The First Order
chapter-242

When the silvery strands appeared on the officer, the Iron Second Battalion’s commander, Liu Taiyu, froze. He lowered his head and did not dare to refute him further. Because he knew this was the most elite unit of the Li Consortium. They were the nanosoldiers of the organization!

The Li Consortium’s main battlefield was divided into two areas, with one at the front line at Mt. Fengyi facing the Qing Consortium, and the other at the front line at Mt. Ping facing the Yang Consortium. The distance between the two battlefields was several hundred kilometers.

Liu Taiyu received news earlier that those nanosoldiers were already heading towards Mt. Ping because the Yang Consortium was the Li Consortium’s main opponent, while the Qing Consortium was just here to take advantage of the situation. However, Liu Taiyu was not expecting the nanosoldiers to appear here.

Did they intend to catch the Qing Consortium off guard? Was that why the organization had even withheld this information internally?

Liu Taiyu grew cold with fear when he realized the situation was worse than he had expected. The front line at Mt. Fengyi where he was being deployed to would definitely end up as ground zero for this war!

But how could the nanosoldiers not have their own vehicles? The nanosoldiers were always given the best equipment. They did not even need to take military transport trucks as they were all issued with off-road vehicles.

Liu Taiyu asked in a whisper, “Sir, where are your vehicles?” While saying that, he took a look at the officer’s shoulder patch that displayed the words “Divine Arms Battalion.” There was also the white logo of a nanospider on it.

This was the legendary Divine Arms Battalion of the Li Consortium.

The Divine Arms officer looked at Liu Taiyu out of the corner of his eye and said, “Our vehicles are parked right up ahead. I want your soldiers to get out of the trucks and take our off-road vehicles instead. On top of that, have all your private troops take off their uniforms.”

“We’ll freeze to death if we take off our clothes in this cold weather,” Liu Taiyu said anxiously.

In response, the officer of the Divine Arms Battalion lunged over and punched Liu Taiyu in the abdomen. He left Liu Taiyu in such pain that he laid on the ground in the fetal position and could not even make a sound!

The Divine Arms officer said calmly, “Why must you speak so much?”

The truck Ren Xiaosu’s platoon was in was the closest to the Divine Arms officers, so he could hear their entire conversation. When the officer said they wanted the private troops to take off their uniforms, Ren Xiaosu realized these nanosoldiers might be planning to pose as private troops on the march.

The Li Consortium’s nanotechnology had always been the subject of much attention. Now that it had been fully put into practical use on the battlefield, it would definitely be regarded as a great threat by the Qing Consortium and the Yang Consortium.

The Li Consortium knew there were spies in their military. Therefore, the Divine Arms Battalion would have to hide their whereabouts if they wanted to spring a surprise on the Qing Consortium.

As the soldiers of the Divine Arms Battalion walked over to the trucks, the lead soldier shouted to Ren Xiaosu and his platoon, “Get out here and change out of your uniforms—” The person speaking froze when he realized Ren Xiaosu and his platoon were not in uniform.

Ren Xiaosu was amused. Wasn’t this such a coincidence? They had not even been issued with uniforms.

The Divine Arms officer wondered, “Where are your uniforms?”

Disgruntled, Ren Xiaosu explained, “We were never issued with uniforms. Not only that, we weren’t even equipped with guns.”

The Divine Arms officers were stunned for a while. Since they did not have much contact with the private troops before, this problem never once crossed their minds!

The officer who beat up Liu Taiyu got so angry he laughed. He looked at Liu Taiyu, who was lying on the ground, and said, “Aren’t you too rampant with your embezzlement of their pay and equipment?! Do you think our Li Consortium is raising you all as parasites?” He then angrily kicked Liu Taiyu’s head so hard that Liu Taiyu fainted.

To be honest, this commander of the Divine Arms Battalion believed his plan was well thought out. They would first pretend to be private troops and get close to the battlefield while avoiding the spies’ attention. Afterwards, they would head into the mountains and flank the Qing Consortium to deal them the fatal blow.

The fitness of these nanosoldiers was fantastic, and they could take routes that normal soldiers couldn’t. So they could reach places the Qing Consortium wouldn’t expect.

This plan was also approved of by Headquarters. They felt that everyone would think they would target the Yang Consortium now, so sneak attacking the Qing Consortium would catch them by surprise and lead to a victory.

If any weak points appeared in the Qing Consortium, the Yang Consortium would also be very happy to seize any gains from them.

Ultimately, the reason for the war between the three organizations was mainly influence. Whoever became the weakest link on the battlefield first would definitely end up facing the most violent attacks from the other sides.

So even though this plan was not considered perfect, it was still a great plan. But the Divine Arms officer never expected their plan would be screwed up right off the bat.

By looking at their uniforms, everyone could tell they were from the Divine Arms Battalion. Even if they drove the private troops’ vehicles, they would not be able to hide that fact from the more observant people.

“What do we do now then?” one of the officers of the Divine Arms Battalion asked.

The commander of the Divine Arms Battalion clenched his teeth and said, “Let’s put on their civilian clothes and have them wear our uniforms instead. Let them continue advancing to the front line at Mt. Fengyi and have the enemy’s spies in our military focus on them.”

Ren Xiaosu’s eyes lit up. At this moment, he was considered to be holding three different identities—that of a private soldier, a member of the Office of Special Investigations, and a member of the Divine Arms Battalion-all at the same time! However, Ren Xiaosu was not afraid of taking on too many identities. After all, it would be easier for him to get things done with these identities.

When the Divine Arms soldiers slapped Liu Taiyu awake, one of them whispered to him, “Continue marching to the front line at Mt. Fengyi and get there within ten days. If you don’t get there in ten days, you’ll be brought in for a court martial. I’ll send five nanosoldiers with you, so don’t try any tricks.”

The commander of the Divine Arms Battalion even placed an electronic ankle monitor on Liu Taiyu. A red light was flashing on the shackle, and it seemed like it would be used for tracking Liu Taiyu’s location. But its functionality was probably not just as simple as tracking him. Why else would they rest easy that Liu Taiyu would carry out their orders accordingly?

They not only had surveillance equipment on him, but also sent their nanosoldiers to follow the private troops as they headed to the front line at Mt. Fengyi together. This could be considered as a dual-layered security measure for the plan.

The Divine Arms Battalion’s decision to temporarily take over the role of the private troops was also a part of the plan. Everyone in the organization knew what the private troops’ behavior was like, so most people would not generally care to plant spies within the private troops.

Besides, even if they were to abruptly disrupt the battle plans of a battalion of private troops, it would have little impact on the big picture.

The commander of the Divine Arms Battalion said coldly, “All of you will camp here for the day before setting off again tomorrow.”

However, Ren Xiaosu was very curious. This group of people in front of him were definitely not the entire strength of the Divine Arms Battalion. After all, he had not even seen Lin Qi and that Captain Zhou around. He wondered if there would be a chance to collect some more of the nanomachines.

At this moment, Li Qingzheng asked, “So are we going to change into the uniform of the Divine Arms?”

Ren Xiaosu nodded. “It’s a good thing.”

Li Qingzheng saw the enthusiastic look in Ren Xiaosu’s eyes. “Xiaosu, did you think of a plan? Tell us about it.”

“After we change into the uniform of the Divine Arms,” Ren Xiaosu said, “let’s first go back to the FOB that we just left from and have a good meal there!”

Everyone was shocked. So the first thing to do after changing into the uniform of the Divine Arms Battalion was to return to the forward operating base to steal their meals?!

Li Qingzheng realized that no matter what identity Ren Xiaosu was given, he could always make use of them like it was fully within his rights to do so…