"The essence of it all..."
Xu Ruiyu frowned deeply.
He pondered the meaning of those words; he wondered if Shen Heng's earlier statement, "not entirely," implied that his description of the situation was too simplistic; he wondered if there were other possibilities...
After a long while, Xu Ruiyu, having racked his brains without finding a solution, sighed.
"I'm sorry, Inspector Shen, I really didn't expect that!"
Shen Heng looked at Xu Ruiyu, not surprised at all.
It's quite obvious from the time Xu Ruiyu took to think that he misjudged the situation!
"For us, the actions of the Calamity Beast are essentially limited to only two ways?" Shen Heng said.
"Two... two kinds?" Xu Ruiyu asked, somewhat surprised.
"Yes, that's right," Shen Heng nodded slightly. "One target is Bedrock City, and the other is other cities."
Is it... really that simple?... Xu Ruiyu blinked, feeling as if his head had been tapped, but not quite understood. He asked in confusion:
"What about the situation regarding the transfer of Calamity Beast Calamity Beast from the Ruins Realm and from the Anchor Point, as mentioned in the previous operational meeting?"
"Both analyses are based on the premise that the Calamity Beast will attack Bedrock City, only differing slightly in timing and method," Shen Heng said calmly, looking at Xu Ruiyu.
"Based on the same situation, the Calamity Beast might summon troops from the Ruins Realm while also recruiting Calamity Beast from the surrounding Anchor Point, in an attempt to annihilate Bedrock City in one fell swoop; it's also possible that due to the previous failure of the Sky-Sundering Kamaitachi, the Ruins Realm might distrust it, either killing it, demoting it, or transferring it to other places."
"Conversely, if the Calamity Beast targets Bedrock City, several scenarios could unfold."
"On a whim, immediately shift the target back to Bedrock City; continue for a period of time, attempting to completely annihilate the other cities; change strategy, abandon the Anchor Point near our three strongest cities, and instead focus on guarding the other Anchor Point, etc."
Shen Heng paused here, looking at Xu Ruiyu whose mouth was unconsciously agape, and asked:
Did you understand?
Xu Ruiyu frowned and nodded somewhat reluctantly.
What Shen Heng said wasn't hard to understand; each item, taken individually, was actually quite simple. But... was it really necessary to think about all that?
" Inspector Shen."
Call me Shen Heng.
"This..."
Xu Ruiyu looked at Shen Heng with some hesitation.
Although he had been promoted and was now in charge of command here, he still understood the distance between them.
Inspector Shen's status may not be as high as that of a leader, but it's not far off, is it?
Seeing Xu Ruiyu's slightly troubled expression, Shen Heng didn't press the matter.
"Then let's call him Captain Shen."
"Okay, Captain Shen." Xu Ruiyu breathed a sigh of relief.
"What were you about to ask?" Shen Heng asked.
"Did you come up with all of these yourself?" Xu Ruiyu asked.
"No, much of it came from discussions between Elder Zhou and other advisors. I was just repeating what they said," Shen Heng said calmly.
"Really?"... Xu Ruiyu looked at Shen Heng with some suspicion, but didn't dwell on it any further.
"So, Captain Shen, are you worried that the Calamity Beast Calamity Beast n't come because they're afraid they'll continue to go to other cities and try to completely wipe them out, causing too many casualties?" Xu Ruiyu recalled what Shen Heng had just said about the possibility that the Calamity Beast wouldn't come.
"No, that's not it. I'm worried about something else." Shen Heng slowly shook his head and said, "The situation you described, although I don't want it to happen, is highly likely to occur, and we can't stop it."
"So what are you worried about?" Xu Ruiyu asked.
"If the Calamity Beast hadn't come this time, do you think it would have been easy for us to stop it next time Calamity Beast came?" Shen Heng asked.
"This..." Xu Ruiyu hesitated for a moment. Although he didn't want to say such discouraging things, he still had to admit, "If that's really the case, then the next Calamity Beast will probably be very well prepared, and it won't be easy to stop it."
"Yes!" Shen Heng sighed softly, " The Calamity Beast already know about the situation in our Bedrock City. If they don't come this time, but come again next time, then we will be facing a well-prepared beast tide. Do you know what that means?"
Xu Ruiyu paused for a moment, then nodded with some difficulty.
This means that the next beast tide will be large enough and powerful enough, as recognized by the Calamity Beast horde, to destroy Bedrock City!
That...
" Captain Shen, is there any way?" Xu Ruiyu looked up at Shen Heng with hope.
Shen Heng let out a soft breath and slowly shook his head.
"No, should we withdraw?" Xu Ruiyu asked.
"If we withdraw, what do you think will happen to the empty beast tide?" Shen Heng countered.
"This..."
The words that were about to come out were swallowed back by Xu Ruiyu himself.
If the beast tide leaves without a trace, it will most likely flee to other cities, right? Then...
"Could we order the other cities to evacuate as well?" Xu Ruiyu asked.
"This method is indeed somewhat useful, but it can only buy us a little time. Besides, we can't possibly evacuate all the cities," Shen Heng said slowly.
"Why?" Xu Ruiyu asked.
"If all the cities are evacuated, it means that the strategy formulated by headquarters has failed!" Shen Heng looked at Xu Ruiyu seriously.
"This..."
Strategy? Push the battle line back into the depths of the Erosion Zone, and even try to see if the Calamity Beast will stop focusing on offense and instead defend the Anchor Point points?
Xu Ruiyu opened his mouth and asked:
"Can't we come back and rebuild the city?"
"We started building the city before because the Calamity Beast weren't on guard. Once Calamity Beast are on guard, it won't be so easy to build it again," Shen Heng said.
"Then..." Xu Ruiyu frowned and thought for a moment, then said, "Can't we play guerrilla warfare against the Calamity Beast in the Erosion Zone?"
"Yes, but only if you can threaten the Anchor Point," Shen Heng said seriously, looking at Xu Ruiyu. "In other words, you need to maintain a certain number of people in your team. But with a team of this size, once it's found, without a city or firepower to rely on, do you think it can fight against the Calamity Beast?"
Xu Ruiyu opened his mouth, then slowly closed it again.
They can put up a fight, but without a city or pre-prepared firepower, the casualty ratio will likely be one to three, one to two, or even one to one!
Even at a ratio of one to three, meaning the loss of one warrior and the killing of three Calamity Beast, it was already somewhat unacceptable to them!
After all, since the Erosion Zone appeared, the Calamity Beast have already suffered more than a million casualties in the Plateau Erosion Zone alone!
Even at a ratio of three to one, 400,000 soldiers would still perish!
Including the other two Erosion Zone within the Great Xia territory, the death toll will reach a terrifying 1.2 million!
Is 1.2 million a year acceptable?
Xu Ruiyu wasn't sure what the higher-ups would think, but he himself found it hard to accept.
In other words, this ambush was of extremely high significance to them, but...
" Captain Shen, what if the Calamity Beast doesn't come?"