Bai Lang and Gu Ning who were very close to the door were almost crushed by the door that was kicked open instantly! Bai Lang reacted quickly, holding Gu Ning and spinning around against the wall to avoid the impact of the door. However, because of spinning around, Gu Ning was now facing Bai Lang. When Ji JiuZe looked over, it seem like Gu Ning was being held in the arms of Bai Lang.
Six eyes met and for some reason, Bai Lang felt a flash of murderous intent in Ji JiuZe’s gaze.
Gu Ning, however, took advantage of Bai Lang’s unpreparedness and lifted her foot to kick him hard on his knee. Then she hurriedly ran over to Ji JiuZe’s side when Bai Lang was holding his legs and yelled in pain.
Gu Ning didn’t hold back her strength in the slightest with that kick and Bai Lang kept rubbing his knee while hissing at Ji JiuZe: “Ji JiuZe, don’t tell me she’s the rookie you’ve recruited this time!”
Ten minutes later.
Gu Ning had an expression of being refreshed in her worldview: “So he’s in alliance with the Five Stars Brigade?”
Ji JiuZe stressed; “It’s just a partnership.”
Bai Lang suddenly lifted his right leg, which had been kicked by Gu Ning, and placed them heavily on the glass table in front of him. The heel of his leather shoe made a clanging sound against the glass table and he pulled up his trouser to the top of his knee. It was obviously bruised and his eyes were fixed on Gu Ning with his face full of frost.
Gu Ning looked at it and was a bit guilty. Just now she was in a hurry to get away and used all her strength so now she was slightly embarrassed.
Ji JiuZe glanced at it before saying it slowly: “Provide an examination report and someone will handle the compensation.”
Bai Lang replied with a sneer as he rolled down his trouser: “Ji JiuZe. Even though we are in a partnership. It’s not very nice of you to send your Five Stars Brigade rookie to my place for training, isn’t it? I’ve even wondered why you suddenly dropped by to see me for no reason.”
Ji JiuZe replied calmly: “This is Zhuang Chen’s suggestion. If there are any problems, you can go and deal with her.”
Bai Lang’s expression immediately became speechless as if he had eaten a fly.
Only then did Gu Ning remember that Bai Lang and Zhuang Chen had a slightly complicated friendship, also she followed Bai Lang without hesitation in the post-apocalyptic world. However, this place, no matter was it the geographical location or Bai Lang’s well-trained guards, was just perfect for training newbies.
Ji JiuZe stood up after finishing his sentences: “I’m sorry to bother you today. I’ll get Zhuang Chen to call you for the cost of repairing the door. I’ll come back to chat with you next time if there are chances.” Then he glanced at Gu Ning, who hurried followed suit and stood up.
Bai Lang instead aimed his question at Gu Ning: “Little golden retriever, what’s your name?”
Gu Ning froze for a moment before realizing that he was calling her a golden retriever? ? ? Gu Ning was speechless.
Ji JiuZe glanced at Gu Ning before interrupting: “There’s no need for you to know her name, and you won’t have many chances to meet her in the future.”
Bai Lang placed his other leg on the glass table as well and stared at Ji JiuZe with a smirk: “That’s not necessarily true. Maybe we’ll even meet tomorrow too.” As he paused, his gaze fixed on Gu Ning’s face and continued suggestively: “Besides, I haven’t had a chance to thank you for what happened last time.”
Naturally, he was talking about the previous time when she was held hostage by him as a cover, and she still didn’t know how he had recognised her.
Ji JiuZe glanced sideways at Gu Ning before stating: “Let’s go.”
“Little golden retriever, wait up.” Bai Lang suddenly called out and stopped Gu Ning.
As soon as Gu Ning turned around, she saw Bai Lang stretch out a finger and point to the top of the bookshelf then smiled at her: “Return the book.”
“I didn’t take it.” Gu Ning spread her arms widely: “You can get someone to search me.”
Gu Ning look so frankly that it didn’t seem like she was lying.
