The Zong Consortium troops at Mt. Wuchuan were suddenly withdrawn, and only one unit was left behind to put up a stubborn resistance at the most dangerous position on the battlefield.
Meanwhile, the rest of the troops started plundering through their own territory. The Zong Consortium strongholds in the north were being looted by their own forces.
On the same evening, Zong Ying’s troops arrived at Fuzhi Bridge. As he stood on the bridge and watched the transport vehicles passing by, he suddenly sighed and said to his second-in-command next to him, “I wonder when we can return after going north this time. Remember, bring along the refugee fishermen from the various strongholds, as well as those who specialize in animal husbandry.”
In reality, Zong Ying had already been scheming to retreat north for some time. He had not expected things to go so smoothly and that someone would actually give him a hand in getting rid of the majority of the Zong Consortium’s higher-ups.
The Northern Steppe was situated outside of the stronghold perimeter. It was a place where wild beasts ran rampant.
But what threat could those wild beasts possibly pose to professional soldiers?
His second-in-command said, “A lot of our troops have deserted over the past few days, but they’ve all been caught and killed.”
“Well, it’s very normal that some people tried to escape.” Zong Ying said with a smile, “In their opinion, they would rather become refugees than go north to herd sheep. Don’t worry, killing a few people and streamlining our troops as we make our way there isn’t exactly a bad thing, and we can make use of it to intimidate the other soldiers as well. After all, it’ll be a tough life from now on.”
For now, Zong Ying wanted to use an extreme form of coercion to band these routed Zong Consortium troops together and bring them north.
These troops would be his investment.
They wouldn’t even need an armored brigade once they get to the Northern Steppe. After all, mechanized troops would be useless without fuel.
His second-in-command asked, “Commander, when can we return here?”
“We’ll return when Fortress 178 and the Qing Consortium start fighting.” Zong Ying laughed and said, “No two tigers can share the same mountain, so there’ll definitely come such a day. How can Qing Zhen possibly give up on the lucrative North when he’s such an ambitious person? Let’s go, we’ll just wait and see.”
In truth, Zong Ying did not know whether he could return here. Even if Fortress 178 and the Qing Consortium started fighting, the Zong Consortium would not have the strength to re-enter the stage. They would only be able to watch others perform on the stage while waiting in the wings.
But politics was always a mixture of truth and lies. Even if Zong Ying did not have any intention of returning, he could not tell his soldiers. Only by giving these people a glimmer of hope would he be allowed the time to consolidate his power.
All of a sudden, a water arrow shot out from the river under the bridge. Zong Ying was utterly shocked when he sensed danger. No one expected such a surprising turn of events to happen here!
This was an attack by a supernatural being!
Zong Ying quickly pulled his second-in-command in front of him to block the water arrow attack. But when the water arrow was about to hit, it suddenly lost shape and transformed into many fine water needles.
Zong Ying hid his entire body behind his second-in-command. In that instant, his second-in-command was riddled by the needles.
The nearby supernatural being who was responsible for protecting Zong Ying finally reacted and spat a cloudy mist.
The cloudy mist transformed into a majestic hawk in the air and hovered over Zong Ying’s head, ready to protect him at all times.
But before Zong Ying could breathe a sigh of relief, a huge, translucent killer whale jumped out of the turbulent river and leaped over the bridge.
The killer whale was formed from water. As it leaped over everyone’s heads and landed back into the river, it caught the hawk in midair and dragged it down into the water.
The supernatural being next to Zong Ying coughed up blood and collapsed to the ground with a depressed look.
However, the attack did not stop there. Suddenly, some dark clouds started gathering in the sky and snowflakes began falling.
The falling snowflakes were as sharp as blades, and they quickly pierced through Zong Ying’s chest before disintegrating into nothingness.
Zong Ying fell to the ground.
This ambitious general of the Zong Consortium failed to realize his ambitions in the end. But there was nothing much to feel indignant about before he died. The supernatural attack he witnessed here today was obviously not done by a single person. Several supernatural beings had worked together to ensure he was killed.
And the variation of attacks in the water clearly told Zong Ying that his successful destruction of the pontoon bridge at Blackstone River that day was just a deception to trick him into thinking that Fortress 178 was out of retreating options, and it was not that they could do nothing about those speedboats he sent.
Before Zong Ying died, he gave a mental sigh. The old era was over, after all.
…
After being briefed, Wang Fengyuan looked at Zhang Jinglin and said, “Commander, Zong Ying is dead. Just as you had expected, they were intending to leave via Fuzhi Bridge. Commander’s foresight is amazing!”
Zhang Jinglin said with a smile, “So you’ve also learned how to flatter others, huh? If their intentions were to shake us off, that was the only route they could have taken. This isn’t about having amazing foresight.”
Everyone thought Fortress 178 did not really have any supernatural beings in their service, but that was not the case at all.
In Wang Fengyuan’s words, “Their superpowers came from being frozen.”
The soldiers had suffered daily hardships at the border outposts. In winter, their breaths would even condense into ice when they exhaled. That freezing and harsh environment hammered out their strongest willpower.
But it was not enough to just freeze. They also had to possess the most sincere belief in the world.
Did the soldiers choose to be in such a harsh environment for themselves? Of course not! Was it for meritorious service and promotion? It was not that either.
They did it because they wanted to protect the stronghold.
Therefore, belief and hardship were indispensable factors for the awakening of their superpowers.
Yang Xiaojin had once said to Ren Xiaosu, “When a disaster comes, mental strength becomes the highest caliber of weapon humanity has in the face of danger.”
While wild animals evolved to become stronger, and plants turned more bizarre, what was it that humans had? Evolution of mental strength was the proper path for humans to embark on.
But of course, it didn’t mean that everyone would become supernatural beings just because they had suffered hardships. The secret force in Fortress 178 that was made up of supernatural beings was also another secret that Wang Fengyuan kept.
Wang Fengyuan continued, “Commander, the frontline troops have captured a supernatural being. He’s the one that can locate other supernatural beings. According to him, he found an opportunity to escape after the 131st Brigade defected. He intended to return to the front line at Mt. Wuchuan, but he got captured by us instead.”
“Oh?” Zhang Jinglin’s interest was piqued. “Bring him in.”
Then the supernatural being was pushed into the headquarters by several people outside. It was a plump young man, and he was shouting, “I can help you guys locate other supernatural beings. After you find them, you can round them up and place them under your control. I’m very useful, so don’t kill me!”
Zhang Jinglin asked him with great interest, “What is your effective detection range?”
“I can locate any supernatural being within the radius of a 100 kilometers.” The delicate-looking supernatural being shouted, “There must be more supernatural beings hidden in Fortress 178. I can help you to find them.”
