Chapter 132: The Military's Attention

After the two of them walked inside, passing through a series of crisscrossing red beams, the robotic door slammed shut with an ominous groan.

The soldiers inside bowed to and saluted Su Feng, then sat down and glanced curiously at Zhang Lie. He had been recognized the moment he entered. After all, his name was currently surging in popularity in the aftermath of the Kez invasion.

"Have a seat. These are my trusted followers, and anything you can say to me, you can say to them." Su Feng pointed at the conference table, patted Zhang Lie on the shoulder, and bade him sit.

The others had already been curious about Zhang Lie, but now they were staring at him with wide eyes. After all, none of them had ever seen Su Feng behave so familiarly with a young man.

Zhang Lie looked around him: there were actually only five others gathered in the room.

"This lad mentioned something about highly sensitive information, so I brought him here," Su Feng explained. The others all looked surprised, but none of them said a word.

"Well? Will you reveal what you know now?" Su Feng prompted, as everyone stared expectantly at Zhang Lie.

The public might have thought that his fight during the Kez invasion was impressive, but only these soldiers knew just how impressive it was. If they were in his shoes, they might not have been able to replicate his feat; in fact, even Su Feng himself didn't think he could do the same!

"Very well." Zhang Lie's gaze turned firm. "First, a question for everyone gathered here: how large is a hunter's gene capacity?"

"What? Even a three-year-old child could tell you that the capacity is a hundred fragments!" someone shouted, and the others nodded in agreement.

"Yes, what do you mean by asking us this? Do you mean that the answer to this question has something to do with your defeating that three-star black-tipped scarab?" a slightly older general queried.

Zhang Lie's lips quirked up. Su Feng had remained silent all this time, well aware that Zhang Lie wasn't finished.

"That three-year-old child would be wrong. You can have more than a hundred gene fragments of any type," Zhang Lie stated firmly.

"You must be joking! This goes against information that the world federation itself has provided. Dragonwolf, if this is a joke..." a soldier yelled out, staring at Zhang Lie angrily. Even Su Feng seemed a little doubtful. After all, what Zhang Lie said went against everything they knew.

"Silence!" Su Feng finally yelled out. The surge of genetic energy that accompanied his yell quelled the disturbance.

Su Feng didn't believe what Zhang Lie was stating, but he was quite certain that Zhang Lie wouldn't be lying under such circumstances. As a result, no matter how difficult he found Zhang Lie's words were to believe, he didn't contradict him outright.

"Continue," Su Feng stated, a warning glint in his eyes.

"Yes, you've all heard what I said correctly, and I'm not joking with any of you. I don't know just what the maximum capacity is, but it certainly isn't a hundred—I have over a hundred basic gene fragments!"

Zhang Lie's proclamation stunned the room.

The maximum capacity... wasn't a hundred fragments? This was the reason that Zhang Lie was able to defeat a three-star black-tipped scarab as a first-realm hunter?

"For spouting such nonsense, I intend to request that your designation as dragonsoul warrior be rescinded!"

"And I, your title of galaxy fighter as well!"

Two of the more staunchly conservative members of the group stood up again from the table, unable to bear listening to Zhang Lie's ludicrous words any longer.

Zhang Lie barely restrained himself from shaking his head. In his past life, the appearance of limit fragments had likewise been discredited by a conservative faction of hunters. There had been quite a few soldiers among their rank; when the truth was revealed to one and all, their behavior made them seem like clowns.

"Do you have evidence of your claims?" Su Feng's heart thudded. If Zhang Lie were right, his discovery would herald a new golden age of hunters.

The two conservative soldiers sat back down, staring stonily at Zhang Lie. If he were unable to produce proof for his assertions, they would disparage him without any mercy. To lie in the sanctum of the most important military base in Ning would incur a commensurate punishment.

"There are many ways of validating what I've said," Zhang Lie continued.

Su Feng glanced at him. This was exactly what he was waiting to hear: as the commander-in-chief for the military forces in Ning, he understood the ramifications of Zhang Lie's statement. If the Chinese military were able to obtain this knowledge, their forces' strength would naturally rise across the board.