However, Bai Lang really called the maid in the villa over to search for Gu Ning, and of course, the result was Gu Ning didn’t have it.
Gu Ning asked: “I can go now, right?”
Although Bai Lang still had some doubts in his mind, he couldn’t force her to stay and just ordered impatiently to the man guarding the door: “Send both of them out.”
“Oh. By the way.” Gu Ning suddenly said: “There’s a person tucked under the bed in the room past this corridor to the right, and then another right of the walkway.”
Bai Lang: ……
Both of them walked back to their car under the gaze of the Bai Lang’s group of minions.
On the way, Ji JiuZe didn’t even talk to Gu Ning, and with her current personality, she had also developed the habit of keeping quiet. Thus, the whole trip back to the Five Stars Brigade was silent.
“You guys are back!” Zhuang Chen and Yi ShaoQing were waiting for them in the living room.
Zhuang Chen’s eyes lit up: “Where is the book? Have you brought them back yet?!”
Gu Ning froze for a moment, a book?! The book was still in her space!
She was about to make an excuse that she had left it in the car and went back to get it when Ji JiuZe suddenly pulled out a book from somewhere and placed it on the table. He then looked at Gu Ning and stated: “You left it in the car.” After stating it, he loosens his tie as he walked up the stairs. Yi ShaoQing glanced sideways at Ji JiuZe who was heading upstairs, then his gaze fell on the book on the table before he finally looked at Gu Ning with a somewhat subtle expression on his face.
Zhuang Chen exclaimed excitedly: “Gu Ning, you’re amazing! Congratulations! From today onward, you are officially a member of the First Squad of the Five Stars Brigade!”
Gu Ning had not yet reacted to Ji JiuZe’s actions and this time, she was baffled by Zhuang Chen’s words. She suddenly looked around and found no sign of the other three people and a sense of uncertainty rose in her heart as she asked: “Where are Zhang XiaoBai and the others?”
Yi ShaoQing replied with a matter-of-fact expression: “Eliminated.”
Gu Ning froze: “What?”
Zhuang Chen explained: “It’s not a direct elimination back to the unit. It’s just an elimination from the First Squad to the Second Squad, er, or possibly the Third or Fourth Squad but they should be able to stay in the second with their strength. Don’t look at me like that, if you hadn’t brought back the book tonight, you might have been assigned to the Second Squad by Ji JiuZe as well. Luckily, you did a great job and didn’t make him send away his first disciple personally to the Second Squad.”
Gu Ning laughed dryly as she thought back about Ji JiuZe’s action just now, he was really afraid that he would be disgraced by her. She felt a little awkward and couldn’t care too much about feeling sorry for Zhang XiaoBai and the others. It was because of the post-apocalyptic world that she was closer to Zhang XiaoBai, and Zhong Xu than Zhuang Chen and Yi ShaoQing. However, now that the three of them had been separated, Gu Ning suddenly felt a little empty.
Zhuang Chen then continued: “Since you have now become an official member of the Five Stars Brigade, it’s time to tell you exactly what our Five Stars Brigade does.”
Gu Ning was then taken to the study room on the second floor.
Ji JiuZe had already changed into casual clothes and was sitting in there.
“The Five Stars Brigade is an organisation filled with hundreds of elites. There are more than ten squads within the organisation and the First Squad, which is the one you are in now, is the top-notch of the pyramid among the rest. All are unified under the Five Stars Brigade and the headquarters are in the capital. There is competition within the organisation between the squads, depending on the difficulty and completion of the mission as a vetting criterion, an annual shuffle is made. Of course, no matter how the shuffle goes, our squad has been standing steadily at the tip of the pyramid for over a decade and has never gone below it. Even if the Second Squad has twice the number of members than us and tried to jump up, they still can’t reach the bottom of our shoes.” Zhuang Chen boosted without any complacency.
Gu Ning caught the gist of Zhuang Chen’s explanation: “Mission?”
