Love Began with the First Meeting

At that moment, there were sound signals coming over the intercom. "Report to Lightning! Nighthawk in position, but the target is three kilometers away. It's out of the shooting range. Request for changing location," said the voice from the intercom. Edgar withdrew his eyes from Maggie. He took up the intercom, pressed a button on it and replied, "This is Lightning." Then he looked back at Maggie and continued, "Hold your position." "Copy that!" Daniel replied on the other end of the intercom.

Edgar released the talk button and asked Maggie, "Nighthawk has an M110 Semi-Automatic Sniper with 2450 meters effective shooting range. But the target is three thousand meters away!"

"Sir, I can raise the shooting range to three thousand meters in two hours!" Maggie said, her spirits rising rapidly.

"Do you know why I've let you try on different makes of sniper rifles, but didn't allow you to try on an M110?" Edgar asked, his eyes looking deep and stern.

"I don't know, sir," Maggie replied in confusion.

Edgar snorted at her lack of insight and explained, "To the best sniper, the shooting range of an M110 would not exceed 2500 meters." "Why?" Maggie asked. "Because when the shooting range is more than 2500 meters, the penetrating power of the bullet would decline as the distance increases," Edgar explained. "The weapon would become ineffective then."

After hearing Edgar's words, Maggie's eyes popped wide in surprise. She had studied missile research. Although there was a big difference between bullets and missiles, she had minored in the friction between various firearms' bullets and also their shooting ranges. But she hadn't learned about what Edgar had just said.

Seeing Maggie grinding mental gears in a daze, Edgar said coldly, "There are some things which you can't learn from books, but only from actual combat experience."

"Sir, that's exactly the reason why I asked for combating on the spot, not because of curiosity. I'm hoping I can gain some combat experience so that I can make a contribution to the army and to our country someday," Maggie said honestly then.

The officers and staff in the command center were studying the battle blueprint, but couldn't help glancing at Maggie from time to time. This scene was full of momentum. No wonder she could have established her reputation in S Army within a year.

A brief smile flashed on Edgar's face, but it disappeared before Maggie saw it clearly. She even thought that she had been mistaken, or that her eyes were playing tricks on her.

"Great," Edgar said, raising his eyebrows. "We don't have a coward here!" Edgard went on as Garth, Jake and Edith walked up to him hurriedly. They stood up straight and looked at Edgar with expectation. "Since you're so desperate to know about combat, I'll let you find out," Edgar said at the end.

Maggie and her friends' faces all brightened up at his words. They stood at attention and expressed gratitude. "Thank you, Captain!"

Then Edgar called the managing director over the intercom and told him to make the arrangements for their deployment. They were separated into different quads. Fortunately, Maggie was in the Falcon Commando as she had wished.

Embarrassed, the managing director queried, "Captain... The higher-ups didn't agree that these students could engage in combating at the spot. Even though this is only a military exercise, they can still get hurt!"

"Then I'll take full responsibility for that," Edgar replied calmly.

Upon hearing his words, the managing director knew that there was no room left for discussion. The decision had been made, and he had orders to follow. But he still hesitated.

At this point, a brigadier general walked up to Edgar. He shot a glance at Maggie, and then looked at Edgar, motioning that he wanted to speak to him in private.

Edgar walked a few steps away with the brigadier general and asked, "What's the matter?"

Frowning, the brigadier general said, "The superiors wouldn't agree with that! They considered over and over again even to just let them stay at the Blue Force's command center. Now you allow them to join the combat? You will get punished. Severely." He staring at Edgar's epaulets and continued, "You know that those old men in X Army are watching you and they're just waiting for you to make a mistake."

Edgar sighed, "But this is the only chance for them and also for us."

"The chief commander and the commissar will both understand. But there is a lot of pressure on them," The brigadier general sighed helplessly.

Edgar chuckled. "Don't worry, I'll carry it on my shoulders. It's either get discharged from the army or go to a military court. Otherwise, the offshoots of the Zeng family would be discontented." Edgar patted on the colonel's shoulder, and added, "I'm the chief commander of the Blue Fore, so do as I say. It's my decision." Then he walked back to Maggie. "Garth, join the infantry brigade. Jake, the consolidate regiment, and, Edith, you join the defense regiment. Maggie, you join the Falcon," Edgar announced clearly.

"I object!" the voice came from outside. Then the canvas flap at the opening was lifted up, and Claire walked in. She glimpsed at Maggie and her friends, then saluted to the commanders and said, "Sir, it's irrational to allow them go to the front line. If you want to send someone to the front line, it's only fair to choose someone from the staff placed on standby, and not from them." Claire squinted at them, and she even sneered when she looked at Maggie.

