nashuaworldcup Chapter 33 Internal Cleanup and the Company-Wide Costume Change Plan Launched
Chapter 33 Internal Cleanup and the Company-Wide Costume Change Plan Launched
The noise from last night in the living room had not completely dissipated, and the morning light was faintly visible outside the window.
Lu Yan's personal terminal vibrated slightly, and an encrypted military notification popped up on the screen.
[Announcement Regarding the Handling of the Irregular Ranking Incident of Wang Hao, a Reserve Member of the Zhenguo Longwei]
The announcement was concise and to the point.
Wang Hao, the person involved, was found to have committed serious fraud in his enlistment assessment, which led to a chain of corruption involving a deputy director surnamed Li in the logistics department of a third-line military unit.
Less than twelve hours after the military's supervisory department intervened in the investigation, all the evidence was fully secured.
Outcome: The deputy supervisor surnamed Li was stripped of his military rank and handed over to a military court. Wang Hao's status as an Awakened was revoked, and his family members were permanently blacklisted by all official agencies.
At the end of the announcement, there was also a personal note from General Li Tianshan:
"The nation will not allow its heroes to shed blood and tears."
After Lu Yan finished reading, his finger lingered on the screen for a moment before he turned it off.
He leaned back on the sofa, closed his eyes, and let out a long breath. After exhaling, a long-standing, dull feeling in his chest returned, as if it were something he had expected.
Parents, pensions, his aunt's family... all the shadows left by his original owner were completely crushed under the absolutely fair and efficient operation of the country, leaving not a trace of dust.
He opened his eyes and watched as the sky outside the window gradually brightened. In the living room, Zhao Leiguang was asleep on the sofa, snoring loudly; Wen Yue was curled up in a single sofa, covered with Xiao Qianyu's coat; there were slight noises coming from the kitchen, as Shen Xinglin and Su Yunqing were preparing breakfast.
"It's time to get them some equipment," Lu Yan suddenly thought.
He turned on his computer, pulled up Xiao Qianyu's and others' personal logs, and began to study them.
……
The 48-hour mandatory holiday flew by in a near-luxurious tranquility.
The first squad reassembled in the Zhenguo Dragon Guard's private combat conference room. Everyone had changed back into their combat uniforms, and the leisurely air on their faces vanished, replaced by the focused concentration of warriors.
Xiao Qianyu stood in front of the tactical projection screen and pulled up a detailed battle plan.
"Everyone, the holiday is over." She got straight to the point. "Our next core mission is the exploration of the S-rank secret realm [Eden]. But before that, we have a more pressing goal."
On the screen, Lu Yan's personal profile was enlarged, with "LV35" highlighted in red.
"The command headquarters has ordered that the entire First Squad escort Lu Yan to the maximum level, level 50, with maximum efficiency. Only in this way can Lu Yan's survivability be greatly improved."
The plan was clear: the whole team would act as babysitters, helping Lu Yan gain experience.
Zhao Leiguang was the first to respond, thumping his chest loudly: "No problem! If it's about helping Lu Yan level up, I'll do it without hesitation!"
"Sharpening your axe won't delay your woodcutting."
A calm voice interrupted Zhao Leiguang's boastful words.
Lu Yan stood up from his seat and walked to the light screen.
He looked at his file and shook his head. "Leveling up isn't in a rush. We haven't finished the plan for everyone to get new gear yet."
His gaze swept over his teammates present.
"Lei Guang, Chu Xue, and Wen Yue all have new equipment. But the captain, Xing Lin, and Sister Yun Qing are still using the old equipment. The intensity of the S-level secret realm is incomparable to that of the front-line secret realm. If any link in our chain has a weakness, it could be fatal."
All eyes were on Xiao Qianyu, Shen Xinglin, and Su Yunqing.
Indeed, compared to the other members' outfits that shimmered with dark gold or even epic luster, their gear seemed rather plain.
Xiao Qianyu was silent for a moment, then nodded. "You're right, I didn't think it through."
She didn't refute it, but directly brought up three other equipment lists on the screen. Those were the final plans that she and the top craftsmen in the logistics department had worked through several sleepless nights to finalize.
