In the deep of the night, peace had not been restored to the stronghold yet. Ren Xiaosu looked out of the villa through a gap in the curtains and made sure Pei Wenjin had really taken all the sentries from the two hidden lookout posts away with him.
But before he could completely feel at ease, someone knocked on his room door.
When Ren Xiaosu went to open the door, he saw Yang Xiaojin standing there and was overjoyed. Was she taking the initiative to have an in-depth discussion with him about their ideals at this late hour?
Just as he was about to say something, Yang Xiaojin covered his mouth with one hand.
Then Yang Xiaojin took out a piece of paper with her other hand and waved it in front of Ren Xiaosu. Ren Xiaosu saw the words “tapping device installed in room” written on it. While he was momentarily stunned, Yang Xiaojin removed her hand and went back to her room next door.
Ren Xiaosu checked around the room. To be honest, he had not undergone any professional training in this area before, so he did not have any anti-reconnaissance skills like Yang Xiaojin or Zhou Yingxue.
After searching around for a long time, he was still unable to figure out where the bug was installed.
However, Ren Xiaosu found this a little deplorable. The Kong Consortium’s intelligence agency was too crafty. Their tricks were each more devious than the other.
Zhong Zhen had deliberately set a trap in the way the hidden sentries were positioned to mislead them. This time, Pei Wenjin was even more cunning. By taking advantage of the commotion in the stronghold, he came to the villa and conducted a thorough search of the place, putting on an extremely convincing act.
But in actual fact, it was just so he could get his men to install the tapping devices. This was probably Pei Wenjin’s real objective.
Since Pei Wenjin’s men had also searched the vehicles outside the villa just now, those cars would definitely have been bugged as well.
Wasn’t this as good as stopping them from talking? Ren Xiaosu felt a little helpless. They could not remove the tapping devices yet either, or the other party would realize they knew.
After all, how could a group of doctors possibly be able to discover the tapping devices?
After daybreak, the others started preparing their research documents for the medical exchange while Ren Xiaosu and Yang Xiaojin took the opportunity to have a stroll in the villa’s yard. Only when they found a place where they could not be eavesdropped on did Ren Xiaosu finally dare to say, “I was the one who created the commotion in the stronghold yesterday. I’ve already gotten in touch with the Great Hoodwinker, but it’s still gonna be quite difficult to rescue Wang Yun.”
“What’s difficult about it?” Yang Xiaojin asked.
Ren Xiaosu described a rough sketch of the situation to her. Actually, he felt it would not be difficult to get the detonator from the hands of the sitting intelligence director. The most challenging part was how should they get Wang Yun’s 200-odd subordinates out of the other prison?
Yang Xiaojin asked, “How do you plan on solving the problem of locating the detonator? It seems like you already have an idea?”
Ren Xiaosu said, “Look, there’s no point in us looking for the detonator. When we capture whoever’s holding it, we’ll still have to force them to tell us where the detonator is. Isn’t that too troublesome? We can just kill that intelligence director instead. Once he’s dead, it’ll take some time for the new intelligence director to inherit the detonator, so there’ll be enough time for us to go in and attempt a prison break.”
As for the steel gates and whatnot, they weren’t even worth mentioning in the presence of the black saber. So far, it only had some trouble cutting through Chen Liu’er’s Golden-Hooped Rod.
After listening to Ren Xiaosu’s idea, Yang Xiaojin was speechless. But when she thought about it carefully, it somehow made sense.
She asked again, “Then what about Wang Yun’s subordinates in the other prison?”
“Here’s what I think,” Ren Xiaosu said. “You see, it’ll be too noticeable if we walk on the streets with 200-odd people after breaking them out of the prison. In that case, why don’t we just find a way to demolish the stronghold? That way, there’ll be chaos everywhere and no one will notice us!”
Yang Xiaojin looked at Ren Xiaosu in silence. She thought Wang Shengzhi was probably not expecting such a big surprise from Ren Xiaosu when he sent him here to assassinate Kong Erdong.
Wang Shengzhi had only wanted Kong Erdong killed, but Ren Xiaosu was actually thinking of how to demolish the stronghold to conceal their operation!
But Yang Xiaojin had to admit that what Ren Xiaosu said was valid as well.
But how should they demolish it and where should they start?
…
Meanwhile, a group of extremely elite troops were trekking across treacherous mountains in the wilderness north of the Kong Consortium.
The Kong Consortium was not stationing any of their troops in the Ningjin Mountains, because the mountains were towering and steep, and there were also three cliffs in the mountain range. The terrain here was even more terrifying than you could imagine. Not even infantry units could pass through it unless they were a team of T4-ranked combatants and above, much less mechanized troops.
Some time ago, the Kong Consortium had set up a checkpoint here because the Pyro Company’s troops were physically much stronger, so it was likely they would pass through here.
Later, the Kong Consortium withdrew the checkpoint. It was not that they did not view the Pyro Company as a threat, but they realized they were at a huge disadvantage if they had to intercept the Pyro Company in this mountain range. In these mountains, the Pyro Company’s combatants were agile as monkeys while the Kong Consortium’s troops were clumsy as oxen. They could not even take advantage of the firearms they had.
Hence, the Kong Consortium withdrew from the mountain range and set up defensive fortifications on the plains around the mountains. Once the Pyro Company’s troops emerged from the mountains and tried to attack Stronghold 32 in the north, they would immediately be met by a terrifying metal storm.
But even though these Pyro Company troops made up of several hundred soldiers were trekking across the mountainous terrain wearing heavy field packs, it was like they were walking on flat ground. The Kong Consortium’s assumption was right. The Pyro Company really did have special forces made up of their T4-ranked combatants.
Moreover, their target was not Stronghold 32. The troops made a sudden turn at Mt. Dayu in the Ningjin Mountains and detoured around the defensive line waiting beyond the mountain range.
Then they headed straight to Stronghold 31, which was south of Stronghold 32.
The troops’ mission was definitely not to attack and take over a city but to carry out a decapitation strike.
Just as Qing Zhen evaluated how nanosoldiers should be deployed, using powerful individuals on the main battlefield would be the dumbest decision. That was because it would reduce their value in a battle.
The Pyro Company troops were marching at a rapid pace. Even without any form of transportation, they could still travel 180 kilometers in a day.
In comparison, typical infantry could only travel about 40 kilometers in a day while carrying a heavy load in the wilderness. Even if they picked up their pace, they could at most travel about 70 kilometers a day.
In a war, this marching speed could be considered a long-range penetration.[1]
Correspondingly, the Pyro Company’s main forces at the rear were getting restless. As long as the decapitation strike in the south was successful, a full-scale war between the Kong Consortium and the Pyro Company would break out!
At this moment, a person in a black robe was standing on the summit of a mountain and quietly watching the Pyro Company’s strike troops moving away. He said with a hoarse laugh, “How can humans ever stop warring? Don’t you all agree?”
Several gray Experimentals were hanging from the cliff walls behind him, roaring in response to their lord’s mocking of the humans.
These Experimentals were different from those the Central Plains people had encountered. They had come from an icy prison located in the Far North. The ruler in the Northern Territory had allowed the black-robed wizard to turn thousands of prisoners into his personal army. It was as though the gods had scattered the seeds of plague onto the human realm.
However, it had never been easy to turn humans into Experimentals. Of a few thousand prisoners, only several dozen new Experimentals were successfully created.
…
[1] A long-range penetration patrol, group, or force is a special operations unit capable of operating long distances behind enemy lines far away from direct contact with friendly forces.
