The laughter hit Xiao Ke like a physical blow.
When he shuffled back to the line of deserters, the guys around him erupted in snickers. "Look at him," one of them jeered. "Kid really thought he could bribe the Valkyrie. Got what was coming to him, huh?"
A bitter frustration settled in Xiao Ke's gut. This wasn't how his life was supposed to end—not over a stupid, stolen uniform.
He knew the fate of deserters. You either got shipped to the mines to work yourself to death, or you became cannon fodder on the front lines against the zombies. Either way, you didn't last a month.
But the woman in charge of their transport, Chiliarch Qin Bing, was a brick wall.
She wasn't just a brilliant strategist with terrifying combat skills; she was incorruptible. Flattery, bribes—none of it worked.
Xiao Ke was out of options. All he could do was fall in line, resigning himself to this garbage-fire of a destiny as they marched toward the Black Shark Legion's base to face judgment.
He never expected that destiny to take a hard right turn.
They were about thirty miles out from the base when the ground began to tremble. On the horizon, a convoy of armed, dust-caked off-roaders was barreling toward them, flying the Black Shark banner.
Qin Bing pulled her horse to a sharp halt, raising a fist that silenced the column of prisoners behind her.
The vehicles were moving fast, clearly in a hurry. They roared past the small procession without even slowing down, kicking up a storm of dirt and gravel.
A frown creased Qin Bing's brow. That wasn't protocol. When Imperial units crossed paths in the field, a formal salute and exchange were mandatory. These guys were driving like the apocalypse itself was on their heels.
A cold dread trickled down her spine. Had the horde already broken through the Horse-Drinking Plains? Were they making a run for Vermilion Bird City?
Vermilion Bird was one of the empire's five super-cities, a sprawling metropolis holding fifty million souls. If it fell... the consequences were unthinkable.
As the weight of that possibility settled on her, the screech of tires cut through the air. The convoy that had just passed them slammed to a halt, then began reversing, its engines whining.
Qin Bing urged her horse forward, meeting them halfway.
Doors flew open, and a dozen elite soldiers piled out. Their leader was a man who needed no introduction: Bai Longyin, Deputy Commander and Myriarch of the Black Shark Legion.
Only in his thirties, Bai Longyin was a prodigy from a powerful noble family. He'd joined the military as a boy and shot through the ranks, becoming a living legend. A rising star in the Imperial command.
Even Qin Bing was stunned. She dismounted instantly, her back ramrod straight, and delivered a salute so sharp it could cut glass. "Chiliarch Qin Bing, Black Shark Legion, reporting to the Deputy Commander!"
Bai Longyin returned the salute, his eyes sweeping from her to the ragged line of deserters. "What's your status, Chiliarch?"
"Sir," she replied, "desertions have been on the rise. The Legion Commander tasked me with rounding up these men to make an example of them."
The grim look on Bai Longyin's face deepened. "The Legion Commander is dead, Qin Bing. He led a force of fifty thousand against the horde at the front. They were overrun. The legion is shattered—the dead are dead, and the rest are scattered. That horde is now hundreds of thousands strong, and it's already in the Plains, making a beeline for Vermilion Bird City. We are in a critical situation."
The words hit her like a physical shock. "The Commander… dead? The legion… broken?"
He nodded curtly. "I've taken command. I'm trying to rally what's left of our forces, contacting every outpost, trying to scrape together a defense before that wave hits the capital. Where are your troops?"
"I lost over half my unit in the last engagement, sir," she said, her voice tight. "My command was officially dissolved. My remaining soldiers were absorbed into other squads. That's why I was given this duty—I'm a commander with no one to command."
"Your skills are wasted hunting deserters, especially now," Bai Longyin said. "The Commander is gone. It's my job to stop this tide, and I need every capable officer. You have a new mission."
"What is it, sir?"
"There's a town about sixty miles south of here, Ginkgo Town. It's on a direct path to Vermilion Bird City, and it's completely undefended. I need you to take a unit, hold that town, and not let a single zombie pass. Whatever it takes."
Qin Bing's eyes widened. "Sir, I have no unit. I don't have a single soldier. How can I possibly defend a town?"
Bai Longyin's gaze shifted to the group of deserters huddled on the road. "What do you call them?"
"They're deserters, sir!"
