Book 3, Chapter 202: Defend

After traveling for more than ten hours, Chen Chuan and his group got out of the train. They rested for half an hour at a fort along the railway before getting into seven armored SUVs to head to their destination.

When Rao Qili saw that the sky was turning darker, he said, “We need to reach the next base before the sky turns completely dark!”

Not all military bases were built along the railway. Some of them were located by the river, while some were located at strategic choke points.

The place where they were headed to was one of the latter.

Chen Chuan’s group arrived at the military base at around 6 p.m., right before the sun set. As they entered the base, the sun completely set. When Chen Chuan turned around to look, he found that the area outside was swathed in darkness.

Rao Qili had been on pins and needles all the way to the fort and kept checking his watch. After passing through the gate he finally sighed in relief.

Chen Chuan, Yuan Qiuyuan, and Qin Qingque did not have such a reaction. They were martial artists and were confident in being able to handle all external threats, so they remained in good mental and physical condition.

This military base was just a small fort with around fifty people. The sudden addition of Chen Chuan’s group made it cramped.

But they were only going to stay for a night and would leave to continue further into the merged space. The military officer in charge of the fort knew this and that they were on an emergency mission, so he made arrangements to get them a place to stay. He also got them food and water.

While having dinner, Chen Chuan asked, “How many bases do we need to pass through before reaching our final destination, Advisor Rao?”

“Five more bases, which should take us around two days.”

“These places aren’t far from the railway, so it’s easy for them to get resources. I saw on the map that there are bases further away, though. How do they get their supplies?” Chen Chuan asked.

“We have two ways. First, we rely on air shipment. It allows us to provide a large amount of supplies that last for a long time in one go. Second, we occasionally get some basic supplies from the locals here,” Rao Qili answered.

“Locals? You mean the refugees? They’re willing to work with us?” Yuan Qiuyuan butted into the conversation in shock.

“Some of them are refugees, but some were born and bred here,” Rao Qili replied.

“Born here, eh?” Yuan Qiuyuan was quite interested in this.

“We say that, but they’re likely to be people who came here during earlier eras of change and completely adapted to the environment here. Their appearance is slightly different from ours, while their internal organs are totally unique. There’s research that believes that they might be distant relatives of ours from as early as thirty thousand years ago. The latest would be around a few millennia ago.”

“Oh ho... That’s very distant,” Yuan Qiuyuan said, amused.

Rao Qili continued, “These people are different from the remnants of the royal family. Most of them have good ties with us, because they’re also scared of the existences from the other world. They’ve been fighting against those things for a long time, so we’re on the same side in this regard.

“They’ve been in contact with those existences for a much longer period than we have, so they have information that we don’t know. Some of them are very hostile toward us, though.”

“Then, they don’t have a good relationship with the remnants of the royal family, do they?” Chen Chuan asked.

“Yes. Over the past century, the remnants of the royal family have frequently used force to steal their wealth and people, as well as take their land. That’s why they’re quite cooperative when we ask them for help,” Rao Qili supplied.

Chen Chuan nodded. The governments and companies weren’t good people, but at the very least, they knew what sort of people they could temporarily work with or use. Hence, they formed mutually dependent partnerships with these groups. Once they no longer had a mutual enemy, Chen Chuan was pretty sure that the governments and companies weren’t going to be much better than the remnants of the royal family.

“This place sure is complicated,” Yuan Qiuyuan clicked his tongue.

Rao Qili shook his head. “Complicated? This is just the beginning. We’re about to leave the railway, which means that we’ll need to start looking out for the creatures in the merged space. If we accidentally enter these creatures’ territory, they might attack us.”

He then proceeded to tell them that most of the creatures in the merged space were huge and aggressive. That in itself was fine, because some could be taken out with weapons. The worst was running into creatures that traveled in packs. They were so great in number that fighting them was a nightmare, and it was impossible for anyone to ward them off unless they hid in a fort.

Rao Qili had advised them to hide when they ran into a pack. If someone died because of an encounter with such creatures, it would be a pointless death.

𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

After dinner, Rao Qili took out a map and pointed at a place. “If our journey goes smoothly, we’ll reach Fort 73 two days later.”

Chen Chuan looked over. Based on the map, the small fort was located at the entrance of a river valley, right at the intersection of two mountain ranges. If they wanted to go behind it without going through the fort, they would need to take a huge detour. Even in the most ideal situation, it would take around half a month.

Beyond the fort were a few sentry posts scattered here and there. Further beyond them was an area colored entirely red. Chen Chuan believed that it was the old dynasty’s territory.

