The world is like a prison, my body is holy

After the four main halls of the Logistics Department were officially inaugurated, Wang Wen immediately issued the first team mission for the Demon-Slaying General's Mansion: to subdue Toad Ridge (Simplified Chinese font, size 2, centered, not bold).
Mission: Fifty miles northeast of Chaohu Lake lies a mountain range, its highest peak resembling a toad gazing at the moon. A willow tree demon dwells atop it, openly defying the orders of the Huainan Demon-Slaying General's Mansion. Gathering hundreds of demons, it has seized the mountain as its king, wreaking havoc on humanity with burning, killing, looting, and all manner of evil deeds. This has angered the powerful and handsome Huainan Demon-Slaying General, Wang Wen. In a fit of rage, Wang Wen led eight hundred soldiers to breach the Toad Ridge and severely wound the willow tree demon. However, the demon, possessing the strength of a Xuan Ranking (a powerful martial arts master), escaped. Now, the overwhelmed Wang Wen urgently needs your assistance. In the clear and bright world of Huainan…

Description: You need to assemble forty valiant teams of Bronze rank or higher to travel to Toad Ridge and retrieve the willow tree spirit's core within a month to restore Wang Wen's dignity. Enraged, Wang Wen left behind a force of Taoist soldiers to seal off the mountain and water supply at Toad Ridge. They seem capable of offering some assistance, but without sufficient benefits, don't expect them to help you much...

Reward: Ten magic-grade weapons.

Two bottles of second-stage Golden Elixir. (Total of twenty pills)
Experience points: 50,000.

Wang Wen's favorability +1.

The team's task list was posted at the top of the bulletin board in the Earth Net Hall in the form of a blacklist.

The announcement immediately shook the entire Demon Suppression General's Mansion. The two thousand Demon Suppression Guards who came to participate in the plaque-hanging ceremony of the Four Great Halls rushed to the notice board to read it.

Just as everyone was wondering what the strength of the Earth Ranking was, another staff member of the Earth Net Palace, holding a red paper, parted the crowd, walked to the notice board, and pasted the red paper at the highest point of the notice board, level with the "Slay Toad Ridge" mission notice.

Upon closer inspection, the many demon-suppressing guards saw five large characters written in gold powder on the red paper: "Heaven and Earth Xuanhuang List".

'Oh, so this is the power of someone on the Earth Ranking!'

'What? Xie Zhixuan, the top expert of the Southern Camp and commander of the camp, is only ranked on the yellow list?'

Some people are still laughing and joking.

Some people have already sent their trusted subordinates to contact the squad leaders...

……

"Big brother, I understand the logic..."

Inside the main hall of the government office, Xu Wu handed Wang Wen a cup of tea at just the right temperature: "But the problem is, right now, the entire camp can't find forty bronze-level squads, can it?"

Wang Wen casually took the teacup, took a sip without even looking at it, then turned it over to his side and laughed, "That's not a problem I should be solving."

Xu Wu looked horrified: "Then who should solve this problem?"

Wang Wen casually said, "Whoever wants to step forward should solve the problem."

Xu Wu was stunned for a few seconds, then a sudden thought flashed through his mind, and he exclaimed, "This...wouldn't they fight tooth and nail?"

"Go ahead and fight if you want!"

Wang Wen replied casually, "They're not ignorant children. The military regulations are there for all to see. If they break any regulations, they'll be punished accordingly. As long as they're mentally prepared to be punished, they can simply pretend the regulations don't exist."

Xu Wu scratched his forehead and asked in a low voice with some concern, "Big brother, have you completely let the sheep roam free?"

Wang Wen glanced at him, pondered for a moment, and then answered truthfully: "Actually, no, everything is still under my control. I just gave them some space to do their own thing... As the saying goes, 'Jade must be carved to become a vessel.' If we have to arrange everything for them, even chew their food and feed it to them, when will they ever be able to stand on their own?"

He believed that among all methods of cultivating talent, role-playing game systems must be among the best.

The reason why players in role-playing games can grow from noobs who are avoided by wild boars to invincible overlords and world kings in a very short time is due to the game system, in addition to the bug of infinite resurrection.

As soon as new players enter the game, the system will guide them step by step from killing wild boars to fighting their way up to the Demon Lord, from learning basic swordsmanship to mastering the Heaven-Opening Slash, and from the worst gray cloth armor and wooden sword to upgrading to top-tier purple armor and orange weapons...

