The First Order

Previously, when he rescued the Great Hoodwinker along with Wang Yun, Ji Zi’ang, and the others from the secret prison, the Great Hoodwinker had mentioned something to him. The reason why he got Ren Xiaosu to save them was that he wanted Wang Yun and Ji Zi’ang to become Ren Xiaosu’s supporters in the Northwest.

Later, Ren Xiaosu would occasionally think about the matter of the “supporters” as well. It was not that he coveted power, but after experiencing so much, he realized that if he wanted to protect something, he would someday have to say goodbye to the days of him fighting alone.

Just as Ren Xiaosu had said, a true victory would not be dictated by a particular person but required tens of thousands of people to work hard together to achieve.

And what did Ren Xiaosu lack the most right now? Was he lacking in individual combat ability?

It was leadership Ren Xiaosu lacked. He still had a Skill Duplication Scroll with him, but it was a Basic Skill Duplication Scroll that could only be used to copy advanced skills at most.

It was just like how Wang Jing’s cardiovascular specialization skill he copied was only at the advanced level even though Wang Jing’s proficiency was at master level.

Perhaps gaining an advanced skill would still put him at a much higher level than most people. But the problem was that the opponents in this era were all master tacticians who could play extremely dirty if need be. With only an advanced proficiency in leadership, many of his teammates would die if he faced someone who was a master.

If it were in the past, Ren Xiaosu would have just waited until he had a Perfect Skill Duplication Scroll before he copied someone else’s master-level skill in leadership.

But now, Ren Xiaosu’s concern was that his individual ability was still limited. Since he did not have any proficiency in this area, he should learn it from someone who did.

Currently, he had only come across a few people he thought were extremely well-versed in leadership. One of them was Qing Zhen, while there was also Zhang Jinglin and P5092.

He would definitely not be able to copy Qing Zhen’s skill. And since Mr. Zhang was constantly thinking about retirement, Ren Xiaosu naturally set his sights on P5092.

Over the past two days, the frontline battle report had been sent back, so everyone in the forward operating base knew about the victory the 3rd Division led by P5092 had achieved. When Ren Xiaosu read the battle report, he realized that be it at Mt. Dashi, the forward operating base, or the front line, P5092 had fought all those battles marvelously. It was as though he had a clear picture of the overall situation of the battlefield in his mind.

This person’s talent on the battlefield was enough to make Ren Xiaosu look up to him.

For a moment, the words “Prosperous Northwest” started lingering in Ren Xiaosu’s mind, unable to be suppressed.

However, the only thing that worried Ren Xiaosu a little was that P5092 really had no qualms about sacrificing others by having them act as decoys. Such behavior did not mesh with the style of the Northwest at all.

Although the people from the Northwest were not afraid to die, Ren Xiaosu was unwilling to let them die in vain by using them as bait. This was probably also why it was very difficult for him to become a commander.

Even a benevolent elder like Zhang Jinglin was prepared to sacrifice the Razor Sharp Company, wasn’t he?

At that time, Zhang Jinglin had already executed a contingency plan in the Gobi Corridor to the north. But to prevent a spy from getting wind of that plan, Zhang Jinglin did not tell Ren Xiaosu anything about it.

Ren Xiaosu did not blame Zhang Jinglin for it, because making the calmest decision amid chaos and leading the troops to victory was what a commander should do.

The last thing that should happen in the world was to use morality to blackmail a commander. Because there was no such thing as morality in war.

The Pyro Company’s ordinary soldiers were running towards the armory in a bid to get there before the barbarians.

Meanwhile, a small group of the barbarians responsible for creating chaos in the forward operating base had already been killed by Ren Xiaosu and Yang Xiaojin. Ren Xiaosu looked in another direction and was surprised to see that Meng Nan had suddenly fallen down on the ground.

Then Liang Ce decisively carried her on his back and continued fleeing in the direction that Ren Xiaosu had indicated.

Ren Xiaosu muttered, “That guy finally gets it. Their relationship will probably develop very quickly from here.”

Yang Xiaojin was lying on the medical center’s roof and looking through the scope while saying, “I wonder when someone else will get it as well.”

“Hahahahaha, who are you referring to…”

The Pyro Company’s special forces had already rushed out of the armory. Although they were not led by T5081, the 100-odd T4 soldiers who formed the rapid deployment force were enough to terrify the barbarians who were skilled at close combat and wielded giant axes.

Ren Xiaosu made a quick observation. There were around 400 barbarians, but the moment they clashed with the special forces, they were suppressed.

When those barbarians saw they could not successfully take the armory, they turned around and fled into the wilderness. They knew they had been ambushed, so they prepared to return to the wilderness and wait for an opportunity to reemerge to pin down the Pyro Company’s rear.

But they still underestimated the determination of P5092 to clear out the barbarians at the rear. Since the senior Pyro Company commander had set the bait, he had no intention of letting those barbarians leave.

Just as the barbarians were about to break out of the encirclement, another group of special forces suddenly appeared out of nowhere in the wilderness. The special forces had a total of around 400 soldiers. One-third of them had gone to Mt. Dashi, while the remaining two-thirds had stayed behind here at the forward operating base.

Now that the barbarians’ path of retreat had been completely cut off, they had nowhere left to run.

Ren Xiaosu put away his black sniper rifle and said, “The outcome has already been decided. The barbarians can’t do much now, so let’s go and join up with the Trinity Institute.”

“Mhm, let’s go.” Yang Xiaojin also got up.

However, before they could leave, a towering flame shot up from the ground 800 meters away from the armory. That huge pillar of flame looked like a doomsday scenario, and a large amount of dust and smoke started spreading out as well.

“Wait a minute, that’s where the baggage train is.” Ren Xiaosu said in a daze, “Did you see any barbarians over there just now?”

“There were no barbarians over there. I’m sure of it.” Yang Xiaojin said, “All of the barbarians came in via the same route. No one got close to that direction. I’m quite sure of it. Someone must’ve used TNT to blow up the entire supply convoy. The area that was blown up is very large.”

“But who could have done it!?” Ren Xiaosu looked at that area. “Could someone other than the barbarians have their eyes on this place?”

Almost at the same time, all of the Pyro Company’s soldiers and barbarians could not help but look towards where the explosion had gone off. Everyone could feel a fiery blast of air rushing towards them. The shockwave even swept up a cloud of dust, covering the entire forward operating base in fog. In just an instant, the visibility in the forward operating base had gone down to around 10 meters.

An officer of the special forces shouted, “Don’t get distracted. Our priority is to kill all the barbarians! Open the armory’s entrance! Let the FOB troops grab their weapons to secure the base!”

It was not that they did not want to go and save the supplies, but it was more important to kill the barbarians in front of them first. If they were to let the barbarians escape with such a perfect battle plan drawn up, the fault would not lie with the commander but with them who were supposed to execute the plan.

And since the supplies had already been blown up, it would be very difficult to salvage anything even if they went over right now. All they could do was kill all the barbarians in front of them first.

Some people suddenly realized that the gunshots in the forward operating base had stopped and that the snipers had disappeared.