Located on the edge of the forest, Remote Creek Town was as peaceful as ever.

Standing next to the barricade of wood, the marauder, with a Blade assault rifle hanging on his chest, yawned.

This shift from the second half of the night to the morning was the hardest.

Not only because of his exhaustion, but also anger.

Will someone really attack at this time?

At this point, except for the people who were on guard who were exhausted, everyone else was full of energy.

"When will this snow melt?" The marauder, who was holding a dog leash in his hand, said boredly.

"I don’t know. If it’s in the north, it’ll probably be early February."

"Maybe earlier in the south, maybe next week? Or the week after that?"

"I can’t wait any more."

"Hahaha, coincidentally, me too!"

The two looked at each other, and invariably revealed a smile that everyone would understand.

Not just everyone, even the hyena lying beside the two of them growled in excitement.

About yesterday, they heard that the people from Black Snake had set out from the southern suburbs of Heavenly Water City and marched south to the northern suburbs of Clearspring City.

They knew that Black Snake had an extremely cruel and fierce force.

From the north to the south, it could be said that he had never lost a single battle. The survivor settlements he had burned couldn’t even be counted with one hand, and the treasures he had looted were piled up into hills.

Otherwise, the leader would not reward him with a tank.

They were only worried about one thing. That was, the survivors in the northern suburbs of Clearspring City would be defeated too quickly.

Hopefully, they would not let them down, and would be able to hold on until they arrived at the northern suburbs. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be able to enjoy the ransacking at all.

Just as they were chatting with each other, a dark figure suddenly appeared on the edge of the forest on the east side.

The 2 marauders were immediately alert, hurriedly loaded the guns on their hands, released the safety catch, and pointed at the group of people walking in the distance.

"Stop! Stop there and don’t move!"

"Who are you?"

The group stopped.

The man at the front of the line shouted loudly. "We’re Black Snake’s men… I’m Steel Teeth, one of his Company Leaders."

Black Snake’s men?

Company Leader?

Hearing this sentence, the two marauders were stunned.

Isn’t Black Snake’s force in the south? Why would his people show up here?

Is the battle… Already over?!

Realizing that the situation might not be right, the two did not dare to delay, and one of them immediately ran back to the camp.

After a while, the marauder who went back to report the problem trotted back. "Who is Steel Teeth? Lion Fang said that he wants to see you!"

The man who shouted before stepped out and said, "I am, take me there."

The marauder nodded quickly. "Please come with me!"

Passing through the heavily fortified camp, Steel Teeth followed in the footsteps of the marauder sentinel to Lion Fang’s tent.

There was a brazier in the tent, and a bearskin was laid on the ground.

Lion Fang, who was sitting on the wooden chair, was staring intently at the man who just walked in from outside. "... Are you Steel Teeth?"

The Fang Clan was a huge faction.

There were at least ten people named Steel Teeth.

He had never seen the clansman before, he only felt that this man looked like a scavenger in his tattered clothes, not like his clan member at all.

"I am, sir." Steel Teeth was on one knee, and he lowered his head slightly as he answered the question.

Lion Fang looked down at him, with a thoughtful expression on his face, said in a deep voice. "Since you are under Black Snake’s command, why didn’t you join him in the northern suburbs of Clearspring City? Why are you here?"

A bitter expression emerged on Steel Teeth’s face. "We were ambushed by survivors in the northern suburbs at the intersection of the inter-provincial highway. We fought desperately, but our enemies outnumbered us... Gunshots came from all directions, and at least hundreds of explosive shells fell on our positions."

"We had no choice but to retreat westward into the woods, and after losing hundreds of men, we finally got rid of them..."

"We still don’t know where our leader is now. The 4 companies around him were almost wiped out by those survivors, and the remaining 5 companies were scattered around and couldn’t be contacted. We could only risk our lives to walk through the woods and come to meet you here."

Everyone in the tent gasped in unison, and their faces were full of disbelief and surprise.

There was only 1 person who didn’t seem shocked.

