Ren Xiaosu explained patiently to Tang Zhou, “I was conscripted into the private army. On the way here, those bastards from the Divine Arms Battalion suddenly stopped us and demanded to exchange their uniforms with us. They even took the trucks we were traveling in, leaving us with no choice but to trek through the wilderness of the mountains on foot. They’re also making us hurry on with the journey in such heavy snowfall…”
Ren Xiaosu related all that had happened, dumbfounding Tang Zhou. “So it was like that? It seems like the intel we received was wrong. But it’s already a little too late to pursue them now. We’d have to cross several military zones to get to them, but we can’t possibly get past those places.”
“Why do you still want to go there then?” Ren Xiaosu asked puzzledly. “Shouldn’t you already know that even if you manage to intercept the Divine Arms Battalion, you’re unlikely to return alive regardless of whether y’all can emerge victorious against them?”
Tang Zhou said with a serious look, “It’s my duty to obey orders. As frontline soldiers, we can’t have such thoughts. We might not return alive, but as long as it’s for the sake of victory in war…”
Ren Xiaosu sighed. “I can’t understand this sense of belonging that you have, but it isn’t like the Qing Consortium is treating you that well either.”
“No, it would be humiliating for Boss Luo if I suffer a defeat at the front line and news gets out that it was his soldiers who messed up the mission.” Tang Zhou said, “Since they have been confined in Stronghold 111, I have to do well on their behalf.”
“Alright then.” Ren Xiaosu lamented, “It looks like your relationship with Fatty Luo is pretty sincere. But since there’s no way to attack the Divine Arms Battalion, why don’t you just withdraw from here? Go back and talk to the Qing Consortium’s commanding officer. Tell them not to send over any more of the remaining troops to Mt. Fengyi, lest I get hurt.”
Tang Zhou was stunned. “We can’t get in contact with HQ right now. When we came out here, we were prepared to die. If we can’t complete the mission, we won’t have the dignity to go back.”
Ren Xiaosu felt that if there were more people like Tang Zhou in the Qing Consortium, they would probably win any battle they participated in.
Ren Xiaosu asked, “How many people are there in your force?”
“300 or so.” Tang Zhou said, “It wouldn’t be convenient to move around in the mountains if we had too many people. Otherwise, we could easily get discovered by enemies.”
Ren Xiaosu snapped, “Then why the fuck are y’all even planning to fight the Divine Arms Battalion? They have over a 1,000 people there!”
“That can’t be right.” Tang Zhou was stunned for a while. “Didn’t they say the Divine Arms’ main force has been deployed to the front line at Mt. Ping to face the Yang Consortium? Our intel says there’s only over a 100 of them out here.”
“I think that was also part of their plans. The commander of the private troops was also surprised by this fact.” Ren Xiaosu replied, “Your intel is definitely not accurate. I’ve seen them with my own eyes, so I’m certain.”
“Then we’re done for.” Tang Zhou sighed and said, “We can’t complete our mission.”
However, Ren Xiaosu felt a tinge of regret as he chatted with Tang Zhou. He had been harping on how he was here to investigate spies as a part of his Office of Special Investigations duties, but in the end, he was the one who exposed the Divine Arms Battalion’s plans in an instant…
Ren Xiaosu pondered this. From the Li Consortium’s point of view, wasn’t he doing what a spy would do?
He could not have expected he would have to bear the burden of all these unwanted identities at his young age. He was a member of the Divine Arms Battalion, the private army, the Office of Special Investigations, and also a spy of the Qing Consortium…
Ren Xiaosu suddenly asked, “Can everyone in your platoon be trusted?”
“Don’t worry.” Tang Zhou whispered, “They’re all our people. It’s not only this platoon, but all of the elite troops who’re on our side, other than the commander, second-in-command, and a few of their men. Besides, the commander was also sent here just because Qing Yun doesn’t like him.”
“Our people” was probably referring to those who were loyal to Qing Zhen and Luo Lan.
