This Game Is Too Real
Chapter 485: General Griffin Cornered

Chapter 485: Chapter 485: General Griffin Cornered

"Achoo!"

Peering out the jeep window at the endless sand dunes bathed in twilight, a member of the Battlefield Atmosphere Group sneezed unexpectedly.

Coleway sitting next to him spoke up,

"This here is the northwest corner of Luo Xia Province, and it’ll get a bit chilly at night. Need a blanket, my friend?"

"No, I’m fine."

The Old Soldier mustered a reluctant smile, his gaze returning to the distant dunes where he could see a very long queue of weary soldiers.

At this moment, they were marching at the rear of the second thousand team under the banner of the fifty thousand team, with their destination being Oasis No.2 in the Falcon Kingdom.

Before he could report to the officer team directly subordinated to the fifty thousand team, he had to stick with Coleway’s unit for a while longer.

The crushing defeat of the forty thousand team has already rendered them incapable of continuing to hold the line at Oasis No.3, and now the entire Army’s forces in Luo Xia Province were being retracted to the farthest west of the desert for defense.

Fortunately, Coleway’s direct superior was a smart man and made a decisive decision to relocate at the first sign of the orders.

That’s why they had nearly reached the edge of Oasis No.2 without encountering the shadow of the Alliance.

By contrast, the seventy and eighty thousand teams were not so lucky.

Just yesterday, it was heard that the eighty thousand team had encountered the Skeleton Corps of the Alliance on the Gobi a hundred kilometers away. With no armor for protection or cover, the entire battle quickly became a one-sided massacre—they didn’t even last half a day.

Patting the shoulder of the Pangolin, Coleway picked up his binoculars and peered through the rolling yellow sands ahead where he could vaguely make out the cacti as tall as two men and the swaying seabuckthorn grass.

Vegetation began to appear in abundance.

They were not far off now.

"There’s Oasis No.2 up ahead..."

Although they were about to reach their destination, there was not a hint of joy on his face; his furrowed brows were even shrouded with a layer of deep gravity.

They had successfully evaded being encircled and blockaded by the Alliance.

But they had also lost everything they had won over the past several months...

He was certain that their Army’s strategic deployment and tactical application were superior to those of the Alliance, but the intensity of the Alliance Army’s attack had still surpassed their expectations.

They were like people who couldn’t be killed.

If it wasn’t for the fact that those people were too clever and bled, he would have even started to wonder if they were Clones or bionic beings...

What was more depressing was that as someone skilled at drawing lessons from experience, this time he couldn’t even figure out where exactly they had lost.

Even if supplies were a big issue, with an army of a hundred thousand at their disposal, how on earth could they get chased and beaten by just over ten thousand people?!

"What’s the plan after reaching Oasis No.2?" asked the Old Soldier, looking at the worried Coleway.

"The plan is to have no plan," Coleway put down his binoculars and said after a long silence, "I heard that the headquarters over there is a mess... We were expected to hold at Oasis No.3 until next month, but we ended up giving up our positions at Oasis No.3 at least half a month earlier than expected, which means we have to rely on our allies’ backward infrastructure and limited industrial capacity to fight for another month."

"That’s tough," the Old Soldier gave a conservatively modest assessment, going against his better judgment.

"More than tough..." Coleway squinted his eyes, trying to look through the swirling sand, "Let’s not talk about that; up ahead is Bister Town."

Bister Town was not an oasis but, like Petra Fortress to the Camel Hump Kingdom, sat outside the oasis.

Unlike the commercially oriented Petra, however, this remote border town was an entirely fortified city.

This small town was built with the assistance of Weylent People for the Falcon Kingdom. Rows of concrete triangular stakes surrounded the town like a river, backed by concrete bunkers.

In the center of the town, there were air defense positions, a logistics center, and an airport.

There were no civilian facilities here, nor were there civilians or families living here, except for a small garrison, most of the population consisted of conscripted labor.

If the terrain level of the perimeter defense line of Oasis No.3 could be rated a 3 and the construction level a 1, then the situation here was the exact opposite, around a "1 terrain, 3 construction" scenario.

After passing the outermost checkpoint, a bumpy muddy road and a relatively straight dirt road quickly came into view.

Along both sides of the dirt road stood local laborers, their skin sunburned to a waxen red, holding shovels, mostly residents from nearby villages.

The Old Soldier noticed they were watching his group.

