455 Sneaking into the Zong Consortiums military base (1/2)

As Fortress 178's troops emerged victorious at the front lines, Ren Xiaosu, who was moving through the sewers, had finished cutting through the rebar grating in front of him. He was quietly infiltrating deep into Garrison 146's military base.

Every time he passed by a manhole cover, he would listen carefully for any movements overhead.

Ren Xiaosu could clearly hear footfalls above him as Zong Consortium soldiers walked around in their hard-soled boots.

Since he could not just climb up there, he could only estimate the number of garrison troops remaining in the base based on the movements above his head. He needed to do this so he could find a good opportunity to take action.

Through his careful observation, Ren Xiaosu realized the soldiers here still maintained an extremely strict patrolling routine even when the rest of the troops were conducting a citywide search for him.

Approximately every five minutes or so, a platoon would walk past overhead. The margin of error in their timing did not exceed ten seconds.

Sometimes, light from spotlights outside would seep in through the two holes on the manhole cover and illuminate Ren Xiaosu's face.

Ren Xiaosu cautiously found a manhole cover where the patrols seldom passed by and got a bold idea.

The manhole cover above his head was welded shut, leaving only two holes for drainage purposes. If it were anyone else who had infiltrated into this place, they would definitely be driven to despair. It was no wonder the Qing Consortium spy from earlier had not even thought about infiltrating the military base through the sewer system.

Fatty Luo's trusted method for escape and concealment back at the Li Consortium did not seem like it would work in this military base.

But not even this was enough to stop Ren Xiaosu. He did possess the black saber, after all. It was precisely because the defense here was the tightest that he chose to break in from here to get aboveground.

This was because even the Zong Consortium's soldiers would not expect someone to break in quietly through the manhole covers since they were welded shut, especially when the sewer system was reinforced with rebar grating.

Ren Xiaosu started to slowly and effortlessly cut open the manhole cover with his black saber.

Then he waited in silence. Suddenly, he heard footsteps slowly approaching the manhole cover he was under. When the enemy passed by, Ren Xiaosu flipped open the manhole cover quietly and leaped out.

He pounced onto the enemy like a cheetah. Before the spotlights could sweep across again, he had already broken the neck of his enemy and dragged the corpse into the sewers, closing the manhole cover after him.

His shadow clone had assisted him throughout the entire process. After the manhole cover was closed, it went all quiet again aboveground as though nothing had happened.

Ren Xiaosu had a quick look at his surroundings when he was aboveground just now.

His current position was at the edge of the base. Most of the buildings here consisted of one-story barracks, but there was a narrow five-story tower that stood out from among the structures. Could that be the administrative building of the garrison troops' headquarters?

Ren Xiaosu mentally estimated that he was around 200 meters away from the tower.

Ren Xiaosu made a decision. Although he had not yet seen where the ammunition depots of Garrison 146 were, he knew he should set his sights on that narrow tower if he wanted to destroy the central command of these troops.

Right now, Ren Xiaosu needed to get a change of clothes. Only by changing into the Zong Consortium's khaki uniform could he minimize his chances of being suspected.

Even if it could make the enemy hesitate for only 0.1 seconds, that would still be worth it. Sometimes, that 0.1-second reaction time could determine the difference between life and death.

He quickly took the uniform off of the Zong Consortium soldier he had just killed and happily prepared to change into it.

He did not even use the black saber earlier because he was worried the clothes would get stained with blood.

But Ren Xiaosu was stunned. Not for any other reason but because he realized the enemy was a little too short and his uniform was too small.

Ren Xiaosu was 18 years old and a supernatural being as well. He had grown from his original height of 178 centimeters at the age of 17 to 184 centimeters. This was considered very tall even among males, especially in an era where malnutrition was prevalent.