Chapter 914: Chapter 914: True and False Wise Men
The creaking of the tracks mixed with the cicadas’ chirping by the roadside, but the victorious squad was dead silent.
Not long ago, they had cooperated with infantry aboard wheeled armored vehicles to launch a surprise attack on a village at the foot of a mountain.
The entire village had hardly any decent houses; the only valuables were the diesel generator and tractor they bought from the Weilante people.
It’s remarkable that the scout squad could find this godforsaken place.
There wasn’t a single decent road from Millyans County to this village.
Of course, even more hateful were those Poluo Country soldiers.
Those guys left the looted equipment and supplies here and even incited the villagers to attack them, forcing them to open fire on the villagers...
At least thinking this way offered some solace to their hearts.
Caffer still remembered on the way to the battlefield earlier, the gunner Valke in their squad kept yelling about breaking his "111" record, while the radio operator Jeston and the loader Joe were passionately arguing over which bar had the more attractive girls at West Sail Port.
And now, Valke was completely silent, not mentioning a word about how many he had killed.
Jeston and Joe continued to chat awkwardly, but the stiffness of the conversation made one unconsciously curl their toes.
In the end, only their commander Buck remained consistently silent, always doing what was necessary and saying what needed to be said.
Caffer suddenly recalled that it seemed to be the same way back at Evernight Harbor.
Everything seemed to have changed, yet somehow nothing had really changed...
For a moment, an unprecedented thought suddenly sprang up in Caffer’s mind.
If only he hadn’t picked up that recruitment flyer back then, but instead walked a couple more steps to that familiar farmers’ market, and used his saved scholarship to buy a tractor to take home, it would’ve been great.
The one at home was just getting old.
His father often mentioned wanting to get a new one. He had intended to surprise the old man, but ended up like most Weilante people, impulsively taking the flyer to the recruitment point and joining the tank corps, shouting for the Marshal.
However, after stumbling onto the battlefield, he found that what he saw and heard was completely different from what he imagined...
As he thought about it, he unconsciously drifted off.
It was then that a broad hand grabbed his shoulder.
"Watch the road."
The commander’s voice snapped Caffer out of his daze. He stepped on the rudder and steered the tank back onto the barely visible road, narrowly preventing it from driving into the ditch.
To ease the tense atmosphere in the cabin, Joe smiled at him.
"Can you handle this? Maybe let Valke drive instead."
"Alright." Caffer awkwardly smiled, indeed considering that suggestion.
However, Valke, sitting not far from the back of his head, remained silent, acting as if he hadn’t heard anything.
The atmosphere grew cold once more.
The group fell silent.
Caffer thought they would complete the latter part of the journey in this silence, but unexpectedly, a shrill and short humming sound suddenly pierced his eardrums.
"Whoosh—!"
A flickering flame, like a dagger slicing through the jungle, dragged a long white trail toward the wheeled armored vehicle driving just ahead of them.
Sparks from the explosion scattered far and wide, followed by black smoke rising from the engine hood of that armored vehicle.
The rear door of the wheeled armored vehicle burst open violently, and soldiers in exoskeletons swiftly jumped out from the cabin, carrying rifles.
At the same time, bursts of gunfire came from the forest, tracer bullets like raindrops shot toward the Weilante squad using the armored vehicle as cover.
"It’s the Iron Fist! Damn it, our rocket launchers!" Caffer shouted instinctively, yanking the handbrake.
The cabin erupted into chaos, with loader Joe quickly loading high-explosive shells into the cannon, and radio operator Jeston yelling into the radio, trying to reach the companions ahead.
An encounter battle broke out instantly, with everyone almost simultaneously entering combat mode!
"It’s the guerrilla team!"
"Ten o’clock direction!"
"Fire!!"
Valke’s actions remained as swift as before.
With his shout, a well-aimed and forceful shot burst from the barrel, erupting in a firework in the nearby forest.
His movements didn’t stop; after firing a high-explosive shell, he quickly adjusted the cannon barrel, using the coaxial machine gun on the tank to burst fire at the forest with a rattling sound.
In coordination with the wheeled armored vehicle whose engine had stalled, the dual vehicles unleashed a hailstorm of bullets, forming a net of death across the dense forest!
The gunfire from the Poluo people quieted for a while, seemingly having suffered significant casualties.
However, before long, that brief pause in gunfire resumed more ferociously than before.
Before much time passed, a rocket shot out from the jungle, striking under the turret of the armored vehicle.
