Chapter 1449: Chapter 1449
The colonel’s command ability was excellent, and as his orders were issued, the orc onslaught was quickly contained, transforming the dire situation into a stalemate.
Inside the fortress, the sound of cannon fire continued to rumble, but it was no longer the survivors’ concern; they certainly had no intention of going toe-to-toe with the Green Skins.
"Colonel, we are very tired, we need rest, as well as food and water," Tang Zheng found an excuse, intending to buy some time.
"You may, however, I would like you and a few of them to stay by my side," the colonel had a keen eye, and with a sweep of his arm, he picked out the most formidable Conquerors.
Yu Deye looked towards Tang Zheng with concern, ready to see how he would respond. Provoking the colonel to anger could be bad; given his style of daring to kill even commanders, he might decide to execute everyone, which would surely lead to conflict. If they killed him, without the commander, the orcs would certainly break through the fortress; but if they didn’t, their own side would be put in a passive position.
"No problem, when the orcs breach the fortress, we will fight for the civilians. However, we need to rest now; since escaping from the town, we haven’t even had a sip of water," Tang Zheng painted a dismal picture of the survivors, the subtext being that even if they wanted to fight, their combat power had been weakened, so they should be allowed to recover temporarily.
"With the colonel stationed here, this fortress won’t be breached!" a star soldier shouted, complaining about Tang Zheng’s inappropriate words.
The colonel wasn’t that conceited, he waved his hand to signal his subordinates to be quiet.
"Colonel, if you need to command the battle, don’t you require secrecy? We can’t just watch the whole time, right?" Xu Biyun chimed in, causing the colonel to hesitate.
"Fine, you two, take them to the Rest Area," the colonel nodded to a female civilian worker and a star soldier standing by, and then turned his attention back to analyzing the Sand table, no longer paying attention to the survivors.
"He actually agreed?" Stepping out of the Command Center, Li Huiwen started a conversation with Tang Zheng just to make small talk.
"It should be said that Tang Zheng is impressive," Wei Binbai rarely praised someone, "For someone like the colonel who is confident and prefers to make his own decisions, telling him directly that our combat power was reduced might have backfired. It’s better to let him deduce on his own. Such people only trust their own thoughts and judgments; they are very stubborn."
"How do you know he’s stubborn?" a high school student asked. Though he had been injured in a crash, he was almost fully recovered with Gu Xueqi’s treatment.
"Just the act of trying to recruit Tang Zheng, he’s mentioned it no less than four times, what do you think?" Wei Binbai liked this young man, who had a sharp edge to him, clearly with a goal he was striving for.
"In fact, Tang Zheng accurately gauged the colonel’s mind, deliberately leading the conversation," Shen Qingshuang wouldn’t miss such an opportunity to demonstrate intelligence since she couldn’t show off strength; otherwise, she’d become a marginalized figure not taken seriously, "With the fortress in crisis, the colonel assumes we’ll give our all. Not only could the colonel observe our combat power through this, but he could also make a good impression for his final recruitment efforts."
"Can’t we just run?" Gao Liangcai’s pockmarked face moved closer as he asked coarsely. His face had been cut by broken Glass from a Car window, and Gu Xueqi could only stop the bleeding and not perform plastic surgery, so it looked quite frightening.
If Gao Liangcai had not activated his Ability, he would have definitely been abandoned.
"Run? What do you think the purpose of that star soldier following us is?" Shen Qingshuang scoffed, "Don’t do something foolish. The colonel genuinely wants to recruit you, that’s precisely what Tang Zheng saw, prompting him to suggest this."
"Hey, you know someone’s following and still explain all this in detail? If he doesn’t report back to the colonel, that would truly be a Ghost," Gao Liangcai shouted out, thinking these people were stupid.
"Don’t embarrass us; you’re the stupid one," Shen Qingshuang said, then stopped answering any more questions.
She explained it in the first place so the colonel could hear, reinforcing the idea that the survivors had intelligence as well as strength, making him all the more eager to recruit them, even if their attitude became Malicious.
After demonstrating their combat power, at this critical moment, even if the colonel wanted to harm them, he would have to consider whether he could bear the consequences.
Of course, the most important point was that Tang Zheng and his group obediently stayed in the Rest Area without leaving, which gave the colonel time to strategize. Once a person starts thinking, they become hesitant, wanting the most perfect outcome, and then a lot of time passes by.
What the survivors needed was exactly that: time. Regardless of the tactics, if they could just stall until midnight, waiting for the Teleportation Gate to open would spell success.
The female civilian worker crouched under a Table, using an electronic instrument to scan the surroundings, making her Uniform-clad Buttocks appear perky; she accidentally tore her Silk stockings on the edge of the Table and exclaimed in shock, worried about being penalized, shaking with fear.
The star soldiers remained focused and ignored such a trivial matter.
"Did you find it?" asked the colonel.
"Found it, there’s an eavesdropping device." The female civilian worker hurriedly walked to the colonel’s side, placing the two Button-shaped Machinery on the Table.
"These guys are so cunning," grumbled a star soldier, crushing the eavesdropping devices, wishing he could immediately deal with them.
"Colonel, they are toying with you like a monkey. They need to be taught a lesson." After receiving communication from their teammates, the starfighter soldiers were enraged. Those who had ever humiliated the Colonel were torn to shreds.
"I think they must worship some mysterious evil deity to gain those magical abilities!" the starfighter soldier spoke up. "They are heretics and must be eliminated as soon as possible."