"Hundreds of explosive shells?! Are you sure?!" Bernie stared at Steel Teeth, who was on one knee, and asked aggressively, "Also, how many people ambushed you?"

It would require at least 10 cannons to be able to fire hundreds of shells in a short amount of time.

But there was no way he would believe that a survivor settlement in the northern suburbs could build 10 cannons!

And what could those primitively made shells do to the Army’s tank? If it was a high-explosive bomb, it wouldn’t even be able to scrape a layer of its skin off!

"It’s true, sir. If anything I said is untrue, you can chop off my head." Steel Teeth lowered his head and answered anxiously.”

"As for the number of people… I don’t know, but according to the brothers who escaped from the front line, there were at least 4 brigades!"

The expressions of Lion Fang and Bernie changed in unison.

4 brigades?!

How are there so many people?!

Lion Fang roared in anger, "Is this a joke? You seriously think I would believe that there are at least 4,000 people in the northern suburbs?"

Even if the elderly, women and children were all added up, there still wouldn’t be that many people in the northern suburbs, right?!

In the entire northern suburbs, there were no rich survivor settlements, only small villages with a size of hundreds of people.

Only by going further south, deep into the crisis-ridden city, and reaching the edge of the third ring, would they encounter slightly larger settlements.

This was the intelligence that he had gathered long before he came here!

"... If what he said is true, then Boulder Town might have stepped in." Bernie continued with a stern expression. "I didn’t expect their combat power to be so strong, far exceeding our expectations."

Lion Fang swallowed, with a rare look of bewilderment on his face. He looked at his staff officer and asked, "Then what should we do?"

A bitter smile appeared on Bernie’s face. "I don’t know. Had Black Snake joined us, I would’ve still had a chance. But now, we have to take all the risk alone."

Lion Fang fell silent, his fingers clasped tightly on the arm of the chair.

That was a thousand people brigade they lost! There were armored pickup trucks, a tank… Heavy artillery and support from the Torch Church.

𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Whether it was equipment or combat experience, Black Snake’s subordinates were all elites.

However, such an elite force was annihilated in less than a day.

There was no doubt that conquering the northern suburbs of Clearspring City was beyond his ability.

Bernie, who was standing beside him, glanced at Lion Fang, who had fallen silent, and said in a low voice, "After the snow melts, maybe they will take the initiative to attack. My suggestion is to shift the strategy to West Continent City."

"You mean retreat?" Lion Fang said angrily, "We’ve been preparing for a battle here for the whole winter! But you want me to retreat without putting up a fight?! What do you want the rest of the clan to think of us! They’ll laugh at us and think we are cowards!"

Marauders, who believed in killing and battles, would only respect the strong. It was even more so within the Bonechewer Clan.

The weak were not worthy of getting the spoils of war. So this was not only about his reputation in the clan, but also about his prestige in the eyes of his subordinates.

Knowing that Lion Fang would say something like that, Bernie sighed and continued. "It’s not that we haven’t fought a battle, and it’s not a retreat either. I prefer to call it a strategic shift... We should conserve our strength for future victories.”

"You also heard that they have 4 brigades and more than 10 cannons. Our current strength is simply not enough to take them down.”

"We need more manpower and equipment, otherwise we will just repeat the mistakes of Black Snake.”

"If anyone thinks we are cowards, let them come and we can exchange our positions with them."

Lion Fang was silent. He already knew what he had to do when he heard the battle report. He just didn’t wish to accept it.

"Withdraw…" When uttering this word, Lion Fang felt as if the strength had been sapped from him.

He had wasted almost 3 months there, and even lost a company. In the end, he suffered a humiliating loss.

He swore that when his iron hoofs stepped into this place again, he would definitely kill all the people there!

Bernie, who was standing beside him, heaved a sigh of relief.

Although what he said was somewhat alarming, it was obvious that if even Black Snake’s force couldn’t defeat those survivors, he couldn’t think of any reason that they would win the fight against them.

Nodding slightly, he complimented insincerely, "Wise choice."