City of Vice (Second Section: Glorious Graduation)

  In the dimly lit office, near the window, a long table was placed, on which three documents were placed, next to which three black military caps were placed, darker than the navy's dark blue military cap color. Each cap had a golden band, symbolizing that the owner of the cap had a general identity.

  The room had no air conditioning, and the outside temperature of thirty degrees made the room like a steamer, with only the ceiling-mounted electric fan constantly rotating, so as not to make people feel too hot.

  On the table, there were three neatly arranged teacups, with a faint mist of hot air rising from the tea inside. Behind the table, on the three chairs, sat three military officers wearing black uniforms, their chests adorned with rows of colorful rectangular metal plates symbolizing their years of service and number of achievements. The style of these uniforms was similar to that of the US Army, but the color was a bit unusual - it was darker than the Navy's winter uniform. The metal insignia on their collars featured crossed swords and batons, indicating they were not from the Navy, which uses an anchor emblem, nor the Air Force, which features wings. Only the Military Police wore this type of insignia.

  Behind the desk sat three older generals of the constabulary, two of whom wore a small silver five-pointed star on their shoulders, symbolizing that they held the rank of lieutenant general. The old man in the middle had two stars on his shoulders. Yu Fei felt a little inferior facing the three generals.

  Yu Fei sat in the chair across from the long table, wearing a khaki green army uniform. The rifle pattern on his collar insignia indicated that he was an infantry officer. On his shoulder, there was only one small silver square, similar to the German Air Force lieutenant rank, but he belonged to the M country's land forces. His chest did not have rows of medals, only a symbol indicating completion of military training. He sat stiffly in the chair, looking straight at the three generals across from him, hoping that this meeting would bring him real opportunities.

  If he really passes this time, he can go to the weak Lion City of the Constabulary Department for service. It is a port city with well-developed tourism industry, dense high-rise buildings and a population of three million. It is the location of the government of the richest state in southern M country, where 90% of the population and wealth of southern M are concentrated, and even the capital of M cannot be compared with Lion City.

  Three garrison generals fell silent for tens of seconds, the lieutenant general in the middle looked at the files on the table, which included Yu Fei's resume. After reading the resume, he asked in a low voice: "You graduated from the Reserve Military Academy with excellent grades in Army Junior Command, and your performance was good during school, so you were promoted to second lieutenant before graduation."

  "Yes, sir." Yu Fei replied in a loud and clear voice.

  The brigadier general sitting on the left said: "There is a great loss of regular army school graduates, including those who have gone to West Point in the United States for further study. So, you reserve officer training corps graduates are not going to serve in the National Guard and Reserve, but instead become the main force of our country's land army officers together with the officers from the reserve officer training team. You are very lucky, the Ministry of Defense Personnel Bureau has approved your direct service in the regular army and recommended you to us. What do you think?"

  "Thank you for your trust." Yu Fei sat up straight and answered seriously.

  "Do you know what the Kempeitai is going to do?" asked the lieutenant general on the right.

  "Our country's garrison troops are similar to those of France, they have the power to enforce laws and can not only enforce laws on military personnel but also on civilians. The garrison troops are police wearing military uniforms and are the most powerful in the world. We bear the responsibility of cracking down on various crimes within the country and defending national security externally. If I were to become a commander of the garrison troops, I promise that the crime rate in my area would drop rapidly." Yu Fei knew that going to the garrison troops meant he had to learn many new things, especially constitutional law, criminal law, and public security law.

  "Of course, we have more rights than the French gendarmes. In France, there are no police below the county level, and it is the gendarmes who maintain law and order in those areas. Our gendarmes, on the other hand, are set up parallel to the police, and where they exist, we do too. We are an independent law enforcement force and also a part of the national defense forces. We have the right to enforce all laws of our country and have considerable law enforcement supervision powers. So, it is required that every gendarme commander be both a good soldier and a good law enforcer."

  The brigadier general asked again: "Do you think you can take charge of a gendarme platoon? The security situation in Lion City is very bad, the police there are extremely corrupt, and the judges are frustrated because they don't have enough evidence to play their role. That's the worst area for federal law enforcement in our country, and it's also an important border town on the front line of foreign military invasion. It's far away but very important."

  "Sir, I can handle it. I will perform just like I did in school, always be the first." Yu Fei finished speaking and waited for the generals' final questions. He felt that he was about to succeed because he had been in this room for almost half an hour, while the previous army officers who entered only stayed for a few minutes.

