The First Order

Chapter 865: No hostages in the eyes of the Pyro Company

Ren Xiaosu felt it was a pity. If not for the fact that Old Xu, the Shadow Door, and the steam locomotive were still sealed, Black Robe would definitely have been killed here today.

He did not give chase to kill Black Robe because his speed was far inferior to his opponent now that Old Xu was sealed. What surprised Ren Xiaosu was that Black Robe's physical fitness was even above that of a T5 combatant.

Yang Xiaojin's voice rang through his earpiece. "Are you alright?"

After the battle in the Sacred Mountains where Ren Xiaosu had used himself as bait to kill a T5 combatant, he immediately went to purchase several sets of miniature communication devices for the two of them to use as a duo in battle.

Although the two of them knew each other through and through now, couldn't they coordinate even better with the aid of a communications device?

Right now, their cooperation was already very smooth, with one of them acting as the decoy while the other played the sniper. If no one acted as the bait, just looking for targets alone to kill would take them at least half a day.

"I'm fine." Ren Xiaosu took a look at the wound on his chest. The other party's fingernails had dug about a centimeter into his pectorals. If it were anyone else, they would definitely get shocked by this injury. But to him, it was just a superficial wound.

He had the black medicine, which was specifically used for treating external injuries. As for the black medicine's other effect, he had no use for that.

Yang Xiaojin said into the earpiece, "You're injured. Wait for me there."

She actually went to join up with Ren Xiaosu.

When Ren Xiaosu heard her worried tone, he did not know whether to laugh or cry. He replied, "I'm really fine."

"Wait there even if it's nothing," Yang Xiaojin said firmly.

Alright, whatever.

After a while, Yang Xiaojin emerged from the forest in a disguise made of willow branches.

After the two of them split up, Ren Xiaosu chased the Experimental all the way into the mountains. Meanwhile, Yang Xiaojin quickly disguised herself and located the best sniping spot.

As for how to lure the enemy to a suitable battlefield, that was not difficult with Ren Xiaosu acting as the decoy.

Yang Xiaojin said, "Scissors."

Ren Xiaosu took out a pair of scissors from the palace and handed them to her. He saw Yang Xiaojin cut open the front of his shirt with a serious expression and say, "Black medicine."

As Ren Xiaosu allowed her to focus on treating his wound, he said, "Although we didn't kill that Experimental, his body turned black after he got hit by your black bullet. I wonder if his subordinates will still recognize him."

"You're still in the mood to talk?" Yang Xiaojin grumbled, "You were way too bold this time. If the wound were any deeper, it could have affected your arteries and nerves."

"What's there to be afraid of? Don't I have you here? Besides, I know full well that he can't kill me," Ren Xiaosu explained. "On the other hand, if we don't get rid of those Experimentals, there might be even more innocent people dying in the future. Didya see? Some of those new Experimentals used to be barbarians, while the others were created from normal people."

"Yeah, I saw. Maybe that intelligent being caught some of the barbarians and turned them into Experimentals?" Yang Xiaojin asked, "What's its actual combat strength?"

"The Experimentals that were transformed from the barbarians are obviously more powerful." Ren Xiaosu sighed and said, "Even I can't face more than a dozen of them at the same time. I can only carefully hold them off with my speed. Fortunately, their CQC techniques are relatively simple. Otherwise, it would be really difficult to deal with them."

When Yang Xiaojin heard this, she got up and took out a pistol she was carrying and fired it at a barbaric Experimental's corpse. However, the bullet did not even manage to lodge into its skin!

She frowned. "If it weren't for the sharpness of your black saber, I'm afraid you couldn't have held them off with your speed. With such tough skin, it would be a disaster for normal soldiers to encounter them."

Ren Xiaosu started getting worried. "Our Central Plains have experienced before how it was to deal with the Experimentals. If the already powerful barbarians are all turned into Experimentals by that intelligent being, it'll be absolutely disastrous when they make a comeback."

"And I feel that it might've played a very important role in this war." Ren Xiaosu analyzed, "Think about it. We just encountered a dozen or so of the barbaric Experimentals. We all know that the conversion rate of these creatures is very low. Back then, it wreaked havoc in quite a few strongholds in the Southwest before the number of Experimentals climbed close to 10,000. If it had injected so many barbarians and turned them into Experimentals, would it not get discovered? And what's with those Experimentals that used to be normal people? It was only Stronghold 176 that fell in the North, and with so many barbarians everywhere there, how could they possibly allow it to capture those people for its experiments? I think that the intelligent being has probably formed an alliance with the expeditionary army. It was also probably the one that instigated the barbarians to head south this time. Speaking of which, why did the barbarians evolve as a whole population and not become stronger individually like those in the Central Plains?"

"Maybe it's because it's too cold in the North. I'm not sure why either. It could also be due to different genetics…" Yang Xiaojin nodded. "But it'll be very easy to identify that Experimental when we see it again in the future. Even if there's a lot of them together, we can still find it. After all, the others are all gray, while it's black."

This way, they might have a chance to kill the other party from afar in the future.

"How should we pass on this information to the Pyro Company?" Ren Xiaosu wondered, "Let's leave a note for them and direct them to this spot. They'll understand many things once they see the Experimentals' corpses."

"Mhm, mention Black Robe in the note as well." Yang Xiaojin nodded. "Alright, I've dressed the wound for you. I'll carry you back."

"No, no, there's no need." Ren Xiaosu quickly said with a laugh, "It's just a minor injury, I don't need you to carry me back."

Yang Xiaojin sighed and said, "You're even worse than Liang Ce. Don't laugh at others about getting it in the future."

Ren Xiaosu was speechless.

When the two of them returned to the forward operating base, the battle there was still ongoing. Ren Xiaosu had a look from afar and realized some of the barbarians had occupied a building and even captured a few hostages.

This place was several hundred meters away from where the earliest skirmish had broken out. This meant the barbarians had broken through the Pyro Company's encirclement once during the battle. As a matter of fact, the barbarians were still very strong in close combat, and their willpower was also extremely tenacious.

Ren Xiaosu could not help but sigh. The barbarians were way too smart. They even knew how to hold hostages like bandits.

Unfortunately, the barbarians had miscalculated. To the Pyro Company, being held hostage was not something they cared about at all. From a distance, Ren Xiaosu could see the Pyro Company had no intention of rescuing the hostages either. No one went to negotiate with the barbarians. Instead, they pushed a cannon over, and it looked like they were planning to level the building.

When these people were faced with the trade-off to make a sacrifice, they really excelled at it, whether they were sacrificing themselves or others.

Suddenly, Yang Xiaojin said, "Have you ever thought of asking P5092 to go to the Prosperous Northwest?"

Ren Xiaosu nodded. "I did have such thoughts before, but I somehow feel like he doesn't fit in with the Northwest."

"No, I think he's quite suitable," Yang Xiaojin said.