Those malnourished faces showed no signs of life, their pupils covered with a haze, devoid of color. Although their bodies were covered with lash marks, there was no sign of resentment or anger in their eyes.

Mostly, there was numbness.

To the Old Soldier’s surprise, he saw a hint of schadenfreude in the eyes of one of the laborers... although the man was careful to keep his expression hidden.

It seemed that among these servants, barely better off than slaves, there were clever ones.

They had already sensed that the war was coming to an end.

The Old Soldier couldn’t help but think of those nobles within the territory of the Falcon Kingdom.

They could surely not resist the rule of the Weylent People after being bled dry, but at this juncture, when it was clear to any insightful person that the Weylent People were on the verge of defeat, he wondered what thoughts might occupy their minds now.

Suddenly, he was somewhat looking forward to seeing the expressions on those people’s faces.

At the end of the dirt road was a checkpoint.

The duty soldiers had seen them for a while now, and after confirming their numbers, they lifted the barrier to let them pass.

As the Old Soldier was contemplating the concrete buildings in the distance, a man dressed in lavish clothing approached from roadside.

He had a straight nose, slight curls in his hair, and by his looks, a resident of the desert, though his status was clearly much more distinguished than the workers they had encountered before.

Coleway waved, signaling the driver to pull the jeep over to the side of the road, and ordered the remaining troop carriers and supply trucks to continue forward.

The noble approached the car and spoke with a bow.

"...Respected Lord Coleway, I am Weddell, mayor of Bister Town. Allow me to extend the sincerest greetings from the three hundred soldiers of Bister Town to you," he said.

Confronted with Weddell’s insincere obsequiousness, Coleway didn’t waste words with him, simply tossing a list into his hands.

"I need the supplies on this list, especially the fuel required for the trucks. I hope to see them before the sun sets."

The list was signed by the logistics department.

However, upon hearing the latter part of the sentence, a troubled look crossed Weddell’s face.

"But... the sun has already set," he said.

"Then within two hours," Coleway said impatiently.

He didn’t want to waste time here.

"Yes, yes, Lord!"

Weddell nervously nodded, immediately urging his subordinates to follow orders, then turned to Coleway with a sycophantic smile,

"By the way, esteemed Lord, may I ask how long you plan to stay here? So that I can prepare suitable—"

At a glance, Coleway had seen right through his thoughts and rudely interrupted him.

"By tomorrow morning, I’ll be good at my stationed army camp."

He wasn’t afraid to take on the Alliance in a decisive battle.

But it had to be after his soldiers got enough ammunition and weapons.

Otherwise, it’d be no different than courting death.

Hearing this statement, Weddell’s eyes flickered with disappointment, realizing that these people wouldn’t stay to help him either.

Relying on just over 300 defending troops, there was no chance against the Alliance.

But he dared not say anything or complain, just hung his head meekly and said,

"Yes, officer."

...

Under Coleway’s lead, the third thousand team settled in the barracks in the northeastern corner of Bister Town.

Morale was somewhat low in the camp, and after meals, the soldiers would gather in small groups, whispering quietly.

"Have you heard? General Griffin disappeared..."

"Disappeared?! How is that possible?!"

"Spreading rumors like that, are you trying to get yourself killed?"

"Disappearing is impossible... But the recent events really are strange; we haven’t seen any Alliance people nor other troops along the way."

"What’s the command doing?"

"Don’t know... Maybe General Griffin is planning something big. I believe as long as he gets serious, the Alliance is no match for him!"

"Shush... stop talking."

A soldier pointed at the Pangolin who was passing by, and the others also fell silent as if by mutual agreement.

Everyone knew he was Coleway’s trusted man.

Even though there were rumors he had been shifted to serve as an advisor to the ten thousand troops officers team, he was still officially a direct subordinate of Coleway.

No one likes to have tattlers around.

However, the Old Soldier didn’t even bother to pay attention to them.

While curious about Griffin’s situation, he didn’t believe a few soldiers would have a grasp of the highest command movements of the Legion in Luo Xia Province.

That would be too ridiculous!

Finding an unoccupied latrine to squat in after dinner, the Old Soldier went offline in a hurry to grab breakfast and took the opportunity to check on the forum to see where his good brothers had reached.

According to information from I Max Black, his original position at G53-7 had been taken over by the Storm Corps.

Perhaps because this Centurion had been transferred out, those promoted from Falcon Kingdom did not resist for long and chose to surrender decisively.

Probably worried about retaliation from the Alliance, they racked their brains to credit their previous achievements solely to "Pangolin."

