"Ghost Tech, begin the exercise!" He was back before it even started. Huai, carrying Zhang, was sharpening his saber by the tent. On the platform, he issued gambling vouchers totaling two billion, all placed on the Special Forces unit.

The odds were two to one. This meant if the Special Forces won, the betting house would have to pay out an additional four billion in winnings on top of returning the two billion principal.

Yang Ying tucked away the betting vouchers and the platinum card.

"Colonel Yang Ying, why are you so certain the Special Forces will win? Would you be willing to share your reasoning with me?" Yusuf, who had been overly excited moments before, now remembered that he hadn't yet asked Yang Ying how he had made his judgment.

"It's nothing, really. I just recognized two friends among the Special Forces team; they are very strong." Yang Ying replied.

"Your two friends are even stronger than this subordinate of yours?" Yusuf’s gaze drifted toward the Ghost Agent. The way the Ghost Agent had effortlessly slipped through the crowd had given him quite a shock earlier.

"Stronger than them," Yang Ying confirmed. He did not want to reveal that Qingfeng and Mingyue were Awakened individuals.

Firstly, he considered himself a discreet person, and this was private information concerning Qingfeng and Mingyue—perhaps they hadn't even disclosed their Awakened status to the military yet. Secondly, Awakened individuals usually had their own circles, and mentioning knowing two of them might lead Yusuf to suspect Yang Ying was one himself.

Adopting an attitude of better safe than sorry, Yang Ying decided to keep his mouth shut.

Just then, a voice sounded from the arena again: "The exercise officially begins! I repeat, the exercise officially begins!"

Seeing that Yang Ying was unwilling to say more, and with the exercise already underway, Yusuf stopped pressing. He turned back, focusing intently on the drill.

Inside the exercise grounds, at the Special Forces base.

Mingyue gently pulled back the eager Qingfeng. "Don't forget to conserve strength. That old general only asked us to play around a bit. There's no need to use psychic power in this low-intensity exercise with no real threat to life."

"Don't worry, I can handle a mere hundred mercenaries without using psychic power. These people from the Mercenary Alliance dared to claim that S-class mercenaries surpass Ace Special Forces—this time, I'll show them the true capability of the Ace Special Forces. And while I’m at it, I’ll send a message to these mercenaries: Our Thirteenth Fleet has arrived!" Qingfeng declared with supreme confidence.

As the exercise commenced, the roughly one hundred Special Forces members charged out of the base under Qingfeng’s leadership.

Judging by the shoulder insignia, both Qingfeng and Mingyue held the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, clearly indicating they were the commanders of this unit.

The urban terrain within the exercise zone was intricate and maze-like, split in two by a central lake. Both sides possessed maps of their own halves, but lacked any map of the enemy’s section.

Led by Qingfeng, the Special Forces showed no intention of detaching any troops to guard key routes. Their tactic was pure offense—all personnel attacking, aiming for the fastest possible victory.

At every intersection, Qingfeng chose the correct route without hesitation.

The mercenary unit, however, was different. After a few turns, their commander had to pull out the map to check if they had taken a wrong path.

"Sigh," Yusuf shook his head. "The Special Forces commander's memory is truly astounding. Such a complex route, and he hasn't misplaced a single turn."

The distance from both bases to the lakeside was identical. Qingfeng’s speed allowed him to reach the lake first, leading the Special Forces. He jumped onto a speedboat waiting by the shore, taking two soldiers with him and speeding toward the center of the lake.

Because there was only one speedboat, the remaining troops, under Mingyue’s command, took a detour along the shore toward the opposite side.

When Qingfeng pulled the flag from the pavilion in the middle of the lake, the mercenary unit had just arrived at the lakeside. Seeing the Special Forces take the lead, they erupted in fury.

Under their commander’s order, exactly three mercenaries immediately jumped onto speedboats and headed toward the lake center.

The rest of the mercenary force found cover where they stood and began setting up a defense.

"Good," Yusuf nodded. "The mercenaries left thirty percent of their men behind to establish a defensive line. They are at a numerical disadvantage by the lake, so defending in place is much better than a rash assault."

After securing the flag from the lakeside pavilion, Qingfeng returned to his speedboat and charged straight ahead, seemingly intending to engage the mercenary speedboats head-on.

Yusuf saw this and shook his head again. "The Special Forces commander is too reckless; his future might be limited."

"Limited future? Perhaps you are making an error based on past experience," Yang Ying said with a smile.

As his words faded, Qingfeng drew his weapon, aimed at the mercenary speedboat, and fired three consecutive shots.

The exercise rifles used inert rounds with no destructive power, but the referee system faithfully registered the results, deeming all three mercenaries on the boat neutralized.

Instantly, the grandstand erupted in an uproar.

This was not flat ground; it was a churning, uneven surface of water. Under such conditions, achieving a hundred percent vital-point hit rate on targets in another speedboat several hundred meters away defied belief.

