Atlas of Heaven and Man.

Chapter 432 Guard
After more than ten hours' journey, Chen Chuan and his party got off the train and rested for half an hour in a fortress station along the road. Then they drove out of the station in seven armed off-road vehicles and continued to their destination.

Advisor Rao saw that the sky outside was gradually getting darker and said, "We need to try to get to the next station before dark!"

Not all military bases are located along the railways. Some are located along rivers in confluent areas, and some are located in dangerous terrain.

The place they were going to on this trip was the latter.

Before the night fell, Chen Chuan and his party entered the local garrison at about six o'clock. As they entered the fortress, night seemed to fall in an instant. When they looked back, it was already pitch black outside.

Consultant Rao was very nervous all the way and kept looking at his watch, but now he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Unlike him who was frightened all the way, Chen Chuan and the other two were fighters and had the confidence to fight against external threats, so they were in good physical and mental condition.

This station was just a small fortress with more than fifty people stationed here. With the sudden influx of such a large team, it seemed a little crowded.

However, they were only going to stay here for one night and would have to move on the next day. Knowing that they were here to carry out an emergency mission, the garrison officers made room for them as much as possible and provided them with water and food.

During the meal, Chen Chuan asked, "Advisor Rao, how many bases were there here in the past?"

"There are five more stations in the past, and we still have two days to go."

Chen Chuanshuo said: "These places are not far from the train tracks, so it is relatively easy to transport supplies. I see there are bases in more remote areas. How do they solve the supply problem?"

Advisor Rao said: "On the one hand, we rely on air transport, which can solve the problem of supplies for a long time at a time, and we can occasionally get simple supplies from some locals."

"The locals, the survivors?" Yuan Qiyuan interrupted, and asked in surprise, "Are they willing to cooperate with us?"

Advisor Rao replied: "Some are, and some are considered indigenous here."

"Hey, are there any natives?" Yuan Qiyuan suddenly became interested.

"They are called indigenous people, but they may be people who arrived here during an earlier period of change. They have fully adapted to the environment here, and their appearance and inner qualities are slightly different from ours. One study suggests that they may be our distant relatives from 20,000 to 30,000 years ago, and the most recent may be thousands of years ago."

Yuan Qiyuan said: "Wow, this distant relative is quite distant."

Advisor Rao said: "These people are different from the remnants of the imperial family. Most of them maintain a certain good relationship with us because they are also afraid of the existence of the other side and have been fighting against it for a long time. We are on the same side here.

After all, they came into contact with the other side earlier than us, and they have a lot of information that we don’t know, but some of them are very hostile to us.”

Chen Chuanshuo said: "It seems that their relationship with the remnants of the imperial family is not very good."

Advisor Rao said: "Yes, in the past hundred years, the remnants of the imperial family have often relied on force to plunder their wealth and population and occupy their territory, so they are more cooperative in dealing with this enemy."

Chen Chuan nodded. In fact, he knew that governments and companies were not necessarily good people, but at least they knew which ones could be temporarily cooperated and utilized, which was considered a mutual need. If there was really no common enemy, the performance of governments and companies would probably not be much better.

Yuan Qiyuan was shocked and said, "This place is quite complicated."

"complex?"

Advisor Rao shook his head. "How far have we come? We are about to get away from the railway line, so we have to be careful of various creatures on the road. If we accidentally enter their territory, we may be attacked by them."

He explained that most of the creatures in the Fusion Land were huge and very ferocious. That was still okay, as there were some weapons to target them. The most feared thing was encountering groups of these creatures. When they appeared, they were overwhelming and very difficult to deal with. They could not be stopped at all unless you hid in a fortress.

Therefore, he suggested avoiding it in time when encountering it. If losses occur due to careless encounter, such sacrifice is not worth it.

After dinner, Advisor Rao brought over another map and pointed to a place, "If the journey goes smoothly, we will reach here in two days, the fortress station numbered '73'.

Chen Chuan looked over and saw from the map that this small fortress was blocking the entrance to the valley, at the sharp point where two mountain ranges intersected. If he wanted to go to the rear, he would have to take a long detour if he didn't go through here. Under the most ideal circumstances, it might take an extra ten days or half a month.

Outside the fortress, there were only a few sentry posts in front, and they were quite sparse. In the distance, there was a bright red area, which should be the control area of ​​the old dynasty.