Metal liquid streams pierced through the bulletproof lining, hitting squarely on the ammo rack hidden behind the armor!
"Boom——!"
The explosive flare blew off the armored vehicle’s turret, followed by the crackling and popping of explosions.
Caught off guard, half of the ten-man squad using the armored vehicle as cover was maimed by the ensuing explosions; the few left were left in a sorry state, scrambling to escape into the forest under the machine gun fire.
"Damn it! We have to get out of here fast!" Buck’s gloomy face shouted, slamming a fist into the cabin.
"These Poluo people have come for revenge..." Radio operator Joe was shaking, his lips turned pale with fear.
Loader Jeston was equally disoriented, loading shells into the cannon while constantly swearing, "Damn it."
"Why now? Why didn’t they come sooner!"
There were no aircraft on task nearby, and they had no air support to call for.
Even if their air force brothers took off urgently from West Sail Port’s airport, by the time they arrived, it would have been too late.
"Caffer! Drive quickly! Wait, what the fuck are you doing!"
"The track is broken! I’m going down to fix it! Cover me!"
"No! You stay on the vehicle, let Joe go—"
The commander, Buck, shouted, but it was too late to stop him.
Caffer, with adrenaline rushing through him, had already opened the hatch above the cockpit and climbed outside.
Perhaps sending the communicator out would have been a better choice, and crawling out from underneath the carriage would have been a bit safer, but he didn’t know why he did it this way.
Bullets whizzed wildly overhead, but it was as if he didn’t hear them.
The surging adrenaline had numbed his sense of pain and fear of death.
The war—
This damn thing is war!
Maybe it was the Marshal’s blessing, as not a single bullet flying all over the sky hit him.
He struggled to pull down the toolbox hanging behind the tank, trying not to mind the machine gun rattling above and the roaring cannon barrel, rolling sideways to the front of the track, attempting to remove the broken segment to replace it with a new one.
However, at that moment, his luck seemed to run out as an armor-piercing bullet slammed into the tank’s side armor, less than two meters away from him!
The deafening explosion almost shattered his eardrums, and the scorching shock wave nearly knocked him unconscious.
Fortunately, it was an armor-piercing bullet!
If it were a high-explosive or some other kind of thing, he might have already met his end at Triumph City.
"Damn it—!"
The heart-wrenching pain from his calf made Caffer gasp sharply.
He didn’t dare to look at the wound, struggling to get up from the ground, picking up the segment that had fallen onto the ground, and almost instinctively reconnecting the broken track.
With his relentless effort, the tank miraculously started moving again.
And at that moment, soldiers from Poluo Country, holding rifles, charged out from the jungle.
"Ah ah ah!"
"Kill!!"
They grabbed assault rifles, firing to draw the tank’s fire, while charging forward as if their lives depended on it. Amid the chaotic gunfire, one of them, holding a dynamite pack sparking with flame, screamed like a madman as he lunged forward.
Almost instinctively, Caffer pulled out the gun at his waist and squeezed the trigger at the man.
The marksmanship he honed at the Military Academy came in handy.
The gunshots rang out even louder than the rattling machine gun fire, shooting down the guy holding the dynamite pack to the ground.
The deafening explosion rang out once again, and the spreading shock wave hit directly on his chest. Caffer groaned and completely passed out.
In a daze, he seemed to have auditory hallucinations, hearing the quarrels of his comrades inside the carriage.
"We have to go!"
"Caffer is still outside!"
"There’s no time!"
"..."
Perhaps they weren’t arguing at all, but thinking so made him feel a bit better.
Feeling like he couldn’t be saved, the tank sped away forward.
After all, it was a light tank.
Even though the road conditions in this area were quite poor, it could still run much faster than two legs...
In a daze, Caffer felt his collar being grabbed.
A group of people surrounded him, pulling him out from a pile of mud.
A man with a face full of blood pulled out a dagger, probably intending to carve out his heart, but before he could make a move, another soldier from Poluo Country stopped him.
"Enough, too many have already sacrificed."
The blood-covered man shouted angrily at the officer-looking one.
"But he killed my brother! My own brother! And that village! How do we settle that score?"
Caffer gasped, looking at the two men, then glanced at the hate-filled eyes around him, his face filled with terror.
But the next words from that officer made him feel a comforting warmth.
"They are also victims. The survivors of suffering are not just us."
Later, that officer said something else, some kind of incantation, that surprisingly calmed the blood-soaked, devil-like man down.
Caffer watched him walk up to him, his Adam’s apple moving up and down, wanting to say thank you, but the words wouldn’t come out.