The Force that took over G53-7 and the captured troops belonged to Prince Wenter’s Lion Kingdom Army.

Now Pangolin’s name had been passed from mouth to mouth over in the Lion Kingdom, depicted as a demonic ghoul devouring children at night.

Looking at the colorful descriptions by I Max Black on the forum, the Old Soldier could only weakly retort.

He was sure the rumor was definitely exaggerated.

And what was most speechless to him was that this bunch of jerks drummed up his bravery without drafting a script.

How come everything was his doing!

"Damn it, my legs are numb from squatting..."

Cursing under his breath as he pulled up his pants after spending a while in the latrine, the Old Soldier had just pushed open the restroom door when he bumped into a busty, high-nosed beauty.

"Hey." Seeing that Pangolin finally came out of the restroom, Penny hadn’t yet figured out how to start the conversation and could only find a random topic, saying, "You’ve been squatting for quite a while."

The Old Soldier was immediately anxious when she brought up that subject but still coughed and said, feigning composure,

"I’m afraid of rupturing the wound... I can’t force it too much."

That was the truth.

From the shell that almost got him last time, several pieces of shrapnel were still stuck in his body, unremoved.

Penny’s cheeks twitched, trying not to grin, but she quickly realized making fun of this might be a bit inconsiderate and restrained herself again.

"Sorry... I don’t mean to laugh, but..."

Seeing her struggling to keep it in, the Old Soldier sighed and said,

"It’s okay, just laugh if you want to."

The two hadn’t talked much on this escape journey, and while they weren’t exactly bosom buddies, they had at least become friends who could chat a bit.

Of course.

To maintain his "stoic expert" image, the Old Soldier mostly listened to her speak, chiming in only occasionally.

As for liking or disliking, that was all bravado on the forum.

Since nobody would check, as long as the Dog plan didn’t call him out, he could boast however he pleased with his own mouth.

"No, I won’t laugh," Penny coughed a few times to hold it in and looked at him seriously, taking a deep breath to say, "My father asked me to go back."

"Your father?" the Old Soldier looked at her in surprise.

Although they had talked a few times, this was the first he heard her mention her family.

Penny nodded seriously.

"Mhm, he said I have to leave this place."

"Congratulations, you can leave this calamity-stricken land."

The Old Soldier smiled faintly, but unexpectedly, Penny suddenly threw an unexpected proposition his way.

"Can you come with me?"

The Old Soldier paused at that moment, seeing her serious expression, he frowned slightly and asked,

"What do you mean..."

Dodging his gaze, Penny said shakily.

"It means nothing... just that, I can’t return to such a faraway place on my own. Although the command promised to assign a hundred-man team to escort me, those people don’t make me feel as safe as you do, so I want you to take me back."

What kind of reason is that?!

The Old Soldier couldn’t help but laugh and cry in his heart.

He could clearly feel that she wasn’t telling the truth, so he looked into her eyes earnestly and said.

"I swore, I would fight for His Excellency the Marshal until the last moment. For the great person’s ideals, I will not go anywhere."

A trace of anxiety flashed across Penny’s face, and she finally couldn’t help but say,

"Your loyalty is touching, but this is not a war mandated by His Excellency the Marshal... and do you think there is still hope of winning this war?"

The Old Soldier looked at her seriously.

"We haven’t lost yet! As long as the weapons are delivered to the front line, we can immediately launch a counter-attack!"

"I know you are brave, but... one person can’t change the outcome of a war, and besides, you’re already injured. Wake up!"

Seeing that the man in front of her was still stubbornly unmoved, Penny bit her lip, glanced around, walked up to his side, and said in a lowered voice,

"I’ll tell you something, but you mustn’t tell anyone... including your superior."

The Old Soldier was delighted, but he kept his face expressionless.

"Speak."

Penny stared at him intently.

"Swear to me first."

"I swear by the name of the Pangolin, the faith in the Great Antler God, and my loyalty to His Excellency the Marshal... I absolutely won’t tell a second person about our conversation today." Raising a finger to his temple, the Old Soldier looked earnestly into her eyes.

A blush crept up on Penny’s cheeks, she awkwardly avoided that "hot" gaze and looked aside.

The hint of bashfulness was particularly dazzling under the moonlight, making the Old Soldier, who was spouting nonsense with such a serious face, somewhat reluctant to continue deceiving her.

After collecting her thoughts for a moment, Penny whispered,

"A governor has been dispatched from Triumph City."

