The First Order

Hope was always such a beautiful thing, and the mindset of the Razor Sharp Company was very simple. Wasn’t it just crippling the Zong Consortium’s mechanized troops from the perspective of cutting off their fuel?

However, reality was cruel. They were in an unfamiliar place and did not even know where the oil refineries were located.

When they found some refugees to ask for directions, the refugees answered all their questions enthusiastically. Furthermore, the refugees promised to keep it a secret.

But when the Razor Sharp Company arrived at the oil refinery and discovered that it was only a factory producing canola oil for cooking with, they were shocked!

After attacking three factories in a single day, they did not even come across one proper crude oil refinery and were exhausted to death. In the end, Ren Xiaosu was forced to bring everyone back to the uninhabited wilderness to figure out their next steps.

And so, the plan to attack the crude oil refineries was abandoned. They had already attacked three oil refineries, after all, so the Zong Consortium would easily figure out what the Razor Sharp Company was up to. As such, the actual crude oil refineries would most likely be heavily guarded by now.

“Then what should we do?” Jiao Xiaochen asked while smearing some cooking oil they had stolen onto a fish for grilling.

Actually, what Ren Xiaosu and the others did not know was that if they had taken the steam locomotive and headed straight to Stronghold 144 before the 131st Brigade arrived, they might have been able to destroy the Zong Consortium’s granary.

After all, half of the garrison infantry regiment’s troops had already been wiped out in their previous skirmishes, and a further three of their regimental commanders were killed one after the other, including a deputy commander who fled from his position. The remaining troops had fallen into disarray without a leader.

If they really launched an attack on the stronghold, the enemy might not be able to organize an effective defense against them.

Unfortunately, their intel was outdated. They still did not know they had already killed three of the 1237th Regiment’s commanders.

“Then let’s just destroy some of their factories as and when we encounter them.” Zhang Xiaoman said, “Didn’t we say that we could learn from the Qing Consortium’s tactics? They just destroyed whatever installations they came across and wiped out the entire Yang Consortium’s industry as a result.”

Jiao Xiaochen said, rolling his eyes, “Can we compare to the Qing Consortium? They had over a 1,000 troops to fight their enemy.”

Ren Xiaosu was not participating in the discussion with the Razor Sharp Company because he knew it would be very difficult for them to come to a conclusion. It was better for the Razor Sharp Company to not have any plans at all. By doing so, the enemy would not be able to sense a pattern in their attacks, and that would prevent them from being caught in a meticulously planned ambush.

On top of that, he was also wondering about the whereabouts of Zong Cheng at this moment. He had heard that Zong Cheng was in charge of the garrison troops at the Zong Consortium’s main stronghold. Luo Lan even disdainfully said that the garrison troops were where the family members of the Zong Consortium got posted.

Ren Xiaosu looked at Zhang Xiaoman. “Where’s the Zong Consortium’s HQ?”

“In Stronghold 146. It’s about 400 kilometers away from here.” Zhang Xiaoman said in surprise, “Xiaosu, don’t tell me you’re thinking of attacking their headquarters? We don’t have enough people for that. There should be at least a brigade garrisoned at Stronghold 146 right now. It’s their headquarters, after all, so it’ll definitely be different there.”

“I’m not.” Ren Xiaosu shook his head. “I was just asking.”

He kept pondering this. That was a whole brigade they were talking about. It seemed like he could only wait for Fortress 178 to join up with them here before they could attack the Zong Consortium’s main stronghold together. Otherwise, he would be seeking an early death if he led the Razor Sharp Company in by himself.

But at this moment, the sound of armored vehicles could be heard out in the distance again. It sounded like the armored brigade that was chasing after them had caught up.

Ren Xiaosu frowned. “How did they manage to find us?”

“I don’t know.” Zhang Xiaoman was a little confused. By rights, they should not have left any tracks when they left their previous campsite today.

“Let’s not worry about that for now. That armored brigade can’t move as fast as us. We can discuss that after we get away from here.”

But just as they were about to leave, a young man suddenly walked over alone from afar with a knife in his hand. He looked at Ren Xiaosu and the others and, with a smile, said loudly, “I’ve finally found you people—”.

