The First Order

Initially, Zhang Xiaoman objected to Ren Xiaosu being assigned to his company. He even wanted to discuss with Zhou Yinglong to see if he could transfer him away.

But as of now, Zhang Xiaoman was more than likely to hug Zhou Yinglong and give him a peck on the cheek. Assigning Ren Xiaosu to his company was even better than Zhou Yinglong issuing ten heavy machine guns to them!

Everyone in the army who had fought in a battle before would know how difficult it was to destroy a heavy machine gun position. They truly represented the idea of a “meat grinder” and was an ultimate weapon that could be wielded on the main battlefield.

But now that they had Ren Xiaosu, the heavy machine guns could be destroyed with the TNT. No one knew how he did that.

Zhang Xiaoman and the others still did not know what Ren Xiaosu’s superpower was. It was quite mysterious.

But everyone had their secrets, so there was no need to delve deeper.

When Zhang Xiaoman and his men finally charged up the mountain, they did not see Ren Xiaosu anywhere nearby. Meanwhile, the bandits up on the mountain were not concentrating their firepower in their direction, but away from them.

“Something’s weird.” Zhang Xiaoman wondered, “Why does it feel like Ren Xiaosu did not come up here by himself? This feels more like another company scaled the back of the mountain to attack this place.”

Many of the bandits’ barracks had already collapsed, and bodies were strewn all over the place. However, they did not die from gunshot wounds but stab wounds!

A soldier was shocked when he passed by the corpses. “Did Ren Xiaosu get into close combat with them?”

At this moment, the bandits on Mt. Dingyuan were engaged in battle with a mysterious shadow. But halfway through the battle, the shadow suddenly slipped behind a barracks and disappeared.

The shadow was extremely fearsome and had killed many of the bandits at the beginning. But for some reason, the shadow started acting less aggressively as it used its quick movements to keep the enemy at bay. It never stayed in one place for too long.

But when they were searching for the shadow, gunshots suddenly rang out behind them. Some bandits turned around in shock and saw that the Razor Sharp Company had already set up three heavy machine guns at a distance of several hundred meters away behind them. They started shooting at them mercilessly!

At the same time, Zhang Xiaoman led 2nd Platoon to outflank the bandits. They attempted to trap all the bandits in the open area and make them targets of the heavy machine guns.

Some bandits reacted quickly and immediately hid behind the ruins of the barracks to launch a counterattack. But just as they were about to shoot, they suddenly saw a hand stretch out of a shadow next to them and throw a grenade over.

With a loud explosion, the bandits who had just taken cover behind the ruins were blown sky-high. Meanwhile, Zhang Xiaoman finished organizing a simple defensive formation on the flanks.

Zhang Xiaoman had never experienced such a smooth battle before, as though all the hidden threats had been nipped in the bud by someone. It felt like a god’s hand was helping them on the battlefield and greenlighting everything for this surprise attack they had launched.

However, more than a 100 of the bandits in this group had obviously received formal military training before. They retreated slowly all the way back while constantly maintaining an orderly formation.

Ren Xiaosu was observing this group of people from the shadows. These 100-odd people were probably the Zong Consortium’s regular troops hiding among the bandits.

Moreover, the 20-odd soldiers manning the last heavy machine gun position were also more cautious than the bandits. They were probably also a part of the Zong Consortium.

The Zong Consortium had placed around a 100 of their soldiers here on Mt. Dingyuan and assigned them as the last line of defense. If their roles had been reversed with no supernatural beings participating in the battle, the Razor Sharp Company might not have even broken through the machine gun position after sacrificing all of their men.

Now that Ren Xiaosu had spotted the Zong Consortium’s regulars, he was not going to go easy on them. From within the shadows at 200 meters away, he aimed his rifle at them and opened fire!

The Zong Consortium’s regulars never expected an enemy to be over here as well. With just a burst of fire, the orderly formation they maintained while retreating was disrupted.

Zhang Xiaoman shouted, “Charge and continue pressing them! Go Ren Xiaosu!”

To the north, Zhou Yinglong was leading the entire Forward Strike Battalion to create a defensive line to ensure that the forward operating base at the rear could be built successfully.

There were no unusual activities from the Zong Consortium here. But ever since the bandit lair on Mt. Guan had been taken, the two sides knew that war had begun.

All of a sudden, a soldier ran up to Zhou Yinglong and said in a low voice, “Battalion Commander, the Razor Sharp Company’s Zhang Xiaoman is requesting to speak with you.”

“Bring the radio over,” Zhou Yinglong said while lying on a hill.

