Chapter 788: Chapter 561 Secret Message
Indeed, there was a look of disdain in the robot’s faint blue eyes.
Mu Fan had actually been disdained by a robot?
He stared at the hunk of metal in front of him, incredulously. Bench wanted to slap it, but he figured the pain would probably be his own hand’s.
So he shook his head, slapped himself, and tried to clear his mind.
Had he been on the frontier for too long? Were the robots really that badass now?
He heard a crisp slap next to his ear, and then saw the dumbfounded soldier covering his face. Black couldn’t help but think two words silently—
Idiot.
The rumble of the engines started up, as four Mine Laying Vehicles and two Jet Motorcycles released their powerful thrust.
“Hey, I’m Junior Sergeant Bob from the 27th Infantry Battalion. That was awesome just now! Hold tight; I’ll show you the lay of the land as we go,” said the soldier in charge of driving the Jet Motorcycle, turning his head and silently giving Mu Fan a thumbs up.
In the military, it was always survival of the fittest, and Mu Fan had already earned their respect.
It had been a while, too, since the 27th Infantry Battalion had added any new recruits.
Even if it was just one.
…
The Jet Motorcycle roared between his legs, kicking up a cloud of dust and speeding forward with the two of them.
Mu Fan’s shaggy hair whipped around in the powerful airflow, but his eyes didn’t close; instead, he squinted attentively, taking everything in.
The dark red Rock Fire Stones, the murky sky, the acrid smell of gunpowder, the layered rock bands, a world devoid of any hint of green…
All of it made up a uniquely war-torn landscape.
Especially under Bob’s driving, the Jet Motorcycle’s route was extremely interesting, with several instances where they scraped over the rocky layers at a ninety-degree angle.
Especially when passing some particularly bright red Rock Fire Stones, a string of sparks flew from underneath the Jet Motorcycle.
“Ha-ha-ha! This is a special product of the Fire Hills area, Red Rock Fire Stone. Stones that can ignite—cool, right? You haven’t seen the scene yet when the dust cloud kicked up by the exploding shells ignites completely. That guy is definitely way cooler than any fireworks,” Bob laughed.
It was only when the conversation really picked up that Mu Fan realized that Junior Sergeant Bob was quite the chatterbox.
“Are you really a new recruit?”
…
“When will this war ever end?”
…
“Ah, our group was nearly two hundred strong, now only half are left.”
It was only after hearing the last sentence that Mu Fan responded, “So the fighting here is very intense?”
After another showy rock-climbing turn with the Jet Motorcycle, Bob’s tone lost its initial excitement and grew somewhat despondent, “Ever since we got here, the thought of making it back alive has been fading. Conflicts happen daily at hundreds of positions, big and small. At the beginning, seeing a comrade die scared me, but now I’ve grown numb to it.”
“Remember, if you see the Gardot Empire’s Frontier Army, don’t hesitate. Because it’s either you die, or they do—there’s no third option.”
“In actual combat, it’s rare to engage in close quarters. Watch out for stray bullets.”
“Right, and be careful of the minefields here. It took us half a year to set up this line of defense. This godforsaken planet’s resource-rich areas are all covered by electromagnetic Chaotic Flow, so neither fighters nor mechas can go airborne for combat. That’s why we in the infantry are the main force. The landmines are truly a Divine Artifact for trench warfare.”
Mu Fan listened quietly to Junior Sergeant Bob’s nonstop chatter, filtering through the words and committing the valuable information to memory.
Now and then, the landscape alternated between shadow and light. The gray sky and the red Rock Fire Stones intertwined in his vision, creating a panorama that flickered across his retina. Soon, Mu Fan arrived at the encampment Bob had mentioned.
He also saw Major Jerome with his disheveled hair, along with a group of soldiers with faces blackened and clothes torn.
When the Jet Motorcycle stopped, the stark contrast became especially apparent as the surrounding soldiers gathered around.
Mu Fan’s brand-new uniform stood out like a beacon in the dark.
This scene was unexpected for Mu Fan. Apparently, the twenty-man team he had seen before had already been in exceptionally good shape.
