Chapter 48: Yuan Xin

“Salute!”

Lin Feng shouted brightly.

The police officers who followed immediately stood at attention, expressing their respect in Qin Qing’s direction.

Yuan Xin climbed up from the ground and joined the sequence.

The National Defense Students, exhausted, didn’t understand why, but seeing their instructors’ actions, they all followed suit.

The employees of Found Studio, squeezed in the crowd, looked at their boss and puffed out their chests, feeling honored.

Qin Qing didn’t believe that today’s outcome was solely her achievement.

Especially these young soldiers who knew nothing, they contributed their effort and strength, so there was no reason for them to salute her, who had only shouted once.

Even if that shout of hers was indeed very important.

Qin Qing bowed back to everyone.

Lin Feng was the quickest to break away from this serious atmosphere. He said to Qin Qing, “Alright, don’t be modest. We are all rough men who put in hard work. Someone who knows how to direct people where to exert effort is irreplaceable.”

Yuan Xin also said, “This police officer is right.”

Lin Feng saluted and introduced himself: “Wuning Criminal Police Detachment, Lin Feng.”

Yuan Xin returned the salute: “Yuan Xin, acting instructor of the National University of Defense Technology.”

Lin Feng understood his subtext: this person was probably from the military, but his only public identity was this instructor position.

The two just nodded and greeted each other before continuing their respective work.

The police officers Lin Feng brought had ample physical strength and naturally took over the subsequent cleanup work.

They organized injured people to queue up for ambulances and medical treatment, and evacuated healthy people to leave in an orderly manner.

Yuan Xin looked at the disheveled soldiers and shouted through a loudspeaker: “All squads and platoons, assemble immediately, count heads, report injuries. Execute quickly!”

The soldiers were all young and strong; the most serious injuries were merely sprains and abrasions.

After roll call, the injured were gathered together.

Two doctors from the ambulance side came over to attend to them, but they declined: “No need, please attend to the civilians first.”

The two doctors didn’t leave: “There are people over there too.”

A young soldier had scraped his knee on the riverbank; gravel caused contusions to his lower leg tibia and patella, leaving a bloody mess.

His comrade was helping him cut open his pant leg.

The young soldier hissed and gasped in pain looking at the wound. When the doctor sprayed alcohol on it, he immediately shed physiological tears, biting his teeth to keep from crying out, his face turning red and purple from holding it in.

After recovering, he tearfully said to his comrade, “At the time of the fall, I didn’t feel much pain at all, only thinking of being faster, even faster. Who knew such a large piece of skin would be scraped off.”

Just then, someone squatted beside him. He looked up and said, “Ah, instructor.”

He was about to stand up.

“Don’t move.”

He was held down by both Yuan Xin and the doctor.

The young soldier subconsciously checked if his hat was worn correctly and if his uniform buttons were fastened.

With tears still in his eyes, he remembered something and raised his arm, about to wipe them with his dusty sleeve; “I, I, I… I’m not crying…”

His action was stopped by the expressionless Yuan Xin.

The young soldier also had an abrasion on one side of his face.

Yuan Xin took out a tissue from his bag and handed it over.

The young soldier took it blankly.

Yuan Xin raised his hand, and the young soldier instinctively flinched.

Yuan Xin’s hand paused for a moment, then continued forward, resting on the uninjured side of the young soldier’s face, pinching his cheek.

The young soldier’s eyes widened, his face in his instructor’s hand, he dared not move, his whole body stiff like a statue.

The doctor treating his wound saw this scene and smiled. While the young soldier’s attention wasn’t on the wound, he quickly and accurately used an alcohol swab to wipe away the small stones stuck to the wound.

Caught off guard, the young soldier’s legs straightened from the pain, but he didn’t dare utter a single cry of pain.

Yuan Xin twitched the corner of his mouth, stood up, and tapped the young soldier’s forehead with the rolled-up A-document in his hand.

He left with a remark: “Little rascal.”

He said nothing more and left.

The young soldier stared blankly at his instructor’s back, then he chuckled foolishly.

Yuan Xin returned to the car to update the report on the situation.

“Reporting to the commander, the situation on site has been effectively controlled. Before the flood peak, all civilians in our designated area have been successfully evacuated to safe zones, with no casualties. Currently, local police departments have taken over the subsequent cleanup work, and civilians are being evacuated in an orderly manner. All 97 soldiers from our unit involved in the operation have safely returned and are ready. Please instruct on the next course of action.”