Ren Xiaosu said, “Why don’t we do it this way? Y’all wait and take cover here in the mountains. I’ll lead some of the Li Consortium’s troops over when I encounter those who I think you might be capable of defeating.”
Tang Zhou’s eyes lit up. “You can do that?”
Currently, Ren Xiaosu’s plan was to see whether the Divine Arms Battalion could be beaten to retreat from the main battlefield to reorganize if the Qing Consortium knew their whereabouts. If the Divine Arms Battalion’s numbers were abruptly reduced after suffering heavy casualties, he could have a chance at collecting their nanomachines.
Ren Xiaosu looked at Tang Zhou. “If you have a satellite phone, can you get in touch with HQ and relay the intel?”
Tang Zhou hesitated for a moment before saying, “Yes, but we don’t have one.”
Ren Xiaosu smiled and said, “That’s fine, I have one.”
To be exact, Ren Xiaosu was not saying that he had one, but that the five officers from the Divine Arms Battalion had one.
Ren Xiaosu felt that he was really going further and further down the path of colluding with the enemy this time.
At night, it was quite lively at the private troops’ campsite. Li Qingzheng and the others took quite a bit of effort to start the campfire. Although a lot of smoke was produced at the beginning, it was nothing compared to keeping themselves warm.
If no one started a campfire, the entire campsite would have just gotten through the night as it was. But after Li Qingzheng and company set up a campfire, the others got so envious they also went to build one. Suddenly, the entire campsite began to light up.
Not only could they keep themselves warm with the campfire, but they were also able to roast the buns they had brought with them. If they still continued to eat their food cold in this sort of weather, it would really make them feel cold on both the inside and outside.
When Ren Xiaosu returned, Li Qingzheng and the others were chatting by the campfire. Li Qingzheng’s first reaction when he saw Ren Xiaosu was to ask, “Xiaosu, where’s the wild boar? You didn’t manage to catch it?”
“Wild boar?” Ren Xiaosu then recalled the reason he had given Chen Wudi. “Oh, right, I didn’t manage to catch it. It was too fast and I didn’t want to venture out too far.”
“Here, have a bite.” Li Qingzheng handed Ren Xiaosu a burnt bun and said, “Earlier on, the people from Divine Arms said we’ll be setting up camp here. We’ll resume our journey northwards to Mt. Fengyi after the snow stops falling.”
“OK,” Ren Xiaosu acknowledged absentmindedly. The thing going through his mind right now was how to get his hands on the satellite phone from the Divine Arms Battalion. It wouldn’t be easy to obtain it from them. The Divine Arms soldiers kept the satellite phone close to them and never let it out of their sights.
It looked like there was no other choice but to kill these officers of the Divine Arms Battalion. It wouldn’t be a bad solution since he had been eyeing the nanomachines in their bodies for some time now. Moreover, Ren Xiaosu felt these regular troops of the Divine Arms Battalion would have more nanomachines in them than Lin Qi’s group!
Suddenly, Ren Xiaosu called some of Jiang Wu’s students over to the side and asked, “What have y’all been studying recently? Have you learned anything related to mechanics? If —and I’m just saying if-y’all are required to design some simple armor, could you do it?”.
Ren Xiaosu disliked the idea of having nanomachines inside his body to support himself like the Divine Arms soldiers did. His own body was strong enough, but he lacked a defense system. So he only used the nanomachines in his body to form a simple armor that covered his body. There were no complexities he adopted for the structure of the armor. But now Ren Xiaosu was wondering if he should start relying on the power of knowledge.
Didn’t Zhang Jinglin always used to say that knowledge could change one’s fate?
The student named Wang Yuchi gave it some thought before saying, “It’s a little beyond what we know since it could involve mechanical belt drives, screw drives, chain drives, worm drives, hydraulic drives, pneumatic drives—”
“Don’t tell me what I can’t understand,” interrupted Ren Xiaosu.”All I’m asking is whether y’all know or not?”
Wang Yuchi said calmly, “Yes.”
