The First Order

Having managed to save lives, and so many of them in one fell swoop, how could Ren Xiaosu possibly pass up the opportunity to earn some gratitude tokens?

There were 184 men in the Razor Sharp Company. After two battles, not a single one of them had died. Meanwhile, Second Company and Third Company were not reinforced companies, so they only had 120 people each. With a small number of casualties suffered, Ren Xiaosu had saved a total of 397 people.

Everyone looked at Ren Xiaosu and did not quite understand what he wanted. When Ren Xiaosu saw they had missed the hint, he explicitly expressed, “Ahem, shouldn’t y’all thank me for saving your lives?”

Zhang Xiaoman was confused. Both Second Company and Third Company were too.

They had never come across such a thick-skinned person before!

Although he had saved their lives, straight-up asking for their gratitude was too strange a request. Did he had some sort of condition that needed fulfilling?

It was not like they knew Ren Xiaosu needed gratitude tokens, so they just treated it as some strange fetish of his!

But even if they thought that, since their savior had made such a request, everyone would definitely not want to make it awkward for him. Second Company’s commander, Li Haichen, took the lead and thanked him first, followed by the others who did the same.

Ren Xiaosu calculated the number of gratitude tokens he got and was surprised to see that all 397 people across the three companies had earned him a gratitude token each. None of them was insincere!

Suddenly, Ren Xiaosu realized all his tricks to try to earn gratitude tokens previously were too shameful. Only by sincerely saving someone could he get gratitude tokens easily.

Including the gratitude tokens he had earned earlier, Ren Xiaosu’s gratitude tokens now surpassed 800 again.

Zhang Xiaoman suddenly asked, “Ren Xiaosu, I remember what you just said on the run out here about the Zong Consortium not hesitating to use their artillery shells to bombard this area due to your presence? What’d you mean? Do you have a vendetta with the Zong Consortium?”

Ren Xiaosu thought for a moment and answered, “I was just saying. Don’t take it seriously.”

He could not explain too much. When he barged into the Zong Consortium’s defensive front, he had used the Shadow Door to throw the Explosive Poker cards at their forces. Back then, not all the Zong Consortium’s soldiers were killed, so Zong Cheng would definitely know he possessed that power.

Although he had also used the Shadow Door multiple times during the urban combat, those who encountered it should all be dead. So Zong Cheng should not know he was still alive, right?

If Zong Cheng knew that Ren Xiaosu was still alive, he would probably not be able to eat or sleep well.

Zong Cheng had to be badly hoping to kill him, just as how he really hoped to kill Zong Cheng.

Seeing that Ren Xiaosu did not want to talk about it, Zhang Xiaoman said, “According to the plan, we should have garrisoned Shichuan Village after we completed our mission. But now that the entire town has been destroyed, it looks like our plan will have to change. Let’s contact Battalion Commander Zhou and see where we should go next.”

The radioman immediately radioed Zhou Yinglong. Zhou Yinglong asked blankly, “What? You’ve captured the town already?”

Zhou Yinglong used to be shocked by the ferocity of the Razor Sharp Company. But now, he was getting used to it.

“Mhm.” Zhang Xiaoman said, “Shichuan Village has been destroyed. I wonder how many explosives the Zong Consortium buried in that town. They actually blew up the entire place.”

“What?!” Zhou Yinglong was shocked. “Then are y’all alright?”

Zhou Yinglong was an expert at fighting wars, so he could immediately tell how dangerous it was when he heard what happened. However, Zhang Xiaoman calmly replied, “Fortunately, we discovered the enemy’s movements in time and ran the hell out of Shichuan Village.”

Zhou Yinglong felt that listening to the situation reports each day was really making his heart weaker. It was never as agitating as this in the previous wars they had fought!

However, it was a good thing they had managed to capture Shichuan Village. From now on, there would no longer be any threats in the surroundings of the forward operating base.

Zhou Yinglong said, “Return to the FOB to regroup. You’ll mop up the wilderness with the entire Forward Strike Battalion in two days.”

The “mop up of the wilderness” was to circle the forward operating base in a radius of 120 kilometers to eliminate any hidden threats. This was to prevent the Zong Consortium from leaving any guerrillas in the wilderness.

In the tales of teahouse storytellers, war was a struggle between the strategies of the talented. For Zhou Yinglong and the rest, war was just about getting the details right.

Just establishing a forward operating base required some extreme care and caution.

Only then would Commander Zhang have the foundation to execute his strategy.

After all, even skyscrapers had to be built on a good foundation!

Zhang Xiaoman finished communicating on the radio. He said with a grin, “Gentlemen, we can head back to the FOB and nap! Let’s get the chow hall to make us some delicious food. We’re the men of the hour!”

In the command post, Zhou Yinglong was sitting at the end of the table. If not for the Forward Strike Battalion’s special status, a battalion commander like him would not have the right to sit here.

The command post was considered sacred to the troops of Fortress 178. Every time the soldiers passed by the command post tent, they would imagine the day they could also sit in there to report about the battles.

At this moment, Zhang Jinglin looked at Zhou Yinglong with a smile and said, “You just went outside for a moment and can’t hide the joy on your face now that you’re back. What happened? Did your wife give birth to your second child?”

“Commander, what’re you talking about?” Zhou Yinglong said happily, “How can I possibly be contacting my wife when I’m in the base? I’m happy because my Forward Strike Battalion has already captured Shichuan Village! Luckily, they didn’t fail!”

Zhou Yinglong’s cocky expression was exactly the same as Zhang Xiaoman’s when he mentioned how fortunate it was they’d succeeded.

Actually, the entire Forward Strike Battalion had the same attitude.

“Oh?” Zhang Jinglin smiled and said, “Didn’t you ask me for more time to complete the mission the day before yesterday? You said it wouldn’t be easy to take Shichuan Village and even tried to reason with me how difficult urban warfare was. So why have y’all suddenly achieved the objective today?”

Zhou Yinglong rolled his eyes and said, “That Ren Xiaosu you had join the Razor Sharp Company is a badass. Even if I personally joined the battlefield, the mission would not have gone so smoothly.”

“Let me hear about it,” Zhang Jinglin said calmly.

“That kid’s superpower is to open up a portal to anywhere within a one-kilometer range. This power seems to be specifically made for urban warfare.” Zhou Yinglong praised, “He can cripple an MG nest with a grenade from one kilometer away! Hell yeah!”

Zhang Jinglin smiled at the people around him and said, “Zhou Yinglong told me at the beginning that he didn’t want Ren Xiaosu, saying that he looked too skinny to fight. But I reckon that he won’t let Ren Xiaosu leave if someone tries to steal him away.”

Zhou Yinglong mumbled, “What I meant back then was that I don’t want useless people. I realize he’s useful now, and he even contributed greatly too!”

Meanwhile, the group of commanders at the table were thinking that Zhou Yinglong was too good at sucking up to others. He knew that Commander Zhang wanted to hear about Ren Xiaosu, so he specifically chose to share Ren Xiaosu’s heroic deeds with him…

But everyone knew that Zhou Yinglong was telling the truth, because Zhou Yinglong would not dare to lie in front of Commander Zhang.

Someone spoke up, “Just being capable isn’t enough. What’s he like?”

Everyone was judging Ren Xiaosu as a candidate to be the next fortress commander. So, capabilities aside, his conduct was something that mattered to them as well.