Zheng Yuandong, who was already planning to leave Stronghold 146, was still standing on the roof of the tall building and thinking about life.
But midway through his thoughts, he saw a heavily armed armored brigade entering Stronghold 146 via the east gate.
Zheng Yuandong was a spy whose main responsibility was keeping tabs on the decisions of the Zong Consortium’s higher-ups and the movements of their key fighting forces. However, he never heard anything about the Zong Consortium deploying an armored brigade to Stronghold 146 before.
However, he was very familiar with the structure of the Zong Consortium’s military forces. He immediately noticed the insignia of those troops and realized it was the 131st Brigade! Didn’t these troops get fucking led away by Zong Wu? Why had they come back here again?
The situation in the stronghold right now was basically this: The defeated Zong Consortium troops were being pursued by the Razor Sharp Company, which in turn was being pursued by the armored brigade. It was total pandemonium with everyone driving their vehicles around in panic.
The Zong Consortium troops at the front were driving hastily as they were scared out of their wits by the Razor Sharp Company. They did not even stop their vehicles for a moment as they fled from the east to the west.
After driving for more than ten kilometers, they were about to reach the west gate.
Suddenly, the west gate opened. It seemed that some of the Zong Consortium soldiers were also starting to abandon their posts and had opened the gate to escape.
The regimental commander of the Zong Consortium troops said in a trembling voice, “Of all the troops in the stronghold, why must they chase us?”
A soldier suddenly said, “I think I hear the sound of armored vehicles and tanks behind us.”
The regiment commander grew ever more flustered. “What? Fortress 178’s armored brigade has arrived as well?”
They could not even see what the situation behind them was, much less notice the unit insignia of the pursuing troops at the rear. As the regimental commander held a very high rank in the military, he knew full well that there were no friendly troops in the vicinity. Therefore, he assumed the sound of the armored vehicles belonged to Fortress 178.
As they fled in panic, their ability to think rationally was destroyed. Although it was unrealistic that Fortress 178’s campaign would have reached here already, these troops could no longer think properly. If even Stronghold 146 could be rampaged through by a lone supernatural being, what was impossible?
Zheng Yuandong was stunned by this sight. He watched with his own eyes as the three forces tried to overtake each other until all of them finally disappeared into the distance.
“Whatever, it’s none of my business. I’ll just return to the Qing Consortium.”
The entire Northwest had descended into chaos. If Zheng Yuandong wanted to leave, now was the best time to do so.
After the Razor Sharp Company and armored brigade exited from the stronghold’s west gate, they started driving south. The Zong Consortium troops ahead of them were nearly driven to despair. Didn’t they already escape from the stronghold? So why were those people still chasing after them? Did they not want Stronghold 146 anymore?
Zhang Xiaoman and the Razor Sharp Company did not stop driving or attack the vehicles in front of them.
They were clearly very close to the enemy ahead of them, but there was only one path, and it was only wide enough for two vehicles to drive side by side on. If any vehicles ahead of them rolled over, the Razor Sharp Company would get caught between the wreck and the armored brigade behind them.
Suddenly, one of the Zong Consortium soldiers took a look behind. “Eh, the vehicles they’re driving look like those from our military. Could they share the same radio frequency?”
The regimental commander turned around to have a look and realized it was true.
He immediately had the soldier in the passenger seat try every frequency to see if he could get in touch with the Razor Sharp Company and discuss some workaround to the situation.
Sure enough, after he switched to an encrypted frequency and shouted into it, a reply came from the other end.
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The regimental commander was overjoyed. “Friends from Fortress 178, please don’t pursue us anymore. We’ll be retiring to the countryside to farm, so can you guys please stop?”
However, the other party answered, “No!”
The regimental commander turned furious and shouted, “Do you really have to be so ruthless?”
The soldiers of the Razor Sharp Company looked at each other, then at the armored brigade not too far behind them, and realized they did not know how to respond.
The Zong Consortium troops in the front roared, “Then surely we can stop our vehicles! We’ll surrender! Fortress 178 doesn’t kill captives, right?!”
Zhang Xiaoman was starting to get anxious. “No stopping, keep driving! If you dare stop, I’ll kill you!” ‘There’s only one fucking road out here and the shoulder’s full of muck, so if y’all stopped here, wouldn’t we get blocked as well?’
When the regimental commander in front heard this, tears of humiliation rolled down his cheeks. ‘Why aren’t you accepting our surrender? Must you really force us to flee?’
“Could those fucking Fortress 178 troops think that it’s fun to torture us like this?”
“That might be possible…”
But at this moment, one of the soldiers finally saw a full view of the armored brigade that was the farthest back while making a large turn. He wondered, “Wait a minute, isn’t that armored brigade in the rear our comrades?”
“What?!” The regimental commander was surprised. He did not care about the danger anymore and peeked out to look back. The paint on the exterior of the armored brigade clearly showed them to be their Zong Consortium troops.
The regimental commander picked up the vehicle’s walkie-talkie and started laughing arrogantly. “To the pursuing troops of Fortress 178, my advice to you all is to surrender quickly. You’re clearly surrounded by us, so what’re you trying to bluff!”
But just as he finished speaking, he was greeted by a hail of bullets from behind. The regimental commander was so frightened that his hands trembled again.
Zhang Xiaoman’s voice came from over the radio, “My advice to you is to keep driving. We don’t know if anything will happen to us, but if you dare stop, y’all will definitely be the first to suffer!”
The Zong Consortium’s regimental commander nearly started shedding tears of humiliation again. He swore into the walkie-talkie and said that the Razor Sharp Company would definitely pay the price, and that the Zong Consortium’s troops behind them would never let them off.
On the Razor Sharp Company’s side, Jiao Xiaochen sat in the back of a truck and wondered, “Wait a minute, even though we’re in range of the tank behind us, why didn’t they open fire at us? Furthermore, the Zong Consortium’s armored brigade is way too quiet back there.”
Zhang Xiaoman said unhappily, “Something must be wrong with them. Why else would we have gotten forced into taking cover in the gully twice without being attacked? I think they should’ve discovered us back then, but I wonder why they didn’t open fire on us?”
At that, Ren Xiaosu widened his eyes. “Tell me, what happened?”
Jiao Xiaochen related the incident and said curiously, “I feel that something strange is going on.”
A conjecture popped into Ren Xiaosu’s mind. He ordered, “Turn, let’s not follow these defeated Zong Consortium troops anymore. The armored brigade behind us probably isn’t here to attack us but to chase after the Zong Consortium’s troops in front of us.”
Then the Zong Consortium’s troops in front saw the Razor Sharp Company turning into the wilderness through their rearview mirrors. The regimental commander immediately felt a sense of relief. He had been saved. But after being chased around like a dog for so long, how could he just let the matter rest?
The regiment commander shouted to his soldiers, “They’ve been intimidated by us, but we can’t just let them escape like that—”
After the Razor Sharp Company departed, the Zong Consortium troops were the only ones left in front of the armored brigade. With a loud boom, the armored brigade’s tank to their rear opened fire!
The Zong Consortium’s regimental commander was stunned. He could only watch helplessly as the truck at the back of his convoy suddenly turned into a fireball. “What’s going on?”
The soldiers started crying. “Regimental Commander! The armored brigade is here to attack us!”