Chapter 43 The Safest Place

Any Federal combat regiment that holds an official designation is, without exception, a powerful Grade-A combat regiment.

Those capable of becoming Grade-A combat regiments serve as the true pillars of the Federation!

The lower the numerical designation, the greater the combat strength of that regiment.

During the invasion by the White Eagle Empire, the 9th, 12th, and 17th Combat Regiments made immense contributions, destroying numerous White Eagle regiments in devastating ambushes and achieving monumental feats of merit.

Yet today, these decorated heroes have been traded away as mere bargaining chips by politicians sitting high in the halls of government. How utterly ironic is this?

Looking at the Federation's decision and the treaty it had signed, your expression remained unchanged.

From the very beginning, you knew this world was sick!

The Federation currently entrenched across these lands is in desperate need of change!

Therefore, you found the Executive Office's decision entirely unsurprising.

This incident also laid bare the Executive Office's treacherous nature—discarding the workhorse the moment the grinding stops. Should future opportunities for interaction arise, you must remain deeply guarded against such betrayal.

If even a combat regiment with such illustrious battle honors could be bartered away so casually, what else was there that they would not sell?

When the signing of the Northern Treaty exposed the Federation's weakness and cowardice, it stirred restless ambitions among certain nations within the international community.

In December of the 131st Year of the Transcendence Era, the Winter Empire breached the southern defense lines and declared war on the Federation.

That same month, the White Eagle Empire tore up the agreement, turned its guns around, and resumed its offensive.

The Federation urgently mobilized its Central Army to reinforce the northern front, but the combined threat posed by the two empires was far beyond what the Federation could withstand.

Unsurprisingly, the Federation suffered defeat after defeat.

In March of the 132nd Year of the Transcendence Era, the Federation dispatched its Central Mage Corps, utilizing a legendary artifact—the Sealing Demon Stone—to completely seal off the largest abyssal demon lair within its borders.

Following this, the major combat regiments of the Federation were pulled from their posts and deployed to fight on both the northern and southern fronts.

However, due to the Executive Office's previous betrayal of the three designated combat regiments, the regiments this time universally adopted a mindset of retreating whenever possible.

They could afford not to fight, but they must on no account make a mistake!

The impending defeat of the Federation was clear for everyone to see.

If they were to perform meritorious service in the upcoming negotiations, wouldn't they simply end up being sold out by the Executive Office once again?

Although the Federal President perceived this subtle atmosphere and had the officials who previously spearheaded the Northern Treaty publicly executed, repeatedly stepping forward to declare that there would be no peace talks this time, the combat regiments dispatched to the front lines of a national war were hardly fools.

With mere empty promises, who would listen to such nonsense?

And so, the Federal defense lines retreated step by step.

In April of the 132nd Year of the Transcendence Era, you reached Level 25.

At the same time, you exchanged for an Epic-grade equipment upgrade item from the Administration, raising your Epic-tier set to Level 25.

Although Epic-grade equipment upgrade items were exceedingly precious, they still fell far short compared to an Epic set.

Afterward, you compiled a statistical report and discovered that the number of members in the Red Heart Combat Regiment who had undergone their second class advancement had broken the four-hundred mark.

Under the full support of the Red Heart Combat Regiment, Lin Xue, Xiahou Chuan, Wang Meng, and Deng Qi were also steadily increasing their levels.

In May of the 132nd Year of the Transcendence Era, the scouts under your command discovered that the energy fluctuations emanating from the Ningcheng demon lair had suddenly surged dramatically.

Deep within the demon lair, a massive quantity of abyssal monsters above Level 30 had appeared.

There were even lord-class entities exceeding Level 30 present.

After you reported these developments, the Combat Regiment Administration conveyed some grim news to you.

The interiors of the abyssal demon lairs were part of an interconnected abyss world.

In other words, now that the Federation had blockaded the abyssal front lines, it was bound to drastically amplify the threats posed by other demon lairs within the Federation's interior.

Those high-level abyssal monsters that could not break through the blockade, eager to rush out into the world to slaughter, naturally flooded toward the regions of other demon lairs.

Upon receiving this news, you could not help but let out a curse.

The demon tide, spearheaded by Level 30 abyssal monsters, brought immense pressure to bear upon the defenses of Ningcheng.

Fortunately, just in case, you had installed a batch of magic crystal cannons atop the walls of Ningcheng.

