Chapter 624 – Pink Skull
Translated by: Berrrybunz
Edited by: TN and DeAndreR
“Trash!”
“Rubbish!”
“Unorganized soldiers!”
“Trash mob!”
In the past few days, to the Swift Army, it was nightmare after nightmare. There were tests in the day and night, and all sorts of weird content, causing the Swift Army to be completely battered and exhausted. Curses of rage were constantly spilled, all sorts of mock and ridicule tortured their mental state, but no one in the Swift Army backed down.
In their hearts, a flame was burning.
Xie Yu An had personally built up his army, and he had deeply influenced all of them. From any angle, the Swift Army’s qualities were no different from Xie Yu An. They were compliant, disciplined and strict, they were honest and no nonsense people. But Xie Yu An’s arrogance had also become a part of the army.
They could not accept it, none of them could, since when did they lose to anyone in terms of training?
For days and nights, they continued to be tested.
They held back their emotions with their black faces, completely ignoring all the spectators. Their thoughts were simple, if they could not pass the test, it was fine, but they could not reveal their cowardice, they could not retreat, and could not let that pervert have his way.
They hated Tang Chou to the core.
Other than Xie Yu An.
Looking at Tang Chou, Xie Yu An had had a heartfelt reveration towards him. This revere did not stem from Tang Chou having the power to decide his life, but was from the strength displayed by him.
Each phase of tests were constructed through meticulous planning, revealing all of the Swift Army’s shortcomings and weaknesses through the strict test, causing Xie Yu An to be completely convinced.
Nine tests, not only did the Swift Army fail to achieve the standard for elites in any of them, they even only managed to pass four, the worst results the Swift Army had ever received. If they were not chosen, Xie Yu An did not harbor any grievances, he himself was an outstanding individual, and in the past few days, he had gradually realized that the perverse tests all had more profound intentions than meets the eye.
~If there is any army that can complete all these tests…..~
~How terrifying would that army be!~
Xie Yu An had already decided, even if they were not hired this time, he would use the tests as their norm for training. He was slightly out of his senses, but he was pulled back by Tang Chou’s voice, who was at the moment reporting back to Tang Tian.
“The results from the tests are terrible.” Tang Chou said coldly: “This army is definitely not worthy to be called an elite army, I believe there is a large discrepancy to what is written on the report on them.”
Although he had already anticipated such an outcome, Xie Yu An still had a bitter feeling in his heart. Standing by the side, Bai Yue had his mouth opened, he wanted to speak up, that the perverse tests were not something that even his army could complete. But when the words were at his mouth, he could not say anything.
Bai Yue’s eyes were red, Tang Chou’s performance had shook him, ~Tang Chou was definitely a famed general grade.~ Initially, he thought that although Meng Nan was rich, but he was just an ordinary nouveau riche, and his family should not have much background. To be able to recruit Xie Yu An and his army would be considered benefiting him.
But now, he realized that Meng Nan’s family was so powerful, far more than what he had anticipated.
~Such a strong famed general, and he is actually only the third in command, that meant that there are two more famed general grades in front of him…..~
Bai Yue’s skin went numb, ~This Family of his, how strong are they, truly?~
What could he say? He could not say anything. To a wanderer that was close to starvation and death, a hot steamed bun would be the most delicious food under the heavens, but to those rich and powerful people who ate exotic delicacies daily, what was a steamed bun?
“But, they have the space to grow, with more grinding, they can be exploited and be of some use.”
Tang Chou’s words caused Xie Yu An’s dim eyes to suddenly light up, but he laughed bitterly, ~Since when did my army fall to the ‘exploited and be of some use’ place?~ But he did not refute those words, he did not reject them, but actually felt a dim joy in his heart……
Tang Chou remained expressionless, but Xie Yu An’s emotions were completely captured by him. Out of the tests, many of them were purposely placed, since they were armies for hire, he had decided to get rid of the arrogance in their hearts for his Master. He chose to do it in the most honest way, he wanted them to be dumbfounded and completely convinced.
~It seems that what I did was effective.~
In truth, Tang Chou had a good assessment of Xie Yu An in his heart, to him, Xie Yu An had a good character, he had high perception, was tough and a careful man. His only flaw was that his foresight was limited, but thinking about his lengthened stay in a desolate area, he did not have direct contact and experience with high intensity wars.
~But they have the qualifications to escort Master’s convoy.~
“You guys are hired.” Tang Tian said straightforwardly, he had complete trust in Tang Chou, he himself was rather satisfied by the Swift Army’s performance and tenacity in the past few days, and laughed: “It had been hard on all of you for the past few days. For your equipments, you guys can make a list, I will get the Xu Ji Worldwide Commerce to prep you guys.”
Xie Yu An heaved a sigh of relief: “Yes!”
“Then let us test the other army.” Tang Tian said indifferently.
Standing by the side, Xu Jin’s face turned pale, he laughed awkwardly: “About that, Xiao Meng ah, this army is different from Swift Army. But Old Xu I promise that they are elites and are definitely not an average army, they are the Pink Skull Army.”
