Chapter 422 No man left behind
At first, everyone was worried about the operation to blow up the Beiwan Bridge. But now, they no longer had to worry about it.
Zhang Xiaoman felt that everything seemed to always go quite well in battle when fighting alongside Ren Xiaosu. Never mind the battle at Shichuan Village, now that they were attacking the fully reinforced Beiwan River, the Qing Consortium stepped forward and said, “Don’t fear, we’re friends with Ren Xiaosu, so let us fight for you!”
Could he fucking be the “chosen one”? No wonder Commander Zhang chose him!
Of course, Zhang Xiaoman also wondered if Commander Zhang had done so because he valued the close ties between Ren Xiaosu and the Qing Consortium.
“Then what are we going to do now?” Zhang Xiaoman sat on the ground and pondered things. “If the Qing Consortium helps us attack the Beiwan River, we won’t have anything to do.”
Suddenly, the Razor Sharp Company became the idlest troops in all the Southwestern and Northwestern battlefields.
They had to communicate this matter to Zhou Yinglong. As a result, Zhou Yinglong made a quick decision. He ordered the Razor Sharp Company to get to Mt. Qiangwan in two days and attack that defensive anchor point together with the rest of the Forward Strike Battalion. They would coordinate a simultaneous attack with the Qing Consortium so that the Zong Consortium would be unable to react on this battlefront.
As for whether the Qing Consortium could blow up the Beiwan Bridge or not, Fortress 178 had backup plans if the Qing troops failed. So there was no need for them to tag along with the Qing Consortium to the Beiwan River.
Ren Xiaosu looked at the translucent shadow clone in the palace and said, “Can we leave a day later?”
Zhang Xiaoman estimated the time. “No, we’re still more than a 100 klicks away from Mt. Qiangwan. Even if we force marched, we’d just barely make it there in two days.”
Under normal circumstances, the average distance that troops could cover while marching with a heavy load was around 50 kilometers per day. If they force marched, they could travel at a speed of 10 kilometers per hour. However, they would not be able to move that fast as they had to carry a pack that weighed more than 30 kilograms each while maintaining their stamina.
Ren Xiaosu thought for a moment and said, “Alright then, let’s just be pretty cautious during the journey.”
Without the shadow clone leading the way, the risk factor would increase greatly. He was hoping that they could wait until the shadow clone had returned to its original state before they set off again. But Zhang Xiaoman would definitely not listen to him. Military orders could not be disobeyed.
The next morning, the Razor Sharp Company set off towards Mt. Qiangwan in the northwestern direction. On their way there, Zhang Xiaoman did not drop his guard once. The three best soldiers, Fu Rao, Lin Ping’an, and Ren Xiaosu would constantly take turns to be the point man to scout ahead.
When Ren Xiaosu saw that Zhang Xiaoman was taking the situation seriously, he finally felt at ease. He even volunteered to be on point for longer, walking in front of the formation for two-thirds of the time.
Ren Xiaosu said he was fine with being on point throughout their march. But Zhang Xiaoman and the others disagreed, saying that there was no reason why he should be handling it all by himself. Since they were comrades, they could not let him bear the risk alone.
At noon, Fu Rao had just moved to the front of the formation to take point when Ren Xiaosu heard a gunshot in the mountain pass ahead of them. What followed was a cry of pain from Fu Rao.
He was stunned for a moment before he heard Zhang Xiaoman yelling at them to go prone. “Find a place to take cover! There’s enemies in the mountain pass!”
The company went prone and could see Fu Rao lying on the ground in the mountain pass with his abdomen bleeding. He shouted, “It’s not an ambush! It’s an encounter! Our enemy is an entire company, leave me!”
Ren Xiaosu watched silently as the scene unfolded. Encounters were all too common in war, but they were a little unfortunate. When they encountered the enemy in this mountain pass, they could see Fu Rao ahead of them but not the enemy hiding in the pass.
