Ace of the Dragon Division - Chapter 233

Chapter 233: Award Ceremony

Two days later, at the Yanjing Military Martial Arts Venue, many buses arrived, and the soldiers were all present in their military region’s uniforms because this was the commendation event after the competition.

Every participating soldier came in formal military attire, and the muscular soldiers standing in rows gave off a very energetic feeling. Here, you wouldn’t see any young meat (TL note: slang for young boys with silky smooth skin). These were all tough men that had been through combat.

Xu Cheng also saw familiar faces, including Ye Qiu and the others. Although still injured, they all came to attend the event. Now, only those that couldn’t get out of bed were still resting at the hospital; those that could move all came.

Daoba Li looked a bit awkward when he saw Xu Cheng. He walked over and said to Xu Cheng, “About what happened in the past, I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine, I already beat you up. But if you don’t feel satisfied in the future, I can give you another beating.”

Daoba Li lifted his eyebrows and then laughed. “Don’t worry, next time we still won’t know who will be the one doing the beating.”

Then, both of them walked into the venue, and inside, the over 500 participating soldiers all walked to their seats which had been arranged by the military regions.

Xu Cheng saw Commander Xie, the Chief of Staff of the 5th MR, and Instructor Yan sitting in the first row. This year, the seating was quite interesting. Due to the unexpected ascension to first place, the seating area of the 5th Military Region was at the very front. The smile on Commander Xie, and the Chief of Staff’s faces just didn’t stop; it was just such a satisfying feeling to sit at the front with everyone looking at the back of their heads.

Once everyone had been seated, a couple of general commanders walked in, and everyone stood up to salute. Then, the national anthem began playing with the flag being raised in the stadium, and everyone remained standing and sang quietly.

Then, everyone sat down, and the general commanders went up to give a speech, motivating the soldiers.

“It would only be a country if there’s a home, and protecting the country is protecting our home, protecting the hundreds and thousands of homes. This year, you have all displayed excellent capabilities, and I hope that no matter where you are assigned to in the future, you can all be the backbone that protects the stability and safety of our country. The stronger you guys are, the stronger the people’s sense of identity and the more prosperous the nation will be. I hope that in the future, you will always live by the duty of a soldier. I’m proud of you all for constantly working hard to better yourselves.”

Thunderous applause sounded from the crowd.

The commander finished his simple speech as he gently looked at the crowd, and then he passed the podium to someone else to continue the following ceremony.

First, all the soldiers that participated in this competition would be promoted one rank. Those rookies that came to the competition this year usually didn’t have any ranking or merits, yet being able to be selected to participate in this competition was already enough to reward them. So, all the rookies were promoted to the second lieutenant rank, with a corresponding badge, uniform, and certificate. As for the veterans that were already promoted in the previous years, they wouldn’t get another one if they didn’t get into the top 200 and would only get a participatory honor certificate.

The rewards were handed to them by the commanders of their military region, and the rookies all couldn’t be more excited as they accepted with both hands. Some even had red and teary eyes, but they knew what occasion this was and quickly wiped their tears off before and stood up tall as they accepted the awards.

Then, it was time to give out the awards from the 100 to 200th place. The rookies would be promoted two ranks, and the veterans could get a promotion as well.

Xu Cheng and the others all applauded and congratulated the recipients.

After this segment was over, the host said in a serious tone, “Now, let us welcome the 51st to 100th ranked soldiers of this jungle competition to the stage.”

Below the stage sounded thunderous applause, and the soldiers that were named all came out to the aisle where they assembled and walked up to the stage in a well-ordered fashion.

The rookies would receive three promotions, so even a new recruit with no rank would be directly promoted to a junior ranking officer. The veterans were also all promoted to junior ranking officers despite how many promotions they had received in the previous years. In this batch, Wu Hao, Yan Wei, and Wang Ying all got promoted. Wang Ying was the only female soldier at the venue, and many soldiers were all looking at her. However, Wang Ying only glanced at Xu Cheng who was sitting at the front. Seeing that he wasn’t looking at her, she disappointingly lowered her head.

The higher-ups on stage would directly give them the reward instead of their own military region commanders. Other than the new set of uniforms, military badges, and certificates, each soldier was also given a garland, followed by a burst of applause.

Host: “Then now, let us welcome the soldiers ranking 11th to 50th place up onto the stage.”

After another wave of applause, the named soldiers all came up stage to accept their reward. The rewards were similar to those that were received by the 51st to 100th place, but they had an extra medal to commemorate their place in this competition.

After this segment, the host directly said, “Now, let us welcome the 10th place soldier that displayed exceptional solo combat skills. Please turn your attention to the big screen.”

On the big screen behind the stage, it showed a short clip of a guy with daggers fighting an enemy. His speed was incredibly fast, and many people immediately recognized him.

Tie Shi!

This year’s competition’s solo combat strength ranking – 10th!

Then, the screen began playing a collection of his performances from this year’s competition, and the audience gave a loud round of applause and cheered.

“Let us welcome Tie Shi on stage. He was able to take out 28 enemies in the competition, and his solo score reached the 10th place!”

Tie Shi marched up wearing a stern expression. He got a Guardian letter of appointment, a set of the lieutenant colonel uniform and a certificate, and a medal of his place for this competition.

Under the stage, everyone was really envious of that Guardian letter of appointment, as it was the employment letter every special force soldier wanted to have. Every year, there would only be 5 to 10 of these, and a letter of appointment would be the ultimate recognition of one’s performance. Even if the person retired from being the guardian-class soldier for important figures of the nation, he wouldn’t lack job opportunities from super wealthy people to hire as a bodyguard.

Tie Shi immediately saluted and accepted the rewards, and he didn’t forget to smile and shake hands with the general commander.

The hand shake took a bit long because Tie Shi wanted to cherish this honor as well, and the guardian soldier beside the general commander, who used to be Tie Shi’s senior of the same military region, glanced at Tie Shi and reminded, “Junior Brother, that should be enough.

Tie Shi couldn’t feel more awkward, and the general commander laughed out loud and patted him on the shoulder, dismissing him.

Ye Qiu and the others all began laughing under the stage too as they cussed. “This b@st-rd wants to take advantage of this opportunity to suck up to the higher ups, hahaha.”