What the adjutant meant was that if they were to report this intel in P5092’s name, P5092 would have to bear all the responsibility should anything go wrong.
In other words, if Ren Xiaosu were just guessing where the emplacements were located, P5092 would have to take all the blame for it.
Honestly, very few high-ranking officers were willing to take such a risk. That was because committing a mistake as serious as this in the war would likely affect their career in the Pyro Company.
But there was nothing he could do about it. The adjutant realized his superior trusted that kid’s word a great deal for some reason.
As his adjutant, what could he do? He could only summarize the intel in a document as per his superior’s instructions. Furthermore, he had to fabricate some details and events so that HQ would believe the authenticity of it.
After the adjutant left, the deputy chief editor of Hope Media, Ji Yi, visited the command tent. P5092 was still very polite towards Ji Yi. He smiled and said, “Mr. Ji, what brings you here?”
“I heard that you just won a battle, so we’d like to do an interview here. If possible, can you reveal some details of this battle? For example, your strategic decisions, the number of barbarians casualties, whether any soldiers performed outstandingly, and other things like that.” As an outsider, Ji Yi did not know Ren Xiaosu had also participated in the battle. He had not seen Ren Xiaosu for the entire day.
P5092 thought for a moment and then said, “Sure, I can tell you every detail of this battle!”
Ji Yi’s eyes lit up. He was afraid this matter would involve military secrets that could not be reported.
However, he heard P5092 say, “This battle was originally meant to scout out the deployment of the barbarians’ emplacements. Due to the fall of Stronghold 176, the barbarians got their hands on some of our Central Plains’ firearms and explosives. These weapons are extremely lethal to our troops. Moreover, in complex terrain like the forest, we would have to pay a very heavy price if we fought against armed barbarians…
“Thus, I entrusted the mission to a highly skilled individual by the name of Ren Xiaosu. He led a recon company into the forest while our infantry brigade took charge of covering the front. I didn’t have much hope for the mission initially, but Ren Xiaosu has surprised the Pyro Company greatly…
“In this battle, it could be said that Ren Xiaosu fought entirely on his own…”
As P5092 spoke, he suddenly noticed that Ji Yi’s expression had become strange. “Mr. Ji, what’s wrong?”
Ji Yi said, “So you’re saying this great victory was all the credit of Ren Xiaosu?”
“Yes.” P5092 nodded and said, “I hope you can spend more time noting his achievements while writing the report.”
In truth, P5092 had an ulterior motive in requesting this. He wanted to expose Ren Xiaosu’s name to the world. Although he still did not know which organization Ren Xiaosu belonged to, if the other party’s superiors were to see this report and see how close Ren Xiaosu had become with the Pyro Company, it would probably be very difficult for Ren Xiaosu to return to his organization, right?
The higher-ups were usually paranoid about such matters, and even the Pyro Company was no exception. P5092 even felt that there was basically no exception to this anywhere in the world.
Therefore, this move of his was the same as how the Great Hoodwinker had forced Wang Yun into a corner. It was a ploy to sow discord!
Moreover, he was openly trying to sow discord. After all, P5092 was praising Ren Xiaosu!
In the end, Ren Xiaosu would only be able to remain at the Pyro Company because of this.
However, P5092’s plan was foiled. When he flipped through the newspaper the next day, there was not a mention of Ren Xiaosu at all. Any references to him were all replaced by “a certain soldier”!
That was not right. Why was it reported like that?!
When P5092 went to look for Ji Yi, he asked puzzledly, “Why didn’t you specify Ren Xiaosu’s name in the report? Shouldn’t he be honored for his contributions?”
Ji Yi shook his head and said, “I’m sorry, but we won’t report anything regarding Ren Xiaosu.”
P5092 was a little taken aback. “Why? Isn’t Hope Media all about reporting the truth? Could it be that the truth surrounding Ren Xiaosu is not the truth? Isn’t that a little against your principles?”
“I’m sorry, but there’s no reason.” Ji Yi sighed and said, “Everything regarding him will not be published. It will only be recorded down in Hope Media’s private archives and labeled as top secret. Those records will only be made known to the public 50 years later.”
P5092 was speechless. He suddenly realized Ren Xiaosu seemed to be a very special existence to Hope Media. The reason Hope Media did not report anything about him was to protect his personal information from being made known to more people!
However, P5092 did not find it a pity. After all, Ren Xiaosu had already said they were going to be one family soon. The instigation of his defection was already progressing great. Even though he could not drive a further wedge between Ren Xiaosu and his organization, the war would still go on for a very long while, so he still had a lot of time to work on it.
…
At the same time, at a campfire in the forest, the commander of the advance guard, Valentin, was furious over the loss of his troops.
At first, they thought it was the Pyro Company’s main forces that had infiltrated the forest and caused such a large number of casualties to their advance guard. But when Ren Xiaosu and the others fled from the forest, they realized there were only a 100 of them!
Just over a 100 people were enough to kill several hundred of them, and what was even more critical was that the other party did not suffer a single casualty!
If the other party had consisted of about a 100 T5 combatants, the barbarians could have accepted it. But the problem was that during the pursuit, they realized the Pyro Company soldiers were only as strong as their standard barbarians. They were not even comparable to the centurions other than a young man who seemed more powerful.
As such, this battle became his disgrace!
The barbarians did not mind losing a battle. If a person who had been fighting battles for so many years could not even accept defeat, that would be too fragile of them. But he could not accept losing to a group of people who were weaker than them!
At this moment, a person in a black robe slowly walked over from the north behind them. Black Robe said in a hoarse voice, “The general has already received news of the defeat at the front lines.”
“How did the general find out?” Valentin sneered. “You’re the one who told on us, right?”
“That’s right, it was me.” Black Robe said calmly, “The general thinks this forest is no longer safe, so he’s ordering you to carry out plan B. I’ve already brought the people here for you, but they’re still behind us at the moment and will only arrive after three hours. If you make another mistake this time, get ready to return to the north where you’ll be made to repair prisons.”
Deep down inside, Valentin really disliked Black Robe. When he heard the words “repair prisons,” he immediately threw the axe beside him at Black Robe angrily. However, Black Robe easily sidestepped and dodged the flying axe.
The axe did not stop moving and shattered a tree trunk.
But while Black Robe managed to dodge the axe, the wind from the throw blew up a corner of his hood. Valentin was stunned. “Wait, didn’t you have gray skin before? Why did it turn so dark?”
Black Robe took a step back and retreated into the shadows. After a while, he gritted his teeth and said, “I got a tan.”
