Chapter 357: If War Calls, We Return

Chapter 357 -359: If War Calls, We Return

The United Nations General Assembly concluded, and countries across the globe maintained considerable restraint, doing their best to prevent social chaos and economic collapse.

Of course, some nations lacked sufficient state control to react quickly and needed to hold meetings at various domestic levels to deliberate.

Thus, in the period that followed, a very interesting phenomenon emerged on the international stage: a vast majority of countries simultaneously began investing heavily in intelligence and convening all sorts of high-level meetings.

Those with some preparation and experience in dealing with abnormal events were better off. Countries that had always been slower to react, however, were in a complete internal uproar.

As the focal point, the World Alliance’s surface reaction, in the eyes of most nations, was far calmer than anyone had imagined.

But this wasn’t because they were playing a joke on the United Nations. It was simply because they had established so many contingency plans over the past two years that, even though the short timeline caught everyone off guard, everything could now proceed in an orderly fashion.

In truth, from the perspective of intelligence agencies, the reactions of the major powers were already astonishing in every respect. The level of their determination and decisiveness was alarming.

…

Although September had brought the start of autumn, the weather remained unbearably hot. Cicadas chirped one after another in the roadside trees, as if celebrating a final carnival.

Lu Feng, a technical worker, had just finished another exhausting day.

As usual, he passed through the commercial street, planning to pop into the supermarket to buy some groceries and treat himself to some fruit.

The chain supermarket was well-located. People from several surrounding residential complexes frequented it for the convenience. Coupled with its affordable prices and occasional sales on vegetables, it was always popular.

Entering the supermarket today, he found it bustling with customers as usual. The produce section was especially packed, making it difficult to navigate with a shopping cart.

Passing by a few aisles, he noticed that several shelves of puffed snacks were more than half empty. A few supermarket employees were pushing a dolly, placing boxes of goods on the floor—clearly new stock for the shelves.

Curious, Lu Feng walked over to take a look.

He was a naturally sociable guy, so he casually struck up a conversation.

“Did all those snacks sell out?”

The supermarket employee glanced at him and answered casually.

“Corporate wants us to add these. We don’t have enough shelf space, so we’re temporarily removing some of the puffed snacks. If you want to buy some, check the remaining aisles. The brands and types are all the same, and we restock promptly, so it won’t affect sales.”

“Oh!”

Lu Feng nodded, but his curiosity only grew.

“So what’s this? A new brand promotion?”

The employee slit open a cardboard box with a knife, pulled out some of the contents, and brandished them at him.

“Compressed biscuits. Over there we’ve got compressed nutritional meal cans, canned luncheon meat, chewable vitamin tablets… it’s all this kind of stuff.”

‘This stuff?’

This was a bit unexpected for Lu Feng. A lot of people might buy this stuff out of novelty to try it once, but they wouldn’t normally buy much. It was strange to be stocking it.

Just as he was thinking this, a young mother pushing a shopping cart came over. A little boy, two or three years old at most, was sitting in the cart.

“Are these the compressed biscuits and canned goods?”

“Yes, ma’am. How many would you like? Or you can wait until I’ve stocked the shelves and pick them out yourself.”

The employee replied politely.

“No need. I’ll take this box and this box. Uhm, could you please help me load them into my cart?”

Lu Feng and the supermarket employee were both stunned for a moment.

‘Damn, does this family have a thing for this stuff? Or are they just too lazy to cook?’

Buying two whole boxes at once.

In the spirit of helping others, Lu Feng also helped the employee lift a box of canned goods into her cart. The box was perfectly square and fit snugly into the empty space in the large cart. Packed full of cans, it was extremely heavy to lift.

After the attractive young mother left, Lu Feng bantered with the somewhat dazed employee.

“That’s so heavy. How is she going to manage it later?”

His earlier help had earned some goodwill, and the employee chuckled in response.

“Don’t underestimate a tough woman’s arm strength. You believe me when I say that when a man’s around, she can’t even open a jar lid, but when there’s no man, she’ll carry a five-gallon water jug up to the fifth floor? But man, that girl has a great figure. She’s already had a kid, and her butt and legs are still that perfect.”

“Tsk, tsk. Spoken like a true single guy. Some women’s figures get even better after having kids.”

Lu Feng, who said this, was actually a single guy himself—and an older one at that.

