The Hardest Part: Fishing

Gu Hang had indeed made his own plans.

Now that he had guessed something was amiss, he knew the road to rescue Yan Fangxu would hardly be peaceful. Of course he wasn't going to walk blindly into an enemy trap without preparing himself.

By now, he was fairly sure the ones targeting him were the Primal Angry Owl Sect. His pressure on Revival City had put these Cultists under considerable strain. Unable to solve the problem, they had decided to deal with the man who had raised it.

In other words, their target was him, the governor.

They also had the ability to exert some initial control over mutant monsters, which was somewhat surprising.

Still, he judged that the Cultists couldn't command too much power. If they had that kind of strength and wanted him dead, they wouldn't need to go to all this trouble. They could simply gather their forces and launch a direct assault on his camp.

The fact that they hadn't was clear proof they couldn't. They had to choose a battlefield in the dense forest, where the monsters they controlled had the advantage and they stood a better chance of winning.

With that in mind, Gu Hang wasn't about to lead the 2nd Infantry Battalion recklessly into the woods.

Four armored vehicles led the way, with a large force of foot soldiers following behind. The whole column moved along the edge of the forest.

Gu Hang led the troops in search of a route that would bring them closer to the encircled Yan Fangxu while passing through less densely wooded terrain.

It didn't matter if they moved a little more slowly.

Yan Fangxu had said he wasn't in any immediate danger.

So Gu Hang was happy to take his time.

In truth, rescuing Yan Fangxu wasn't Gu Hang's main objective this time.

He had no need to hurry. Though he put on a show of heading to the rescue, all he really wanted was to draw the enemy out.

Before they even entered the woods, his troops came under a small-scale attack at the forest's edge.

A horde of Abscess Monsters came charging out, but the soldiers wiped them out with a single volley.

It seemed more like a probe—or a sign that the enemy couldn't control large numbers of monsters.

Unfortunately, it hadn't drawn out the enemy's main force.

So, after thinking it over, Gu Hang gave a wave of his hand and led the troops into the dense forest.

The bait stayed on the hook.

Once they were in the forest, Gu Hang's troops advanced even more slowly. They maintained a tight formation, keeping close to their four Striders and refusing to let their guard down. When the trees grew too dense, they would rather stop and burn or cut them down than risk losing a clear field of vision.

When you went fishing with yourself as bait, you couldn't let the fish take a real bite.

The governor's troops were taking their sweet time, moving at such an unhurried pace that it was enough to drive anyone mad.

Pobov was getting a little impatient.

His 2nd Battalion hadn't managed to beat Yan Fangxu to the job of clearing the forest of mutant monsters earlier. He'd been left feeling frustrated, stuck in camp with nothing to do but work his men hard to burn off their energy.

When the governor's order came to muster the troops, he and his men immediately sprang to life. And when he heard that their mission was to rescue the 3rd Battalion, led by Yan Fangxu and surrounded by a horde of mutant monsters in the woods, he was practically champing at the bit.

So he was some old-timer? A proper officer from the Imperial Navy? And now this mud-legged grunt had to go save him?

He wished he could lead his troops straight through the forest, reach Yan Fangxu, and laugh right in the man's face.

Still, he could rein in his eagerness for battle.

Before they set out, the governor had explained the general objective. Rescuing Yan Fangxu was secondary; the main concern was that they might be ambushed along the way, and they needed to draw out whoever was lying in wait.

Hearing that had sent Pobov into an even greater fury.

Someone had actually dared target the governor?

That made them his sworn enemies!

To Pobov, anyone plotting to harm the governor was even more despicable than someone plotting to harm him personally.

He had gone back to the Waste Mine Society once recently. Though he hadn't been away from home for long, the place had already changed beyond recognition. Having enough to eat and warm clothes were only the basics. Everyone now lived in houses aboveground instead of cramming into underground tunnels and enduring a life without sunlight.

The houses in the residential area were still simple prefabricated buildings, but they were already planning to build a new brickworks and cement plant. They had also set aside an area for a row of detached houses. Pobov had seen the architectural plans. They were beautiful. Back when he had worked in the tunnels, he could only have dreamed of living in a house like that.

When the time came, homes would be assigned according to work points. Based on the points he had earned as a soldier and those his wife had earned working at the factory, he would be among the first to move in once the houses were ready.

Life was getting better and better, and Pobov understood clearly that he wasn't just fighting for the governor. He was also fighting to protect the better life they had struggled so hard to build.

Everything they had was thanks to the governor. Anyone who dared harm him, anyone who dared disrupt their pursuit of a better life, was Pobov's enemy for life!

That was why he could keep his eagerness for battle in check. He followed the governor's cautious, steady orders without the slightest hesitation, keeping all his anger bottled up until the moment came to unleash it.

When that anger finally burst, it would burn fiercely.

And Pobov didn't have to wait long for the chance.

The enemy was coming.

They could hear the distinctive howls of Abscess Monsters coming from all around the forest, growing clearer by the moment.

Their howls were unusual. These headless, mouthless monsters made their threatening cries by rapidly vibrating the lumps covering their bodies. The sound was sharp and horrible.

As soon as he heard the noise, Pobov issued orders to the companies without waiting for the governor to say a word. They immediately stopped clearing a path and swiftly took up defensive positions.

A little while later, the repulsive monsters could be glimpsed moving through the woods.

But the soldiers held to their combat discipline and didn't open fire right away. Only the designated marksmen in each company, with their superior aim and more suitable precision rifles, tried to pick off the enemy from a distance.

For now, the gunfire was sparse, but almost every shot felled a monster in the forest.

A little while later, the monsters drew closer to the edge of the woods and to the small clearing the soldiers had cut out.

Only then did the officers at every level give the order to fire.

In an instant, bullets, artillery shells, and the autocannons of the Infantry Fighting Vehicles saturated the surrounding area.

Under the hail of metal, countless monsters fell before they could escape the woods. Those that made it out only came closer to death, cut down by gunfire.

The prepared human soldiers held their ground like an impregnable fortress!