Total strength: 184, present strength: 183

The other day, when Li Shentan hypnotized the armored brigade, he had ordered that they could only kill the Zong Consortium soldiers and not the innocent.

Li Shentan’s hypnotism could be called magical and was different from Zong Cheng’s superpower that allowed him to turn a person into an obedient machine. Li Shentan’s power allowed him to insert specific commands into a person’s subconsciousness.

The targets hypnotized by Li Shentan would even have the ability to think on their own. To put it simply, they could distinguish between who the Zong Consortium soldiers were and who were not.

Although Ren Xiaosu and the Razor Sharp Company were also driving the Zong Consortium’s vehicles, they were dressed in refugee clothing.

Therefore, even though the armored brigade was chasing after the Zong Consortium troops from behind, they could not indiscriminately kill the innocent Razor Sharp Company that was blocking their way.

But once the Razor Sharp Company departed from the chase, the armored brigade immediately started firing at the Zong Consortium troops.

How could a group of routed soldiers stand up to a full armored brigade?

Or rather, the strongest defensive unit that remained across the Zong Consortium’s strongholds in the entire Northwest right now was Stronghold 146’s garrison brigade, with the rest of the Zong Consortium troops still involved in the battle at the front lines.

Therefore, the 131st Brigade did not have any worthy opponents in the rear.

The soldiers of the 131st Brigade were sitting quietly in the armored vehicles. As they had not rested for a long time, dark circles were appearing under their eyes.

But they could not sleep, at least not until the moment they were finally at death’s door.

The Razor Sharp Company watched as the armored brigade drove off, then turned to look at Ren Xiaosu. “What’s happening?”

Ren Xiaosu thought for a while. “I think someone called Li Shentan might be controlling them.”

Ren Xiaosu did not have any actual proof of that, though. Even though their Razor Sharp Company was clearly within range of the armored brigade, they did not get fired upon. Ren Xiaosu just felt that something was off. It was just his intuition.

Thinking of what he had witnessed back at the Li Consortium’s stronghold, the people who were hypnotized by Li Shentan would basically push themselves to their limits as though they had gone crazy, so this armored brigade would probably not last much longer either.

Seeing that the armored brigade was heading straight for the next stronghold, Ren Xiaosu thought that Li Shentan might have just done Fortress 178 a huge favor. Or was Li Shentan’s intention actually to help Ren Xiaosu?

But no matter what, this armored brigade would definitely bring a great surprise to the Zong Consortium.

Ren Xiaosu asked, “How’s the war going for Commander Zhang and the others in the south?”

“It’s still going well, but the Zong Consortium is putting up quite a resistance on the battlefront. Although we’ll definitely win, there’ll have to be some sacrifices on our side as well.” Zhang Xiaoman sighed.

“Besides, Xiaosu, the Zong Consortium will definitely plunge into chaos now that you’ve killed more than half of their higher-ups,” Jiao Xiaochen said.

When Ren Xiaosu heard that Fortress 178 could win the war, he felt more at ease. However, the deputy commander who had been captured by them said, “That might not be the case. Zong Ying is the frontline commander of the Zong forces, so he’s still pretty well respected by the military. Besides, he’s been expanding his influence in recent years too. Because of that, the Zong higher-ups have kept him in check for the past three years. Now that the Zong higher-ups are no longer in control, who knows? He might just take the opportunity to consolidate the Zong Consortium and become the new—”

“That won’t do. I’ll have to inform the commander about this,” interrupted Zhang Xiaoman.

Then he dialed a number on the satellite phone and repeated the deputy commander’s words to Wang Fengyuan. However, Wang Fengyuan said, “Don’t worry, Zong Ying won’t survive beyond tonight.”

After saying that, Wang Fengyuan hung up.

Zhang Xiaoman and the others exchanged glances. Ren Xiaosu said, “It seems like Commander Zhang has a plan to deal with him.”

Truth be told, Fortress 178 did have contingency plans for that. Ever since Xu Xianchu ambushed the Zong Consortium troops in the Gobi, those contingency plans started taking effect one after another. For example, there were still quite a few lucky survivors from the Zong Consortium’s third ancillary branch in Stronghold 146 who were looking to escape, but they were suddenly met by that fortune teller who stopped them from leaving.

At the front lines, Zong Ying did not even know danger was approaching.

After being in hiding for over a decade, Zhang Jinglin had destroyed the Zong Consortium as soon as he returned to the Northwest. From this moment on, Fortress 178 would no longer have any opponents in the Northwest. Only the Qing Consortium and Fortress 178 remained in the entire Southwest and Northwest, which were separated by a river.

If anyone else had gone to ask Wang Fengyuan, he would definitely not have revealed anything to them. Only the Razor Sharp Company could receive such treatment and get some information out of him.

Not everyone was capable of destroying Stronghold 146.

When the Fortress 178 commanders at the front lines heard that Stronghold 146 in the north had been taken by the Razor Sharp Company, jealous expressions appeared on their faces.

Zhang Xiaoman and the Razor Sharp Company had completed their mission. There was basically nothing left for them to do on the battlefield. The Razor Sharp Company had already received their orders to march back south to rendezvous with Zhou Yinglong’s Forward Strike Battalion where they would reorganize themselves before returning to Fortress 178.

Zhang Xiaoman said happily, “We’ll definitely earn the Nebula Medal this time since half the Zong higher-ups were killed by our Razor Sharp Company. We’re clearly just a company, yet it feels like we’re a brigade instead.”

