CHAPTER 711: ANALYSING THE SITUATION

As another video showed up, they could see a collection of pictures, all of them showing giant footprints near the forest or right on the road.

There was no denial at this point that there was certainly more than one, seemingly moving around in a pack of some sort.

"Where was this video recorded?"

Xiaoyun curiously asked, noticing how the surroundings in the footage were just full of endless trees beside the highway.

"It’s located a few km away from a temporary base we had set near Fengkai county. It’s just ten kilometers away from where we first noticed the mutant."

Hearing Zhangbei’s answer, Xiaoyun nodded his head in acknowledgment. However, Yiming instantly noticed a key detail missing.

"Why did the mutant attack you guys? Did the giant mutant just happen to walk towards your bases?"

"Um..."

As the younger soldiers nervously looked away from their superior’s stare, it became clear there was something hidden from the full story.

"What exactly triggered the giant mutant to attack your base in Zhaoqing? Can any of you answer the question?"

Seeing Yiming repeating his question and not getting an answer, Xiaoyun signalled him to take a step back.

"I just want you guys to know, you won’t be in trouble as long as you... stated what the army had done to cause the mutant to attack."

After a long silence, one of the younger soldiers finally stepped out of the line despite Zhangbei’s death stare.

"Commander! We lured the giant mutant towards our base after we found it wandering around near the outskirts of Wuzhou city."

"Outskirts of Wuzhou city?"

As Xiaoyun and Yiming both looked over the map, they soon realized why the four of them in the back looked so nervous the whole time.

"Zhangbei, is that true? Did the division stationed in ’Zhaoqing’ go ahead to the outskirts of Wuzhou?"

Yiming questioned as irritation appeared on his face. He was upset with the soldier going outside of what was set as their limit.

"It’s true. But it’s not what you had imagined, General Yiming. The giant mutant was going to approach us, sooner or later.

We just decided to pre-emptively strike before it could. There’s no better time than that exact moment when we found it wandering alone."

As Zhangbei argued back, Xiaoyun looked over to the soldiers in the back, who all nodded their heads slightly in a show of solidarity.

"No attempt to get an order from a superior or any radio messages. Did General Yezi even know about this before your division leader launched the attack?"

All of them fell into silence as Yiming looked at all five of them dead in the eyes. It became clear this was all an unsanctioned order by a single person.

"Who was the Division leader at Fengkai County?" Xiaoyun curiously questioned as his face looked much calmer than Yiming’s.

"Major Lan led the operation." Zhangfei quietly answered.

"A Major! You guys didn’t even have Colonel on duty to lead the offensive! Who the hell thought this was a good idea?"

Yiming’s anger finally reached a boiling point as he couldn’t believe the level of rash decision-making the low-entry officers were making.

"Wait, you guys only had a regiment when fighting against this mutant?" Xiaoyun questioned as he signalled Yiming to take a step back.

"We... We only have a regiment. But the 5th Division quickly came to reinforce us after we sent out the warning signals."

"So you guys managed to defeat the giant mutant with a single division and a few... missiles?"

All five of them thought about it for a second, then nodded their head as what he had described sounded roughly how the battle went by.

"Our bullets and RPGs couldn’t penetrate its skin. But when the reinforcement fired its missile, the back of its head was completely blown off." Zhangbei explained.

"If the battle were to happen again, would having more soldiers make any difference outside of the missiles?" Xiaoyun questioned.

"Um..."

Once again, Zhangbei couldn’t really come up with an answer. Neither could the four soldiers in the back.

"Ahem, the five of you can take a break for a week. Houqin, you can keep hold of the laptop... Thanks for sharing your experience."

"No problem, sir."

As all five of them walked out of the office, Yiming was a little surprised as Xiaoyun just dismissed them out of nowhere.

"Why did you send them away?" Yiming questioned.

"They looked a little tired. Besides, the situation doesn’t seem as dire as I had first imagined it to be."

Yiming thought about it for a second before the anger on his face disappeared as his rationality took back control.

"You’re right. It does sound a lot less urgent than what you described to me earlier... Do you have any plans?"

"What makes you think I recall you back for?"

Xiaoyun’s straightforward answer didn’t rub Yiming the wrong way as he looked genuinely surprised by his answer.

"Xiaoyun, I have never seen you run out of ideas... Is there something I can help you with to deal with this problem?"

As the two of them stared at each other in silence, Xiaoyun’s finger suddenly began quietly tapping on the table.

He had already formulated a plan when he recalled Yiming, but he wasn’t sure how to phrase his solution to him.

After a whole minute of tapping against the table, his hand stopped.

"Yiming, do you know Zhongxiong?"

"Zhongxiong? The leader in Hunan? The one that we helped with Lingang in capturing Changsha?"

"Yeah. Do you know him? Like personally, before the outbreak or after?"

Yiming fell into silence for a second as he looked a little zoned out, almost as if the old man was digging through his memory for a second.

"He was the second man in charge of the old general. He was the main person who assigned me to be in charge of the rescue mission in Guangzhou."

"Oh. Sorry to hear that."

The answer made Xiaoyun realize their history goes much further back than he had initially imagined.

He had been assuming the two were just co-workers, or at least knew each other’s existence, not to be the main cause that led him to be here.

"He was only following orders. I have no grudges against him... I haven’t talked to him in a long time, if that’s what you’re wondering."

Seeing Yiming quickly trying to clarify their relationship, Xiaoyun didn’t mind it at all, as he was actually hoping the two had been talking to each other.

"That’s a shame... Ahem, I’m going to be frank with you, Yiming. I was hoping you had a connection to Zhongxiong so we can get more missiles."

"This... This isn’t actually a bad idea."

Yiming murmured as he began to see Xiaoyun’s vision, trying to use his army connection to negotiate for more missiles to fight against the giant mutants.

"Yeah, but since you don’t really have the connection to Zhongxiong, I’m back to being in square one——"

"I can try to talk him into giving us more missiles." Yiming interrupted as his face suddenly looked much more positive than before.

"You sure? You think he’ll talk to you about it? The last time I tried to see him in person, he just sent me straight to his officers in Changsha."

"He wouldn’t reject a meeting with a fellow comrade."

Hearing the determination in his voice, Xiaoyun thought about it for a bit before nodding his head in agreement.

"Very well... I grant you full negotiation power. I just need you to somehow get more missiles as your top priority."

"Yes, sir!"

As Yiming saluted right in front of Xiaoyun, he looked over to Houqin, who had been mostly silent the whole time.

"Houqin, I know you had just met your parents, but can you also go with Yiming for this negotiation? It’s really important."

"Commander, you don’t have to say that. Your order is my command."

With Houqin saluting towards him, the problem seemed to be solved as Xiaoyun saluted right back at the two of them.

"I’ll take care of the work that remains here. You two can go now."

---

As the meeting came to a close, both Houqin and Yiming didn’t waste any time as they headed out with a small group of soldiers in several armored cars.

There was not much Xiaoyun could do other than pray that the negotiation goes well, as he couldn’t think of any other solution.

The missiles were the only thing that was certain in defeating those mutants... At least proven to work for now.

Still, he wasn’t about to put all his eggs in one basket as he assigned one of the logistic workers to take Houqin’s spot before heading out himself.

Xiaoyun had one destination in mind. No, two destinations in mind that could potentially act as a solution to the giant mutants.

"Surely Anna and those three Russians can find something more lethal, right?"

Xiaoyun thought to himself as he drove his car. In his mind, missiles were just a glorified, bigger RPG that they hadn’t been able to reproduce.

In his head, creating a missile just couldn’t be that hard when they already produce so many different things that can explode.