Young Kaz Khan practiced tank driving and shooting all afternoon, then found a secluded spot to memorize Free Star River Alliance vocabulary for two hours. By the time he returned to his stone house, his wife had already served the roasted steak and sweet potatoes.
"Good thing I reheated a portion just now. Eat quickly," his wife, Sha Xue, said.
His wife's snow-white scales shimmered with a faint golden glow under the dim light. She was still the renowned beauty who had captivated Kaz Khan.
Kaz Khan silently gnawed on a Luo Beast steak and ate a sweet potato, then suddenly said, "I might have to leave home for a few years."
Sha Xue, who was mending Kaz Khan's outer robe, stopped her work and quietly looked at her husband.
"The Great Elder wants to send some young people to study abroad, and he hopes I will lead the team."
"That's a good thing!" his wife said. "Go without worry. Don't worry about home; I'm here."
How could Kaz Khan not worry? He and his wife had three children; the oldest was only six, and the youngest was still in swaddling clothes. He had succeeded to the chieftainship at a young age and had resorted to some drastic measures to stabilize the position his father had left him, so it was impossible for him to have no enemies. He and the neighboring White Thorn Tribe had long been mortal enemies over water sources and oases.
However, he knew that from the perspective of the universe, what meaning did the grievances and enmities of one or two tribes hold?
"At worst, we'll give the tribe to Uncle Luozi, and I'll take the children back to my maiden home," his wife said with a smile.
Kaz Khan was slightly startled, then he also smiled. His wife was very intelligent, and crucially, she understood him perfectly. This moved him the most.
He held his wife's hands, wanting to say something more, but then vaguely heard gunshots outside.
"It must be those little rascals practicing their shooting again," his wife said with a smile.
"Shooting?"
"Yes, didn't you say that in the future, even our Vanu will be a world of guns? Only by dedicating half the time usually spent on practicing swords and javelins to practicing guns can we survive later. Kaz, they listened."
Kaz Khan was even more touched. These tribal elites, personally selected and trained by him, though young, were all excellent and sensible. They would surely become the future pillars of the entire tribe.
"If Uncle Luozi is unwilling to use them… let them organize a mercenary team themselves, led by Mr. Feng Quan, the Great Elder's chief disciple. They can also make a living on their own." At the same time, perhaps they could also recruit young people with ideals, courage, and unyielding will from various tribes and city-states to join, strengthening our future power. Kaz Khan calculated this in his mind.
"You'll have to tell them yourself. If they know you're leaving, they'll surely clamor to go with you," Sha Xue said.
"How is that possible? There aren't that many spots…" Kaz Khan had just joked for a moment when the gunshots outside seemed to intensify, occasionally interspersed with sudden explosions.
"No! This isn't practice!" The young chieftain stood up with a "whoosh." He was far from an expert in firearms and armor, but he knew that the White Raven guns heavily equipped by his tribe did not sound like this.
"I, I'll go out and see. You stay here, don't move!" The chieftain was about to leave but then, still uneasy, pulled out a wristband and placed it on the fur blanket in front of his wife.
"Twist the knob on top, and it can open a shield! This is an ancient relic gifted to me by the Great Elder."
After explaining all this, Kaz Khan strode out of the stone room. He saw a Black Scale Sand People running quickly towards him. It was Mo Wei, a famous young warrior in the tribe and the Captain of his chieftain's personal guard.
"Chieftain, something seems wrong."
It wasn't just 'wrong'; everything was wrong!
Kaz Khan gritted his teeth and looked in the direction of the sound, only to see fire erupting and cannons roaring on the distant high ground. He felt his entire body go cold.
"Quick, tell everyone to gather! Everyone!" Kaz Khan roared, "Seagod Highland! There's a problem at the heavy artillery position!"
But at this moment, the battle on what the Sand People called "Seagod Highland," and what was known as "Archie Hill 6" on the Command HQ's map, had already begun.
Captain Winter left two fire points on this side of the mountain. The rest of them, including Yu Lian himself, activated their mechs' built-in power gliding systems, soaring over the hundred-meter-long gully below like divine soldiers descending from the sky, leaping onto the high ground. They hadn't even reacted until Lieutenant Parkin, the first to land, smashed a Sand People sentry dozing by the mountain with his battle-axe, pulverizing half his body.
"Parkin, take your First Platoon and secure the stone gate on the mountain path, set up defenses there. Ainan, take Second Platoon to the left! Capture targets 1 to 5! Northam's Third Platoon to the right, capture targets 6 to 10! Fourth Platoon, follow me!"
"All enemies, except the enemy's hired Engineers, are to be killed! Repeat, kill them all!"
