Chapter 569: Chapter 569. After Battle Assessment
During his exit from the city hall tower, Amon destroyed the top floor and sent a command to his battle puppets. These battle puppets had mind links, allowing him to transmit an order to other puppets via one nearby. His command was to disengage from battle and enter search mode.
Thanks to the Khode soldiers’ retreating, the First Demon Army could handle the battle without support from the battle puppets. The battle puppets went around the city and entered various buildings to search. The thing he commanded the battle puppets to search was the helmet-backpack contraption the human puppets wore, or as Zhong Yuan called them, the receiver module for the Mental Regulator.
The buildings Amon prioritized were large buildings, like warehouses or assembly halls, where he reasoned the enemy most likely stored the devices. He was sure Khode Soldiers would try to flee with the devices. So, when a battle puppet reported seeing many soldiers exiting the city jail, he immediately gathered the surrounding battle puppets and assailed these retreating soldiers. He himself rushed over to the place.
His battle puppets managed to keep the soldiers long enough until his arrival. With his prowess, he quickly took down those soldiers.
Searching the bodies of these soldiers showed that many of them wore space rings. Even for a technology-advanced nation like Khode, they couldn’t afford to provide every soldier with a space ring. Hence, this situation was odd.
Amon took one space ring from the corpses and checked its contents. As he expected, the space inside was filled with the Mental Regulator’s receiver modules.
Smiling from the find, he instructed the battle puppets to collect the space rings. He and several other battle puppets went inside the jail to continue searching.
Inside the jail, he found many prisoners. After talking with some of them, he learned that most were not the jail’s original occupants. They were captured kingdom soldiers and clan members with decent cultivation, but still in the Human Realm.
They also informed Amon that many of their comrades were being held in other locations. They were transferred to this jail only recently. Their captors regularly took some captives away, and many didn’t return. Those who returned were transferred again to a different detention place. They never had the chance to ask what was done to them when they were taken away.
Zhong Yuan, who was there with Amon, told Amon that these captives were most likely subjected to Mental Regulator testing. Cultivators with strong mental power were more likely to resist being controlled or more likely to regain consciousness when the signal emitted by the Mental Regulator was too far. Therefore, the ideal subjects for Mental Regulator were those with strong cultivation but weak minds.
Amon agreed with his hypothesis. The ones who passed the test must have been turned into human puppets, while the unideal subjects were either incarcerated elsewhere or disposed of.
They found more receiver modules inside the jail. The soldiers who they blocked outside must not have had enough space rings to take them all. Amon stored all the receiver modules in his black space ring, including those inside the space rings secured by his battle puppets.
He released the prisoners before exiting the jail. By then, the battle was over. Khode soldiers had either retreated or been slain. The city was theirs.
Jiang Tong’s army entered the city. Behind them were the masses who used to be the human puppets. Without the signal from the Mental Regulator, these people recovered their consciousness and regained control of their bodies. They unstrapped the receiver modules on their backs and left the devices on the ground before following the army back to the city.
Liu Xun left a few people to collect the receiver modules. They had gone through so much trouble because of these things. They would bring the modules back to the capital so kingdom experts could study them.
Amon met Jiang Tong and Liu Xun outside the city hall tower. The two were interrogating Yong Baili and Xin Wuming. They demanded information on what the First Demon Army did, leading to the Khode Army losing control over the human puppets.
Those two were, of course, not clear on the details. So, when Amon showed up, Jiang Tong immediately demanded an explanation.
"The enemy can control those people due to a machine on top of this tower," Amon answered truthfully.
Jiang Tong had gone inside the place. The top floor was completely obliterated.
"You destroy the machine?" He asked.
"Of course," Amon lied. "Do you prefer I learn how to shut it down safely while your soldiers are slaughtered by the controlled citizens? I promised I would limit casualties in your army as best as I could, didn’t I? I chose the fastest way to fulfil that promise, which is destroying the enemy machine."
Jiang Tong thought it was a pity they could not get hold of such a powerful machine, but considering the circumstances, he agreed with Amon’s course of action.
"You did well in helping us win this battle. The king will hear of it," Jiang Tong said. He didn’t show any intention to lessen Amon’s achievement.
"I am curious, though," Liu Xun said. "How do you know about the enemy’s method of controlling our citizens? From what your men reported, you sent your army directly to this tower. You already knew the enemy kept their machine inside this place."
"As I said, I have insider information," Amon replied without sharing more details. Instead, he asked, "What are you going to do with those devices used to control our citizens?"
"They will be taken back to the capital to be studied," Liu Xun answered.
"The First Demon Army has many experts who used to be teachers or students of the Royal Academy. How about giving some to us? We can help in studying them," Amon offered.
Liu Xun and Jiang Tong exchanged a glance before Jiang Tong said, "They are now the kingdom’s property. If you want some, return to the capital and make your case."
Amon nodded. Though it was not an outright rejection, the outcome was the same. He had expected this. That’s why he scoured the capital for spare receiver modules before Jiang Tong’s army entered the city.
"So, I believe you will uphold the force the king promised me if I help retake the city?" Amon asked Jiang Tong.
"We will first make an assessment of the result of this battle," Jiang Tong said. "You and your army can camp outside the city until we are finished with our assessment."
Amon didn’t protest. He still needed to wait for the other half of his army, led by Xu Bao. He recalled his battle puppets and organized his army to exit the city. They would build a camp next to Jiang Tong’s army camp.
*
Over the next few days, Liu Xun stayed in Bright Rock City to reestablish order, while Jiang Tong led most of his army to chase the retreating Khode Army.
Bright Rock City lost a great deal of its population from this ordeal, but a large portion survived. They came out of hiding and assisted in clearing the corpses and rubble. Some citizens fled the city when Khode invaded. Half these citizens stayed in the vicinity without the will and bravery to join the fight when Echos’ army arrived. They returned to the city now that everything was safe.
While waiting, Amon also assessed his troops. He lost quite many battle puppets. Only fifteen thousand were operational. Among the five thousand damaged puppets, some were so badly damaged that he had to toss them as scraps. The remaining needed serious repair. He didn’t have the facility or the time to repair them during this campaign, so he had to make do with the working fifteen thousand.
As for the soldiers of the First Demon Army, he lost only a few hundred. The battle puppets took the brunt of the conflict. Many soldiers suffered wounds, but they would recover with enough rest and recovery pills.
Xu Bao arrived four days later with ten thousand troops and many carts carrying supplies. Amon let them rest at the prepared camp.
Jiang Tong returned with his army on that same day. Amon went into Bright Rock City to meet him and demand his reward.
"I had people tally my troops while on the march," Jiang Tong told Amon. "I’ve lost many soldiers in this campaign. Together with the troops I left behind with Liu Xun here, we have thirty thousand. I lost almost half the troops I started with."
"That couldn’t be helped. You were caught off-guard by the enemy’s mind-controlled army," Amon said.
"That said, I can only give you seven thousand troops," Jiang Tong said.
Amon frowned. "I was promised half."
Jiang Tong didn’t bother with Amon’s displeased tone and expression. He said, "You are going on a pointless campaign. I need the troops to defend this kingdom."
"You have already defended the kingdom," Amon said.
Jiang Tong shook his head. "A development had occurred on our Eastern Front. The army led by Princess Huang Er to retake Cinder Ash Town had experienced a setback. The king sent me a message ordering me to lead my army and go there to help."