The First Order

While it might seem ferocious to have killed several thousand barbarian troops, Ren Xiaosu understood the situation he was in. It was not that easy to get the “quad tens” bomb from the Explosive Poker deck, and he had only managed to gather this set of “quad tens” after spending hundreds of gratitude tokens to draw the cards. As for getting the even more valuable bombs, he had only obtained a single jack through the draws so far.

So if he really wanted to get the King Bomb, he would probably have to spend tens of thousands of gratitude tokens.

But Ren Xiaosu was also hugely looking forward to unlocking the third weapon. Although he had more than 5,000 gratitude tokens, it did not make sense to use everything in exchange for the Explosive Poker cards.

Unless he were in grave danger, he would not resort to using the Explosive Poker cards to save himself.

Moreover, the ear pick given by the palace was now missing. Ren Xiaosu asked the palace, “If the ear pick is lost, can I still use Ear Picking?”

The voice from the palace answered, “Yes, but there is a cooldown time until the ear pick is restored.”

“How long’s the cooldown?” Ren Xiaosu asked.

“Seven days.”

“Alright then, looks like I should try not to have a direct confrontation with the barbarians in the next seven days,” Ren Xiaosu said with a sigh.

He received internal injuries again. If it weren’t for the fact that he wanted to keep Old Xu hidden in the forest in case there was an opportunity to strike, he would have had Old Xu carry him while running away.

Right now, Ren Xiaosu’s body could barely engage in high-intensity battles. His combat capacity in a battle was still not as powerful as Li Shentan’s, after all.

If Li Shentan were here, he could easily hypnotize a group of the barbarians’ main forces and have them fight an attrition battle among themselves until he was the only one remaining.

Unfortunately, Li Shentan was currently waiting for the typhoon season in the South. No one knew what kind of mentality it took to purposely wait for typhoons to arrive. Based on the timing, the typhoons would probably arrive at the south coast only in July or August. As such, it would probably be very difficult to see Li Shentan again before that.

It was very difficult to guess what a lunatic was thinking.

In the past, many of the consortiums were glad the guy was a lunatic. He was not willing to participate in any political struggles and did not have any thoughts of world supremacy. Otherwise, many of the consortiums would be in trouble.

That was the status the Demon Whisperer commanded in this currently chaotic world…

He was someone even the consortiums feared.

At this moment, Ren Xiaosu, Yang Xiaojin, and the 7th Division, who were making their escape with them, were about to arrive at the defensive line set up by the 3rd Division.

From afar, Ren Xiaosu could already see P5092 ordering the soldiers in the defensive line to open up a path for the 7th Division. Meanwhile, the 1st and 4th Divisions continued to retreat after a quick reorganization. The evacuation would not end until everyone safely returned south of the Great Wall.

Ren Xiaosu and Yang Xiaojin jumped behind the makeshift defensive line constructed with sandbags by the 3rd Division. He said, “I’ve brought the 7th Division back as promised. Including your 3rd Division, there’ll be four divisions retreating back to south of the Great Wall.”

P5092 had said that as long as four of their divisions managed to retreat, the Pyro Company would still have a chance of winning this battle.

However, P5092 shook his head and said with a smile, “It’s three divisions. The 3rd Division will stay here and provide cover for the other troops to retreat.”

“You want to sacrifice yourself?” Ren Xiaosu frowned. He thought to himself, ‘Why is this person going back on his word? Haven’t we agreed that he’ll join the Prosperous Northwest? Why does he insist on dying here?‘

Ren Xiaosu was prepared to knock P5092 unconscious and carry him away. Since he had already done everything he needed to do, what was the point of him staying here?

Calculating the time, the troops led by Zhang Xiaoman should have arrived at the vicinity of the Wang Consortium’s defensive line by now, so he should also be joining up with his comrades.

However, P5092 explained, “It’s not that I want to sacrifice myself, but my 3rd Division is an artillery unit. After we intercept the barbarians here, all of our ammunition will definitely be expended. And we can’t possibly tow the artillery back when we evacuate since that’d delay our retreat. So the 3rd Division can only function as an engineering unit in the rear after we lose our artillery.”

“You should’ve said so earlier.” Ren Xiaosu immediately understood that P5092 was only implying that the 3rd Division’s combat strength would drop, and they would practically become useless after they abandoned their artillery here. “But I can only do so much. I’m sorry that I couldn’t save the 5th Division.”

“There’s nothing to be sorry about.” P5092 shook his head. “The entire Pyro Company should remember this favor of yours. If it weren’t for you, 7th Division would’ve been held back by the barbarians, and we wouldn’t stand a chance of fighting anymore.”

“Alright, let me rest for a bit first.” Ren Xiaosu leaned against a tree and panted in exhaustion. After a night of fighting, charging at the enemy, and then fleeing, the effects of his internal injuries and physical exhaustion started surfacing.

After a brief conversation with P5092, the 7th Division’s commander also retreated south. Another 20 minutes later, Ren Xiaosu suddenly asked P5092, “What’s the barrage range that you’ve determined?”

“4,500 meters, but we have to wait for the barbarians to get closer before firing.” P5092 said, “We can’t send out our scouts anymore. As the forest is too dense, visibility is only about 700 meters. It’d be a little dangerous to open fire like that.”

“What distance do you plan on waiting for the barbarians to get to before opening fire?” Ren Xiaosu asked.

“It’s best if they get to within 2,000 meters of us,” P5092 answered.

Ren Xiaosu thought for a moment. He remained silent for another couple minutes before saying, “You can give the order to open fire now.”

P5092 was stunned. However, he did not doubt Ren Xiaosu. Instead, he decisively ordered all the artillery troops to launch a simultaneous attack.

There would be no depth to the attacking pattern, and they only sought to immediately bombard the front with all their firepower so the expeditionary army would think there was a Pyro Company ambush set up here. After that, the 3rd Division could evacuate safely.

When the expeditionary army hesitated about whether to attack, the 3rd Division would have already gone back behind the walls.

The only problem was that no one even saw the barbarians yet. Would there be any problems now that Ren Xiaosu gave them the clearance to fire?

If it were any of the other division commanders here, they would definitely trust their own eyes more.

But the 3rd Division was different. The intel Ren Xiaosu had given them had never been wrong before. So even if they could not see anything, they still strictly carried out the order!

When the artillery weapons started firing one after another, the entire forest was filled with the pungent smell of gunpowder.

The sound of the artillery fire was stimulating and inspiring, especially when they were fired in unison. The power that burst out of the barrels seemed like it could even tear the sky apart.

Ren Xiaosu waited in silence. After six rounds of artillery fire, P5092 decisively gave the order to retreat. Meanwhile, the artillery were abandoned in the forest having already completed their final mission.

It was not that P5092 did not want to tow them back but that he could not do so. When he deployed the artillery troops from behind the walls, he had already thought of this outcome.

While the barbarians did not dare to continue advancing, the 3rd Division retreated at full speed. On their way back, Ren Xiaosu suddenly asked, “What’s the battle plan after we return to the Great Wall? Is there anything else I can help you with?”

P5092 was stunned. Then he said with a smile, “I don’t know. There aren’t any plans. We’ll have to wait for instructions from HQ.”

Ren Xiaosu looked at P5092 putting on a relaxed expression and sensed there was something on his mind.