“Received, return to base.”

“Yes!”

The call hadn’t ended yet, only the restrained breathing of two officers.

The commander asked, “How are the children?”

When he said this, his tone was no longer the official one from before.

Yuan Xin’s expression softened considerably, and he gripped the phone tightly. He replied, “It’s their first official mission, and they performed exceptionally well. They demonstrated the necessary professional qualities and teamwork. A few of the young ones sustained minor injuries, but their overall morale is high.”

“I trust the soldiers you lead.” Before hanging up, the commander sighed finally; “You’ve worked hard, old comrade.”

Yuan Xin hung up the phone and heard what sounded like a dispute.

One of the parties sounded like his soldiers.

Yuan Xin frowned.

These young rascals, they can’t take a compliment. Always causing trouble.

This was unfair to the young soldiers.

There was indeed an argument, but it was one-sided, with the young soldiers being the ones dodging and fleeing.

The incident began when the young soldiers were resting in place.

However, this time, only a small portion of their summer training team had come, and the supply vehicle hadn’t followed them.

They had worked hard and were extremely thirsty.

But they could only sit there.

On the slow-moving left lane, some car owners threw bottled water to them as they passed by.

The soldiers had to drag their tired bodies to throw the water back out the car window.

Thus, it became a battle of throwing and returning water bottles.

A battle of exchanging kindness and sincerity.

It just depended on which side threw faster.

The traffic was too slow, so the soldiers could always throw the water back.

The cars behind learned their lesson; after throwing the water, they immediately closed their windows and wouldn’t open them no matter how much they were knocked on.

The soldiers stood there, bewildered, holding water bottles they couldn’t return.

What to do? The rules didn’t teach them how to deal with this situation.

Their training did teach them how to deal with vicious criminals and desperate environments. But it didn’t say how to deal with these “stubborn” civilians.

They hadn’t even resolved this issue when more “trouble” arrived.

This time, it was the couple who were already selling watermelons by the roadside.

They witnessed the entire sequence of events and also felt sorry for these young “doll soldiers.”

So they cut up the watermelons from their stall for them to eat.

How could the young soldiers possibly accept them?

“We really can’t take them, Uncle and Auntie, we have rules.”

The proprietress held a slice of watermelon and vigorously tried to hand it to a soldier: “Do your rules not allow people to drink water or eat? Eat!”

The young soldier refused, and the watermelon was almost mashed from being pushed back and forth, its sweet juice lingering in the air.

It took a lot of effort for them to tear their eyes away from the watermelon, okay?

The rules stated that soldiers must maintain a high degree of political vigilance and a firm political stance, resolutely resisting sugar-coated bullets.

They hadn’t felt it before, but now they had a profound spiritual understanding. Sugar-coated bullets were truly pervasive; now they had transformed into watermelon bullets, constantly trying to burrow into their arms.

It was too difficult, truly too difficult.

Their throats were burning, their lips were peeling, and their bodies were dehydrating.

But they still had to say: “No, we really have rules, we’ll be punished if we eat. Auntie, please don’t make it difficult for us.”

“You’re eating watermelon, not dragon meat or sea cucumber. What unreasonable official would punish you for that?”

Yuan Xin jumped out of the car, and the young soldiers seemed to see a savior. All their pleading gazes turned to him.

The curses he was about to utter were swallowed back down.

The stall owner couple also noticed him, and the owner directly carried a slice of watermelon to Yuan Xin.

“Officer, just give the order, let them eat, the kids are so thirsty. This is just a small token of our appreciation.”

“Big brother, I really can’t give that order.” Faced with enthusiastic civilians, Yuan Xin also found it difficult to cope.

He’d rather go one-on-one with criminals.

The stall owner said, “If you can’t give the order, then you eat it. They’ll only dare to eat if you do. It’s just two bites of watermelon.”

Almost everyone’s gaze was on Yuan Xin.

He dodged the watermelon, even using the footwork of Sanda to evade punches and kicks.

But this “watermelon bullet” was much harder to dodge than ordinary bullets.

Yuan Xin was hard-pressed.

This stall owner’s watermelons were truly well-grown, all of them sandy.

As Yuan Xin was dodging, a small piece of watermelon detached from the rind and fell to the ground.

The stall owner became anxious.

“See, if you don’t eat it, it’ll just go to waste.”

