Chapter 53: A Masterstroke of Genius

"My Lord! This... this tactic is unheard of! It is simply... simply a stroke of genius!"

"Sacrificing the individual for the greater good! Using the 'death' of ten men to secure total victory! That soldier named Wu Neng is a... a genius!"

Xiao Zhan only offered a faint, indifferent smile.

"A genius?"

He shook his head.

"In this world, there aren't that many geniuses."

"What there are, however, are men pushed to the absolute brink, whose survival instincts erupt in the end."

He stood up and walked to the edge of the viewing platform.

Below, all the soldiers—victors and vanquished alike—fell silent, their burning gazes fixed upon him.

"Good," Xiao Zhan's voice echoed across the entire training field.

"Today's combat exercise showed me your growth."

"Team West, you used your brains and your courage to win this victory."

He looked toward Wu Neng.

That man had already climbed up from the ground. His face and body were smeared with paint, looking utterly disheveled, yet his spine was held ramrod straight!

"Wu Neng!"

"Subordinate is here!" Wu Neng roared at the top of his lungs!

"You and your ten-man squad are excused from all labor tonight. Your dinner will include an extra roasted chicken!" Xiao Zhan announced in a ringing voice.

"Thank you, My Lord!" A radiant, ecstatic light burst into the eyes of Wu Neng and his squad members!

What an immense honor this was!

"As for the rest of the victors," Xiao Zhan continued, "you will enjoy a lavish feast. And the defeated..."

He paused, his gaze sweeping over those dejected faces one by one.

"You will serve them their meal. Once they are finished, every single bone they leave behind will be licked clean by you bastards!"

"YES, SIR!!!"

The victors erupted into a roar of triumphant excitement!

The defeated, however, lowered their heads in utter humiliation.

"Furthermore," a demonic smile curled the corners of Xiao Zhan's mouth, "tonight, the winning side sleeps in the barracks. The losing side..."

He pointed toward the distant, reeking latrines.

"Sleeps over there."

No wails. No complaints.

The defeated merely accepted the outcome in silence.

To the victor go the spoils, and the loser is condemned!

This was the simplest, yet most brutal rule of the "Ghost" unit!

"Now, everyone, drop your weapons!" Wang Ba stepped forward, issuing a new command. "Victors, head to the mess hall! Defused—no, you losers, clean this entire training field from top to bottom for me!"

"Carry out your 'corpses'!"

Night gradually enshrouded the training field.

Guided by personal guards, the victors marched into the brightly lit mess hall.

Long wooden tables were laden with food that made their mouths water uncontrollably.

Large chunks of roasted meat dripping with sizzling fat!

Whole roasted chickens gleaming with an enticing luster!

And jars of fiery liquor with their clay seals just broken open!

The aroma aggressively invaded the nostrils of every victor, reigniting their exhausted and flagging nerves into a state of fierce excitement!

"Eat! Drink!"

Someone let out a roar.

No longer able to restrain themselves, the men pounced on the food like wild wolves starved for three days!

They tore at the meat and chugged the liquor, unleashing wild and joyous howls!

Right at that moment, the doors of the mess hall were pushed open.

The defeated were marched inside.

They had just finished cleaning the training field.

The paint and bloodstains on the ground had been washed clean. Their fallen "brothers" had been carried by their own hands to an open space nearby, piled up together like stacks of firewood.

They were exhausted, starving, and filthy.

Stepping into the mess hall and catching the rich aroma of meat, every single defeated soldier's stomach let out a pathetic, thunderous growl.

Their Adam's apples bobbed frantically.

Their eyes locked onto the grease gleaming around the victors' mouths with unblinking intensity.

Wang Ba stood in the center of the mess hall with his arms crossed, watching them coldly.

"Your tasks are not over yet."

His voice plunged into the hearts of the defeated like an icy blade.

"Serve them."

"Pour their wine, hand them their meat."

"Whatever they command you to do, you will obey."

Those words struck down like two massive mountains, crushing them instantly!

Every single defeated soldier shuddered violently!

Humiliation!

Incomparable, crushing humiliation!

They were being ordered to serve men who had been their equals just yesterday—men whom they had even looked down upon?

One defeated soldier clenched his fists so tightly that his fingernails dug deep into his flesh.

His chest heaved violently.

Wang Ba's gaze landed upon him.

"You have a problem with that?"

The soldier trembled all over, as if a basin of ice water had been dumped over his head, sobering him up instantly.

He remembered the "deaths" of Wu Neng's ten comrades.

He remembered the punishments: licking bones and sleeping by the latrines.

He loosened his fists and slowly lowered his proud head.

"...No."

"Good."

Wang Ba nodded.

The drunken revelry of victory grew even more unbridled at that moment.

A victor deliberately spat a bone from his mouth onto the floor, then crooked a finger at a defeated soldier.

"Hey, you, get over here and pick this up for me."

That defeated soldier's face flushed crimson, his lips trembling, but he had no choice. He bent down and, with shaking fingers, picked up the bone stained with saliva and dust.

"Hahahahaha!"

The victors burst into a harsher, overwhelmingly superior roar of laughter.

They began to escalate their torment.

They deliberately spilled liquor onto the ground and made the defeated get down on their hands and knees to wipe it up.

They purposely tossed their leftover bones under the feet of the defeated, treating them like stray dogs being fed scraps.

And the defeated could only endure it all in silence.

Their hearts were bleeding.

When they looked at the arrogant, triumphant faces across from them, those eyes no longer looked upon "comrades-in-arms."

They looked upon mortal enemies!

This feast lasted for a full two hours.

The victors had eaten their fill and drank to their hearts' content.

The tables and the floor were a chaotic mess, littered with thoroughly gnawed bones.

Wang Ba walked to the center of the mess hall once again.

"Now, fulfill your final promise."

He pointed to the pile of bones on the floor.

"Lick them clean."

"Not a single bone can be left with any residue."

"BOOM—!!!"

The minds of all the defeated soldiers completely shattered!

They had thought that threat was merely a harsh joke by the commander!

They had thought the punishment would end at serving the victors!

They never imagined... never imagined it was real!

They were actually expected to lick the bones off the floor like dogs?!

"What? Can't do it?" A cruel, mocking sneer appeared on Wang Ba's face. "Or perhaps you'd prefer to head straight to the latrines right now and find something else to fill your stomachs?"

The latrines!

Those two words acted like a curse, instantly breaching their final line of psychological defense.

A soldier's legs went weak, and he was the first to drop to his knees.

He crawled toward the nearest pile of bones.

He closed his eyes.

And he extended his tongue.