Chapter 60

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……

North of the Trost District and south of the Wall Sina, there was an ancient castle, which was the former headquarters of the Survey Corps. The day after Tang Cheng and Eren joined the Survey Corps, they came to this place with the special operations team led by Squad Leader Levi, known as the "Levi Squad," consisting of seven people.

Although the highest human commander, Darius Zackley, pressured the royal family and the Military Police to temporarily abandon their intentions to act against Tang Cheng, nominally pardoning his crimes for the greater good of humanity, the impact of the incident was significant. The royal family and the Military Police were not to be underestimated, and Darius had to make some compromises. The gist was that until the Wall Maria was reclaimed, Tang Cheng and Eren were still considered criminals and could only operate in the field with the Survey Corps, not entering the inner city.

Tang Cheng was completely indifferent to this arrangement. He knew the royal family and the Military Police would not let him off, but under the pressure of the military, they had to make such a concession. He would not back down, but both sides needed time to prepare. Keeping a distance was just what he wanted, making it easier for him to do some things.

To be honest, although the old headquarters was a bit dirty due to years of disuse, it was still quite nice. The environment was beautiful, the air was fresh, the area was large, and there were many rooms. Even the training equipment was mostly complete.

Of course, to live here for a month, a thorough cleaning was necessary.

However, this had nothing to do with Tang Cheng. As soon as they arrived at the castle, he jumped off the horse, found a relatively clean patch of grass, and lay down. Then he waved to the Levi Squad, "So, I'll leave the cleaning to you guys. I'll take a nap while there's nothing to do."

"Do you want to slack off?" Levi said with a stern face, though he usually had a poker face, he looked even more intimidating now.

But Tang Cheng didn't care at all, and laughed, "Levi, why are you so serious? Look at that uncle behind you, he always has a smile on his face, that's why he's tall."

"Keh!"

Levi gritted his teeth, but before he could react, a blonde girl stepped out from behind him, glaring at Tang Cheng and said, "Tang Cheng, how can you talk about Squad Leader Levi like that! Although he is unexpectedly short and neurotic and violent, making it hard to approach him, and even has a severe obsession with cleanliness, calling him 1.6 meters is too much!"

"..." Levi.

The girl's name was Petra Ral. Although she was a small and delicate girl, not very old, she was an elite member of the Survey Corps. Besides her, there were three others, plus Levi, making up the Levi Squad, the most combat-effective team in the Survey Corps. However, it seemed that humans have a special way of remembering the opposite sex, or perhaps they lack attention to the same sex. Although they had introduced themselves last night, Tang Cheng could only remember the names of Petra and Levi.

Wait, did something strange just slip in there?

Well, let's ignore that. After hearing Petra's words, Tang Cheng immediately jumped up, grabbed her hand excitedly, "Girl, I see you have a talent for high-level sarcasm. As a member of the 'Squad Leader's Height Joke' family, I formally invite you to join the 'Squad Leader's Height Protection Association.' Let's protect Squad Leader's height together!"

"No, no!" The girl quickly pulled her hand away, slightly embarrassed, "I just wanted to say that although Squad Leader is only 1.6 meters tall, even shorter than most girls, even such a Squad Leader..."

Hearing her incoherent words, the other three members of the Levi Squad were already in tears, thinking: Is this praise or criticism?

"Petra." Levi couldn't hold back anymore.

"Yes?"

"You don't actually have to speak."

"Oh... oh!"

Petra nodded dazedly, finally realizing she had said the wrong thing.

Originally, Levi had been provoked by Tang Cheng, but after hearing the words of the girl who seemed to have a good impression of him, he suddenly lost interest and had no desire to continue the argument. He just turned and walked towards the castle, "Clean this place up quickly. It's a serious issue."

"Squad Leader..." Petra felt like crying. Why did she speak without thinking? Did she get tricked by Tang Cheng? Would Squad Leader be angry?

Thinking of this, she glared at Tang Cheng, who gave her an encouraging gesture, meaning: Keep it up, I believe in you!

"Phew!" The girl spat, and immediately followed the others to catch up with Levi.