Yuan Xin looked at the watermelon pulp on the ground, then at the new slice of watermelon presented to him, and sighed resignedly.

He took the watermelon, took a bite, and then said to his soldiers, “Eat, don’t waste it.”

A cheer erupted.

These young soldiers rushed towards the watermelon like pigs just released from their pens.

The stall owner couple watched, stunned. The watermelons that had already been cut quickly disappeared. They cut non-stop, determined to let these soldiers eat their fill.

“Oh my goodness, I’ve never eaten such delicious watermelon before.”

“It’s probably just picked from the field, so fresh. The watermelons we used to eat, who knows how much technology was applied to them.”

“It must be, nom nom nom, so delicious…”

Yuan Xin turned away, unable to watch.

Was it really that bad, as if the army had starved them?

The couple’s efficiency in cutting watermelons for a hundred or so people still seemed a bit slow.

The watermelons were cut horizontally, each cut yielding a long slice. Some young soldiers at the front of the line got their watermelon but weren’t in a hurry to eat.

They broke the watermelon in half, eating one half themselves and sharing the other half with the firefighters further from the stall, the police officers Lin Feng brought…

Even Qin Qing and her group each received a slice.

Yes, they hadn’t left yet, wanting to stay and see if they could help.

They didn’t end up helping, but they did get a good deal.

The flood water level and the road height were only a few meters apart, which must not have been anticipated during road construction surveys.

Most of the crowd, except for the injured, had already evacuated.

Lin Feng looked at the murky stream, if this water level could still be called a stream. He was somewhat worried and asked Qin Qing, “There shouldn’t be anyone down there anymore, right?”

“Probably not. It’s unlikely for someone to come to a place like this alone. I carefully observed the evacuating crowd just now. No one among them still had a look of disaster on their face.”

Everyone’s System Panel had returned to a normal misty white; no one had a gray System Panel, including those with superficial injuries.

“That’s good.” Lin Feng let out a sigh of relief.

Qin Qing found it novel: “Captain Lin, when did you start trusting me so much? You believe me when I say there’s no one?”

“Whoa… what kind of talk is that? I’ve always trusted you, okay? Otherwise, could I mobilize the three armed forces just because of a word from you? I’d be held accountable for falsely reporting military intelligence, okay?”

Qin Qing ignored him, just assuming he was telling the truth.

But Lin Feng persisted: “Why aren’t you talking? Didn’t we cooperate quite well this time?”

“Captain Lin, there’s something I’ve wanted to say for a long time.”

Lin Feng: “Tell me, what’s bothering you so much? I’ll handle it for you.”

Qin Qing moved a little further away from him, disdainfully saying, “Please, you’re a cadre, at least wash your hair. It’s summer, and it looks quite uncomfortable.”

“Pfft…”

It was Lin Feng’s apprentice, Xiao Song.

Lin Feng glared at him, and Xiao Song quickly lowered his head, pretending to be busy. But his shoulders were twitching, clearly struggling to suppress his laughter.

Lin Feng probably hadn’t expected Qin Qing to say such a thing.

Qin Qing looked back at her with a particularly innocent and serious gaze.

Honestly, she had endured it for almost 50 chapters; she was already being very polite.

“You’re the one who insisted I speak.”

Lin Feng was speechless for a long time. He had good psychological resilience and didn’t feel embarrassed.

“Alright, I said it.” He was a bit exasperated, “You’re the hero, you call the shots.”

On the other side, about twenty watermelons had been cut, and the soldiers indeed ate them heartily. After eating, they even helped clean up the rinds.

If the stall owner couple hadn’t stopped them, they would have packed the trash they created into bags, carried it onto the military truck, and taken it back to the school to dispose of.

The young soldiers all got into the car.

Yuan Xin came to say goodbye to Qin Qing and Lin Feng; he was the last to get in the car.

Before getting in, Qin Qing saw him scan the payment QR code hanging on the shed as he passed the watermelon stall.

Goodness, that hand movement was so fast, you could only see a blur. He truly was a military man.

And he even had a soldier chat with the stall owner couple at the front to distract the enemy and attract their attention, so he could act.

Yuan Xin got into the car.

The military truck drove 50 meters away from the watermelon stall.

A payment broadcast sounded from the watermelon stall.

[Received 2,000 yuan.]

The couple, who were watching the military truck leave, heard the sound and realized what had happened, but it was too late to chase.