Chapter 133 – Rescue Operation
3 PM.
The morale of the townsmen elevated and their attitude toward Tong Army got better.
At this moment, Bo Cai and Gao Shun returned with a thousand young women behind them. As soon as the people in the refugee camp saw that the kidnapped people had returned, they burst into cheers.
Because of the hugs that Tong made his soldier did to the people, the Ganling citizens hugged the soldiers back in delight. A dozen of husband-hunting women also took this chance to hug good looking young soldiers and touched their bodies all over.
Zhao Yun ran away from the chasing widows and old women and hid behind Tong with a frightened expression as if he was the prey and he was being hunted. Fortunately, Tong's bodyguards stopped the old cougars before Zhao Yun was violated.
A messenger from Zhang Liao also arrived.
"Reporting, Lord Zhang Liao has surrounded the village as instructed. Upon the initial observation, the bandits are staying in that village with a few hundreds of kidnapped young women. Lord Zhang Liao sent me here to ask for your advice. Should we assault the village right away or what should we do?"
Hearing that there were still many hostages in the hands of the bandits, Zhao Yun frowned in anger. He turned around to look at Tong, who was rechecking his radar map once again.
"My Lord?" The messenger was waiting for Tong's instruction.
"How many bandits in the village again?"
"Umm. Roughly a thousand or two."
Tong glanced at the messenger and smirked.
"FBI tactic. You know the drill."
"Eh…? Ah! Understood, my lord!"
Zhao Yun glared at Tong. There were still kidnapped people inside the village. If they used the tactic again, the hostages might die.
Seeing the dissatisfaction face of Zhao Yun, Tong laughed.
"I think it's time to show you what we, the immortal, can do. Feihong, gate please."
Li Feihong, who was idle for all these times, tilted his head in puzzlement.
"Where to?"
"The village that we're attacking. Let's try our practiced assassin-gate tactic. While we are at it, we will rescue the girls from the village. And, let's take Zhao Tian with us, too."
"Huh? OK."
…
3.50 PM
Tong, Li Feihong, and Zhao Yun were gazing at the monitors in the private world.
Li Feihong managed to gate travel to the side of the village without noticing Zhang Liao or alerting Zhang Yan. Tong ordered him to do so as he was cautious of the mysterious otherworlder.
As long as they were inside this private world, they could see the situation outside and could determine where or how to act based on the changing events.
Hundreds of the monitors were broadcasting the interiors of the buildings inside the target village as if they were the record screens from CCTV cameras.
With Li Feihong's sorting and monitor arrangement, they managed to locate the hostages inside a new wooden building.
The young girl hostages were the best looking girls in the Ganling City. All of their clothes were stripped away, revealing their white skins. Traces of the sexual abuse could be seen which made Tong and Li Feihong felt nauseous.
"Are we late?" Li Feihong asked Tong.
"No. They are still alive. We're not too late yet."
"But… Their mind was pretty much broken. I doubt they can continue their normal life with this trauma."
"Let's worry about this later. We'll save them first."
"Right."
Tong turned around to look at Zhao Yun.
At first, Zhao Yun was awestruck by the environment, unknown magic, monitors, and their identities as immortals. He came back to his sense after he saw the status of the violated townswomen inside the bandit village. He forgot about his embarrassment and shame as his level of anger went through the roof.
Tong tapped Zhao Yun's shoulder to calm him down.
"The bandits will get what they deserve. For now, cool your head. I and Feihong will rescue them, so you can relax."
Zhao Yun looked back at Tong. He knelt down and cupped his fist.
"Please allow me to fight alongside with you! I want to kill these scoundrels myself!"
Tong shook his head. "No. You stay here."
"But sir! I can fight!"
Tong still shook his head. "Yes, you can fight. To be honest, you're probably stronger than me. But I still can't let you join the battle."
"Then why?"
Zhao Yun stared into the eyes of Tong in dissatisfaction. He wanted to protest. At the same time, he wanted to leave Tong's army to fight the bandits by himself.
"Do you want my honest opinion or do you want my white lie?" Tong asked.
"Honest opinion, please."
"You are not qualified to fight alongside with my soldiers in this battlefield."
"What!?"
Zhao Yun stood up as he flared up from Tong's provocation. On the other hand, Tong gazed at Zhao Yun in a pity.
'He's still too young and too immature. There's a long road ahead of him before he can become the "Zhao Zilong" of the legend. The legendary Zhao Yun wouldn't get provoked from this slight criticism.'
"Then return me back to my city. I can fight alone without your help!"
Zhao Yun continued to glare at Tong in anger.
"It can't be helped, then."
Tong snapped his fingers at pointed at Zhao Yun's feet.
"[Create Food], vegetable oil."