Captain Winter commanded loudly while charging quickly, his rifle never stopping. He was by no means a bloodthirsty person, but this was certainly not the time to be soft-hearted. They were essentially playing a central fire in the midst of a million enemy troops; any slight carelessness would result in total annihilation, so naturally, they couldn't leave any living enemies around. As for the Goblin Engineers, they had to leave some alive to interrogate them about who was behind them. Yu Lian didn't think the Sand People could have connections to find them. Of course, this race wasn't the type to fight to the death without surrendering anyway, so the risk of sparing their lives was still controllable.
As Captain Winter advanced, he observed the position of almost every soldier through the holographic map, arranging subsequent orders in an orderly manner.
"Fire Bat, prepare to activate support mode!"
"Aman, prepare to snipe! Take out those tank drivers!"
The pre-arranged fire points on the opposite mountain began to unleash their power.
Several of the fastest reacting Sand People rushed towards their stitched-up tanks, only to be destroyed on the spot. The soldiers around Captain Winter began to fire single shots at every enemy that appeared in their sight. A gun barrel poked out of a nearby blockhouse and had just spewed a string of flames when it found that all the attackers were hiding behind cover, and its shots hadn't hit anyone.
A soldier in a Fire Bat special mech slid twice on the ground and had already arrived outside the blockhouse, directly spraying flames into it.
The screams lasted only a moment before completely dying out.
Yu Lian raised his gun and killed several unlucky fellows who poked their heads out of the opposite watchtower, feeling great admiration. All of Captain Winter's orders were decisive and direct, without the slightest hesitation or error. Perhaps some nitpickers might argue that he was just giving orders strictly according to existing tactical manuals, but isn't achieving just that the mark of the most perfect grassroots officer?
Yu Lian raised his gun, and two more bursts killed all the Sand People attempting to climb the guard post, until several mobile infantry climbed up and completely occupied these commanding heights.
"Good marksmanship!" Captain Winter casually praised him.
Yu Lian chuckled twice, then looked at the three tanks in the center of the high ground, and the tank drivers who lay dead around them, their eyes wide open. He rolled his eyes: "We can push them over there, to the mountain path."
The Captain looked at the mountain path and saw that Parkin's advance was also very smooth. The burly man had already climbed onto the stone gate at the mountain pass, using his battle-axe to send the last Sand People flying. Winter quickly understood Yu Lian's meaning and nodded: "Big Bull, block those tanks on the mountain road."
Operating a tank was certainly a skilled job, but just driving it wasn't too big of a problem.
"Sir, all targets cleared!" Lieutenant Ainan's voice came through the comms.
"Cleared!" Lieutenant Northam also said.
As for their side, the soldiers of Fourth Platoon had already surrounded several large armored RVs. Under the pressure of the Vulcan cannon and C10 rifles, a white flag extended from a car window, and then a brown-yellow skinned creature, only half the height of an adult, with a large nose and pointed ears, jumped out of the car. It was indeed the legendary Karda Goblin, the famous Engineer race.
He scanned the gun barrels around him and said in a sharp voice, "We, we are legal citizens of the Alliance, and we demand that your side abide by the 'All-Galaxy Watch Pact,' and not harm or abuse us, nor seize our personal belongings."
This Goblin behaved so matter-of-factly that it stunned the soldiers, and then the fellow had already pulled out a small blue booklet with an emblem of a winged and vine-wrapped star system engraved on it, which was the national emblem of the Alliance.
"I am a legal citizen of the Free Star River Alliance! This is my passport!" he said in a louder voice, "All 12 people in this convoy are Alliance citizens; you cannot harm us!"
Captain Winter hesitated a little. If the other party truly were legal Alliance citizens with passports, this would be a bit troublesome. After all, those were the nationals of the only two major rogue powers in the entire galaxy, even the entire universe! They were naturally accustomed to acting domineeringly.
But just then, Yu Lian had already walked up to the Goblin, looking down at him from above.
"Where did these heavy cannons come from? What are their models?"
The Goblin looked at Yu Lian's cold eyes and swallowed: "I am an Alliance citizen; you must give us fair and humane treatment."
"I'll ask again, the source of the heavy cannons, their models, and how many of you are here? Also, I need to adjust the firing range, and I need your cooperation."
The Goblin closed his eyes, deciding to be an emotionless repeater: "I am an Alliance citizen; you must give…"
"Bang!" Yu Lian casually picked up a White Raven rifle left by a Sand People on the ground, blew the head off this emotionless repeater, stepped on the fragments of his flesh and blood and the blue passport already stained with blood, walked to an RV, and reached out to pull another Goblin, who was lie on the window and already stunned, out of the vehicle.
"Heavy cannon source, model, your numbers, and I need your cooperation. Answer."
The Goblin didn't speak, not because he was the type to die rather than surrender, but because he was stunned from the fall and terrified. Of course, it wasn't just him; his companions inside the vehicle, and even Captain Winter and his soldiers, were all frozen on the spot.