"Um..." Only Eren seemed completely unable to understand what had just happened, looking at the Levi Squad and then at Tang Cheng, a bit at a loss.

Although nominally he was assigned to the Levi Squad, his actual allegiance was still with Tang Cheng... Was this a bit strange? Would anyone misunderstand?

Tang Cheng glanced at him, "You little brat, go clean up quickly. If 1.6 meters wants to beat you, I won't protect you."

"Y-Yes!" Eren nodded and quickly ran off.

……

Although the castle was large, there weren't many places that actually needed cleaning. Even if Tang Cheng didn't help, the other six, with their agile skills, could easily clean the place. By noon, most of the work was done.

At this time, Levi had already taken off his dirty "battle uniform" and came to Tang Cheng's side. Without caring whether he was really sleeping, he said, "How confident are you about the things you mentioned yesterday?"

"If I said I had absolute confidence, would you be afraid?" After a few seconds, Tang Cheng opened his eyes and smiled nonchalantly, "Of course, plans can't keep up with changes. Even if I can predict things, I can't control random changes. But if you take my words to heart and do them seriously, the losses can definitely be minimized."

"Given the commander's style, he won't ignore your advice."

"That's good."

After the secret meeting of the five people yesterday, Tang Cheng had a detailed discussion with several important figures in the Survey Corps, mainly focusing on whether there were other humans who could transform into Titans besides Eren.

Commander Erwin was a person who could infer much from little, with extremely sharp insight. Most people only saw the terror in Eren, the smart ones saw his hidden value, but Erwin saw even more. For example, the two consecutive appearances of the Colossal Titan and the Armored Titan, which were clearly different from ordinary Titans. Besides standing against humanity and having different abilities, they were essentially very similar to Eren's Titan.

So, could it be inferred that the bodies of the Armored Titan and the Colossal Titan were among humans, perhaps even in their army, someone they had seen or heard of?

Erwin proposed this hypothesis, and Tang Cheng couldn't help but look at him with higher regard. When Erwin asked for his opinion, Tang Cheng also shared his thoughts... Of course, he wouldn't directly reveal the identities of the three Titans, as that would ruin his plans. However, he did subtly reveal some information, even suggesting they strictly protect the two Titans captured three days ago in the Trost District.

This information alone had significant meaning for the Survey Corps.

Even in tomorrow's speech to persuade trainees to join the Survey Corps, the idea of deliberately revealing Eren's Titan transformation to lure out the Titans hiding among humans was something Tang Cheng and Erwin had independently agreed on.

Finally, for the new recruits joining the Survey Corps, Tang Cheng had his own plans.

To discuss these matters, Tang Cheng stayed up all night, which, while not affecting his physical condition, gave him a reason to slack off today. Levi didn't force Tang Cheng to clean, probably because he couldn't do much about it and also because of this reason.

However...

"After seeing the terror of the Titans in advance, how many people will still join the Survey Corps is also a problem," Levi said indifferently, then left.

"How many... heh heh." Tang Cheng smiled unconcernedly and continued to sleep.

The next evening, Hange, the deputy commander of the Survey Corps and the first research fanatic, who could have many topics with Tang Cheng in terms of being a freak and crazy, arrived at the castle on horseback and immediately hugged Tang Cheng's leg in gratitude.

Because just the night before, the two research Titans they had in custody were indeed attacked by unknown individuals. Thanks to Tang Cheng's early warning, they were prepared, and the attack failed. Unfortunately, the attacker was very strong and immediately fled upon exposure. They feared a diversion and didn't dare to pursue too aggressively, so they didn't know who the attacker was.

During the investigation today, they didn't get any leads, but at least they managed to protect the two valuable research subjects, which was a great relief. For this result, Tang Cheng deserved the most credit.

Additionally, Hange brought news about the new recruits. This time, Erwin's speech was very terrifying, resulting in far fewer new recruits joining the Survey Corps than ever before. Out of over 200 graduating trainees, only 17 were willing to join the Survey Corps.

And the list of these 17 people was now in Tang Cheng's hands.

"Then, the next plan can proceed smoothly." Holding the list, Tang Cheng smiled with satisfaction.