Chapter 768 Stronghold 176
“Xiaosu, where do you plan to go next?” Luo Lan asked while seated next to the campfire.
After Ren Xiaosu and the others emerged from the Sacred Mountains, everyone did not go their separate ways immediately. Instead, they found a place to set up camp for the next two days.
Luo Lan, Zhou Qi, Li Shentan, Si Liren, Zhou Yingxue, and Qing Shen the clone got along quite well during this period. They caught some game in the wilderness, and the atmosphere in the campsite was jubilant and cheerful.
Everyone could tell that Ren Xiaosu was in a bad mood, so it could be said that they were accompanying him to lift his spirits.
Everyone knew Ren Xiaosu had only insisted on going into the Sacred Mountains because of the No. 001 Experimental. Ren Xiaosu was also upfront about it and claimed Yan Liuyuan might be the No. 001 Experimental, so he wanted to go there to look for him.
But now everyone else had basically been found, yet Yan Liuyuan was still nowhere to be seen. So how could Ren Xiaosu be happy?
Ren Xiaosu glanced at Luo Lan. “I have to make a trip to the Wang Consortium, and what about you? What are your plans?”. As he was saying that, the Great Hoodwinker emerged from the forest to the west. “I just got some news from the black market. Something big has happened.”
“What is it?” Ren Xiaosu asked, stunned for a moment.
“The Pyro Company and the Kong Consortium are at war. The Kong Consortium has retreated from the front line of Mt. Dabaichi. They’re pulling back their defensive line at the rear.” The Great Hoodwinker said, “The Kong Consortium’s armored vehicles on the front lines have turned into scrap metal. They have to wait for further reinforcements from the rear before they can fight back. Some people even said the Kong Consortium initially had something that gave them control over the Pyro Company’s fate, but it suddenly could not work after they got onto the battlefield, and it caught the Kong Consortium off guard. In any case, the Kong Consortium has suffered a great loss this time.”
Luo Lan chuckled, “That’s a good thing. Let’s see if they still have time to care about our Qing Consortium now. Speaking of which, the Kong Consortium is really quite stupid. The Pyro Company is so smart, so how could they possibly let others gain leverage over them? Hey, clone guy, do you know the details of what happened?”
“I do.” Qing Shen nodded. It seemed he did not mind Luo Lan calling him a clone. He just calmly explained, “This plan of the Pyro Company’s has been in the works for a long time. They used several hundred of their spies in the Kong Consortium’s territory as sacrifices so the Kong Consortium would believe they can use an audio recording to take down the entire Pyro Company. But in fact, they had already laid the trap when they were genetically modifying their DNA. Only the spies in the Kong Consortium’s territory get affected by the audio recording.”
Ren Xiaosu asked, “Like the tarantulas?”
Qing Shen said with a smile, “That’s right. It looks like you’ve seen how the Pyro Company deals with the tarantulas.”
Luo Lan said, “Since war has broken out, I can’t waste any more time here in the North. I need to have a chat with the Zhou Consortium before they get embroiled in the war and see if they can be of any help to the Qing Consortium.”
“What do you mean by being of help to the Qing Consortium?” the Great Hoodwinker asked.
“Oh, I’m talking about having the Central Plains fight among themselves,” Luo Lan replied. “Of course, there’s something more important that I need to see to, and that’s to send this clone back to the Qing Consortium so my little brother can decide his fate.”
When Luo Lan mentioned this, Qing Shen sat next to him with a smile as though it had nothing to do with him.
This was what annoyed Luo Lan the most. The clone was as smart as his younger brother, but at the same, he seemed less human than him.
Although Qing Zhen had long been labeled a cold blooded murderer, everyone in the Qing Consortium knew Qing Zhen was a very loyal person.
Meanwhile, the clone named Qing Shen did not seem to have any unnecessary emotions in him.
At least, Luo Lan did not notice any mood fluctuations from him.
“What other information did you find out?” Ren Xiaosu asked.
“Someone also verified that White Mask is your power and that you can summon it like a puppet to take on the T5 combatants head on.” The Great Hoodwinker said, “Rumor has it that someone’s gonna rank all the superhumans. I believe that you’ll be ranked very highly. However, they still don’t know your identity.”
In reality, when the Great Hoodwinker talked about this, he was pretty much understating it. However, the reaction in the black market to this information was quite huge, because this news meant yet another extremely powerful individual had appeared in the world of superhumans.
If they also knew Ren Xiaosu was the Stronghold Destroyer, this information would probably shock them even further. When the Great Hoodwinker bought this information, he even felt a little regretful. Because the simpletons at the black market had absolutely no idea how incredible his future commander was.
The Great Hoodwinker said to Ren Xiaosu, “Another piece of information I found out concerns Wang Yun. He got locked up after only being the director of the intelligence agency for one day…. Hahahahaha…” The Great Hoodwinker even started gloating at Wang Yun’s misfortune. He laughed for such a long time he couldn’t stop.
After five minutes, Ren Xiaosu looked at the Great Hoodwinker expressionlessly. “That’s enough.”
The Great Hoodwinker finally restrained himself when his face started to hurt. “Ahem, I’m sorry, I couldn’t control my emotions for a moment. I have to rush to the Kong Consortium immediately. I can’t really leave Wang Yun to die in the Kong Consortium’s secret prison. I’ll think of a way to get him out. It’d be such a tragedy if such a talented man does not get to participate in the development of the Northwest. Now that the time is ripe…”
“Mhm, go ahead then, but don’t force yourself if you can’t do it. Not just anyone can break into the Kong Consortium’s main stronghold as they like. If you really can’t figure out a way to save him, I’ll go to the Kong Consortium with you after I finish my business with the Wang Consortium.” In fact, Ren Xiaosu also felt that Wang Yun was talented. If someone like him could contribute to the development of the Northwest, it would definitely be a good thing
Although he kept saying he would only consider whether to go to the Northwest in the future, the Great Hoodwinker kept going on about the Prosperous Northwest every day and even kept calling him “Future Commander” in private until he started thinking about the Northwest unknowingly.
The Great Hoodwinker nodded and got up. He looked at everyone. “I don’t know when we’ll meet again after this farewell. The road is long and the world is vast, so let’s part ways.”
Everyone was about to go their separate ways, but this was what the world of adults was like. Everyone was just a passerby in each other’s journey in life, and no one could turn back on that long, winding path.
Although they were comrades once, they still had to get back to their own interests after the battle. Although the Qing Consortium and the Northwest had a rather close relationship, they were still not family.
When they met again in the future, no one knew whether it would be as enemies or friends.
Luo Lan nodded. “Let’s part ways. I hope the Qing Consortium and the Northwest will never have to be in conflict!”
The Great Hoodwinker said, “Oh yeah, there’s something else that I forgot about. Apparently, the nomadic tribes in the North have started heading south and will arrive at Stronghold 176 quite soon. But that’s not exactly a big problem. Stronghold 176 should be able to hold them off in the North.”
As soon as he finished speaking, the clone, Qing Shen, smiled and said, “That might not be the case.”
The Great Hoodwinker looked at Qing Shen. “What do you mean?”
“Stronghold 176 is different from your Stronghold 178. You all have abundant resources and no consortiums around to hinder you, but Stronghold 176 is different. Ten years ago, the other consortiums cut off their support to them, and it’s been quite difficult for them since then.” Qing Shen said with a smile, “We can only hope the uninvited guests from the steppe are weaker this time. Otherwise, Stronghold 176 might just end up fading into history.”