"They're soldiers," he countered. "And if you can get them to fight, it'll prove what kind of leader you really are. Listen to me, Qin Bing. The main force is gone. There are no elite reinforcements coming for you. We have to use everything and everyone we have to slow the horde down until the Imperial Army can arrive. Do you understand?"
The full, terrifying weight of the situation finally crashed down on her. She nodded, her resolve hardening. "I understand, sir. I accept the mission. As long as I'm breathing, nothing will get through Ginkgo Town."
"Good," he said. "Given the circumstances, I'm granting you emergency field authority. You can conscript anyone in the region—villagers, refugees, scavengers, mercenaries, these deserters. You also have full power of appointment within your unit."
He signaled to an aide, who brought forward a stack of official appointment letters, all signed and stamped by Bai Longyin himself. Commissions for Centurions, Decurions… everything. The only thing missing was a name.
It was an unthinkable level of trust. Qin Bing could promote anyone to a command position, and the Empire would recognize it.
"This is all the support I can give you," Bai Longyin said, his voice laced with urgency. "Good luck."
And just like that, they were gone, leaving Qin Bing in a cloud of dust with a suicide mission and a company of cowards.
The moment the vehicles disappeared, the deserters' fragile composure shattered.
"Are you kidding me?" one of them shrieked. "They're sending us to the front? The Legion Commander and fifty thousand elite troops got wiped out, and they think we can do something? It's a death sentence!"
"I'm not doing it! I'd rather go to the mines! I'm not fighting those things!"
"Me neither!"
"We're not going!"
This was why they'd run in the first place. They were men who had chosen disgrace over death, and they weren't about to change their minds now.
But Xiao Ke was quiet. His eyes were locked on the stack of papers in Qin Bing's hand.
Real, Imperial commissions. Including one for Centurion.
With one of those, he could go from a nobody—a refugee in a stolen uniform—to a respected officer in the Imperial army. It was the ultimate ladder to climb in this broken world. The military was the only path to a better life, but getting in was hard, and getting promoted was harder. A rank like Centurion… that changed everything.
Qin Bing's face was once again a mask of cold authority. She scanned the mutinous group. "Circumstances have changed. I have been ordered to defend Ginkgo Town. You will be my soldiers. Are there any objections?"
A big, bearded man stepped forward. "Yeah, I object! I'm not going on your suicide run. I'll take my chances at the base. I'll go to the mines. I won't fight those damn zom—"
He never finished the word.
In a flash of steel, Qin Bing's blade sliced through the air. The man's head tumbled to the ground as a fountain of blood erupted from his neck. His body stood for a stunned second before collapsing in a heap.
A chilling silence fell over the men.
Qin Bing held the appointment letters in her left hand, her blood-slicked saber in her right. Her voice was ice. "Come with me, and your desertion is forgiven. More than that, you'll have the chance for promotion. Refuse my order, and you'll be executed for insubordination in a time of war. On the spot. Now, make your choice. I want to hear it from each of you."
The men exchanged panicked glances, trapped. They didn't want to fight, but they didn't want to die here and now, either.
Qin Bing's own heart was pounding. It was a bluff. If they all refused, could she really cut them all down? It wouldn't do her any good. She needed bodies to hold that town. She desperately needed one of them—just one—to break the stalemate.
Just as the silence stretched to its breaking point, a lone figure stepped out of the crowd. Tall and straight-backed, he looked Qin Bing dead in the eye.
"I want to be a Centurion," he said, his voice steady and clear. "I'll go with you, Commander."
It was Xiao Ke.
A wave of relief washed over Qin Bing. "Excellent," she said, her voice betraying none of it. She immediately pulled a Decurion commission from the stack. "Your name?"
"Xiao Ke."
She filled in his name with a flourish and handed it to him. "For your courage, I'm promoting you. You are now Decurion Xiao Ke."
Xiao Ke's mind reeled. A Decurion? That was a rank that grizzled veterans fought for years to get. He felt a surge of elation so powerful it almost knocked him over. He snapped his arm up in the sharpest salute he could manage, mimicking the one he'd seen her give Bai Longyin. "Yes, Commander!"
Seeing Xiao Ke's instant promotion—and the alternative lying headless in the dirt—was all it took. The dam broke.
One by one, then all at once, the other deserters began shouting, "We'll follow you, Commander! We'll fight with you! Let's go kill some damn zombies!"