Section Sixty-Three: Peril

Seeing the rebel soldiers march out of the camp in perfect formation, Gertini felt a surge of wild delight rise from the bottom of his heart.

The best possible outcome. More than ten thousand troops were on the move, personally led by Wang Luo, with senior officers such as Yang Wentian, Zhang Shitou, and Tie Zhu all among them.

“The big fish is in the net. Now it all depends on Captain Lin.”

Using the communicator provided by the Wuzhou Team, he sent that message.

No reply.

So that was it. Cutting the bridge after crossing the river, was it? I saw that coming.

He headed toward the rear camp. By this hour, Ranke should be there teaching his young student to read.

His hand stroked the item hidden in his robe, and a grim smile appeared on his face.

Recently, after contributions reached ten thousand, it was no longer necessary to go through Wang Luo; one could exchange directly with the rebel army’s quartermaster.

Under such circumstances, this item was finally useful.

Uses remaining: 85 of 300.

Function: implants stored knowledge into the target’s memory.

In this age, with the suppression imposed by the setting and the era, it certainly could not work as well as it had at the time of its invention. But for this mission, which required recognizing several thousand characters, it was more than enough.

Gertini had not taken on the task before because he had no intention of strengthening the enemy. He did not know what Wang Luo’s purpose was in arranging it, or what he intended to do after teaching these people to read. But in any case, no matter what... he could not allow the enemy to be comfortable. Whatever objective the enemy sought to achieve had to be ruined. That was Gertini’s rule of conduct and the purpose of his life.

This was the best moment. The enemy would be ambushed, and there was a very high chance they would be wiped out. Literacy would no longer have any value to them.

A pity. If only he had known this thing could be used, he would have prepared a few more—make everyone else literate, blow up the contribution points, and bankrupt that bastard.

Before entering the tent where the lesson was to be taught, he checked the mission again and noticed that the details had changed somewhat.

Mission: Teach at least three thousand Chinese characters to the soldiers of the rebel army and help them understand the basic meanings.

Materials: [abridged] [abridged]

Reward: 500 contribution points per person.

With a snort, he stepped inside.

—

“Have they arrived yet?”

“No!” Red Lightning answered in irritation. “Keep quiet!”

This ambush had been arranged in a rush.

They had not been able to choose the ideal terrain for unleashing Blood Rain as they had in the previous scenario. Based on the march route transmitted back by Charles and Gertini, the final ambush site had been chosen on a small hill.

A great deal of fire oil had been laid on the road below the hill. Once the enemy arrived, the captain would lead her support members to unleash Blood Rain from a bend in the road.

The position was not good enough. If they were discovered, the enemy’s desperate counterattack could make things very dangerous. And even if the release was perfect, once the assault began, the enemy might still escape the range of Blood Rain.

Without the ability to use the Deployment Order, they could not control those who fled; they could only make the most of the sudden attack and inflict as much damage as possible.

Of course, being able to rely on their own forces to deal such a devastating blow to several thousand enemies was already extraordinary. The key to everything was killing the enemy’s leaders—their greatest threat, the people who could command the soldiers in this scenario by the thousands.

If they succeeded, victory should be assured. Killing the enemy’s key figures without relying on an army would drive completion to a truly terrifying number.

Even within this team, after deductions and losses, the reward would still be enormous. Some might even pay off their debts, escape the long years of misery, and leave this place...

No... it could not be that simple.

Red Lightning had once heard a rumor, almost a joke: no one had ever left the Wuzhou Team alive.

Would the enemy truly make such a childish mistake? That schemer who had deceived Charles, won battle after battle, and risen to become the commander of a great army as a contractor?

Something felt wrong.

Red Lightning subconsciously glanced behind him. Had they seen through the plan and decided to flank them instead... Had Huakai’s insect control failed... and the real intelligence been passed to the other side? Or... or...

He was not the only one thinking that way. While they waited, Red Lightning saw some of his teammates gripping escape items, laying traps behind themselves, or simply erecting defenses around their positions.

The captain was not here. As before, she was lying in ambush at the proper location below, ready to unleash Blood Rain when the enemy arrived; Ling’er and Dabing were protecting her. Not far away, Huakai stood behind a large rock in a black suit, expressionless.

With her there, no one dared disobey orders. But she was not the kind of person who could rally morale; if anything unexpected happened, she would not be able to command them.

If that worst suspicion proved true...

Red Lightning closed his eyes and let out a quiet sigh.

Then they would have no choice but to accept their fate.

When some members of the Wuzhou Team had nearly lost their patience after such a long wait, and others had already begun preparing escape routes, sounds of chanting and marching came from the distance.

The enemy’s vanguard, banners raised high and slogans on their lips, marched in neat formation and stepped straight into the trap.

—

“Has the order come?”

“Yes.” Garivel read aloud: “You have done your best. Since the enemy has prepared defenses and the timing is not right, put your own safety first. Do not act. Wait for an opportunity.”

“When the time has met the mission requirements, you may choose to continue lying low at the ferry camp. If you discover any valuable intelligence and send it back, you will receive the corresponding contribution points. You may also choose to return to the main camp; the battle with the Han army reinforcements is about to begin, and there will be opportunities for fighting as well.”

After finishing the letter, Garivel looked at the subordinates in front of him.

“What do you all think?”

“We go back,” Erick said.

“We stay,” Owen said.

The twins glared at each other, seemingly ready to start arguing, but Moronov cut them off.

“Any news from Xiaosheng’s side?”

“She sent word earlier that everything in the camp is normal. But Wang Luo doesn’t seem to have started attacking yet,” Garivel replied.

“We’ve already reported back on the combat strength of the soldiers here as well. What do you think Wang Luo is waiting for if he isn’t attacking?”

“Who knows? He even changed the name of his army. The Yellow Turbans over there may not welcome him. Even if he plans to cross the river and wipe out the Yellow Turbans on the other side as well, I wouldn’t be surprised.”

“If that’s the case, what should we do?” Moronov saw that Garivel still looked dazed, and strode up to him in anger.

“He is winning. Whatever happened before, he is our comrade now... our leader! Why can’t we follow him and win a few times ourselves?”

“What should we do? Please, think carefully. We can’t keep dragging this out!”

“I understand.” After a long silence, the Shadow Team heard their captain’s exhausted voice.

“We are not going back. Find an opportunity and kill Gru.”