The First Order

“The snow’s getting even heavier.” Ren Xiaosu sighed as he observed the weather.

“It’s said that it was even colder than this right after The Cataclysm occurred.” Li Qingzheng was panting as he trudged through the snow. “Some of the older people said they had to store enough food to last them the entire winter during those years. If there wasn’t enough food, they would even resort to stocking up with tree roots. No one could go outside in the winter at all.”

The snow in the mountains gradually reached their feet, then their ankles, and finally, their knees.

This heavy snowfall came so fast and unexpectedly that the Divine Arms officer even started to waver on whether they should continue marching. When he looked at his GPS device and saw it was still functioning normally, he felt a little reassured.

However, there was only a narrow dirt road in the mountains, and it was currently covered in snow. Someone who was not careful enough sprained their ankle when they accidentally stepped onto a rock. Fortunately, the sprain was not too serious as the snow was relatively soft.

Ren Xiaosu walked against the blizzard to get to the front of the troops and shouted to the officer of the Divine Arms Battalion, “We can’t walk any further. The snow is too deep for everyone to move.”

But that Divine Arms officer didn’t care. Since the nanomachines in their bodies were constantly providing them with powered assistance, they did not have much difficulty walking in the snow. Besides, the nanomachines’ battery life would definitely be sufficient to support them for the entire way if they were going to slowly walk like this. Moreover, they were carrying wireless chargers on their backs.

The wireless chargers were standard issue for the combat troops of the Divine Arms Battalion and had to be carried around during a war.

Awhile ago, the Divine Arms officer was adamant about marching even though it was snowing heavily. If he suddenly changed his mind, wouldn’t he be embarrassing himself?

One of the other Divine Arms officers said coldly, “If we can’t get to the specified destination on time, are you going to shoulder the responsibility?”

Ren Xiaosu did not bother contending with them and just said, “Have y’all seen how a wolf pack moves in the snow? We need to keep rotating the people at the front to create a trail so that it’ll be much easier for those at the back to walk. It’ll be easier to advance if every platoon takes turns creating a path in the

snow!”

After hearing this, the Divine Arms officers turned around and looked at the exhausted private soldiers behind them.

The officers looked at one another until one of them said, “We’ll do as you described. Every platoon is to walk at the front for 15 minutes each. No one is allowed to slack off!”

After the order was passed down, the entire group of marching troops went from moving in a swarm to forming a single long and narrow file in the snow.

Ren Xiaosu heaved a sigh of relief. By doing this, it would at least relieve some of their burdens and help the troops march in a more orderly fashion.

Suddenly, the voice from the palace in his mind said, “Quest: Help your comrades who have fallen behind keep up with the troops.”

This quest dumbfounded Ren Xiaosu as no one had fallen behind yet. Besides, these bastards had betrayed him before, so why should he help them?

All of a sudden, Ren Xiaosu saw someone in the troops behind him run off towards the mountain. He knew something was not right. This was a deserter who could no longer bear it and was trying to run away!

Before now, Liu Taiyu had the support of the reinforced company to help him oversee the private troops and prevent anyone from becoming deserters. But now that Liu Taiyu was in a coma, the soldiers of the reinforced company couldn’t care less about maintaining order. Furthermore, they still had to take turns carrying Liu Taiyu. Ren Xiaosu felt that these people might even abandon him along the way and become deserters themselves.

As Ren Xiaosu watched that man run off to the nearby mountains, he could only think of one thing. ‘Would a deserter count as someone who’s fallen behind?’

Of course it fucking would!

A lot of people noticed that deserter as well. Before the others felt tempted to follow suit, they saw Ren Xiaosu dash over. His speed in the snow was unhindered and as fast as running on flat ground!

Within half a minute, Ren Xiaosu caught the deserter and even took his weapons away from him.

As Ren Xiaosu dragged this deserter back by his legs, he earnestly tried to comfort him. “It’s not safe in the mountains. What if something happens to you after you’ve escaped into the mountains?”

The deserter was in despair. “I won’t try to escape anymore, so please let go of me. I’ll stand up and walk by myself!”

A deep trail was carved out in the snow when Ren Xiaosu dragged the deserter back by his legs. Actually, Ren Xiaosu had not meant to get rough with him. Although the deserter had outed him yesterday, it wasn’t worthwhile for Ren Xiaosu to do anything to him.

And there was nothing wrong with being a deserter either. All the soldier wanted was to live!

So Ren Xiaosu only took away the deserter’s weapons when he caught him and did not hit him at all.

But was Ren Xiaosu in the wrong for wanting to complete his quest? He wasn’t in the wrong either!

There was another point that Ren Xiaosu was not lying about. If anyone ventured into the mountains alone in such heavy snowfall, they would die. At the very least, he would never have ventured into the mountains during a violent blizzard.

Ren Xiaosu said to the others, “Everyone, keep walking. Don’t be a deserter, ya hear me!”

Then Ren Xiaosu went over to the reinforced company and said, “Although the Iron Second’s commander is in a coma, y’all have to assume your duties, understand?”

The soldiers of the reinforced company who were carrying Liu Taiyu were a little dumbfounded. Why had this refugee taken control of them?

Ren Xiaosu looked at the Divine Arms officer and said, “If anyone escapes at this time and your plans get discovered by enemy troops, all that you’ve done up til now will have been for naught.”

The Divine Arms officer also thought what he said was true. They turned to the reinforced company’s soldiers and said, “Go keep an eye on the troops. If anyone attempts to desert, shoot them on the spot!”

Li Qingzheng looked at Ren Xiaosu’s back and said with emotion, “Although I don’t know what our platoon commander is up to, his ability to sway people is amazing.”

But at this moment, someone in the troops suddenly fell down in the snow looking utterly exhausted. The people who passed by did not even bother looking at him. Even his comrades from the same platoon were not planning on helping him.

Ren Xiaosu gave a mental sigh. He had thought his quest would be completed after he had caught the deserter, but he had not expected this quest to turn out more difficult than the ones he had before.

Before he could finish lamenting, another person in the troops fainted.

These people were not pretending. After all, the Divine Arms Battalion had just given the order that if anyone deliberately tried to delay the mission, they would be shot.

Ren Xiaosu walked over and fireman-carried the man who had fainted. He said to Chen Wudi, “I guess we’re helping people in need. Piggyback the other person and walk ahead.”

Ren Xiaosu had been waiting for the palace to confirm that he had completed the quest, but it did not say anything even after a long time.

However, Chen Wudi appeared to be quite happy. Doing good deeds together and being a hero with his master felt quite good and fun to him.

After a while, Chen Wudi was even carrying two people on his shoulders. Ren Xiaosu could only explain to the others that his friend was born with great strength.

Although it was rare to see people who could carry two people at once, quite a few refugees at the coal mines outside the stronghold could do it, so it was still explainable.

But if he carried more than that, Ren Xiaosu would probably not be able to explain it.

When the lead officer of the Divine Arms Battalion saw this, he said in surprise, “The Office of Special Investigations is really doing all it can just to guard against spies. No wonder all the other fighting forces in the military are afraid of them!”