Chapter 62: Mongolia

Chapter62: Mongolia

Half an hour later, inside the 7025 fortification.

The seven‑person squad finally reached the outpost safely, with the Holy Blood pursuers shaken off behind them.

From the drone’s surveillance feed, a single volley of indiscriminate firepower had frightened the Holy Blood fighters; after the cease‑fire, no one dared to pursue, even after looping several times through sparse vegetation, no hidden observers were spotted.

The crisis was temporarily lifted, and the squad finally breathed a sigh of relief.

After entering the fortification, Chen Jian immediately had Shen Yue tend to Li Shi’s wound, while he himself, together with Lei Jie and He Shuo, re‑established the outer defenses, using a drone on standby monitoring mode to set up a simple early‑warning system.

Only after finishing all of this did he return inside the works to check the condition of each squad member.

The good news was that, aside from Li Shi, only Zeng Yi among the seven had sustained a minor injury.

For a Holy Blood like him, proper disinfection would basically pose no serious problem.

But there was also bad news.

Through this clash, Chen Jian deeply realized the problem with his squad.

In a nutshell, their offensive edge was too sharp, but their defense was lacking.

This time, by leveraging overwhelming firepower, electromagnetic control, and information superiority, the squad barely managed to gain an advantage.

But what about next time?

If luck weren’t as good as this time—if the Mechanical God Cult’s shell hadn’t veered off, or if Zeng Yi’s swung blade had missed—the outcome could have been completely different.

In the worst case, the squad could have been wiped out entirely.

After all, they don’t have the Holy Blood’s superhuman bodies that can take a bullet straight through the heart and still keep moving.

Manpower is still too scarce.

Risk cannot be spread out, and there aren’t enough filler troops, so only a handful of people can face the impact head‑on.

This is absolutely not a wise choice, so in the short term, figuring out how to expand manpower has become the top priority.

——

But the problem lies here.

Ideally, the best source of manpower would be Han Shui City, but that route has been cut off by the local administrators, and there’s little hope of it being restored in the near term.

Moreover, they must remain vigilant against threats emanating from Han Shui City.

After all, those religiously brainwashed fanatics won’t easily give up; even after suffering massive casualties, Chen Jian has reason to believe they will continue uninterrupted harassment and attacks in the foreseeable future.

It’s quite troublesome.

Chen Jian frowned, and the others did the same.

But under the somewhat solemn atmosphere, nobody spoke.

Only after Li Shi’s wound was treated, and the ever‑optimistic Shen Yue cleaned his hands, pulled out a sugar cube from the sealed canister and handed one to each person, stimulating dopamine, did the squad finally perk up a little.

“Damn it, we almost got folded by those lunatics this time.”

Lei Jie let out a long breath and said:

“Han Shui City is indeed not that simple, and neither are the Mechanical God Cult nor the Holy Blood Hall.”

“These people surviving so long in the wasteland isn’t without reason; I feel they must have a unique decision‑making process.”

“They can react quickly to such issues and swiftly mobilize personnel.”

“That mobilization ability is truly strong to the point of being bizarre.”

“Religious organizations have always been like this.”

Chen Jian waved his hand and said:

“There’s nothing special about it; we ourselves have the Yellow Turban Army internally, and in the West there were the Crusaders—leaving combat strength aside, their mobilization power was strong in their era.”

“I have no doubt about that; my biggest question is why they react so fiercely to ‘mimetic heresy.’”

“We need to find a way to get more information, but there’s no chance to enter the city openly now.”

“Is there any way to change our appearance to bypass their inspection?”

“Not very likely.”

Xie Liu shook her head and replied:

“Once Han Shui City enters martial law, inspections become very strict.”

“Not only strangers, but even familiar merchants, travelers, and even personnel from the Holy Blood Hall and the Mechanical God Cult themselves are subjected to rigorous checks before entry.”

“To sneak in, the only option is to wait for martial law to be lifted.”

“But I think they will absolutely not lift martial law until they’ve completely eliminated our ‘threat.’”

“So there’s no way at all?”

Chen Jian couldn’t help feeling a bit disappointed, while Zeng Yi on the side chimed in:

“There is a way, but it relies on luck.”

“What way?”

Chen Jian asked immediately.

“Find the Ring Traders.”

“Ring Traders?”

Chen Jian asked doubtfully:

“What are they?”

Zeng Yi took a light breath and replied:

“I find it hard to explain exactly what they are; in fact, no one can precisely define them.”

