The younger sister mistakenly identified her brother when visiting relatives and was kissed by the c

Meanwhile, at the military base dozens of kilometers away from Bai's small restaurant.

The afternoon sun was a bit dazzling. A military green Liberation truck screeched to a halt in front of the regimental headquarters, kicking up a cloud of dust.

The car door opened, and Zhou Liguang jumped out of the passenger seat.

He carried out a patrol and reconnaissance mission on the southwestern border for nearly twenty days and finally returned to his unit this afternoon.

Zhou Liguang's training uniform was so faded that its original color was barely visible, covered in the distinctive red soil of the border region. He looked travel-worn, with a ring of dark stubble on his chin. It was clear he had just gotten off the bus and hadn't even had time to go back to his dormitory.

He stood at the entrance of the regimental department, not in a hurry to go in and hand in the report. Instead, he stood there for a while, stretching his sore shoulders and back, his joints making a soft "crackling" sound.

These past twenty days have been anything but easy for him.

But no matter how arduous or tiring the mission was, on those cold, late nights at the border, lying on his makeshift cot, a figure would always involuntarily appear in his mind.

That was Qiao Xinxin standing at the window of the bathhouse management office, smiling sweetly at him. Her soft, sweet voice was like a clear spring, capable of extinguishing all the weariness and anxiety in his heart.

"When I get back, I'll ask her out for a walk."

Zhou Liguang has not forgotten the promise he made to her before leaving for the past twenty days. Instead, it has taken root in his heart like a seed.

He patted the mud off his trousers, took a deep breath, and strode into the regimental headquarters building.

He was about to go to the second floor to hand in his mission report when he almost bumped into a figure hurrying down the stairs as he reached the corner of the stairs.

"Old Zhou?!"

The other person stopped just in time and exclaimed in surprise.

Zhou Liguang looked closely and saw that it was Bai Zhengyuan.

Bai Zhengyuan looked at Zhou Liguang's miserable state, which resembled a mud monkey, and showed a hint of surprise on his face. Then he laughed and punched him on the shoulder:

"Hey, you're finally back! How's the mission over there? Everything going smoothly?"

Zhou Liguang smiled slightly and nodded: "It went smoothly, but the terrain over there was too complicated, so it took a bit longer. How have you been lately? Busy?"

"Being busy is alright, it's just leading the team in routine training every day, nothing special. You should go wash up, look at all that mud on you."

Zhou Liguang responded and continued walking upstairs to his office with the documents in his hand.

The mission report wasn't very long; he had already drafted it on the return trip in the military truck due to the severe bumps. Now he just needed to transcribe it clearly and fill in a few key border coordinates and data.

"Shuashuashua——"

The pen tip flew across the paper, and when he wrote the last word, Zhou Liguang put down the pen and let out a long breath.

He rubbed his temples wearily.

Right now, all he wants to do is rush into the bathhouse, wash off the red mud from his body with hot water, change into a clean and crisp military uniform, and then... go find Qiao Xinxin.

Whether she goes to work or not, he wants to see her. Even if it's just standing at the window talking to her and hearing her call him "Brother Zhou" in her soft, sweet voice, he feels it would be worth it.

Zhou Liguang stood up, carefully put the report into a manila envelope, and was about to leave to hand it in to the mailroom.

Sudden--

"Ding-ling-ling-ling-ling—!!"

The red telephone on the desk suddenly rang sharply without warning, sounding particularly jarring in the quiet office.

Zhou Liguang suddenly stopped in his tracks.

He stared at the constantly vibrating phone, his brow furrowing slightly, a strange sense of unease rising within him.

He walked over, reached out and answered the phone: "This is Zhou Liguang."

On the other end of the phone, a hurried and serious voice came from the duty officer at the regimental headquarters:

"Battalion Commander Zhou, please assemble in the regimental headquarters meeting room immediately! There's an urgent mission! I repeat, please assemble in the regimental headquarters meeting room immediately!"

"Beep beep beep..."

The call was disconnected.

Zhou Liguang held the microphone, a deep sense of helplessness and a bitter smile on his face.

He had just submitted his mission report and hadn't even had a sip of hot water or changed his dirty clothes. How did this urgent mission come about again?

But military orders are absolute, and without the slightest delay, he put the file folder on the table, turned around, and strode out of the office.

The regimental headquarters meeting room is located at the far end of the third floor.

When Zhou Liguang reached the door, he found that the heavy wooden door was ajar, and he could faintly hear low voices coming from inside.

He raised his hand and knocked on the door, then pushed it open and went inside.

He paused for a moment as soon as he entered the room.

In the spacious conference room, Lu Baizhou sat by the window. He was dressed in a crisp military uniform, his collar buttoned up perfectly, his handsome face as cold as ice, staring intently at the map on the table.

Bai Zhengyuan sat on the other side, his expression equally serious.

Zhou Liguang's heart skipped a beat, and his face darkened.

Lu Baizhou, Bai Zhengyuan, Zhou Liguang.

These three men were recognized as the three greatest soldiers in the entire division, and were also the sharpest blades in their respective regiments.

The ability to gather all three of them in a single meeting room is extremely rare within the entire military structure. The last time all three of them were deployed together was over a year ago during an extremely dangerous border standoff.

It seems something serious has happened.

The brigade commander sat in the main seat, his face so gloomy it was almost dripping with water. In front of him was a stack of documents stamped with a red "top secret" seal, and beside him stood a middle-aged staff officer whom Zhou Liguang had never seen before.

Seeing Zhou Liguang enter, the brigade commander pointed to the empty chair beside him and said in a deep voice:

"sit."

Zhou Liguang saluted and pulled out a chair to sit down.

"Click".

The staff officer behind me closed the conference room door tightly and locked it. The air in the entire conference room instantly became so quiet that you could hear a pin drop, and the oppressive atmosphere made it hard to breathe.

The brigade commander didn't waste any words and went straight to the point:

"Everyone's here. Let's get straight to the point. We've just received an urgent mission from higher up, and the three of you need to lead a team together. The mission location is in a primitive mountainous area on the southwestern border, about two hundred kilometers from the area that Comrade Zhou Liguang just surveyed."

As he spoke, the brigade commander spread out an extremely detailed military topographic map on the table and, with a red pencil in his hand, drew a circle around a deep, rugged mountain area:

"According to the latest intelligence from our undercover agents, a group of foreign armed militants has been entrenched in this mountainous area for a long time. Their size is much larger than we previously expected, with a conservative estimate of more than fifty people, and they are well-equipped with a large number of American-made weapons."