“Yes. Like tonight’s mission where you are supposed to bring back a book from Bai Lang.” Zhuang Chen stated lightly after picking up an apple and taking a bite: “It also includes investigating criminal cases that are too difficult for the local police to solve, such as last year’s highly publicized serial killer case which was caught by the Second Squad. As well as going to the border to catch any of those cross-border drug dealers, destroying their lairs on the way, stealing confidential information from foreign countries or whatsoever.”
? ? ? How could all these tasks be comparable with what happened tonight? ? ?
Yi ShaoQing gloated by the side: “Gu Ning, are you alright? You seem a little pale, eh?”
Gu Ning couldn’t even muster up a forced smile and silently grabbed a glass of water to drink while sitting on the sofa.
“Gu Ning, don’t be afraid. I’m just giving you an example.” Zhuang Chen comforted her before continuing to explain: “Do you know what the top of the pyramid means? It means that we can enjoy the best treatment in the brigade, earn the most money, live in the best house, drive the best car and also have maximum freedom. That said, we have a choice to choose the missions. The points for completing an S-rank mission are ten times that of an A-rank mission, and now we have more than ten times the points of the Second Squad, so you can be completely at ease. Even if we didn’t take upon any mission for the next three years, we would still be standing at the top of the pyramid steadily.”
“Umm……” Gu Ning calmed down a little before asking: “What does an S-rank mission look like?”
Zhuang Chen hesitated for a moment: “Uh……”
“You know that xz riot leader who died of illness last year?” Yi ShaoQing grinned: “I was his attending doctor last year.”
Gu Ning picked up the cup again and started drinking. She finally knew what Yi ShaoQing was researching in the lab every day.
“Gu Ning, do you know why we’re called the Five Stars Brigade?” Zhuang Chen suddenly became serious.
Gu Ning tentatively replied: “Is it something to do with the flag?”
“Right. The Five Stars Brigade’s team logo was created based on the flag.” For the first time, Zhuang Chen showed a solemn look in front of Gu Ning: “Gu Ning, will you become a member of the First Squad of the Five Stars Brigade and inherit the spirit of defending to the death for the soil beneath our feet and the country that stands on this land!” Gu Ning stared at Zhuang Chen, whose expression was solemn but her gaze showed eagerness. Gu Ning was stunned and felt slightly mixed emotions.
She thought of the country in the post-apocalyptic world that had suffered so much in disaster, and the land beneath her feet had begun to change……
Both Zhuang Chen and Yi ShaoQing had hesitated on the day they had formally joined the team a long time ago. Even Bai Lang back then had chosen to give up at this one point, so they weren’t in a hurry and just watched Gu Ning quietly, waiting for her answer.
Gu Ning looked like she had made an incredibly big decision and it was indeed an incomparably important decision. She raised her eyes, her gaze skimmed over Zhuang Chen, Yi ShaoQing’s face, and finally met Ji JiuZe’s eyes. His eyes were still as calm as ever, he didn’t push or urge her and just quietly waited for Gu Ning’s answer like the other two.
Gu Ning finally strengthened her conviction as she took a deep breath before replying: “I am willing.” As she said those words, Gu Ning instantly felt relief in her heart as well as the responsibility placed on her shoulders.
Zhuang Chen made a much-exaggerated expression of relief and came over to give Gu Ning a firm hug while Yi ShaoQing also cracked a smile.
The tense atmosphere loosened up at once.
Ji JiuZe, on the other hand, stood up from his chair and walked toward Gu Ning. He stopped in front of her, lowered his head, took off the five-star badge on his chest, and carefully pinned it on her chest which was two inches below her shoulder. Then he took a step back, raised his right hand, and gave a formal military salute to Gu Ning.
Zhuang Chen and Yi ShaoQing also stood up straight at the same time, smiling and saluting at Gu Ning.
Gu Ning glanced at the badge on her chest and wordlessly straightened her back before solemnly returning the three of them with a less-than-standard salute.
