Otherworld Advance Team
Chapter 1178 - 1171: Falling into a Trap

Chapter 1178: Chapter 1171: Falling into a Trap

However, the truth was that Saiye and his group had never truly grasped the trepidation and bottom lines of headquarters; they had never considered employing a tactic reminiscent of "heavenly maidens scattering blossoms" to delay and deplete the enemy, forcing a compromise from headquarters.

At the moment, headquarters was eager to restore production and construction in Lipei, which is why they proposed the elimination of the enemy’s living forces to deter those eyeing Lipei with covetous intent or aggressive factions.

In fact, if Saiye and the others could prolong their tactics for years, headquarters would inevitably become exhausted by the charade, and whether they would compromise was an unknown.

But there are no ifs in reality, and in fact, Saiye and his people were not even aware that they had exposed themselves and were being watched by headquarters. If it were not for headquarters’ desire for captives, their residence would likely have been bombed and decapitated by headquarters’ warplanes a few days ago.

The reason headquarters wanted to end this conflict quickly wasn’t just exhaustion; another reason was the worry that some ill-intentioned hostile forces might intervene, turning Lipei into a second Masya. Compared to Saiye and his people, headquarters was more concerned about these individuals.

"In the past, our attacks have always been on a small scale, barely scratching the surface for the people of Otherworld. Why not assemble heavy troops to directly attack the Lipei City area, and use such tactics to force the Otherworlders to submit?" Fulanta said, his finger forcefully tapping on the map atop the table.

This plan was naturally not conceived by Fulanta but was suggested by Cheng Ziang. Once Saiye and his men amassed their forces to attack the Lipei City area, they would be subjected to integrated ground-to-air firepower and consequently be utterly defeated.

"Have you lost your mind, attacking the Lipei City area, do you know how many people are there?" Saiye asked, looking at him in astonishment.

"I’m saying, are you an insider sent by those Otherworlders? Otherwise, why would you propose such a plan?" Pelas asked, watching him warily.

"What are you implying, that I’m selling my soul for those Otherworlders who killed my wife and daughter, you motherf..." Fulanta initially panicked but quickly steadied his composure.

He grabbed Pelas by the collar and started cursing furiously, trying to mask his guilt with anger.

"Who knows if your family is dead!" Pelas said coolly.

"What did you say, what did you say," In an effort to hide his guilt, Fulanta became hysterical, "I watched my wife and daughter die at the hands of those Otherworlders. They were unscrupulous about my property, concocting reasons to coerce me and when that failed, killing my family to steal my wealth. If it weren’t for my lucky escape, I wouldn’t even have had the chance to resist!"

"Er, Fulanta, calm down, calm down..." Saiye stepped forward trying to intervene, but he was shoved away by Fulanta.

"Shut up, if you all don’t trust me, why did you allow me to join you? I’ve lost everything already, and if I can’t have my revenge, then I might as well be dead!" Saying this, Fulanta produced a pistol from nowhere, pressed it against his temple.

Of course, it was all an act for those watching; he dared not pull the trigger. So from the beginning, he raised his voice continuously to draw everyone’s attention. He was well aware of Saiye’s and Pelas’s taboos.

With the organization facing setbacks in several attacks, morale was wavering, and there were even talks of surrender or fleeing. In such a state, if there were mutual distrust among them, the organization would surely crumble, which was a scene neither Saiye nor Pelas wanted to witness.

"Don’t be so impulsive, I believe you," Pelas said, closing his eyes in resignation.

Whether he truly believed him was unknown, for Fulanta saw that with his outburst, the people in the hall had already gathered around, buzzing with discussion. At such a critical moment, even if Pelas did not believe him, he had to say some platitudes to defuse the dispute.

"Hmph!" Fulanta snorted coldly and released Pelas’s collar before tucking the handgun back into his pocket. Since it was all an act, he hadn’t even taken the safety off, and the gun wasn’t loaded.

