Chapter 1248, Faith

The earth of the Northwest was as if a god had been applying a few random strokes of earthy yellow oil paint.

The sticky pigment solidified on the earth, forming a block of earthy yellow mountains and hills and gullies.

The 6th Field Division’s long convoy traveled through it, looking like a group of ants on their way to carry food, one after another, stretching for a long distance.

Just as they were about to cross the Xiushui Ridge, however, thousands of enemy troops suddenly surrounded them from the wilderness.

The enemies were advancing on foot, but their speed was far beyond normal, and everyone’s face was lit up with silver vein lines.

When Ren Xiaosu led Qing Zhen and the others to retreat, Luo Lan was keenly aware that the number of nanowarriors was missing a thousand.

And this missing thousand, along with Wang’s special forces had infiltrated the area long ago.

Wang Yun and P5092 had chosen the battlefield based on the best place to fight, and since it was the best, it was only natural for the AI to calculate that they would choose this place.

The AI had been planning for too long, so much so that it had not only retained Qing’s nano warrior establishment, but had also converted all of Wang’s special forces into nano warriors as well.

And it also deployed all the 40-caliber howitzers in Wang’s army to these special forces.

This troop composed entirely of nano warriors possessed strong mobility and strong frontal combat capabilities.

One by one, the nano warriors clad in yellow camouflage cloaks quickly encircled towards the caravan’s path, there was no communication between them, and they were always silent.

At this moment, all the satellites overhead in this mountainous region were gradually moving away.

Logically, when the satellites’ interaction signals weakened, Zero’s control over them would also weaken.

But in fact, this unit still had a clear goal and did not lose control because the satellites were moving away.

P5092 had a guess about this.

His guess was that when the signal weakened, the unit became an isolated formation, with the nanobots controlling their nerve centers and subconsciously ingrained with Zero’s stated plans.

In a way, it was as if they were hypnotized, without Zero’s direct manipulation, but still with a certain obsession in their hearts.

This obsession drove them to accomplish their goal.

Then when the satellite returned to the overhead, the execution data of these people would be re-uploaded, returning to the control of the AI.

Of course, this was all just P5092’s speculation, and there was one thing that Qing Zhen was actually right about, the AI’s methods nowadays were probably already difficult for them to guess.

After approaching the convoy, this elite nano troop did not choose to clash head on, but instead simply and decisively used a suspended howitzer to directly bombard the convoy of hundreds of trucks.

Howitzers weren’t as accurate as bullets, as they didn’t have the powerful spinning force that bullets created as they passed through the rifling.

Therefore, general troops tried to avoid using howitzers at the extreme range of 400 meters.

But this elite unit was different, they could accurately hit a moving vehicle even at a distance of 380 meters.

Everything about the trajectory, it was as if it was calculated, so precise that it was frightening.

These nearly 1,500 nano warriors roamed the wilderness, dividing their labor like a robot, and in just 2 short minutes, they destroyed over half of the 6th Field Division’s vehicles.

One by one, the vehicles were turned into fireballs, and the mountain range seemed to have turned into a Shura battlefield all of a sudden, with the sound of bombardment and explosions.

The mountain road was narrow, allowing just one truck to pass through.

The position of these nano warriors was also very delicate, they were scattered in the front and back of the mountain road, destroying the head and tail of the convoy respectively, at this time the vehicles caught in the middle couldn’t move at all, they could only stop and take a beating.

Moreover, the mountain road is in a low concave terrain, both sides of the hilly ridges on the nano warriors can at will condescend to fire suppression.

However, just at this moment, the nano troops seem to find something wrong, that a car is actually only the driver, the car bucket is empty.

The nano troops immediately wanted to retreat with the help of the terrain, but when they turned around, they realized that behind them was the Sixth Field Division that had surrounded them at an unknown time!

At this moment, the 6th Field Division was divided into four combat sequences, one led by knights to break through, and one led by 22 T5 fighters to break through, and they were like two sharp knives, stabbing straight at the nano troops.

The physical qualities of the nano warriors were powerful, but they were only at the T3 level even in their five-minute nanobot heyday.

And the last thing the Sixth Field Division lacked was powerful individuals.

The soldiers of the original Fire Seed Unit were similarly a war machine that had been trained for years.

In just ten minutes, these two sharp knives tore apart the formation of the nano troops, forcing the nano warriors to only fight in small groups, and the entire war quickly entered a lopsided situation.

The other two, one led by Ji Ziang, Wang Yun, and Zhang Xiaoman surrounded the flanks, and the last one arched over the P5092 for overall command.

Only Ji Zi’ang was seen lifting up waves of earth to cover the advance of the troops, this kind of mobile defense bunker in guerrilla warfare was almost like an opening.

In previous wars, the infantry has always used tanks as mobile fortifications, and in modern warfare, the infantry combat system revolves around armored vehicles and tanks.

