The First Order

After the armored brigade continued to rumble their way towards the Central Plains, Zhang Xiaoman muttered, “That’s strange, why are they headed in that direction? Doesn’t that road lead to the Central Plains?”

“Could they have some other plans?”

“Is it possible that they’re fleeing?”

“That can’t be, right? Hasn’t the Zong Consortium gained the upper hand in the war? So why would they suddenly need to flee?”

The Razor Sharp Company’s soldiers could not figure out what was going on. But after the armored brigade advanced dozens of kilometers further, it was suddenly stopped by a smiling young man who was none other than Li Shentan.

Zong Wu, the commander of the 131st Brigade, shouted into the radio, “Run him over! Whoever that is, just go over him!”

But when the armored brigade was about to collide into Li Shentan, he suddenly raised his right hand and a turbulent “wave” rippled through the ground as an earthen wall suddenly got pulled up. The armored brigade could only stomp on the brakes and come to a quick stop. If they hadn’t, some of the armored vehicles and tanks could’ve been destroyed if they had collided into the thick earthen wall.

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Li Shentan said with a smile, “To think that I was worried that I wouldn’t be of much help to Ren Xiaosu. Who could’ve guessed that an armored brigade would suddenly show up at our doorstep?”

“Are you going to hypnotize them?” Si Liren asked.

“Of course,” Li Shentan said with a smile.

“Do we need to make them come out of the armored vehicles? How are you going to hypnotize them if they remain inside?” Si Liren wondered.

“Sound can be used for hypnotizing people as well. Everything in this world can act as a medium for hypnotism.” Then Li Shentan picked up a small stone and flicked it with his fingers. The stone bounced off a tank and produced a ringing sound.

It was a strange sound that felt like an intimidating force that could shake the hearts of people. Then the faces of the armored brigade’s troops turned blank.

But even a powerful supernatural being like Li Shentan found this a little strenuous on himself. It seemed that this was his limit.

Li Shentan calmed himself down and spoke to the armored brigade, “Where is your brigade commander? Step forward.” Zong Wu walked out of an armored vehicle and stood in front of Li Shentan in a trance.

A ways away, Hu Shuo happened to emerge from the forest. “Little Liren, look what I brought for you. Haha, I found a watermelon

patch.”

As it was summer, the harvesting season for melons had arrived. However, Hu Shuo was stunned when he saw the armored brigade in front of Li Shentan.

Little Liren’s eyes lit up. “Grandpa Hu Shuo is amazing.”

Li Shentan glanced at both of them before turning back to face the armored brigade. He said calmly, “After you hear a finger snap, you’ll head to Stronghold 146 and launch an attack there. Remember, you’re to only kill the Zong Consortium’s people after breaking into the stronghold, and you will neither resort to deploying your mechanized equipment nor killing the innocent indiscriminately.”

With a snap of his fingers, the armored brigade turned around and headed straight in the direction of Stronghold 146.

Hu Shuo said curiously next to him, “Looks like you’re avoiding killing the innocent this time.”

Li Shentan looked silently at the huge case Si Liren was carrying on her back. “In the past, I used to think that I was always right. I felt that whoever was in my shoes would also act with no qualms like I did.”

“Then what about now?” Hu Shuo said with a smile.

Li Shentan sighed and said, “Some people are like a blazing torch. Even after they’ve stopped burning, they’ve still affected us a little.”

“But I’m a little curious. Why do you choose to stay here and not head to the Zong Consortium personally?” Hu Shuo asked, “If you go there, can’t you help them even more?”

Li Shentan took a watermelon from Hu Shuo and said with a smile, “Let’s not talk about that anymore and just enjoy the watermelons.”

Earlier, when the Razor Sharp Company watched the armored brigade rumble off into the distance, they climbed out of the gully and continued heading towards the interior of the Zong Consortium’s territory. But before they could get far, they heard the rumbling of the armored vehicles again. Zhang Xiaoman’s mood soured as he led everyone to crawl back into a gully again. The Razor Sharp Company was speechless by now. What was this armored brigade doing by going back and forth? Were they playing games? Were they done yet?

But this time, the armored brigade was moving much faster than before, like they were in a hurry to get somewhere. The Razor Sharp Company was utterly confused by this and felt that something was amiss.