If one shot could be attributed to luck, three straight hits bordered on the supernatural.

"What marksmanship," Yusuf murmured. He had just deemed Qingfeng reckless, but upon seeing such precision, his opinion flipped a complete one hundred and eighty degrees. With such skill, there was indeed no need to avoid a direct interception...

After neutralizing the mercenary speedboat, Qingfeng maneuvered back and forth across the lake, looking for firing opportunities, occasionally taking a shot at a mercenary peeking out from the opposite shore, taking down one head that showed itself.

Yang Ying watched on the screen as the mercenary contingent, infuriated by Qingfeng’s harassing fire, roared in unison under their commander’s cry and stood up to return fire toward the speedboat in the lake.

For amateur shooters, hundreds of meters rendered their shots ineffective, but for elite S-class mercenaries, the hit rate was significantly higher.

Qingfeng and his two subordinate Special Forces personnel immediately ducked low, completely concealing themselves within the speedboat, dodging the storm of incoming depleted uranium light beams.

Since the uranium light beams had very low power, they couldn't actually sink the speedboat, but a few seconds after being hit, the referee system ruled the boat sunk. Qingfeng and the other two soldiers were forced to jump into the water.

Remaining on the supposedly "sunken" vessel would be considered cheating and result in being ruled dead by the system.

Although the mercenaries had sunk the boat, they paid a heavy price. As they rose to attack the speedboat, Mingyue had ordered his troops to concentrate fire. In just a few seconds, they eliminated nearly twenty mercenaries.

Mingyue's marksmanship during this wave also shone brightly; at least five mercenaries were directly ruled "dead" by his hand.

"How are there so many talents in this batch of Special Forces?" Yusuf asked, astonished, turning to Yang Ying. "Are those two highly skilled Major officers the people you know?"

Yang Ying nodded slightly, then asked, "Mr. Yusuf, I have one question for you. What is the official designation of the unit where my two friends are stationed?"

"Their designation? Let me think... Ah, yes, they are the First Company, First Platoon, Special Operations Battalion, under the Thirteenth Fleet. As for the Thirteenth Fleet, we've never heard of it before; it's a newly established fleet. Some contacts in the military gave us a tip that this fleet might replace the former Ninth Fleet in garrisoning the Ceres Military Base in the Asteroid Belt," Yusuf replied as he recalled the information.

Ceres is the largest dwarf planet in the Asteroid Belt, with a diameter close to one thousand kilometers. It hosts the largest Earth Coalition colony in the belt, surrounded by the most tightly controlled region overseen by the Earth Coalition.

"Will they remain in the Asteroid Belt?" Yang Ying muttered to himself, watching the combat footage on the screen.

"But this is just a rumor, as the military hasn't issued any official documents yet. It might be them, or it might not be," Yusuf added.

"The Ninth Fleet left four months ago. With the increasing number of skirmishes in the Asteroid Belt, the military indeed needs a fleet to act as a stabilizing force there. Otherwise, any sudden shift could endanger the supply lines to the front lines," Yang Ying stated.

"That is certainly true," Yusuf agreed.

While they were talking, the battle raged on.

The mercenaries painfully discovered that although the impossibly accurate Qingfeng had been shot into the lake, an equally accurate Mingyue had taken his place!

Almost every time Mingyue fired, a mercenary was ruled dead, and every shot struck a vital area.

As they closed the distance, both sides began using grenade launchers against each other. The mercenaries utilized their defensive terrain, while the Special Forces used walls along the road for cover, advancing quickly to positions near the mercenary line.

Simultaneously, an incident occurred on the other mercenary speedboat that had been left behind on the lake surface. A hand reached out from beneath the water and grabbed the edge of the boat.

Then, Qingfeng climbed out of the water, turned around, and hauled his two team members up with him. They had taken possession of the mercenary speedboat.

It turned out that although the three mercenaries on that boat had been ruled dead, the speedboat itself was still operational.

Qingfeng waved a greeting to the three "corpses" staring at him on the boat, then spun the vessel around and headed toward the opposite shore.

With Qingfeng and Mingyue attacking from two sides, the mercenary defense line quickly collapsed. They retreated to a second line, which also crumbled, forcing further retreat.

The S-class mercenaries were indeed battlefield elites; their stamina, marksmanship, evasion skills, and offensive awareness were all outstanding, comparable to the ordinary members of the Special Forces—a fact most sharp observers could see.

However, the personal combat power of the Special Forces commanders was overwhelmingly superior.

Under the cover provided by the two commanders, the full firepower of the Special Forces unit was unleashed.

In contrast, the mercenary unit fought timidly, their few counterattacks quickly suppressed by the Special Forces.

By the end, many spectators in the grandstand had left early; they simply couldn't bear to watch anymore.

The entire exercise lasted just over half an hour before the Special Forces unit successfully planted their flag on the highest point of the mercenary base, securing victory.