In the command center, P5092 watched quietly as the images and sounds were transmitted back in real time on the screen. He asked his adjutant, “You were also looking at the screen the entire time. Did you notice any barbarians?”
His adjutant shook his head. “No, I didn’t. I wonder how the kid did that. Back when I was carrying out the carpet search in Mt. Dashi, I also fought against the barbarians. They were really tough opponents. But why do I get the feeling that these barbarians are suddenly being absolutely crushed by this kid?”
“Do you feel a sense of familiarity?” P5092 asked.
This feeling was similar to when they were in Mt. Dashi. Although the main forces of the Pyro Company had carried out a carpet search in the mountains, the barbarians were always able to surprise them by hiding in various terrain like they were cheetahs on a hunt.
But ever since Ren Xiaosu appeared, those hunting cheetahs had become the prey. It was as though a real hunter had arrived.
Regardless of how Ren Xiaosu did it, he was always one step ahead of the barbarians.
At this moment, several barbarians were sitting at the entrance of a tent in the depths of the forest. The tent was made of animal skin and looked extremely rugged.
Suddenly, a barbarian emerged from the forest and said to one of them, “Commander Valentin, the enemy’s on our right flank.”
The barbarian named Valentin looked at him. “How many of them?”
“We still haven’t confirmed the numbers yet. The other party encountered our hidden sentries at the front line and caused a huge explosion. But they’ve not made direct contact with our main forces yet,” said the reporting barbarian.
As he watched the flames flickering nonstop in the fire pit in front of him, Valentin said, “Those tricky Central Plains troops are trying to mislead us. The Pyro Company’s main forces are currently holding just outside our front. These enemies on the right flank are probably just a decoy. They’re trying to trick us into splitting up our troops before coming here to steal back the bodies of their Central Plains companions.”
In Valentin’s opinion, their opponent could probably not bear to see their compatriots’ corpses hanging on wooden stakes and had come to take them back.
The Pyro Company had been trying to quickly approach the bodies during their previous few attacks.
However, Valentin was not stupid either. He said to his subordinate next to him, “It’s best to send an elite squad to check on the situation on the right flank. If there aren’t many enemies, just take that decoy out. If there’s a lot of them, we can send an army to encircle them. The wilderness is our home field, after all!”
At this moment, Ren Xiaosu was lying in the bushes on a small hill with the recon company. As the terrain here was generally flat, even the hills were not that high.
Other than Ren Xiaosu, the others were wearing camouflage uniforms and had camouflage paint on their faces. When they lay motionlessly on the ground, it would be difficult for the enemy to detect anyone here from a distance.
T40219 wondered, “Sir, the barbarians have already occupied this forest. I don’t think it’s a good idea to ambush them in their territory. We might get into trouble.”
Ren Xiaosu glanced at him. “This is the ambush spot that I carefully selected. There’s no such rule in this war that only the barbarians can ambush us but we’re not allowed to ambush them. So what if it’s their territory? If we want to gain an upper hand in battle, we have to catch them by surprise and fight them in their territory.”
T40219 hesitated for a long time before finally saying, “But we’re not facing the right direction either. The main forces of the barbarians are behind us….”
The recon company had entered the battlefield from the west side of the forest while the Pyro Company’s main forces exchanged fire with the barbarians from the east where their defensive line was located.
So logically speaking, even if the barbarians were to send more people over, they should be coming from the east of the forest. However, Ren Xiaosu insisted on keeping a lookout on the west side.
Ren Xiaosu could not care to explain too much. “Just wait and see.”
The reason he chose this direction was entirely based on the terrain. He had just taken a huge detour with the recon company in the forest earlier before deciding to set up an ambush here.
There were certain factors like the wind direction and the layout of the surroundings that affected his decision. More importantly, it was based on a hunter’s judgment.
Felines liked to sneak up on their enemies from behind. And so did hunters.
However, Ren Xiaosu felt it would be too troublesome to explain this to T40219. So he might as well let the outcome speak for itself. And if he explained it quite logically but the barbarians did not appear in the end, wouldn’t that be very embarrassing?
So it was still necessary to maintain a certain sense of mysteriousness.
T40219 was speechless for a long time. But 20 minutes later, he actually saw some figures moving on the west side of the forest, and they were slowly approaching them as well.
Everyone, including all the staff officers and commanders in the command center were surprised. They did not expect the enemies would really appear behind them. No one knew where they had skirted around them from.
But what surprised them even more was why that young man’s judgment was so accurate.
P5092 thought that if not for the fact he knew about Ren Xiaosu’s superpower, which was to materialize the black medicine, he would almost think the young man could predict the future!
Ren Xiaosu lowered his voice and ordered over the radio, “Follow the same firing formation as earlier. Pay attention to my hand signals for directions. Three of you, aim your weapons at my 1 o’clock, and the other three, aim at my 3 o’clock. After firing, the rest of you follow me and take out any remaining enemies. There ain’t that many of them!”
After that, he began to wait patiently. The barbarians were advancing very quickly. It was as though they were not expecting that someone would turn around to ambush them!
Ren Xiaosu started counting down in his mind. “10, 9, 8…”
The moment he counted to one, he said, “Fire.”
With a few muffled bangs, Ren Xiaosu almost darted out together with the launching of the grenades. When the barbarians saw someone suddenly rushing out, they raised their huge axes. But before they could throw their weapons at Ren Xiaosu, the grenades exploded next to them.
The recon company followed Ren Xiaosu and started taking out the remaining enemies on the battlefield. A barbarian was shouting in pain within the smoke and saying something very long. It seemed like he was calling for reinforcements.
T40219 reacted very quickly. He immediately sent out two platoons to establish a firing line on both flanks in case barbarian reinforcements suddenly appeared.
But after waiting for a long while, he still could not see any of the barbarians’ reinforcements arriving.
Inside the forest in the distance, Old Xu was standing next to a pile of corpses with its black saber still dripping with blood.
When the battle concluded, or to be precise, when Ren Xiaosu was done killing, a soldier of the recon company muttered, “No wonder the commander sent him to lead the troops. Previously, we still thought the commander—”
T40219 started panicking as whatever they said on the radio would be transmitted back to the command center in real time. Wasn’t this as good as doubting the commander’s decision? He hurriedly said, “All combat units, maintain radio silence!”
But it was too late. The soldier’s words had already been relayed back to the command center.
However, P5092 was not angry. Instead, he revealed a smile. If he could get an expert like Ren Xiaosu to defect to his side successfully, that would make him even stronger in the war against the barbarians!