The battle at Mt. Wuchuan had already been going on for an extended period as the battle between Fortress 178 and the Zong Consortium went back and forth in this vast mountain range. The ferocity of the battle was vividly reflected here.

In order to capture Position 129, half of Zhou Yinglong’s Forward Strike Battalion had been sacrificed, with this position alone changing hands more than 20 times!

Zong Ying had just evaded getting punished by the Board and was no longer holding out hope for getting so lucky again. So he transferred all of that pressure onto the generals under his command, ordering them to defend the position until the troops in the Gobi arrived at Fortress 178. Even if they had to fight to the death, they would have to defend their position!

As for Fortress 178, there was actually no other way out for them anymore. Not only that, but everyone also knew that Fortress 178 was facing imminent danger. Therefore, almost all of their troops were so enraged that it seemed like they had gone mad!

Zhou Yinglong had not gotten any sleep for the past two days and two nights. Position 129 proved much more difficult to take than he had imagined. Almost every time they won the position, it was due to his superpower that they pulled it off.

A huge, gray boar appeared again at Zhou Yinglong’s side and charged at Position 129. The wild boar was so tough it did not even fear the heavy machine guns firing at it.

But Zhou Yinglong was not Ren Xiaosu. Each time he used his superpower, there was a time limit for it. The past two days had exhausted him mentally many times, leaving his eyes deeply sunken like he was at death’s door.

The commander of Second Company advised him, “Battalion Commander, do rest a bit more. If you carry on like this, I’m afraid you won’t hold out for much longer.”

But Zhou Yinglong retorted, “If we don’t hold Position 129, how will our armored brigade pass through Pass 177 safely? It’s not that I don’t want to rest, but even if you and I have to die here, we must make sure that the enemy cannot target the armored brigade!” Similar battles such as the one happening at Position 129 were taking place throughout Mt. Wuchuan. As multiple infantry brigades advanced in oblique order, they won more and more territory as soldiers got sacrificed one after another.

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But it was only by relying on these soldiers to engage in tug-of-war battles that the armored brigade would have a chance to continue venturing further into the battlefield.

Not only the Forward Strike Battalion, but the Reconnaissance Battalion too had crossed swords many times with the Zong Consortium’s guerrillas in the mountains. As both sides ran through the battlefield, it was as though they were dancing with death on a tightrope every time there was an exchange of fire.

Almost nowhere in the vast Wuchuan Mountain remained in a perfect condition. The soldiers were already exhausted from fighting, but if an officer came up to them and asked for volunteers to storm a certain summit, these exhausted soldiers would immediately step forward to fight to the death.

This was what war was.

Even without the Zong Consortium’s contingency plans, Fortress 178 would still have attacked with the same fortitude to take Mt. Wuchuan. However, Fortress 178 was able to win even more battles than they would have as the soldiers were currently filled with intense rage.

But at this moment, troops from the Intelligence Department of Fortress 178 were quietly surrounding the 103rd Infantry Brigade’s command post. When they arrived at the tent of the command post, the soldiers who were temporarily reorganizing their forces looked at them in surprise. One of them who spotted a familiar comrade asked, “What’s the matter? Why have y’all shown up here all of a sudden?”

As he said that, the infantry brigade’s soldiers gathered and tried to stop the Intelligence Department’s troops from advancing any further.

Although both groups were fighting on the same side, the intelligence agencies of every organization always had a cruel streak to them. So when these intelligence troops descended down to their “territory,” all of the infantry soldiers had an ominous feeling.

The director of the 2nd Military Intelligence Division of the Intelligence Department said coldly, “Get out of the way. We’re here on official duty.”

The soldiers of the 103rd Infantry Brigade thought of stopping them, but they were surprised to see Zhang Jinglin walking towards them alongside Wang Fengyuan, the Intelligence Director, from a distance.

With the appearance of Commander Zhang, the soldiers of the 103rd Infantry Brigade finally gave up any hopes of stopping them and opened up a path. The 2nd Military Intelligence Division’s troops walked into the command post tent and led Brigade Commander Li Xiang out.

Zhang Jinglin looked at Li Xiang and asked, “Why?”