The First Order

Qing Yun looked at Qing Zhen. “I hope you can understand that I’m the commanding officer here. You can offer advice, but don’t think you’re the only smart one at the command

post.”

Qing Zhen glanced at Qing Yun, startled. “I never claimed I was the only smart one around. Luo Lan is also quite smart as well.”

Luo Lan was awoken by the noise. He asked sleepily, “What? What’d you say?”

Qing Zhen smiled and said, “I was saying that other than you and me, everyone else in this command post is stupid.”

Luo Lan sat bolt upright. “Qing Zhen is right!”

Qing Yun’s face grew ugly in an instant. “Smartass. But aren’t you still just a prisoner?”

But as soon as he finished speaking, Qing Zhen smiled at him and said. “If you’re allowed to continue being the commanding officer here, the Qing Consortium will be done for. With immediate effect, I shall take over command of all the fighting forces on the front lines. Secretary Zhou, you can go back and tell those old fogies to wait until after the war has ended if they have any opinions on this.”

As his voice trailed off, the second-in-command next to Qing Yun suddenly unholstered his pistol and pulled the trigger while pointing it at Qing Yun’s head.

The gunshot was so loud that the other officers in the tent nearly screamed in fright! However, their screams didn’t even make it out of their mouths before they swallowed them down.

Qing Yun’s trusted aides immediately unholstered their pistols to fight back, but they realized five people in the tent had already drawn their pistols at the same time and were pointing them at them!

Everyone in the tent fell silent. At this moment, they remembered the atrocities Qing Zhen had committed in the past.

This was the craziest person of all in the Qing Consortium!

Qing Yun had carefully played his every card on the table to earn the appreciation of the Board.

But he could never have expected that Qing Zhen would just flip the table.

The silent tiger of the Qing Consortium had finally returned to the mountains.

Secretary Zhou was in shock. “Qing Zhen! How dare you murder the commanding officer of the fighting forces? And how dare you plant your people around Qing Yun!”

Qing Zhen grinned and remarked, “Secretary Zhou, I might have planted some of my people around you too.”

Secretary Zhou was so frightened he ran out of the command post and jumped into the off-road vehicle. He did not even dare to take his driver with him and just drove off by himself.

“It’s peaceful again.” Luo Lan stretched and laughed heartily. “So how are we going to fight this war?”

Qing Zhen said, “Let’s straighten out our internal affairs first.” After taking a look at the sand table, he said, “Concentrate the defensive lines and don’t scatter our troops out to Mt. Daping. The recon forces are to continue doing their job on the battlefield to prevent any ambushes by the Li Consortium and the Yang Consortium. Heavy weapons will not be of much use if their usage is restricted to the mountains, and they’re not as good as us when it comes to paving roads. However, we should still be careful of the nanosoldiers these two organizations have.”

Qing Zhen continued giving out instructions. “Although we haven’t seen what a nanosoldier looks like, we’re likely going to be considered a vulnerable target since we’re the only combatant among the three organizations without nanosoldiers. If we reveal any signs of weakness first, this war could get a little tricky. So what we should do now isn’t to invade the others; rather, don’t make any mistakes.”

As this chessboard was too big, only the players that made the least mistakes would last until the end.

Qing Zhen looked at Luo Lan. “I want you to go to the Yang Consortium tomorrow and negotiate with them. Tell them we’ll be eliminating the Li Consortium first.”

Luo Lan nodded, but he heard Qing Zhen say to another person, “I want you to go to the Li Consortium and negotiate with them. Tell them we can help them take out the Yang Consortium’s defenses at Mt. Ping. You’ll have to set off immediately. If you’re successful in the negotiations, I’ll make sure you get recognized for your meritorious service upon returning.”

Although this person was Qing Yun’s trusted aide, Qing Zhen did not kill him and even entrusted him with an important responsibility.