When the radiotelephone operator approached him with the radio set on his back, Zhou Yinglong took the receiver and berated, “Didn’t I say to just follow my orders and lay siege on the bandit lair at Mt. Dingyuan? What’re y’all messing around for? You’ve been pinned down at the mountainside now, haven’t you? Stay right there and don’t move. I’ll deploy Second Company there to support you!”

Zhou Yinglong was furious when a radioman from the Razor Sharp Company called in to report on the situation at Mt. Dingyuan. When the path leading up to Mt. Dingyuan had been sealed, it was clear the bandits were planning on fighting to the bitter end. They might have been able to carry out a sneak attack on the bandit lair previously, but it would be impossible for a single company to take the mountain fort.

Zhou Yinglong was really worried that Zhang Xiaoman would act impulsively and lead the entire Razor Sharp Company to its demise at Mt. Dingyuan.

However, Zhang Xiaoman interrupted Zhou Yinglong. “Battalion Commander, we’ve taken Mt. Dingyuan!”

Zhou Yinglong was confused.

Before the night was over, they had already successfully taken Mt. Dingyuan?! Everyone knew that a siege tended to take several days or even months before a mountain fort like that could be captured!

Zhou Yinglong said with a dark expression: “Have been drinking?!”

“Battalion Commander, we’ve really taken Mt. Dingyuan.” Zhang Xiaoman said eagerly, “We were fortunate that we attacked this place. Did you know the Zong Consortium hid two howitzers on Mt. Dingyuan that were aimed at where the FOB would be built? If we didn’t take Mt. Dingyuan, you would’ve all been in deep trouble!”

Zhou Yinglong cursed out loud: “What deep trouble? As soon as I heard that Mt. Dingyuan was sealed, I knew the Zong Consortium had such a move up their sleeves. We already relocated the FOB. Their howitzers would never reach us at all. Our FOB is about 80 kilometers away from Mt. Dingyuan, so what are they going to hit us with?”

Ren Xiaosu was somewhat relieved when he heard Zhou Yinglong’s loud voice coming from the radio. Before this, he was wondering whether Fortress 178 would foresee this cheap move by the Zong Consortium. If they didn’t, Fortress 178 really wouldn’t live up to its great reputation at fighting wars.

However, even a battalion commander like Zhou Yinglong seemed to have a keen situational awareness. Fortress 178 was truly worthy of its reputation.

Ren Xiaosu clearly knew he was still deeply ignorant of military knowledge as compared to Zhou Yinglong. He only realized there were long-range howitzers on Mt. Dingyuan after overhearing the spy’s conversation with the Qing Consortium.

Zhou Yinglong’s voice eased up a little. “How many of our people were sacrificed or wounded?”

Zhang Xiaoman replied, “Battalion Commander, only seven people were wounded, and no one died.”

On the other end of the call, Zhou Yinglong fell silent for a while. Then he asked, “How many bandits did y’all wipe out?”

Zhang Xiaoman said calmly, “We killed 927 enemies, of which 131 are suspected to be the Zong Consortium’s regulars!” Behind that tone was a hint of smugness.

Zhou Yinglong knew well what the Razor Sharp Company was capable of. Under normal circumstances, he would not be surprised if the entire Razor Sharp Company perished while attacking Mt. Dingyuan.

Zhou Yinglong understood very quickly. He instinctively questioned, “Is the Ren Xiaosu assigned by the commander really that capable?!”

Ren Xiaosu had already walked away. Zhang Xiaoman looked at Ren Xiaosu as he sat alone in the ruins and rested in the distance. After ending the conversation, he walked over to the ruins. Then he sat down next to Ren Xiaosu and asked, “What are you fighting so hard for?”

Ren Xiaosu could clearly have attacked Mt. Dingyuan with them after the mortars had taken out the heavy machine gun positions. However, this young man chose to take the risk of climbing up the mountain with his bare hands and launching an attack on the entire bandit camp all by himself.

Ren Xiaosu smiled and said, “Doing this can help reduce your casualties.”

Zhang Xiaoman said, “But people always die in battle. Sometimes when walking on the road, enemies hiding in the forest and bushes will suddenly pull the triggers of their machine guns and turn your comrades around you into blood-drenched sieves. It’s also possible that an artillery shell could suddenly land at your feet and blow up your legs, ripping your internal organs in the process. The battlefield’s a place where we have to put our trust in fate. Everything lies with fate. No one can control it.”

Ren Xiaosu thought for a moment and said, “How can we know if we don’t try?”

Zhang Xiaoman was stunned. He realized the reason why Ren Xiaosu was pushing so hard was because he really wanted everyone to stay alive.

But this was war! How could there be no casualties in a company tasked to overcome all difficulties? Unless a miracle happened!