As Fortress 178’s troops emerged victorious at the front lines, Ren Xiaosu, who was moving through the sewers, had finished cutting through the rebar grating in front of him. He was quietly infiltrating deep into Garrison 146’s military base.
Every time he passed by a manhole cover, he would listen carefully for any movements overhead.
Ren Xiaosu could clearly hear footfalls above him as Zong Consortium soldiers walked around in their hard-soled boots.
Since he could not just climb up there, he could only estimate the number of garrison troops remaining in the base based on the movements above his head. He needed to do this so he could find a good opportunity to take action.
Through his careful observation, Ren Xiaosu realized the soldiers here still maintained an extremely strict patrolling routine even when the rest of the troops were conducting a citywide search for him.
Approximately every five minutes or so, a platoon would walk past overhead. The margin of error in their timing did not exceed ten seconds.
Sometimes, light from spotlights outside would seep in through the two holes on the manhole cover and illuminate Ren Xiaosu’s face.
Ren Xiaosu cautiously found a manhole cover where the patrols seldom passed by and got a bold idea.
The manhole cover above his head was welded shut, leaving only two holes for drainage purposes. If it were anyone else who had infiltrated into this place, they would definitely be driven to despair. It was no wonder the Qing Consortium spy from earlier had not even thought about infiltrating the military base through the sewer system.
Fatty Luo’s trusted method for escape and concealment back at the Li Consortium did not seem like it would work in this military base.
But not even this was enough to stop Ren Xiaosu. He did possess the black saber, after all. It was precisely because the defense here was the tightest that he chose to break in from here to get aboveground.
This was because even the Zong Consortium’s soldiers would not expect someone to break in quietly through the manhole covers since they were welded shut, especially when the sewer system was reinforced with rebar grating.
Ren Xiaosu started to slowly and effortlessly cut open the manhole cover with his black saber.
Then he waited in silence. Suddenly, he heard footsteps slowly approaching the manhole cover he was under. When the enemy passed by, Ren Xiaosu flipped open the manhole cover quietly and leaped out.
He pounced onto the enemy like a cheetah. Before the spotlights could sweep across again, he had already broken the neck of his enemy and dragged the corpse into the sewers, closing the manhole cover after him.
His shadow clone had assisted him throughout the entire process. After the manhole cover was closed, it went all quiet again aboveground as though nothing had happened.
Ren Xiaosu had a quick look at his surroundings when he was aboveground just now.
His current position was at the edge of the base. Most of the buildings here consisted of one-story barracks, but there was a narrow five-story tower that stood out from among the structures. Could that be the administrative building of the garrison troops’ headquarters?
Ren Xiaosu mentally estimated that he was around 200 meters away from the tower.
Ren Xiaosu made a decision. Although he had not yet seen where the ammunition depots of Garrison 146 were, he knew he should set his sights on that narrow tower if he wanted to destroy the central command of these troops.
Right now, Ren Xiaosu needed to get a change of clothes. Only by changing into the Zong Consortium’s khaki uniform could he minimize his chances of being suspected.
Even if it could make the enemy hesitate for only 0.1 seconds, that would still be worth it. Sometimes, that 0.1-second reaction time could determine the difference between life and death.
He quickly took the uniform off of the Zong Consortium soldier he had just killed and happily prepared to change into it.
He did not even use the black saber earlier because he was worried the clothes would get stained with blood.
But Ren Xiaosu was stunned. Not for any other reason but because he realized the enemy was a little too short and his uniform was too small.
Ren Xiaosu was 18 years old and a supernatural being as well. He had grown from his original height of 178 centimeters at the age of 17 to 184 centimeters. This was considered very tall even among males, especially in an era where malnutrition was prevalent.
This meant it might not be easy to find the right size of uniform.
But Ren Xiaosu was not someone who was easily discouraged. Since the plan was still feasible, he would have to find a way to execute it no matter what!
However, he would have to act quickly. Once the Zong Consortium discovered that a soldier had gone missing, his plan would have more or less failed.
When he grabbed a second Zong Consortium soldier, Ren Xiaosu frowned again and let out a sigh. ‘No! This soldier is still too short.’
And the third soldier Ren Xiaosu grabbed, ‘No! This one’s too big!’ This soldier’s uniform made Ren Xiaosu look like he had put on a costume. Although Ren Xiaosu was built, his physique was still thin because his strength and agility were evenly balanced.
Ren Xiaosu was not expecting much anymore, but when he caught the fourth person, he saw a glimmer of hope in his plan. ‘The size of this person is just right this time!’
“Phew.” Ren Xiaosu finally heaved a sigh of relief. He was worried he would end up capturing and bringing all of the soldiers in this base down into the sewers he was hiding in.
But at this moment, an alarm blared in the garrison base. It seemed the missing personnel had already attracted the attention of the Zong Consortium garrison troops.
Ren Xiaosu quickly got changed and took the soldier’s access card before climbing out of the sewers. Then he walked to the tower as casually as he could.
The patrolling platoons that were on rotational break quickly reassembled at the barracks. Immediately, an even more rigorous search team armed with live ammunition was formed.
Troops were relaying the orders as they passed each other, “We have some soldiers who went missing. Search every corner of the base immediately!”
“Conduct a blanket search and follow up on any tracks that are found!”
“The enemy might’ve already infiltrated our base!”
Ren Xiaosu felt these Zong Consortium troops were really quite alert. But it was not a big problem as he had already gone into the tower he identified earlier.
The tower was illuminated with incandescent white lights inside. When Ren Xiaosu was about to swipe his access card to pass through the security entrance, the guard outside eyed him suspiciously as though he found this person a little unfamiliar. “Sir, please show me your ID.”
Ren Xiaosu tried to bluff his way through. He looked at the guard and said calmly, “You don’t know me? Can you say you recognize every soldier in the base?”
The guard replied earnestly, “Well, sir, it’s true that I can’t recognize every soldier in our brigade, but I can still recognize the regimental commanders when there’s so few of them.”Ren Xiaosu was slightly taken aback. Did he kill yet another regimental commander?! He had not even gone through boot camp before, so how could he know how to recognize the Zong Consortium’s military ranks? Moreover, the regimental commander he killed was also wearing a standard combat uniform like the rest of the soldiers. It was just that there was a slightly different insignia on his collar. So he thought it was just an ordinary officer like a platoon commander or a non-commissioned officer with an appointment. However, he did not expect it to be a regimental commander.
A second later, Ren Xiaosu gave a mental sigh. For such tightly guarded places, it seemed it would really be impossible to sneak past the defenses. It was not that his plan was unfeasible but that the enemy’s security was too tight.
Since he could not sneak in, he would just have to kill his way in!
Ren Xiaosu suddenly made his move. Before the guard could react, Ren Xiaosu landed a knifehand strike onto his opponent’s neck. The strike whooshed through the air.
The guard collapsed onto the ground lifelessly. Ren Xiaosu looked up at the surveillance camera and knew that from this moment on, the soldiers in the entire base would start pursuing him with all their might.
But before that happened, Ren Xiaosu would first cripple the military’s central command in this tower.
He would rather face a defenseless base than head out to the stronghold to face the massive search force. He was only hoping that his arrival would send Stronghold 146 spiraling into chaos.
Only amid the chaos would he have a glimmer of hope to clinch victory.