That wasn’t all there was to the merged space, though. It was

huge

, and each Central City in the world had their own entrance, but Chen Chuan’s group only needed to fight against the enemies in their area.

He wondered about the situation in the other Central Cities.

Rao Qili said, “Once the Iron Monster reaches our territory, he has three choices. First, he can take a huge detour, but that’ll waste too much time, and the situation is changing constantly. The units we’ve sent to the frontline might come back, or we may have summoned more fighting power from Central City. That’s why he won’t choose to do this.”

He pointed at another spot. “Second, he can attack Fort 104. It’s located at an upstream river bend. It’s easy getting to this fort by going around it and riding on rafts downstream.

“If the Iron Monster wants to lead his troops to Fort 104 via the river, it’ll be impossible for him to avoid detection. Even if he manages to sneak past us, we can cut off his retreat. So, he’s either going to ignore Fort 104 or destroy it before continuing forward.

“The last place is Fort 73, which is his most likely target.”

“Advisor Rao, are you bringing us there because you think the Iron Monster will choose to break through our lines there?” Chen Chuan asked.

Rao Qili nodded.

“Based on the information we have and our analysis of the Iron Monster’s personality and actions, we believe that he’s planning to break through here and reach our rear.”

“Advisor Rao, when does the Intelligence Department think they’ll attack?” Qin Qingque asked.

“The Iron Monster is leading no fewer than fifty cavalry troops. Based on the route they’re taking, they’re heading straight to Fort 73. They’ll reach the place in three to four days. They’ll only be a day or two later than us. If they push their dragon-nose horses to the limit and ride day and night, they might arrive at the same time, which is why we’re on a tight schedule.”

Chen Chuan stared at the map. “Then, we need to hurry over.”

***

After resting for the night, they pressed on. Their journey went by pretty smoothly. A day and a half later, they arrived at Fort 73. There were around two hundred soldiers stationed there. Hai Cheng, a Third Limit martial artist, was permanently stationed with them.

Hai Cheng was a huge man with his arms and one eye replaced with implants. He was in his fifties, but martial artists’ strength did not dwindle by much at this age. They also had a lot more experience under their belt.

Through the telegraph station, Hai Cheng had learned that Chen Chuan’s group was coming to fight the Iron Monster, so he had gotten ready to receive them a long time ago. He greeted them warmly, since some of his close friends and subordinates had died when the Iron Monster ambushed Fort 73 in the past.

Chen Chuan had his group rest and recover while he spoke to Hai Cheng to understand the situation. Just then, he noticed a teenager of around fifteen years old watching them from the distance. He drew closer to Yuan Qiuyuan to get information.

He gave the teenager a cursory glance. “Sentry Hai, you have such young soldiers among your ranks?”

Hai Cheng stroked his short hair and said, “Oh, him? How should I put this? His father is a citizen of the Great Shun Republic. I heard that he’s from my hometown too. He was stationed here before me and fell in love with a local woman with whom he formed a family here. He never went back to Central City.

“He passed away early on and left behind two sons. Like the old man, his eldest joined the garrisoned troops, and he was a good kid. The Iron Monster ambushed his patrol unit, and the entire unit, including the boy, died. The second son wants to take revenge for his brother and has been staying here waiting for a chance.

“I wanted to chase him away, but changed my mind afterwards. The kid might run out looking for the Iron Monster on his own. His mother’s family holds great power here, and if anything happens to the kid, it might affect our relationship with them. That’s why I decided to keep him here as a logistician to give him something to hold onto.”

“He’ll get his chance,” Chen Chuan said with a nod.

He then asked Hai Cheng to assign a soldier who knew the area well to bring him around so that Chen Chuan could familiarize himself with the terrain around the fort. Then, he returned to the fort and talked strategy with Rao Qili.

Yet even after waiting for two days, they saw no sign of the Iron Monster.

Just then, they received an update from the telegraph station. Last night, a platoon had passed through the river defended by Fort 104.

The sentries shot at them with machine guns for a long period of time. When the sun rose, they noticed that the rope barriers they placed on the river had been torn apart. They also found a dead dragon-nose horse downstream, which made them suspect that the Iron Monster and his platoon had passed by.

This update threw their arrangements into chaos. Could it be that the Iron Monster had no intention of passing through this place and was going to break through another fort?

If that were the case, they had come to defend the wrong place. It seemed like their only choice now was to retreat and chase after the Iron Monster and his platoon.

But Rao Qili insisted on staying and said to Chen Chuan, “No. I don’t think he’s going to go there. It’s most likely just a misdirection. The Iron Monster’s target should still be Fort 73!”