This time I chose Paladin.

Chapter 185 "Let's go, let's clear the way."

At the end of March, the scorching sun, with temperatures approaching summer, poured down, enveloping the rolling mountains and winding rivers in a shimmering mist.

An army of 30,000 men is moving silently across this vast and treacherous landscape, following the thin but definite ink line on the hand-drawn map.

Viewed from above, the team resembled a giant python weaving through the folds of the earth.

The wheels moved slowly, the pace was unwavering, and the weapons and equipment of the people reflected the blazing sunlight, forming a broken, shimmering river of stars, which contrasted sharply with the dark gray rocks beneath their feet and the verdant valley in the distance.

In this river made of flesh and steel, every individual is melted into the collective torrent.

Sweat, barely seeping from their foreheads, was instantly evaporated by the scorching air, leaving only streaks of white salt. The heavy footsteps converged into a continuous, muffled roar, drowning out the cicadas' chirping and the howling wind in the mountains—it was the rhythm of thirty thousand footsteps crushing gravel and grinding through the soil, the only main melody in this silent landscape.

Climbing a mountain alone is one thing, climbing a mountain with a group of people is another.

What about an army crossing the mountains?

As 30,000 people passed through the steep pass one after another, their figures were cut and reassembled by the jagged rocks. What was a slight bend on the map was, for them, half a day of arduous climbing.

They traversed the turbulent river, where the elegant blue curve on the map transformed into countless splashes of murky water, carnivorous fish within the spray, and venomous snakes lurking in the depths. If thirsty, they had to heat the water for an extended period to prevent the presence of any parasites.

The head of the team has already descended the mountain, while the tail hasn't even started climbing yet—this is the norm. The complex terrain, weather, and food supplies along the way are all challenges.

Nie Weiyang doesn't need to worry about this, since he's not in charge of the team. But He Kang is different; he really is in charge of the team…

On the first day, He Kang was worried about the uneven quality of the staff.

The next day, He Kang was worried about the relationships between people in the team.

On the third day, He Kang found Nie Weiyang and complained, "There are 30,000 people, from all walks of life. Although those who can enter this team are all physically fit, their stride length and running speed are different. The longer they walk, the more problems will be exposed."

Nie Weiyang nodded. Yes, this is one of the problems we need to face in the early stages.

After all, the newly formed troops include both existing soldiers and newly selected combat professionals, and both are divided into various professions. The specific professions under each major category are also different. Those who work in common professions are fine, but some niche professions simply cannot be integrated into the combat sequence.

This matter... if we don't divide the units, we can only solve it through training and fighting.

But there isn't that much time now.

“If you’re willing, divide them up,” he said. “Give me the fastest ones, and I’ll lead the way. The overall speed of the column depends on the slowest ones; their speed is being wasted.”

He Kang paused for a moment, then suddenly smiled: "Do you know what happens when you take responsibility for yourself?"

"It will bring about not good consequences," Nie Weiyang said.

On Earth, the concept of taking responsibility, whether applied to schools, workplaces, or society as a whole, will never lead to a good outcome.

“But this is a new world,” Nie Weiyang said calmly. “On our way to the battlefield, we should all abandon that sense of power and responsibility as soon as possible.”

“Assigning responsibilities is necessary.” “I’m not saying it’s unnecessary. It’s just that I don’t mind doing what I can for you.” Nie Weiyang said softly, “When something is good for everyone, I rarely think about its impact on me personally. Of course, this only applies to myself—by the way, in a few years, less than one-tenth of this team will be alive, do you believe it?”

He Kang's smile vanished. He stared intently into Nie Weiyang's eyes, and even though he couldn't help but look away after two seconds, his anger and dissatisfaction were still clearly conveyed.

“Don’t be nervous,” Nie Weiyang said. “We will all die, sooner or later. The important thing is that we die a worthy death.”

No one else heard this conversation, and He Kang did not agree on the spot. Only the next day, he once again walked through the orderly advancing ranks and found Nie Weiyang.

“I agree to the division of responsibilities,” He Kang said bluntly. “This is too slow. My son is seventeen this year, and his birthday is in April. I still have to go and celebrate with him.”

Well, the real reason is naturally not like that. Nie Weiyang heard a lot of information from his mind: task, responsibility, efficiency... and so on.

This was a decision made after weighing the pros and cons. He Kang did not rashly listen to anyone's advice, but thought about it carefully before saying these words.

"Happy birthday to him," Nie Weiyang said with a smile.

Most of the people assigned to him were high-speed combat professionals, and a few were high-speed individuals who also possessed stealth abilities.

Given this arrangement, Han Jiangxue and Yi Jian were both left in the team. Since both of them also carried Phantom Spirits, as long as the spirits were alive and well, the three of them could send messages to each other.

As for Xu Fu, she remained in the old city—her abilities were too important. Even with the delay in information transmission, her methods were still among the best available for communication. She was collaborating with some scholars in the old city to study the mental power techniques of pre-civilized humans, as well as the Primitive Language: studying the Primitive Language was a necessary prerequisite for studying the culture and technology of pre-civilized civilizations.

If the problem of reading comprehension can be solved, humans will be able to understand the written records of pre-civilizations independently, without relying on system translation, bypassing the problem that systems may omit a lot of information or even refuse to translate certain articles.

Indeed, some scholars have been working on it, but they usually keep to themselves and rarely appear in public outside of their research work.

Nie Weiyang was quite looking forward to them coming up with something new soon, since the identification skills clearly came from previous civilizations, which was a manifestation of their mental interaction abilities.

At this moment, the air was filled with a heavy smell—the smell of dust after being exposed to the scorching sun, the smell of sap from trampled wild grass, the scorching smell of metal, and the unmistakable body odor produced by 30,000 people gathered together.

Occasionally, an officer's command would ring out like a bell in the dull air, and the entire "python" would adjust slightly in response to a certain part, continuing to stubbornly climb towards the unknown future along the invisible guide on the map.

Nie Weiyang led two hundred men away from the main force.

Instead of riding the lucky charm, he walked forward while looking at the map in his hand.

A map is a cool and abstract thing; it doesn't mark every rolling pebble or record every drop of sweat that hits the loess soil. This army, with the footsteps of 30,000 men, is measuring the long and scorching distance between the map and reality with utmost concreteness and heaviness.

Those who are fast enough need to go ahead, determine the correctness or error of the path, and face greater dangers. In ancient times, this was called scoutship; as for now…

Nie Weiyang glanced back. Behind him, men, women, young and old, all sorts of faces were facing him. It was not a pretty team, not orderly or strong, but they were fast, efficient, and brave.

He didn't know what to call such a team.

He simply said, "Let's go, let's clear the way."

(End of this chapter)