This is a gradual process of understanding the game mechanics and the game's world view.

It is also a virtuous cycle of timely feedback that keeps players constantly motivated to level up.

Wang Wen isn't wealthy enough to casually create a dozen system panels and send them to everyone he meets.

However, he can mimic the mechanics of a game system, giving all the Demon Suppression Guards a gradual growth process, thus putting them on the fast track to becoming stronger.

Currently, with his three-in-one organizational structure, he can still support the consumption of these two thousand Demon Suppression Guards.

Once these two thousand Demon-Suppressing Guards have grown up, they will in turn strengthen the power of his three-in-one organizational structure.

It should be noted that both the Huangshan Temple and the Huainan City God Temple are based on the Huainan Demon-Slaying General's Mansion.

As the Huainan Demon-Slaying General's Mansion grows and prospers, the Huangshan Temple and the Huainan City God Temple will also rise in value.

If the Huainan Demon-Slaying General's Mansion falls, even if he holds both the positions of God of Huangshan and City God of Huainan, he will still be nothing more than a large-scale Earth-Binding Spirit.

He has devoted so much time and effort to this, yet among the two thousand Demon-Suppressing Guards, he still can't find a single leader who can initiate a team fight and dares to do so...

Then he really needs to seriously consider whether these soldiers are worth his continued investment of effort in cultivating them!

Xu Wu was unaware of what Wang Wen was thinking, but since Wang Wen said that everything was still under his control, he didn't say anything more.

Although Xu Wu is now a fifth-rank military officer, in his heart he still sees himself as Wang Wen's blank fan.

It has never changed...

……

"No more nonsense!"

In the center of the spacious tent, a thick hand wearing a leather wristband slammed onto the sturdy, long, old elm wood dining table, causing the teacups on the table to jump and spill water everywhere: "This team mission, I, Qi Lao Er, will take care of it all. You brothers can name your price, I, Qi Lao Er, will not budge!"

A rough, hearty voice boomed out, carrying an air of absolute certainty. But no sooner had he finished speaking than someone inside the tent spoke up in a sarcastic tone: "Hey, Young Master Qi, such a big piece of meat, you're not thinking of buying it with money, are you? Open your dog eyes and look around, none of the brothers here need your two taels of silver!"

The speaker was a wiry, aloof young man who, unlike the others in the tent, did not wear chainmail but instead wore a hard leather armor with iron plates embedded in his vital areas. He was toying with a black, non-reflective dagger in his right hand, which nimbly flipped between his fingers, its gleaming silver light like shimmering waves.

"Chen Chicken, do you want to fight? Come on!"

"Come on then, do you really think I'm afraid of you? Back when I was competing with the General for the top courtesan at the Lichun Brothel, you were still a nouveau riche in the countryside!"

"It's too much to bully others..."

Just as the two men, necks stiff and shouting at each other like two fighting roosters, strode closer, someone slammed the table.

Everyone inside the tent looked at the person banging on the table.

The one banging on the table was a sturdy young man with an unremarkable appearance and half of his hair already gray. He looked at the two men who were colliding like fighting cocks and chuckled softly, "Hey you two, with such a big mission, you're not planning to fight over who's the captain, are you?"

The two fighting cocks shouted in unison, "None of your business!"

The young man with the gray hair nodded calmly and said, "Of course it concerns me. Not just me, but also all the brothers here. Don't we have anything better to do? In the words of the general, we're just bored and here to watch you two wrestle."

Upon hearing this, the two cockfighting duo glanced around at the eight people sitting at the long table, all wearing silver medals; then they scanned the twenty-odd people standing around the table, all wearing brass medals…

"Humph!"

The two fighting cocks snorted in unison, dissatisfied, and returned to their respective seats, one facing left and the other facing right.

Seeing this, the young man with gray hair continued, "This team mission is demanding and time-sensitive. We don't have time to waste here. We need to come up with a plan as soon as possible on how to complete this mission."

"Isn't this simple?"

The roughneck nicknamed Young Master Qi eagerly chimed in, "I'll take care of the whole mission! Brothers, just say what you want—money, land, women—I, Qi Lao Er, will have no objections!"

