The First Order

“Your power is definitely to copy other people’s powers,” P5092 said firmly, convinced of his own judgment. “Let me recall who has a power similar to White Mask… Xu Xianchu!”

Xu Xianchu was now considered an important commander of the Northwest. Therefore, no matter how little attention the Pyro Company paid to the Northwest, they would still know some information about them. As such, P5092 immediately linked Ren Xiaosu’s White Mask to Xu Xianchu’s shadow clone.

Ren Xiaosu asked calmly, “Have you ever considered that you know too much already?”

P5092 grunted, “Hmm?”

Why did it feel like something was off?

Ren Xiaosu sighed and said, “I’ve been discussing with you whether you should join the Northwest along the journey here. Now that you know so much, it looks like you have no choice but to go there.”

Other than confirming whether the Wang Consortium was really actively battling the enemy at Mt. Daniu, Ren Xiaosu also wanted to showcase his powers so that P5092 would willingly join the Prosperous Northwest.

But since P5092 was so smart, there was no other choice left than to join the Prosperous Northwest.

“You’ve painted yourself into a corner.” Ren Xiaosu sighed.

P5092 was speechless. For some reason, he even sensed a hint of threat in his words.

After he quietly got onto the steam locomotive, Ren Xiaosu said, “You’re also considered a military commander of the Northwest now. Do you think that the Northwest should participate in the Central Plains war?”

“No.” P5092 shook his head. When it came to strategy and military matters, he regained his usual composure. “Comparatively speaking, Fortress 178 should be guarding their original territory and not rashly come to the Central Plains without fully understanding the expeditionary army’s strength.”

“What do you mean?” Ren Xiaosu asked.

“The Northwest Army does not understand the geography of the Central Plains, nor have they ever fought here before. So if the expeditionary army becomes unstoppable, Fortress 178’s troops in the Northwest would still be protecting the people of the Central Plains,” P5092 analyzed. “The Central Plains that I’m talking about refers to the entire Alliance of Strongholds, people of the same nationality.”

“But what if the entire Central Plains falls?” Ren Xiaosu asked, “Haven’t you thought about how many people will die?”

“Then what if the main forces of the Northwest are ambushed by the barbarians when they get here and end up thinning their strength, eventually causing the Northwest to fall?” P5092 retorted. “So, what Fortress 178 should do is defend the Northwest first. The expeditionary army can’t kill all of the humans in the Central Plains. As long as there’s still people guarding a piece of territory here, everything will still be possible in the future. But if all of them fall, it will be very difficult to have any hope at all.”

Ren Xiaosu understood now. In P5092’s opinion, if the Central Plains fell, the Northwest would become the new tinder for humanity to restart. They would have to first think about the issue of survival before discussing how to subjugate the lost land.

P5092 placed the issue of the continuation of the nation as his highest priority. All of his strategies were to serve this purpose.

There was no right or wrong here. It was just that after humanity was nearly wiped out, an organization with obsessions like the Pyro Company would be born.

Ren Xiaosu chuckled and said, “Look, you’ve even started thinking for the Northwest. That’s really good.”

P5092 said in a serious tone, “Actually, I’ve always rejected the idea of the Prosperous Northwest until this moment. It’s just that I’ve failed in doing so….”

The steam locomotive rumbled in the northwest direction to where the infantry brigade led by Zhang Xiaoman was, Mt. Youyu.

Along the way, Ren Xiaosu invited P5092 to play Fight the Landlord together, but he was plainly rejected.

Throughout the journey, P5092 used every available second to supplement his knowledge of the Northwest. Some of this information was described to him, and there were also some maps that Ren Xiaosu carried with him.

P5092 carefully drew and wrote on the map to mark the strategic military locations he had in mind. As a result, he marked more than 200 coordinates.

Ren Xiaosu wondered, “What are these coordinates that you labeled?”

“If anyone sends troops from the Central Plains to the Northwest in the future, these strategic locations will have the best terrain to deal with the enemies,” P5092 said.

“Do you think that the barbarians will fight their way to the Northwest?” Ren Xiaosu shook his head. “Although I think that this war against the expeditionary army will be very difficult, I don’t think that they can defeat the Pyro Company and the Wang Consortium in the end. I mainly say so because of the Wang Consortium. I think that for someone who plans to unite the Central Plains, they’ll definitely be well-prepared. It’s impossible that they can’t deal with the expeditionary army.”

The only thing that worried them was the Wang Consortium’s attitude. Ren Xiaosu felt that the Wang Consortium would sooner or later sabotage the Pyro Company again in this war. When the barbarians invaded, the stronghold residents and refugees, including the Pyro Company and the Kong Consortium, would all suffer.

Ren Xiaosu was even worried the Wang Consortium’s schemes would backfire on them as they sabotaged others.

“I’m not worried about the expeditionary army.” P5092 glanced at Ren Xiaosu. “I’m worried about the Wang Consortium.”

“So that’s what you mean.” Ren Xiaosu nodded. “I guess there might just be a war then.”

After that, P5092 continued with his research.

The three people on the train did not notice a hawk in the sky following them. It looked like it was very curious about the steam locomotive.

The hawk looked very small up in the sky, but that was because it was so far away. In actual fact, the hawk was completely made up of an energy source. Its wingspan was eight meters long, so it would definitely be considered a large presence in the sky.

After following the steam locomotive for some time, the hawk turned around and flew northwards, soaring past the expeditionary army and arriving at the grasslands.

Many tents had been erected here in the northeast of the grasslands. The hawk suddenly descended towards Hassan before changing into a purple mass of energy and entering his body.

Ever since they drank the blood wine bestowed by the gods, Hassan, Kirghiz Yan, and Bulan Zir had awakened into superhumans. The hawk was Hassan’s power.

He turned around and walked towards the imperial court’s royal tent. The nomads had avoided the expeditionary army, but their original plan of going to the East Sea to go fishing was suddenly put on hold. They temporarily stopped here and did not continue heading east.

Hassan walked into the gloomy tent where Yan Liuyuan and Xiaoyu were sitting next to a fire pit.

Yan Liuyuan looked extremely dignified in his ferocious-looking faceplate. Hassan said respectfully, “Master, the hawk has returned with the information that you wanted.”

“Speak,” Yan Liuyuan said as he looked up.

“The war in the south has already broken out. The northern tribe is currently split up on two fronts fighting the Pyro Company and the Wang Consortium. We still can’t tell who’s winning at this time.” Hassan said, “Stronghold 176 has probably been massacred. There’s only corpses left there now, and it’s become a place where wild dogs and vultures revel. It’s only spring, but there’s already a large number of flies swarming around the place. When those flies get up into the air, they become a dark mass that covers the sky. It’s an extremely terrifying sight to behold.”

Yan Liuyuan sighed. He did not expect Stronghold 176 to still be destroyed in the end. “Is there anything else?”

“By the way, the hawk saw the train that you mentioned in an area between the battlefields. But the strange thing is there’s tracks that pave themselves in front of the train, and it can even cross mountains too. It’s wondrous,” Hassan said.

Yan Liuyuan was stunned. “Did that train have four or sixteen carriages?”

Xiaoyu suddenly grasped the corners of her shirt tightly but did not say anything.

Hassan replied, “Master, it was sixteen carriages.”