When they heard they were gonna die, all of the Razor Sharp Company turned anxious. Everyone crawled into the cabin to figure out how to start the ferry.
Someone grumbled, “If I had known, I would’ve captured some of their troops alive. Since they were the ones who drove the ferry here, they’ll definitely know how to operate them.”
Jiao Xiaochen looked at the person who said that and responded unhappily, “Hindsight’s 20/20. Were we even thinking of getting away on the ferry? Aren’t we only doing this because we got cornered in the harbor?”
Everyone was frantically pressing random buttons. As a result, someone tripped off something on a fluke, and the engine started running
Everyone got excited. “The engine’s going!”
“We’re saved, hahaha! Heaven hasn’t forsaken our Razor Sharp Company after all!”
But at this moment, someone said curiously, “But the ferry still isn’t moving.”
Then everyone saw Ren Xiaosu dash out of the cabin. Zhang Xiaoman shouted at him, “Don’t go out there. The fucking enemies are everywhere outside.”
“There’s a rope tying the ferry to the dock that has to be cut off,” Ren Xiaosu said.
“Even so, you still can’t go outside! You will be killed in the crossfire if you step out there like this.” Zhang Xiaoman roared.
Ren Xiaosu got an idea. He took out his saber and activated Shadow Door to reach the mooring line. But as Ren Xiaosu was unsure of where the rope was exactly, he started slashing randomly at the area.
The Zong Consortium soldiers who were running towards the harbor were stunned when they saw a hand appear out of thin air and slash a black saber around. For a moment, they were so stunned they were even afraid to charge forward!
“Hey, it’s moving. The ferry’s moving!” Zhang Xiaoman exclaimed.
Ren Xiaosu had finally managed to cut the mooring line. The Zong Consortium’s deserters could only watch with a forlorn expression as the bullethole-riddled ferry started moving slowly towards the middle of the river.
When they got a little farther, Ren Xiaosu and the others finally came out of the cabin. They watched helplessly as they got farther away from the shore. As they watched, they even puked their guts out.
No one in the Razor Sharp Company had been on a ferry before. Therefore, even though the ferry had only been moving for a dozen minutes, the troops were already puking so hard they nearly fainted.
Those who wanted to take the ferry did not make it aboard, while those who did not want to take the ferry were now drifting on it to some unknown destination.
The soldiers of the Razor Sharp Company looked at their dejected enemies on the shore and thought to themselves, ‘What can we do? We’re also very desperate.’
At this moment, the Razor Sharp Company heard a choking sound as the ferry’s engine grew weaker. Zhang Xiaoman asked, “What the fuck is happening?”
“I dunno…”
The ferry was gradually losing power, and it seemed like it had been damaged when the enemy was firing that heavy machine gun at it!
“What fucking luck!” Zhang Xiaoman did not know whether to laugh or cry. He mumbled something unintelligible as he continued puking on the deck, “Quigly condact Medallion Commander Joe and hab him come and resgue us!”
But the radioman replied meekly, “Captain, our radio has been damaged.”
“What!” Zhang Xiaoman’s eyes widened. “That radio is a weapon with the same value as your life! How could you let it get damaged? Do you think I won’t boot you into the river?”
At this moment, everyone turned around and looked at the radioman. The radio set he was carrying on his back was utterly shattered. The radioman said in dismay, “When the enemy was shooting at us with the heavy machine gun from shore, I was in a hurry to get aboard and allowed the radio to be hit.”
Zhang Xiaoman sighed. “Forget it, the radio probably saved your life. It’s good that you aren’t dead.”
The Razor Sharp Company’s troops sat on the deck and looked around in hopelessness. No one knew where the powerless ferry was going to take them.
Now that even the radio set was damaged, they had truly become an isolated fighting force of.
They could not contact the main forces of Fortress 178, and neither could Fortress 178 contact them.
“Will we end up drifting to the Zong Consortium’s territory like this?” Jiao Xiaochen asked softly.
“Can you stop saying such depressing things…”
Zhang Xiaoman suddenly smiled. “That’s why they say that unexpected events can happen all the time on the battlefield. Do you remember what I used to say? Everything lies with fate, and no one has any control over it. No matter how many battles you’ve won in the past, fate will still deal you a bad hand if it really wants to.
“And sometimes, it can be extremely strange as well. It will seem like fate is hellbent on fighting you and not others….”
Too many unexpected things could happen in war. People even used to say that 30% of a victory in war was determined by tactics and strength. The remaining 70% was dependent on whether God wanted to keep you alive and let you win the battles.
After puking for the longest time, the Razor Sharp Company’s troops were getting hungry. However, they had already left the forward operating base for some time and had only brought along seven days’ worth of field rations with them. They did not have many provisions left.
Zhang Xiaoman led his men to search for supplies in the cabin but later realized it was completely bare. He asked in a startled manner, “Didn’t we see the Zong Consortium’s garrison troops loading stuff onto the ferries? Why isn’t there anything here?!”
“I don’t think they had enough time to load anything onto this ferry….”
When he heard that, Zhang Xiaoman said angrily, “Look at you guys. Couldn’t you have searched the ferries for supplies before deciding which ones to blow up?”
Ren Xiaosu and the others laughed. “Captain, you didn’t tell us you wanted to leave one untouched. Weren’t we told to blow up everything?”
Turning around, Zhang Xiaoman started preparing the Razor Sharp Company for worse. “Everyone, we don’t have many rations left, and we don’t know when we can reach shore. So for those of you who are seasick, stop throwing up. Even if you feel like throwing up, you should hold it in….”
Ren Xiaosu was standing on the deck of the ferry. He did not feel nauseous at all and was looking out at the vast Beiwan River covered in mist.
Zhang Xiaoman walked next to him and asked, “What’re you thinking about?”
“About where we’ll end up drifting to,” Ren Xiaosu said.
Zhang Xiaoman sighed and said, “We have no way to ask for help now, and we can’t determine where we’re heading. Who knows what we’ll encounter next? If we drift towards the northern shore, that’ll be the Zong Consortium’s territory!”
But the more they feared it, the likelier it would happen. The ferry was still drifting in the middle of the river, but they were clearly getting closer and closer to the Zong Consortium’s territory in the north based on reference points on both sides of the shore.
“Don’t worry,” Ren Xiaosu said. “I will make sure everyone survives and that no man gets left behind.”
After he said that, Ren Xiaosu turned around and walked back into the cabin. The Razor Sharp Company’s troops watched as though magic were being performed as he threw out a wild boar, a goat, a box of hardtack, and a large box of bottled water from inside the cabin.
This was what Xiaoyu had prepared for him back when she found out that he could carry a lot of supplies with him. He had already spent the money to add a vacuum preservation function for his storage space, so these things would not turn bad no matter how long they were stored in it.
Ren Xiaosu said to his comrades of the Razor Sharp Company, “I reckon we’ll run aground on the northern shore within three days. If y’all don’t want to die, you should preserve your strength. We’ll have to fight our way out when we get to the Zong Consortium’s territory.”
Zhou Yinglong had already reported to Zhang Jinglin that the Razor Sharp Company had been forced to board a ferry to escape. Meanwhile, Zhang Jinglin locked down this news in case the Zong Consortium organized their forces to go and capture them.
