QT: Grace To Grass Counterattack System

As some officials scrambled about to get everything set up, He Yuan calmly walked to his seat and propped an elbow on the armrest as he supported his chin with his fist.

The conference hall was a little noisy as the protesters struck heated debates with one another and the reporters turned to their cameras to engage with their viewers watching live.

Xia Yueyu had her red eyes trained on the adamantine glass. She desperately wanted to go up on the podium and demand an explanation from her son but the security officers guarding the podium did not move an inch so she had no choice but to remain in the arms of an equally confused Ding Wang.

The Third Marshal had his head lifted and eyes closed as he contemplated his next move whilst a couple of Marshals eyed each other and exchanged messages with each other through their bracelets. Even the government officials and top figures weren't left out as everyone engaged in hushed conversations.

The Federation Network, on the other hand, was full of heated debates as the neitizens argued about the different events that had taken place in the conference hall ranging from Yang Xue's stubborn refusal to aid Ding Weimin to their General trying to get together with a mandron male and finally, to the absurd likelihood of a mandron defeating a Xor queen.

Almost an hour later, a vial containing the second Xor queen's magnetic energy was transported from the Military hospital and several equipment were set up on the podium.

The hall slowly quietened down the moment the researchers stepped onto the podium and hooked He Yuan up on several machines. For the next thirty minutes, the conference hall was filled with the electronic humming of the machines.

Finally, the head researcher looked to He Yuan with a complicated expression.

The Sixth Marshal smacked her teeth impatiently. "The results."

"Well..." The reseracher clicked on his bracelet and the results were broadcasted on the large screen. "There's a 95% match between the unknown magnetic energy in Mr. Yang's body and the sample provided by the military hospital. This means..."

Everyone knew what this meant.

One could practically see the moment the hearts of the protesters and admirers of Ding Weimin crushed to a million pieces. Some of them had their bodies frozen stiff. It was General Ding after all. The most celebrated soldier in the Plexar Federation.

No one would have ever believed that their beloved General would be capable of such a dishonourable act. A lot of them had been protesting, even through their fatigue, for days on his behalf and now realizing that he was actually the one who had been holding himself back from receiving any help because he adamntly refused to let go of what belonged to others made them feel very disappointed.

A thought crossed their minds then. If the General hadn't suffered from a relapse, did that not mean that the mandron's merits would have never returned to him? This thought also made them think.... How many of their General's achievements were truly his?

Who knew how many times he'd been able to get away with such an act because he was from an influential family and also had a Marshal grandfather. In fact, was the general even as talented as he claimed?

For all they knew, he might have had a smooth sailing in the army all thanks to the Third Marshal. None of them had seen him in actual battle so how could they no for sure that all the victories were as a result of his own talent and hardwork?

Some of them who had relatives in the army cleched their fists. They had heard stories of what went on in the battlefield. How hard things were on the battlefield. Just imagining their loved ones being deprived of their rightful recognition made their chests ache.

CRASH!

A protester smashed his digital board to the ground in anger. "GENERAL DING! I HAVE BEEN WORRIED ABOUT YOU FOR WEEKS AND EVEN SPENT DAYS PROTESTING WITHOUT SLEEP! ALL FOR WHAT?!"

SMASH!

Another protester joined in with red eyes. "I TRUSTED YOU!"

CLATTER!

"YOU WERE MY HERO!"

BANG!

"YOU WERE MY IDOL!"

CRASH!

"I LOOKED UP TO YOU!"

CRASH!

SMASH!

BANG!

CLATTER!

One by one the protesters smashed their digital boards and projectors, filling the hall with metallic pieces.

Over in the adamantine glass, Ding Weimin's heart broke with every crash and every word that was spoken by the people he was once held in high esteemed by. People he had lived his entire live hoping to protect.

It was just one mistake... Why were they so quick to turn against him and hate him? He'd done so many good things too. Why did no one remember?

Xia Yueyu looked at the wreckage around her with red eyes and a trembling figure. Her son had always been admired by all. This wasn't supposed to be happening! Tears welled up in her eyes as she looked to the researchers in desperation. "There must be a mistake somewhere!

-There must be something wrong with your machines! There's no way- Hold on..." She suddenly turned to grab Ding Wang with wide, red, eyes and trembling lips. "Yang Xue had also been deployed in the cave back then right? Who's to say the magnetic was not automatically absorbed by his body back then?!"

A few brows were raised in contemplation but the head researcher was quick to quell this train of thought. "The magnetic energy of the second Xor queen in Mr. Yang's body has a purity rating of 90% as compared to that of the first Xor queen which has a purity rating of 45%

-The disparity between the two purity rates just shows the differences between magnetic energy that was indirectly absorbed and magnetic energy that was directly absorbed."

The protesters resumed with their denouncing of their once most beloved General.

Ten minutes later, the Tenth Marshal decided to speak up. Admittedly, he felt good inside. How could he not? He never liked the Dings anyways. "A renowned general claiming the merits of a foot soldier. This is no small issue. It appeared a Marshal court hearing would be in order soon."

