Chapter 202 The Li Consortium’s army
While Ren Xiaosu was still at Stronghold 109, he had heard of Fang Yujing and Cicada’s names on a streetcar. At the time, he wondered if the celebrities of this stronghold were also members of the Saboteurs based on the situation with Luo Xinyu.
But later on, he felt that he was wrong to think that way. When the great disaster struck Stronghold 109, Luo Xinyu and Lu Yuan had specially waited for Yang Xiaojin in the wilderness for some time. However, no one else was in the vehicle. If these two celebrities were also members of the Saboteurs, they would have been taken by them back then.
Moreover, if Fang Yujing were a member of the Saboteurs, she would not need to approach him in such a manner. It would be just as how Luo Xinyu had greeted Ren Xiaosu openly after discovering he was her neighbor.
Right now, it seemed like the escapees who had started forming cliques had somehow learned of Fang Yujing’s identity and wanted to get their hands on her. As a result, she approached Ren Xiaosu’s group in a roundabout way to get his help.
No matter whether his deduction was right or wrong, Ren Xiaosu did not actually intend to bother with Fang Yujing’s plight. If someone made immoral advances on the celebrity again after she went back, Chen Wudi would naturally give them a thrashing…
By this point, Ren Xiaosu fully entrusted Chen Wudi with doing all the good deeds. However, Ren Xiaosu still reminded Chen Wudi over and over to try his best not to reveal his superpower. He also told this to Jiang Wu as well.
When Jiang Wu awakened her power yesterday, no one noticed since the escapees were busy fleeing in panic. Therefore, they were just a group of normal people with guns in the eyes of the other escapees. This way, they would not attract any special attention from the corporations when they reached the next stronghold together. This was also the reason why Ren Xiaosu would rather use a gun instead of depending on his powers last night. After all, most of the organizations were not really friendly towards supernatural beings nowadays.
Then the faint rumbling of vehicles came from ahead of them. Ren Xiaosu looked up at the sound and was surprised to see a convoy of vehicles approaching them. On the sides of the vehicles, the logo of the Li Consortium’s white spider could be seen.
In reality, it wasn’t exactly a white spider. It was just a logo in the shape of a nanomachine that resembled a spider drawn with well-defined edges.
Ren Xiaosu frowned. The last thing he wanted to see now was the Li Consortium’s people.
Hundreds of military transport trucks slowly came to a stop in front of the escapees, and all of their tires were fitted with snow chains.
A dozen or so combat platoons jumped out of the vehicles and slowly approached the group. The escapees were crying and shouting for help like their saviors had arrived. It was as though they had finally met their family members again.
The officer commanding the platoons asked coldly, “Where have you all come from?”
With tears streaming down his face, an escapee said, “Sir, we’re residents of Stronghold 109. We escaped from there.”
Another escapee said in elation, “Didn’t I say? The rescue troops would definitely find us. The Li Consortium hasn’t forgotten about us. Sir, do you have any food? We’re on the verge of starving to death.”
But the officer sneered, “I’m not here to save you all. We’ve been ordered to come to Stronghold 109 to annihilate the invaders. We were instructed to send everyone back to town at Stronghold 108. We aren’t responsible for providing any meals to you.”
The escapees were taken aback. “Aren’t you going to give us any aid?”
The officer looked at the escapees and told the adjutant next to him, “Do a headcount of the escapees.”
These armed troops of the consortium quickly did a headcount of everyone. But during the process, their guns remained pointed at the escapees to prevent them from rioting.
When the escapees who had been thinking of protesting against being treated like this saw the guns, they suddenly became as obedient as quails and did not dare say anything more.
When everyone saw the army arriving, they were overjoyed, like they had been reunited with their family members. But now they realized these people did not even care about them!
Someone finally could not hold back anymore. A young man walked to the front of the crowd and said, “My brother-in-law is a supervisor at Stronghold 108’s Public Order Division. Kind sirs, please take me back with you. My brother-in-law will definitely reward all of you handsomely.”
The officer said with a smile, “All civilians are strictly forbidden to pass through the strongholds now. Even if you all came back with us, you wouldn’t be allowed to enter the stronghold. So it’s better not to speak all those empty words. I hope you can recognize the situation you’re in. You’re all refugees from now on and no longer residents of a stronghold. Moreover, claiming that a lowly supervisor at the Public Order Division could reward those of us from the Li Consortium’s army, isn’t that too much of a brag?”
When Ren Xiaosu heard this, he realized the Li Consortium had probably decided to implement stricter controls on people passing through the stronghold after the lesson at Stronghold 109. This was to prevent any further dangerous elements from getting into their strongholds.
However, this was exactly what Ren Xiaosu wanted as he did not intend to enter a stronghold that was controlled by the Li Consortium. Who knew what kind of dangerous plans Li Shentan was up to?
From the conversation, Ren Xiaosu could tell that soldiers who were under the direct jurisdiction of the Li Consortium had never thought much of the stronghold’s management. This alone was enough to show just how important the army was to the entire consortium.
A man wondered, “Then what should we do when we go back? Are we only allowed to become refugees in town? We really are the stronghold’s residents!”
The officer smiled. “You don’t have to worry about having nowhere to go. Our Li Consortium has already started a new round of conscription. All of those who are of suitable age will be required to join the military. Who knows, some of you might end up working under me in the future. As for the women, they’ll be sent to the factories to make military uniforms for the new recruits. Since it’s wartime, there’s no need for me to explain anything to you people.”
Ren Xiaosu frowned. The Li Consortium was actually planning to draft soldiers? Surely he wasn’t fucking going to get conscripted, right?! After the stronghold had been destroyed, the Li Consortium had lost an entire stronghold of combat troops. In order to face an increasingly dangerous world, it would only be natural for them to recruit more soldiers.
Moreover, several organizations were responsible for the destruction of Stronghold 109. If the Li Consortium wanted to seek revenge, they had to first expand their military strength.
However, Ren Xiaosu could never have expected that he would really get conscripted!
“Bro, what should we do?” Yan Liuyuan muttered.
At this moment, the officer said to the adjutant, “Call the private troops and tell them we’ve located the escapees. Get them over here to escort the escapees back, and make sure to watch over them carefully.”
After a while, another dozen-odd military transport trucks arrived from behind them. Ren Xiaosu said, “There’s nothing we can do now. Let’s follow them to the town at Stronghold 108 first. We’ll try to find a way to leave when there’s a chance.”
At this moment, it was definitely not practical for them to force an escape from here. If Ren Xiaosu was by himself, he could just leave as he wished. But if he were to go, what would become of Yan Liuyuan and the others?
The men and women boarded separate vehicles with the private army soldiers pointing their automatic rifles at them and keeping a close watch. It was as though they were afraid they would try to escape.
Before they went their separate ways, Ren Xiaosu looked at Jiang Wu and said, “It’s your turn now to protect Xiaoyu while I protect the male students on my side. I’ll leave the rest to y’all to watch out for your own safety.”
Jiang Wu looked at him and said in a serious tone, “I will. You be careful as well.”
After that conversation, Ren Xiaosu, Yan Liuyuan, Chen Wudi, and all the men boarded one of the trucks, while Xiaoyu, Jiang Wu, and the women boarded another.