Martial Arts is a high-risk occupation, and the shadow of death always looms over these people.
Ever since Cui Ziweng was killed after refusing to be conscripted, this sense of insecurity has beco even more pronounced.
Although other than Cui Ziweng, the authorities have only lightly reprimanded other Martial Artists, using the incident as a warning to deter others. Still, dissatisfaction has begun to simr beneath the surface.
Many civilian Martial Artists define themselves as rely a group of rcenaries.
The City Governnt funds the missions, and they complete them. If the tasks are too dangerous, they have the right to refuse. This has been the practice for the past twenty years, without change.
However, in the eyes of the City Governnt, civilian Martial Artists are akin to auxiliary military personnel, like militia, and if special circumstances arise, they have the right to forcibly conscript them, even integrating them into the military.
The enormous conceptual difference between the two is the root of all dissatisfaction.
This sentint is especially prevalent among veteran Martial Artists, whereas the newly erged Martial Artists post-mutation are more accepting of this situation.
...
Three days later, in the alternative world.
Chen Shouyi finished gnawing on a half-roasted beast leg and casually tossed aside the foot-long leg bone.
"It should be about ready!"
He picked up the War Bow on the ground, stretched his muscles, and with a slight blur in his hands, swiftly drew an arrow, pulling the bowstring taut with a loud thrum, bending the entire bow into a full arc.
"0.3 seconds!" Chen Shouyi estimated in his mind.
"My hand steadiness has improved a lot!"
Over the past three days, his strength attribute had increased by 0.1, reaching 16.2.
Although the increase wasn't significant, equivalent to a gain of fifty to sixty kilograms in strength, the effect was imdiate. Now, the bow could be used in practical combat.
He aid at a tree fifty ters away, with a trunk thick enough to be encircled by a single person.
The next mont, his fingers released the bowstring.
"Boom."
A sonic boom cloud appeared out of nowhere, blowing Chen Shouyi's hair into disarray as the arrow vanished without a trace.
"Good Giant, you're amazing," the Shell Lady beside him clapped excitedly, shouting loudly.
Chen Shouyi remained expressionless.
Sohow, it felt wrong to hear it.
"I probably flinched a bit when I shot it."
He glanced at the Shell Lady who was wildly cheering, drew another arrow, quickly set it up, aid for a while, and then shalessly shifted the arrowhead towards a tree about ten ters away, slightly thicker than a ter.
"This ti, I'm sure I'll hit it. If I don't, I'll eat dirt!"
"Boom!"
Almost as his fingers released the bowstring, the arrow beca a streak of light, instantly striking the tree and blasting a small hole.
The Shell Lady cheered loudly again.
Chen Shouyi let out a long breath of relief and quickly walked over.
The Shell Lady quickly followed Chen Shouyi, sprinting along with short legs.
The diater of the blasted hole was about ten centiters, with a depth of around seventeen or eighteen centiters.
Inside, wisps of blue smoke rose, emitting high temperatures.
He reached in and dug hard, extracting so wood fibers, and felt his fingers finding a large amount of iron scraps. It was apparent that upon impact, this ordinary arrow had shattered instantly, turning into a high-speed tallic stream.
After a quick look, he tossed it to the ground.
The tree's material was quite tough, with defense capabilities comparable to steel.
In fact, plain steel, with its excess hardness and insufficient toughness, couldn't effectively defend against kinetic impacts, whereas the trees in this world, with dense wood and exceptionally tough fibers interwoven like layers of natural biological armor, offered defense against arrows nearly on par with steel.
The power of this bow had surpassed that of a machine gun. An ordinary Barbarian could be cut in two with a single arrow, and if it were a tungsten steel armor-piercing arrow, it might even penetrate light tanks.
Soon, he returned to his original spot, ready to continue practicing.
"Good Giant, hurry into the cave, that fierce bird is coming again; it's coming to eat us!" The Shell Lady suddenly shouted in terror.
Upon hearing this, Chen Shouyi quickly looked up.
He saw the familiar silver-white figure in the sky swiftly flying toward them.
"Damn it, one day I'll get you."
Chen Shouyi cursed under his breath, scooped up the Shell Lady from the ground, and hurried toward the cave.
This serpentine creature was quite vengeful. Ever since it got beaten by Chen Shouyi last ti, it had circled this area daily for the past few days, occasionally spewing a blaze to turn a patch of forest to ash.