A few other Marshal's grunted in agreement whilst the Third Marshal turned to pin the Tenth Marshal with a glare.

The Tenth Marshal smirked. "It seemed Marshal Ding is dissatisfied with my words?" The Third Marshal remained silent but he wasn't finished. He feigned a thoughtful appearance. "That reminds me. The Ding madam seemed to have mentioned the mandron being deployed to the second Xor queen's cave too.

-General Ding, Lieutenant Jin and the Third army soldiers deployed to the hive of the Xors had received varying degrees of merits for their participation back then? Why did no one hear news of Mr. Yang, hm?"

The Third Marshal clenched his teeth in anger. Seeing the people who once sang his grandson's praises talking down on his grandson already rose his blood pressure by several degrees. He did not need the meddlesome Tenth Marshal questioning him on top of that!

He resolutely decided to completely ignore the Tenth Marshal's question but the eyes on him soon began to show varying expressions of suspicion and distrust. He clenched his fists. His grandson was already receiving a lot of heat, now was not the time to be strong headed.

With slight difficulty, the Third Marshal dismissively grit out, "Back then, there were thousands of soldiers who had been deployed. It seemed a mishap had happened during the paperwork process."

The Tenth scoffed. "Paperwork process. Tsk. If I'm not mistaken, Mr. Yang has been the first mandron ever to become a soldier. How on Earth did you miss him?"

The voices of the protesters rose in renewed anger after the Tenth Marshal's words. This was clearly bullying! The Third Marshal had been using his position to bully a low rank soldier after his grandson had stolen said soldier's merits!

Deep frowns settled on the faces of the Marshals and even the Second Marshal didn't hold himself back from turning his head sideways to sneer at the Third Marshal.

The Sixth Marshal raised a brow. She was utterly disappointed by the Third Marshal's words. He wasn't even trying at all to hide the fact that he had been suppressing the mandron! She was even more disgusted by the fact that Ding Weimin had claimed the merits of a small mandron.

She wasn't on anyone's side but she was a soldier first and such behaviour was right next to dessertation on the battlefield in her book. Absolutely disgusting!

She looked to the Third Marshal. "Being able to miss a soldier deserving of merit even with all your years of experience as Marshal. It seemed you shouldn't have to wait for retirement. The Twelve-army Coalition does not need a senile person taking up space on a Marshal seat!"

"You-"

"Say no more!" The Twelveth Marshal could not hold himself back anymore and quickly cut the Third Marshal off. He was an andronian and was one of the Marshals who had a fairly good relation with the Third Marshal but he just could not stand it anymore.

His alliance with the Third army was born from the pride and admiration he had for the talented younger generation, Ding Weimin but today he had just been faced with one disappointment after the other.

His eyes trailed to He Yuan. Andronians naturally had a heavy bias against mandrons as they were people who valued intelligence but he had to admit that he was heavily impressed by what he'd just heard about the mandron.

Mandrons already did not receive much recognition so to think that the one mandron who had stepped up to try and make a difference was cruelly crushed by a fellow soldier made him utterly disappointed. Where did Ding Weimin's integrity and honour as a soldier of the Plexar Federation go?

In fact, Ding Weimin already had numerous achievements to his name so why claim another's merit? The Twelveth Marshal ran a hand over his face and with a stiff smile, he addressed the raging crowd. "I think we have already seen enough in this press conference today.

-Deeper and more thorough investigations would be carried out and all guilty parties would be punished acoording to the law!

-Also." He looked over to He Yuan. "Each soldier deserves to be awarded for their achievements no matter how small or big. This mistake is not one the Twelve-army Coalition would take lightly!"

Hums and sounds of agreement came from the other Marshals and the audience as Manager Liang finally took over. She too looked around the hall with a strained smile. "Ladies and gentlemen we have come to the end of this press conference. Thank you for your attendance and the security officers would uniformly see you out."

The protesters began to stormout of the hall and Xia Yueyu's eyes widened then. "WAIT, HOLD UP! How about Weimin?!" She pointed at He Yuan with aggrieved eyes. "You've already ruined him, is that not enough? Why aren't you helping him?!"

"BAH!" A protester who was already at the door exclaimed. "The general still expects to be helped? Isn't he the most awesome? Let him figure it out himself!"

"Yes!" Another one agreed. "Now that I think about it, how is it possible that the General was not aware when you Dings were heaping all manner of accusations on the mandron? He's clearly not a good person!"

The protesters slowly began their outrage again but He Yuan slowly looked over to Xia Yueyue with an innocent smile. "I didn't ruin the general, if you keep accusing me like this I might become very weak and unable to move an inch."

Xia Yueyu's face turned redder than a tomato. "YANG XUE!"

He Yuan waved. "Fine, fine. I'll help you since you've asked so 'kindly.'"

The researchers looked to the Marshals and then realizing that they had all forgotten about the demonstration of Yang Xue's genetic capability, the equipment was quickly set up to begin the extraction process.

The protesters were not interested in this and left one after the other. The original audience members remained behind and so did the reporters.

As a semblance of peace returned to the conference hall, an online war raged on the Federation Network.