Taking a deep breath to calm himself, Fulanta couldn’t help but feel a surge of panic at the core. His acting skills were laid bare; without the hysterical emotion to rely on, he would have given himself away long ago.

He looked back at Saiye, who seemed even more uneasy. Facing his gaze, Saiye lowered his head, not daring to meet his eyes.

Why Saiye would be so guilt-ridden was crystal clear to Fulanta. Had Cheng Ziang not sharply sensed that something was amiss, Fulanta would likely have been wrongfully killed by Saiye by now.

Fulanta was a rational man; he realized that he was not only assisting the Lipei district government in securing future benefits but also avenging himself.

"If you think my plan is harming you, then tell me, what should we do? Continue with these ineffective raids? The Otherworlders have already moved all the villagers under the Lipei City, and now, if we don’t penetrate deep into the city district, how can we pose a threat sufficient to make them capitulate?" Fulanta took another deep breath and continued, his brow furrowed in question.

"As for the Lipei City district..." Saiye inhaled sharply and with a frown, said, "You all know that some days ago, Masya’s Princess Melia sent reinforcements to Lipei, and now, it can be said that their military strength is formidable. Moreover, I’ve recently heard a rumor that the air fleet of Ronisca has already reached Lipei; if that’s the case, wouldn’t going there be tantamount to suicide?"

Just as Fulanta was about to say something, a slave owner suddenly spoke up: "It’s not necessarily a death sentence!"

"How so?" everyone asked, turning towards him.

"Think about it, a massive number of slaves and tenant farmers have gathered beneath Lipei City. If we can charge into their midst and use them as cover, the Otherworlders will certainly refrain from acting rashly for fear of injuring civilians, thus unable to leverage their superiority. What of the air fleet? What of Princess Melia’s troops? Would they be willing to slaughter these slaves alongside us? That way, we would actually accomplish our plan."

He paused, not waiting for others to speak, and continued: "You haven’t experienced the Prophetic War from over thirty years ago, so you might not be fully aware. The only real dependence the Otherworlders had to defeat us was what they called the ’War King’s cannon.’ Once their cannons lose the advantage, they are bound to crumble without an attack."

This slave owner was obviously well-read and experienced, even aware of some reasons for the victories and defeats in the wars of the Previous Otherworld. However, he clearly overlooked the true strength of Earth, treating a battle where forces were poorly coordinated as a classic example, and believing without the protection of their cannons, Earth’s forces were utterly weak.

But in fact, those old soldiers who had fought against Earth were very clear about Earth’s combat resolve: unwaveringly firm, even when outnumbered and cut off, they would not easily disperse but would instead continue to resist fiercely.

The reason they had defeated Earth, apart from their superior command, was largely due to Earth’s chaotic command structure at the time, which prevented the effective utilization of multinational forces.

Some insightful persons on the Otherworld, after analyzing the situation, concluded that if the multinational forces of Earth had been united against the Otherworld Allied Army during the original conflict, and if their strategies had been sound, then the battle between the multinational forces and the Otherworld Allied Army would have been evenly matched, with the multinational forces likely gaining a slight upper hand.

At that point, the Otherworld Gate wouldn’t stand a chance of being reclaimed, and trapping the Earthans within the bounds of Yazhi City would have been quite an accomplishment.

That is also why, although the third Otherworld War ended in a muddle, the Church Court was still willing to pay a hefty war indemnity to Earth—because the Church Court was very aware of Earth’s military strength.

This time they could rely on Forbidden Magic to wipe out Earth’s army, but what about the next time, or the time after that? If money could buy peace and understanding, the Church Court was more than willing to play the fool because what they were truly rich in was gold.

Science and Magic are only fundamentally different, but the disparity between civilizations is real. In a battle between advanced and primitive civilizations, regardless of whether science or Magic is employed, the advanced civilization will invariably have the upper hand.

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