You’ve Earned First-Class Merit, So Why Pretend to Be a New Recruit and Enlist Again?

“First-Class Merit sealed. Lieutenant’s rank suspended. After six years undercover, I’m back, starting over as a private.” He was a king of soldiers, yet he had to start all over again as a private. Six years ago, on his first day in the army at seventeen, Xiao Longteng shocked his entire company during the physical fitness test. That night, a classified transfer order pulled him out of the recruit company. No one knew where he had gone. Over six years, he completed a year of brutal special forces training and mastered everything from fast-roping out of helicopters to infiltrating foreign countries using multiple languages. He then infiltrated a foreign country as an exchange student, spending four years undercover. Single-handedly, he destroyed an armed training camp that threatened the nation’s border. His First-Class Merit, rank of lieutenant, and bachelor’s degree in international relations were all sealed. Six years later, at twenty-three, Xiao Longteng enlisted for a second time, put on the rank of private once again, and walked into the recruit company. His file contained just one line: “Discharged as a corporal, reenlisted.”