Chapter 168: Exactly How Strong Is the Independent Regiment?
Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
On the same day after Zheng Tan and Wang Ling in the form of Immortal Meow had worked together serendipitously in combat at No. 59 High School, Zheng Tan had returned invigorated, as if it had been injected with chicken blood 1 . It began drilling its independent regiment day and night, and had sent out several battalion commanders to expand their numbers by recruiting new soldiers from everywhere. Now, Zheng Tan led two cat divisions!
Even its realm and strength had increased at an unprecedented rate.
In fact, Wang Ling had to be credited with all this. Because when Zheng Tan had shaken hands with Wang Ling, several strands of white cat fur had been left behind in its paw; the most mystical thing about them was that they could actually gather the spirit energy of heaven and earth! They were damn more useful than any advanced spirit gathering array!
Hence, since that day, Zheng Tan’s prowess had started to increase by leaps and bounds… within a short month, it had unexpectedly reached the peak late Golden Core stage!
These were all in fact premeditated actions on Zheng Tan’s part.
During this month, apart from cultivating, Zheng Tan had heard from the stray cat masses of a secret stronghold suspected to be Shadow Stream’s headquarters… it was at that time that Zheng Tan had started to think about an attack operation.
Then yesterday, Zheng Tan had received the news that the Shadow Stream maiden had broken out of prison.
It was then that Zheng Tan thought its opportunity had arrived.
While that girl was still intent on taking revenge on them, Zheng Tan decided to lead its army north beforehand to f**k the enemy headquarters in the ass!
…
Jinghua city was one of Songhai city’s neighboring cities.
It was the capital of Huaxiu nation. No one would expect the current headquarters of Shadow Stream to be right on top of an inconspicuous hill in the suburbs of the capital.
“It seems Ah Ying has successfully escaped.” The Master of Shadow Stream Jiang Liuyue frowned from where she was sitting in a wingback chair as she watched a news report on the prison break. “Have you heard from her? Make sure she doesn’t take any further action and get her to return at once before we have another incident.”
As she said this, she shifted her gaze to the figure next to her.
This was an assassin in white who wore a golden armband. There was a dagger at his waist and his clothes were as white as snow. He looked like a celestial being who had emerged from a painting. This man was called Mo Li, one of the leading generals among Shadow Stream’s Gold Ribbon killers and also a think tank with prowess which surpassed Jiang Liuying’s.
“Rest assured, Master. I’ve already sent someone to pick up Miss Ah Ying.” Mo Li was confident as he answered her calmly. “But Miss Ah Ying appears to still be angry about what happened, and after throwing those prison officers off the trail, she went to look for that bunch of cats from before to take revenge on them.”
Cats?
Jiang Liuyue felt a vague sense of uneasiness. “These cats have very common bloodlines, but they have spiritual intelligence and realms different from common people; they must have been enlightened by a grandmaster. I think it’s better that we don’t provoke them.”
“Master, there is no need to worry. According to the information we received, it appears that Miss Ah Ying’s attack was in vain,” Mo Li answered softly.
“In vain? What do you mean?”
“When Miss Ah Ying went looking in the area from the last time, there were no signs of any cats; it seems that they had evacuated earlier on.”
Evacuated?
Liang Liuyue frowned, feeling that things weren’t as simple as they appeared.
For some reason lately, she had become a lot more vigilant against cats. This was because not long ago, she had found a kitten which seemed to be lost near the hilltop. The strangest thing was that the hill was private land which was off-limits, and an array had been set up here. Even the birds that flew over in passing would detour around here, so how had a cat entered this place? She had given this matter a lot of thought.
This was the first time that Mo Li had seen Jiang Liuyue so worried, and he couldn’t help asking, “What are you worrying about, Master?”
“I’m worried that this bunch of cats might be plotting something…”
“Plotting?” Mo Li laughed. “Are you worried that the cats will find our headquarters and attack here?”
Just then, there was suddenly a tremendous explosion outside the hall.
“Where did that explosion come from?” Mo Li tilted his head.