Bai Lang and Gu Ning who were very close to the door were almost crushed by the door that was kicked open instantly! Bai Lang reacted quickly, holding Gu Ning and spinning around against the wall to avoid the impact of the door. However, because of spinning around, Gu Ning was now facing Bai Lang. When Ji JiuZe looked over, it seem like Gu Ning was being held in the arms of Bai Lang.
Six eyes met and for some reason, Bai Lang felt a flash of murderous intent in Ji JiuZe’s gaze.
Gu Ning, however, took advantage of Bai Lang’s unpreparedness and lifted her foot to kick him hard on his knee. Then she hurriedly ran over to Ji JiuZe’s side when Bai Lang was holding his legs and yelled in pain.
Gu Ning didn’t hold back her strength in the slightest with that kick and Bai Lang kept rubbing his knee while hissing at Ji JiuZe: “Ji JiuZe, don’t tell me she’s the rookie you’ve recruited this time!”
Ten minutes later.
Gu Ning had an expression of being refreshed in her worldview: “So he’s in alliance with the Five Stars Brigade?”
Ji JiuZe stressed; “It’s just a partnership.”
Bai Lang suddenly lifted his right leg, which had been kicked by Gu Ning, and placed them heavily on the glass table in front of him. The heel of his leather shoe made a clanging sound against the glass table and he pulled up his trouser to the top of his knee. It was obviously bruised and his eyes were fixed on Gu Ning with his face full of frost.
Gu Ning looked at it and was a bit guilty. Just now she was in a hurry to get away and used all her strength so now she was slightly embarrassed.
Ji JiuZe glanced at it before saying it slowly: “Provide an examination report and someone will handle the compensation.”
Bai Lang replied with a sneer as he rolled down his trouser: “Ji JiuZe. Even though we are in a partnership. It’s not very nice of you to send your Five Stars Brigade rookie to my place for training, isn’t it? I’ve even wondered why you suddenly dropped by to see me for no reason.”
Ji JiuZe replied calmly: “This is Zhuang Chen’s suggestion. If there are any problems, you can go and deal with her.”
Bai Lang’s expression immediately became speechless as if he had eaten a fly.
Only then did Gu Ning remember that Bai Lang and Zhuang Chen had a slightly complicated friendship, also she followed Bai Lang without hesitation in the post-apocalyptic world. However, this place, no matter was it the geographical location or Bai Lang’s well-trained guards, was just perfect for training newbies.
Ji JiuZe stood up after finishing his sentences: “I’m sorry to bother you today. I’ll get Zhuang Chen to call you for the cost of repairing the door. I’ll come back to chat with you next time if there are chances.” Then he glanced at Gu Ning, who hurried followed suit and stood up.
Bai Lang instead aimed his question at Gu Ning: “Little golden retriever, what’s your name?”
Gu Ning froze for a moment before realizing that he was calling her a golden retriever? ? ? Gu Ning was speechless.
Ji JiuZe glanced at Gu Ning before interrupting: “There’s no need for you to know her name, and you won’t have many chances to meet her in the future.”
Bai Lang placed his other leg on the glass table as well and stared at Ji JiuZe with a smirk: “That’s not necessarily true. Maybe we’ll even meet tomorrow too.” As he paused, his gaze fixed on Gu Ning’s face and continued suggestively: “Besides, I haven’t had a chance to thank you for what happened last time.”
Naturally, he was talking about the previous time when she was held hostage by him as a cover, and she still didn’t know how he had recognised her.
Ji JiuZe glanced sideways at Gu Ning before stating: “Let’s go.”
“Little golden retriever, wait up.” Bai Lang suddenly called out and stopped Gu Ning.
As soon as Gu Ning turned around, she saw Bai Lang stretch out a finger and point to the top of the bookshelf then smiled at her: “Return the book.”
“I didn’t take it.” Gu Ning spread her arms widely: “You can get someone to search me.”
Gu Ning look so frankly that it didn’t seem like she was lying.
