Chapter 452: The Twelfth Troop Takes the Field (III)

“Then we’ll listen to you, you’re our troop leader!”

Enough of that. You listen to me when there’s loot to be had, but toss me to the side when the loot’s been had!

Li Hao concluded the conversation and walked up to the three Silver Armors, transmitting through his armor, “Troop Leaders, I would like to lead some of the centurions in guerrilla tactics against these guys! I will destroy the enemy outside the city walls. They will not set a single foot through our gates!

“The three troop leaders need to stand guard here and my Twelfth Troop possesses insufficient personnel. We need some reinforcements...”

The words of destroying the enemy and outside the city seemed to strike a chord. Agitated ripples emanated from the three Silver Armors. Eliminating the enemy outside the city walls was a military tradition. Sadly, the Ninth Division of the Reserve Defenders had lost face for the overall army and could only hold down the fort inside the city.

Li Hao’s other words apart from borrowing the Bronze Armors were just hot air. He didn’t know that some of them would strike such a deep chord that it would start to recover some faded memories for the Silver Armors.

“Approved!” came the Seventh troop leader’s voice. “The three troops can offer support of ten centurions, no more. If more are allotted, the army will start to lose some of its basic functionality. Our Black Armor brothers have already lost their sentience. They must be led by a centurion to revert to some use...”

Just ten!

Li Hao thought for a moment. That was good enough, that would do! “My thanks!”

“As we should. Be careful, Troop Leader Li!”

Clang!

Li Hao thumped his chest with his fist. He was familiar with this gesture now. The other three troop leaders returned the gesture, seemingly impressed by their new comrade.

Ten Bronze Armors stood in front of Li Hao before long. His Silver Armor listed some information about them.

“Hu Xinwu, leader of the third company of the Seventh Troop, reports to Troop Leader Li!”

“Wu Kaifu, leader of the ninth company of the Eighth Troop...”

“......” A series of ripples traveled to Li Hao. The soldiers were slightly rigid, as if they only knew how to obey orders. They possessed some basic instincts, but weren’t as nimble as the three Silver Armors.

“Alright, you will follow my orders from now on!”

“Understood!” came affirmative yells. There was more emotion in them this time.

Li Hao discovered that their authorizations were now connected to his armor. He was ever more admiring of this equipment infrastructure. It must have been a fantastically convenient and unified process for the army to mobilize in concert back in the day.

Everyone could hear as the commands were issued through the armor. A great deal of trouble was spared when only those with high clearance could speak to those with lower clearance.

The young man turned himself into a Black Armor, but it didn’t affect the soldiers. They could still recognize Li Hao.

“Ready yourselves, brothers. Troop leaders, I require your assistance to go about your daily patrols. Our fishing begins!”

“......” The three Silver Armors didn’t quite understand, but they could grasp that their new comrade needed cover. Thus, squads of Black Armors quickly began patrolling the streets.

There were eight streets in the other city, they overlooked the first street. No trespasser dared linger in the first street. Ten teams of ten were assigned to each street. Eight hundred Black Armors were sent out to begin their daily patrols.

The army’s movement caught the eye of the supernaturals in the distance.

......

“The Black Armors are on the move!”

“What are they doing?”

“They seem to be... patrolling... That’s weird, why are they patrolling at a time like this? They’ve definitely become puppets, alright. They don’t have much intelligence left. Coming out at a time like this is just delivering themselves on a silver platter.”

“They’re hard to take out when they’re clustered together, but as ten to a troop... We can take out eight hundred per street. That’s what the expedition team did last time and rolled in the riches!”

“......” The supernaturals agitated with anticipation. The situation was developing as it had last month! The Silver Armor stayed staunchly by the city gate while the Black Armors patrolled the streets. The soldiers were caught off guard when the explorers struck back and many Black Armors eliminated in the surprise.

It was because of this that numerous suits of armor were collected. It’d been the expedition’s thoughts that this wouldn’t happen again, but here the patrols were! Although there were more soldiers than last time, the strength of supernaturals this time was also greater.

Hou Xiaochen and the others, however, frowned. Why was this happening? Those Silver Armors from earlier seemed perfectly sentient and even intelligent. Sending the Black Armors out now was a complete act of idiocy! It gave the enemy a chance to rout the defenders!

Three thousand Black Armors gathered together were difficult to eradicate, but streets of eight hundred each were feasible targets if the humans acted swiftly enough. In this regard... if the soldiers continued to be fools after they lost this first batch of eight hundred... could the expedition team slowly whittle them away?

Otherwise, they would have to pay a high price to terminate all three thousand Black Armors. At least five hundred of the remaining fifteen hundred explorers would die in the process. Considering the opportunity, the wandering cultivators rustled with activity.

“Let’s move about freely!” someone hooted. “We won’t keep the Black Armors if we get any. We’ll sell it to you guys! What are people willing to pay for them?”