Before he could finish speaking, Zhang Xiaoman reacted in double-quick time and started firing at him.

But to everyone’s surprise, when the bullets arrived in front of the young man, a glow resembling a yellow honeycomb structure appeared and blocked the bullets.

“Why can’t you let me finish speaking? That’s so rude.” The young man shook his head and said with a smile while looking calm and collected, “One of you here should be Xu Xianchu, right? And which one of you might that be?”

Right at this moment, a bright yellow glow suddenly appeared again behind the young man like an impregnable stronghold. But this time, the young man looked down in astonishment as the black tip of a blade emerged through his chest. Blood was flowing out from it as well. With that, he could no longer say another word.

Then Ren Xiaosu put the black saber away and closed the Shadow Door. He asked, “Who the fuck are you?”

The young man slumped to the ground as the aura around him faded away.

Zhang Xiaoman replied, “He’s probably a supernatural being from the Zong Consortium. Why does he look and seem kinda idiotic?”

Ren Xiaosu’s expression changed. When they were making their way through the mountains to the Beiwan River, someone had seen his shadow clone. That was probably how the enemy determined that Xu Xianchu was among their company.

He couldn’t allow this supernatural being to continue rambling. Otherwise, his secret would be exposed. Zhang Xiaoman and the others had still not seen his shadow clone yet. Thus, he went straight for the kill. But Ren Xiaosu had not expected him to die so easily.

Ren Xiaosu also knew that the overall quality of supernatural beings in these times was quite inconsistent. Not everyone had combat experience, and some of them could even be quite arrogant too. Yang Xiaojin had told him that a supernatural being in the Central Plains had immediately announced that they were going to rule over the entire Central Plains after their power was awakened. In the end, that supernatural being was killed in the shooting spree that ensued.

There were also those who said they wanted to protect the peace but ended up getting killed as well.

In any case, there were all kinds of people out there, and not everyone was as careful as Wang Congyang.

However, the supernatural being they met today was exceptionally stupid. Who knew how the Zong Consortium had raised him?

“Forget it, let’s not bother with him anymore. We have to move since our position might’ve been compromised.” Then Ren Xiaosu summoned the steam locomotive for them to get away from here, leaving behind the corpse of the supernatural being alone in the wilderness. The Razor Sharp Company did not even give him another look.

But what Ren Xiaosu did not know was that this supernatural being was actually arrogant for a reason. That was because in the three months since he had been recruited by the Zong Consortium, they had been testing the hardness of his “defense system.” Subsequently, they discovered that he was even able to block artillery shells that were fired at him from reaching his body.

Therefore, the sudden appearance of this supernatural being was actually to stall the group before the armored brigade arrived. If it were anyone else, they might not have been able to keep the Razor Sharp Company from escaping

But to his surprise, there was really nothing that Ren Xiaosu’s black saber could not cut. The palace had said that it was the sharpest weapon of all, and it seemed like it was really not lying. It was definitely the sharpest weapon with nothing else coming close.

Thus, the supernatural being perished.

Ren Xiaosu and the Razor Sharp Company rode the steam locomotive off into the distance again. When Zong Wu, who was pursuing them from behind, saw that they had gotten away again, he cursed angrily, “I thought you all said that the guy was a very powerful supernatural being? Why can’t he even stall the enemy for a while?! Piece of shit!” Then Zong Wu looked at the other supernatural being standing next to him and said, “Are you also a piece of shit?”

That supernatural being’s eyes twitched. “I’m definitely more powerful than him, but my expertise is in locating other supernatural beings, not fighting them. I’ve already sought out so many supernatural beings for the Zong Consortium…”

Zong Wu waved him off impatiently. “Alright, alright, I get it already! So where are they now?”

“My power can only be used three times a day, and I’ve already used it three times today. Furthermore, the effective range cannot exceed a 100 kilometers.”

“And you dare say that you’re not shit.”

Zong Wu was starting to get anxious over his gold, so how could he still be in the mood to play nice with this supernatural being?

When this supernatural being heard that, he got a little annoyed. He did not bring up the doubts he had either. Based on the power of his perception, it was clear that there was only one supernatural being among the enemy. So then, why was everyone saying there were two, or even three of them?

Wasn’t that really strange?