Chapter 1064, Shepherding Sheep

“You’re clearly seeing that I’m too easy to be unbalanced in your heart,” Ren Xiaosu said with a dark face, “You’re a Northwest Army Commander, how can you be so careful?”

Zhang Jinglin said rightfully, “This is not being careful, since this is a hiking trip to hone the next commander, it is only natural to let you feel how grueling it is here. Think about it, the sentries here are not transcendents, how hard is it for them every day, can you feel it deeply if you don’t add more weight to yourself?”

Zhang Jinglin continued, “If you don’t feel it deeply, how will you know in the future how hard it is for the sentries here? I’m not asking you to overload yourself either, I’m just letting you experience the life of an ordinary person again.”

“A commander is a commander, talking sense is practically a set of words,” Ren Xiaosu bristled, “Which rock did you say to carry?”

“How much weight can you carry right now?” Zhang Jinglin asked.

“A hundred pounds?” Ren Xiaosu asked tentatively.

“Tell me the truth!” Zhang Jinglin didn’t have the good sense to say.

“I haven’t specifically tested this,” Ren Xiaosu said and went to the roadside to find a stone the size of a winter melon and slung it over his shoulder, “Is this alright?”

“No, I don’t think you’re struggling at all!” Zhang Jinglin searched around for half a day and ended up finding a stone half a man high: “It’s it.”

Ren Xiaosu walked next to the stone until Zhang Jinglin saw that he could only carry the stone up with great effort, then he was satisfied, “Alright, keep moving!”

Only, after walking for another two hours, Zhang Jinglin felt like his knees could barely stand it, only to turn his head to look at Ren Xiaosu, and there wasn’t even a single drop of sweat on his head.

Now is already the early summer season, the northwest daytime heat, night cold, Ren Xiaosu this afternoon when the sun is in the sky when carrying such a large stone, if really tired how can even sweat are not flow?

Zhang Jinglin said suspiciously, “Aren’t you tired?”

Ren Xiaosu said with a face full of pain, “Tired, exhausted!”

“Really?” Zhang Jinglin asked.

“Of course it’s true,” Ren Xiaosu roared, “Try carrying such a big rock on your back, you’re tired even if you carry it!”

Zhang Jinglin lamented, “Other than that, the acting is really good ……”

“Where did I reveal myself?” Ren Xiaosu said doubtfully.

As soon as the words fell, he saw Zhang Jinglin directly pressing Ren Xiaosu’s shoulder and leaping onto Ren Xiaosu’s back.

The scene then became, Ren Xiaosu was carrying a rock on her back, while Zhang Jinglin leisurely sat on the rock, Ren Xiaosu was not happy, “You’re a Northwest Army Commander, why do you still like to be so lazy?”

“This is a journey to train you, not me,” Zhang Jinglin said unconcernedly, “I’m not so bad, my last commander said that his old commander drove a car when he took him to walk the post.”

Ren Xiaosu spat, “How are you better than him? I’m thinking you might as well just drive!”

Zhang Jinglin glanced at his watch, “Alright, there’s just over an hour left until the estimated arrival time, let’s hurry!”

The two of them just got back on the road, Zhang Jinglin sat on a rock and admired the scenery, in the distance the hillsides were rolling, sheep were grazing with their heads down, and occasionally yaks could be seen passing by not far away.

Zhang Jinglin suddenly said, ”I’ve never been this relaxed before when I came outside the fortress, and I haven’t had the time to enjoy the scenery here. It’s just that, when I think that one day if the war starts again, this place will be littered with ambrosia again, I feel that I’ve spoiled the scenery here.”

“Haven’t you thought about counterattacking those witches,” Ren Xiaosu curiously said, “Wouldn’t that be a once and for all solution?”

“I’ve thought about it,” Zhang Jinglin said, “but the other party’s power is too mysterious, making us fearful, and we can’t gamble with the lives of the people behind us before we know exactly how strong the enemy is.”

Ren Xiaosu nodded, just like the war between the Fire Seed and the Expeditionary Corps back then, before thoroughly understanding exactly how much strength the barbarians had, rashly pursuing a counterattack would only lead to failure.

“I heard from Big Snooze that they sent someone to infiltrate, did it not go well?” Ren Xiaosu asked.

“It didn’t go well,” Zhang Jinglin said with a shake of his head.

“Was it because of the language barrier? Different skin color?” Ren Xiaosu was curious.

“No,” Zhang Jinglin said, “Because they have plundered a large number of our compatriots in the last two hundred years, in fact, eighty percent of the human race there is not much different from us, and the language is all the same now. I guess when the earliest batch of sorcerers plundered the population to develop themselves, they didn’t expect this result. Of course, we also need to be wary of the fact that this situation not only facilitates the mixing of our people into their society, it also means that they can mix with us as well.”

“Then why can’t we infiltrate?” Ren Xiaosu asked.

“Because we can’t create sorcerers,” Zhang Jinglin explained, “The sorcerer organization is the power structure that overrides everything in that kingdom, moreover, it’s extremely tightly structured, so as long as you’re not a sorcerer, there’s no way to truly understand what exactly they have up their sleeve. ”

“We have no way of knowing the exact number of these sorcerers, their hierarchies, or where their power comes from, and how to check and balance it,” Zhang Jinglin continued, “Perhaps this situation can only change when a sorcerer actually appears amongst our people, but, again, we don’t know how to become a a sorcerer.”

“Did you not find any clues to the source of their power, were they awakened like us?” Ren Xiaosu asked.

“No,” Zhang Jinglin said with certainty, “Their power has a whole system and inheritance, not quite the same as being awakened by luck, and these sorcerers appeared before the Calamity. In fact, they don’t have any hatred towards us, it’s just that when a civilization rises to power, it’s bound to carry a certain degree of exclusivity towards other civilizations, and an ever-advancing society is bound to have a great demand for resources. We believe that sooner or later, 178 Fortress and the other side will have a battle, as the land they are located in is not exactly rich.”

However, right at this moment, Ren Xiaosu suddenly turned her head to look at the distant hillside, and Zhang Jinglin asked, “What’s wrong?”

Ren Xiaosu looked at the two sheep on the hillside and said, “I always feel that those two sheep are looking at us.”

Zhang Jinglin smiled and pinched his shoulder, “It’s just two sheep, keep moving, the soldiers at the post are still waiting for us.”

“Well, maybe I’m overthinking it,” Ren Xiaosu nodded, “I always feel that the enemy might be nearby after leaving the northwest, so my nerves are a bit tense.”

When the figures of the two gradually disappeared into the horizon, the two sheep on the hillside that were originally grazing with their heads down actually turned around and ran, not knowing where they were going to run to.

A sheepdog saw them break away from the group and wanted to stop them, but this sheepdog had only just gotten close, but as if it had seen something very scary, it retreated backwards.