Chapter 139: Strategizing

Chapter 139: Strategic Planning

On the other side, inside Anqing City.

As the rumors spread further and the first wave of a small number of roaming terrors attacked, the panic atmosphere within the city continued to intensify.

The inn where Chen Jian and his companions stayed was almost empty; all the merchants were eager to leave Anqing City.

This situation was almost exactly like what Zhou Qin had described happening in Hanshui City, and Chen Jian couldn't help but sigh—when faced with matters of life and death, the choices made by these profit‑seeking merchants were indeed no surprise to him.

Of course, Chen Jian would not consider their flight contemptible.

After all, Anqing was not their home, and they were not professional fighters.

They had no reason to fight for this city, nor the ability to do so.

Yet, watching the merchants carry their goods away, he still felt a twinge of helplessness.

What kind of world is this, exactly?

Humanity had not yet fully escaped the crisis of survival, yet social organization had already formed clear strata, and even the merchant class began to enjoy privileges, displaying a class attribute utterly unlike their essence.

Pathological, deformed.

If no one comes to change all this, Chen Jian doubts that even if every threat vanished, the people here could continue human civilization in a reasonable way.

——

But this question is too grand, too distant.

What he needs to do now is not to ponder such things, but to quickly present his 'irresistible condition' before the two major powers of Anqing City.

Thus, under the astonished gaze of the innkeeper, the four‑person squad paid their lodging fee again and returned to their room.

Chen Jian ordered Jixing to stand guard outside the room, then closed the door, gesturing for Zengyi and He Shuo to come near as he began to lay out his plan.

“The situation is now basically clear.”

“From the results of this combat reconnaissance, the terrors inside the Anqing ruins exhibit two rather extreme traits.”

“First, the good news: their command efficiency is low, their organization weak; after being attacked they quickly lose effective command, and their combat power drops sharply.”

“Second, the bad news: they possess a fairly solid underlying instruction logic; even without effective command, most terrors will, under their leader’s guidance, converge toward the core area to protect their most important central medical facility.”

“The former lowers the difficulty of facing them head‑on, while the latter greatly raises the difficulty of carrying out a decapitation strike.”

“In theory, if we had sufficient combat manpower and logistical support, we could choose to engage them in a frontal battle exploiting their low combat power.”

“But unfortunately, we do not have that.”

“Even if we pulled all the combatants from Huangshi City, we could only muster a force of fewer than fifty.”

“And in that force of fewer than fifty, the vast majority are people who have never received professional training, merely having been on the battlefield.”

“In a defensive action they might achieve decent results.”

“But if they launch an offensive, complex orders cannot be executed, and their demonstrated combat power would not be much higher than that of the terrors.”

“The terrors at least have a blood‑thirsty instinct driving them, whereas once these people fall into fear they become utterly useless.”

“Therefore, this mode of combat must be ruled out; the only tactic we can choose is to use our existing manpower and resources to carry out a precise decapitation strike.”

“Thus, our tactic can basically be determined.”

“We need to leverage the power of Anqing City’s garrison, letting them act as filler troops to create opportunities for us to strike.”

“Do you have any opinions on this decision?”

“If you have any opinions, you can raise them now.”

“No.”

“No.”

The two people present, including Lei Jie and the others on the other end of the radio, responded in turn; Chen Jian nodded and continued:

“Based on this tactic, the next steps we need to take are equally clear.”

“We must give the city garrison a strong motive, guiding them to launch an active attack on the Anqing ruins.”

The words fell silent; everyone fell quiet.

After a long while, He Shuo finally spoke:

“This is difficult.”

“The pressure currently borne by Anqing City is already great enough; the greater the pressure, the more its leaders tend toward passive defense.”

“If we want them to take the offensive, unless it is a desperate last‑stand, it is simply impossible.”

“Yes.”

Chen Jian said slowly:

“We are going to create a reason for them to fight a desperate last‑stand.”

“How shall we create it?”

