The First Order

Chapter 823: Ren Xiaosu’s supporters

In the villa at Stronghold 31, Wang Run looked at Wang Jing and the others after hanging up. Wang Jing asked, “Who exactly are you?”

Ever since Wang Run brought his men to the villa, he did not explain anything to the group from the Trinity Institute. He only showed his intelligence agency’s identification from the Wang Consortium and instantly took control of the villa to prevent Wang Jing and the others from going outside. He also prevented unknown people from approaching the villa.

Just as Ren Xiaosu had said, there were indeed people with bad intentions who wanted to rob the residential neighborhoods amid the chaos. But after Wang Run and his men killed two of them and left their corpses at the entrance, no one else dared to approach the villa.

Wang Run had received orders to pull back. He looked at Wang Jing and the others but did not say anything.

Wang Run turned around and gave two tactical hand signals to his subordinates. Then everyone quickly gathered their equipment and disappeared into the darkness outside the villa.

Although Wang Run had received Ren Xiaosu’s orders to protect Wang Jing and the others, Wang Shengzhi’s words carried more weight than Ren Xiaosu’s. Since the boss had ordered them to retreat, he would retreat.

Wang Run left behind two automatic rifles and four magazines for the Trinity Institute group. In his opinion, these weapons would be more than enough to deal with the rioters.

When Wang Jing heard the chaos in the stronghold, he sat slowly on the couch and said, “I’m afraid the medical exchange will be cut short.”

Someone suddenly asked, “Elder, have you seen Ren Xiaosu and Yang Xiaojin? Why haven’t we seen them throughout all of this?”

However, Wang Jing did not reply. He already had an answer in his mind.

Previously, he thought Ren Xiaosu and Yang Xiaojin were only here to carry out a simple mission. After all, the couple looked so young.

But from the look of it, Ren Xiaosu and Yang Xiaojin’s mission was not simple at all.

…

Outside the prison in Stronghold 31, Ren Xiaosu, Yang Xiaojin, and the others were hiding in the shadows on the sidewalk. They were observing the situation. The lights in the prison were on, and huge spotlights illuminated the surroundings as bright as day.

Wang Yun looked at Ren Xiaosu expectantly. “Future Commander, what do we do now?”

But before Ren Xiaosu could say anything, Ji Zi’ang spoke first. “I haven’t displayed any useful powers since being rescued by you all. Why not let me handle this situation?”

“You?” The Great Hoodwinker was stunned for a moment. “I know that you’re an earth-type superhuman, but superpowers don’t seem to be your forte, right?”

The Great Hoodwinker was implying that Ji Zi’ang’s superpower was likely run of the mill. Otherwise, the Kong Consortium could not have captured him.

Ji Zi’ang was stunned before saying with a bitter smile, “Looks like I’ve been underestimated. Back then, I was supposed to rescue an important person from the secret prison. In the end, I failed miserably when I encountered that warden. After that, I found out later that there was actually no one important imprisoned here at all.”

Then Ji Zi’ang got up and walked towards the prison in Stronghold 31. With a point of his finger, a quarter of the impregnable prison structure was turned into sand.

The bricks were no longer sturdy, and the foundation started crumbling. Nothing could hold together.

Ji Zi’ang said to Wang Yun, “Quick, use your Air Blast!”

Wang Yun did not hesitate. His eyes turned silver-gray, and a blast of air shot out from his clasped hands and smashed the crumbling prison, blowing out a cloud of dust.

In just an instant, the well-defended prison fortress looked like a cake that had a piece carved out of it. It was so damaged it looked like a cross section!

A commotion broke out among the inmates of the prison. Some of them started fleeing frantically while others took advantage of the chaos to attack the prison guards who had oppressed them.

The well-defended prison had instantly collapsed. The Kong Consortium’s people probably never expected that their prison would get turned into a pile of ruins in such a way!

When the Great Hoodwinker saw this, he was shocked. “We’ve picked up a treasure!”

When the Great Hoodwinker first arrived at the secret prison, he did not think much of Ji Zi’ang’s superpower. It was because the intelligence report had mentioned that Ji Zi’ang was captured too easily, so it was difficult for anyone to think he was very strong.

But now that he thought about it, it was not that Ji Zi’ang was not strong, but that the warden’s power was too strange and impossible to guard against.

Ji Zi’ang and Wang Yun were already rushing towards the prison complex, with Ren Xiaosu, Yang Xiaojin, and the Great Hoodwinker following them.

Ren Xiaosu suddenly asked, “I think you should’ve been able to rescue the two of them as well, right? Although the warden’s power is strange, it doesn’t really affect a pure strength-type like you. Although there were explosives planted in the passageway, the person holding the detonator might not have detonated them so precisely and trapped you inside. Besides, you’re not an unreliable person, so how could you not know that there were explosives buried in the passageway of the secret prison?”

The Great Hoodwinker chuckled and said, “What is it that you’re really asking, Future Commander?”

“Why did you have to wait for me to come and rescue y’all?” Ren Xiaosu was puzzled.

The Great Hoodwinker might look like a quack in this currently chaotic world, but he was not slipshod when it came to getting things done. Take the trip to the Sacred Mountains for example. The Great Hoodwinker could even accurately identify the route they should take when in thick fog. This showed that he was a very well-prepared person.

Therefore, Ren Xiaosu felt the Great Hoodwinker could not have accidentally ended up being caught and put in the secret prison and even neglected the modifications done to the place.

The Great Hoodwinker said with a smile, “What’s the point of me rescuing them? I’m only in charge of our Fortress 178’s fieldwork, so I don’t need those two to owe me anything.”

Ren Xiaosu pondered for a moment. “So you’d rather have them owe me a favor?”

“That’s right.” The Great Hoodwinker nodded. “Although almost half of the people back at Fortress 178 have started supporting you, there’s still some veterans who don’t approve of you. After all, you’re still too young, and you haven’t received any systematic military training or learned warfare before. But of course, they aren’t objecting to it either. They just need you to prove yourself with more achievements. In the past, you could keep fighting alone. But when you return to Fortress 178 in the future, you’ll need your own supporters.”

Ren Xiaosu did not say anything. The Great Hoodwinker continued saying with a laugh, “I will send these two people back to the Northwest. Together with Wang Yun’s 200-odd elite subordinates, they’ll be your strongest force in the future.”

“Was this what you and Wang Fengyuan planned?” Ren Xiaosu wondered, “Why are you two thinking so much instead of gathering intelligence?”

“No, no, no.” The Great Hoodwinker shook his head. “We are not trying to gain political credit or something. You’ve misunderstood. We don’t have such practices in the Northwest.”

Ren Xiaosu wondered, “Then what are y’all doing this for?”

The Great Hoodwinker said in seriousness, “It was Commander Zhang’s idea.”

This time, Ren Xiaosu was stunned. He did not expect Zhang Jinglin to start making such early plans for him so he could successfully take over at Fortress 178.

Zhang Jinglin was still young, so it would not be a problem for him to be the commander for another 15 to 20 years. So why did the other party start searching for dependable supporters for him so early on?

Was Zhang Jinglin quite sure he was up for the job?