The man spoke first.
"Your name."
"...Caffer."
"I am Ah Ming," Ah Ming said, looking at him and adjusting his collar, "Caffer, you are captured."
This person’s demeanor was unlike that of a Poluo Country person, making Caffer feel as if he’d been transported back to Evernight Harbor.
"I...surrender."
As he spoke these words, he felt no guilt in his heart, only repentance and apology.
He recalled the villagers he had killed, even though he wasn’t the one who pulled the trigger, he was still sitting on the vehicle at that time.
He also thought of the young man carrying the dynamite pack. Even though if he hadn’t shot, he would have died, he couldn’t help but feel regret...
"We accept your surrender," looking at the guilty-faced Caffer, Ah Ming smiled kindly and continued in a gentle tone, "and we hope you cooperate with us."
...
Gray Wolf Army Headquarters.
In front of the map, the Grey Wolf Army’s commander Gopal rarely showed his temper, cursing and swearing.
"This bastard! He really forgot his roots!"
The "North Wind" operation was a great success, far exceeding initial expectations, yet he felt no joy.
Because he just received news that an army of 100,000 was advancing toward Snake State.
Such a fierce offensive is commonplace on the Northern Front, but unprecedented on the Southern Front.
In contrast to Gopal, Sava, standing in the command tent, wore a calm expression.
Once Gopal finally calmed down somewhat, he slowly spoke.
"Mr. Zayed said that the Weilante people’s vindictive nature would surely lead them to retaliate. But don’t worry too much; the enemy’s internal structure isn’t monolithic."
Gopal paused, looking at Zayed’s aide.
"What if we call our informants now and have the Southern Legion’s logistics system make some moves..."
Sava interrupted his unrealistic notion with a light cough before he could finish.
"No, General Giulion approved this operation precisely to take this opportunity to shake up the Southern Legion’s logistics system. We’ve already offended some informants by acting unconventionally. Seeking their help now would only ruin the covert channels we’ve painstakingly developed."
Gopal maintained his composure and said.
"Then what should we do?"
Sava: "Endure."
Hearing this unexpected response, Gopal’s eyebrows twitched fiercely.
"What if they attack Snake State?"
Sava smiled slightly.
"Perfect. Shaluk has always been sabotaging us from behind, wanting to use us as cannon fodder while squeezing us for resources. We can turn their own forces against them, let these 100,000 make a show as big as 1,000,000!"
"If their momentum isn’t enough, we’ll build it for them! If Shaluk doesn’t want to use his own guards to reinforce, he’ll have to untie the rope around our necks, give us guns! Give us grain! And give us people!"
As for capturing Snake State, that’s unlikely.
From a strategic perspective, Giulion is unlikely to spread his chips to the so-called lesser threatened southern front.
Permanently alienating his logistics system and betting the entire strategic outcome on a tasteless piece of chicken rib...
As long as General Giulion is a rational person, he wouldn’t do it.
Only Grov still fantasizes that his cleverness can turn the tide, making Snake State another focus of the entire war.
Truly smart people go with the flow, while those who play small tricks only get crushed by the tides.
Gopal’s eyes showed a sudden understanding, staring intently at Sava.
"...Is this all Zayed’s idea?"
Sava smiled faintly but did not directly answer.
"Aside from General Grov unexpectedly indulging in acting, all the rest were personally deployed by him. Leader Absek had posed two difficult problems to Mr. Zayed, and now these almost impossible problems are both solved."
Gopal laughed heartily at the statement.
"Interesting, hahaha, truly interesting."
After laughing for some time, he seemed relieved, fixing his gaze on Sava.
"So, what about this Grov? Although he’s my subordinate, his disobedience is a big problem. I’m afraid he might cause trouble in the future. If you want to deal with him, feel free to do so. You don’t need to consider my opinion, or even let me handle him."
"General Grov isn’t a bad person at heart, just someone who values honor a bit too much. Why would we need to handle such good family stock? Moreover, the plan he brought over includes signatures from both you and Mr. Zayed. Handling him would be slapping our own faces, as well as the alliance’s."
Sava looked at the thoughtful Gopal with an odd expression and mimicked Zayed’s tone.
"Good work must be rewarded, and heavily so!"
...
"...Recently, according to the return message from our station’s correspondent in Tiandu, Poluo Province, the Southern Army Group of Poluo Country launched a surprise attack on the Southern Legion stationed around Wolf State in the early hours of September 11."