At first glance now, it felt as if he had arrived at a refugee camp, a far cry from the soldiers of Major Gerry from the 149th Division that he had previously seen.
But one thing Mu Fan was certain of: the fierce and steely resolve in these soldiers’ eyes was far stronger than Major Gerry’s from the 149th Division.
“Major, this is the escort officer of the supply team, Private Mu Fan.”
“Mu Fan, this is our 27th Infantry Battalion’s highest-ranking officer, Major Jerome.”
Bob introduced them loudly to each other.
“The intelligence mentioned support troops coming, then just one shows up?” Major Jerome’s eyes bulged as he spoke to Mu Fan.
“If there’s no other intelligence, I suppose that’s it,” Mu Fan nodded.
“I curse Quinton’s entire family of women.” Major Jerome spat viciously, completely disregarding Mu Fan’s feelings.
However, the latter did not mind his reaction.
Bob glanced at Mu Fan awkwardly and whispered, “Major, he’s really good.”
Jerome rolled his eyes, ignoring Bob, and instead asked, “Where are Joe and the others?”
“They’re escorting the supply vehicles at the back. This time we brought a lot of food and weapons.”
“That’s more like it. Once Joe gets here, we’ll rearrange the defense line. The Frontier Army of the Gardot Empire has been quiet for three days now, and that’s not normal at all.”
After saying this, Major Jerome looked at Mu Fan once more.
“Rookie, whether you’re here to undergo training or to seriously provide support, now that you’re here, I can tell you that your only task is… to strive to stay alive.”
“You’ll go and get an explosion-proof shield later and join Bob on a scouting mission. Here, there’s no fixed sleep, no fixed residence, even no fixed shelter. Just don’t think of yourself as an individual. If there’s no problem, follow Bob to get your equipment.”
Mu Fan opened his mouth, wanting to say, “What about my weapon?”
A scouting mission needs an explosion-proof shield? Shouldn’t it come with a gun instead?
But the disheveled Major Jerome didn’t give him a chance to speak up. Hearing the distant cheers of soldiers, he had already dashed off towards the back.
In the billowing dust over there, two supply vehicles had clearly returned.
Bob looked at Mu Fan’s expression, grinned, slapped his shoulder and said, “Let’s go. All new recruits need to go through an adjustment period. Trust Major Jerome.”
It was not until that moment that Mu Fan felt the soldiers he encountered during this assessment mission were unlike any military personnel he had ever seen before.
Inside the giant open cave, Mu Fan followed Bob on the uneven stone path, deep in the mouth of the cave, his keen eyes caught sight of a few mottled Land Combat Mechas.
…
By the time Mu Fan reached the Fire Hills region, the 149th Division’s base had synchronized the news and quickly conveyed it to Colonel Quinton.
“Has he arrived? That’s just in time to send a gift to our allies.”
“Aide-de-camp.”
“Present.”
“Did our insider say that the seventh set of ciphers has been decoded by the Frontier Army of the Gardot Empire?”
“Yes, Colonel Quinton!”
“Good. Use the seventh set of ciphers to send a message to our adjacent ally forces.”
Ah?
The aide-de-camp stood there stunned, dumbfoundedly saying, “But won’t this leak information?”
Colonel Quinton looked at the aide-de-camp sternly, “Just do what I tell you, no questions! Call in Major Gerry to take charge of the content of the information.”
“Yes!” The aide-de-camp suppressed his doubts and hastily left the command room.
Before long, Major Gerry entered the command room.
Approximately fifty minutes later, a message began to spread out along a seemingly covert route.
[“The Military Department has dispatched important secret support, currently having arrived in the Fire Hills region. Please, allied forces, provide support, and at the same time, my 149th Division will carry out a spearhead assault from here.”]
This message, although encrypted, was peculiarly transmitted with an amplified signal power, and notably, its transmission was directed outward from within the battlefront.
Medium wave communications spread this message layer by layer, reaching the Fire Hills region… and even further.
Black, stationed in the back-end program of the supply department, also intercepted this message. However, due to its comparatively low encryption compared to other messages and because it did not involve keywords related to Mu Fan’s name, it did not trigger the alert system for the time being.