However, Bai Lang really called the maid in the villa over to search for Gu Ning, and of course, the result was Gu Ning didn’t have it.
Gu Ning asked: “I can go now, right?”
Although Bai Lang still had some doubts in his mind, he couldn’t force her to stay and just ordered impatiently to the man guarding the door: “Send both of them out.”
“Oh. By the way.” Gu Ning suddenly said: “There’s a person tucked under the bed in the room past this corridor to the right, and then another right of the walkway.”
Bai Lang: ……
Both of them walked back to their car under the gaze of the Bai Lang’s group of minions.
On the way, Ji JiuZe didn’t even talk to Gu Ning, and with her current personality, she had also developed the habit of keeping quiet. Thus, the whole trip back to the Five Stars Brigade was silent.
“You guys are back!” Zhuang Chen and Yi ShaoQing were waiting for them in the living room.
Zhuang Chen’s eyes lit up: “Where is the book? Have you brought them back yet?!”
Gu Ning froze for a moment, a book?! The book was still in her space!
She was about to make an excuse that she had left it in the car and went back to get it when Ji JiuZe suddenly pulled out a book from somewhere and placed it on the table. He then looked at Gu Ning and stated: “You left it in the car.” After stating it, he loosens his tie as he walked up the stairs. Yi ShaoQing glanced sideways at Ji JiuZe who was heading upstairs, then his gaze fell on the book on the table before he finally looked at Gu Ning with a somewhat subtle expression on his face.
Zhuang Chen exclaimed excitedly: “Gu Ning, you’re amazing! Congratulations! From today onward, you are officially a member of the First Squad of the Five Stars Brigade!”
Gu Ning had not yet reacted to Ji JiuZe’s actions and this time, she was baffled by Zhuang Chen’s words. She suddenly looked around and found no sign of the other three people and a sense of uncertainty rose in her heart as she asked: “Where are Zhang XiaoBai and the others?”
Yi ShaoQing replied with a matter-of-fact expression: “Eliminated.”
Gu Ning froze: “What?”
Zhuang Chen explained: “It’s not a direct elimination back to the unit. It’s just an elimination from the First Squad to the Second Squad, er, or possibly the Third or Fourth Squad but they should be able to stay in the second with their strength. Don’t look at me like that, if you hadn’t brought back the book tonight, you might have been assigned to the Second Squad by Ji JiuZe as well. Luckily, you did a great job and didn’t make him send away his first disciple personally to the Second Squad.”
Gu Ning laughed dryly as she thought back about Ji JiuZe’s action just now, he was really afraid that he would be disgraced by her. She felt a little awkward and couldn’t care too much about feeling sorry for Zhang XiaoBai and the others. It was because of the post-apocalyptic world that she was closer to Zhang XiaoBai, and Zhong Xu than Zhuang Chen and Yi ShaoQing. However, now that the three of them had been separated, Gu Ning suddenly felt a little empty.
Zhuang Chen then continued: “Since you have now become an official member of the Five Stars Brigade, it’s time to tell you exactly what our Five Stars Brigade does.”
Gu Ning was then taken to the study room on the second floor.
Ji JiuZe had already changed into casual clothes and was sitting in there.
“The Five Stars Brigade is an organisation filled with hundreds of elites. There are more than ten squads within the organisation and the First Squad, which is the one you are in now, is the top-notch of the pyramid among the rest. All are unified under the Five Stars Brigade and the headquarters are in the capital. There is competition within the organisation between the squads, depending on the difficulty and completion of the mission as a vetting criterion, an annual shuffle is made. Of course, no matter how the shuffle goes, our squad has been standing steadily at the tip of the pyramid for over a decade and has never gone below it. Even if the Second Squad has twice the number of members than us and tried to jump up, they still can’t reach the bottom of our shoes.” Zhuang Chen boosted without any complacency.
Gu Ning caught the gist of Zhuang Chen’s explanation: “Mission?”