"This operation was code-named ’North Wind’, commanded by Grov, number two of the Grey Wolf Army, leading the Poluo Country’s 101st Ten-thousand-strong unit, totaling over 90,000 troops. A significant amount of light equipment and manual transport vehicles were deployed in this operation, infiltrating hundred kilometers deep into the Southern Legion’s actual control zone."
"According to an interview with Grov himself by the Survivor’s Daily’s Jinjaron Harbor branch, this operation was a resounding success. The Southern Army Group launched the attack with only 2,000 casualties and achieved a remarkable record of 30,000 enemy kills! Additionally, this operation destroyed more than 50 logistics hubs, 17 production facilities, and captured nearly 100,000 light weapons, nearly a million rounds of ammunition, 20 field guns, and over 200 heavy machine guns."
"According to publicly available intelligence from West Sail Port media, the operation caused 500 Weilante casualties and 3,117 servant army soldier casualties. Although the Southern Legion lost military materials worth up to 90 million dinars in this operation, the damaged stations and production facilities have been mostly restored after a week’s repair. Additionally, with the deployment of drone troops and new artillery, the Poluo Country’s Southern Army Group also suffered nearly 10,000 casualties."
"Due to the significant discrepancies in casualty and battle damage numbers, our station only reports both sides’ statements."
"Also, the Absek authorities praised this operation highly and strongly condemned the Southern Legion’s barbaric actions in Snake State and the mass civilian casualties caused during the counterattack. In response, a Southern Legion spokesperson expressed the hope that guerrillas would not use civilians as shields, and the front-line Weilante soldiers would defend the army and empire’s alliance at all costs, eradicating any rebels."
"Currently, Shaluk, the figure with actual power in the southern region of the Poluo Province under scrutiny, has yet to make a statement on the operation. However, according to our station’s sources, the operation indeed received signatures from Shaluk himself and the Grey Wolf Army leadership."
"Previously, Shaluk’s inaction in the face of Wolf State’s fall was highly controversial across all sectors of Poluo Province, with rumors also suggesting that there had been interest collusion between Shaluk’s subordinates and internal forces within the Southern Legion. Now, this powerful attack somewhat responds to such rumors."
"Analysts related to Jinjaron Harbor claim the ’North Wind’ operation, as Shaluk’s first large-scale offensive, might become the turning point in the current stalemate. However, other analysts suggest that both in size and achievements, this operation is unlikely to cause significant impact on the Southern Legion’s strategic deployment, unless Shaluk puts in more deep resources."
"Following the incident, the Southern Legion quickly dispatched the 60th, 61st ten-thousand-strong units, and tens of thousands of servant army soldiers to the southern part of Wolf State, deploying a large-scale military operation code-named ’Falling Leaves’, seemingly in response to ’North Wind’."
"Furthermore, according to West Sail Port insiders, the newly issued playing cards in the Southern Legion’s Poluo Province war zone now feature a bust of General Grov, marked with a bounty of 100,000 dinars."
"Currently, the highest bounty on this series of playing cards remains on Yishel, with the Southern Legion increasing his bounty to 5,000,000 dinars..."
"Additionally, our station reminds again that any alliance citizen participating in unauthorized wars as a mercenary is acting illegally. Those in related professions should accept orders through official channels, and be careful not to risk themselves..."
"Dawn City News reporting for you!"
In a tavern in Weifu City, the television hung from the ceiling over the bar was broadcasting Dawn City TV Station’s news.
Speaking of Dawn City TV Station, it has been around for years.
Back when Giant Stone City underwent significant changes, it was this TV station and Dawn’s Survivor’s Daily that followed the city’s situation closely. Now, the station’s coverage has expanded to places thousands of kilometers away.
Just like the alliance’s cables.
Sitting beside the bar, a mercenary with a mechanical prosthesis drank beer, grinning at the images on the screen.
"Grov...another new name, this Poluo Province sure has a lot of second-in-command figures."
A drunk sitting next to him hiccupped and mocked.
"Maybe you remembered wrong, he’s the number two in the Gray Wolf Army, but probably not even ranked in the entire Poluo Province."
This war has been going on for almost half a year, and something big happens almost every two days.
Probably only guys like him, who spend their time in bars after work every day, remember the plot of every news episode here in Weifu City.
Since the Alliance’s print media and entertainment industry are still in their nascent stage, while the Alliance has gradually popularized televisions and a series of flat media terminals, the ones most focused on news are actually the drunks who need news to accompany their drinks.
The mercenary’s expression was a bit awkward, coughed, and changed the topic.
