Chapter 93: Undercover

Those twenty-five Martial Artists had physical constitutions far exceeding ordinary people; they had long since finished the ten laps and were currently standing at the finish line, pointing and gesturing at the crowd still running.

Over nine hundred able-bodied men had already finished the ten laps, and Meng Yifan was only recruiting the first one thousand people to finish, which meant there were only forty or fifty spots left.

There were over two hundred people still persisting in running; their stamina was already severely overdrawn, and their speed had dropped to the point where, while called running, it was actually no different from a normal person walking.

"I must speed up." Zhang Shagen was secretly anxious; there was only a small half-lap left now, about two kilometers to the finish line, and the remaining two hundred-plus people all began their final sprint.

"Run! Run like you're dying!" Zhang Shagen encouraged himself in his heart; he opened his mouth wide, breathing in large gulps, and then continued to sprint recklessly.

"Pfft!" Zhang Shagen couldn't help but spit out a mouthful of fresh blood again, which triggered a violent coughing fit, yet he paid it no mind, coughing and spitting blood while sprinting with all his might.

The clothes on his chest were stained red by the blood he spat out, yet he was still putting forth effort to sprint; this scene made everyone watching feel nervous and fearful.

"If this big fool keeps running like this, he might just run himself to death."

"In this godforsaken world, it's too hard for the common folk to find a way to survive."

"Sigh! It's not easy for the common folk."

"Stop running; if you keep running, you'll die."

The onlookers discussed it among themselves; some admired Zhang Shagen's persistence, while others were trying to persuade Zhang Shagen to give up.

Zhang Shagen didn't care what others said; in his eyes, there was only the finish line, and even if he were to run to his death, he had to die past the finish line.

Meng Yifan watched the still-persisting Zhang Shagen with admiration; such a person, as long as he was trained well, could absolutely be cultivated into a good soldier. He had already decided that regardless of whether Zhang Shagen could make it into the top one thousand, he wanted this soldier.

Ten minutes, twenty minutes; one after another, people crossed the finish line, and the remaining spots became fewer and fewer. Zhang Shagen let out a roar, and, exhausted as he was, he miraculously began to accelerate.

"Whoosh!" Zhang Shagen ran, kicking up a gust of wind, and violently charged across the finish line, after which he collapsed to the ground.

"Sir, can I be a soldier now?" Zhang Shagen asked.

Meng Yifan nodded with a smile and said, "You are already my soldier."

Zhang Shagen smiled happily, the heart that had been hanging in his throat finally settling down, and then he felt the world spinning; unable to hold on any longer, he fainted on the ground.

"Liu, quickly save him," Meng Yifan said.

Liu Zhongyong examined Zhang Shagen and said, "He ran too urgently, causing some damage to his lungs, but it didn't harm his foundation, so it's not a big problem. I'll prescribe some herbal medicine for him to recuperate, and he'll be better soon."

Zhang Shagen's family ran over, and upon hearing the doctor say that Zhang Shagen's condition wasn't serious, they finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Meng Yifan stood on the high platform and said to the one thousand people who had finished the ten laps first, "You are all my soldiers now. From now on, I will provide for you, let you eat and drink your fill, and train you well in the skills of killing the enemy. However, if you encounter war, you must fight to the death. If anyone dares to desert in the face of battle, they will be executed without mercy. Now, I give you one chance: those who do not wish to be soldiers may choose to withdraw."

None of these one thousand people withdrew; they would rather die in battle than starve to death. In this godforsaken world, common folk didn't even know where to look if they wanted to find a job to risk their lives for.

"No one is withdrawing? Very good. I will ask you one more time: if you are a soldier eating my grain, you must obey my rules."

"If I tell you to advance, you must stride forward even if there is a mountain of blades and a sea of fire ahead. If I tell you to retreat, you must retreat even if there is a mountain of gold and silver ahead. Military law is like a mountain; those who dare to violate it will be executed without mercy. Think it over now: do you want to be this soldier?" Meng Yifan asked again.

"Sir, to be a soldier and eat grain, one should obey your management. Don't worry, Sir, we will definitely follow your orders," the able-bodied man named Xu Yule said loudly.

"I want to be a soldier; even if I die in battle, it's better than starving to death."

"Sir, we want to be soldiers and eat grain."

The other able-bodied men also agreed one after another.

Meng Yifan looked at Xu Yule with admiration; this fellow was much sharper than the average person and was worth cultivating well.

Meng Yifan checked his Game Panel; as these one thousand people all agreed to be his soldiers, his number of Subjects increased by one thousand.

However, the Loyalty of these Subjects was basically between 10 and 30 points. This was understandable; he hadn't given them any benefits yet, so wanting them to be wholeheartedly devoted was just wishful thinking.

"Huh, why is the Loyalty of these fifty-three people 0?" Meng Yifan was stunned. Since they were going to be soldiers and eat grain, even if they didn't trust Meng Yifan at first, their Loyalty should at least be ten or twenty points. This zero Loyalty indicated that these fellows had never thought about being loyal to Meng Yifan in their hearts.

"Damn it, these people must be from the Three Great Gangs. How insidious! I'm recruiting soldiers here, and they send undercover agents. If I ever really have a falling out with the Three Great Gangs, these undercover agents might suddenly rebel at a critical moment in battle, and if that happens, I'll definitely suffer a huge loss."

Meng Yifan looked at these people and discovered that twelve of them were First Grade Martial Artists, while the others were disguised as refugees, hiding in the crowd.

"Bastards, it's a good thing I have the Game Panel to see their Loyalty." Meng Yifan felt extremely fortunate. He had originally planned to use these First Grade Martial Artists as the backbone and train them into grassroots officers; he hadn't expected that half of these people were actually undercover agents. Fortunately, he had discovered it in advance.

The more Meng Yifan thought about it, the more he felt a chill down his spine. These Three Great Gangs had long calculated that Meng Yifan would recruit soldiers in the Labor Camp, and they had arranged for people to infiltrate in advance.

"You, you, and you..." Meng Yifan pointed out these fifty-three fellows with zero Loyalty and said, "You cannot be soldiers."

"Why, Sir? We were all among the first to finish the ten laps. According to your rules, we should all be able to be soldiers and eat grain. You cannot go back on your word."

These fifty-three people began to clamor, and Meng Yifan said coldly, "Crocodile Gang, Axe Gang, Wuyou Gang—which gang do you belong to? Do I need to spell it out more clearly?"

These fifty-three people looked at each other in dismay, not knowing how Meng Yifan had been able to identify them all.

"Sir, we are wronged! We are not people from the Three Great Gangs."

"Anyone who dares to clamor again will be killed!" Meng Yifan gripped his Ghost Head Blade and shouted, his body radiating a biting killing intent. This made the undercover agents think involuntarily of the blood-dripping monument of heads outside the county office; this young master was not someone easy to talk to, but a ruthless person who really would make heads roll.

These undercover agents dared not quibble anymore. Meng Yifan shouted, "Go back and tell your gang leaders: this Luolong County is my territory. If they want to survive here, they must obey my orders, or else they can get out of Luolong County."