The Old Soldier was slightly stunned.

"Governor?"

Penny nodded softly.

"Yes, the governor overseeing the Falcon Kingdom has brought orders from the Marshal’s headquarters... This is a command that bypasses the Eastern Legion’s Legion Leader directly."

The Old Soldier swallowed subconsciously.

"...What command?"

Penny shook her head with a wry smile.

"I don’t know... All I know is that it might be related to armistice negotiations."

Hearing the words "armistice," the Old Soldier froze.

"An armistice... Can His Excellency the Marshal accept such a loss?"

Penny sighed softly.

"That is not for me to speculate. Besides, it’s not about acceptance; the core interests of the Legion have never been in the East. The war was entirely the unilateral decision of the front-line troops and the indulgence of the expansionist faction... Eastern Legion’s Legion Leader Salen cannot accept the defeat of the Grand Canyon expedition, so he incited the Looter Tribe from the River Valley Province and the vassals from Luo Xia Province, preparing to plot a second expedition."

The Old Soldier looked at her in disbelief.

If this was true, it was a big deal indeed, possibly affecting the Alliance’s next strategic plans.

To confirm, he asked cautiously,

"Did... Did you come up with this yourself?"

Penny shook her head.

"My father serves as a civil official in Triumph City, though not a high-ranking one... It was thanks to his help that I was able to come here. But once I arrived, I realized that the news sent from the front lines to the rear had been doctored and even processed before it reached the Triumph Newspaper; the progress here is nothing like what Griffin had claimed."

"Triumph City can accept Griffin and McCullen maintaining the status quo in Luo Xia Province; the core interests of the Legion itself are not in the distant East. However, no one in the expansionist faction can accept the enterprises taking away the Legion’s vassals."

"It’s not just Triumph City that can’t accept Luo Xia Province falling entirely into corporate hands; the Academy also can’t accept it... If it truly comes to that, and the Alliance occupies the Falcon Kingdom with corporate support, do you know what this place will become?"

Looking at Penny with a serious face, the Old Soldier swallowed and asked cautiously,

"...What will it become?"

Penny continued seriously,

"Triumph City will declare war on the corporations. It will be a full-scale war across the entire Central Continent, a reckoning of history from one hundred and fifty years ago... The Academy might not like us, but they will allow us to pass because they dislike those people on the East Coast just as much."

A flicker of understanding suddenly dawned in the Old Soldier’s heart.

"Wait... So that’s why Griffin pulled back the defensive lines here?"

Come to think of it...

He had been pondering this before.

While retreating to Oasis No. 2 was a wise move, Griffin’s abandonment seemed too decisive—or rather, too quick.

It was somewhat unusual.

Penny shook her head,

"I don’t know... Maybe he didn’t think so at first, but he has clearly been pushed to this step. From his perspective, even the best outcome for him is the worst conclusion."

"Only by sacrificing these ten thousand troops and the Falcon Kingdom, allowing those Weilante Military Officers to be captured or even executed by the Allied forces and the corporations, could he possibly unite their families and the factions behind them, and reach a consensus on the controversial proposal of the second expedition."

At this point, her eyes showed a faint hint of panic and unease.

"I don’t want to think this way, but that’s just the way it is..."

"That man has gone mad."

...

At the same time.

Aboard the Iron Heart.

Chu Guang, who was busy with official duties, suddenly received a communication request from the direction of the Golden Lizard Kingdom.

In the holographic screen,

A middle-aged man dressed in a silver-gray robe with blue stripes along the seams nodded to him and introduced himself with a gentle voice,

"Hello, esteemed Manager, I am Li Ke, a B-level researcher from the Special Planning Group of the External Affairs Department at the Academy."

Looking at the B-level researcher in front of him, Chu Guang couldn’t help but display a bit of surprise in his eyes.

Just a few days ago, they had caused his side a hidden setback, yet not a ripple of emotion could be seen on his face.

It was as if nothing had happened.

Seeing that the other party didn’t plan to take the initiative to mention the Beacon team incident, Chu Guang certainly wasn’t going to bring it up either, so he pretended everything was normal and said with a smile,

"What do you need?"

"Of course, if it weren’t for something important, I would be embarrassed to disturb you like this," Li Ke said with a slight smile, but his next sentence was beyond Chu Guang’s expectations.

"We’re here to save you."

Chu Guang paused, then chuckled dismissively.

"Save us?"

