Chapter 530: Fish and Net I (2/2)

This was also Ye Chong's first time seeing the landing field. The field was almost as large as an entire city. It was split into many different sections, which were used for landing or take-off. All round the landing field were rows of storehouses used to store the aircrafts. When shooters landed on the field, they would hand over their aircrafts to the landing field staff to store them, and retrieve the aircrafts themselves later.

Some rich families would even build their own miniature landing field in their own backyards.

Soon, Ye Chong found the manor he had purchased. Once he was here, he realized how large it actually was. The manor itself was about 15 square kilometres wide, built along the slope of a mountain, giving it an air of magnificence. Together with the land around it, the total land area was close to 40 square kilometres. As long as he was not building a large warship, the space was enough for him to do as he pleased.

There was a small landing field in the manor, which could accommodate up to 100 aircrafts. When they arrived at the place, the servants had already gathered by the landing field to welcome them.

Both buyer and seller finalized the transaction swiftly.

”Do you need them?” The former owner of the manor was a businessman. He pointed at the servants and asked Ye Chong respectfully. He would not dare to be rude towards this young man, since the official witness of their transaction was the former butler of His Majesty the King.

”No,” Ye Chong shook his head.

The businessman nodded, ”I understand.” He had expected this. A man of his stature would not deign to hire his servants. The higher a person was up the social ladder, the higher the requirement for their servants.

The matter of servants had never crossed Ye Chong's mind. He did not plan to hire any housekeepers here. Soon, all the servants were sent away by the former manor owner. As the businessman took his leave, the manor now lay huge and empty, like a lifeless palace.

Kristen and Sha Ya exchanged looks of bafflement. They did not understand what Ye Chong was thinking.

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Du Feng was inspecting his soldiers in training. He walked past each of them with precise, measured steps. His eyes were sharp. None of the soldiers dared to look into them. His parapsychic sense covered the entire training ground, so that he would know if anyone was lazing around.

He was the highest ranking officer in this military camp, but he did not like to watch his soldiers from high above, in his office. Instead, he preferred to walk under the sun and monitor his soldiers up close.

Du Feng had a stern face that commanded respect. All the soldiers here respected and feared him, except for one – his second in command, Li Gui.

Li Gui was an easygoing man. He could chat up almost anyone, and was close to the soldiers in the camp. Li Gui had a close relationship with Du Feng. They had met each other during their freshman bootcamp. Later, they had fought side by side through numerous battles. Their friendship had strengthened because of their shared history.

”Old Du, Old Du, come here!” Li Gui waved at Du Feng from a shaded corner of the camp.

Du Feng took a sweeping glance at his new soldiers, and gave some orders to the training officer before heading towards Li Gui. Since he suffered a particularly heavy injury some time ago, Li Gui's health never fully recovered. Hence, he had moved to a more secretarial position, working for Du Feng.

Du Feng never acted like he was Li Gui's superior.

He walked to the shaded corner and felt refreshed. He sat down heavily beside Li Gui and said, ”I say, Gui, it's a very hot day today, why'd you come out all the here? Careful that you don't go down on of a heatstroke, or your siblings will come bother me again.”

”Come on, don't you tease me just because my body ain't what it used to be two years ago. Don't forget who could wipe the floor with your *ss once upon a time,” Li Gui looked at Du Feng with mock disdain.

Du Feng laughed dryly, ”Look at you, so sensitive, I was only joking.” Indeed, Li Gui was once much stronger than Du Feng, but his physical condition had declined sharply ever since his injury.

Li Gui nodded towards the training ground and asked, ”How's the new batch?”

When it came to military matters, Du Feng turned serious. He replied with a look of concern, ”They're barely passable. I've found a huge problem with them.”

”What is it?” Li Gui asked.

”All the new soldiers in this batch have reached Level 4 in parapsychic control, but their physical condition is deplorable. Some of them would even faint because of standing under the sun for too long,” Du Feng said with a stern face.

”Well, that is a problem,” Li Gui nodded in agreement. This was a common issue with shooters in general. Shooters often focused on training their parapsychic sense, but not on their physique. This was especially obvious when screening for new soldiers. There were no requirements on the physical fitness of new recruits, as long as their parapsychic control was at least level 4. The problem of physical fitness was a long enduring one. Li Gui was one of its casualties. He was never particularly strong physically, so his injury had caused his abilities to decline sharply.

”What do you plan to do?” Li Gui asked.

Du Feng looked helpless. ”What can I do? These freshies will have to be toughened up. I have to say, thought, these freshies like to complain about physical training, hehe.”

”Poor fellows,” Li Gui watched sympathetically at the new recruits carrying out their training.

”It has to be done. Better to suffer a bit now than to lose their lives later,” Du Feng commented, all pragmatism.

”Yeah,” Li Gui agreed with him. As soldiers who had been through actual war, they both knew it for a fact. Suddenly, Li Gui remembered something and muttered, annoyed, ”All this chatting, and I've nearly forgotten about something important.”

”What is it?” Du Feng asked, curious.

Li Gui said, ”You probably haven't heard of it, but the nearby manor's changed hands.”

”Changed hands? Who's the new owner now?” Du Feng asked with interest, ”Heh, that guy's probably had enough of us and finally sold off his manor. I wonder which unlucky b*stard bought the place. Not that I'm ridiculing them, but that place, it's quite suitable to build a military camp there, don't you think? Why build a manor? However, it's been quite a convenience for us too. Thanks to your idea of using that place for drilling exercises, we've saved quite a lot of expenses. Now that there's a new owner in the house, I wonder who they are, where they come from, have you figure them out?”

Li Gui shook his head and replied, ”No, but I heard that there are only three of them.”

”Three? That can't be right,” Du Feng said in disbelief, ”That place is worth at least 10 million ao, who would spend that much money just to come here and suffer? I know rich people, they all like to enjoy themselves. What's there to do here for those three? Spending 10 million for a place in the middle of nowhere is just ridiculous.”

”I haven't got the details yet, it sure feels like a strange deal. I think we should stay off their backs first, who knows if they're related to someone high up? That businessman last time didn't have any backing, that's why he never so much as squeaked. These three, though, we should look into them first,” Li Gui suggested.

”No way!” Du Feng panicked, ”The drilling sessions are all planned out. We're not expanding the camp just yet, where else can we go for practise drills?” Li Gui and Du Feng had always arranged for drilling exercises to be held at the manor since there were more buildings there, and because the surroundings were more realistic. They had conducted a few nighttime infiltration exercises and counter infiltration exercises at that place with good results. Hence, Du Feng was adamant to make it their official training ground.

The former owner of the manor was only a normal businessman, who could not do anything against the arrogant and intimidating soldiers. Besides, the only problem the businessman would have was a lack of good sleep. There were never missing items, and no one was ever hurt in the manor. Hence, the former owner had refrained from complaining.

”Why don't we get Lil' San to have a look? Guy knows people like no one's business, especially the nobles and aristocrats. If they're really from upper society, he would recognize them,” Li Gui suggested after some thought. This Lil' San that Li Gui mentioned was born a noble. He was sent to the military by his family because of his frequent wild adventures outdoors.

”Alright! Let's do that!” Du Feng agreed immediately. He marched quickly towards the training ground and yelled out loud, ”Ren San, fall out!”

A small and cunning looking man left his formation and followed Du Feng to meet Li Gui. Li Gui whispered by his ear as Ren San nodded occasionally, his eyes looking around eagerly.

After a moment, he left the military camp under the jealous looks of his fellow military comrades.