Special forces soldier demobilization: Starting from the county government compound, a meteoric rise

"Buzz—buzz—buzz—!"

The sudden and sharp vibrations shattered the tranquility of the courtyard house in the afternoon.

It was an extremely ordinary-looking, even somewhat old-fashioned, black candybar phone. But Liu Ming knew that the SIM card inside this phone was connected to an encrypted communication network of the highest level in the entire land of Kyushu.

Unless it's an emergency of life-or-death importance, this phone will absolutely not ring.

Liu Ming answered the phone, her expression instantly turning as cold and stern as a knife. "This is Liu Ming."

"Xiao Liu, come to the 'August 1st' building right away. It's on the third basement level, in the No. 1 Operations Conference Room."

The voice on the other end of the phone was that of Old Lin, unusually weary and filled with barely suppressed rage. "This is a huge mess. Your old acquaintance on the southwestern border has made his move."

An old acquaintance? Liu Ming's pupils suddenly contracted.

In the perilous primeval jungles of Southwest China, there was only one organization that Old Lin could call an "old acquaintance": the international top mercenary group "Poison Scorpion," which had been crippled by "Dragon Fang" but, like a centipede that never dies, remained strong.

……

Twenty minutes later, at the Central Military Commission's core building, on the third basement level.

This is the highest-level military command center of the entire Dragon Kingdom. Around the huge circular conference table, generals with gold stars on their shoulders and several high-ranking decision-makers are seated. The air is so heavy it seems like you could wring water out of it.

Liu Ming pushed open the door and entered, and no one paid any attention to his casual jacket. He went straight to the empty seat next to Old Lin and sat down, his gaze immediately drawn to the huge electronic screen that occupied the entire wall in front of him.

The screen displays a satellite topographic map. Red contour lines outline a continuous primeval mountain range, and between two steep peaks lies a narrow and secluded canyon, prominently marked in black as a high-danger zone.

— Coordinates: Southwest border, area 72, "Death Valley".

"Everyone's here. I'll give you an update."

A major general from the Military Intelligence Bureau stood up, holding an infrared laser pointer, his voice low and deep, as if he were reading an obituary.

"Forty-eight hours ago, a top-secret scientific expedition team of fifteen leading geologists and physicists in our country suddenly lost contact with the rear command while conducting routine exploration in the heart of 'Death Valley'."

"At first, we thought it was due to interference from a strong magnetic field. But just two hours ago, we intercepted a video on the dark web that was encrypted with twelve layers of encryption."

The major general tapped the keyboard, and the map on the screen switched to a video with poor image quality.

In the video, fifteen Chinese experts dressed in research suits are forced to kneel in a muddy jungle with their hands tied behind their backs. Behind them stands a group of fully armed mercenaries wearing black hoods, with the dark muzzles of their guns pressed directly against the backs of the experts' heads.

In the very center of the image stands a burly, bald white man. He is not wearing a hood, and his scarred face bears an extremely arrogant and cruel smile.

"Liu Ming, it's been a long time."

The bald man grinned at the camera in broken Chinese, revealing a set of gleaming white teeth.

"I heard you've taken off your uniform and become some damn director? What a pity. You cut off one of my fingers back in the Golden Triangle, and I've held a grudge ever since."

He is the leader of the "Poison Scorpion" mercenary group! He is also the ruthless bandit who narrowly escaped from Liu Ming's blade back then!

Liu Ming stared at the arrogant face on the screen, his hands slowly clenching under the table, his knuckles cracking slightly. In that instant, the "Asura" blood within him began to boil wildly.

In the video, the scorpion waved a mineral specimen in his hand that emitted a strange blue light, and his tone became frantic.

"Don't be nervous, I'm not here to reminisce. I'm here to make a deal with you high-ranking officials of the Dragon Kingdom."

"You should be familiar with this stone, right?"

"A rare superconducting mineral vein at room temperature. A gift from God that could change the global military and aerospace landscape for the next hundred years. Moreover, the reserves are astonishing."

A greedy glint shone in the scorpion's eyes.

"The usual procedure. Hand over the permanent mining authorization for this area and withdraw all Chinese troops stationed within a 50-kilometer radius. I guarantee the safety of these precious experts."

"You have twelve hours to consider."

"When the time is up, every ten minutes I'll smash an expert's head on this screen. Until you all agree!"

The video abruptly ended with a burst of piercing, maniacal laughter.

The conference room was deathly silent. Several old generals were trembling with rage, slamming their fists on the table and roaring that they wanted to send missiles to raze the valley to the ground.

"No!"

A high-ranking official in charge of foreign affairs immediately spoke up to stop it, his brow furrowed.

"This 'Valley of Death' is located in an extremely special position! It sits right on the disputed border between our country and its neighbor! Moreover, according to our intelligence, the reason 'Scorpion' dares to be so arrogant this time is because they are being secretly supported by 'Aegis,' the intelligence agency of a certain major Western power!"

"If we were to send a large-scale cross-border operation with regular troops now, it would not only give us ammunition to be criticized by the international community as an 'armed invasion,' but it could even trigger a direct military conflict between the two major powers!"

"Those Western media outlets are like sharks smelling blood, eyeing that border! The moment we make a move, they'll immediately slap the accusation of 'starting a war' on us!"

Regular troops cannot be deployed, heavy firepower cannot be used, and the existence of that mineral vein cannot even be publicly acknowledged.

However, those fifteen national treasure-level scientists cannot be left unsaved! And that superconducting mineral vein, which is crucial to China's national destiny for the next century, absolutely cannot fall into the hands of hostile Western forces!

This is a dead end. A desperate situation meticulously calculated by the enemy, a situation where there's no way to advance or retreat!

"Are we just supposed to stand by and watch them kill us? Watch them steal our lifeline?" General Zhang slammed his fist on the table in anger, his eyes red-rimmed.

The entire room fell silent, a deep sense of powerlessness gripping everyone's hearts.

It was in this despairing oppression that...

"Who says there's no way?"

A calm, deep voice, yet carrying a sharp, murderous aura that could pierce the heavens, slowly echoed from the corner of the conference room.

Everyone turned their heads.

Liu Ming had stood up at some point, and his once calm eyes were now completely filled with a bloodthirsty rage.

He looked at the familiar coordinates of "Death Valley" on the screen, a chilling smile curving his lips.

He suddenly reached out and snapped the solid gold pen in half! "Crack!" The broken pen was slammed heavily against the hard conference table!

"If we can't use the regular army, then we'll use unconventional methods."

Liu Ming surveyed the entire room, his eyes revealing an arrogant and domineering air.

"Since they want to play dirty, then I'll play along with them to the very end."

"This matter."

"Leave it to me."