"There are no cities that have requested reinforcements, or rather, it's impossible for any city to request reinforcements," Shen Heng said succinctly. "Given our distance from the other cities, even if they requested our help the moment they discovered the beast tide, by the time we arrived, the battle would already be over!"
"If that's the case, then what do you mean by supporting other cities?" the officer asked.
"The support I'm referring to isn't about waiting for other cities to ask for help before going to them, but about going there first, taking over before the Calamity Beast attack, and assisting in the resistance," Shen Heng said.
"Before this?" The officer frowned slightly, but did not refute the possibility that this situation might occur.
Previous intelligence had already told them that there were at least two or three teams of Calamity Beast operating in the Erosion Zone.
Even though they have just defeated one of the beast hordes, there is still at least one more beast horde left!
This beast tide may be on its way, or it may be attacking a city right now!
"That's right," Shen Heng nodded calmly, "Just like this ambush, we anticipated the possible actions of the Calamity Beast and then took countermeasures in advance."
Everyone frowned slightly, pondering the possibility of this plan.
Lu Xunzhou pondered for a moment, then looked at Shen Heng.
"The ambush was successful because the Anchor Point and our Bedrock City are located in fixed positions. If the Calamity Beast want to come from the Anchor Point or other locations, there are only a few routes they can take. We just need to choose the right location."
"The only question is whether the Calamity Beast Calamity Beast be recruited from Anchor Point and other locations."
"In other words, the ambush itself had a high probability of success, and perhaps, because the Calamity Beast might be unwilling to accept its fate, the probability of success might be even higher than we imagined."
"But we'll go to other cities to provide support..."
He paused for a moment, then continued:
" The Calamity Beast can attack too many cities, and although we just defeated a wave of beasts, the time we have to move freely is actually limited. Capturing them won't be easy!"
"That's why I was just saying, even if we go there, we might not encounter the Calamity Beast." Shen Heng nodded, he really had no way of knowing where the Calamity Beast would go.
"In that case..." Lu Xunzhou pondered for a moment, looking at the young figure in front of him, "Is Captain Shen going to rely on luck?"
"Hmm." Shen Heng nodded. "After all, we just defeated the beast horde that was about to attack, and there won't be another wave of beasts attacking Bedrock City for a while. We should make use of this time."
Lu Xunzhou frowned and pondered for a moment, then slowly nodded.
The two officers beside him nodded slightly.
Although they felt that the chances of this plan catching the Calamity Beast were slim, if they did manage to catch it, they could further weaken the Calamity Beast's power within the Erosion Zone, and even amplify the effects of the other plans they had just mentioned.
Just as they were about to start thinking about which city they should go to, Zhou Zhenguo spoke up from the side.
"It's indeed very difficult to capture the Calamity Beast if you go to a city alone, but what if you go to several cities?" Zhou Zhenguo grinned.
Upon hearing this, Shen Heng frowned slightly.
Lu Xunzhou's brows furrowed even more, and he turned to look at Zhou Zhenguo, saying:
"Commander, don't joke around. If the people we sent out to provide support are together, and they actually manage to capture the Calamity Beast, there's a good chance they can help hold the line. But if they're separated, even if you manage to capture them, the few people assigned there won't significantly increase the chances of holding the line, and they might even end up killing them!"
Zhou Zhenguo's smile faded, and he said seriously:
"Of course I know that, do I need you to teach me?"
"So what do you mean?" Lu Xunzhou asked, somewhat troubled.
Shen Heng also looked at Zhou Zhenguo. Dividing the troops was indeed a risky move and unlikely to achieve the desired effect.
Without answering the question, Zhou Zhenguo spoke up:
" Tianshu, open the map!"
Upon receiving the instruction, the terminals deployed in the conference room immediately began operation.
Amidst the interplay of light and shadow, an oval map was projected onto the long table, marked with various colored dots.
Everyone's eyes instinctively turned to look, and then Zhou Zhenguo continued:
"Highlight the cities we've built, and also mark the number of times each city was attacked and the corresponding time of each attack!"
The light flickered, and ten points of light became brighter, while the rest quickly dimmed.
Shen Heng scanned the ten prominent points of light, his gaze finally settling on a green point of light in the upper left corner.
[ Bedrock City ]
On July 15th, the S-Class Calamity Beast, the Sky-Sundering Kamaitachi, led nearly 20,000 Calamity Beast in an attack, which was successfully repelled.
At 8:02, the Ruins Realm conscripted Calamity Beast from various Anchor Point to attack, and has already ambushed five conscripted Calamity Beast teams.
The green dot wasn't just in Bedrock City; there were five others, symbolizing cities that still existed. As for the other four...
Cliff Mountain City, June 13, fell.
Iron Wall City, June 18, fell.
Cliff Mountain City, June 27, fell.
River Valley City, June 15, fell.
Chongshan City, July 17th, resisting
River Valley City, July 25, fell.
Abyss-Suppressing City, August 1st, fell.
Looking at the almost uniform collapse, Shen Heng remained silent.
The expressions of the others also darkened.
Although they already knew about these circumstances, seeing them again still made them feel heavy-hearted.
After all, each of those falls meant the deaths of thousands!
" Elder Zhou, what did you mean just now?" Shen Heng turned to look at Zhou Zhenguo.
"If we were to divide our forces, how many teams would be appropriate?" Zhou Zhenguo asked in a deep voice.
Upon hearing that the troops still needed to be divided, Lu Xunzhou's brows immediately furrowed again.
Shen Heng pondered for a moment and said, " Bedrock City definitely needs to be guarded to maintain operations, receive supplies transported from the base, and, as mentioned earlier, handle the Calamity Beast that might have come from other places during this beast tide..."
Shen Heng paused for a moment, then continued:
"Considering the considerable possibility that there are other Calamity Beast coming from other places, and given that the exact number is unknown, it's best to leave as many as possible."
"Roughly speaking, I think at least two thousand people should remain in Bedrock City."
"That means we can only send out a maximum of about three thousand people."
"If we encounter Calamity Beast, and if we want to ensure that we can help defend the city to the greatest extent possible, I think it's best not to divide our forces!"
"What if we divide these people into three teams?" Zhou Zhenguo asked.
"Three?" Shen Heng asked.
"That's right, we'll split into three groups!" Zhou Zhenguo nodded. "Two of them will consist entirely of ordinary soldiers and will be sent to Chongshan City and Frontier-Pacifying City. The other group, led by you and including other members of the Supervision Bureau, will go to another city composed entirely of ordinary soldiers!"
Shen Heng lowered his eyes, deep in thought.
Chongshan City and Frontier-Pacifying City are two other cities with members of the Supervision Bureau stationed there, led by Wang Hu and Gu Lingxuan respectively.
There are currently six cities still standing; excluding Bedrock City, there are only five!
Choosing three out of five greatly increases the chances of catching the Calamity Beast!
but...