Ren Xiaosu and his men had expended their ammunition very quickly. The main reason for this was that everyone was inexperienced in fighting a battle. They had only fought once during the battle with the Qing Special Forces, and it even ended chaotically.
They did not even know how they had won against them. The post-battle conclusion was that the battalion commander was wise and outstanding enough to dupe their enemies to put down their weapons.
Now that they were in yet another battle, it was against a full-strength infantry regiment of 1,500 soldiers. Meanwhile, they only had around 500 people on their side.
No one other than Ren Xiaosu was aware that this infantry regiment was actually sent here to their deaths by Qing Zhen. So everyone would definitely feel a little flustered at the sight of them.
In their panic, their hands trembled, and they fired off their ammunition like it didn't cost a thing. They just kept their fingers on the trigger without letting go.
The troops at the other positions on the defensive front could only hear continuous gunfire and loud explosions coming from this side of the battlefield, but they did not know the actual situation of the battle over here.
Gradually, the infantry regiment below got so overwhelmed they lost all morale. When Ren Xiaosu noticed the barrels of the heavy machine guns turning red-hot, he scolded, \"Why are all y'all so fucking stupid? Piss on the gun barrels to cool them!\"
When the soldier who was responsible for feeding more ammunition into the heavy machine guns heard that, he immediately took off his pants and peed on a gun barrel. However, the heavy machine gunner ended up swearing, \"Fuck, it's splashing all over my face!\"
With the help of the Qing Consortium, a group of panicky amateurs had successfully defended the Li Consortium's high ground.
Many people would play down the power of heavy machine guns as they felt that it was just a gun no matter what. How could it be as powerful as artillery?
But war was never about specifications alone. The role of heavy machine guns in positional warfare was even more significant than one could imagine. In the history of humanity's wars, there was someone who had killed 3,200 people in a single day using only a heavy machine gun!
Seeing that the infantry regiment had been badly battered, Ren Xiaosu could finally use his binoculars to observe the other defensive positions.
But he was surprised by what he saw. Some of the Qing Consortium's soldiers had already penetrated the other elevated locations with the support of artillery fire. Meanwhile, the majority of the Li Consortium's Position 313 had been bombarded into a mess, and the heavy fire positions deployed on the high ground were forcefully broken through by the Qing Consortium. This was a situation no one had expected before the battle began.
The camp's ground at the rear was no longer smooth but looked like it had been bombarded quite heavily as well.
However, it seemed that the Qing Consortium did not want to take out Position 313 in its entirety. Qing Zhen was well-versed in military tactics and knew well that they would definitely face the Li Consortium's frenzied counterattack if they seized Position 313.
The occupation of some hills often changed hands hundreds of times during a war. By the end of the war, the slopes would even get painted crimson red. Some people would even slip and fall when they stepped on the slopes as blood seeped deep into the ground.
Therefore, it did not mean a battle would end after the high ground was seized successfully. Immediately after the Qing Consortium occupied one of the hills, the Li Consortium would bombard them back with heavy artillery fire. At that moment, a large number of the Qing Consortium's soldiers who had just charged up would perish in an instant.
War is cruel. It doesn't care whether you have parents to support or if your son is waiting for you at home.
Everything that happened in war was to determine the final victory.
Ren Xiaosu raised his binoculars and gazed at the rear. His only focus was on the three mysterious tents. Or to put it better, he only cared about the movements of the nanosoldiers.
The defensive deployment map he had given away earlier was not considered particularly detailed. After all, Ren Xiaosu did not get to fully walk around Position 313, so he could only draw whatever he had seen.
But he had specially marked the tents the nanosoldiers were in and reminded Tang Zhou that they must bombard the area there with their artillery fire.
Naturally, it wouldn't be realistic to expect an accurate attack on the rear without any laser-guided weapons or detailed mapping. But as per their agreement, Qing Zhen put in even more money in order to fully bombard the area where the three tents were located.
Ren Xiaosu saw that the three tents no longer stood. There was only a pile of corpses and a pool of fresh blood on the ground. Seeing that, Ren Xiaosu got all excited.