“Yes. Like tonight’s mission where you are supposed to bring back a book from Bai Lang.” Zhuang Chen stated lightly after picking up an apple and taking a bite: “It also includes investigating criminal cases that are too difficult for the local police to solve, such as last year’s highly publicized serial killer case which was caught by the Second Squad. As well as going to the border to catch any of those cross-border drug dealers, destroying their lairs on the way, stealing confidential information from foreign countries or whatsoever.”
? ? ? How could all these tasks be comparable with what happened tonight? ? ?
Yi ShaoQing gloated by the side: “Gu Ning, are you alright? You seem a little pale, eh?”
Gu Ning couldn’t even muster up a forced smile and silently grabbed a glass of water to drink while sitting on the sofa.
“Gu Ning, don’t be afraid. I’m just giving you an example.” Zhuang Chen comforted her before continuing to explain: “Do you know what the top of the pyramid means? It means that we can enjoy the best treatment in the brigade, earn the most money, live in the best house, drive the best car and also have maximum freedom. That said, we have a choice to choose the missions. The points for completing an S-rank mission are ten times that of an A-rank mission, and now we have more than ten times the points of the Second Squad, so you can be completely at ease. Even if we didn’t take upon any mission for the next three years, we would still be standing at the top of the pyramid steadily.”
“Umm……” Gu Ning calmed down a little before asking: “What does an S-rank mission look like?”
Zhuang Chen hesitated for a moment: “Uh……”
“You know that xz riot leader who died of illness last year?” Yi ShaoQing grinned: “I was his attending doctor last year.”
Gu Ning picked up the cup again and started drinking. She finally knew what Yi ShaoQing was researching in the lab every day.
“Gu Ning, do you know why we’re called the Five Stars Brigade?” Zhuang Chen suddenly became serious.
Gu Ning tentatively replied: “Is it something to do with the flag?”
“Right. The Five Stars Brigade’s team logo was created based on the flag.” For the first time, Zhuang Chen showed a solemn look in front of Gu Ning: “Gu Ning, will you become a member of the First Squad of the Five Stars Brigade and inherit the spirit of defending to the death for the soil beneath our feet and the country that stands on this land!” Gu Ning stared at Zhuang Chen, whose expression was solemn but her gaze showed eagerness. Gu Ning was stunned and felt slightly mixed emotions.
She thought of the country in the post-apocalyptic world that had suffered so much in disaster, and the land beneath her feet had begun to change……
Both Zhuang Chen and Yi ShaoQing had hesitated on the day they had formally joined the team a long time ago. Even Bai Lang back then had chosen to give up at this one point, so they weren’t in a hurry and just watched Gu Ning quietly, waiting for her answer.
Gu Ning looked like she had made an incredibly big decision and it was indeed an incomparably important decision. She raised her eyes, her gaze skimmed over Zhuang Chen, Yi ShaoQing’s face, and finally met Ji JiuZe’s eyes. His eyes were still as calm as ever, he didn’t push or urge her and just quietly waited for Gu Ning’s answer like the other two.
Gu Ning finally strengthened her conviction as she took a deep breath before replying: “I am willing.” As she said those words, Gu Ning instantly felt relief in her heart as well as the responsibility placed on her shoulders.
Zhuang Chen made a much-exaggerated expression of relief and came over to give Gu Ning a firm hug while Yi ShaoQing also cracked a smile.
The tense atmosphere loosened up at once.
Ji JiuZe, on the other hand, stood up from his chair and walked toward Gu Ning. He stopped in front of her, lowered his head, took off the five-star badge on his chest, and carefully pinned it on her chest which was two inches below her shoulder. Then he took a step back, raised his right hand, and gave a formal military salute to Gu Ning.
Zhuang Chen and Yi ShaoQing also stood up straight at the same time, smiling and saluting at Gu Ning.
Gu Ning glanced at the badge on her chest and wordlessly straightened her back before solemnly returning the three of them with a less-than-standard salute.
