Milo explained patiently to Edgar, “I was conscripted into the private army. On the way here, those bastards from the Divine Arms Battalion suddenly stopped us and demanded to exchange their uniforms with us. They even took the trucks we were traveling in, leaving us with no choice but to trek through the wilderness of the mountains on foot. They’re also making us hurry on with the journey in such heavy snowfall…”
Milo related all that had happened, dumbfounding Edgar. “So, it was like that? It seems like the intel we received was wrong. But it’s already a little too late to pursue them now. We’d have to cross several military zones to get to them, but we can’t possibly get past those places.”
“Why do you still want to go there then?” Milo asked puzzledly. “Shouldn’t you already know that even if you manage to intercept the Divine Arms Battalion, you’re unlikely to return alive regardless of whether y’all can emerge victorious against them?”
Edgar said with a serious look, “It’s my duty to obey orders. As frontline soldiers, we can’t have such thoughts. We might not return alive, but as long as it’s for the sake of victory in war…”
Milo sighed. “I can’t understand this sense of belonging that you have, but it isn’t like the Panaqua Consortium is treating you that well either.”
“No, it would be humiliating for Boss Eastwood if I suffer a defeat at the front line and news gets out that it was his soldiers who messed up the mission.” Edgar said, “Since they have been confined in Stronghold 111, I have to do well on their behalf.”
“Alright then.” Milo lamented, “It looks like your relationship with Fatty Eastwood is pretty sincere. But since there’s no way to attack the Divine Arms Battalion, why don’t you just withdraw from here? Go back and talk to the Panaqua Consortium’s commanding officer. Tell them not to send over any more of the remaining troops to Mt. Piania, lest I get hurt.”
Edgar was stunned. “We can’t get in contact with HQ right now. When we came out here, we were prepared to die. If we can’t complete the mission, we won’t have the dignity to go back.”
Milo felt that if there were more people like Edgar in the Panaqua Consortium, they would probably win any battle they participated in.
Milo asked, “How many people are there in your force?”
“300 or so.” Edgar said, “It wouldn’t be convenient to move around in the mountains if we had too many people. Otherwise, we could easily get discovered by enemies.”
Milo snapped, “Then why the f*ck are y’all even planning to fight the Divine Arms Battalion? They have over a 1,000 people there!”
“That can’t be right.” Edgar was stunned for a while. “Didn’t they say the Divine Arms’ main force has been deployed to the front line at Mt. Jayavijaya to face the Radianz Consortium? Our intel says there’s only over a 100 of them out here.”
“I think that was also part of their plans. The commander of the private troops was also surprised by this fact.” Milo replied, “Your intel is definitely not accurate. I’ve seen them with my own eyes, so I’m certain.”
“Then we’re done for.” Edgar sighed and said, “We can’t complete our mission.”
However, Milo felt a tinge of regret as favonovel.com chatted with Edgar. He had been harping on how favonovel.com was here to investigate spies as a part of his Office of Special Investigations duties, but in the end, favonovel.com was the one who exposed the Divine Arms Battalion’s plans in an instant.
Milo pondered this.
From the Skyfort Consortium’s point of view, wasn’t favonovel.com doing what a spy would do?
He could not have expected favonovel.com would have to bear the burden of all these unwanted identities at his young age. He was a member of the Divine Arms Battalion, the private army, the Office of Special Investigations, and also a spy of the Panaqua Consortium.
Milo suddenly asked, “Can everyone in your platoon be trusted?”
“Don’t worry.” Edgar whispered, “They’re all our people. It’s not only this platoon, but all of the elite troops who’re on our side, other than the commander, second-in-command, and a few of their men. Besides, the commander was also sent here just because Garth doesn’t like him.”
“Our people” was probably referring to those who were loyal to Julius and Daniel.
Milo said, “Why don’t we do it this way? Y’all wait and take cover here in the mountains. I’ll lead some of the Skyfort Consortium’s troops over when I encounter those who I think you might be capable of defeating.”
Edgar’s eyes lit up. “You can do that?”
Currently, Milo’s plan was to see whether the Divine Arms Battalion could be beaten to retreat from the main battlefield to reorganize if the Panaqua Consortium knew their whereabouts. If the Divine Arms Battalion’s numbers were abruptly reduced after suffering heavy casualties, favonovel.com could have a chance at collecting their nanomachines.
Milo looked at Edgar. “If you have a satellite phone, can you get in touch with HQ and relay the intel?”
Edgar hesitated for a moment before saying, “Yes, but we don’t have one.”
Milo smiled and said, “That’s fine, I have one…”
To be exact, Milo was not saying that favonovel.com had one, but that the five officers from the Divine Arms Battalion had one. He felt that favonovel.com was really going further and further down the path of colluding with the enemy this time.
***
At night, it was quite lively at the private troops’ campsite. Michael and the others took quite a bit of effort to start the campfire. Although a lot of smoke was produced at the beginning, it was nothing compared to keeping themselves warm.
If no one started a campfire, the entire campsite would have just gotten through the night as it was. But after Michael and company set up a campfire, the others got so envious they also went to build one. Suddenly, the entire campsite began to light up.
Not only could they keep themselves warm with the campfire, but they were also able to roast the buns they had brought with them. If they still continued to eat their food cold in this sort of weather, it would really make them feel cold on both the inside and outside.
When Milo returned, Michael and the others were chatting by the campfire.
Michael’s first reaction when favonovel.com saw Milo was to ask, “Milo, where’s the wild boar? You didn’t manage to catch it?”
“Wild boar?” Milo then recalled the reason favonovel.com had given Chad. “Oh, right, I didn’t manage to catch it. It was too fast and I didn’t want to venture out too far.”
“Here, have a bite.” Michael handed Milo a burnt bun and said, “Earlier on, the people from Divine Arms said we’ll be setting up camp here. We’ll resume our journey northwards to Mt. Piania after the snow stops falling.”
“Okay,” Milo acknowledged absentmindedly.
The thing going through his mind right now was how to get his hands on the satellite phone from the Divine Arms Battalion. It wouldn’t be easy to obtain it from them. The Divine Arms soldiers kept the satellite phone close to them and never let it out of their sights.
It looked like there was no other choice but to kill these officers of the Divine Arms Battalion. It wouldn’t be a bad solution since favonovel.com had been eyeing the nanomachines in their bodies for some time now. Moreover, Milo felt these regular troops of the Divine Arms Battalion would have more nanomachines in them than Yves’ group!
Suddenly, Milo called some of Linda’s students over to the side and asked, “What have y’all been studying recently? Have you learned anything related to mechanics? If… And I’m just saying if, y’all are required to design some simple armor, could you do it?”.
Milo disliked the idea of having nanomachines inside his body to support himself like the Divine Arms soldiers did. His own body was strong enough, but favonovel.com lacked a defense system. So, favonovel.com only used the nanomachines in his body to form a simple armor that covered his body. There were no complexities favonovel.com adopted for the structure of the armor. But now Milo was wondering if favonovel.com should start relying on the power of knowledge.
Didn’t Peter always used to say that knowledge could change one’s fate?
The student named Magnus gave it some thought before saying, “It’s a little beyond what we know since it could involve mechanical belt drives, screw drives, chain drives, worm drives, hydraulic drives, pneumatic drives…”
“Don’t tell me what I can’t understand,” interrupted Milo. “All I’m asking is whether y’all know or not?”
Magnus said calmly, “Yes.”