"Gray Wolf Army... What the hell is that, I’ve never heard of it."
"Well, you can’t be blamed," the drunk hiccupped, "I watch the news every day and haven’t seen them on camera much, this might just be their recent highlight moment."
Just as he finished his sentence, another middle-aged man sitting next to him laughingly interjected.
"I think your memory isn’t that great either, this group was on the headlines several times just last year."
This opened up a floodgate of conversation, and everyone sitting at the bar started discussing animatedly.
"Now that you mention it, I remember, they’re the guys feeding the fish by Potato Harbor, right?"
"And there was the Burning Corps that were flooded into the Everflow River in revenge at Jinjaron Harbor."
"Haha, getting flooded in the river is old news, I heard this unit has produced many outstanding officers after training by McCullen."
"McCullen..."
"He’s still a defeated general, isn’t he?"
"Hahaha."
The tavern was full of lively atmosphere, and there was a lot of laughter and banter at the bar.
It’s said that McCullen helped the West Winds Empire a lot, but after the empire descended into chaos, this guy fell silent, nobody knew what kind of corruption he was brewing inside.
Of course, maybe after some reform from the Alliance, he turned over a new leaf and became a new person.
As for that guy named Groove, no one remembered his name.
But that’s quite normal.
The number two of some army in the distant Poluo Province, over a few thousand kilometers from the Alliance, is just a nobody to survivors living in the Brocade River Province, right?
To make them remember, he would at least need a nine-figure bank deposit, or have done something earth-shattering, right?
The name from the last Dawn City news would probably be forgotten by them in two days...
The TV began broadcasting other news, spending a good amount of time on the proposal submitted by No.1 Settlement regarding the establishment of an immigration department.
This is probably the most controversial topic for the Alliance recently.
Although the proposal has been criticized by radical individuals and the "Regulated", it has still garnered widespread support from conservatives and Alliance citizens.
After all, from a realistic perspective, who wouldn’t want their identity to be more valuable?
Moreover, a series of unpleasant incidents had happened previously.
Currently, the Alliance Representative Conference has formally accepted the application submitted by the local representative conference of No.1 Settlement and has conducted a public review on whether the proposal is unconstitutional.
However, the local representative conference of No.1 Settlement has evidently prepared thoroughly, making it unlikely that any slip-ups would happen on such details.
This proposal is likely to enter the voting phase soon, and its passage is almost a certainty.
After all, the representative who proposed this is said to be a radical person.
It seems that tightening immigration management has unconsciously become a consensus between the radical and conservative factions.
While people in the bar were talking about other topics, the mercenary at the bar still couldn’t let go of the news about Poluo Country.
The war there was growing more intense, and he couldn’t help but think about going there to make money.
It’s not about earning that bounty, he wants silver coins, not dinars, and the source of his property is hard to explain.
Mainly, he was thinking about how hard it was to make money with his combat prosthesis in the eastern part of Central Continent, so he might as well re-employ himself in the Poluo Province.
Downing a gulp of beer, the mercenary mumbled.
"But anyway, who would’ve thought the highest bounty target in the army would be a Poluo person."
"His name is Yishel, right? I heard he gave the Southern Legion quite a headache in the Northern Three States." The drunk next to him laughed, feeling proud of his good memory.
The other guy next to him chimed in with a smirk.
"After all, the playing cards issued for the Southern Legion War Zone in Poluo Province do have Poluo faces, are they supposed to put yours on instead?"
The mercenary curiously asked.
"So who’s the highest target for the entire Southern Legion?"
"I heard it’s our Manager."
Everyone exchanged glances without speaking, only sighing deeply after a long pause.
"..."
"Damn, these Weilante people sure dare to dream big."
"Dream on, if they want to challenge that lord, they’d have to step over my dead body first!"
"Hey, if it really came down to that, would it be your turn to show off?"
Maybe even Chu Guang himself couldn’t remember those trivial little things clearly, but everyone here remembered when he casually swung a hammer and smashed the Torch Church’s monster into mush, leading the residents of Shelter No. 404 to bravely charge toward the plague-corroded earth.
Sure, there might be some exaggeration to it, but not by much.
Perhaps it was because of these increasingly exaggerated legends that even with many Weilante people in the Alliance, none dared to think about that billion bounty.
Of course, perhaps there were other reasons.
The Manager indeed cared for those waste land wanderers.
Whether they were Waste Land Wanderers from the eastern Pig Province, or Weilante people from distant lands...
At least those united around him stood for the same goal.