Suddenly, the voice from the palace in his mind said, \"Quest: Save a 100 people. You will receive five allocatable attribute points.\"
Ren Xiaosu was stunned for a moment. He was wondering what excuse he could make to return to the rear. However, the palace immediately came up with a reason for him.
He took a look at the remaining few soldiers of the infantry regiment below them before shouting to Chen Wudi, \"Wudi, follow me back to the camp to save the others. There are many wounded soldiers there!\"
Then Ren Xiaosu even pointed to the combat platoon that included Jiang Wu's students to go with him.
Chen Wudi's eyes lit up. \"OK, Master!\"
The two of them turned around and rushed back towards the rear. Li Qingzheng was nearly scared out of his wits and said, \"Battalion Commander, don't go! How are we going to handle this if you leave now!\"
\"Don't worry, just keep a careful watch on our position. The remainder of the infantry regiment won't be able to cause any trouble to us now!\" Ren Xiaosu did not even turn around as he shouted to Li Qingzheng.
Li Qingzheng was dazed for a moment. He had thought they would have a tough fight here. But as it stood, they still had enough energy to go back to save the wounded.
Before this, everyone at Position 313 felt that Ren Xiaosu and his men were doomed.
But so far in this battle, even after some of the troops had entirely perished, the Heroes Battalion only suffered around a 100 casualties.
Although this number of casualties accounted for one-fifth of their total strength, there had been bullets and artillery shells flying all around on the battlefield. It was a miracle they had taken so few casualties!
With only a 100 casualties, they were able to annihilate the enemy's infantry regiment of 1,500. If news of this spread back to the Li Consortium's generals at the rear, they would be shocked!
Of course, saying that it was an annihilation would definitely be an exaggeration. But Ren Xiaosu would definitely brag like that.
Ren Xiaosu, Chen Wudi, and his men rushed all the way back to the rear of Position 313. At this moment, the camp was a mess. The command center's tent had collapsed and no one knew the whereabouts of Ma Kai.
Medics were running around in a bid to save the injured, but there were just too many casualties. How could they possibly save everyone?
But Ren Xiaosu's goal was clear. When he rushed back to the camp, he led Chen Wudi and the others to where the nanosoldiers used to be. Ren Xiaosu shouted, \"Wudi, bring the others along and carry the wounded to get them treatment!\"
Ren Xiaosu was already looking for any nanosoldiers who'd died. As smoke was lingering over the battlefield, he could not clearly see where the dead nanosoldiers were.
However, Ren Xiaosu's sense of direction was pretty good, so he quickly located the spot where the three tents were. Each time he encountered a nanosoldier, he would immediately get the palace to unlock and reset the nanomachines in them. After the process was completed, he quickly stored the nanomachines in his storage space.
There was a limit to the number of nanomachines a human body could hold. Moreover, Ren Xiaosu had harvested so many nanomachines by now that he could not hide them in himself anymore. He could only store them in his storage space.
The wounded were wailing in agony on the ground. Someone tried to pull Ren Xiaosu to a stop as he passed by, but he didn't even look at the person.
The wounded soldier was dumbfounded. 'Aren't you here to rescue the injured?'
Wait a minute. The wounded soldier recognized Ren Xiaosu and called out to him, \"Ren Xiaosu! You're Ren Xiaosu! Save me, quickly!\"
Ren Xiaosu, who had already made a circuit and collected all the nanomachines he could find, was still a little unsatisfied. When he turned around and heard the cry for help, he was stunned. 'Eh, isn't that Lin Qi lying on the ground?!'
He chuckled and said, \"I'm so sorry, I didn't notice you just now. How's your injury?\"
Lin Qi struggled to say, \"It's not the time to reminisce. You—\"
But before he could finish speaking, Ren Xiaosu picked up a piece of shrapnel from the ground and stabbed it into Lin Qi's neck. Lin Qi looked up at Ren Xiaosu and only saw a stone-cold look in his eyes.
Ren Xiaosu lamented, \"When I think back, it's such a pity the wolves failed to kill you last time.\"
Lin Qi's eyes widened, but he could not make a sound. So the wolves also had something to do with Ren Xiaosu? He fully understood now that this Ren Xiaosu was actually much stronger than he had thought at the beginning.
This was the last conscious thought Lin Qi had in this world before he succumbed to endless darkness.