The Great Hoodwinker's pure physical strength made him extremely powerful. Ren Xiaosu had not asked exactly how strong he was before, but the fact he could take on a T5 combatant head-on without being disadvantaged proved that.
Back then, the Great Hoodwinker had killed a T5 combatant with his bare hands in the Sacred Mountains.
Therefore, when the Great Hoodwinker stopped hiding his identity and started taking on this expeditionary army's supply corps, Ren Xiaosu had no intention of interfering at all.
After all, there were no elite barbarians among their supply convoy.
It was just as well since he wanted to know what the Great Hoodwinker's actual strength was.
If one did not witness it for themselves, they would not know how shocking that power was. As a supernatural being, the Great Hoodwinker could only develop his physical fitness to the extreme. This led to the Great Hoodwinker achieving a freakishly insane level of physical fitness.
When the barbarians surrounded and attacked the Great Hoodwinker, the old man did not dodge or retreat. He forcefully used his bare hands to take the blows from the huge axes.
One of the barbarians slashed at the Great Hoodwinker with his huge axe, but the Great Hoodwinker simply pinched the edge of the blade with two of his fingers and stopped it. It was as though he was showing off, and he looked extremely ferocious doing so too.
If it were just a normal battle, everyone would probably only have the impression that the Great Hoodwinker was really powerful. However, they would not know exactly how powerful he was.
But now, he was actually able to grip the edge of the axe blade with two fingers. This was a truly terrifying sight to behold.
However, Ren Xiaosu was curious if the Great Hoodwinker usually fought like this, or if he was trying to show off a little in his presence?
Ren Xiaosu was initially still 600 meters away from the supply convoy. And by the time he closed in, the 100-odd barbarians in the supply convoy had died.
The Great Hoodwinker was panting heavily at first. But when Ren Xiaosu got closer, he puffed up his chest and said to Ren Xiaosu in an extremely relaxed manner, "Future Commander, I missed you so much. I really didn't expect to see you here!"
"Hey, why did you suddenly appear here? And even among the barbarians' supply corps?" Ren Xiaosu wondered, "I thought you went back to the Northwest?"
"I did make a trip back to the Northwest, but our Prosperous Northwest business has not yet been completed, so I definitely have to continue coming back to the Central Plains to seek out talents." The Great Hoodwinker chuckled. Then he said to the refugees who had been held by the expeditionary army, "Alright, y'all should hurry up and leave. Remember, head northwest. There's only dead ends if you head south from here. The Northwest is where life lies!"
Regardless of whether the Great Hoodwinker was using his lame mysticism to fool people, what he said this time was right. The South was filled with battlefields, and the refugees would die no matter where they went if they headed south. Therefore, these people could only head northwest.
However, one of the refugees suddenly asked, "Since you're so powerful, why didn't you make a move when the barbarians killed our compatriots?"
The Great Hoodwinker was amused. "All of you are still alive because of me. Cut the bullshit and get outta here!"
The refugees did not dare to say anything further. The Great Hoodwinker's eyes suddenly darted around as he said, "If y'all still feel indignant about it, you can come and reason with me after the war is over. Remember, I'm Wang Run of the Wang Consortium!"
As those refugees fled towards the northwest, Ren Xiaosu said helplessly, "I don't think there's a need to hide your true identity, right?"
"That won't do. Surely we can't discredit the Northwest, right?" The Great Hoodwinker said, "People always distort information these days. Although it was because I had another mission to carry out that I didn't save them, I don't know what will happen if word gets around. In any case, the Wang Consortium is not afraid of being framed. Their hands are already dirty, so this won't make a difference."
Ren Xiaosu did not follow up on this. Instead, he asked, "What were you doing with the supply column?"
"Initially, I brought someone to the Pyro Company to recruit suitable talent for the Prosperous Northwest, but I didn't expect the Pyro Company to be defeated so quickly. I wasn't captured, but I thought that I could sneak into the expeditionary army this way, so I voluntarily got caught by them." The Great Hoodwinker said, "Then I wondered if I should infiltrate the expeditionary army's ranks and kill one or two high-ranking commanders of theirs. That plan would definitely have disrupted the barbarians' rhythm of attack."
"Then I guess I messed up your plan." Ren Xiaosu said in embarrassment, "I didn't expect you to have such an important mission by infiltrating into this group!"
However, the young man next to him muttered, "As if he has any fucking plan…"
The Great Hoodwinker glared at him. "I'm warning you, don't lie in front of the future commander."
Ren Xiaosu asked, "And this is?"
Ren Xiaosu looked at him and saw the young man looked to be in his mid-20s. He was fair-skinned and chubby.
"Oh, his name is Xun Yeyu. Future Commander, you probably haven't heard of him before. This is the chubster we captured during the war with the Zong Consortium." The Great Hoodwinker explained, "His superpower is searching for superhumans within a 100-kilometer radius. That's why I brought him here from the Northwest. I wanted to see if there's any supernatural beings that slipped through our fingers."
After Xun Yeyu was captured by the Zong Consortium, he was given an important position in their organization. In that war, it was obvious the Zong Consortium had more supernatural beings than the other organizations, and that was all thanks to this guy.
Many of the supernatural beings from the other organizations managed to keep themselves well-hidden and did not get exposed.
But all of the supernatural beings in the Zong Consortium had been identified by him.
Since the Great Hoodwinker was seeking to recruit people for the Prosperous Northwest, he could make use of the chubster's superpower.
"Pleased to meet you." Ren Xiaosu chuckled and said, "Keep working hard and strive to be a useful person to the Northwest."
Xun Yeyu replied, "… Alright, Future Commander."
Xun Yeyu had often heard others mention the future commander before, but this was his first time meeting him in person.
The Great Hoodwinker asked, "Future Commander, why are you here? Shouldn't you be at Mt. Zuoyun?"
Ren Xiaosu sighed and said, "The situation over there isn't too good. We were also caught off guard by the Pyro Company's defeat, so I came out in an attempt to disrupt the expeditionary army's supply line and give them a headache."
Then Ren Xiaosu went to look through the provisions in the carts. However, he realized the provisions this time were no longer food from the Central Plains. Instead, they consisted of some black bread and coarse grains.
Puzzled, he broke off some black bread and stuffed it into his mouth. Then he said, "This black bread tastes like cornbread. Is this what the expeditionary army eats? This shows that they really do have a very difficult time in the North. No wonder they suddenly headed south."
But even so, the Central Plains and the barbarians were on opposing sides. Even if the other party were here for the survival of their own kind, there was no possibility the Central Plains would back down anymore. The two sides would definitely be fighting to the death.
Afterwards, Ren Xiaosu stored all of the provisions the troops were transporting in his storage space. Regardless of whether the food might taste good, they would still be used as emergency rations.
P5092's voice suddenly crackled in Ren Xiaosu's earpiece, "Future Commander, did everything go smoothly?"
"Yes! Smooth sailing!" Ren Xiaosu said, "The food shortage issue at the defensive position has been resolved. There's more than enough provisions here."
"Hurry back then, Future Commander," P5092 said.
"No." Ren Xiaosu looked at the Great Hoodwinker. "I've just joined up with the Great Hoodwinker. Under such circumstances, I'll feel like I'm missing out if I don't take advantage of our situation."