Chapter 1 The Officer Who Burned Incense

  In a remote mountain foot of Yunliu Province, where human traces are rarely seen, a magnificent and modern building stands tall, looming in the dense tropical jungle.

  The entire building is a uniform glass curtain wall that shines brightly, and at a glance, the surrounding trees and other natural scenery are reflected in it, giving people a dazzling feeling.

  Here is the latest established "Red Beret" special forces training base, which was approved by the central highest leadership and mobilized the whole army's strength. Its predecessor was a special forces training base of a certain branch of the Army.

  In the northwest corner of this training base, a dilapidated red brick bungalow stood quietly, looking even more shabby against the backdrop of beautifully decorated glass curtain wall buildings.

  The door of the flat house was tightly closed, and on the lintel above it was inlaid a long black marble slab with three white regular script characters "Wangjia Tomb" carved on it. At a glance, the font exudes a sense of vicissitudes and tragic grandeur.

  Suddenly, accompanied by a creaking sound, the tightly closed door was pushed open and an army lieutenant slowly emerged.

  From the name tag on his chest, it can be seen that this lieutenant's name is Wang Fanglong.

  Wang Fanglong had just stepped inside the door when he suddenly became dispirited and listless, like a stone carving, standing still in his tracks, staring straight ahead with wide eyes.

  Following his gaze, the entire bungalow was empty and desolate, with only a black altar table placed against the wall directly opposite the door. On it stood a spirit tablet, clearly inscribed with "Collective Spirit Tablet of Wangjiacun Villagers", emitting an eerie aura between the lines.

  In front of the spirit tablet was a small and delicate incense burner, inside which there was only a thin layer of burnt-out ash, but not a single wisp of burning incense.

  The entire table was covered with a thick layer of dust, it seemed like no one had been there for a long time.

  As he looked on, Wang Fanglong's eyes gradually turned red, and two lines of clear tears silently fell down his cheeks, leaving a clear mark on the bluestone ground. Time seemed to have stopped at this moment, with only the occasional drop of tears breaking the sorrowful silence.

  After a brief daze, Wang Fanglong walked to the altar, wiped clean the spirit tablet, incense burner and altar, then took out three previously prepared incense sticks, lit them and inserted them into the incense burner.

  After doing all this, Wang Fanglong knelt down in front of the spirit tablet with a thud, his eyes filled with tears, gazing at the spirit tablet and murmuring: "Dad, mom, your unfilial son has come to visit you. And all the elderly relatives, you are so kind and simple, why did you suffer such a disaster?"

  After finishing speaking, Wang Fanglong's forehead heavily knocked on the ground, his fists fiercely pounding the ground, tears streaming down.

  Crying and crying, Wang Fanglong took a deep breath, adjusted his sad and indignant emotions, stood up straight, and silently thought in front of the memorial tablet, with memories filling his eyes.

  At this time, he thought of the miserable past 18 years ago:

  At that time, Wang Fanglong was only 6 years old and lived with his grandparents and parents in a very remote small mountain village with a primitive tribal atmosphere - Wangjiacun.

  One day, Wang Fanglong secretly ran to the mountain alone to dig bird nests. Due to his love of play and lack of time concept, he didn't think of going home until he felt extremely hungry and thirsty, by which time it was almost dark.

  However, the scene he saw after going down the mountain became a permanent nightmare in Wang Fanglong's heart...

  Wang Fanglong will never forget the scene he saw when he first came down from the mountain.

  Even now, he still clearly remembers that after descending the mountain, the first thing he saw was thick smoke billowing in the direction of their village, straight up to the sky.

  As he walked closer, he found that the entire village was engulfed in raging flames, with the fire surging and roaring as if it could burn a hole in the sky. And yet, there was not a single person to be seen anywhere in the village, as if all of them had vanished into thin air.

  All of this was too shocking for 6-year-old Wang Fanglong at that time!

  He was terrified and helpless, his first reaction was to rush into the fire to find his parents, in his heart, his parents were his reliance, his everything.

  Little Wang Fanglong cried and rushed to the fire scene. But due to the fierce flames, combined with the scorching weather, Wang Fanglong was roasted all over his body in pain even when he was still 20-30 meters away from the fire scene.

  The child's natural fear of pain made him subconsciously retreat and stand still in his original position, crying out loudly: "Daddy, Mommy..."

