The First Order - Chapter 1244
1244 Absolute confidence
Shortly after Hassan arrived at Stronghold 144, everyone saw a familiar wolf pack appear on the horizon. Back then, during the Battle of Mt. Zuoyun, the wolf pack had torn through the barbarians’ formation and looked exceptionally ferocious.
Now that everyone saw the wolf pack again, they felt a sense of familiarity deep down.
However, the Great Hoodwinker did not understand something. “How did your master know that we’ve encountered difficulties in our evacuation?”
Logically speaking, communications between the Northwest and the grasslands had already been cut off, so how did the other party know?
Hassan thought for a long while before saying, “Although I don’t quite understand either, that’s what makes my master so powerful.”
After Yan Liuyuan became a demigod and could virtually bestow calamity upon anyone, a lot of people gradually forgot that his expertise was actually luck.
Yan Liuyuan knew that time was of the essence, but he did not know how he could quickly go to Ren Xiaosu’s assistance.
Therefore, he blessed Ren Xiaosu with luck and casually questioned Hassan, “What kind of predicament do you think the Northwest Army is facing now?”
At that time, Hassan was a little afraid to answer. How could his master ask him such an important question?
But Yan Liuyuan said, “You only need to answer me.”
Hassan said that if it were really as Yan Liuyuan had said, that the enemy this time was really difficult to contend against, then the Northwest would definitely be in a hurry to retreat. However, with so many evacuees, they would probably not be able to evacuate all at once.
Yan Liuyuan nodded at that time. Then he ordered Hassan and the wolves to set out first and head to Stronghold 144 to reinforce the Northwest Army.
The wolves were like sheepdogs, herding the warhorses and cows to their destination. Then, they finally made it there at the most critical moment.
The blessing of luck and Yan Liuyuan’s questioning of Hassan had produced a wonderful reaction. This was a technique Yan Liuyuan had long ago mastered.
At this moment, the Great Hoodwinker was overjoyed when he heard Hassan’s words. Those wolves understood human nature. They were also huge and had strong legs, and each wolf could accommodate two to three people sitting on them.
Coupled with the cattle herd, it was enough to evacuate the women, children, and elderly.
Stronghold 144, which used to be bustling with activity, now looked a little empty.
The evacuees quickly gathered at the city gate at the behest of the Northwest Army. At first, everyone did not dare to approach the wolves when they saw them. To be honest, even the soldiers of the Northwest Army were a little afraid of them let alone the civilians.
The wolves really looked too strong.
However, everyone quickly realized this wolf pack was really obedient. When some of them approached, the wolves did not even twitch. They even took the initiative to lie down and let the civilians climb onto their backs.
Even when a child tugged their fur while mounting their backs, they did not look annoyed. Rather, they seemed quite used to it already.
When P5092 saw this sight, he said to the Great Hoodwinker, “Once the evacuation issue is resolved, the 6th Field Division will be able to harass the enemy without any distractions.”
P5092 shook his head. “No. The 6th Field Division has to buy more time for our comrades at the rear. I’ve seen their defensive plan. Based on the enemy’s current pace, if we want to stabilize our rear defensive line, we have to buy them at least two more days. Moreover, the evacuation of the civilians won’t happen that quickly. The enemy has mechanized units, so it’s very easy for them to catch up.”
P5092 was a genius in command. He only needed to glance at his allies’ defensive plans to know how he should cooperate with them.
Zhang Jinglin never asked them to delay the enemy for two days, but P5092 knew very well that this was the responsibility of the 6th Field Division.
The deployment of the defensive line was a very complex operation. There had been various defensive lines in the Northwest before too, but the problem was that the size of the enemy they had envisioned was not as large as the human horde.
Therefore, the entire plan required readjusting now that they were facing a different kind of enemy.
If they used the same strategy as before, they would probably be severely disadvantaged.
Moreover, even though there were wolves and cows coming to transport the civilians for their evacuation, only several tens of thousands of these evacuees were afforded the option. There were still more than a million evacuees retreating on foot from the four strongholds.
The distance from Stronghold 144 to the rear of the defensive line was 481 kilometers. This was too far for normal people to travel on foot.
If these people were caught by the enemy, it would be disastrous.
The Great Hoodwinker sighed and said, “Alright, be careful then. Let me handle the evacuees. I’ll leave the harassment of the enemy to you.”
“You don’t have to worry.” P5092 turned around and walked into the stronghold. There were still tens of thousands of Northwest Army soldiers waiting for him there.
After coming to the Northwest, Ren Xiaosu had fulfilled all his promises to him. There were no plots, power struggles, or civil wars between the strongholds. They were only fighting for the survival of mankind.
Ren Xiaosu even agreed to let the Pyro Company’s former soldiers serve as combat engineers.
Sometimes, P5092 felt that coming to the Northwest might have been the best decision of his life.
All of Ren Xiaosu’s promises to him had been fulfilled.
Therefore, P5092 could not let Ren Xiaosu down.
The 6th Field Division was destined to be an isolated boat in the open sea, facing the surging tsunami by itself.
However, this was not the first time P5092 had faced such a challenge.
After returning to the military base, Black Fox ordered the 6th Field Division to be on standby. Hundreds of military transport vehicles were parked, and every soldier was in high spirits.
Although they were all a little afraid, there was no point in feeling so.
The Riders were also among them. P5092 said to Li Yingyun, “Although you aren’t obliged to fight alongside us, you’ll still have to obey orders since you’ve joined us. It might sound blunt of me, but it’s better to say it upfront.”
The Riders looked at each other and smiled. Zhang Qingxi laughed and said, “Don’t worry, we know what to do. Just treat us as normal soldiers.”
P5092 assigned all the Riders to the combat squad of 22 T5 combatants. He planned on using them as a sharp, indestructible knife during the most critical moments.
…
North of Stronghold 111, Luo Lan was driving an off-road vehicle as he fled crazily north. For the journey, he and Xu Man rotated as drivers throughout the day.
The off-road vehicle’s trunk was filled with gasoline, enough to last them until they reached Fortress 178.
However, what worried them most was not the off-road vehicle, but Dusk, who was in pursuit behind them.
Luo Lan looked back through the rear-view mirror and saw that the sky was filled with sweeping dark clouds. The dark clouds were not real but an attack group formed by birds.
Luo Lan muttered, “Qing Zhen, we’re still more than 200 kilometers away from the rendezvous point you mentioned, but I feel like… we might not be able to hold on until then.”
The roads between the Northwest and Southwest were very well built, but even so, it would still take over an hour for the off-road vehicle to travel about 200 kilometers.
They could drive faster, but the problem was that once their speed exceeded 200 kilometers per hour, even a small stone on the road might send everyone to their deaths.
After all, this was not a professional racetrack, so maintenance work was not carried out that frequently.
Qing Zhen also glanced behind him, but he did not seem flustered at all.
Zhou Qi was the first to get anxious. “Say something. We’re about to die, and there’s not even a fucking river nearby, so I won’t be able to escape this time!”
Qing Zhen laughed and said, “Why the anxiety? If it’s really Ren Xiaosu coming to receive us, I have absolute confidence in him. Don’t worry, he will get here in time.”
As soon as he finished speaking, everyone in the off-road vehicle heard the sound of a whistle approaching quickly from the north.
On the horizon, a steam locomotive was traveling towards them at full speed. Ren Xiaosu had not gone to the rendezvous point to wait. Instead, he headed south to directly meet up with them.
