The Trinity Institute convoy set up camp in town for the night before leaving the next morning.
Ren Xiaosu was more than willing to settle down in this town for another half a year to unlock all the weapons in the palace before leaving.
But reality was cruel. As there was not an infinite number of patients in a town, unless Ren Xiaosu went around chopping people up, basically all the patients had been treated.
So Wang Jing only planned to stay in town for one day. After that, they would have to head to the Kong Consortium for the medical exchange with their fellow doctors.
Ren Xiaosu did not want to leave. He insisted there was still fish that slipped through the net in this town that needed their treatment.
Wang Jing lamented emotionally that this was the first time in his decades of practice that he had heard someone describe patients as “fish that slipped through the net.”
But based on Ren Xiaosu’s fanatical attitude towards treating patients, he thought it was still understandable.
When they set off again, the others clearly became more friendly towards Ren Xiaosu. After all, when they attended to the patients yesterday, Ren Xiaosu took on almost half of the workload all by himself.
Initially, everyone thought they would be unusually busy yesterday. But in the end, they found themselves with nothing much to do at all by the afternoon.
Who would want to give the cold shoulder to a colleague who was more than happy to work? Everyone would rather give Ren Xiaosu compliments and let him take on more of the work.
Liang Ce was sitting in the backseat of Ren Xiaosu and Yang Xiaojin’s car. He exclaimed like a big boy who had not seen the world before, “These seats are made of genuine leather! Even the windows and seat controls are operated electronically! This is so awesome!”
Ren Xiaosu thought to himself, ‘Well, of course!‘ Wang Shengzhi had asked him to assassinate someone like Kong Erdong. Anyone else would probably ask Wang Shengzhi to pay an astronomical sum for that. But he did not request anything at all, so the other party had to afford him the highest form of treatment.
“I don’t quite understand something.” Ren Xiaosu started trying to pry for more information out of Liang Ce. “Don’t y’all know that the Kong Consortium is currently at war with the Pyro Company? Why do you still want to go to the Kong Consortium at a time like this?”
Liang Ce lamented, “We know that, but Elder Wang insisted on going. It’s always during this period that the medical exchange is held, and there’s nothing anyone can do to prevent it. I didn’t used to be on the list for the exchange, but someone more outstanding than me was unwilling to go, so I was put in as a replacement. I guess that’s also why Meng Nan is unhappy. But I don’t think it’ll be that dangerous. Stronghold 31, which we’re heading to, is in the core of the Kong Consortium.”
Ren Xiaosu was taken aback. “What does this have anything to do with Meng Nan?”
“Oh, a lot of people know that Meng Nan likes that person. That guy’s a family member of the Wang Consortium and comes from a rich family. And he always tops the ranking in school.” Liang Ce said bitterly, “If I were a girl, I would probably like such a guy as well.”
Yang Xiaojin glanced at Liang Ce through the rearview mirror as she drove. “If you didn’t listen to Ren Xiaosu’s terrible idea yesterday, you would probably still have some hope during this exchange.”
With that, Liang Ce felt even more bitter.
Liang Ce sighed and said, “I think I’m a little depressed.”
“Think?” Ren Xiaosu replied as he looked at the map, “You’re depressed for sure.”
Liang Ce was speechless.
…
Ren Xiaosu looked at the map and felt that Liang Ce, Wang Jing, and the others might not have realized the danger of going on this medical exchange. Although Stronghold 31 was located in the core of the Kong Consortium, there would surely be some stray deserters and wounded personnel escaping after the troops at the front lines were defeated.
Ren Xiaosu had already been through several wars, so he knew full well that if these deserters and wounded wanted to avoid being court martialed by the Kong Consortium, they would have to flee south to somewhere that the Kong Consortium could not reach them.
With the war going on in the North, it would not only be deserters who would be forced to head southwards, but a large number of refugees and stronghold residents would do the same as well.
After all, the entire history of human migration was basically linked to wars.
While Ren Xiaosu and the others were making their way to the Kong Consortium, that unknown group from the north finally crossed the vast grasslands and was now standing at the boundary between the grasslands and the Central Plains.
A man who was nearly two meters tall and holding a huge axe in his hands said to the black-robed person beside him, “Our advance troops have already arrived at the predetermined location. But, Black Robe, how am I to believe that your subsequent plans will succeed when there were so many deviations earlier? Our expeditionary army has not come south to die but to seize this fertile land in the South.”
This person was a muscular man with light brown hair, and his physical features made him look very different from the Central Plains people.
It was early spring now, and the weather in the North was still rather cold. But even though this person was topless, he did not seem to feel cold at all. The hair on his chest was so thick he almost looked like a brown bear that walked upright.
According to their plan, they were supposed to engage in close combat with the nomads and then conquer the grasslands with their expeditionary army’s strong physical advantage.
Right after that, they would seize the nomads’ livestock and use them as supplies for their army. Then they would enslave the nomads to build a forward operating base for them so their expeditionary army’s main forces at the rear could pass through without any obstructions.
But the nomads ran away after encountering them just once. This truly was a bit unexpected. They had fled so swiftly the expeditionary army did not even get to see which way they went.
The man who looked like a brown bear said, “And, Black Robe, you’ve never mentioned that there was someone who could control wolves here. If our advance troops had encountered the wolves, they might not even have defeated them.”
As he spoke, he did not seem threatened by the nomads at all. They had only retreated that day because of the wolves’ sudden appearance.
Black Robe remained silent as he looked out towards the Central Plains. It seemed like he was thinking about something.
After a while, he stroked his gold-laced sleeves and said with a hoarse laugh, “There’s nothing to fear about the nomads. When the main forces of the expeditionary army arrive, will we have to fear the wolves? If they really come and provoke us, I’m sure you all can rip off their skin and make it into boots.”
“What about the Central Plains?” Someone asked, “I’ve observed that the Central Plains is vast in territory and abundant with resources. You’ve also said that their technology is much more advanced than ours.”
“But the Central Plains people are not united.” Black Robe said with a laugh, “You all might not know this, but when I left the Central Plains, it felt like a great war was going to break out there. Some time ago, I trekked across the lands and made some secret observations. As expected, the Pyro Company has started fighting with the Kong Consortium while the Wang Consortium eyes them hungrily from the sidelines. So we’ve arrived at the exact right time. Normal firearms are no threat to you at all, and weapons like heavy machine guns can be handled with some simple tactics.”
“Moreover,” Black Robe continued, “when our advance troops take over their border towns during the chaos, their weapons will become our weapons. The vast territory of the Central Plains was actually meant for our expeditionary army to take over.”
As he spoke, Black Robe pointed at the Central Plains. When his arm was raised, his grayish skin was revealed under his sleeve.
The bearish man turned around and walked off toward the advance troops. “Don’t be making empty promises. When the war starts, you better watch out for your own back. With that small body of yours, you’re gonna get killed really easily.”
The group of Northerners started laughing. Black Robe’s expression was shrouded within his hood.
