Translator: Legge
“Would this kid be kind enough to specially buy a copy of the newspapers for us to read?” The martyred spirits did not believe it. But with the newspaper placed in front of them, Ren Xiaosu’s innocent smile made him look like a good person.
It had been a long time since they had properly read a newspaper. The proficiency in dividing up their reading as though they were fighting a battle could finally take a step back today.
Thinking of this, the martyred spirits were actually a little touched.
But before they could start reading, they heard Ren Xiaosu kneel and point at the newspaper on the ground. “Look at this article from Hope Media. The guardian angel of Luoyang City in the report refers to me. That battle was really earth-shattering. It was like the entire city was filled with enemies…
“And look at this one. It reports that I led the 6th Combat Brigade of the Northwest Army in battle against the northern barbarians at Mt. Zuoyun. That battle was also very tough. We used 6,000 people to hold back 72,000 of the enemy’s troops. Of course, my wise leadership definitely can’t be discounted in that…
“Now, take a look at this interrogation report. It mentions how I avenged someone and upheld justice for them…”
As the martyred spirits read on, they realized that something was off. The news articles were not from today at all. Instead, they had been compiled from many different days of newspapers and put into one copy.
And the common point linking these news articles was that they were all praising Ren Xiaosu!
Ren Xiaosu said with a smile, “Everyone, read up on these newspapers, and you’ll understand how reliable I am. Y’all should’ve also heard of Hope Media before. They’re very fair and their reporting can’t be wrong. If you follow a wise and mighty commander of the Northwest like me, I guarantee that I’ll bring y’all to a place outside the Northwest to wipe out the Magi!”
The martyred spirits nearly vomited when they heard that. “You’re not even the Northwest’s commander yet. And even if you were, you can forget about trying to dupe us into becoming your private army!”
“Kid, how shameless and narcissistic are you to compile all these news articles praising you?”
“Just give up already!”
“Hurry up and hand over today’s newspaper!”
Ren Xiaosu sighed. Why were these spirits so difficult to convince?
Honestly speaking, he was really tempted by the sight of all these martyred spirits. There were simply too many of them. If he had them in his Martyr’s Palace, what could possibly stop him?
What was the point of waiting for the Magi to attack Fortress 178? He would probably be able to flatten them all by himself!
What did it mean to have over 200,000 mobile machine gunners that could not be taken down? Not even a god would be a match for him, to say nothing of a sorcerer.
But in the face of this group of martyred spirits, Ren Xiaosu’s charm was indeed not enough to convince them.
If it were the soldiers of the 6th Combat Brigade, they would probably have already followed Ren Xiaosu. But the key point was that these spirits had never fought alongside Ren Xiaosu before, so there was no foundation for them to trust him.
“Forget it, I can’t force y’all.” Ren Xiaosu sighed and said, “Do y’all want to read today’s newspaper?”
The martyred spirits hooted, “Kid, cut the crap and hand over the newspaper.”
“Alright.” With that, Ren Xiaosu took out today’s newspaper and tore it in half. He took one half with him and left the other half for them to read.
He had torn the newspaper horizontally, so the martyred spirits could only read half of every news article.
“You asshole, get back here!”
“Fuck!”
“How did our Northwest Army get involved with such an asshole…”
As it was still daytime, it was not convenient for Ren Xiaosu to stay too long at the memorial square. After all, it would be quite strange if the residents saw him talking to himself down here.
So he only came here for a while every day to quarrel with the martyred spirits before leaving “half” a copy of the day’s newspaper for them and going off.
The martyred spirits were totally speechless. Although they were finally able to enjoy reading the newspapers every day, they might as well not fucking read anything at all!
Moreover, talk of Ren Xiaosu coming to the memorial square every day with newspapers was gradually spreading.
As they passed by the memorial square, the residents would occasionally start discussing, “Ever since the future commander came to Fortress 178, he’s been coming here every day to honor the pioneers. It seems like he truly respects the elders a lot.”
“That’s right, our Northwest’s future commander is skilled in combat, is a moral and upright character, and is also sentimental. It’s really a blessing to our Northwest that we have him!”
“If the martyrs knew about this in the afterlife, they would definitely be very happy!”
But when the martyred spirits heard the words of these passersby, they felt a stab in their hearts. They roared, “That kid isn’t here to honor us at all!”
“He’s just trying to spite us!”
“Open your eyes. Y’all need to see his true colors!”
But no matter how hard they roared, the residents of Fortress 178 were destined not to hear their complaints.
Of course, when there was no one around at midnight, the martyred spirits would occasionally talk about other things as well. Commander Li suddenly asked, “Y’all’ve also read the news articles regarding that kid. How about everyone share their views?”
“The news articles did not specifically mention his military leadership ability, so it shouldn’t be that great. However, the report about the Battle of Mt. Zuoyun mentioned that he has someone who’s a genius at military leadership. That genius should be his trusted aide.”
“Holding back 70,000 enemies for a fortnight with just 6,000 troops, I don’t think many commanders in the past could do that either.”
“Disregarding other things, just reading that interrogation report shows that kid’s combat strength is really impressive. He can be considered the ceiling in our Northwest Army’s history.”
“That’s true. With a commander like that, there won’t be any fear of him getting assassinated during a war.”
All of a sudden, one of the martyred spirits said, “Have y’all ever thought about what it would be like if he were to die in battle one day and his molar was brought to the memorial square and we couldn’t defeat him…”
When he said that, all of the martyred spirits gasped. They had not considered this problem from this perspective before.
Right now, they were all criticizing Ren Xiaosu for being a bad person. When it was his turn to be buried in the memorial square as well, would there be a day of peace for them with how mean he was? That situation was simply unimaginable!
“Although I’m a little indignant about this, I wish that kid a long life and that he dies of natural causes. He had better not die on the battlefield and be memorialized as a martyr.”
Under normal circumstances, those who did not die on the battlefield would not have their molars brought here to be buried.
Commander Li asked again, “What do y’all think of his suggestion?”
“Commander Li, are you referring to joining him to go wipe out the Magi?”
“That’s right,” Commander Li said.
“How does Commander feel?”
Commander Li said, “Although I also want to seek revenge on those sorcerers and let the people in the Northwest live in peace, I think it’s better to watch and wait a little longer. After all, once we accept his summons, we’ll become his own private army. If he gets too arrogant someday and wants to expand his territory, it won’t be in line with the beliefs that our Northwest has always stood for.”
“We’ll listen to Commander Li’s wishes. Let’s ignore him for now!”
“Yes, let’s keep watching and waiting!”