What followed was straightforward: just as he had done with Chu Feng and Yun Bing, he arranged for a number of soldiers satisfying the criteria for the breakthrough to experience a life-or-death situation.

Most soldiers were doubtful of Zhang Lie's words, and quite a few who envied him were waiting for him to fail so that they could expose him for the charlatan that he was.

And yet, when the results of the trial were out, and a number of soldiers followed Zhang Lie out of the training ground...

"Well?" Su Feng asked, barely hiding the excitement from his voice.

One of the soldiers was as white as a sheet, his body trembling, causing the shock and joy on his face to stand out all the more.

"Commander-in-Chief, the gene fragment capacity really isn't a hundred—just as the Dragonwolf Zhang Lie claims, limit fragments really do exist!" The soldier's voice was quavering because of his excitement, but he got the point across.

Su Feng's eyes gleamed. If he could incorporate this information into new recruits' training regimen...

Zhang Lie was surely a genius, a once-in-a-lifetime genius!

He looked ardently at Zhang Lie, and the two conservative soldiers who had spoken up earlier could hardly believe their eyes.

Su Feng remembered that, before the soldiers had participated in the trial, Zhang Lie had given them something to eat, something that he had apparently brought back from the dimensional world at great expense. This was surely the key to breaking past one's limits.

Very quickly, that first soldier who had passed the trial was inspected with an apparatus that, when compared to his condition prior to the start of the trial, revealed that he had obtained ten additional gene fragments. After a few more tests, the exceptional strength of these ten excess basic gene fragments were revealed.

The soldiers were all elated by the discovery, but Zhang Lie had to warn them of the conditions required for the breakthrough.

"Don't get too excited just yet. It isn't guaranteed that the breakthrough will be successful, and there are a few stringent requirements."

He had shrouded the trial in mystery, so the military would be unable to replicate this success without him. However, Su Feng would stop at nothing to pry this secret from him; as the commander-in-chief of the Blackwind Fort, he had to acquire the breakthrough technique at all costs.

"Zhang Lie, this information could advance all of humanity, so I hope you'll be willing to share it in full. Be it China, be it the world federation—I firmly believe that mankind as a whole needs this knowledge that you have!

Of course, as the one who made this exceptional discovery, you'll surely be rewarded generously by the military, the Chinese government, and even the world federation! We'll satisfy all your research requirements, and I'll arrange for you to be added to the list of important figures that we'll keep under guard, so you have to—"

"Commander-in-Chief, my dojo's opening ceremony is tomorrow, and I intend to announce the news about these limit fragments publicly at that point," Zhang Lie gently interrupted Su Feng, the first such interruption Su Feng had suffered in years, but Su Feng didn't seem displeased at all.

No—he was jubilated by what Zhang Lie had said!

"You'll reveal it to the world? Truly?"

"Of course!"

Su Feng frowned. As a dragonsoul warrior, Zhang Lie had to know that, if he were to reveal this information in front of Su Feng, he would have no chance of keeping it hidden much longer. He went silent. He had reviewed Zhang Lie's dossier, and he was well aware of his situation.

In particular, Su Feng knew that Zhang Lie was enemies with the Qin, Wang, and Li clans, and the fact that he was waiting to reveal this piece of crucial information only at his dojo's opening ceremony meant that Su Feng would have to protect him until then. The military would have no choice but to step in to resolve his personal feuds.

Su Feng took a deep breath. Zhang Lie represented a priceless treasure, and anyone who went against him would have to fight off the entire Chinese military.

"In that case, you're seeking protection?"

Zhang Lie only smiled.

Su Feng cocked an eyebrow. "Answer one last question from me, and I'll promise that your dojo's opening ceremony goes smoothly."

"Please go ahead, Commander-in-Chief."

"Why choose the Blackwind Fort? Given how important this information is, wouldn't you have been able to attract more attention by revealing it in the capital?"