Three beams of light were projected onto the center of the conference room: a spear, a knight's heavy armor, and a uniquely shaped healing staff.
【Crimson Dragon's Gall】(Long Spear - Epic): The spear body is crafted from the spine of an Abyssal Dragon Lizard, and the spear tip is infused with the "Heart of Inferno". Attacks come with the effects of dragon's might and burning flames.
【Holy Arbiter】(Heavy Armor - Epic): Made primarily from the crystallized horn of the Holy Light Unicorn, and infused with the "Guardian Seal", it possesses extremely high physical and magical resistance and can convert a portion of the damage received into a shield.
【Praise of Life】(Staff - Epic): The staff is made from an active branch of the World Tree, with "Tears of Nature" inlaid at the top, which can greatly enhance the healing effect and add a continuous life regeneration aura.
The exquisite design and powerful attributes of the blueprints left Zhao Leiguang speechless.
"Holy crap... Captain, if you guys manage to craft these three pieces, our entire team will probably have epic sets!"
Xiao Qianyu's expression, however, was not so optimistic. She flipped open the other side of the drawing, revealing a densely packed list of materials.
"The blueprints were provided by the Ministry of Works, and we've revised them many times, but the materials..." She sighed. "Take the [Crimson Dragon's Gall] for example. The core material, 'Heart of Inferno,' only has an extremely low probability of being produced deep within level 50 volcanic-type dungeons. And then there's the [Holy Arbiter's] 'Guardian's Seal,' which is a condensation of the spirits of ancient knights. The last time it appeared was at an auction three years ago."
Su Yunqing frowned slightly as she looked at the materials list for the [Praise of Life]. "'Active Branches of the World Tree'... We do have them in the national treasury, but they are strategic reserves, and the application process is extremely complicated. As for 'Tears of Nature,' these things only exist in legends; no one has ever seen a real one."
Each item on the list is enough to give a top-notch logistics team a headache for months. According to the logistics department's assessment, gathering all the materials for these three sets of equipment would take at least a month and a half, even with the most optimistic estimate, and would require a significant amount of personal connections and strategic resources.
After a month and a half, the daylilies were all too cold.
The conference room fell silent. Lu Yan didn't reply, but instead placed his hand on the edge of the tactical computer and pushed it forward.
The screen changed. The three chilling lists of epic materials were pushed to the background, and three brand-new blueprints appeared.
"It won't take a month and a half," Lu Yan said, pointing to the projector. "Take a look at this."
Zhao Leiguang craned his neck and leaned closer: "These low-level weapons and materials... can they really be used to make even more awesome weapons?" He rubbed his eyes, as if he couldn't believe it.
"Yes." Lu Yan tapped twice on the keyboard, zooming in on the attribute bars of the three pieces of equipment. "It should only take half a day to collect them all. Let's go to a level 40 dungeon."
Xiao Qianyu stared at the data on the screen without saying a word. The basic stats of these pieces of equipment were far inferior to the blueprints she had just shown, but Lu Yan's gaze was fixed on only one attribute of the equipment.
Before she could ask any questions, Lu Yan pulled up several other documents.
"Captain Xiao, your skills rely too much on your ultimate skill. So, before or after your ultimate skill is off cooldown, you can only rely on your own strength to make up for the shortcomings of your skills. Therefore, I have given you a completely new approach."
"Oh, what's your idea?" Xiao Qianyu listened attentively to his suggestion.
"Use your speed advantage to create a continuous, non-cooldown attack cycle."
"This skill is a relatively low-level skill of your Lancer—Blink Strike."
"By locking onto any monster or person within range, you can teleport behind them to attack and gain brief invincibility. Regardless of whether the target is killed, you can lock onto another unit through the target and attack again, thus achieving an infinite loop attack."
"But ordinary gunners wouldn't choose this skill because the damage is just too low," Xiao Qianyu asked.
Lu Yan said with a wicked smile, "This is a handcrafted weapon that I made for you, with special enhancements in certain aspects. You'll see when it's finished."