The First Order

Although Mt. Dingyuan was not tall, its terrain was extremely dangerous. The back of the mountain was not scalable at all with its 700-meter-steep cliff. If they wanted to storm the mountain, there was only one way to go.

Even Ren Xiaosu couldn’t scale to the top with his own bare hands. However, he had his shadow clone with him.

It was not that he was a daredevil for trying to attack from the rear by himself, but that he did not really wish to reveal his shadow clone in front of Zhang Xiaoman and the others.

If Zhang Xiaoman and the others knew he had a shadow clone similar to Old Xu’s, a lot of things would probably come to light. This was something Ren Xiaosu had still not figured out how to explain to Xu Xianchu.

How should he explain things to Old Xu when the time came? Maybe he could just deny any knowledge of the black cauldron’s origins and convince him not to think too much into

it.

At this moment, the shadow clone was climbing up the face of the mountain while carrying Ren Xiaosu on its back. One of the greatest advantages of the shadow clone was that it would not get tired at all.

If Ren Xiaosu tried to climb the mountain on his own, he might not have any strength left to fight even if he could reach the top.

His current fitness was only a little more than three times that of normal people’s, so he was still not that tough. But it was different for the shadow clone.

If every supernatural beings’ control of their superpowers were dependent on their “mental strength,” then Ren Xiaosu had never really experienced the limit of his willpower before, and neither did he know what his limits were.

The shadow clone used the two black sabers as anchors as it climbed up the cliff. The black saber was so sharp it could pierce into the cliff easily, but the only thing was that the sabers had to be thrust in laterally. Otherwise, if the saber penetrated into the mountain blade down, the weight of the shadow clone and Ren Xiaosu would cause the black sabers to cut through the stone face like tofu.

Ren Xiaosu had discussed with Zhang Xiaoman’s group to take action six hours after he started scaling the mountain. But in reality, he was a little ahead of time after moving much faster than he had predicted.

When Ren Xiaosu poked his head up on the top of the cliff, he saw a campfire burning in the distance in an open space of the bandit lair on Mt. Dingyuan. Some people were sitting next to the campfire holding guns while keeping a lookout. But no one was keeping watch on the back of the mountain. It looked like the bandits never expected anyone to be so brave to actually scale the face of the mountain.

Ren Xiaosu did not put away his shadow clone but manipulated it to do a quick survey of the surrounding terrain. Meanwhile, he moved quietly in the shadows.

As there were about 900 bandits on Mt. Dingyuan, Ren Xiaosu could not possibly attack them head on. If he still had his full set of armor, he could’ve easily taken Mt. Dingyuan by himself without the help of Zhang Xiaoman and the others.

But unfortunately, 80% of his nanomachines were destroyed in that battle. And now, he only had enough to barely protect his vitals.

He wondered if he would encounter the Yang Consortium’s nanosoldiers in the future. However, Ren Xiaosu did not really want to lay a finger on the Yang Consortium’s people. It would be quite good if some of the Li Consortium’s 1,500 nanosoldiers who attacked Stronghold 88 had survived.

Of course, Ren Xiaosu was aware that this was just a passing thought. He knew that neither the Yang Consortium nor the Li Consortium’s nanosoldiers would come north.

The shadow clone had already crept into one of the barracks and slit the necks of two sleeping bandits with its black saber.

Everything was carried out quietly. There were only 12 people to a room in the barracks of the bandit lair, and it only took 20 seconds for the shadow clone to kill everyone in the room.

However, Ren Xiaosu knew he could not use this method too many times since accidents would definitely happen.

All of a sudden, he heard someone speaking in a low voice. After searching for some time, he still could not locate where the sound was coming from. Finally, Ren Xiaosu’s gaze settled at a latrine.

It was a pit latrine surrounded by a brick wall with only a broken wooden door covering the front, and the metallic hook for locking the wooden door seemed broken as well. The person in the outhouse even had to stretch his arm out and hold the wooden door to prevent it from opening.

