The First Order

Upon reaching the location of the trap, the Office of Special Investigations’ people frowned. They saw the Divine Arms officers tangled up and dead in the vines. “They were attacked by this strange plant after pursuing the rabbit here?”

They had wanted to check their wounds to see if there was anything unusual about the deaths. After all, this was the first time they’d heard of plants attacking humans. At the beginning, they didn’t quite believe it.

But when they saw the brambles, they all believed it as the plant looked savage and ferocious. Furthermore, Ren Xiaosu was controlling the Brambles and moving them in a threatening manner the moment they approached a little. It looked extremely terrifying!

Someone from the Office of Special Investigations said, “You all will continue to encamp here. Do not act without permission.”

After giving those orders, they left. In truth, they did not have a better way of handling this either. They could not go around and question over a 1,000 private troops as that would take too much time and effort.

Furthermore, they were just here to find out the private troops’ location. As for investigating the spy, that would be left for later. Right now, they needed to quickly relay the situation back to the Office of Special Investigations.

Ren Xiaosu looked on as they left. It seemed like the Li Consortium was also aware there was a spy among them, but they didn’t know how to approach the investigation.

After the people from the Office of Special Investigations left, Ren Xiaosu went out at night to meet Tang Zhou as previously agreed. When Ren Xiaosu arrived at the meeting place, he bluntly asked, “Did the Qing Consortium send out any snipers here?”

Tang Zhou was taken back. “No, and we don’t even have a sniper in our troops either.”

“Something is odd.” Ren Xiaosu wondered, “When I went to search for what was left of the Divine Arms Battalion, I discovered roughly several dozen of them killed by the same sniper.”

“Are you exaggerating? There aren’t too many snipers who’re capable of that.” Tang Zhou gave his analysis. “Your friend, Yang Xiaojin, possesses such an ability. Could it be her?”

“Ahem.” Ren Xiaosu said, “It’s probably not her since the bullets aren’t marked as Saboteurs. Are there any even more skilled snipers in the Yang Consortium?”

“No.” Tang Zhou shook his head. But then he remembered something. “Eh, that’s not right. Over a decade ago, there was precisely someone that skilled. Yang Xiaojin probably learned her marksmanship from him too, but I think he’s quite old now. I think he might be Yang Xiaojin’s uncle based on their relationship? He’s no longer as physically able to move around freely as he likes on the battlefield, so I doubt it would be him.”

“Could there be other forces that have joined in the war as well?” Ren Xiaosu wondered.

“Unlikely.” Tang Zhou thought for a while and said, “There’s no reason why other forces would get involved in this war. It’s very difficult for foreign forces to reap any benefits here in our southwestern region. Only the Pyro Company would take advantage of this event to seek out any supernatural beings under the guise of acquiring their blood.”

“Is no one going to do anything about them?” Ren Xiaosu asked.

“Of course they will. The three organizations in the southwestern region have already reached a consensus to kill anyone from the Pyro Company when they encounter them. However, the Pyro Company has resorted to conducting their business secretly and will only distribute leaflets to normal people wherever they can,” Tang Zhou replied.

“Have they caught any supernatural beings yet?” Ren Xiaosu asked curiously.

“There’s a few. Most supernatural beings who have just gained their superpowers haven’t experience a change in their mindsets yet. Since they want to make money, the Pyro Company’s offer is the fastest way for them to get rich.” Tang Zhou said, “The Pyro Company is specifically targeting the sort of person who has just awakened their powers but have zero experience in combat.”

“Alright then.” Ren Xiaosu sighed and said, “I guess there really are idiots like that.”

“But the Pyro Company won’t join the battlefield for sure. They will only hide behind the stronghold walls,” Tang Zhou said.

Ren Xiaosu was starting to feel that it was very likely that Yang Xiaojin was the sniper. Everything but the bullet seemed to suggest it was her who did it.

Although many snipers existed in this world, only a few were capable of killing that many Divine Arms officers.

But what was Yang Xiaojin doing behind enemy lines by herself? Was it just for the sake of destroying the Divine Arms Battalion?

Suddenly, Tang Zhou said, “Mr. Qing Zhen called me to say that he’s sent over a group of Qing Yun’s people as envoys to discuss an alliance with the Li Consortium, and that if you are interested, you can finish them off.”

Ren Xiaosu kept quiet for a long time. So after the Qing Consortium helped him defeat the Divine Arms Battalion, he was supposed to help Qing Zhen get rid of his dissidents in

return?

Ren Xiaosu asked, “Isn’t Qing Yun already dead? Why does he still want to kill this group of people?”

Tang Zhou explained, “After our combat brigade was disbanded, many of our men were assigned to various different forces and ended up getting bullied by Qing Yun’s troops very often. Moreover, the methods they used to push our people around were horribly mean. So Mr. Qing Zhen doesn’t want these people to return to the Qing Consortium’s territory. Even if you don’t want to kill them, Mr. Qing Zhen would still have them killed.”

Ren Xiaosu remarked, “Then just let him kill them.”

“We were thinking the Li Consortium would consider it your merit if you killed them instead. The higher your position in the organization is, the more beneficial it’ll be to all of us,” Tang Zhou said with a smile.

“How many of them are there?” Ren Xiaosu asked.

“400,” Tang Zhou replied.

“Then how am I suppose to fight them?” Ren Xiaosu said in a speechless manner, “Headbutt them? Never mind that our private troops have hardly any combat strength, I’m also not their commander either.”

Tang Zhou suddenly whispered, “Mr. Qing Zhen said that as long as you’re willing, he can help you become the private army’s commander. The management of the private army has always been extremely lax and promotion within is always based on how much one can pay.”

Ren Xiaosu kept getting the feeling that the battlefield was about to get more chaotic. What the hell was even going on anyway?

But it seemed that Qing Zhen already had a high-ranking spy within the Li Consortium who could actually manipulate the appointment and removal of officers within the private troops!

This was not going to be as simple as Tang Zhou had proposed. No matter how lax the management of the troops was, it wouldn’t be possible to simply use money to buy such a high-ranking position. The Qing Consortium had to have a very influential person inside the Li Consortium before he dared to make such boastful claims. At the very least, this person was able to make changes to the private army’s database of officers.

Ren Xiaosu wondered, “Aren’t you afraid that I’ll compromise your secret agent?”

“Mr. Qing Zhen said that you’re much more important than the agent now.” Tang Zhou said, “Of course, we’ll arrange for him to leave the Li Consortium secretly to avoid any potential issues if something happens to you.”

“Alright then.” Ren Xiaosu accepted it reluctantly.

Tang Zhou said, “However, his evacuation is going to be difficult as well. Since the Office of Special Investigations is investigating the spy now, he might not be able to escape.”

Ren Xiaosu reacted with a strange expression. “Why not let me take care of that?”

“What?” Tang Zhou was stunned.

“You might not believe it when I tell you this,” Ren Xiaosu said calmly. “I’ve only told you about my identity as a private soldier. However, I’m actually also a captain in the Office of Special Investigations.”

Tang Zhou was dumbfounded right then and there. Weren’t you supposed to be helping the Yang Consortium collect samples of the nanomachines from the Divine Arms Battalion? How did you become an Office of Special Investigations officer as well?! Could the Yang Consortium have already infiltrated the Office of Special Investigations?!

Ren Xiaosu explained, “I can’t go into too much detail with you as the current state of affairs is a little complicated.”

Honestly, even Ren Xiaosu thought he had too many identities. And the way he got them was very strange as well.