Otherwise, you might not have even survived this first wave of the demon tide.

Yet you knew that as the threat level of the Ningcheng demon lair continued to climb, there would come a day when you could no longer hold it off.

You truly had not expected that just as your development was going so well, the external national war would threaten the very survival of the Red Heart Combat Regiment.

Indeed, when a grain of dust from the era falls upon an ordinary person, it manifests as a mountain of despair.

Even though the Red Heart Combat Regiment was an organization riding above all other factions—a pure organization of violence—it still faced a battle for survival under such circumstances. How much more so for ordinary people or low-tier professionals?

The cruelty and despair of these troubled times began to manifest within the Federation.

In June of the 132nd Year of the Transcendence Era, the Principal of Yuncheng First University, learning of the dangers you now faced, personally led a detachment to reinforce you.

The addition of a Fourth-Transition powerhouse greatly alleviated the defensive pressure on the Ningcheng front line.

You were deeply moved by the Principal's arrival.

You had never imagined that long after your graduation, the Principal would still be paying attention to your growth.

In September of the 132nd Year of the Transcendence Era, the Federation's northern front collapsed completely, and the various combat regiments of the White Eagle Empire drove deep into enemy territory, directly threatening the heartland of the Federation.

Consequently, the Federation issued a decree recalling the combat regiments and armies guarding the various provincial checkpoints.

Although the Federation also issued a mobilization order to you, you directly ignored it.

The Federation was on the verge of collapse; you no longer had the bandwidth to care about such things!

Most importantly, all your accumulated assets and foundations were centered right here in Ningcheng.

You could leave, and the three thousand members of the Red Heart Combat Regiment could leave, but what about everyone else?

What about the extraordinary factories and shops you had built through heavy investment?

And what could a mere Grade-C combat regiment accomplish by heading to the Federation's center?

Act as cannon fodder?

In January of the 133rd Year of the Transcendence Era, the coverage area of the Ningcheng demon lair expanded once again. Reconnaissance revealed that abyssal monsters exceeding Level 40 had begun to appear within the lair.

As soon as this news broke, despair gripped the entire Red Heart Combat Regiment from top to bottom.

Originally, through this period of arduous resistance, the situation had gradually improved.

Although they had paid a heavy price, with the continuous replenishment of professional soldiers and the astonishing drop rates of loot following the deaths of abyssal monsters, the overall strength of every member in the Red Heart Combat Regiment had surged dramatically.

Presently, virtually every combat member who had followed you out of Yuncheng First and Second Universities had completed their second class advancement.

Everyone believed that once they weathered this crisis, the Red Heart Combat Regiment would ascend to a Grade-B combat regiment.

In the future, it was entirely possible for them to become a Grade-A combat regiment of the Federation.

Yet the emergence of Level 40 abyssal monsters filled their hearts with profound powerlessness.

For a time, voices within the combat regiment began urging you to leave Ningcheng.

Even Lin Xue and the others, after long deliberation, joined this faction of counsel.

"Commander, Ningcheng is far too dangerous!"

"The brilliance of your ideology has yet to shine across the world, and your convictions have yet to be fully embraced by the masses."

"Therefore, we may die, but you must not!"

"Please, you must leave!"

"Although the Federation center is also dangerous, there are countless powerhouses gathered there, and the Federation still retains its underlying heritage; the two empires would never dare to press their advantage too far."

"Once you arrive there, you will undoubtedly survive."

"As for here... it is simply too dangerous!"

Listening to everyone's worried words, you slowly stood up. Your gentle gaze swept across everyone present, and looking at their anxious faces, you smiled faintly.

"My friends, as long as you are here, the Red Heart Combat Regiment is here, and the headquarters of the Red Heart Society is here!"

"Then this place, to me, is the safest place in the world."

"Until the very last moment, there is always the possibility of a turning point."

"Fleeing from a battlefield where the outcome has yet to be decided is the choice of cowards!"

"And my profession is that of a warrior!"

"No matter what, I shall stand and fall together with all of you!"

"Regarding this matter, I have only one request."

"If I should fall, and any of you are fortunate enough to survive..."

"Then please wrap my body in the banner of the Red Heart Combat Regiment, and let me be buried here together with all our fallen comrades."

Having said this, you raised your right hand and shouted aloud the slogan you had upheld from the very beginning:

"Red Heart!"

"Total Victory!!!"