It looked like someone inside was watching the outside through a small hole in the door. If any bandit walked over, this person would see them through the hole.

But it was different for Ren Xiaosu since he had arrived from the back of the mountain.

Ren Xiaosu quietly walked up to the outhouse and listened in on the person inside who was whispering, “Boss, I really can’t stay on Mt. Dingyuan any longer. They’ve even sealed the path. Someone said Mt. Guan was taken by Fortress 178. The Zong Consortium has hidden two 52 caliber/155 mm howitzers with a firing range of more than 50 kilometers on this mountain. This weapon was phased out of the Zong Consortium’s arsenal and placed here at the bandit lair after they calculated the target’s strike location. I’m guessing they’ll use it to launch a surprise attack on Fortress 178’s FOB.”

The person inside continued, “Boss, if the Zong Consortium uses the howitzers, I’m afraid Fortress 178 will raze Mt. Dingyuan to the ground. If I continue to stay here, wouldn’t I have to die along with them?! OK, OK, thank you, Boss. I’ll head down the mountain tonight. Do you think we should inform Fortress 178 about the situation on Mt. Dingyuan?”

“Alright, I’ll make a trip to their military base and inform them. We can’t let the Zong Consortium do whatever they want! We have to prevent them from ruining our battle plans in the South!”

Ren Xiaosu was listening to everything from the outside. It sounded like the “bandit spy” inside the outhouse was contacting someone with a remote communications device and reporting about the situation at Mt. Dingyuan.

The two bandits had said there were some secret supplies transported up the mountain covered with tarps and that no one knew what they were. Those were probably the howitzers the spy was referring to, right?

An effective firing range of more than 50 kilometers could really be called terrifying. Ren Xiaosu remembered Zhang Xiaoman said the forward operating base to the north was only about 40 kilometers from Mt. Dingyuan, and that it was the most suitable place to establish a forward operating base.

The Zong Consortium wasn’t stupid. They were planning on dealing a severe blow to Fortress 178 with the two howitzers that had been phased out of their arsenal. Although these two howitzers might not be that significant, they could still throw Fortress 178’s plan into disarray and intimidate their military.

Based on Zhou Yinglong’s plan, the forward operating base would be in deep trouble if the Razor Sharp Company only surrounded Mt. Dingyuan.

Was Zhou Yinglong prepared for this? Ren Xiaosu was unsure.

However, this person in the outhouse should be from the Qing Consortium, right? There were only the Qing Consortium and the Yang Consortium left in the South. The Qing Consortium was probably the only organization that could send someone here to Mt. Dingyuan to act as a bandit for such a prolonged period.

At this moment, when the shadow clone broke into another room in the barracks, some bandits were actually still awake. When they saw it, they shouted so loudly that all the bandits on Mt. Dingyuan were jolted

awake!

The person in the outhouse whispered, “Boss, I can’t talk anymore. It sounds like there’s a situation on the mountain!”

While he was still speaking, Ren Xiaosu reached out and pulled open the outhouse door. But he had not expected the person in the outhouse to still be holding onto the door. With one pull, Ren Xiaosu dragged the spy out of the outhouse before he could even pull his pants up…

“Who the fuck!?” That person shouted as he laid on the ground with his butt bare. He was already preparing to pick a fight with Ren Xiaosu without pulling up his pants!

Ren Xiaosu pointed a pistol at the spy. “You’re from the Qing Consortium?”

The spy was not stupid. Looking down the barrel of the gun, he turned obedient. He heard the shouting in the distance, then looked at Ren Xiaosu’s Razor Sharp Company fatigues. “You’re from Fortress 178?”.

For some reason, Ren Xiaosu felt like the spy seemed to be relieved. But before Ren Xiaosu could do anything, the spy smashed the palm-sized communication device in his hand onto the ground with the gun still pointed at his head!