However, the fusion land is vast and boundless, and each central city in the world has an entrance to the fusion land, so what they are facing now is only the enemy on their side. I don't know what the situation is in other central cities.

Advisor Rao then said, "There are three options for entering the rear. One is to make a large-scale detour, but that would take too much time, and the situation is changing all the time. Maybe by that time the team we sent out will have returned, or we will have recruited more forces from the rear, so the 'Iron Demon' will not choose to do that.

The second option is..."

He pointed to a spot, "Here, Fort 104, it's on a bend upstream, where it's very easy to raft or go down the river.

It is impossible for the Iron Demon to lead his men through there without being discovered, and even if he slips away, we can block this retreat route, so he can either just ignore it or choose to clear this place before moving forward.

There is one last place, which is Fort No. 73 that we are going to visit.”

Chen Chuanshuo said, "Advisor Rao brought us straight here. Do you think the Iron Demon will choose this as the breakthrough point this time?"

Advisor Rao nodded.

"Based on the intelligence we got before, as well as the analysis of Iron Demon's personality and behavior patterns, we believe that this time, he is most likely to break through from here and enter our rear!"

Qin Qingque then asked: "Advisor Rao, if they launch an attack, when does the Intelligence Office estimate the time to be?"

"Iron Demon is leading no less than fifty cavalrymen this time. According to the distance, if they are heading straight for 'Seventy-three', they will arrive there in three to four days, at most one or two days later than us. If they don't save their horses and travel day and night, they may arrive in one or two days, so we are in a hurry."

Chen Chuan stared at the map, "Then we should get there as soon as possible."

After a night's rest, they sped up their journey during the day and the journey went smoothly. After a day and a half, they arrived at Fort No. 73, where more than two hundred soldiers were stationed and there was a third-level fighter guarding here all year round.

The fighter named Kaicheng is big and strong. Both his hands have been replaced with implants, and even one of his eyes has been replaced. He is already in his fifties, but a fighter's age does not reduce his strength much, and he has more experience.

He had learned through the radio that they were here specifically to deal with the Iron Monster, so he was well prepared and very enthusiastic, because several of his friends and many of his subordinates were killed in the attack of the Iron Monster.

Chen Chuan asked the team to rest while he talked with Hai Cheng to understand the situation here. At this time, he saw a boy of about fourteen or fifteen watching them from a distance, and he came up to Yuan Qiyuan to try to find out the news.

He took a look and asked, "Captain Hai, do you have any soldiers this young?"

"Him." Hai Cheng touched his short hair and said, "Well, his father is from Dashun. It is said that he is my fellow villager. He was a senior who was stationed here. Later, he fell in love with a native woman here and simply started a family here. He never returned to the central city.

This fellow villager of mine passed away early, leaving behind two sons. The eldest son, like him, joined the garrison troops. He was a pretty good young man. Later, the Iron Demon attacked our patrol team, and the entire team, including this young man, died at the hands of the Iron Demon. This kid wanted to avenge his brother, so he stayed here looking for opportunities.

I originally wanted to send him back, but I thought that if I didn't agree, he might just run away. But his mother's family is very powerful here, and if something happens to him again, it might affect our relationship, so I just kept him by my side as an orderly, just to give him some thoughts."

Chen Chuan nodded and said, "There will be a chance."

He asked Haicheng to assign a soldier who was familiar with the surrounding situation to take him around to familiarize himself with the terrain around the fortress. He then returned to the fortress to discuss and arrange specific tactics with Advisor Rao.

However, they waited for two days but did not see the iron demon.

At this time, they received a message via the radio saying that a small group of troops passed through the river controlled by Fort No. 104 last night.

The sentry conducted a long period of machine gun fire, and at daybreak discovered that the interception rope on the river had been cut, and a dead dragon-nosed horse was found downstream, and it was suspected that the ones who had passed by were Iron Demon and his group.

This information immediately disrupted their original arrangements. Could it be that the Iron Demon did not intend to go through this route this time, but chose to break through from another location?
If this is the case, then they are guarding the wrong position this time. It seems that the only option left is to evacuate from here and chase after this group of people.

However, Advisor Rao was very persistent. He said to Chen Chuanchu, "No, I still think that's not his choice. This is most likely a smokescreen. The Iron Demon's target should still be us!"

……

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(End of this chapter)