After finishing his shopping and on his way back to his complex, he stopped by the security booth to pick up two packages. One was a set of dumbbells he had bought, but he wasn’t sure about the other one.

The first thing he did when he got home was open the flat package.

Opening the outer packaging made his heart skip a beat.

It was a large, plain envelope with a conspicuous military insignia on it.

“A military recall!?”

‘This can’t be a joke, can it?’

His heart rate picked up slightly. Lu Feng immediately called a few of his old army buddies from his enlistment year and posted a question in their group chat.

He discovered the group chat had already exploded. Several of them had also received recall notices from the military.

Some had received letters by courier; for others, the local public security had shown up at their door or called them directly.

He completely forgot to make dinner. He and his group of army buddies discussed the matter until seven or eight in the evening. At around eight o’clock sharp, Lu Feng received a call from the local public security, confirming whether he had received the recall notice.

Before bed, he just hastily ate a bowl of instant noodles, his emotions a mix of complexity and excitement.

‘This is the real deal!’

A huge number of demobilized soldiers of eligible age were successively receiving recall notices through various channels.

This was a nationwide recall. Its sheer scale and scope stirred the hearts of the demobilized veterans whose soldier’s spirit had not faded, but it also sparked worry and reflection among many of the veterans and their families.

A truly large-scale recall of veterans sent a very strong signal of one distinct possibility: war!

This first caused a stir in military circles, which then spread to their families and friends. However, the explanation given on the recall order was “to respond to a natural disaster.”

Some people might only know that a veteran relative of theirs was recalled. Upon hearing that others were in a similar situation, they would gossip about it for a bit.

But among military enthusiast communities, it caused a massive uproar, with people speculating whether the international trade situation and economic deterioration had reached the point of potentially sparking a war.

…

It had been six years since they left the barracks, but nearly all the veterans treasured their uniforms, keeping them stored at home.

“If there is a war, the call must be answered!”

It is difficult for anyone who has not served to understand the weight of those words. The camaraderie of military life cannot be explained in a few simple phrases.

In short, Lu Feng chose to go back. And in his circle, all the comrades who received the notice also chose to return.

In the corner of a large wardrobe, a green military uniform lay neatly folded, along with a button-up service cap, quietly awaiting the day its owner would wear it again.

“Old friend, we’re going back together!”

In those few days, at around the same time, countless people took their uniforms from wardrobes and trunks to put them on once more.

Some had grown a bit chubby, others looked weathered by life, but the moment they put on their uniforms, they were once again those sharp, spirited soldiers.

…

Outside a massive military camp in the Northwest, bus after bus packed with Soldiers drove in from the distance. On one of these buses were Lu Feng and many of his old comrades.

Before they even got close to the camp, they could already hear the earth-shaking sound of cadences being called.

…

The sound of a large contingent’s footsteps rang out continuously. THUMP THUMP THUMP…

“ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR…” “ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR…”

The buses stopped in the barracks area. Lu Feng’s bus was the first. An Officer, leading a few Soldiers, strode up to them.

The door opened. Lu Feng was the first to step out, and he gave a standard military salute to the Officer, whose epaulets showed the rank of captain.

He bellowed at the top of his lungs.

“Captain! Soldier from the XXth Field Army, 3rd Division, 2nd Regiment, Infantry Reconnaissance Battalion, reporting to you!”

The registrar’s notebook to the side showed that these few busloads were indeed from that former unit.

The captain and the other Soldiers immediately returned the salute.

“Welcome back to the army!”

The warriors disembarked, welcomed by a brand-new camp to begin their new military careers.

…

Only after many Soldiers returned to the barracks did they understand the true scale of this recall.

Two million!

Within a month, Hua Country had recalled two million veterans. This was nearly the total number of its active-duty forces, and there was no sign of it stopping.

Hua Country, the United States, Russia…

Nearly all the signatory nations of the World Alliance launched large-scale recalls of demobilized soldiers at around the same time. ℯℯ𝘭.

This level of action shocked the other countries of the world, making them feel a deep and urgent sense of fear.

Nothing could have been more convincing—unless those few nations were planning to start a third world war.

In just over a month, the World Alliance had recalled a total of nearly ten million Soldiers, and there was no sign of the trend stopping. Not only that, but regardless of whether their conscription seasons were over, they all began recruiting new soldiers again.

PS: Chapter two for Wednesday.