388 War fanatic (1/2)

Since they had decided to attack Mt. Guan to lure the Mt. Dingyuan bandits out of their lair, they would have to quietly sneak into the valley in case their movements were discovered.

The Zong Consortium had spies all over the Northwest. Fortress 178 was planning to eliminate the bandits in the valley first in case they caused any trouble to the forward operating base when the real war began.

Zhang Xiaoman believed it would be harder to take Mt. Guan, but Ren Xiaosu did not think so. That was because some of the bandits had already died in the terrible earthquake when Yan Liuyuan's curse hit them. He was guessing those bandits must have come from Mt. Guan.

At that time, they were in the vicinity of Mt. Kaolei, and the nearest bandit lairs were at Mt. Tangwang and Mt. Guan. However, the bandits at Mt. Tangwang had already been recruited by Wang Congyang. So the only possibility was that those bandits were from Mt. Guan.

However, Ren Xiaosu did not mention a word about this. It seemed that Fortress 178 did not know about the battle in the wilderness yet, as the Zong Consortium was still locking out the news.

Fortress 178 was between 5 and 600 kilometers away from that battlefield at that time. No matter how massive the explosions and firepower were, no one would hear anything if they were in the fortress.

But Ren Xiaosu knew that if it were really as he had guessed, Mt. Guan was definitely not going to be as difficult to overcome as they had thought. Instead, it would be much easier to attack than Mt. Dingyuan.

The Razor Sharp Company started behaving like mice when they suddenly abandoned their trucks and moved in the gullies with their guns and artillery supplies. By lying low in the daytime and only becoming active at night, they were trying their best not to get discovered by the enemy.

When they were resting in the shadows of the gullies during the day, Zhang Xiaoman said to Ren Xiaosu, ”Although I don't know what your superpower is, I'll still believe you since you said you could put pressure on Mt. Guan. But you better not tell me that you can't do it when we get there. If you can't do it, I'll be sure to shoot you regardless of who you are.”

Ren Xiaosu did not reply to him as he cradled his automatic rifle and lay against the gully with his eyes closed.

Everyone was slowly eating their field rations. As they were now secretly trying to enter the valley, they were not allowed to set up cooking fires.

But Zhang Xiaoman and the others were surprised by how Ren Xiaosu could bear more hardship than they could. While everyone was resting, they would always require rotations for sentry duty. The other soldiers were so sleepy they kept complaining, but Ren Xiaosu never once grumbled about anything. If he was asked to perform his sentry duty, he would just do it. He was also fine with it when he had to perform his duty for a little longer.

Zhang Xiaoman observed and realized that Ren Xiaosu was really serious and responsible when he was on sentry duty.

The Razor Sharp Company's commander muttered, ”As expected of someone chosen by the commander.”

Everyone was expecting something more from Ren Xiaosu, not because they had something against him, but because when they found out he could become the next commander, they wondered, 'In what way is he better than me? Why should he be considered as a candidate for the role of commander?'

Meanwhile, Ren Xiaosu not only had to perform sentry duty, but he also took turns with everyone to carry the heavy machine guns and mortars during their march. The machine guns were really burdensome, and the mortars were only slightly lighter at about 15 kilograms each. Although it was very uncomfortable to carry them for long distances, it was still within acceptable limits.

Meanwhile, the 12.7 mm heavy machine guns weighed 25 kilograms each, and they even had to carry their own rucksacks too. The route they had to take to get to Mt. Guan and Mt. Dingyuan was still at least another 100 kilometers away, and the terrain was difficult to traverse. Some soldiers even got abrasions on their shoulders after carrying the weapons.

But Ren Xiaosu never once complained.

Ren Xiaosu looked very skinny at the moment because his Strength and Dexterity were balanced. At the beginning, Zhang Xiaoman deliberately made things difficult for Ren Xiaosu by making him suffer.

But to Zhang Xiaoman's surprise, Ren Xiaosu was not careless at all when carrying the machine gun even though he looked thinner than all of them. He even volunteered to shoulder some of the burden for his comrades.

This was just how it was in the army. If you were tough and capable, you would get respected. If you were a weakling, you would get looked down on.

In just these few days of their march through the wilderness, everyone's impression of Ren Xiaosu changed for the better. This kid was really tough and capable!