The First Order

Chapter 435

Pursuit

Zong Jing, who was from the fourth ancillary branch of the Zong clan, was also one of the frontrunners of the younger generation. But it was only because Zong Cheng was a supernatural being that he, as a normal person, had mostly been overlooked.

Of course, they were only outstanding because they were compared with the other members of the Zong Consortium. If this comparison included everyone else, then Qing Zhen, who was a similar age to them, had already surpassed their achievements by becoming the head of the Qing Consortium. But because of Qing Zhen’s coup, the Zong Consortium’s Board seemed to have started becoming wary of the troops controlled by the clan’s family members. They were all worried that what happened to the Qing Consortium would play out in their organization as well.

The fourth ancillary branch of the Zong clan knew that Zong Jing was definitely not comparable to Zong Cheng or Zong Xiang, but still, he couldn’t just die like that!

Moreover, Zong Jing had taken two of the most elite snipers from the Zong Consortium’s military with him. As a matter of fact, the cost of training a sniper was comparable to training a fighter pilot before The Cataclysm!

“I’ll deploy the recon battalion to Stronghold 144.” A general said gloomily, “I want to make sure these Fortress 178 troops will never return home!”

“Seconded! It’s better to leave such pursuits in the wilderness to the recon battalion. Besides, the front at Mt. Wuchuan doesn’t require them either. But more importantly, we can’t allow these Fortress 178 troops to find out about our contingency plans,” the general sitting at the end of the conference table said in a low voice.

Everyone was cowed by the words. The contingency plans seemed extremely important.

Moreover, Stronghold 144 was the Zong Consortium’s granary, and the military rations at the front line could only last for about 15 days. If they did not resolve the problem of the infiltration quickly, the battles at the front line might get affected as a result.

“It’s decided then. Order the recon battalion to set off immediately. As for the role of the infantry regiment’s commander, I recommend Zong Han take over. The defeat we suffered at the Beiwan River has already proven that Zong Han is not suitable as a brigade commander, so demote him and make him report to Stronghold 144 instead.” “Seconded, but let’s not make the same, stupid mistake as the previous time. Have the 1237th Regiment send some troops to receive him.”

All of the Zong Consortium’s generals were upset. Although this issue did not really affect the Zong Consortium as a whole, these troops from Fortress 178 that had infiltrated their rear lines were a thorn in the side and a niggling source of pain.

They were about to begin the final battle at Mt. Wuchuan, yet they still had to redeploy their troops to the rear.

However, the Razor Sharp Company evaporated into thin air and did not appear again around Stronghold 144 for the next seven days.

When the Zong Consortium’s reconnaissance battalion arrived, they started tracking from the area where Zong Jing was attacked. These soldiers were all experts at hunting people in the wilderness, so it would be easy to find the tracks of an entire company if they wanted to.

For example, trampled grass, human excrement, and other tracks that suggested people had been there before would all alert them.

But when they followed the trail to a small stream, the tracks stopped abruptly. The Zong Consortium’s reconnaissance troops realized that the Razor Sharp Company had made use of this small stream to escape, but they could not ascertain where they had gone.

This left the Zong Consortium in a very uncomfortable position.

For example, someone wouldn’t be disgusted by seeing a palm-sized spider at home but that it disappeared right after one turned one’s eyes away for a moment.

Three days later, three military factories in the vicinity of Stronghold 145 fell under attack. These three factories were not technologically advanced in any way either. They were just factories that manufactured the most common bullets, hand grenades, and mortar shells.

The defenses at the military factories were still pretty tight, yet the mysterious troops from Fortress 178 seemed to have come prepared and were able to blow up all three factories in a

day.

Of course, the Razor Sharp Company was only able to make such swift attacks because they had the refugees helping them. How else would they have gotten such detailed information on where to attack?

After blowing up the factories, the Razor Sharp Company once again made use of the stream to leave so that they could hide elsewhere in the wilderness. Some of the Zong Consortium’s generals were going crazy with rage. “It looks like Fortress 178 was fully prepared for this. How could those troops have made the river crossing accidentally? They’re obviously trying to copy the Qing Consortium’s tactics and are targeting our military factories! Tell the garrisons of those strongholds that if anything happens to the other military factories under their watch, I’ll have all of them executed!”

Immediately, all of the military factories in the north were placed under lockdown. It looked as though all of them were facing a formidable enemy, as they split up half of the troops garrisoned in the strongholds to head out and protect the military factories.

Meanwhile, the Zong Consortium’s reconnaissance battalion lived up to their expectations of locating the Razor Sharp Company. At some point, from atop a distant hill, they even managed to catch a glimpse of the retreating figures of the Razor Sharp Company.

The Zong Consortium’s reconnaissance battalion was cursing at this in their minds. Why weren’t these troops from Fortress 178 following a proper route? Were they just randomly moving and going wherever they liked?

At the start, the Zong Consortium’s reconnaissance battalion was chasing after them from behind. When they spotted some disorderly tracks, they thought the Razor Sharp Company was deliberately trying to mislead them. However, after almost catching up to them a few times, they suddenly felt that from the unconcealed manner that this group of soldiers were moving, it did not suggest that they were trying to intentionally leave behind a trail to mislead them. It purely felt like they had just taken the wrong route and were turning back to retrace their steps!

But the more it felt like this, the more disgusted the Zong Consortium’s reconnaissance battalion grew. After the Razor Sharp Company’s attacks on the military factories, they felt that they had more or less figured out what the Razor Sharp Company was thinking

Hence, the Zong Consortium’s reconnaissance battalion took a shortcut as they wanted to set up an ambush for the enemy, but they did not see the Razor Sharp Company appear even after a long time had passed. It was only then that they realized the Razor Sharp Company had turned around again.

What the hell was this? Weren’t they afraid that there would be pursuers behind them? They actually turned around?!

In fact, the Razor Sharp Company had only turned around because Fu Rao had lost his Shichuan Village medal. They turned back to see if they could find it. After all, the medal was worth 10,000 yuan.

Of course, the Razor Sharp Company was not treating this as a game either. When Fu Rao asked to turn around to search for his lost medal, he had sought Ren Xiaosu’s permission to do so. Then Ren Xiaosu said that he happened to want to turn around as well.

There was actually another layer of safety for the Razor Sharp Company, and that was the shadow clone that was roaming the wilderness.

In fact, as long as their presence was small enough, it wouldn’t be difficult for them to stay hidden in the wilderness. If the Razor Sharp Company was any larger in size, they would not be able to resort to such guerrilla tactics.

“So where do we go now?” Zhang Xiaoman asked.

“That group of soldiers pursuing us makes things a little tricky. I feel like their overall quality is much higher than the Zong soldiers we defeated before.” Ren Xiaosu frowned.

If it were a normal unit, they would have abandoned the chase long ago. However, these troops were much more difficult to deal with. Ren Xiaosu had also planted a few of the Brambles as a trap for them. But in the end, they were not even hindered by it. When the enemy troops saw the strange red vines hidden within the patches of grass, they avoided them entirely.

Even if someone accidentally got entwined, the others would definitely try their best to rescue them. As such, it was very difficult for the Brambles to cause any casualties.

“We can’t just keep letting them chase us like this. We nearly had a close range exchange of fire with them on many occasions already.” Zhang Xiaoman thought for a while and said, “Why don’t we attack them frontally?”

“No.” Ren Xiaosu shook his head. “I suspect that they might also have snipers. How could there be no snipers in such an elite battalion? So I think it’s still better to avoid them for now.”

“Then what should we do?”

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