Zhang Xiaoman whispered, “An encounter implies that the enemy didn’t expect to see us here either. It seems that these troops were thinking of detouring to get to the rear of our Forward Strike Battalion.”
Some of the troops at Mt. Qiangwan got deployed to the Beiwan River as reinforcements, but Fortress 178 didn’t know if all of them had really gone there.
Bang! Another shot rang out from the pass. The enemy that was hiding behind the ridge shot at Fu Rao again.
The enemy was guarding the narrow terrain of the pass. If anyone rushed over to save him, they would also get shot. However, the enemy was more worried that their opponents would not rush over to save their comrade. As such, they decided to slowly torture Fu Rao in an attempt to lure the Razor Sharp Company into charging forward.
But Fu Rao was very tough too. He knew what he was facing. So he did not even whimper when the second shot hit him in the leg.
“Don’t worry about me! Contact the Forward Strike Battalion and surround them!” Fu Rao roared.
Ren Xiaosu wanted to throw a grenade at the enemy. But if the enemy discovered that there was a supernatural being here after the first grenade dropped, they might kill Fu Rao immediately and retreat in haste. The Razor Sharp Company could definitely win this encounter with Ren Xiaosu, but Fu Rao would die!
Ren Xiaosu got up and slowly made his way towards Fu Rao through the mountainous terrain. Zhang Xiaoman said anxiously, “This is the enemy’s plan. We can’t fall for it. You and I are soldiers now, and Fu Rao knows what he needs to do. Everyone should also know that if I were the one laying on the ground, I wouldn’t want y’all to rescue me either!”
Ren Xiaosu looked back at Zhang Xiaoman and said calmly, “I already said no man left behind.”
Zhang Xiaoman looked at Ren Xiaosu in shock. He suddenly felt faith burning inside him.
He saw Ren Xiaosu’s pupils turn crimson again, the depths of his eyes swirling with magma.
Ren Xiaosu started running fast as a cheetah. Meanwhile, Ren Xiaosu’s words were still echoing in Zhang Xiaoman’s mind.
Zhang Jinglin had said to Ren Xiaosu, “Life should be a candle, burning brightly from tip to end.”
The dark world was about to crumble. But before it truly crumbled, that flame should not be extinguished.
And that was what Ren Xiaosu was obsessed with!
Zhang Xiaoman lowered his voice and said, “If Ren Xiaosu successfully gets to him, block off the opening at the pass, and don’t let the enemy seize the chance to shoot at them.”
Ren Xiaosu bounded out. The entrance of the pass was an open door, while the mountainous terrain were the walls next to it.
When Ren Xiaosu leaped across the four-meter-wide “door” along the “wall,” it felt like his entire body had flown across at a low altitude.
While “flying” in midair, Ren Xiaosu grabbed Fu Rao’s arm and used the momentum to pull him away from the “door”!
When the Zong Consortium’s soldiers saw Ren Xiaosu’s figure, they started firing wildly at him. However, they couldn’t pull their triggers quicker than it took Ren Xiaosu to get to Fu Rao!
But in the instant Ren Xiaosu flew across the entrance, he identified the enemy’s position. Before he landed back on the ground, he threw out three grenades at the enemy.
Zhang Xiaoman shouted, “Charge! Show them no mercy! Where are the medics?! Get over there and save them!”
The moment Ren Xiaosu dropped back to the ground, he laid Fu Rao flat. Due to the inertia of the rescue, he had dislocated Fu Rao’s arm. Ren Xiaosu said to Fu Rao, “I’m sorry. It was difficult to control my strength.”
Fu Rao laughed dryly and said, “Why the fuck are you talking about strength control?! It’s great that I don’t have to die! Where’s the medic? Get over here! I feel like I can still be saved!”
Ren Xiaosu said to the medic who rushed over, “Extract the bullets first, then use the black medicine that I gave you and apply it on his wounds.”
Once he finished speaking, he took the lead and charged at the mountain pass!