Chapter Seventy: Entrusting Military Authority

  "It seems I can retire now, ah, with you taking over, I can finally be at ease." An Lan's eyes had a hint of comfort, her palm gently patted on Li Ling's shoulder, the various deep meanings in her eyes were very apparent.

  In fact, An Lan wanted to entrust An Jing to Li Ling for her whole life.

  "Ah...yes sir!" Li Ling stood up straight, saluted An Lan with a smile on his face and strong confidence in his eyes. He could feel the trembling of An Lan's palm due to excitement. This old general was indeed advanced in age and should have retired long ago, living a carefree life in the mountains. But perhaps it was because of his loyalty that he continued to wear this military uniform.

  ……

  An Lan instructed one of the soldiers, Zhang Qiang, to take Li Ling to see An Jing. An Lan himself led his trusted subordinates and left the underground research institute one by one.

  Along the way, Zhang Qiang was very serious, but he was extremely polite and courteous to Li Ling. After all, being treated by An Lan in such a manner, Li Ling was the first one, and probably also the last one.

  "Sometimes, everyone thinks that Miss is suffering, but at the critical moment, there is no one who can really dispel her worries and difficulties. It seems that Brother Li Ling can help Miss resolve her troubles, and suddenly feels that these soldiers are also quite useless." Zhang Qiang especially liked to be with Anjing when she was still a young girl. Every day, Zhang Qiang would carry this melancholic and quiet girl on his back to the wild areas of the military district to enjoy the breeze and appreciate the beautiful scenery, talking about dreams and life in the military district with Anjing.

  "Colonel Zhang, you can't say that. Everyone has their own calling, and isn't the calling of soldiers to protect their homes and defend their country? If even soldiers like you are useless, then who can this world rely on?" Li Ling smiled slightly, with a hint of respect in his eyes. He indeed had deep respect for soldiers, because their military spirit was straightforward and selfless.

  "Thank you!" Zhang Qiang's eyes showed a hint of friendliness, and he smiled happily at Li Lingyue.

  After walking through another underground tunnel, passing through several areas, I finally arrived at a region that did not belong to any research institution. What was presented in front of me were individual rooms like guest houses, which could also be considered an underground residential area.

  "Miss Anjing." Zhang Qiang brought Li Ling to room A11 and knocked on the door. But he heard a gentle voice coming from inside.

  "Quickly untie me, you bastard! Grandfather would never agree to this. Li Ling can't inject the cell nucleus of God's arm, he is innocent." Anjing continued to defend and exonerate Li Ling, hoping to gain recognition from the other party.

  But that quiet guardian is an S-class heteromorphic species with the S01 code, a cold and unfeeling heteromorphic species that only executes tasks.

  "Hurry up and open the door, I am Colonel Zhang Qiang from the Military Region. I want to see Anjing!" Zhang Qiang heard Anjing's shouting voice and immediately knocked on the door anxiously and furiously outside.

  The door was soon opened with a bang, and a tall black-clad man opened the door. The black-clad man looked at Zhang Qiang very calmly and bowed: "Colonel Zhang, are there any military orders?"

  "Presumptuous, I'm here in person, what other instructions do you need? What kind of thing is a military order, I'm Zhang Qiang with the rank of senior colonel in the country, isn't that enough to make you obey me!" There was a hint of slight anger in Zhang Qiang's eyes, most people from the military district had straightforward tempers, and Zhang Qiang was no exception.

  "Uncle Zhang Qiang, don't worry about me first, hurry and inform Grandpa to save Li Ling, he's innocent. If you come later, it'll be too late." Anjing shouted anxiously with a hint of crying from inside the room.

  Li Ling's heart warmed slightly, and to her surprise, there were tears welling up in her eyes. But Li Ling had an extraordinary ability to control her emotions, so she quickly suppressed the tears. Besides doing her best to protect An Jing, Li Ling couldn't think of any other way to take care of this lovely girl.

  "It's okay, Quiet, don't worry, I'm right here." Li Ling said loudly from outside to Quiet.

  "This is an order. See if it works." Li Ling took out a black, square-shaped military ID card that An Lan had given him before he left and showed it to the man in black.

  "The black military plate is the highest-level command plate. Yes, Military Executor." The man in black was slightly startled, seeing the military plate, and immediately lowered his head, and also changed his words to call Li Ling a Military Executor, which means that Li Ling's current status is almost the same as Li Jing's.

  Zhang Qiang looked at the black military ID, also slightly surprised, a faint smile on his lips, and said to Li Ling: "Unexpectedly, Commander, you have handed over the military executive position of the underground research institute to you. It seems that the commander has really let go and completely trusts you."

  Li Ling was also slightly startled, never expecting that this black iron military badge would have such great power, able to summon everyone in the underground research facility, including alien species.

  "You go back first, I have something to say to Anjing." Li Ling put away the black military card and said to the black-clad man with the S01 code anomaly.

  "Yes, sir." The man in black nodded respectfully and left the area with no expression.

  After the man in black left, Li Ling and Zhang Qiang entered this relatively large room, where the furniture was quite complete, with even a projected landscape of mountains and grasslands.

  She quietly watched Li Ling enter, and suddenly there were tears in her eyes, but since her hands and feet were all tied up, the tears could only fall on her collar, unable to be wiped away by hand.

  Li Ling also saw An Jing being tied up like this, and couldn't express her anger. An Jing was after all An Lan's granddaughter, yet she was treated so ruthlessly. However, thinking about it, those alien species had already lost the emotions that humans should have, they were just humanoid machines, only knowing how to execute commands.

  Zhang Qiang's eyes widened in shock as he saw An Jing tied up, his anger bursting forth in a loud roar. He rushed to her side and quickly untied the ropes, cursing loudly: "Damn it! That turtle son of a bitch Li Jing has gone too far! If Miss An Jing is hurt even a little, I'll kill him directly!"

  "Uncle Zhang, don't be angry, it's okay." Anjing knew that Zhang Qiang was a hot-tempered person and would do whatever he said with a 90% probability. Anjing only spoke some comforting words to prevent Zhang Qiang from causing trouble.

  "It's true what you said, it's just a small matter. And Li Jing was also thinking for Anjing's sake, he just didn't go about it the right way." Li Ling understood Anjing's thoughts, so he went along with them and spoke accordingly.

  Zhang Qiang suddenly loosened the rope that bound him, and shouted: "Hey, you're all helping this turtle grandson get away with it. Grandma's, if this guy dares to treat Miss Anjing like this again next time, Miss, just tell me, I'll shoot him dead."

  "There won't be a next time." Li Lingping smiled slightly, because for Li Ling, quiet was important, so Li Ling wouldn't let anyone bully Quiet, just like how Quiet worked hard to protect herself.