He Shuo frowned and asked:

“You know that a desperate last‑stand only occurs in moments of life and death, but for Anqing City such a moment arises only under one circumstance.”

“That is, the terrors inside the Anqing ruins launch a full‑scale sortie and actively attack the city.”

“Yet once that happens, the Anqing garrison will inevitably choose to defend.”

“This is essentially a paradox.”

“It is not a paradox.”

Chen Jian interrupted He Shuo and then said:

“At present, we have already released three pieces of information to the outside world, directly or indirectly.”

“First, there are large numbers of terrors in the Anqing ruins; their combat power is strong and they may threaten the city’s survival.”

“Second, the existence of the terrors is linked to Huadu; they are conducting some secret research there, which could bring about more serious uncontrollable consequences.”

“Third, and most importantly, is the information we indirectly released during this combat reconnaissance.”

“Namely, the Huaxia army is advancing on the Anqing ruins.”

“Even though they know the Blood Skulls inside the Anqing ruins are powerful, the Huaxia army still launched a fierce assault on them and achieved certain gains.”

“However, the Huaxia army did not achieve its objective; instead, it temporarily withdrew.”

“Wait a moment.”

He Shuo raised his hand and then asked:

“You mean the two major powers of Anqing City can already infer our identity from our combat?”

“That is inevitable.”

Chen Jian affirmed:

“Even if they do not know now, they will certainly find out in the short term.”

“After all, our combat style is utterly unique; in this world no person or faction fights the way we do.”

“In addition, with the intelligence gathered from merchants passing through the waterways, they could quickly infer that the fighting inside the Anqing ruins is connected to us.”

“Doesn’t that put us in a perilous situation?”

Zeng Yi interjected, asking.

“Not dangerous.”

Chen Jian shook his head and replied:

“The level we showed in the final battle at the bridge was merely that of an ordinary caravan; they could not possibly discern our identity in a short time.”

“Moreover, we will not linger in the city for long.”

“Once we have done what needs to be done, we will withdraw immediately.”

“Understood.”

Zeng Yi nodded and said:

“Please continue.”

Chen Jian paused, then said:

“Therefore, from these three pieces of intelligence, the Machine God Sect can easily draw a conclusion.”

“That is, if the Huaxia Army is willing to pay such a high price to fight its way into the Anqing ruins, it proves that something inside must be attracting them.” “As for what that thing is, it’s up to us to tell the story well.”

“We must spread rumors throughout the city, as widely as possible.”

“The panic throughout Anqing has already fermented to a certain extent; any rumor will spread rapidly.”

“And I believe the rumor will soon reach the ears of the council’s decision‑makers.”

At this point, He Shuo suddenly realized:

“So you want the Machine God Sect to believe that there are weapons of mass destruction inside the Anqing ruins?”

“Exactly.”

Chen Jian let out a long breath and then said:

“Whether that weapon of mass destruction is detergent or cleanser, the point is that there must be some weapon or tool there that both the Huaxia Army and the Flower Capital would covet.”

“And once they obtain it, the balance of power in the world could be shattered instantly.”

“Only then would the Machine God Sect and the Holy Blood Hall have sufficient motive to seize that weapon, giving us a chance to fulfill our mission.”

“Why not just tell the truth?”

He Shuo asked again:

“The Flower Capital is committing an absolute atrocity; if we—”

“—it is only an atrocity from our perspective.”

Chen Jian cut him off again, solemnly stating:

“Do not overestimate the world’s moral standards, especially not those of its rulers.”

“To us, using drugs to control civilians, using drugs to control monsters, then employing those monsters for large‑scale ‘human experiments’ is utterly evil, but consider whether the Machine God Sect would view it as equally grave.”

“They might condemn it as well, but if you truly expect them to act as heaven’s enforcers, do you think they could?”

“Interest is the only lever that can move them; we must place that interest before them.”

“Indeed.”

