Enforcer Manual
Chapter 555: The Final Sacrifice_1

Chapter 555: Chapter 555: The Final Sacrifice_1

War has always been the natural enemy of the layabout.

A sense of alarm immediately went off in Song Lan’s heart, and Lu Xiang soon brought him even worse news.

According to the United Government’s regulations, during wartime, males over the age of 18 were obligated to serve compulsory military service. Although the Conscription Bureau had adopted a voluntary enlistment process, should the frontline situation change—for instance, if the Neutral Country’s war weapons gained an advantage and threatened the territorial security of the United Government— "hot-blooded youths" like Song Lan would be forcibly sent to the front lines.

A suit of exoskeleton armor and an electromagnetic rifle, that was their eventual return journey.

Of course, given Song Lan’s level of marksmanship, Lu Xiang sincerely thought that giving him a wooden stick might be much better than an electromagnetic rifle.

At least it’s hard to accidentally shoot your own teammates with a stick in the chaos of battle.

"Speaking of which, with your current level of shooting, you should be able to anger the training camp instructors to death before you’re officially sent to the front line."

Though it sounded like a joke, Lu Xiang was serious.

Ever since the Devourer had fought alongside Song Lan, it had strongly requested prohibiting Song Lan from being equipped with weapons that had long-range lethal capabilities.

"The training camp in District 17 is in the suburbs of the East District. The Conscription Bureau has temporarily turned an abandoned factory into a recruiting and training base, and it’s said that thousands have already enlisted."

What awaited them at the training camp was a one-week crash course for frontline soldiers.

As it was a crash course, they could only minimally train these soldiers in the use of exoskeleton armor and the United Government’s standard-issue weapons. Those people had no idea what kind of terrifying enemies awaited them in the Neutral Country, nor did they realize that the United Government did not expect them to come back alive from the front lines.

This was also why the United Government chose to recruit soldiers in the border city and had released this speech.

Most of those who enlisted were gang members, a way to make a group of scum contribute to the United Government in the last moments of their lives.

The role of the Vanguard on the battlefield was akin to exchanging flesh for intelligence.

The previously infallible intelligence stations of the United Government had failed this time; the external departments could not establish bases within Neutral Country territory, and even the top battlefield intelligence officers couldn’t understand why they were exposed to those monsters’ sight the moment they approached the war zone.

Lu Xiang knew all too well that it was the Devourer’s collective consciousness at play.

All members of the species shared a single brain, allowing them to communicate information and orchestrate strategies with zero loss, which, in a sense, made the army created by the Devourer the ultimate form of what the United Government considers an army to be.

Eliminate all negative personal emotions; comply completely with the collective’s deployment.

And the new recruits, unaware of these secrets, were still indulging in the beautiful imagination of a triumphant return. To them, what was so scary about a bunch of bugs that looked like mutants?

"Of course, if you don’t want to serve in the military, I can think of some ways, too. We can issue a medical certificate right here."

Lu Xiang truly understood Song Lan too well. From the moment he entered the office, his face had been scrunched up in resistance, clearly showing his reluctance. And to make Song Lan join the main force on the battlefield was indeed a bit much to ask.

A real battlefield and a one-on-one duel were different. They could very possibly face hordes of enemies, and at that time, allies might actually become a burden. From her observations, not only was Song Lan’s marksmanship incredibly poor, but his highly lethal abilities all came with the risk of friendly fire.

This proved once again that becoming friends or comrades with Song Lan was a dangerous affair.

"But Father Bruno strongly suggested that we visit the Neutral Country to investigate. He thinks that the Lunar Eclipse Sect’s sudden act of waging war abroad is very abnormal. Moreover, before he left, he had never seen those mutants in the Church. He suspects this might have something to do with the ’mines’... Can your expression be a bit more normal?"

Lu Xiang couldn’t help but take a deep breath.

For some reason, Song Lan always had the magical power to make her want to laugh out loud when discussing serious matters.

She coughed lightly and continued, "The Devourer also transmitted a message; it feels as if something inside the Neutral Country is calling out to it."

Medea had mentioned that Cloud Biological Pharmaceutical’s research project on the Devourer was born in the "outside world." It is one of the company’s most valued genetic projects. Several key components of the Devourer gene are related to the radioactive organisms within the Neutral Country.

In truth, she couldn’t really say whether or not the project was ultimately a success.

They indeed created a genetic being that surpasses any known life forms, with an autonomous evolutionary capability so strong that it frightened the researchers of the project. Not only living organisms could be assimilated by the Devourer, but even machinery, artificial intelligence, and non-living entities could be parasitized by it.

When its evolution is complete, it can almost become immune to most of the current weapons and in an extremely short period of time, it can give rise to a swarm of mutants specially designed to counter those weapons. Medea suspected that the mutants with invisibility and cutting abilities in the video were a force "spawned" by the Devourer in the Neutral Country in response to the local environment.

"Medea conservatively estimated that the chance for the United Government’s Vanguard to survive in the Neutral Country is 0%, unless..."

"Unless?"

"Unless we get involved."

After learning about the theory of "upper-world" proposed by the president of the Purple Wisteria College, a long-standing question seemed to be invisibly answered.

As the person in charge of the Devourer project and its nominal creator, Medea always had a huge question in her heart.

Why would the Devourer be afraid of Song Lan?

This fear seemed to be written in its initial genetic sequence, as if no matter what kind of evolution it achieved, it could not escape this instinct written into its genes.

Lu Xiang had also been observing the way Song Lan interacted with the Devourer in secret.

At least on the surface, they seemed to get along very well, thanks to Song Lan never being one to speak harshly to others, mutants included. Sometimes they would even sit in the common lounge of the garbage dump, seriously discussing the evolution of the Bug Swarm.

This made Lu Xiang feel that apart from the fear derived from instinct, the Devourer seemed to see Song Lan as a teacher. When its abilities grew, the first thing it wanted to do was to observe Song Lan’s life more closely.

Considering the status as an "upper-level organism," the respectful attitude of the Devourer seemed to make sense.

Perhaps it was the earliest life form to notice something different about Song Lan.

With this in mind, Lu Xiang coaxed gently, "Of course, even if we get involved, we won’t be following the main troops. We could join the logistical support team, or a medical squad."

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