  He didn't know what had happened. He knew even less why the entire village of people suddenly disappeared? At this time, he most wanted to know where his parents were.

  At this time, he was thoroughly frightened as a young boy.

  Anxiety, fear, hunger, helplessness and other negative emotions intertwined, bringing great harm to the young mind of Wang Fanglong.

  At this time, he had no idea that because Wangjiacun was adjacent to the tropical jungle, the fire was getting fiercer and the range of ignition points was getting larger and larger, and his life was in danger at any moment.

  Watching the fire getting bigger and bigger, gradually spreading around, getting closer and closer to Wang Fanglong...

  Just at this critical moment, a helicopter descended from the sky. It turned out that the personnel responsible for forest safety patrol happened to pass by nearby and rushed over after seeing the firelight.

  They were searching for survivors around while urgently contacting their superiors to report the situation. At the same time, they used a loudspeaker on the helicopter to continuously shout and flashed flashlights to search around the fire scene.

  However, apart from Wang Fanglong, no other survivors were found. Considering the safety factor, they took Wang Fanglong back first.

  Looking at the location of Wangjiacun, a fierce fire raged, getting closer and closer, the flames growing bigger and bigger...

  After the local government learned about the situation, they dispatched a large number of personnel and materials with the army to rush to the scene, fighting against the raging fire day and night.

  After the joint efforts of both the military and local sides, it took two days and two nights to finally extinguish the massive fire. However, the entire Wangjia Village was reduced to ashes and no longer existed. A total of 78 households with 356 people were all buried in the sea of flames, except for Wang Fanglong.

  After on-site investigation by professionals, it was confirmed that this is a case of annihilating the village. The villagers were first killed and then the murderer set fire to the entire village to destroy the evidence.

  This incident shocked the Party Central Committee and the State Council, and the President personally issued an order, requiring the Ministry of Public Security to spare no expense in finding the culprit, so as to comfort the spirits of the Wangjiashan villagers.

  The local government organized personnel to bury the villagers' ashes together and built a small bungalow on the tomb, placed a spirit tablet, for people to worship.

  At the same time, the Ministry of Public Security dispatched the country's most elite police force to conduct a round-the-clock investigation. However, since this place is rarely visited by people, no one knows what exactly happened before the fire broke out.

  When the police were about to crack the case, they found that there was no clue to start with.

  This is mainly because a large number of personnel and vehicles were used to put out the fire, destroying the scene around the fire site, making it impossible to find any valuable clues.

  The case investigation thus fell into a quagmire.

  But this case is too big, and for many years after that, the investigation work of the case has been going on.

  Later, due to the desolation of the surrounding area and the lack of accommodation for case handlers, the local government decided to build a few simple tile-roofed houses on the old site of Wangjiacun Village to provide temporary shelter for police officers handling the case.

  However, due to the lack of progress in cracking the case, national leaders were extremely dissatisfied and demanded that special troops intervene in the investigation. At the same time, a small barracks was built on the old site of Wangjiacun for joint use by the military and police.

  During use, special forces leaders found that the natural environment here is superior and very suitable as a training ground for special forces, so they applied to establish a special forces training base here.

  Their application was quickly approved and the small camp was expanded. The new camp also included the collective burial ground of the villagers of Wangjiacun Village.

  At the same time, out of respect for the dead, they kept the small bungalow with the spirit tablet.

  Afterwards, this place became a special forces training base for a certain army unit. There was also an independent house used by the police for handling cases.

  Due to its strong concealment and superior training environment, when the "Red Beret" special operations force was formed by selecting the best troops from the entire army, the preparatory team carefully selected and finally chose this place as the training base.

  Now, eighteen years have passed, and the Wangjia Village massacre remains a major unresolved case hanging over the head of the Ministry of Public Security.

  But due to time constraints, this case has been paid little attention to.

  After Wang Fanglong was rescued, he was adopted by Nie Yuanzheng, a childless cadre of the troops. Nie also respected Wang's wishes and did not change his name, and the two men addressed each other as uncle and nephew from then on.

  Nie Yongzhen has now become a major general with real power, serving as an army commander in a certain group army.

  In the past eighteen years, Wang Fanglong has returned to the old site of Wangjiacun Village, now known as the "Red Beret" training base, at least once a year to pay respects to his family and fellow villagers.