“That’s right, we don’t have experience fighting as a group and won’t be able to coordinate well. It’s better to head off on our own in small teams.” The wandering cultivators lost their composure before the three great organizations or Silver Moon authorities said anything. They didn’t want to attack the ancient city as was previously proposed, that was too dangerous!

The perfect opportunity was at hand for them to split up in twos or threes. They could strike if they came across a good situation. Bringing down one team of soldiers meant ten Black Armors! If one set could be sold for five mysterious power stones, one operation meant fifty stones! That made the entrance fee more than worth it! Fifty thousand cubes of mysterious power was a crazy sum! They’d come out with bulging pockets even if ten people worked as a team!

Meanwhile, the three great organizations and Hou Xiaochen frowned. Wandering cultivators were an unruly bunch, so it was impossible to corral them into joint action.

“If anyone collects a set of armor and sells it to the Night Watchers, we will pay one mysterious power stone per set!” Hou Xiaochen called out.

“That’s too stingy!”

“This is a superhuman object, we know it can withstand Sunflare attacks! You guys are paying one stone for a treasure like this??”

“Uh huh! Too stingy!!”

“......” Hou Xiaochen didn’t bother replying.

Green Moon smirked. “Red Moon will pay three stones per armor!” As for whether or not these wandering cultivators could actually obtain any armor... that was up to them! She could make empty promises as well as the rest of them. Who knew how many of these guys would make it out alive?

Green Moon was just listing a high price to stick it to the Night Watchers and to goad the wandering cultivators. It would be a good thing if they could actually eradicate all of the Black Armors. Without the basic soldiers, the Silver Armors would be easier to manage.

As for whether the city army had suddenly made such a foolish move due to a lack of intelligence or seeing up a trap... who cared? Wandering cultivators could die whenever!

Besides, some of them possessed real strength. They should be able to bring down some Black Armors with them even if they died. That was just as well.

A few noticed that a Silver Armor was missing—it might be hiding among the Black Armors! But that a peak Sunflare Silver Armor was moving on its own might afford opportunities for them.

“Celestial will also offer three stones per armor!”

“Yama follows suit!” called out the other two organizations.

Hou Xiaochen glanced at them and smiled, not saying a word.

You guys are rich, we’re poor. I can’t even make empty promises like you, so I won’t say a thing.

The wandering cultivators were thoroughly riled up now. Stamping out one squad meant thirty mysterious power stones! Stones, not cubes! Many of them had never seen a single one before, they were all gonna be rich!

As for whether or not they’d leave the ruins alive with their treasures... that was up to individual ability.

“Will you pay on the spot?” someone asked urgently.

“Of course,” Green Moon responded faintly. “Eliminating all of the Black Armors means only three thousand sets. With the joint coffers of the three great organizations, we can afford nine thousand stones!

“Not to mention, you won’t possibly take them all. Claiming half would be good enough. Forty-five hundred stones means that each of us will be paying fifteen hundred. Do you guys think that we noble organizations cannot afford that much?”

Fifteen hundred stones was a princely sum, but the three great organizations could indeed put together that many stones! They’d made many preparations for this excavation and had brought many powerhouses. They could scrounge up that amount. If not, there was mysterious power as well.

Not to mention... so what if they shortchanged the wandering cultivators?

“Ole Hou, do you think they've really brought that many stones with them?” Kong Jie transmitted. If this was true, then it was very tempting! Silver Moon was not that rich.

“Everyone be careful,” Hou Xiaochen transmitted instead of responding. “Let’s wait and see, I find something odd about this! The Silver Armors gave appropriate orders before and were in high morale. It doesn’t make sense that they’ve suddenly lost their minds. Although there is this precedent, this situation is not right. Do not brashly enter the outer city!”

What in the blazes was going on? Even Hou Xiaochen, who’d thought everything was within his calculations, frowned with bafflement. He was well and truly confused!

He heaved a sigh of dismay to see supernaturals eagerly throw themselves into the outer city. This was not good! How many of them would die this time?

Some Solars had also snuck in. It looked like the mysterious power stones were sufficient to move their hearts. But that made sense, it wasn’t hard for a Solar to eliminate ten Black Armors by themselves. If they had a storage ring, they only needed to make one trip for thirty stones.

Even Hou Xiaochen was tempted! What a rich reward for this mission! But was money really that easy to earn?

Some of the powerhouses from the three great organizations were also part of the crowd. It looked like they wanted to collect information or take the opportunity to claim a few Black Armors.

𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

“Are we really not going to go?” Hu Qingfeng transmitted from the Silver Moon authorities. “Even if we don’t, we should send some people in to assess the situation. Novas cannot easily make a move, but Solars can!”

While there weren’t many here from the official authorities, there were quite a few Solars. Did they all just wait here?