"Yes," Li Ke nodded lightly, "Not just you, but the entire province of Falling Leaves, and even the survivors in the southern River Valley Province, are facing a life-and-death crisis. If this regional conflict escalates into the Army’s second expedition, your several years of management will turn to ashes."

Chu Guang slightly narrowed his eyes.

"Is this a threat?"

The person in the holographic image shook his head and spoke softly,

"It’s not a threat; it’s for the peace of those innocent people. I hope you can sit down and talk."

With a smile and a joking tone, Chu Guang said,

"An interesting phrase. Now, I’d like to ask where you were when someone with a big nose sent nuclear bombs to the Lost Valley."

Seemingly anticipating that the conversation would lead to the nuclear bomb, Li Ke in the holographic screen sighed slightly and said,

"We were just as surprised that they would use nuclear bombs, but what’s done is done. What we can prevent is the second or third nuclear bombs from being delivered here."

"The oases of Falling Leaves Province are one of the few legacies left by the Prosperity Epoch. This declining civilization cannot afford any more losses."

"This war was not instigated by us. We’re simply taking a neutral stance, hoping you can see the bigger picture and quit while you’re ahead."

"Of course, we wouldn’t ask you to give up your advantages without reason."

Chu Guang didn’t respond, instead waiting silently for him to continue.

Li Ke paused before continuing,

"I hear you have a nuclear fusion reactor, but the power generation has always been kept to the minimum standard... From this, we infer that your helium-3 reserves might not be much, right?"

Chu Guang wanted to say that it was actually because they didn’t need so much electricity, but he would certainly not expose his own shortcomings.

Seeing that Chu Guang still didn’t speak, Li Ke took it as confirmation that he had guessed correctly. A faint smile appeared on his face as he continued,

"1000 cubic meters of liquid helium."

Chu Guang was indifferent,

"What do I need that stuff for?"

"I’m talking about helium-3."

At the moment he heard this sentence, Chu Guang’s pupils contracted slightly.

He didn’t know how heavy a thousand cubic meters of liquid helium-3 must be, but he was very aware that a thousand cubic meters of liquid helium had to weigh at least 127 tons!

What did 127 tons of helium-3 represent?

If used entirely for nuclear fusion power generation, even considering energy conversion efficiency, this massive amount of energy would suffice a city similar to Singapore with a million residents for 127 years!

And for the entire globe, it would be enough for seven billion people to waste for a whole year!

Such a massive amount of energy would tempt not just him, but probably Ideal City as well!

After the Earth-Moon flights were interrupted, fusion fuel had almost become a non-renewable resource.

Although the Alliance didn’t need such a vast amount of energy for the time being, he happened to hold a Black Box that could produce nuclear fusion batteries in his hand!

Whether it was large aircraft or power armor, as long as they could get enough nuclear fuel, the Alliance had ways to produce them.

However, what Chu Guang didn’t understand was why the Academy would be willing to give such a nearly non-renewable strategic resource to the Alliance.

Aren’t these guys the most averse to "waste"?

Seeming to notice the confusion in his eyes, the researcher named Li Ke continued to say,

"...Of course, we wouldn’t transfer this energy directly to you, but we would give you coordinates to locate this batch of ’goods.’"

Great.

So it was a Blind Box.

Hearing that it was up to him to retrieve it himself, Chu Guang’s interest immediately waned. He leaned back in his chair.

"It’s been two hundred years, how do I know if it’s still there?"

Li Ke spoke with certainty,

"It’s definitely still there, we can confirm that the facilities’ security system is still operating, it’s just that for the Academy to retrieve it... it presents certain difficulties. After all, it’s still a bit of a distance from the swamps."

A bit of a distance...

So, does that mean in the southern part of the River Valley Province?

Although Chu Guang had previously speculated that there might be some nuclear reserves left in the Wasteland, he hadn’t expected there to be so much!

Chu Guang watched him impassively.

"Is the province of Falling Leaves worth 127 tons of helium-3 to you?"

Li Ke said in a very subdued voice,

"Whether it’s worth it or not is our business."

Chu Guang tapped his finger on the desk without giving a straight answer.

This was related to the future strategic direction of the Alliance, as well as the situation in Falling Leaves Province.

He needed to discuss it with others before making a decision.

"I’ll think about it."

Seeing that the young leader didn’t directly reject him, Li Ke breathed a sigh of relief, his face showing a relieved smile,

"Please do."

——

(Thanks to "leize110" for the grand reward!!!)

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