  "You are the most satisfactory military academy graduate I have ever met, congratulations to you, we welcome you to join the Military Police Corps." The Major General took out a letter of appointment, wrote down Yu Fei's name, and signed his own name at the signature place. Then he picked up a seal from the table, pressed it steadily on the paper, and then stood up with the paper in hand, solemnly announcing: "Appointment of Army Officer Yu Fei as Platoon Leader of the Lion City Military Police Corps."

  Yu Fei quickly stood up, listening to the order. After the announcement of his appointment was finished, he walked to the table in a standard posture and saluted General Konoe: "Thank you for your trust, sir."

  "It's the country's trust in you, your excellent performance at school, and when the President and Minister of Defense inspected your school, they were both impressed by you. So I, a gendarmerie officer about to retire, pay special attention to you. You are one of us, congratulations! Go get a new uniform and ID card." The Major General said, handing him the appointment letter with a military salute. Yu Fei politely thanked him and left the interview office. He went to the equipment department and the personnel department of the gendarmerie headquarters, took out the appointment letter, received two sets of gendarmerie uniforms, and began his career as a professional soldier.

  He put on his brand new military uniform, and the hanging heart of Yu Fei finally came down. He returned to the dormitory of the military academy, packed up his things and went through the formalities of leaving the M National Reserve Military Officer School. The campus was empty, with no classmates in sight. The graduates had already taken their appointment letters to go to various troops for internships, while those who hadn't graduated yet were on summer break at home. A group of lively guys had gone their separate ways, and he could go to a place that was bitter and tiring for an internship, much luckier than his classmates. All of this was the result of 700 days of hard training in the military academy.

  The Army Reserve Officers' School also awarded him a brand new M1911A9 pistol and 21 rounds of ammunition before his graduation, which was a reward for his outstanding performance in the army. It is rare to give graduates guns, and this pistol can accompany him through his long service career.

  The armory office of the Gendarmerie Headquarters knew he already had a sidearm, but still issued him an M9F combat pistol and 45 rounds of ammunition. He was the only gendarme officer to take up his post with two pistols. When packing his bags, Yu Fei also went to the bookstore on campus. As a gendarme responsible for maintaining national order, he knew that he needed to study the Constitution, the Law on Punishing Violations of the Constitution, the Federal Criminal Code, the Federal Code of Criminal Procedure, and the Federal Security Law seriously. Additionally, he had to understand other aspects of the law, because as a gendarme, he could also supervise other law enforcement agencies in enforcing the law. If he didn't understand many things, how could he supervise? The owner of the bookstore was delighted to see Yu Fei come to his store again. This student was an old customer who loved buying books, and Yu Fei almost came to his store every week to buy military magazines and rare theoretical books.

  "What would you like to buy?" The boss smiled and came over.

  "Is there a Compendium of Federal Law?" Yu Fei plans to buy a comprehensive book.

  "There's no printed version, but I have an electronic one, just a CD, can be viewed on computer, also can be viewed on MP4 and mobile phone." The boss took out the CD, he carefully sized up Yu Fei again, finding that he was not wearing the army officer uniform. "You've become a military police? Congratulations!" The bookstore owner also knew that all law enforcement agencies in the country were very profitable, the military police was a newly established department with law enforcement powers, during the law enforcement process, they had the same rights as the police to fine, detain and temporarily seize, having power meant being able to get something real for themselves.

  "Thank you." Yu Fei put down the money, shouldered his own bag and left the military school. When he walked to the gate of the reserve officer school, the sergeant on duty still gave him a military salute, he seriously returned the salute, walked out of the school gate and waited for countless opportunities and challenges. From then on, he was free, no longer having to lie in the muddy training ground, listening to the loud scolding of the instructor, nor being driven by the instructor to run ten kilometers cross-country, nor simply answering "Yes, sir." He was the one giving orders now.

  In front of the military school gate, there was a bus station. He got on the long-distance bus and sat in the last row of seats. The empty car had only him and the driver. He quickly fell asleep as soon as he sat down. From the capital, taking the long-distance bus to drive on the highway, it would take ten hours to reach Lion City. Sleeping during the dull journey was a good way to pass the time. Lion City's economy is the most developed in the Federation, and locals would not take such a long-distance bus back to Lion City, only outsiders choose to take the long-distance bus there.