“Village Chief! Captain Li Hu has been notified! They’ll be arriving very soon.”

Chen Shen nodded immediately, “Alright! You go and lead them! Be sure to advise them to be careful, so we don’t reveal our location!”

Chen Shen watched the soldier dash off to pass on the order and turned back, focusing his attention on the building complex.

Unlike his anxious feeling moments ago, he was much calmer after knowing that the other party was also humans.

While he observed the movements in the mysterious building complex, he thought about how to communicate and negotiate with the other parties.

‘First, we can’t reveal our shelter leader’s identity and the location of our territory. It’ll be our last trump card that we have to utilize well.

‘Secondly, we will have to delay as much time as possible if we can’t reach an agreement until our shelter leader comes back to negotiate further. We can’t have a battle break out.

‘The most important thing at the moment is to investigate their identities. It’s best we find out where they came from, whether they are human beings, which planet or universe they’re from, and their purpose…’

…

After Su Mo placed Chen Shen in the most suitable position, the latter’s potential developed. His code of conduct began to align more with his position.

He had lost a lot but, at the same time, gained a lot.

His once impetuous, reckless, and rash self no longer existed.

They were replaced with cautiousness, vigilance, and shrewdness.

Chen Shen had obtained a colorful life in the wasteland that he might have never achieved in his entire life on Earth.

Meanwhile, Li Hu, an ordinary retired soldier, also began to regain his prime after being put in the position of the Head of the Armed Forces.

“Stop there!”

Li Hu drove the truck they obtained from the Zeus Shelter and frowned while commanding the team after seeing where Earth Tiger was parked in the distance.

On the way, he was informed about the other party’s identity through their handset radios.

After hearing about the arrival of another group of humans, Li Hu had a different opinion than Chen Shen’s that wanted to negotiate.

Conquer!

Conquer them by force!

Chen Shen was just a top law student who graduated from college in a peaceful era.

Even though the wasteland had significantly changed him, his ways were still too gentle.

Li Hu was different.

He knew very well that there were only two options they could take toward the unknown party that fell in their territory.

The first option was to fight for survival.

The integrity of territorial sovereignty was inviolable. It was unacceptable even if the other party stated that they only wanted to borrow a place to develop their community.

One is that the distance between the two sides would be too close. The other party could easily launch an ambush on them if they suddenly changed their minds.

Hope Village would be caught off guard, and without any preparation, the whole village would be annihilated.

Second, there were too many secrets and resources within the village.

The consequences would be like in the story of Romance of the Three Kingdoms if the other party decided to take advantage of them.

They would borrow land first and then try to borrow resources.

In the end, they would be capitalizing on Hope Village, which would be equivalent to helping the enemy develop if they could not subdue them.

The second option would be to conquer them completely.

Similar to the first point, the second would only have one survivor in the end.

The difference was that it was no longer about which village survived but which territory’s sovereignty would be taken away.

In the event that the other party willingly surrendered all weapons and unconditionally disclosed their secrets, then their identities would be no different from ordinary survivors and could be gradually recruited into Hope Village.

That was precisely what Li Hu wanted to happen.

Therefore, when the truck stopped, he clenched the rifle in his hand and was much firmer than ever before.

He opened the door and got out of the truck.

The 45 soldiers in the truck’s rear also jumped out and began to check their gears on them.

After about a minute or so, everyone had completed their inspections and assembled according to formation.

Li Hu strode to the center, clenched his right fist, and slammed it into his chest.

His action made everyone watching nervous.

He failed to make the gesture when he attacked the mysterious building before.

Now, there could only be one meaning behind his gesture!

Everyone had to be prepared for the impending battle!

For every single villager, Hope Village and shelter leader, Su Mo…

They had to be ready to give their lives!

“Everyone, listen up!

“Current combat readiness is Red Level 1!

“I’ve only one order! Once a conflict breaks out, everything and everyone, including creatures, unknown humans, and foreigners that aren’t from our village, has to be reduced as much as possible!”

When Su Mo traveled to the ents’ territory, the combat readiness set by the village was Light Yellow Level 4.

That meant that the probability of a conflict breaking out was between 5% to 10% and the possibility of the village being destroyed was zero.

When they attacked the dwarf’s Black Stone Base Camp before the snowfall, the combat readiness was a Bright Yellow Level 3.

That represented that the probability of conflict breaking out was more than 20% and less than 50%. The possibility of the village being destroyed was also zero.

The combat readiness announced by Li Hu was Red Level 1.

That meant that the probability of a conflict breaking out was as high as 90%, and the possibility of the village being destroyed was 50%.

“Understood!”

Everyone raised a fist and slammed it against their chest, showing their attitude through action.

Having reached such a critical time, they understood that the village would likely reach a critical moment of life and death.

They might be able to live for a little longer if they backed out now, but it would not promise them safety forever.

Only through fearless attacks and showing the enemy that they had guns would they be able to get the message across to them that this was their only chance at life!

“The intelligence team goes first, and everyone left split into groups of ten, then follow me silently!”

Out of the 45 people, five of them belonged to the scouts. They immediately scattered from the team and aimed their guns toward the light glowing from the mysterious building complex after receiving the order from Li Hu.

The remaining 40 people were divided into four teams, and under the leadership of their captain, they quickly went to where Chen Shen was staying hidden.

The two teams finally joined after six minutes and forty seconds.