Now, this mountainous terrain could not allow anyone to drive armored units in, so this means of advancing defensive bunkers by Ji Zi’an became a nightmare for the enemy.

This was the desperate situation that P5092 had prepared for this nano force, and he wasn’t going to let any of the nano fighters out of here.

With such an elite force of AI in the Northwest’s rear, in case they suicidally destroyed the Northwest’s life supply line, it would be a very serious matter, and there was no way that P5092 would let them pose a threat to the Northwest.

P5092 was pretty sure that there was already a unit in the rear that had taken advantage of their efforts to organize a retreat to infiltrate the rear.

It was this same infiltrating force that was the first target of this guerrilla war.

In fact even Ren Xiaosu’s alertness when he received Qing Zhen was due to his reminder, how could P5092 himself be so careless as to allow others to ambush him.

Those vehicles, were nothing more than bait.

However, the cost of using bait this time was a bit huge, P5092 had made a lot of preparations, but the AI’s micromanagement ability was just too precise, and those nanowarriors equipped with grenade launchers easily and remotely destroyed most of the vehicles.

P5092 realized that fighting with this kind of force required …… no, it was necessary to abandon his past war experience.

Because this time, the enemy was stronger than anything he had ever encountered before.

At this time, XunYiYu always stood by P5092’s side, reporting the movements of all the nano warriors to P5092.

It had to be said that the role of the humanoid self-propelled radar, Xun Yu, was a bit greater than expected.

The Sixth Field Division had relied on him to find this nano force and lure the other side into battle at the most suitable geographical location so that they could be annihilated in one fell swoop.

The nano troop was without its eyes in the sky, but the 6th Field Division acted as if it had been forewarned, I’m afraid Zero didn’t even think that it would be forced to fight a battle with asymmetrical information, and the weaker party was actually it.

In a little over an hour, the 6th Field Division won this small-scale war at the cost of minimal casualties.

Zhang Xiaoman and the others said joyfully, “Artificial Intelligence is nothing more than that, nothing to be afraid of!”

Only at this time, Zhang Xiaoman suddenly realized that P5092 was still frowning.

He asked curiously, “I said, didn’t we just win a battle, why are you frowning as if everyone owes you money?”

P5092 shook his head, “Although we won, this AI might not have lost either.”

“If one side wins, one side loses,” Zhang Xiaoman said, “Why is it godly in your mouth.”

P5092 explained, “When you play chess, you have to change pieces, winning or losing is a very long-term thing, and it’s not possible to only plan for the moment. Wang Yun, if it’s you, can you tell from a distance if there are any traces of people on the truck.”

Wang Yun nodded and said, “If you pay attention, you should be able to, when the car is full of soldiers, the car suspension and chassis height are very different, I remember what it is like to have an empty car and what it is like to have a full load, so naturally you can separate them……. Are you saying that the AI actually knows that there is no one on the car? ”

“Well,” P5092 nodded.

“What if it didn’t notice?” Wang Yun asked.

“Don’t get lucky,” P5092 shook his head, “The AI wouldn’t make such a low-level mistake, so it knew there was no one in the car from the start.”

“Then why did it still fall into this trap?” Wang Yun asked.

“It was designed to destroy our vehicle from the start,” P5092 sighed.

In guerrilla warfare, mobility was everything.

If you wanted to fight a guerrilla war and had just fired a shot, only to have the enemy catch up with you, then it wasn’t called guerrilla warfare, it was called sending people to their deaths.

So, P5092 didn’t allow an elite unit to interfere behind the Northwest, and the AI likewise didn’t allow the 6th Field Division to roam behind it.

Thus, it directly destroyed most of the 6th Field Division’s vehicles at the cost of the nanoforce.

At first, P5092 did not expect this either, when Zhang Xiaoman reported that the enemy was so stupid to blow up our empty vehicles when they were all dead.

It was only at this moment that P5092 realized that this war was actually just an exchange of chips between the two sides, and there was no such thing as a great victory.

P5092 said, “The fact that the other side is so intent on destroying the vehicles shows that as long as we don’t have the vehicles, continuing to fight guerrilla is not too different from sending us to our deaths, the other side must have a backhand waiting for us.”

“Then retreat to the rear,” Zhang Xiaoman said, “This is already considered an initial victory anyway.”

“No way,” said P5092 with certainty, “We are pursuing the ultimate victory, how can we be complacent because of a momentary victory, the guerrilla war must continue to be fought for two days, even if the Sixth Field Division is completely wiped out, we must give the rear a drag!”

Zhang Xiaoman, Wang Yun and the others froze, could it be that P5092 was taking everyone to their deaths?

However, right at this moment, P5092 suddenly said, “Black Fox step forward!”

Black Fox took a step forward and stood at attention, “Present.”

