The First Order

In front of this general, Black Robe restrained all of its ambition and acted very respectfully.

It knew full well that there were a few people in the expeditionary army whose strength it could not contend with at the moment. However, this did not mean it could not challenge them in the future.

After the general left with a group of the expeditionary army's troops, Black Robe slowly walked towards the ruins. Just a day ago, this place was still a military base, but now it had completely disappeared.

About half of the main forces of the expeditionary army led by the general were facing the Pyro Company's forces on the battlefield. The remaining half reorganized at the Great Wall's defensive line for a while before herding the captives they had captured to follow Black Robe to the battlefield at Mt. Zuoyun.

This was the first time Black Robe had taken control of a small portion of the expeditionary army's authority. The general seemed to be quite satisfied with Black Robe's performance and started delegating some military power to it.

Black Robe walked towards a remote area. As it walked, it heard an angry roar coming from an uninhabited ruin. However, it seemed like the other party's mouth was gagged and the roar came from his throat, so it did not attract the attention of the troops in the distance.

Black Robe smiled as he walked. "Valentin, stop struggling in vain. The general has already led his troops off, and the expeditionary army that used to be led by you has started following me. I've transferred them out of this area, so no one will discover you."

Finally, Black Robe came to Valentin's side. Meanwhile, more than a dozen barbaric Experimentals were pressing Valentin down onto the ground.

But Valentin was indeed powerful, as the standard barbaric Experimentals were still unable to hold him down.

Black Robe praised, "What a powerful physique. How wonderful will this world be when you become my loyal servant?"

A look of horror flashed across Valentin's eyes. He looked at the gray-skinned "monster" beside him and could not imagine he would soon become a monster with no mind of its own.

As a warrior and an officer of the expeditionary army, he was definitely not afraid of death. However, he feared he would become a monster that was neither dead nor alive!

Black Robe fished out a syringe from his sleeve that had a murky gray liquid swirling inside. "This is the E021 genetic serum that the Pyro Company developed before The Cataclysm. I took it out of Laboratory 39, and I can now mass produce this formula in Stronghold 176. You don't have to worry. Your compatriots will also get to enjoy its effects in the future."

"Do you Northerners really think you can win this war?" Black Robe sneered, "Before I encountered the Qing Consortium's nuclear bomb, I also thought I could win easily. But that nuke destroyed all of my confidence in an instant. Why do they still control such powerful weapons after The Cataclysm? It really makes one despair."

When Valentin heard this, his eyes widened even further. It was obvious he had not heard that nuclear weapons were still being used in the Central Plains.

Black Robe knelt next to him and said in a hoarse voice, "Therefore, whether the Pyro Company or the Wang Consortium is defeated or emerges victorious, if there's no longer any more resistance from the Central Plains against the expeditionary army, you will see a missile suddenly flying towards you from above. That massive amount of rocket fuel will propel the heavy nuclear warhead into the ground and turn everything into ashes in an instant. I never felt that the expeditionary army could win."

"Now that I've said that, you must be very curious as to why I instigated the expeditionary army to head south?" Black Robe laughed hoarsely. "If you all don't die here on these lands, how am I going to turn the Far North into my kingdom? The harsh environment in the North might be a very tough environment for you all, but my monsters have no reason to be afraid. You'll become a loyal monster serving by my side. If there's a chance, the general will also accompany you in service of me. At that time, I'll lead you all back to the North. When I'm strong enough to face the Central Plains someday, I'll bring you all back here again. Don't worry, my troops will still be called the expeditionary army when that happens. This should also satisfy the wishes of your people."

Valentin suddenly realized that the expeditionary army's migration to the South was actually part of Black Robe's plan from the beginning. Regardless of whether the expeditionary army could defeat the Wang Consortium or the Pyro Company, Black Robe felt it was only a matter of time before the expeditionary army was defeated.

That was because Black Robe had personally experienced despair when the nuclear bomb exploded. If Black Robe had not left Stronghold 74 in advance, it would probably have been reduced to ashes.

At this moment, Black Robe knocked Valentin unconscious with a palm strike. Then it used a sharp knife to cut an incision on Valentin's arm before injecting the gray E021 genetic serum into Valentin's body with the syringe.

Black Robe muttered, "It's a little more troublesome to do this on you Northerners. It's very difficult for normal syringes to penetrate your skin, so I must knock you unconscious to prevent the needles from getting twisted out of shape by your muscles."

When the gray liquid was pushed into Valentin's body, it quickly spread through the veins under Valentin's skin like gray tentacles reaching out until his entire body turned gray.

A second later, Valentin, who was unconscious, suddenly opened his eyes. Black Robe smiled and removed the metal ball from Valentin's mouth before handing it to him. "Shatter it."

Valentin's gray eyes were completely emotionless. He caught the metal ball in his hand and clenched his fist.

An ear-piercing sound emitted from the metal ball before splitting into two.

Black Robe praised, "You're indeed stronger than the others. I'll set off for Mt. Zuoyun tomorrow with the advance guard that you once led, and they will be under my command. I'll create an opportunity for you to abduct 500 people for me with which I'm going to form my army."

Black Robe did not intend to reveal anything yet, so he had to carry out his operations secretly.

…

It was already evening at Mt. Zuoyun. Ren Xiaosu was sitting at the perimeter of the 6th Combat Brigade's defensive position and looking out at the sunset. Yang Xiaojin came over and sat beside him. The two of them sat at the edge of an abyss. Behind them were their companions and comrades, while the ground in front of them was littered with the corpses of the barbarians.

Yang Xiaojin said, "Fortunately, the weather is still quite cold. Otherwise, the entire battlefield would be emitting an unpleasant smell."

"How was today? Did everything go well?" Ren Xiaosu asked.

Yang Xiaojin said, "It wasn't too bad. Two promising candidates in the 6th Combat Brigade have the talent to become snipers. Their hands are very steady and their minds are stable, so they can be trained. However, the others are just so-so. In the past, there wasn't enough ammo in the Northwest, so it was very difficult to train a sharpshooter with the supply of bullets they had."

Before the expeditionary army made a return for another wave of attacks, everyone was working hard on their own tasks. For example, Ji Zi'ang asked Mo Fei what they should do if they wanted to make the other mountains collapse, while Wang Yun wandered around the battlefield to see if he could find any clues on the barbarian bodies.

Meanwhile, Yang Xiaojin became the shooting instructor of the 6th Combat Brigade.

Yang Xiaojin suddenly said, "Did you notice? That Mo Fei keeps stealing glances at you."

"I've realized that." Ren Xiaosu said, "I suspect that he's the Wang Consortium's AI, Zero."