Then he repeated what he had done to Lu Bu at Jinyang City.
"[Create Food], water!"
A jet-line of water slammed the face of Zhao Yun. The combination of the slippery oil and water threw Zhao Yun on the ground. He attempted to get up again, but he was hit by the water stream which made him lost balance and got pinned down on the floor.
"Feihong. Can you panned the camera on the brat?" Tong requested Li Feihong.
"I can. You want me to do it now?"
"Yes, please."
One of the monitors showed Zhao Yun and Tong in it.
"Show it to Zhao Yun."
"OK… wait, did you just say Zhao Yun!? Isn't this dude Zhao Tian?"
"Don't fret the small detail. Do it as I said."
"Sure, sure … Zhao Yun, eh?"
Despite the shock, Li Feihong did what Tong asked him to do. The monitor was placed on mid-air, right in front of the crawling Zhao Yun.
"Do you know why I said you are not qualified, Zhao Zilong?"
Zhao Yun jolted. He had never told anyone about his style name and his real name, yet Tong knew about it all. Then, the monitor caught his attention. It was showing his unsightly expression.
"Do you think the person in the monitor is calm and collect?"
"…" Zhao Yun did not answer.
"Do you think the person in the monitor can make the right judgment in the midst of a battle?"
"…"
"Do you think that a person who is blinded by anger can save the towns-girls?"
"…"
"If you were a commander of an army, let's say a volunteer force of a hundred men, will you entrust an important task to an angry man?"
Zhao Yun's body trembled. He gazed at himself in the monitor and shook his head in shame.
"You should have fought with someone with this kind of expression before. Do you think he can exert his full prowess with this mental state?"
Zhao Yun shook his head again.
"This is the reason why I said you are not qualified to participate in this battle. In my hometown, there was a saying. If you are frustrated, then you are stupid. If you are angry, then you are insane. And if you are mad, then you can't consider yourself a human, but a beast."
A chill ran down Zhao Yun's spine. Tong's philosophy stabbed his black heart. If he fought with his previous mental condition, he would have gotten himself killed.
He was insane and stupid as Tong had said.
"Remember my words. If you want to be a good soldier or a commander that everyone can look up to or rely on, you must never be swayed by your emotions. You must be calm. Your mind must be as serene as still water. Once you've achieved that mentality, your insight will expand. Your vision will broaden. And no enemy's petty trick will be able to fool you!"
Li Feihong had a wry smile on his face as he observed and listened to Tong who was preaching for Zhao Yun. That philosophy was one of the proverbs in the modern day. Using it to attract this future legend was cheating, but Li Feihong could not complain because he had already boarded Tong's pirate ship. They had to sail on this Yellow Turbans ship together til the end.
Meanwhile, Zhao Yun got goosebumps all over. He fell into a daze as his brain repeated Tong's teaching over and over again.
Seeing that his brainwashing technique worked, Tong winked at Li Feihong.
"Leave him alone for the moment. Let's save the girls first. Maybe I can scout a few wives for you. You haven't had a girlfriend in this life yet, right?"
"Please stop bullying me, Tong. I don't want a wife yet."
...
4.10 PM.
A blue gate opened behind a dozing bandit inside the prison house where the kidnapped girls were locked up inside. Two hands came out of the gate with a dagger.
The dagger sliced the neck of the sleeping guard while the other hand covered his mouth. The two hands dragged the dead guard into the gate, then it was closed.
The gate reappeared again behind another dozing guard and repeated the same actions.
Two lookout guards were down. No bandit was inside the building.
Tong walked out of the blue gate. He gestured to every panicked girl to be quiet.
"I'm an immortal mystic. I've heard of your prayers, so I've come to help you. Now, get into this light gate, it will take you to the mystic realm. We'll take you back to your family."
Hearing that he came to help, the eyes of the girls brightened.
Tong cut off the ropes on them. The girls staggered into the gate one after another. After a few minutes, all prisoners were rescued. Tong also jumped back into the gate to escape.
Another gate appeared in another building. Tong did the same with the guards and the hostages. It took him 30 minutes to rescue all of the kidnapped girls, but the mission was successful.
Zhao Yun gazed at Tong and Li Feihong in awe. From the start to finish, he witnessed everything both of them had done.
'This is… the real immortal power?'
Behind Zhao Yun, hundreds of half-naked young girls and beautiful women huddled together in nervousness. However, the sight of greenery grasslands and farms in a distance soothed their heart. They managed to relax a little, but they were still embarrassed by the lack of clothes.
"All hostages have been rescued. What's next?" Li Feihong asked Tong.
"We'll help Zhang Liao and his men. For now, let's inform Zhang Liao about the hostage situation first."