After this person left, Luo Lan lowered his voice and asked curiously, “Why didn’t you have me approach the Li Consortium?”

“Because the Li Consortium is already out of their minds.” Qing Zhen said softly, “Besides, they do have a real lunatic there, so anyone who goes will die.”

Luo Lan finally understood. It turned out Qing Zhen knew right from the start they would not be able to join forces with the Li Consortium. By sending Qing Yun’s trusted aide to the Li Consortium, it was as good as sending him to his death.

Qing Zhen said, “Furthermore, he’s probably scared to the bone right now, so the forces he took with him will definitely be those he trusts most and are likely to be a part of Qing Yun’s inner circle. By sending them to the Li Consortium, the problem will take care of itself.”

Luo Lan’s eyes lit up. “Brilliant!”

Qing Zhen suddenly said with a sigh, “I was wrong just now.”

Luo Lan was taken aback. “What were you wrong about?”

Qing Zhen looked at Luo Lan. “Actually, I’m the only smart one around here. You don’t count.”

Luo Lan was confused.

Then Qing Zhen looked at the other officers and said, “Start thinking about how we should concentrate our defensive lines. I want to see a new strategy in place on the sand table tomorrow morning.”

Someone hesitated for a moment before saying, “An elite troop of soldiers have already been sent to the Li Consortium’s territory. Qing Yun was planning on intercepting the Li Consortium’s Divine Arms Battalion based on the intel they relayed back. This Divine Arms Battalion is being too careless by acting independently without coordinating with their other fighting forces. Therefore, Qing Yun thought this would be an opportunity to nip the threat in the bud.”

Qing Zhen was taken aback. “When did he send our troops out? And where are they now?”

“It’s been a week since they set off. They were headed to the front lines at Mt. Fengyi and Mt. Shuanglong,” that officer said.

Qing Zhen said, “Recall them. There’s no need for such an unnecessary move at this moment.”

That officer hesitated before saying, “I’m afraid it’s too late.”

Ren Xiaosu and the others were trekking in the mountains on foot at this moment. The snow on the ground had not melted yet because of the low temperatures in the mountains. It was very difficult for them to march in such conditions, yet it started snowing yet again.

Sniffing back mucus, Li Qingzheng said, “If I knew it would be like this, I would’ve gone into hiding back then. I thought I could enjoy my days after joining the private army, but life now is even worse than before…. I really miss the days when we were at the outpost where we led a carefree life!”

Next to him, a soldier from another platoon asked curiously, “Was it very comfortable at the outpost for y’all? Why did it feel so miserable for us?”

Li Qingzheng immediately shut his mouth after hearing someone else chip in with this question. He couldn’t possibly tell them they had wolves sending all that game to them at their outpost, right?

As the snowstorm got heavier, Ren Xiaosu looked up at the sky. “When snowfall becomes this heavy in the wilderness of the mountains, it tends to keep snowing for at least a week. We can’t march any further. I’m afraid that if we keep moving, we’ll end up losing our way.”

The Divine Arms officer in front turned around and said, “What’s there to be afraid of? We’re equipped with GPS devices, so we won’t lose our way! Everyone is to obey our orders right now! We’re going to keep marching forward!”

After Liu Taiyu, the commander of the Iron Second Battalion, was punched and kicked, he fell into a coma and then started running a high fever. Without him, no one in the Iron Second could call the shots. So everyone had no choice but to follow the Divine Arms Battalion’s orders and continue marching.

Although Ren Xiaosu’s identity was very unique, the soldiers from the Divine Arms Battalion had spoken to him about this before. If their plans were affected, no one would be able to bear the consequences. In such situations, even being a member of the Office of Special Investigations would not allow him to violate this military order. For a moment, Ren Xiaosu even wanted to convince himself that since he had already infringed on the Custom Division’s authority by investigating smuggling, it wouldn’t be a big deal if he also took over the role of the Divine Arms Battalion.

However, this was still not the right time.