"No need for that, our primary objective now is to repel those filthy Beastmen." The Colonel lit a cigar and let out a thick puff of smoke. "When our legion arrives, we’ll take care of those bastards of unknown origin."
The Colonel wasn’t a fool; he had his own considerations.
"Well, now let’s pray that the Imperial Defense Army takes their time getting here, otherwise we’ll all be in for a tough battle." Sha Ou felt a little depressed when thinking about the combat power of those ’Iron Canned Heads’. Discover more novels at Novᴇl_Fire(.)net
"Tang Group Leader is really impressive. No wonder you’ve made it this far." Fu Tianxiao complimented Tang Zheng, throwing him a flirty look, but alas, he didn’t even glance at her.
The eavesdropping devices the Colonel found were standard equipment Tang Zheng had taken from the Shelter equipment storage to divert attention. The ones that really worked were those that Shen Qingshuang crafted using her Mechanical Godfather ability, providing clear sound and even images.
Nose Ring and Gao Liangcai were now staring at the screen, drooling over the female clerk’s big buttocks.
Tang Zheng fiddled with an eavesdropping device lost in thought, with no one disturbing him. Everyone else had found a spot to close their eyes and rest.
Dantai knocked down the female clerk and the starfighter soldiers guarding the entrance and arrived at the Rest Area with Li Zheng Group’s Team, unhindered by Soldiers as they had entered the Defense Line.
"Are they all dead?" Seeing that none of the newbies brought by Dantai returned, Xiaobai sneered, "Is this the strength of your Deputy Group Leader?"
"Xiaobai, shut it. If it weren’t for him, we would have lost even more men." Bai Guoqiang didn’t want Xiaobai to offend them. After socializing with them, he realized how exceptional their abilities were and how easy it would be to sabotage their own side.
"Psht, an exaggeration!" Xiaobai looked towards Li Zheng’s group, his gaze landing on Wang Fang. He sized her up, "Nice figure, but the chest is a bit small—B cup, I guess? Why not get them augmented?"
"You’re asking for it!" Li Zheng was angered. He reached out with a big hand, intending to hit the young man.
The man with the Eye Patch also twitched, unable to resist the urge to launch his Invisible Hand and crush the offender’s skull. This guy dared to insult his goddess, which was utterly intolerable.
"Don’t be impulsive." Wang Fang stopped Li Zheng. It was better to wait and watch until the situation became clearer.
"Xiaobai, you’re as obnoxiously mouthy as ever!" Dantai mocked him, patting his shoulder. Since Tang Zheng was always listening with his Communication equipment, the Special Agents were well aware of everything that happened inside the Fortress after their entry.
"You..." Xiaobai was angry but didn’t dare to provoke anyone. He glanced at Yue Jing and noticed that he wasn’t looking at him.
Bai Guoqiang was subdued by Dantai, with Fu Tianxiao scrambling to cuddle up to Tang Zheng, practically volunteering herself to him, while Nose Ring was an idiot. Xiaobai suddenly realized that half of his Team showed no interest in confronting the ’Warhammer’ Team. As for the other two, always acting alone, even Yue Jing was not very obedient, let alone himself.
"A bunch of idiots." Xiaobai suddenly realized the situation was very grim, cursing resentfully as he slammed the door and left.
"Li Group Leader, this is our Group Leader, Tang Zheng!" Dantai introduced their members with an affable smile. It seemed quite generous, but he wasn’t mocking Xiaobai simply out of anger. Being a Special Agent wasn’t that superficial; his intention was to demonstrate the Status of the Warhammer Team by telling Li Zheng that they were now in control of the situation.
Li Zheng’s side was initially disdainful, but seeing another Trojan Squad being completely submissive, they started to take things more seriously—even the Bald man, who was normally lawless, reined in his reckless behavior.
Tang Zheng rose to his feet, greeting everyone with an affable smile. However, his thoughts were on the man with the Eye Patch, interestingly enough, Tang Zheng took an extra look because of the Eye Patch, and it happened to coincide with Xiaobai insulting Wang Fang and he noticed the right eyelid of the man with the Eye Patch twitch.
"It’s not a love triangle, is it?" Tang Zheng instinctively searched for the other party’s weak points; after all, there was competitive tension among the various Trojan Squads.
"You have good taste in men; the one you chose is quite outstanding." Tang Zheng grasped Wang Fang’s hand, squeezing a bit harder and for a longer time.
"The Group Leader really has a sense of humor." Wang Fang noticed that Tang Zheng brushed her hand as he let go, and she felt a bit taken aback.
However, she immediately saw Tang Zheng turn his attention entirely to Kevo, paying her no mind, and thus Wang Fang realized she had been mistaken. He probably wasn’t a lecher. Leaving aside the fact she was wearing Protective Glove, and it would be futile to touch her, there were plenty of women more beautiful than she in his team, and he wouldn’t choose her.
Tang Zheng was indeed acting deliberately, but his test subject was the man with the Eye Patch. He saw that Li Zheng had no expression, but that man furrowed his brow slightly, seemingly with the intention to chop off Tang Zheng’s hand.
"Interesting!" Dantai realized the secret of the man with the Eye Patch through Tang Zheng’s gesture. "This can be used."
Although the survivors didn’t know what had happened, seeing the Group Leader’s and Deputy Group Leader’s smiles, they knew someone was about to be unlucky. (To be continued. If you work, you are welcome to vote for recommendation tickets and monthly tickets at Qidian. Your support is my greatest motivation.)