The First Order

It wasn’t until when Lin Qi and the other soldiers noticed a problem with Captain Zhou that they finally realized he might be carrying a wireless charging pack for his nanomachines.

It was precisely because of this equipment that Captain Zhou’s nanomachines were still at full power while everyone else’s nanomachines were close to dying.

In this time of danger, Lin Qi and the others were all hoping to charge their nanomachines as well. If they could, their chances of survival would be higher. So Lin Qi and a few others decided to ask Captain Zhou for his backpack after exchanging looks with each other.

But before they could ask, chaos broke out in the forest behind them. Huge beasts seemed to be moving within it.

“Damn, the wolf pack has caught up!” Captain Zhou shouted, “Run!”

Who could have the chance to say anything at such a time? They could only continue fleeing for their lives!

But when they realized the wolves had caught up to them and were already flanking them, everyone forced themselves to run even faster at the sight of this in fear of getting caught by the wolves.

Several nanosoldiers whose nanomachines were almost dead started falling behind. However, none of their comrades intended to help them.

They just got more and more desperate as they ran, to the point that some even forgot they had guns they could use to protect themselves with from the wolves’ attacks.

Ren Xiaosu hid somewhere on the hillside and watched, sighing. The Li Consortium had indeed sent them out here to die. If this group of nanosoldiers were made up of the Li Consortium’s combat troops, there would have at least been some order even if they were retreating, not a total rout like what was happening

At the end of the day, these were just normal people who happened to be able to control the nanomachines.

Some of them might not even have willpower on par with most people.

However, Ren Xiaosu was actually more curious about what an elite nanosoldier of the Li Consortium was like.

“Eh?” Ren Xiaosu noticed something different about Captain Zhou. He discovered the power of his nanomachines did not seem to be weakening.

Why was that?

A moment later, the wolves suddenly converged from both flanks for the attack. They forcefully separated the group of fleeing nanosoldiers in two. Only now did the nanosoldiers who were under attack finally remember that they were still carrying guns. They immediately thought to shoot the wolves. But they turned out to be so stupid they even forgot how to disengage the safety on their guns!

Some of them drew their sabers from their waists. The sword was a melee weapon the Li Consortium had specially issued the nanosoldiers so they could make use of their superstrength when it became necessary.

To these nanosoldiers, a sword was far more useful than a gun when the battle became a close quarters fight.

Ren Xiaosu looked at the saber in their hands from nearby and saw the blade was orange. However, the edge of the blade was silver just like the nanomachines.

When the blade was swung at the wolves, the silver edge of the blade pulsed and felt like a ripple spreading outwards.

Ren Xiaosu wondered if the edge was also composed of nanomachines.

When one of the soldiers’ sabers cut into a wolf’s body, that wolf’s abdomen was split open like it encountered a burning blade!

When the wolf pack saw the power of this weapon, they stopped pushing for a frontal assault. Rather, they went in from behind to sneak attack!

Captain Zhou, Lin Qi, and the others did not even turn around and continued fleeing for their lives. If they didn’t think of something, they would die as well. This was also the case for Captain Zhou whose nanomachines were still at full power as he wouldn’t be able to outrun the wolves!

“Who has the cluster grenades? Hand them to me!” Captain Zhou roared. His life dangling by a thread, his commanding voice was even starting to sound a little hoarse.

Someone’s expression changed when he heard that. “But our comrades are still behind us!”

Some people were still firing their guns within the wolf pack. This indicated that some of the people surrounded by the wolves were still alive!

Captain Zhou sneered, “If you want to sympathize with them, go ahead and save them. Otherwise, don’t put on a false front with me. Didn’t we already leave our other comrades behind to escape?”.

No one made a sound. Still, someone could not help but comment, “You’re trying to blow up our comrades.”

“Comrades?” Captain Zhou gave a snort of disgust and said, “You people are not fit to be called my comrades! Our platoon still has ten cluster grenades. Hand them all over.”

With that, a few people took out several grenades from their backpacks.

When Ren Xiaosu saw this from a distance, he looked disturbed. These people had actually brought cluster grenades with them?!

Although the wolves could withstand bullets pretty well, they wouldn’t stand a chance against these grenades. If some of the wolves got blown up, wouldn’t Ren Xiaosu fail his side

quest?

When he thought about that, he ordered his shadow clone into the battlefield. Ren Xiaosu also rushed towards the Wolf King at the back and whisper-shouted, “Stop giving chase! It’s too dangerous!”

The majority of the wolves immediately stopped in their tracks. However, one of the wolves was in bloodlust mode. After biting several of the nanosoldiers dead, it was about to rush forward again. This wolf’s social standing was second only to that of the Wolf King, and Ren Xiaosu often saw it standing guard by the Wolf King as well. It was basically the second-in-command.

As a result, the shadow clone rushed in front of the wolf just as it tried to charge forward. The shadow clone picked it up and ran back to the wolf pack. That wolf got angry and kept roaring frantically. However, the shadow clone did not even care and just carried it away!

The Wolf King’s appearance changed when it saw the shadow clone carrying the wolf. This thing was that strong?!

Captain Zhou and the soldiers pulled the safety pins out of the cluster grenades all at once and were about to throw them at the wolf pack behind them. However, they were shocked to discover the wolves had already stopped in their tracks and were no longer chasing them. In addition, one of the wolves that had been bounding towards them was being carried away in the opposite direction by the corporeal shadow.

Lin Qi and the others were all dumbfounded by the sight. What was the meaning of this? Why had they given up the chase?

And why was that shadow stopping that wolf from charging?

It wasn’t that they were inexperienced and had not seen the world yet, but this sight before them was too ridiculous. Some of the soldiers were looking at the cluster grenades with smoke coming out of them and asked, “Should we still throw them?”

“Throw them!” Captain Zhou then tossed the grenade in his hand at the wolves. If they didn’t, they would blow themselves up.

But by throwing the grenades, they couldn’t even blow up any of the wolves! Had these wolves turned intelligent?

Loud booms thundered through the wilderness of the mountains, and birds scattered into the sky like a spiraling, dark cloud.

The Wolf King silently watched as smoke, branches, and leaves were sent flying by the blasts. It knew about the firearms and explosives humans used and wasn’t all that surprised.

It looked at Ren Xiaosu and nodded its head at him as though to convey its gratitude. If not for Ren Xiaosu stopping them just in time, the wolf pack would probably have suffered major casualties.

But of course, Ren Xiaosu could not say he had interfered only because of the quest. But actually, even without it, Ren Xiaosu would still not have stood by and watched. They were partners, after all.

He looked at the nanosoldiers who had already been killed by the wolf pack. The silvery nanomachines were already starting to seep out from under the skins of the bodies. Ren Xiaosu counted up nine nanosoldiers who’d died from the encirclement by the wolves in what was a fairly efficient attack. It was just a pity that they had allowed Lin Qi and the rest of the soldiers to get away due to the cluster grenades being thrown.