Chapter 87: Promotion to Lieutenant Colonel

At five o’clock the next morning, those accustomed to military life got up as usual and entered a training state.

Zhou Liming had only joined the X Squadron for half a month, and the discipline here was strange, consisting entirely of soft requirements. In other words, you could get up in the middle of the night to train, or you could sleep until you wanted to wake up. Aside from being present when the Squadron required assembly, the rest of the time was completely free to allocate.

For Zhou Liming, who was not used to military life, this was indeed a wonderful precedent.

In fact, since joining the X Squadron, except for the first day when Zhou Liming was on time, the rest of the time was completely random; he woke up when he wanted, and ate breakfast when he wanted.

Regarding training, Zhou Liming was a bit confused. People like Chen Yejun, when they were still ordinary people, needed to maintain peak standards and could not slack off, so they had to persist in training; this was understandable. But now, after undergoing Genetic Modification by Fierce Beasts, to still train so desperately was something he could not quite understand.

Although Zhou Liming came from a wild background, his comprehension ability was too powerful. As long as it was a technique he had learned, he could remember it all, and become familiar with using it within a day or two.

In the beginning, many people were indeed unhappy with Zhou Liming’s parasite-like lifestyle, which was a complete insult to them as soldiers. But very quickly, Zhou Liming’s power was revealed. Even Qiao Bingsen, under Zhou Liming’s powerful ability, could not last even ten minutes before being blasted dozens of meters away.

Added to this was the even more powerful Form Skill Zhou Liming displayed during this mission, which shocked them even more. Who would care whether he came to train or not?

If he didn’t come to train, he could still easily beat them all down. If he trained as hard as people like them, would there still be a place for them?

The level of the Fierce Beast Gene determined many things. Even Lian Ruixue’s Form Skill only caused minor injuries to Zhou Liming, let alone this attacking method with claws. You could hit Zhou Liming a dozen times without issue, but if he hit you once, you would immediately fall. With this kind of innate advantage, training was indeed a joke. Except for those at the same level where personal experience and better reaction speed mattered, you could easily bully those lower than you, and you would be easily bullied by those higher than you.

After sleeping comfortably late, Zhou Liming finally got up and washed up.

Although the coastal areas of the entire world had fallen to the Fierce Beasts, many things were not fatally affected. For example, the internet and communications were not severely impacted and could still be used normally. However, one could not expect the network to be as good as before, or the communication signals to be that excellent. Online games from companies on the coast, and some service software, had all perished. Only a few such companies located in very remote inland areas had managed to survive.

Zhou Liming originally wanted to play on the computer for a while, but a knocking sound came from the door.

“Who is it?” Zhou Liming found it strange. After opening the door, he saw Lian Ruixue standing outside holding a box.

Seeing it was Lian Ruixue, Zhou Liming immediately became a bit unnatural and said, “Captain, is there something?”

Lian Ruixue uttered an “Mhm,” handed the box in front of Zhou Liming, and said, “Congratulations, Lieutenant Colonel Zhou.”

“Lieutenant Colonel Zhou?” Zhou Liming was stunned. He looked at Lian Ruixue with some confusion and asked, “Captain, did you drink? Hey, I only have the rank of Major.”

There was no smile on Lian Ruixue’s face. She stuffed the box into Zhou Liming’s hand and said, “I applied for your battle merit last night, and this morning the higher-ups approved my application. Your accumulated merit has reached the standard for promotion to Lieutenant Colonel. So, from this moment on, you are no longer a Major, but a Lieutenant Colonel. Inside is the completion medal for this mission. Mhm, your new military uniform will be delivered to your room this afternoon.”

Lian Ruixue still had her cold personality. After speaking, she turned and left again.

Zhou Liming was still confused. How could he go from Major to Lieutenant Colonel just by completing a random mission? What speed was this? Or rather, wasn’t this military merit coming a bit too easily? Could it be that nowadays, ranks below General were like cabbages, to be wholesaled at will?

He wanted to ask Lian Ruixue a few questions, but seeing her walk away, he opened his mouth but ultimately did not make a sound.

“Who cares? A promotion is better than nothing, right?” Zhou Liming thought happily again. He took out the medal in the box, looked at it, put it back, and then placed it in the cabinet. For someone like Zhou Liming who had not been completely brainwashed by the military, the feeling towards medals was not strong, and he only felt a small excitement in his heart.

In the afternoon, Zhou Lidan went up to the ground, then directly spread his wings and flew to the open training field, sitting on a patch of weeds.

Now Zhou Liming needed to properly organize his abilities. He did not believe that being modified by a Fierce Beast Gene meant there was absolutely no way to break through again. Human potential was infinite; after modification, the potential would still exist. It was not as Ren Zhigang asserted, that the level of Fierce Beast Gene you possessed determined the level of ability you possessed.

The preciousness of the original Fierce Beast Gene lay in its ability to preserve the most comprehensive abilities for you. As for other levels of Fierce Beast Genes, there would often be some loss of abilities.

From the news Zhou Liming obtained from Lian Ruixue, some people who were successfully modified certainly possessed great strength, but had no way to use Form Skills. Others, after successful modification, were no different from ordinary people but could use Form Skills. As the number of modifications increased, there even appeared phenomena where the modification was successful, but the abilities could not be inherited.

With the arrival of the Fierce Beast Era, humanity would certainly undergo changes, whether in technology or in humans themselves. It was foreseeable that future humans would survive in their current form.

No one knew if this was a good thing or a bad thing. But the immediate situation forced humanity to take this path; only in this way could they survive under the formidable Fierce Beasts. Technology could modify many things, but there were some things it could not change.

The events happening to him were very special. Looking at Fierce Beasts of all levels, their Form Skills invariably possessed powerful effects.

Since the Fierce Beast Gene within him even made a Level Six King-level Fierce Beast want to dominate, it was foreseeable that its level was absolutely above Level Six. Death Light was very powerful and could easily kill a Level Six Fierce Beast. But the problem was, its number of uses and its effects simply could not compare to those of a Fierce Beast.

With a “buzz,” Zhou Liming released the Bone Spur from his right hand.

Compared to others, who could only use claws in their Form, he could use a Bone Spur that served as a weapon. One should not underestimate this small Bone Spur before their eyes. Its composition looked like bone, but what it actually was, no one could know. Zhou Liming had tested that after his recent growth, the Bone Spur could easily pierce through a tank’s armor; it was terrifying.

“Is it really as I thought before, that I am still growing?”

Just thinking about his abilities, starting from the seven-day growth period of ordinary Fierce Beasts, he had been in an impatient state. By the time a few hours before the Fierce Beasts officially landed, he was able to enter the Fierce Beast Form. With the appearance of Level Two and Level Three Fierce Beasts, his abilities also strengthened… until the current appearance of Level Six Fierce Beasts, his ability had advanced another step.

Strictly speaking, with the appearance of every wave of Fierce Beasts, he was at the stage of breaking out of his cocoon, and his ability would be strengthened.

So, with the appearance of Level Six Fierce Beasts, his Death Light was more offensive, and his defense was more powerful, but what would the new Form ability be?

Zhou Liming helplessly discovered that trying to find his new ability, whether it was the Bone Spur, instantaneous movement, or Death Light, without exception, only appeared without warning when he fell into madness. Before it appeared, even if he used all his strength, he could not find it.

Training seemed even more meaningless.