“They sound like pirates.” Tang Chou said coldly.
“They are an army for hire.” Xu Jin immediately corrected, if he made Tang Tian think that he found pirates for him, then with his explosive temper, Xu Jin would not have it well either. Xu Jin was still relying on Tang Tian to earn big bucks, how could he dare to offend im? Of course, he also did not dare to offend Tang Chou, he had personally witnessed how crazy the pervert could become, so he knew that Tang Chou was not one to be provoked as well.
“They are a real army for hire who comes from the Bullou Continent. The armies for hire in the Bullou Continent are rather famous, and the Pink Skull is an army for hire with a history, created 200 years ago. They have expanded and developed till today, and this is the third generation. Aya is the current in charge of the Pink Skulls, and in the past few years, regardless of their public reputation, they have completed countless of missions and tasks, and is rather outstanding.”
Xu Jin wanted to prove his words so badly: “I will definitely not dare to cause trouble for Master, if Master doesn’t believe me, you can ask Master Xie and Brother Bai.”
Seeing that Tang Tian was looking at him, Xie Yu An spoke cautiously: “If you are talking about the Pink Skull, they truly have quite a reputation.”
“I have heard of the name Pink Skull too.” Bai Yue scratched his chin, but his tone changed: “But it was just a passing of the ear, we still have to witness their strength to truly know them.”
If looks could kill, Xu Jin would had pierced Bai Yue’s body a thousand times.
Bai Yue remained calm, ~What a joke, Xie Yu An was already tortured to the point of death, if the Pink Skull doesn’t get a bit of dirt on them, that will not be fair.~
Tang Tian agreed: “Tang Chou, test them.”
Woosh, the faces of the soldiers in Pink Skull Army all changed.
Xu Jin’s face was bitter: “They are an army for hire, their expertise are different from Swift Army.”
Bai Yue did not miss this chance to push Xu Jin to the light, and started praising Xu Jin: “Old Xu, what you said is right, armies for hire are indeed completely different from regular armies. They are more proficient in small scale infiltration, protecting important people, and eliminating key installations.”
He sneered in his heart, ~You think that just by giving that reason, the pervert will not test them? Old Xu, you are too naive!~
~You will quickly know what a true pervert he is!~
“Army for hire?” Tang Chou remained expressionless, but deep in his eyes, a light started to glow. People who were familiar with him would know that Master Tang Chou had definitely found something he was interested in.
That’s right, Tang Chou had found something he was interested in. Army for hires were something he had never interacted with before, he was a product of the Southern Cross Army, and he followed the Southern Cross Army system very tightly.
Armies for hire were extremely foreign to Tang Chou.
“Since they are an army for hire, then I will not test them on this.”
Tang Chou’s words caused the entire Pink Skull to rejoice. ~YES! We don’t have to try out that painful tests!~
Even Aya who portrayed herself as the most calm, her fingers were holding onto her sword hilt extremely tightly, finally relaxed her fingers.
“Please show me your drills that you are most proficient in.” Tang Chou said.
Everyone in Pink Skull could not help but smile, ~What the hell, this pervert is actually saying some good words! Maybe that man with last name Xie had offended him somehow, that’s why the pervert man actually used such perverse methods to torture them.~
Aya started to smile, drills was what they could do the best. As an army for hire, employers would usually request to watch their drills. To display the power of an army, they would always portray drills that they were extremely familiar with to move the employers.
“Alright!”
Aya spoke out loud and clear, and then led the troops into the field.
The large scale drill performance quickly started, the dazzling small scale coordinations displayed their extreme professionalism in ambushes, the seemingly relaxed formations reeking of killing intent and multiple killing opportunities, the seemingly disorganized soldiers seemed to have transformed into different people, portraying their skills and finesse.
The entire drills were filled with countless of vigor and beautiful displays of movements.
Seeing Tang Chou nodding once in awhile, seemingly showing a satisfied expression, Aya was ecstatic. The contents of their drills were arranged through meticulous planning and thought process, and people who watched would definitely be stunned.
Who knew that there would be a day that it would be useful.
To attain the best results, Aya and the rest put in their all, many killing techniques that they would not normally display were all shown to them.
Even Bai Yue and Xie Yu An were nodding their heads as they watched, they were people with the apt knowledge to obtain approval from. To be able to passed down for 200 years, the Pink Skull was definitely able to portray a few moves. In terms of a head on clash battle, the Pink Skull was definitely not able to compare to Swift Army, but in terms of street fights, pursuit and chase, traps and disruptions, Pink Skull could definitely use all these to win over Swift Army.
But, the two of them came from academies that taught traditional warfare, watching the army for hire, they naturally objected to their methods.
But Tang Chou was not biased, he watched with enjoyment, head on clashing in the battlefield could truly be devastating, but if he was able to use and have these meticulous small scale attacks, their power would definitely increase.
~Oh, this can be a new way of research, it can greatly improve the current system that we have.~
~And, there can even be experiments….~
The look that Tang Chou was looking at Pink Skull, was like a hungry wolf staring at a hot steamed bun, his eyes revealing a strange moss green light.