Cultivation Online

Chapter 2695: Discharged

Shortly after they began watching the recording of the recent recruitment, Yuan’s eyes widened when Li Jieyu appeared on the screen, as she looked exactly like Li Jinxi.

But the surprises didn’t end there, as Huang Zhi Han soon appeared as well.

"Those two must be the top talents in the recruitment. I heard that they’re both from another city," Mei Xiaoyun said. "In fact, many participants this year are foreigners."

"I didn’t know people from another city were allowed to join our military," Yuan remarked.

"It’s possible, but they’re required to give up their original citizenship and sever their ties with their former city. I heard it’s extremely rare for anyone to do that, but... this year was different."

As she said this, Mei Xiaoyun slowly turned her head to look at Yuan.

Although she already knew about his Perfected Heavenly Refinement physique and understood that it was extraordinary, she could never have imagined just how significant it truly was.

"To think you are able to fight the Void Hunter already when you were only at the First Ascension a year ago. Aren’t you growing a little too fast?" she sighed.

"I am nowhere near strong enough to fight the Void Hunter," Yuan said while shaking his head. "When I fought it before, it was merely messing around with me. Had it truly wanted to kill me, I wouldn’t be here right now."

"Even if that’s the case, given how fast you’re improving, I don’t doubt you’ll be strong enough to defeat it soon."

"You sure have a lot of confidence in me."

Mei Xiaoyun did not respond and fell silent.

Some time later, they finished watching the recording.

"What do you think?" Mei Xiaoyun asked him.

A smile tugged at Yuan’s lips as he responded, "I think I can finally officially create my squad."

Mei Xiaoyun raised an eyebrow.

"Who are you going to invite into our squad?"

"Isn’t it obvious? Li Jieyu and Huang Zhi Han. With these two, we’d have exactly four members."

"You think you’ll be the only one to invite them? I bet they’ve already received hundreds of squad invitations by now."

"That may be the case, but whether they accept them or not is another matter."

Yuan turned to face Mei Xiaoyun and continued, "Since I am stuck in this place for now, I’ll need you to do the recruiting for me."

"You can’t be serious..."

"Do you want our squad to become official or not?"

"Quite frankly... I don’t really care," she said.

"Seriously?"

She nodded with a serious expression.

Before Yuan could say anything else, Mei Xiaoyun spoke, "But I’ll send them an invitation, at the very least. Don’t expect me to beg them or anything like that."

"Of course not. Just mention my name."

Mei Xiaoyun left shortly afterward to search for Li Jieyu and Huang Zhi Han.

It didn’t take her long to locate Huang Zhi Han, thanks to her already immense reputation and eye-catching appearance.

Once Huang Zhi Han was alone, Mei Xiaoyun approached her.

"Hello, are you Huang Zhi Han?"

"I am. How can I help you?"

"I’m here on behalf of my squad leader to invite you to join our squad," she replied.

Huang Zhi Han swiftly refused. "Sorry, but I’m not interested—especially if your squad leader couldn’t even be bothered to come and invite me personally. I’ve already received over three hundred invitations, and every single one came directly from the squad leaders themselves. Many of them even brought gifts."

"My squad leader, Captain Yuan, is in a peculiar situation, so he can’t come. Anyways, since you refused, I won’t bother you any long—"

"Wait."

Just as Mei Xiaoyun turned around, a hand grabbed her shoulder, stopping her.

"Your squad leader is Yuan? As in ’that’ Yuan?" Huang Zhi Han asked for clarification.

"There’s only one man named Yuan in the military, so... probably?" Mei Xiaoyun responded.

"I’ll join your squad. What is it called?"

Mei Xiaoyun was a little surprised at how quickly Huang Zhi Han’s attitude changed after hearing Yuan’s name.

’I guess the rumors that most of the foreigners came here for him are true...’ she sighed inwardly.

"Nine Heavens. He’ll approve it whenever he can. See you."

"I am not finished." Huang Zhi Han stopped her from leaving again.

"I heard that Yuan was hospitalized several months ago and nobody has seen or heard from him since then, so how did you...?" Huang Zhi Han asked with a doubtful gaze.

