A Post-Apocalyptic Journey to Another World

The commanders of the 1st Division were deeply divided on whether to obey orders to evacuate, and ultimately all eyes turned to Huo Mingde, who had remained silent throughout. Huo Mingde enjoyed extremely high prestige within the 1st Division; it could be said that his will was the will of the 1st Division.

The officers were somewhat shaken on this issue that concerned the fate of the entire division, and everyone was waiting for their division commander to make the final decision.

Huo Mingde remained expressionless, every wrinkle on his face as still as a statue sculpted by a knife and axe. He glanced at his subordinates, all young faces. Looking at these young men he had personally trained, the old man felt a pang of pain in his heart. He was about to personally bury these young men here, unable to even leave them with the nominal honor of being soldiers. He knew that with just one order, his regimental commanders would follow him without hesitation, even if it meant becoming nominal rebels.

The old man had never felt his body so heavy, even his eyelids felt like a thousand pounds. He wearily closed his eyes. Everyone in the room remained silent, not uttering a sound. Time passed slowly, seemingly an eternity, yet also a fleeting moment. Then, Huo Mingde opened his eyes again. His gaze held no more weariness or hesitation, only unwavering resolve and composure. Everyone knew that their leader had made his decision!

"Order!" Huo Mingde shouted, "Send a report to the army group in three days, stating: Our unit has engaged the enemy, and the battle lines are intertwined, making disengagement impossible. We have decided to engage in sniping on the spot to buy time for the civilians of Pingyuan City and our fraternal units to evacuate!"

Seeing that the division commander had made his stance clear, everyone present stopped arguing. Commander Wang, who had been involved in the argument, hesitated for a moment and asked, "Then how should we explain this to the soldiers? Should we keep it from them?" It was obviously inappropriate to keep such an important decision from the soldiers, but telling them the truth would easily cause instability in the army.

"There's no need to hide it. This is my personal decision, Huo Mingde. Go back and tell the soldiers that those who want to stay and stand guard with me until the very end can stay, and those who don't can leave. Let the soldiers choose for themselves. No one is allowed to force them, understand?" Huo Mingde said.

Just then, an operations staff officer suddenly rushed into the conference room from the intelligence gathering room: "Commander, frontline report! A large number of orcs have been discovered gathering at the foot of Maling Mountain! According to reconnaissance aircraft observations, the number of orcs plus wild beasts such as black wolves has exceeded ten thousand, and it is still increasing!"

The First Division's command and intelligence system once again operated efficiently and systematically. With the help of the integrated tactical command system, a large amount of intelligence was quickly organized and analyzed. Soon, the orcs' intentions were revealed. Based on an analysis of the orcs' logistical preparations, troop composition, and other aspects, they were expected to launch a general offensive against Plains City in three days.

Wu Sheng simultaneously contacted the other two divisions and informed them of the impending orc attack. Unsurprisingly, the other two divisions responded by indicating their intention to obey orders and retreat towards Tianjing City. Upon receiving this news, everyone's mood grew even heavier. The three divisions were already severely depleted, and now only their division, with a few thousand men, remained. As for the trained militia, not only was their combat effectiveness low, but their willingness to stay was also questionable; they were simply unreliable.

“With the other two divisions gone, our flanks are rendered useless. We must divide our forces to plug these two gaps!” a regimental commander said.

“We have no troops to spare. Spreading thousands of men across such a wide front makes us vulnerable to a single attack. We should concentrate our forces and retreat into the city to fight street battles!” another regimental commander objected.

The group fell into a heated debate. Zhang Xi looked at them, recalling his previous life. The First Division had used a strategy of gradual ambushes followed by retreat into Pingyuan City to fight in street battles, hoping to buy time. But in the end, they only held out for less than a day before being wiped out. Ultimately, fighting alone without logistics or support, and with insufficient manpower, was like a skilled cook without ingredients!

Even years after the apocalypse, the deeds of the First Division still evoke sighs of admiration and disdain. But Zhang Xi was deeply grateful to these soldiers. They sacrificed their families' welfare, their lives and honor, and even became rebels to fulfill their duties and mission. It was precisely because of their perseverance that more people in Pingyuan City were able to survive, including Zhang Xi himself.

Now that an opportunity to change everything has presented itself, Zhang Xi decides to help these soldiers. This carries enormous risk. As a reborn individual, the seemingly correct course of action would be to find a safe place, level up, collect riches, become a tycoon, and dominate the region. But deep down, is that truly what he wants?

After Zhang Xi's rebirth, whenever he calmed down at night and faced his true self, he wondered if his heart was truly filled only with desire. Under the heavy veil of desire in his heart, a glimmer of light would occasionally shine out, weak but unstoppable. In the end, that was the last bit of persistence in his heart.

Thinking of this, Zhang Xi stepped forward and said, "I have an idea!"

The voice wasn't loud, but it seemed to have a magical power, causing everyone arguing to stop involuntarily.

Zhang Xi looked at everyone, took out a recording magic stone, handed it to an advisor, and continued, "We don't have enough troops, so we can't guarantee that the defense line won't be breached. I don't know much about military affairs, but I understand one thing: our fundamental goal is to allow more people in Pingyuan City to escape!"

Everyone looked at Zhang Xi in confusion. Wasn't this obvious?

Huo Mingde's eyes lit up, and he said, "Continue."

Zhang Xi continued, "I've watched Animal World. Dolphins chase sardine schools. At first, there were only thirty, then the number increased to one hundred, two hundred! Eventually, the school was wiped out! I think the beastmen are like the dolphins, and the people of Pingyuan City are like the sardine school. Our objective isn't to stop the dolphins, but to reduce the number of dolphins that rush into the school!"

"Isn't that obvious? If we could drastically reduce the orc population, would we be arguing about this?" one of the guild leaders retorted.

“No, I think you haven’t understood what I mean,” Zhang Xi said. “The characteristic of a bad thing is that it leads to more bad things. My goal is not to reduce the number of orcs, but to stop their numbers from increasing!”

Everyone then realized what was happening, and Huo Mingde quickly chimed in, "Pingyuan City has 30 million people. Even if a few thousand orcs break through the defenses, they can't kill too many people in a short time, and most will still be able to escape. But do you know how to stop them from reinforcing their troops?!"

Just then, the staff officer prepared the recording magic stone that Zhang Xi had taken out, and the scene of the giant teleportation portal on Mount Maling was immediately displayed before everyone. Xue Gang looked at Zhang Xi in disbelief: "You actually found this thing!"

"You want to destroy it?" Even the battle-hardened veteran Huo Mingde was awestruck by the enormous portal in the magic stone and the orc soldiers constantly emerging from it. "But are you confident you can destroy it?"

"Of course there are. Look, the orcs are reinforcing it, which means it's very unstable." Zhang Xi pointed to the busy orc shaman in the image and said, "The number of orcs who have already passed through the portal isn't too many yet. As long as we destroy the portal, we can at least effectively stop them from mobilizing a large number of troops in the short term!"

“Then we need to revise our battle plan!” Huo Mingde stared into Zhang Xi’s eyes for a long time, as if searching for and confirming something. Finally, he looked away and said to his regimental commanders.

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