“They are the most keen‑scented information dealers on this land, notorious war brokers, once the wealthiest merchant consortium, and also researchers of some ancient technologies.”

“They act covertly, yet they are also very powerful.”

“Especially regarding ancient technology, some say that the technologies the Mechanical God Cult now uses—particularly long‑range radio communications—were recovered and restored by them from ruins.”

“Some say they are the third major power in the world besides the Mechanical God Cult and the Holy Blood Hall.” “Actually, over the past few decades their influence has waned considerably—at least from the records I’ve seen, there hasn’t been a sighting of Ring Traders selling ancient tech for over a hundred years.”

“Perhaps those technologies have also been lost among them.”

“Nowadays they have almost completely become an intelligence organization, one that loves intrigue and hopes to gain power through scheming.”

“So if you want to obtain any intelligence, they are the most suitable to approach.”

“But the problem is you can’t find them.”

“They appear more frequently in certain cities, but even if you know where they are, it’s hard to recognize them.”

“So I say, we can only rely on luck.”

“Then let’s leave it to luck.”

Chen Jian nodded, crunched the sugar in his mouth in one bite, and then said:

“Information is important, but it isn’t necessarily the top priority.”

“If we can’t find it for now, never mind—we can already be certain that the armed personnel in Hanshui City are all our enemies.”

“So, moving forward, our plan mainly consists of two points.”

“First, acquire food, expand manpower, and strengthen our forces.”

“Second, find a way to deal with the continual harassment and attacks from Hanshui City in the future.”

“The first part is easier said than done—Hanshui City is a dead end, as Xie Liu mentioned before; we can seek other settlements and develop in other directions.”

“But the threat from Hanshui City is imminent.”

“We can’t spend all our time nervously fending off their attacks while trying to wipe them out completely, all the while hampered by a shortage of manpower.”

“This is almost a paradox; the only solution is”

Chen Jian hadn’t finished speaking when the other three team members simultaneously glanced at the lead box in the corner, and Chen Jian himself paused before continuing:

“Never mind—let’s not resort to that unless absolutely necessary.”

“Civilians are also a valuable resource, and they can be educated; it took years to breed these few thousand people, and they shouldn’t be squandered casually.”

“If I’d known earlier, I wouldn’t have killed that third‑tier monster—if it were still alive, it could at least serve as a temporary barrier for us.”

“Now then”

At this point, Chen Jian couldn’t help but sigh.

Meanwhile, Xie Liu’s eyes lit up beside him, and he ventured to speak:

“If that’s the case, why don’t we go find another monster?”

“Where would we find one?”

Chen Jian asked, bewildered.

“The idea isn’t bad; the problem is we don’t have one.”

“And even if we did, we’d hardly be able to control a new monster.”

“Not necessarily.”

Zeng Yi suddenly spoke up, as if he’d grasped Xie Liu’s meaning.

He then continued:

“The Hanshui Ruins lie 40 kilometers south of Hanshui City, and 70 kilometers to the southeast is Huangshi City, with a population of nearly two thousand.”

“Between Huangshi City and the Hanshui Ruins lies a site called Huangzhou, where a fourth‑tier monster is actually active.”

“That monster has coexisted peacefully with Huangshi City’s residents for decades, and they even regard it as a means to block the third‑tier monster from the Hanshui Ruins.”

“If we lure that monster to lie between the Hanshui Ruins and Hanshui City, wouldn’t the effect be the same?”

“Only this time we’d be blocking not a monster, but Hanshui City’s enemies.”

“Imagine a fourth‑tier monster appearing out of nowhere at their doorstep—no matter what, they wouldn’t have any extra strength to use against us.”

“At least in the short term, we could gain precious time.”

As Zeng Yi’s words faded, Chen Jian could only stare, dumbfounded.

He never imagined that not only do monsters have symbiotic relationships with each other, but humans and monsters do as well!

If Zeng Yi’s idea is correct, it might actually work.

At this point, he hurriedly asked:

“Do you know anything about that monster? What are its traits?”

“I don’t know.”

Zeng Yi shook his head and then said:

“But the people of Huangshi City surely know; as far as I’m aware, they’ve even given that monster a name.”

“What is it called?”

Chen Jian asked.

Zeng Yi shook his head, indicating he couldn’t recall, while Xie Liu beside him answered without hesitation:

“Mongolia.”

“That monster is called Mongolia.”

(End of chapter)