Ren Xiaosu felt that he could not be faulted for thinking that Stronghold 178 was very poor. After all, it was not like a place that was located in such a harsh environment should have much wealth to begin with. But Yang Xiaojin’s explanation made him understand why so many people were eyeing Stronghold 178 even though it was situated at the border.
It was no wonder that Stronghold 178 wanted to exterminate the bandits and reopen the trade routes. Those minerals needed to be transported to the Central Plains!
More importantly, Zhang Jinglin had once refused to be the commander of Stronghold 178 even though they were so rich? Was he being melodramatic or what! Ren Xiaosu started judging Zhang Jinglin.
When they arrived at the second stronghold to do repairs and maintenance, Yang Xiaojin disappeared off to somewhere again. Meanwhile, Ren Xiaosu traded some more gold for money before returning to the assembly place in advance. When he got back, Yang Xiaojin hadn’t returned yet. Zong Cheng was laughing and chatting with the Yang Consortium’s nanosoldiers.
His own soldiers had brought over some folding chairs for the nanosoldiers and even provided them with some specialties from the North as snacks.
It seemed that Zong Cheng was highly interested in these nanosoldiers and was willing to interact with them. No matter how arrogant the nanosoldiers might be, they would still not put on any airs in front of an important figure from the Zong Consortium and conversed quite happily with him.
When Ren Xiaosu returned, he did not approach them immediately. Instead, he observed them from afar. It looked like Zong Cheng was performing some magic tricks for them. Zong Cheng asked one of the nanosoldiers while holding a water bottle in his hand, “What do you usually like to drink?”
The nanosoldier smiled and said, “You’re too polite. I’ll just have some water.”
“OK,” Zong Cheng said as he tilted the bottle slightly and poured some clear liquid out of it.
Zong Cheng turned to look at another soldier. “What do you like to drink? Say something different this time.”
“I like grape juice,” the nanosoldier said.
“Alright.” Zong Cheng was still holding the same bottle in his hand but the previously clear liquid was no longer there. This time, he poured some purple grape juice out.
The nanosoldiers exclaimed, “There must be a mechanism in the bottle, right?”
“Come here, you can inspect it for yourself.” Zong Cheng handed the bottle to one of the nanosoldiers. The nanosoldier looked into the bottle and found no mechanisms inside.
Then Zong Cheng turned around and saw Ren Xiaosu. “Brother Xiaosu! Why are you watching from there? Come and sit with us for a while. We’ll set off when Yang Xiaojin gets back.”
Ren Xiaosu walked over and said with a smile, “Can you do card tricks?”
“That’s something every magician has to learn.” Zong Cheng took out a deck of playing cards from his breast pocket and asked, “What kinda trick would you like to see?”
Ren Xiaosu suddenly sensed that something was not right. Why would a core figure of an organization be obsessed with magic tricks? He had heard Zong Cheng was a supernatural being, so could his superpower be related to magic?
Ren Xiaosu smiled and said, “Why don’t you conjure up four ‘fours’ for me?”
“That’s simple.” Zong Cheng said confidently, “Pick out any four cards as you like.”
He fanned the cards out face down so that no one could see what the cards were.
Ren Xiaosu reached out and picked the cards. These were cards used for magic, and he happened to have similar cards.
“Wow, they really are four ‘fours,” Ren Xiaosu said in surprise as he looked at the cards in his hands. “Brother Zong Cheng is truly amazing.” Then Ren Xiaosu returned the cards to him.
Zong Cheng was stunned. He felt like something was off but could not tell what it was exactly.
“Please don’t say that. It was no big deal.” Zong Cheng smiled as he put the cards back into the box and then stuffed it into the inside pocket of his jacket.
Then Zong Cheng said with a warm smile, “By the way, Brother Xiaosu, I just heard about something. Are you very close with Xu Xianchu?”
Ren Xiaosu looked at him and said with a smile, “I guess. I was mainly trying to recommend talented people to my teacher.”
He knew what Zong Cheng was getting at, but Ren Xiaosu would also not let slip any opportunity to increase his own “amulets.”
Zong Cheng’s smile remained. “I’m also very familiar with Brother Xu. It seems like we were fated to meet. But if I could ask, your teacher is…”
“Zhang Jinglin.” Ren Xiaosu whispered, “Usually, I don’t tell a secret like that to anyone. It’s better to keep a low profile.”
Zong Cheng’s eyes twitched. ‘You’re still calling this a secret? The entire Yang Consortium already knows about it!’
Even he had already received news of it. At first, he was still a little skeptical and had to check with the other party again to confirm if it was true. As a result, that person said everyone in Stronghold 88 already knew about it, and that Ren Xiaosu’s younger brother had made the director of the Public Order Division eat humble pie.
Before setting off on the expedition, Zong Cheng had realized there was something strange about Yang Yu’an’s attitude. So this was the reason for it.
After confirming the truth, Zong Cheng’s smile for Ren Xiaosu became even more sincere. At the beginning, he would occasionally talk to Yang Xiaojin. But now it was like he did not even know Yang Xiaojin anymore, even though they were traveling together. He never said another word to her again, and the way he addressed her had changed from “Xiaojin” to “Yang Xiaojin.”
This was completely different from his original plan in which he was the leader of this attack to exterminate bandits.
It was not that he was afraid of Ren Xiaosu. Because the Yang Consortium was so bold as to detain Luo Lan despite both sides being equally powerful, it demonstrated the Yang Consortium was not necessarily afraid of the Qing Consortium. It was the same for the Zong Consortium when they faced Stronghold 178. After operating in the North for so many years, they had become a force to be reckoned with.
However, he felt that he should be more ambitious as a man rather than creating unnecessary trouble over a minor issue like romance.
The Zong Consortium had endured for so long in the impoverished Northern Wastes, yet everyone claimed they were hyenas and even refused to acknowledge them as a consortium.
Now that the South was at war, it was the best opportunity for the Zong Consortium to rise up. He could not screw this up.
Before setting off again, Ren Xiaosu sat in the passenger seat of the off-road vehicle and asked, “Can you let me drive for a while?”
Yang Xiaojin looked at him in surprise. “Why do you want to drive all of a sudden? Do you know how to drive?”
“Of course.” Ren Xiaosu said confidently, “How can a man not know how to drive?”
“Alright then.” Yang Xiaojin stopped the vehicle and changed seats with him.
Ren Xiaosu excitedly stepped on the accelerator. But after driving for ten minutes, Yang Xiaojin took out her pistol and pointed it at Ren Xiaosu. “Stop the vehicle, I’m driving.”
Ren Xiaosu reluctantly stopped the vehicle. “Let’s talk nicely. Why do you have to point a gun at me?”
Yang Xiaojin rubbed her temple and changed the topic. “After we leave the stronghold, north of that is the valley. When the time comes, I’ll shake off Zong Cheng and the nanosoldiers so that we can act on our own.”
“Eh?” Ren Xiaosu was taken aback. “Aren’t we going to exterminate the bandits? How are we going to exterminate the bandits with just the two of us?”
“You probably don’t know how serious the banditry to the north is.” Yang Xiaojin explained, “There are already hundreds of large bandit gangs living there, with the smallest groups with members numbering in the double digits. They’re all threats the Zong Consortium created over the years.”
“There’s that many of them?” Ren Xiaosu was surprised to find out there were hundreds of bands of bandits.
“So we won’t be their match if we encounter a larger gang of bandits with only the 100 of us,” Yang Xiaojin said.