He Shuo sighed, fell briefly silent, then said:

“Fortunately, when we earlier spread the rumors, we described the Flower Capital’s plan rather vaguely; at least for the Machine God Sect, the so‑called experiment remains a blind box, and they do not know what lies inside.”

“Exactly, that is the most important point.”

Chen Jian nodded:

“Only sufficient mystery can generate sufficient threat.”

“The unknown is what is truly frightening—an immutable truth.”

“And it is this truth that we intend to exploit.”

“In my original conception, I planned to make the city’s garrison believe that the Anqing ruins hid a weapon akin to the ‘Sun’.”

“But now it seems that hypothesis has too many loopholes, and we lack enough evidence to support it.”

“Therefore, we must change our approach.”

“Combining the information already disseminated, the best direction is to make them believe that the Flower Capital has already mastered a method—or device—that can completely control the terrors.”

“And the Huaxia Army is also trying to seize that device.”

“No one can ignore the power of thousands of fearless terrors launching a mass charge; they are like locusts, sweeping over every human settlement.”

“Yet, if they can be harnessed, they also become one of the greatest forces.”

“Such a stake is large enough that I think the Machine God Sect could not remain indifferent.”

“Understood.”

After Chen Jian laid out his plan, everyone realized its ingenuity.

“It is highly operable, with a considerable margin for error.”

“Most importantly, carrying out the required actions is not difficult, because in the preparatory phase we have already laid all the groundwork.”

“So what must we do?”

Zeng Yi asked immediately.

“First, we will spread rumors in the city just as we did before.”

“But rumors alone are no longer enough; we need credible evidence.”

“Nine parts truth, one part falsehood is the supreme deception. We previously seized a batch of ice‑toxin; perfect—we will demonstrate its effects before the city garrison.”

“This task falls to Zeng Yi and Ji Xing.”

“Give the ice‑toxin to the garrison and tell them that igniting it will make the frenzied terrors obedient.”

“Once they try it, we need say no more; even if there are many loopholes, they will patch them on their own.”

“Will it really work?”

Ji Xing’s voice came from outside the door.

“It will absolutely work; I believe those monsters have already formed a conditioned reflex.”

“Although leader control is the true means of commanding terrors, we do not need total control—only the ‘possibility of control.’ Achieving that is enough.”

“Understood.”

Ji Xing asked no further, and Chen Jian continued:

“After these steps, the Machine God Sect and the Holy Blood Hall will surely become eager to act.”

“Then our task is to let the opportunity ripen further.”

“We must launch a second assault on the terrors, create a sufficiently shocking effect, and then suffer a rout before everyone’s eyes.”

“We want them to believe we are the clam caught in the snipe-and-clam struggle, while they are the fisherman lying in wait for the moment.”

“Reasonable.”

He nodded, then asked:

“How exactly should we proceed?”

Chen Jian answered without hesitation:

“Detonate the aerial bomb, then withdraw.”

“I think the Machine God Cult—especially the Anhui branch—may not be able to tell the difference between a nuclear blast and an aerial bomb explosion, since they have never witnessed one.”

“But after a massive explosion, they are likely to think we have exhausted our efforts, leaving them with a great gap.”

“Thus, our plan can proceed smoothly.”

“Understood.”

The crowd responded in turn, and by now Chen Jian’s scheme of diverting the flood eastward had been fully laid out.

He was uncertain of the plan’s chances of success—perhaps fifty percent, perhaps only thirty.

But even if it were only thirty percent, it would absolutely be worth a try.

Chen Jian exhaled slowly, about to continue detailing the plan, when suddenly, as if struck by a thought, he switched the radio to the channel for communicating with Huangshi City.

He began calling Huang Yu, and after receiving the reply, he issued the order:

“Huadu is very likely to muster a force to attack Huangshi City.”

“Huang Yu, lead the remaining combatants in preparing for ground contact.”

“They won’t be that strong. If they really go, let them have no return!”

(End of chapter)