P5092 gave the order, “I order you to complete the integration of the original fire unit combat sequence within half an hour, and for the rest of the guerrilla warfare, you will be the supreme commander to conduct enemy flank harassment. Remember, you have to buy two days for the rear!”

Black Fox shouted, “Yes, I promise to complete the mission and will definitely buy two days for the rear!”

There were no more vehicles, but the 6th Field Division still had people, and powerful individuals.

The genetic warriors of the original Fire Seed Combat Sequence, each and every one of them possessed more than twice the physique of a normal person, and that was still the worst soldiers.

So, even with no vehicles, the warriors of the Fire Seed Combat Sequence could still fight guerrilla warfare.

Only, the other ordinary soldiers of the 6th Field Division could not, bringing them to fight guerrilla warfare was instead a drag, everyone’s physical fitness could not withstand the long distance running and evacuation.

“Wait,” Zhang Xiaoman said in shock, “Aren’t you sending them to their deaths, why don’t you go yourself and favor them?”

P5092 glanced at Zhang Xiaoman, “I am the supreme commander of the Sixth Field Division, every word I say, all of you just need to obey without questioning.”

Zhang Xiaoman shut up and did not speak, he knew that he had to give the other party the highest respect in the military.

P5092 explained, “Soldiers of the original Fire Seed combat sequence don’t have much of a family anymore, so even if they die, there won’t be too many families suffering. And the most crucial issue is that after the Fire Seed soldiers received genetic modification, their life expectancy was more or less affected, you guys have heard of it, the longest life expectancy of a T5 is 40 years old. So compared to the quality of life, it’s more in line with the value for them to go as well.”

Everyone was silent, they didn’t expect P5092 to measure value from the length of life.

However, it seemed that he didn’t notice the difference in everyone’s mood, P5092 continued, “Moreover, the fertility of warriors who have undergone genetic modification has also been affected. After this catastrophe mankind needs time to live and recuperate, if too many people die and the ones who end up surviving are on the side of the genetic warriors, then mankind isn’t much different from extinction, so the sacrifice should have been made by them, all their lives, they have only fought for the survival of the human flame.”

Zhang Xiaoman was dumbfounded, he faced P5092’s absolute rationality and calmness at this moment, he actually did not know how to refute, he only felt that his heart was blocked.

Could it be that P5092 wouldn’t be heartbroken when he made this kind of decision, could it be that he wouldn’t feel guilty in his heart when he let his subordinates make sacrifices in such a dry manner? We are all brothers, obviously we should die together and live together.

Not only Zhang Xiaoman thinks like this, almost everyone is like this, except Black Fox.

Black Fox was wearing a black Northwest Army uniform, he frankly smiled and said: ”There is no problem with what Officer P5 said, this is what we believe in our lives, and we will not feel sorry for sacrificing for this. We are soldiers, and soldiers should aim to win the war, not act out of spite.”

Zhang Xiaoman looked at Black Fox dumbfounded, that was death.

It was important to realize that this time, there was no Wang Yun, no Xun Yanyu, and no Ji Zi’ang by Black Fox’s side.

Even if the physical qualities of the Fire Seed Combat Sequence were strong, they would still have to face the terrifying AI, those millions of enemy troops, it wasn’t something you could definitely run away from just because you were physically strong.

In fact, everyone knew that going to the flanks at this time to harass the tide of people under zero control was a certain end of death.

I’m afraid that the chances of survival were even smaller than the probability of winning a lottery ticket.

At this time, P5092 looked at Black Fox and asked seriously, “Do you remember the question I asked you when I interviewed you?”

Black Fox froze for a moment, then smiled brightly, “Remember.”

That afternoon, P5092 sat in the dark 155 office, where the sunlight could only shed a faint glow from the very small gaps in the heavy curtains.

P5092 asked: if you were to go back to that maneuver to face the 881st position, would you still rush up and die?

Black Fox’s answer was: yes.

P5092 said: Remember your choice today.

So from that day on Black Fox made all the preparations, he went to the military academy’s playground and cafeteria after he came out of the 155th office, and went back to the ledge to memorize everything he had ever lived for, and then waited.

P5092 said that this was the destiny of the Firestarter, even if there had been disagreements within the Firestarter, but destiny was destiny.

Black Fox left after organizing the Firestarter combat sequence, while P5092 led the remaining soldiers of the 6th Field Division to move to the rear on foot.

P5092 always walked at the front of the group, not saying a word.

Zhang Xiaoman finally couldn’t help himself as he watched P5092’s back from behind, he rushed forward and questioned in a low voice, “Is it possible that what Fire Seed taught you is to treat your soldiers in such a cold-blooded manner?”

However the next second Zhang Xiaoman froze.

When P5092 looked back at him, Zhang Xiaoman could only see the other party’s face full of tears.

P5092 asked, “What else do you think war is?”

This was the second time P5092 asked Zhang Xiaoman this question, as if he was asking himself.