Maggie was burning in rage. How was it that she ran into this woman wherever she went? 'When Edgar was at the infirmary, Claire came by every day. And now she shows up here looking to ruin my plans! Besides, who does she think she is to question Edgar's decision? And how dare she stare at me with that dismissive look on her face?' Maggie raged to herself.

"Are you questioning the strategic deployment of the chief commander?" Maggie asked Claire grimly, her tone ominous. "It's the Captain's orders! Or perhaps you think that you have the ability to make decisions for the Captain?" Maggie shot her another deadly question. Maggie and Claire both held the rank of First Lieutenant, so Maggie didn't have to show respect to her. There was no requirement for a salute.

Furious on the inside, Claire still managed to stay calm and keep her face tranquil. "What do you mean? He's your captain, so he should let you go to the front line?" Claire replied in a calm voice, but she had indeed managed to render Maggie speechless.

Maggie couldn't compare with Claire when it came to squabbling. Maggie had been a bully since she was young. After she attended the National Defense University, she had made lots of friends because of her good performance and macho disposition. She was popular and it had gone to her head. If this were at school, Claire would have drowned in Maggie's spittle.

Maggie opened her mouth and was about to launch into a verbal assault, but Garth stopped her by suddenly tugging at the edge of her shirt. It was unwise to behave liked a shrew in front of the man she liked. Maggie saw the truth of that. She managed to suppress her anger and calmed herself down.

"Miss, you'd better watch your mouth," Maggie said, wearing a foxy smile. "And pay attention to your appetite. Don't bite off more than you can chew." Maggie glanced at Claire's voluptuous breasts and continued, "Eating too much has helped you gain some weight, but it didn't seem to help you become smarter." Seeing Claire become furious, Maggie turned to Edgar, saluted and said, "The mission will be completed perfectly, sir! I can promise you that much!"

Edgar nodded in response. He shot Claire a cold glance as he turned around, then he gestured for the others to leave. So, everyone, other than Claire, gave a smart salute to Edgar and then left the tent. They could still hear Claire trying to dissuade Edgar when leaving. "Maggie, well done!" Jake said and gave her a thumbs up.

Maggie said nothing but let out a wry smile. She looked back to the tent, feeling displeasure. She had won this small victory against Claire, yet she felt reluctant.

Garth, always thoughtful and sensitive, slowed down to walk along with Maggie as his other two friends were talking excitedly with the managing director in front of them. "What is wrong with that woman?" he asked Maggie.

Maggie shrugged and answered, "She doesn't like me."

"If a woman dislikes another woman, there are only two reasons. One is that she's envious because the other woman is prettier than herself," Garth said. "And the second reason is that..." Seeing Maggie was confused, Garth smiled and went on after a pregnant pause of anticipation, "The second reason is she thinks that the man she loves likes the other woman."

Widening her eyes, Maggie suddenly stopped walking. She gazed at Garth and rasped, "What? You..." Maggie blushed red like an apple. She couldn't finish her sentence after stuttering for a long time.

Seeing Maggie's awkward actions, Garth knew that she had actually fallen in love with Edgar. "Maggie, it's not shameful to fall in love. But you should probably be aware that such a mature man like the Captain may not have any feelings of reciprocity for you," he cautioned, wanting to protect her.

"He may not like that woman with big boobs, either," Maggie replied unhappily.

Garth was a boy. Upon hearing her words, he took a look at her breasts in a knee-jerk manner and said, "Men love big boobs."

It took Maggie a few moments to respond. Gasping, she covered her breasts with her arms immediately and scolded, "You're obscene!"

However, Garth didn't mind getting beans for his comment. He leaned closer to Maggie and said earnestly, "It's okay. Ask Cathy to make you some steamed papaya. I swear to God. If a man were interested in you, that will totally help you get him." He looked at Maggie's small bulges on her chest, let out an evil laugh, and then scurried away hurriedly, succeeding to avoid her fist that was flinging towards him.

Jake and Edith had no idea of what was happening behind them. They were really excited about the combat on the spot and kept asking questions about it. Maggie was encouraged by Garth's words. She kept thinking about getting some food to make her breasts become bigger once she arrived at the Falcon's staging area.

Then Edgar's voice came over the two-way radio's earphones, "Maggie Du! Come back to command. If you can't get in position in three minutes...!"000000