Qin Yu stood to the side and watched silently.
Upon hearing the captain's reply, Xu Ruiyu's expression immediately brightened, and he opened his mouth again, uttering a series of words.
She watched silently, replying in her mind.
"... Isn't this kind of encouragement a good thing?"
Xu Ruiyu grinned; this was the happiest thing that had happened to him in the past two years.
"... Hehe, Captain Shen, if I ever become a general, I'll definitely tell people that I learned from you. Without your guidance, then I..."
"No need. If you become a general in the future, it will depend more on your own efforts," Shen Heng replied calmly.
"But I mainly learned it from being with you, Captain Shen, especially from that time at Eagle-Sorrow Ravine, you and I..."
"Alright!" Shen Heng interrupted Xu Ruiyu, "Now let's talk about how to deal with the Calamity Beast coming from Frontier-Pacifying City!"
Upon hearing this, Xu Ruiyu's lips twitched, and he barely managed to suppress the urge to continue speaking, though a smile still lingered on his face.
Shen Heng glanced at him and said:
"If you want to become a general, you'd better train yourself to control your emotions well. After all, emotions can easily affect decision-making, and if you really become a general, a single decision can affect countless people."
"I'd like to, but can you suppress happiness just like that?" Xu Ruiyu said with some difficulty.
Shen Heng looked at Xu Ruiyu, seeing that he seemed genuinely troubled, and said, "I do have a method, would you like to know?"
"Hmm? What method?" Xu Ruiyu asked.
Beside them, Qin Yu also looked over, seemingly wanting to know as well.
"Slap yourself. As long as it hurts enough, your emotions will quickly fade away!" Shen Heng said.
"Huh? This... will it work?" Xu Ruiyu opened his mouth subconsciously, somewhat incredulous.
Qin Yu, standing to the side, looked at Shen Heng with some surprise, then quickly lowered her head and began to think seriously.
"Don't worry, it works. Physical pain will quickly shift your brain's attention to the painful area, thus helping you to quickly forget your original emotions," Shen Heng said calmly.
"This..." Xu Ruiyu raised his hand and touched his face, "Can I get it done somewhere else?"
"That's also possible, but the face is closer to the brain, and normal people subconsciously value their reputation more, so slapping someone in the face will be more effective!" Shen Heng said.
"This..."
Xu Ruiyu hesitated for a moment, then suddenly...
"Smack!"
A loud slap rang out from the side.
Xu Ruiyu covered his cheek where he had slapped himself, hissing in pain.
He felt it was quite useful, but now he's not happy at all; he even feels a little sad.
"Wow... that's quite a strong drive!" Shen Heng looked at Xu Ruiyu with some surprise, then said:
"There's no need to go all out the first time. If it doesn't work well, you can gradually increase the intensity. Besides, you don't need to start right now. When I was telling you about this method, you already forgot about the happy things you used to do!"
"Well..."
Xu Ruiyu's lips twitched; he wanted to say something sarcastic, but ultimately swallowed it back.
"It's okay, I'll just treat it as a preview!" Xu Ruiyu said, touching his face.
"..."
Turning his gaze back, Shen Heng said:
"Alright, now let's talk about how to deal with the beast tide coming from Frontier-Pacifying City!"
Getting back to the main topic, Xu Ruiyu also turned his gaze over.
He asked with some doubt, "Didn't we have a plan in place to deal with the Calamity Beast coming from over there? Shouldn't we just follow that plan? When I contacted them, the soldiers at the other locations were already on their way back!"
"The original plan, while taking into account the possibility of having ample time, didn't anticipate this much," Shen Heng, his eyes slightly narrowed. "Now that we have more time, we naturally want to strive to win the next battle to the greatest extent possible!"
Upon hearing this, Xu Ruiyu nodded.
He instinctively wanted to ask what the solutions were, but then he remembered what Captain Shen had just said, and thought he should think about it himself. But then he thought that although there was enough time, it wasn't enough for him to spend that much time thinking.
Is this progress or no progress?... Xu Ruiyu didn't quite understand, but without wasting time, he asked.
" Captain Shen, what should we do now?"
Shen Heng did not reply immediately, but instead looked up at the distant sky.
There, several Calamity Beast flapped their wings, staring at the scene from afar.
To be honest, the best course of action for them right now is to evacuate. After all, the Calamity Beast already know their approximate location, making a surprise attack impossible. Furthermore, there are no cities to defend here, and they've already used up a significant amount of ammunition. But...
We can't retreat!
Once they retreat, the Calamity Beast might initially try to pursue them, but once they realize it's difficult to catch them, they will definitely turn back to Frontier-Pacifying City, in addition to the Hook-Tailed Golden Suanni that ran out to try and regroup the escaped Calamity Beast.
If they really withdraw, this entire operation, including the ambush just now, will have been a complete waste!
Shen Heng lowered his gaze and looked at Xu Ruiyu, saying:
"Continue with the original plan. Once all the soldiers have gathered, hold this mountain."
"Although there are no cities here, it's still a mountain. The Calamity Beast that come here will have to climb it, which will consume a lot of their energy, especially the first and second tier beasts!"
Xu Ruiyu nodded, then, as if noticing something, looked up at Shen Heng and asked,
"You?"
"Yes, I will lead the Fourth Tier and some Third Tier out, and when the Calamity Beast begin to attack you, we will look for an opportunity to attack from behind," Shen Heng said.
"This..." Xu Ruiyu hesitated.
"If we don't do this, even if we hold this mountain, it's unlikely we can win. We only managed to defeat those 11,000 Calamity Beast in an ambush, and it took us a third of our ammunition. Now there are even more Calamity Beast coming from over there. If we don't come up with a solution, do you think we can hold out?" Shen Heng looked at Xu Ruiyu seriously.
Looking up at Captain Shen, Xu Ruiyu gritted his teeth and said:
"Okay, I understand!"
After a while, in the woods across several hilltops.
Shen Heng stood behind a tree trunk, gazing intently into the distance.
Nearly ten thousand Calamity Beast were scattered throughout the forest, their roars, howls, and panting filling the air.
The Calamity Beast did not attack immediately upon arrival, but stopped to allow the lower-level Calamity Beast to rest.
"More than 15,000 Calamity Beast..." Qin Yu muttered softly to himself, his Environmental Assimilation ability continuously radiating outwards, enveloping the surroundings.
"Mm," Shen Heng responded.
Upon hearing this, Qin Yu nodded silently without saying anything more, but her expression became even more somber.
When Bedrock City was first attacked by a large-scale beast tide, the number of beasts was only slightly more than this time.
Back then, Bedrock City had far more personnel and firepower than they do now.
Shen Heng remained silent, staring intently at the spot.
This was also the reason why he insisted on bringing people out; without bringing people out, relying solely on that side to try and stop them was simply wishful thinking!
Of course, even now, winning doesn't seem so easy.
The image of the Lion King leading the beast horde to attack the base flashed through his mind.
Emotions, ignited...
but...
His gaze shifted slightly, landing on the jelly-like figure, several meters tall, at the center of the beast tide.
Should we reserve some Origin Power to deal with the Mirror Water Beast...?