Mei Xiaoyun remained silent for a moment before responding, "Since you’ll be part of the squad, I guess it’ll be fine to tell you. I met with him just before coming here."

"Is he okay? What caused him to be hospitalized? I can hardly imagine how someone who survived the Void Hunter could be hospitalized."

"I don’t know." Mei Xiaoyun shook her head. "If you really want to know, you can ask him yourself. He should be discharged soon, after all."

"Any other questions before I leave?"

"What... What is your relationship with Yuan?" Huang Zhi Han asked after a brief pause.

"We’re just acquaintances."

"..."

Huang Zhi Han didn’t believe Mei Xiaoyun for a second, but she chose not to press the matter any further. After all, she would find out the truth herself sooner or later.

"One last thing. I haven’t heard your name yet."

"Mei Xiaoyun."

"Your surname is Mei? Are you, by any chance, related to General Mei?"

"She’s my mother."

"I see... that explains a lot," Huang Zhi Han mumbled.

"Sorry for taking up your time, and see you around."

One might have expected Huang Zhi Han to attend boot camp after recruitment, but because of her outstanding results and her existing mastery of Void Control, she was granted special permission to skip it entirely. Naturally, Li Jieyu received the same treatment.

After successfully recruiting Huang Zhi Han, Mei Xiaoyun immediately began searching for Li Jieyu. However, unlike Huang Zhi Han, Li Jieyu was like a ghost. No one seemed to know where she was or how to find her, leaving Mei Xiaoyun with no choice but to give up for the time being.

Time passed swiftly, and five days after Yuan’s awakening, Supreme General Tian showed up at the hospital.

However, he didn’t meet Yuan immediately. Instead, he spoke to the doctors about Yuan’s condition to see if there were any concerns.

"Took you long enough," Yuan sighed when Supreme General Tian finally entered his room.

"What’s with that attitude? Do you want me to come back later?" Supreme General Tian frowned.

"Go ahead. Just know that every day I spend trapped in this jail cell is another day I could be training and getting closer to defeating the Void Hunter."

"..."

After a moment of silence, Supreme General Tian said, "I spoke with the doctors, and they couldn’t find anything wrong with your body."

"I told them multiple times that I was perfectly fine, but they refused to believe me."

"General Mei briefed me on your medical situation. As for these anomalies... I’m aware that several more are still afflicting you. So the next time you plan on treating one of them, let us know beforehand so we can properly prepare for whatever happens."

"I will."

"Anyway, let me bring you up to speed on our current situation..."

Supreme General Tian proceeded to explain everything Mei Feng had already told Yuan, but in far greater detail.

"Since the other cities realized they can’t control you directly, they’ve sent large numbers of people to join our military in hopes of establishing a connection with you. So from now on, you should expect to be approached by quite a few people."

"What a pain in the ass... Fortunately, I’ll be spending most of my time outside the city once I begin my training, so they won’t have many opportunities to approach me."

Supreme General Tian narrowed his eyes slightly and asked, "Do you intend to go to the Level 2 Black Zone right after being discharged?"

Yuan nodded without the slightest bit of hesitation.

"That is my intention, so I hope you already have your investigators ready."

"They are."

"Then am I discharged?"

"..."

"..."

"..."

"You are." Supreme General Tian said after a long minute of silence.

"I’ll be leaving tomorrow."

"Do you even know where to go?"

"Nope, but I’m sure you or someone else will tell me before I leave."

"Three days. You can leave in three days."

"I’m fine with that."

"Then meet up with the others at the western entrance at 0800, three days from now."

Supreme General Tian left shortly afterward.

After changing into his military uniform, Yuan also left the hospital.

And just as Yuan stepped outside the hospital, someone approached him.

"Are you Captain Yuan?"

Yuan turned his attention to the beautiful woman standing before him.

"You must be the new soldier, Li Jieyu. How can I help you?"

"I want to have a spar with you," she quickly answered.

Yuan raised an eyebrow.

"Why?" he asked a second later.