  Since he was young, his greatest wish in his heart has been to find his archenemy and take revenge.

  Since then, after being adopted by Nie Yuanzheng, Wang Fanglong actively asked to learn martial arts, wanting to practice the skills of revenge as soon as possible.

  Nie Yuanqing immediately agreed to Wang Fanglong's request and specially found a combat expert in the army to give him one-on-one guidance.

  Perhaps it was fate that Wang Fanglong had a natural talent for combat, and with his desperate hard work, his combat skills improved extremely quickly.

  But Wang Fanglong himself was not satisfied, and always thought that the skills he had mastered were still not enough. At the time of his high school graduation, he was eager to join the special forces as a soldier, wanting to learn more skills for revenge.

  However, Nie Yuanzheng strongly disagreed and his wish to join the army was thus shattered.

  Helpless, Wang Fanglong had no choice but to follow Nie Yuanzheng's wishes and take the entrance exam for the same university as his childhood friend Shi Ya Wen.

  In college, Wang Fanglong and Shi Yawen formally established a romantic relationship.

  After graduating from university, Wang Fanglong concealed Niu Yuanzheng and joined the C Military Region's Special Operations Brigade with his own ability.

  As for this matter, Nie Yuan Zheng was unhappy, while Shi Ya Wen was furious.

  But in the end, Wang Fanglong still insisted on his own way. He threatened to cut off relations with Nie Yuanzheng and persisted in entering the C Military Region's Special Operations Brigade, becoming a lieutenant officer.

  To improve himself as soon as possible, Wang Fanglong trained desperately after entering the special forces.

  It is well-known that the training of special forces is notoriously cruel. But Wang Fanglong, with hatred and obsession in his heart, wanted to be stronger than anyone else, so he was even more demanding on himself.

  While others are resting, he often runs alone to the training ground for extra training, constantly challenging his limits.

  For this, his comrades gave him a nickname, "King of Desperate Struggle".

  Recently, Wang Fanglong heard that the army was going to form its newest and strongest special operations force. He was very excited and signed up for the selection competition without hesitation. With his solid comprehensive quality, he passed all the tests and became one of the first batch of reserve members of the "Red Beret" special forces.

  Today is the first day for reserve members to report to the "Red Beret" special forces training base.

  As soon as Wang Fanglong arrived at what was supposed to be a training base, he was shocked beyond words.

  He never thought that the training base of the strongest special forces would be chosen here - the old site of his hometown Wangjiacun.

  Although it has been rebuilt into a special forces training base, the Wangjia Tomb, where all the villagers of Wangjiacun Village were buried, is still there.

  After reporting back, Wang Fanglong hurriedly rushed to the Wangjiazhai tomb to pay respects to his parents and fellow villagers.

  At this time, Wang Fanglong was silently kneeling in front of the spirit tablet, and the miserable past of the village being slaughtered was vividly before his eyes.

  As he thought, Wang Fanglong's stern gaze became even more resolute, his whole person as cold as ice and frost. He spoke word by word: "Dad, mom, and all the elderly relatives, Xiaolong has grown up now and has the ability to avenge you. Please bless me, I will find the culprit who hurt you soon, and I will definitely cut off their heads to sacrifice to you!"

  "I truly detest myself, 18 years have passed and there's no news of the murderer. But you can rest assured, as long as I'm still alive, I won't give up, even if it kills me! Over these years, thanks to Uncle Nian taking me in and providing me with all sorts of learning opportunities, I've also come to understand the ways of being human and mastered the skills for revenge. Although Uncle Nian has always advised me to put aside my personal grievances and work hard to serve the country, I really can't do it and don't want to! If I can't avenge you all, I'd rather die!"

  "Perhaps it's fate, our newly formed special forces training base just happens to be located here, and I'm lucky enough to have become one of the reserve team members. With all of you by my side, I believe that no matter how tough the training is or how difficult the final assessment will be, I'll definitely make it through to the end and become a formal team member!"

  "Drip..."

  Suddenly, a long and urgent whistle sounded faintly, and Wang Fanglong's voice also became urgent: "Dad, mom and fellow villagers, I'm gathering now, see you later."

  After finishing speaking, Wang Fanglong heavily knocked three loud heads on the ground, then suddenly stood up straight and quickly ran towards the door.