A Shadow Stream killer swiftly appeared as a black shadow in front of Jiang Liuyue and Mo Li. “Reporting, Master and Lord Mo Li! The foot of the hill is under attack.”
“…By who?” Mo Li was shocked.
“It’s a large group of cats! A large group of cats are climbing the hill… they’re carrying heavy weapons and number in the tens of thousands. It appears… that they intend to attack the headquarters!”
Mo Li: “…” Somehow, his face really hurt!
“As expected, there’s something off about that group of cats!” Jiang Liuyue grit her teeth. Since they had heavy artillery with them, it was very clear that these tens of thousands of cats had come well-prepared. Furthermore, there was currently a limited number of killers on base. If she suffered heavy damage here, her image as the Master of Shadow Stream in the murder industry would thoroughly collapse!
“Mo Li, call everyone back at once to protect the headquarters, and don’t confront this bunch of cats during this time. Whatever happens, the headquarters is our priority!”
“Yes, Master, I’ll make the arrangements right away!”
Mo Li nodded immediately; this time, he finally realized the severity of the situation.
Outside the hall, a spirit light sprung up in his hand, and a string of magic bells emerged. Standing at a high vantage point, he rang them lightly three times.
As he recited a spell, the magic bells began to vibrate rapidly, and invisible sound waves which couldn’t be seen by the naked eye rippled out from him.
Three rings of the magic bells was the highest level of priority given to the command for Shadow Stream members to assemble.
“Two hours… can we hold on until then?” Mo Li felt anxious as the cat army advanced vigorously up the hill.
…
Zheng Tan’s attack this time was a completely independent operation that hadn’t been reported in advance.
In fact, there had been countless incidents of Shadow Stream killers mistreating cats in recent years. This had incurred the hate of cats all over the country. Cats throughout Huaxiu nation had been looking for Shadow Stream’s headquarters all this time with the intent of organizing their forces to launch an attack. Recently, coordinates for the headquarters had been circulating in the cat group but had yet to be verified, so all the cats had been waiting for further confirmation from their general headquarters.
None of the cats had expected Zheng Tan to make a move before their headquarters had verified the location!
Zheng Tan’s Independent Regiment was a little famous among the cat armies led by Tang Shi, Song Ci and Yuan Qu. All these years, under the leadership of these three cat tyrants, the battalions and regiments of “The Little Tigers” nationwide had been secretly observing the movements of Shadow Stream killers everywhere.
This attack by Zheng Tan had hence mobilized all the stray cats in several nearby cities.
It was the new troop of cats led by Yuan Qu’s capable subordinate, cat general Li Yuanba, who first caught wind of the Shadow Stream killers’ movements.
Li Yuanba’s new troop was located in Dongbei city, which was to the north of Jinghua city.
At that very moment, in an abandoned sewer in Dongbei, a yellow-haired, short-tailed cat with a sturdy physique was surveying a map, accompanied by two cat staff officers.
One of the cat staff officers said, “Currently, surveillance of the Shadow Stream killers in Dongbei city show that they’re gathering together as quickly as possible and are attempting to head for the capital, Jinghua city.”
Li Yuanba: “What mission are they running?”
“It doesn’t seem to be a mission. They’re impatient to reach Jinghua city, and are in no mood to engage in drawn-out skirmishes. When small units of our cat army harass them, they’re quick to break away and take a detour.”
“Two days ago, Zheng Tan kept telling me it was going to create big news. It looks like something big is going on with it over there…” Li Yuanba murmured softly, its eyes narrowed. “Otherwise, this bunch of Shadow Stream killers wouldn’t be so desperate to reach Jinghua city. Their headquarters is definitely there!”
Cat staff officer: “Does Commander think that Shadow Stream’s headquarters is under attack? Zheng Tan only has one independent regiment… would a single regiment dare attack the headquarters?”
Li Yuanba laughed. “Hehe, why not? There’s nothing that Zheng Tan doesn’t dare do! If it had one or two divisions, it would have already f**king annihilated all of Shadow Stream long ago!”
Cat staff officer: “…”