After a journey of more than ten hours, Chen Chuan and his companions stepped off the train. They took a half-hour rest at a fortress garrison along the railway, then set out from the outpost in seven armed off-road vehicles, driving onward toward their destination.
Advisor Rao watched the sky outside gradually dim and said, "We need to do our best to reach the next garrison post before dark!"
Not all military garrisons were located along the railway lines; some were positioned along the Confluence's rivers, while others sat atop hazardous mountain passes.
The place they were headed for on this trip was the latter kind.
Shortly before night fell, around six o'clock, Chen Chuan's convoy entered the local garrison post. The moment they crossed into the fortress perimeter, night seemed to fall in an instant; looking back, the world outside was already pitched in total darkness.
Advisor Rao had been on edge the entire way, constantly checking his watch, and only now did he finally breathe a sigh of relief.
Unlike Rao, who had spent the whole trip terrified and trembling, Chen Chuan and his two companions were fighters. Confident in their ability to counter outside threats, they remained in excellent shape, both physically and mentally.
This post was merely a small fortress garrisoned by some fifty soldiers, so the sudden influx of their group made things rather cramped.
However, they were only staying for one night before continuing onward the next day. Knowing that they had come to carry out an urgent mission, the commanding garrison officer did his best to clear out space for them and provided food and water.
Over their meal, Chen Chuan asked, "Advisor Rao, how many more outposts are there past this point?"
"Past here, there are five more garrisons. We still have two days of travel."
Chen Chuan said, "These places aren't far from the railway tracks, so transporting supplies is relatively simple. But I saw that there are outposts even farther out in the remote areas. How do they handle their resupply?"
Advisor Rao answered, "On one hand, we rely on air drops, which can solve supply needs for a long stretch of time in a single run. We can also occasionally obtain basic supplies from some of the locals."
"The locals? You mean those remnants?" Yuan Qiuyuan chimed in from the side, asking in surprise, "They're actually willing to cooperate with us?"
Advisor Rao replied, "Some are, but another portion could be considered natives of this place."
"Oh? There are natives too?" Yuan Qiuyuan's interest was suddenly piqued.
"Though we call them natives, they are likely people who arrived here during even earlier Periods of Flux. They've completely adapted to the environment here, and both their outward appearance and internal biology differ slightly from ours. One study suggests they might be distant relatives from twenty to thirty thousand years ago, or at the very least, several thousand years ago."
Yuan Qiuyuan remarked, "Whew, that's distant, all right."
Advisor Rao said, "These people are different from the remnants of the imperial house. Most of them maintain relatively good relations with us because they also fear the entities on the other side and have been fighting them for a long time. In this respect, we stand on the same ground.
"After all, they encountered the entities on the other side earlier than we did and possess a great deal of information we don't have. Even so, a portion of them harbor deep hostility toward us."
Chen Chuan observed, "It seems their relationship with the imperial remnants isn't very good either."
"Indeed," Advisor Rao said. "Over the past century, the imperial remnants have frequently relied on armed force to plunder their wealth and population and seize their territories, so when it comes to dealing with this shared enemy, they cooperate quite readily."
Chen Chuan gave a slight nod. In truth, he knew that the various national governments and corporations were hardly benevolent themselves. Still, they at least understood who could be temporarily worked with and utilized, forming a relationship of mutual need. If that common enemy ever ceased to exist, the conduct of the governments and corporations would likely be no better.
Yuan Qiuyuan clicked his tongue. "This place is certainly complicated."
"Complicated?" Advisor Rao shook his head. "We've barely scratched the surface. Since we'll soon be heading far away from the railway lines, on the next stretch of road we must also watch out for the various creatures inhabiting the Confluence. If we accidentally trespass into their territory, we risk coming under attack."
He explained that most Confluence creatures were massive and exceptionally ferocious. That was still manageable, as certain weapons were effective against them; what was truly terrifying were the swarming species that traveled in packs. When they appeared, they blotted out the sky and ground, making them extremely difficult to deal with—without taking shelter inside a fortress, holding them off was practically impossible.
Therefore, his advice was to steer clear the moment they were spotted. Suffering losses from an accidental encounter was a completely pointless sacrifice.
After they finished eating, Advisor Rao brought over a map and pointed to a location. "If our journey goes smoothly, in two days we'll reach this spot: Fortress Garrison No. 73."
Chen Chuan looked over. Judging from the map, this small fortress sat directly across the mouth of a river valley, positioned at the sharp apex where two mountain ranges met. Anyone trying to reach the rear without passing through here would inevitably have to take a massive detour—under completely ideal conditions, it would add ten days to half a month to the trek.
Beyond the fortress, there were only a handful of sparsely distributed outposts up ahead. Farther still lay a swath of bright red, which likely marked the territory controlled by the old dynasty.
