurking quietly behind his five brothers.
Ever since Wang Tong arrived Norton, he had been feeling very energetic thanks to the 5G environment. His tactics had also improved by leaps and bounds. His quick adaptation to the gravity contrasted the experience of other students who struggled to get used to the extreme gravity.
Zergs were much more adaptive than their human counterparts, but no scientist had discovered why that was the case. The highest form of Zerg known to human was the Encephalon Zergs, but no one knew how or what was giving the orders to the Encephalon Zerg.
There were many mysteries around the race of Zerg: where did they come from? How did they build the hive? Where was their main base?
Before the Zergs were eradicated, the humans had to be vigilant. Some believed that to discover more secrets about the Zerg was useless in helping the war. Those people believed that humans only needed to know one thing about the Zergs: they meant death.