Chapter 1 St. Paul's City

St. Paul's City, Administrative Hall, War Room.

Gustav stood in front of the table, raging at several high-ranking military generals of St. Paul's City. Behind him was a huge LCD screen displaying a dynamic combat map, with flashing cursors marking the positions of both enemy and friendly forces.

"Damn it! Has the military expenditure allocated by the Ministry of Finance been embezzled?" Gustav was no longer the gentle old man he used to be. He was now in full military uniform, with a pile of medals pinned to his chest, his eyes bulging as he slammed the table and roared, "The enemy's air-dropped rocket launchers are enough to kill all the rats within ten kilometers of Patty Town a hundred times over. Why is our radar showing no reaction? And why is there no information feedback from the reconnaissance troops? Are they all asleep?"

The staff officers all lowered their heads, not daring to utter a word in the face of Gustav's fury.

Even as Gustav was losing his temper, a steady stream of intelligence reports continued to arrive. The brigade commander of the Second Infantry Brigade, who was standing nearby, looked nervous as he received the information, wiping sweat from his brow incessantly.

"Report, General!" The brigade commander squeezed his legs together and said to Gustav with a stiff upper lip, "The Second Infantry Brigade is under heavy artillery fire from the enemy! You, you know, because of the encirclement, we didn't build defensive positions. This artillery barrage has caused the Second Infantry Brigade... heavy losses! The enemy's fire is too dense. We had no choice but to order a dispersal to both sides to reduce casualties."

Gustav frowned, his chest heaving with anger. Before he could speak, another officer stood up, his voice urgent, and said, "Report, General! The enemy has blasted a hole in the southern part of the encirclement. Their position is too far back for our surface-to-air missiles to reach them."

At the same time, another officer in charge of military intelligence rushed over, snapped to attention and gave Gustav a military salute, his face covered in sweat as he reported, "Report, General! The latest news from the front lines is that the Imre's armed forces are behaving erratically. They are deliberately avoiding battle, even giving way through a gap. The Wang family's armed forces have already broken out of the encirclement through this gap."

The three pieces of information were like three sharp swords stabbing at his heart. Gustav's face turned the color of a pig's liver, his aged body trembled slightly, and he gnashed his teeth and cursed, "That son of a bitch Imre, I'll chop him into pieces with my own hands!"

As the words fell, Gustav clenched his fists tightly and quickly weighed the pros and cons in his mind. Then, speaking concisely, he said, "We were not prepared for an artillery war. Pass down my order: all units encircling the Huagong Hui (Chinese Workers' Association) armed forces are to withdraw, avoid the enemy's artillery fire, and quickly retreat to their own defense zones. Furthermore, immediately abandon the pursuit of the Huagong Hui armed forces."

Hearing this, the chief of staff standing next to him couldn't help but step forward, his face worried, and asked, "General, we promised District One that we would take out the Huagong Hui armed forces. Are we really not going to pursue them at all?"

"Smack!"

Gustav swung his arm around and slapped the chief of staff hard across the face. Pointing at the chief of staff's swollen cheek, he cursed furiously, "Do you want my soldiers to chase the Huagong Hui armed forces while taking missile fire? They only gave us 500 million in military supplies. Am I supposed to send an entire brigade to meet God for that little bit of profit?!"

When things were going smoothly, Gustav was as elegant as an English gentleman, but as soon as he encountered adversity, he immediately revealed his warlord nature, becoming irritable and capricious. But this kind of temper was befitting his status, because his family was currently firmly in control of the St. Paul's City government.

However, even though Gustav was irritable, he still remained rational.

Although the Blackwater Legion didn't have many people, they were already in position and had set up rocket launcher positions. If they were to pursue the Huagong Hui armed forces on a large scale now, they would inevitably be subjected to artillery fire.

This meant that a direct pursuit would result in heavy combat losses, and District One had only provided 500 million in military aid.

Was that price worth Gustav risking his life for?!

Clearly, it wasn't. What's more, although he thought Bo Ang was just a kid who hadn't grown up yet, the words the other party had said to him just now were very firm.

Once a large-scale fire was initiated, it meant that Panama City would also join the war.

District One wanted the armed forces of an entire city to fight for them for such a small amount of money? That was a joke.

Withdrawing to cut losses was the more cost-effective decision. Anyway, the Huagong Hui wouldn't be able to run away. They could continue to negotiate the price later at the table.

...

One hour later.

St. Paul's City, outside Patty Town, Wang Zhengjun led his main force out of the encirclement.

They could already see the Blackwater Legion's artillery positions in their sight. He immediately ordered his officers to use lights to signal their identity to the other side.

"Damn it, we finally made it out." The other side also sent a signal indicating that they could enter their defense zone.

Wang Zhengjun finally breathed a sigh of relief and wiped the sweat from his forehead. He turned around and scanned the main force behind him. Many soldiers were injured and looked terrible, groaning as they were helped by their teammates.

They had made an emergency breakout, and they didn't bring many medical supplies with them, so they had to find a place to rest as soon as possible.

"Pass down my order!" Wang Zhengjun shouted loudly, "The regiments are to inform the battalions, and the battalions are to inform the companies, to count the number of wounded and the number of dead. After compiling the information, report to me!"

"Yes!" The adjutant, his arm in a sling, immediately relayed the order.

Just then, a fully armed team walked out of the woods in front of them. The middle-aged man leading the team shouted to Wang Zhengjun from afar, "I'm here to meet you. My name is Jin Maohui, the general commander of the Dragon City Riot Suppression Group!"

...

Panama City, War Room.

Su Tianyu hung up the phone and said excitedly, "Qi Qi really made a great contribution this time. Her method allowed our Blackwater Legion to rescue the Chinese armed forces without losing a single soldier."

"Yeah, this decision was risky, but the payoff was huge. It was really awesome!"

"The An family's people are awesome too. They're really tough! I heard that less than forty people stormed Imre's place."

"..."

Everyone started praising An Qi Qi when they heard Su Tianyu complimenting his old flame. Of course, although their words were a little mushy, everyone sincerely admired An Qi Qi. After all, her on-the-spot reaction and decisiveness really reduced a lot of burden on the entire team.

Otherwise, even if the Blackwater Legion arrived, it would still take time to amass troops and then push forward together. But Imre's sudden rebellion directly saved this time and prevented the St. Paul's government army from reacting.

This was a great achievement!

"Houzi, you inform all the military hospitals in Panama City to immediately free up a large number of beds, and then have the planes in Jia City prepare to transport the Huagong Hui's armed personnel. As soon as they land in Panama City, send all the wounded to the hospitals for treatment."

"Yes!" Hou Guoyu immediately contacted the hospitals.

Su Tianyu was starting to assign tasks to the others when a burst of hurried footsteps suddenly came from outside.

Soon, Lao Hei pushed open the door and said to Su Tianyu, "Sixth Master, Young Master Jiang and Young Master Wu are here together!"

Su Tianyu nodded and quickly said, "Quick, invite them in!"

Lao Hei immediately went out to invite them in. The door was pushed open again, and Jiang Zhou strode into the command room, while Wu Han followed behind him, secretly giving Su Tianyu a look.

"Damn it." Jiang Zhou looked at Su Tianyu and said, cursing, "Since you had to make it like this, then I don't care what method you use, you have to completely kill Huo Dongsheng and his group of rebels for me!"