However, the Confluence was vast and boundless, and every Center City in the world possessed its own entrance into it, so the enemies they faced now were only the ones on their side.
There was no telling what the situation was like around the other Center Cities.
Advisor Rao continued, "To push into our rear, there are three options. The first is a wide flanking detour, but that takes far too much time, and the situation is constantly shifting. By then, the squads we sent out might have already returned, or we might have recruited more forces from the rear, so the Iron Demon won't choose that route.
"The second option..." He pointed to a certain location. "Here: Fortress No. 104, which bottlenecks an upstream river bend. From there, it's very easy to travel downriver by raft or along the banks. For the Iron Demon to take his men through there without being spotted is impossible, and even if he managed to slip past, we could seal off that retreat route behind him. So he would either ignore it entirely or choose to eliminate that post before advancing.
"And the final option is the place we are headed: Fortress No. 73."
Chen Chuan asked, "Advisor Rao, you're taking us straight there because you believe the Iron Demon will choose this as his breakthrough point?"
Advisor Rao nodded. "Based on the intelligence gathered previously and our analysis of the Iron Demon's personality and behavioral patterns, we believe that this time, he is most likely to break through here to reach our rear!"
Qin Qingque asked at this point, "Advisor Rao, if they launch an attack, when does the intelligence division estimate it will occur?"
"The Iron Demon has at least fifty cavalry warriors with him this time. Calculating by distance, if he's heading straight for Fortress 73, he'll arrive in three to four days—at most one or two days after us. If they don't spare their horses and ride day and night, they could arrive in as little as one or two days. So our time is tight."
Chen Chuan fixed his gaze on the map. "Then let's get there as quickly as possible."
After resting for the night, they sped along during the day. The journey went relatively smoothly, and a day and a half later, they arrived at Fortress No. 73. More than two hundred soldiers were stationed here, and a third-limit fighter was posted as a permanent garrison guard.
This fighter, named Hai Cheng, was burly and thickset. Both of his hands had been replaced with implants, as had one of his eyes. He was in his fifties, but for a fighter, that age brought little decline in strength, while providing far richer experience.
Having already learned via radio that their group had come specifically to deal with the Iron Demon, he was well prepared and exceptionally welcoming, as several of his good friends and many subordinates had been killed in the Iron Demon's attacks.
Chen Chuan had the squad rest and reorganize while he spoke with Hai Cheng to get a sense of the local situation. At that moment, he noticed a youth of fourteen or fifteen watching them from a distance, even approaching Yuan Qiuyuan to try and pry for news.
He glanced over and asked, "Garrison Commander Hai, do you have soldiers that young stationed here?"
"Him?" Hai Cheng rubbed the cropped hair on his head. "Well, how should I put it... His father was a Great Shun man, supposedly from the same hometown as me. He was one of our predecessors garrisoned here back in the day. Later on, he took a liking to a local native woman and simply started a family right here, never returning to Center City.
"My fellow townsman passed away early, leaving behind two sons. The elder son followed in his footsteps and joined the garrison force. A fine lad he was. Later, the Iron Demon ambushed our patrol, and the entire squad, including the boy, was killed by his hand. This younger kid has his heart set on avenging his brother, so he stayed here looking for a chance.
"Actually, I originally tried to chase him back home, but I figured if I didn't agree, who knows if he wouldn't run off on his own? His mother's clan holds quite a bit of influence around here, so if anything happened to him, it might harm our relationship with them. So I just kept him by my side as an orderly, which at least gives him something to hold onto."
Chen Chuan nodded. "There will be an opportunity."
He asked Hai Cheng to assign a soldier familiar with the area to take him on a patrol around the perimeter, acquainting himself with the surrounding terrain. Afterward, he returned to the fortress to discuss and lay out their specific tactics with Advisor Rao.
However, they waited for two straight days without catching so much as a glimpse of the Iron Demon.
Just then, they received a radio report stating that late the previous night, a small force had crossed the river guarded by Fortress No. 104.
The sentry post had laid down prolonged machine-gun fire. At daybreak, they discovered that the barrier cables across the river had been severed, and downstream, they found the carcass of a gunned-down dragon-snout horse. It was suspected that the ones who crossed were the Iron Demon and his group.
This intelligence immediately threw their original plans into disarray. Could it be that the Iron Demon had never intended to take this route, choosing instead to break through elsewhere?
If so, they had guarded the wrong position. The only remaining course seemed to be pulling out from here to pursue the raiders.
Yet Advisor Rao remained adamant. He said to Chen Chuan, "No, I still don't believe that was his real choice. This is very likely a smokescreen thrown out by the enemy. The Iron Demon's true objective should still be right here!"
Chapter 431