“Ptui.” Jiao Xiaochen scolded jokingly, “You’re such a shameless captain. What we achieved was obviously all Ren Xiaosu’s credit. What has it got anything to do with you? Without Ren Xiaosu, we might not even have survived to now.”

“But Ren Xiaosu is also part of our Razor Sharp Company.” Zhang Xiaoman said unhappily, “We’re in the same unit, understand?”

As the exhausted soldiers of the Razor Sharp Company sat in the vehicle, they felt a sense of relief. Everyone knew the war in the Northwest was finally coming to an end. The remaining battles had nothing to do with them.

But when everyone thought back on the details, it seemed like it was just as Jiao Xiaochen had described. If Ren Xiaosu were not around in this war, they would probably have died long ago.

They had captured Mt. Dingyuan and Mt. Guan, attacked the Beiwan River to distract the enemy’s firepower from the main forces, crossed the river at Mt. Qiangwan into the Zong Consortium’s territory, took out the logistic lines of Stronghold 144, wrecked their military factories, and eventually destroyed Stronghold 146 entirely.

It was no wonder the commanders at the front lines felt a little jealous. Although the Razor Sharp Company did not really engage in any tough battles, they had done more than what most of the other fighting forces had contributed, and all of this was even achieved with only 184 of them!

Someone sneaked a glance at Ren Xiaosu, who was sitting in the vehicle. After this war, there would probably be no one who would not be convinced by Ren Xiaosu, right?

Of course, Ren Xiaosu was still far from being qualified as the fortress commander since knowing how to fight and being an able commander were two different matters.

But there was still plenty of time in the future. Everyone felt that this young man would grow up to be like Zhang Jinglin and become the backbone of Fortress 178 someday.

Ren Xiaosu, meanwhile, quietly leaned back in his seat and watched the dust and smoke get swept up by the strong wind in the distance . No one knew what he was thinking right now.

When the troops were about to arrive at the rendezvous point, it was already evening. Zhou Yinglong had been waiting at the entrance of the camp for a long time. Not only Zhou Yinglong, but Wang Fengyuan, Zhang Jinglin, and the other important commanders were here as well.

The rendezvous point was the Northern Headquarters of Fortress 178.

After Zhang Xiaoman and the Razor Sharp Company jumped out of the vehicles and limped, Zhou Yinglong kicked him and said, “Why are you pretending to be injured when you’re not?”

Zhang Xiaoman quickly stood to attention and said with a cheeky smile, “It makes us appear even more valiant, no?”

As they spoke, the Razor Sharp Company assembled behind Zhang Xiaoman. Zhang Xiaoman shouted, “Count off!”

“1!”

“2!”

“…”

“182!”

Throughout the counting off, the voices of the Razor Sharp Company’s soldiers were sonorous. However, the count-off ended at 182. Zhang Xiaoman thought that something was not right. “Why are we short one person?”

There should be 184 of them in total, including Zhang Xiaoman himself. But why was one of them missing?

Jiao Xiaochen wondered, “Hey, wait a minute, where’s Ren Xiaosu?”

“That’s right! Where’s Ren Xiaosu!”

Zhang Jinglin stood calmly in front of the formation. Many of the commanders had only stayed behind because they wanted to see what that legendary Ren Xiaosu looked like. But in the end, Ren Xiaosu had disappeared?

Zhou Yinglong looked at Zhang Xiaoman. “What’s wrong with you? How could you lose Ren Xiaosu?”

Zhang Xiaoman was also starting to get anxious. “Did any of you see Ren Xiaosu just now?”

“Yes, he was still around a moment ago. He was just sitting there in the bed of the truck. I dunno where he suddenly disappeared to.”

“Yeah, I saw him as well!”

Zhang Jinglin sighed. “Never mind, leave him be.”

Zhang Jinglin knew that Ren Xiaosu had temporarily joined Fortress 178 because of the Zong Consortium. But it was also because of the destruction of the Zong Consortium that he had left again. His heart did not belong here, after all.

Wang Fengyuan whispered, “Could he really have felt estranged?”

Zhang Jinglin shook his head and said, “It’s not important.” Then Zhang Jinglin looked at Zhang Xiaoman and said, “Carry on.”

Zhang Xiaoman stood to attention and swung his hand up energetically close to his ear in a salute. “Reporting in, Commander! The Razor Sharp Company has assembled. …”

Zhang Xiaoman was full of pride when he spoke. But now that the Razor Sharp Company was short one person, he somehow felt very empty and miserable inside.

Ren Xiaosu actually left without bidding farewell.

Thinking back on the times they spent together for the past month or so, the difficulties and dangers they faced were deeply imprinted in their minds.

As he kept speaking, Zhang Xiaoman grew depressed. Zhou Yinglong snapped at him, “Haven’t we already won the war? So what’s with that expression of yours?!”

“Battalion Commander, sir! We had made an agreement that no man would get left behind, but we’ve failed to bring Ren Xiaosu back with us!”

Everyone suddenly fell silent. No one had ever expected that the entire Razor Sharp Company would truly survive the war.

The dying sun blood-red. [1]

[1] This is the last line from the ci poem, Loushan Pass, by Mao Zedong. Mao wrote this poem after the Red Army defeated the KMT after a fierce battle and occupied the pass. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loushan_Pass |

Fierce the west wind,

Wild geese cry under the frosty morning moon.

Under the frosty morning moon

Horses’ hooves clattering,

Bugles sobbing low.

Idle boast the strong pass is a wall of iron,

With firm strides we are crossing its summit.

We are crossing its summit,

The rolling hills sea-blue,

The dying sun blood-red.