Upon hearing this, the wiry young man nicknamed Chen Chicken did not hesitate to mock him: "You're really playing the fool, aren't you? Money? How much are ten magic-grade weapons worth? Land? How much land are two bottles of second-stage Golden Elixir worth? Women? How many women are worth in favor of the Great General? Qi Lao Er, it's not that I, Chen Fang, look down on you, but with your few copper coins, you might indeed be considered rich in Zhenjiang, but this is Yangzhou, okay?"

"you……"

Enraged, Young Master Qi slammed his hand on the table and stood up abruptly. Holding a carrot-shaped hand, he pointed at Chen Jizai's nose, but couldn't utter a single coherent word.

Chen Jizai met his gaze with a cold smile, showing no fear whatsoever.

Seeing that Young Master Qi's face was turning red at a visible speed, and the two were about to repeat the farce from before, the young man with white hair kindly interjected, "Although Captain Chen's words were unpleasant to hear, that's exactly what he meant."

"It's one thing for you to spend money on other things, Young Master Qi, but if you spend money on this mission as well, it's not just looking down on the brothers here, it's looking down on the General!"

Young Master Qi sat back down in his chair, his face flushed, and sneered, "Stop trying to intimidate us with the General's name. You, surnamed Liang, may you be smart, but we're not stupid either. Since the General hasn't said much about forming a team, it means that anything within the military regulations is permissible. Even if I, Qi Lao Er, were to pay for it with real money, the General wouldn't have the slightest objection even if we decided who would lead the team by playing rock-paper-scissors!"

Inside the tent, the thirty-odd people were chatting amongst themselves. Some were looking at the tent top, some were drinking tea, and some were whispering among themselves…

How could anyone who could walk into this tent from among more than two thousand Demon-Suppressing Guards be a fool!
“The reasoning behind what you said, Captain Qi, is indeed correct.”

The white-haired youth maintained his calm and indifferent expression: "However, everyone, don't forget what the General said when he told us that we didn't need to participate in the army-wide martial arts competition!"

He clasped his hands in a gesture of respect towards the General's Mansion: "He said that we are all captains, team leaders. Our battlefield is not in the crucible of flesh and blood, but in whether we have a thorough understanding of the enemy and our brothers, whether we can lead our brothers to execute missions perfectly, and whether we can bring back the brothers we have led out unharmed..."

"This is the General's expectation of us!"

"This is also the General's military order to us!"

"We carry such heavy expectations from the General, yet we decide who will lead the first team mission with money, fists, or even rock-paper-scissors... If this gets to the General's ears, how will he view us? How will we ever have the face to visit him again?"

The people inside the tent spoke softly, all seemingly lost in thought.

After a long while, someone finally spoke up: "You've said all the right and wrong things, so why don't you come up with a plan? Anyone can flatter! When I was working for the big teapot, you were still feeding horses for that rich bastard!"

Everyone inside the tent turned their gaze to the speaker: 'You're quite proud of being the big teapot?'

The speaker scoffed dismissively: "A hero doesn't ask where he came from, and a hero's origins are not important. In Yangzhou, who mentions me, Han Jiu, without saying that I'm the one from the teapot?"

He gave a thumbs-up and tapped the silver medal on his chest.

Everyone lowered their eyelids.

The captains of the top ten Silver Squads all have family backgrounds that give them an advantage.

Among the Silver Captains who truly rose from the bottom, only Liang Ma Fu and Han Da Cha Hu are two unique individuals!
Han Da Cha Hu, whose real name is just "Nine," is incredibly deep and meticulous. Most of the monsters and demons who died at the hands of his team didn't even know how they died. Even his team members who carried out the missions were confused and didn't know how they completed their tasks.

Liang Mafu, whose given name is simply "Tuo," is a ruthless man whose brain is as hard as his fists... It is worth mentioning that this guy was the only soldier who fought his way to the battalion commander position during basic training, and he is also the only senior officer to date who voluntarily resigned from his battalion commander position to participate in the selection for the grand competition.

"My method is very simple."

Faced with Han Jiu's provocation, Liang Tuo spoke without flinching: "I just counted, and we are still nine bronze squads short of borrowing the mission. Within three days, everyone present will use their abilities to promote nine bronze squads. Based on the number of missions completed and the completion rate, the top five will be selected. The first place winner will be the team leader for this mission, and the rest will be ranked into columns, each leading ten squads!"

Upon hearing this, everyone's faces showed a thoughtful expression.

A short while later, Han Jiu spoke first: "I have no objection!" (End of this chapter)