The First Order

After the battle ended, Ren Xiaosu got the infantry brigade to head to A22.

P5092 said, "The soldiers need to reorganize first."

"It's fine, alpha-two-two is safe. Head there to reorganize instead." Ren Xiaosu said, "It's no longer safe at alpha-two-one." Then Ren Xiaosu switched off communications.

After the infantry brigade left, Ren Xiaosu appeared on the battlefield and started picking up the axes happily.

Actually, A21 was still very safe. The reason why he got the infantry brigade to leave was purely to make it more convenient for him to collect the axes. After all, there was no way he could collect them if the infantry brigade was around, right?

However, Ren Xiaosu also had other motives after picking up the axes. That was because he realized all the barbarians he had encountered today were wearing helmets and armored masks.

Other people might not think much of it and would just assume they were standard issue gear for the barbarians upon stepping into total war. After all, the barbarians were the weakest at their heads and eyes, so there was nothing wrong with protecting those areas.

But Ren Xiaosu started feeling doubtful. He somehow felt that something was wrong. If it were standard issue gear, why didn't they wear them before?

After he finished collecting all the axes, he pulled off the helmet of a barbarian. He was stunned. He saw the barbarian's hair was all gray, and the cheeks underneath his beard were full of wrinkles.

Although the northern tribe's people looked different from the Central Plains people, it was still very easy to distinguish between the young and the old.

This person in front of him was clearly an old barbarian!

What was this situation with the expeditionary army? Could it be that their battlefront had been stretched too far, so they did not have enough soldiers and had to send their older veterans onto the battlefield?

That couldn't be it, right?

Ren Xiaosu took off the helmets of a dozen barbarians in quick succession. Most of them were middle-aged, while a few were already in their old age. This puzzled him a great deal.

It was no wonder 3rd Division did not seem to have struggled much just now. So it was because they were fighting against a group of old soldiers.

As the saying goes, fists of the young and strong are feared. Once a person reached a certain age, they would definitely experience a decline in their bodily functions. Presumably, the barbarians were no exception.

They might still have some strength left, but their stamina was definitely not as good as when they were younger.

Ren Xiaosu did not know if this discovery would be considered good news or not. He would have to discuss it with P5092 later.

The voice from the palace suddenly said, "An ongoing quest has not been completed after a prolonged period. The deadline for the quest will be three hours from now. Please complete it as soon as possible. Otherwise, one of your Basic Skill Duplication Scrolls will be destroyed."

Ren Xiaosu was stunned. Only then did he remember the palace had issued him with a quest during the previous time he led the recon troops into the forest. Furthermore, he did not manage to complete it at that time.

This was the first time he had failed to complete a quest. He was not expecting the palace would actually implement a penalty for that.

It looked like he had to think of a way to finish it.

…

In the fourth hour after the Pyro Company's divisions entered the forest, the situation report left everyone stunned.

For the past three hours, the 3rd Division seemed to have become completely invisible on the battlefield. They did not kill any enemies, nor did they suffer any casualties.

When the other division commanders heard the updates, they thought P5092 was just here to clock his participation. But with the 3rd Division only activating an infantry brigade for this battle, it seemed that they had expressed their stance very clearly.

However, by the fourth hour of battle, the number of enemies 3rd Division had killed suddenly increased to more than 900. But the strangest thing was that they didn't suffer any casualties!

The various divisions had also started fighting the barbarians. The barbarians had coarse skin and thick shields, breaking past several of the Pyro Company's defensive positions so far and causing massive casualties.

What was even more shocking was that they actually encountered an elite among the barbarians in this forest. That barbarian wore heavy armor and was covered by a helmet and armored mask. He went up against heavy machine gun fire alone and flipped over three armored vehicles and two tanks with his bare hands!

It was extremely shocking to witness such power with their own eyes.

In the eyes of normal people, armored vehicles and tanks symbolized strength and destruction. Even the rumbling of the armored vehicles moving on the ground could make one feel as though their hearts were being crushed.

However, there was actually someone among the barbarians strong enough to flip tanks with their bare hands? At this level, they might even be able to crush the T5s!

Even though it was not heavy tanks that had been deployed this time, they still weighed 40 tons. In addition to five people sitting inside with their weapons and ammunition, the total weight was around 41 tons.

Of course, the barbarian did not strictly flip the vehicles over by lifting the armored vehicles and tanks. They were basically tilted up from the side and overturned. This way, the barbarian did not have to fully bear all 41 tons of weight, but that was still scary enough for the Pyro Company soldiers!

When the soldiers saw that sight, they even felt that no firearms other than a missile could deal any damage to that barbarian!

In this encounter, the Pyro Company had sacrificed several hundred soldiers in order to deal with the barbarian. In fact, it took a unit of special forces led by a T5 combatant to finally surround and kill him.

Moreover, the barbarian was only killed when a T5 combatant managed to get the barbarian's helmet and armored mask off during battle before a soldier with excellent marksmanship shot him in the eye.

Compared to this, the 3rd Division managed to kill nearly a 1,000 barbarians without suffering any casualties. This made all the other division commanders wonder what the 3rd Division was doing.

A division commander said to his staff officer next to him, "I know that you're close with a staff officer from 3rd Division. The two of you graduated in the same class, so find an opportunity to check what they are doing when you communicate with him next time."

"Understood." The combat staff officer said.

By the fifth hour of the battle, there were no changes to the statistics achieved by the 3rd Division. There was no increase in the number of enemies killed, nor were there any casualties suffered.

The staff officer from the 7th Division called the 3rd Division over the radio. When the familiar voice of his classmate answered the call, he went straight to the point and asked, "What's everyone at 3rd Division doing?"

The 3rd Division staff officer hesitated for a moment before replying, "We're not doing anything."

"What do you mean you're not doing anything?" The 7th Division's staff officer was stunned. "Our soldiers are either only marching or fighting. You guys would have to be doing something, right?"

"We're really not doing anything."

"Wait a minute, why do I hear someone singing Five Little Ducks over there?" The 7th Division's staff officer was stunned again. He placed the transceiver close to his ear and even covered his other ear to listen more carefully.

But before he could hear it clearly, the other party hurriedly ended the call.

The P5 commander of the 7th Division looked at his staff officer and asked, "What exactly is the 3rd Division doing?"

The staff officer hesitated for a moment before answering, "It sounded like they were singing nursery rhymes?!"

The senior commander across from him stayed silent for a moment before asking, "Do you think I'm stupid or something?"