Fortunately, it rembered Giant Chen Shouyi rather than Chen Shouyi in his normal state.
As long as he didn't wander in front of it provocatively, there wasn't much danger.
...
The next morning, in front of the newsstand.
"Jiangnan Province's senior official Xin Changfeng attended the relaunch ceremony of the Luoshan Island nuclear power plant. Luoshan Island nuclear power plant is the province's first and largest nuclear plant. It's reported that the reactivated Unit One will be used for a small-scale power test.
Senior official Xin Changfeng pointed out in his speech that electricity is the cornerstone of human civilization. The relaunch of Unit One at Luoshan Island nuclear power plant is just the beginning of the resurgence of electricity, which will gradually restore in the coming years..."
"The parasite prevention effort has made a breakthrough. As of yesterday, no new cases have been found for five consecutive days. Now, Changgang Town, Xuxiang Town, and Hongshan Town have officially lifted martial law and restored normal social order as of yesterday."
"Good news, war hero Colonel Xiao Changming has returned alive from the battlefield and has been recuperating in Hedong for three days. Colonel Xiao Changming is part of the Hedong Garrison District and, while serving as the commander of the special brigade, he was awarded first-class rits on multiple occasions, especially during the Ningzhou campaign..."
Chen Shouyi paused his reading, thinking he had misread, and scanned it from start to finish again.
"Xiao Changming is back? He didn't die!"
Chen Shouyi felt both surprised and delighted.
Xiao Changming was one of the two military-origin Martial Artists in Hedong City who had a fairly good relationship with him, unlike Lei Ruiyang where they often were like fire and water, mutually displeased and kept a cool relationship.
"But why did it take so long for him to return; it's been a month already." He was slightly puzzled about this but didn't dwell on it.
After finishing, Chen Shouyi flipped to the supplent section and found that several pages were dedicated to promoting Xiao Changming's achievents.
He recalled that when Xiao Changming's death was reported, the publicity wasn't so intense; it seed there was only an obituary.
Looks like they're setting him up as a role model!
Chen Shouyi didn't feel any envy; though he completed the mission, Xiao Changming had greater sacrifices, almost nine lives gone, and surviving was already a miracle.
People need to believe in miracles.
Especially in such perilous and panic-stricken tis, people need to believe in miracles.
...
During dinner in the evening, Chen Dawei suddenly brought up the topic of Xiao Changming.
"This Colonel Xiao is truly remarkable. The newspaper said he's a Martial Artist, and now he's been hailed as a war hero."
"What is a Martial Artist?" Mrs. Chen asked curiously.
"Martial Artists are the strongest fighters, even more powerful than Shou Yi's great Martial Artists!" Chen Dawei exclaid, then turned to look at Chen Shouyi who was silently eating his al, "Shou Yi, do you know Colonel Xiao?"
"I do!" Chen Shouyi swallowed his food and replied.
Chen Dawei's face lit up with sothing akin to pride, "He's your superior, right?"
"No, he's with the military, I'm a civilian. We're not in the sa system, but sotis we do missions together." Chen Shouyi explained, feeling slightly frustrated.
"There's such a distinction!" Mrs. Chen said curiously, "In that case, you should still visit him; it'll be good to have soone to rely on when you do tasks together, since you are just a great Martial Artist, whereas Colonel Xiao is a Martial Artist."
Chen Shouyi felt a sting in his heart.
I'm a Martial Artist too.
In fact, in the entire Jiangnan Province, I'm the strongest!
But these words he could only keep to himself.
It made him feel stifled.
Feeling helpless, Chen Shouyi finally said, "Alright, I'll visit him tomorrow."
"Rember to buy so nice gifts." Mrs. Chen reminded.
"Got it."
"Brother, take
with you, I've never seen a Martial Artist before, he's a legendary figure!" Chen Xingyue pleaded with an innocent expression.
"What's there to see? Aren't you going to school tomorrow?" Chen Shouyi retorted.
"But he's a Martial Artist, just understanding a bit of Martial Arts practice can benefit
for life." Chen Xingyue displayed a knowing look as if saying you don't understand.
"Shou Yi, if it's not too much trouble, take her with you, it's good to let her see the world." Chen Dawei persuaded.
Chen Shouyi couldn't find a good reason to refuse, so he reluctantly said, "Okay, I know!"
He secretly glared at his excited sister.
Such a nuisance!
PS: Finally not lazing around.
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