Dual wielding volcanoes, killing through the west

“…Zhang, what do you think?” Meteora asked. “Is there anything wrong with our approach?”

Despite having hundreds of warriors under his command, Meteora's admiration for Zhang Renfeng had been at its peak ever since the Battle of Lagras.

As an insider, he knew all too well the significance of a force of less than a hundred men going head-to-head with the combined forces of Pinkerton detectives and bounty hunters, and ultimately achieving a resounding victory.

He only knows two words to describe this person.

Mars!

Even setting aside personal feelings, the current raiders of Lamon don't entirely have the final say. Zhang Renfeng is the investor and also his direct superior; it's reasonable for him to stop and ask questions.

……

Zhang Renfeng slowly began, “I’ve been thinking about this. For these soldiers, now that things have turned out this way, the colonel suddenly changed his tactical style, and it was a complete 180-degree, abrupt change… At this moment, what are they thinking?”

Everyone was speechless for a moment.

Few people are willing to think from the enemy's perspective.

“They certainly don’t know what happened. When Ryan was arrested, Jaworth was definitely in the military, under strict secrecy. But they could sense the change in atmosphere; the commander was becoming agitated, and the situation was spiraling out of control…”

“Originally, they could hide behind trenches, outposts, and forts, and shoot down on the Indians who rushed out of the woods, like hunting rabbits.”

"But now, they have to go deep into the forest to fight us. They're not stupid; they must know that the forest is Native American territory. This kind of fighting is like a meat grinder, but orders are orders, and they have no choice."

"They must have been terrified, anxious, nervous, and uneasy..."

……

Zhang Renfeng suddenly raised his head and asked, "Flying Eagle."

"Does your tribe possess any deadly poison?"

"The more poisonous the better, the more gruesome the death... the better."

Chapter 687: We must give them a good beating!

Tick.

The cold night dew condensed into water and dripped from the leaves of the high-altitude trees onto the back of a soldier's neck.

"Damn it!" The enraged soldier wiped the back of his neck and roared, "It's so dark, it's fucking dark... Did the people above have their brains squeezed by a door? Why do they have to launch a general offensive in the middle of the night when you can't see anything more than five meters away? In a minute, the enemy will jump out five steps away from me, and I won't even be able to aim."

"According to Captain Coulson, the enemy also sleeps at night. Their sentries will not easily spot us. The battle plan is to infiltrate the camp in Tall Trees and then launch an attack."

An enraged soldier said, "Bullshit, Captain Coulson, he's just another notebook! He hangs around the colonel all day long, he doesn't care about the lives of his men. He just sits in the tent in the back, says a few words, and when the tall tree is shot down, he can go and claim his rewards!"

"I can't say for sure, but the colonel has been acting a bit strange since that day."

Which day?

"You don't know?" The suspicious soldier lowered his voice. "It was that day, that day! They were having a meeting, but then somehow, all the officers went to the camp on the west side and didn't come back for a whole day and night."

"Didn't you notice that over three hundred men are missing this time? And there's Notebook. That guy is never absent from these kinds of occasions; he's always right next to the colonel, making his presence felt. But we haven't seen him at all these past few days. Guys, honestly, don't you think this is really strange?"

……

After a moment of silence, everyone felt a chill run down their spines and dared not speak again.

The military naturally wouldn't mention how those three hundred-plus soldiers suddenly disappeared, because Jarvis simply couldn't explain it. How could he possibly convince everyone that over three hundred soldiers testing weapons were slaughtered like pigs by one person?

No, that's not the right analogy. If you really asked a pig farmer to slaughter three hundred pigs, that would be enough to give him a hard time.

He instructed all the officers of various ranks who had accompanied him that day to keep their mouths shut, not to mention or discuss them, and to act as if these people had never existed.

But nobody's stupid. Since no one can offer a reasonable explanation, they will naturally use what they consider to be the reasonable answer to explain the matter.

……

"It's voodoo magic!" one of the soldiers said in a low voice, speaking with great conviction. "Don't you guys think about it? So many of the Red Barbarian territories have been cleared out one by one, so why is it that this place in Gaoshu has remained untouched?"

"The answer is that the people here in Gaoshu use voodoo, an ancient curse passed down from the Indian tribes! The notebook, and the more than three hundred people at the western outpost, all died under the curse of voodoo, completely wiped out, without even leaving behind ashes!"

"That's right, that must be it! Even if there was a plague, it's impossible for an entire camp to die!"

"My God, this kind of enemy is simply beyond our ability to defeat..."

……

"Hey! What are you doing!" A furious voice came from behind. A soldier dressed as a captain rushed up through the thorns and leaves, his eyes wide open, and demanded angrily, "What are you doing gathered together? Having a tea party? What's wrong with your brains? In skirmish lines, the most important thing is to spread out and maintain a dispersed position. This is Captain Coulson's order."

"Disobeying orders on the battlefield? Do you want to get shot?"

Fear and darkness, like an invisible hand, naturally draw people together. Nothing relieves tension better than chatting with companions. It's an almost instinctive act; under such circumstances, tactics and orders become less important.

The soldiers showed no sign of dispersing; instead, they gathered around him and stared intently at him.

In the forest, which is shrouded in the long night, one can occasionally hear the cawing of a crow.

"This battle isn't just about honor... Think about it, you're risking your lives for the Chedell family. Do you think they'll treat you badly after the war ends?"

The captain's eyes showed some fear. He realized that in just three short days, the army's tactics and strategies had undergone a complete 180-degree turn. Not everyone is thick-skinned enough not to overthink things; the army's morale had plummeted to a certain point.

In the past, coercion might have worked, but judging from the way these soldiers look at them now, that tactic is no longer effective.

Our group, called the "Reconnaissance Vanguard," was actually just there to die; we were the type who risked our lives to scout ahead.

If he continued to use force, there was no guarantee that a gunman wouldn't come soon, so he had to change his tone and soften his approach as much as possible, resorting to "bribery".

“Right now, the nation is going to take back every inch of land and put it back into the pockets of the American people. You are the great heroes sent out by the nation to expand the territory! After driving out these damned red barbarians, we will be war heroes, and not only the Cheddar family, but the government will definitely reward us.”

"What's so scary about them? A bunch of primitive people covered in cow dung, not fully evolved, only able to use sticks and stones as weapons. These backward creatures actually have the audacity to occupy such a large area of ​​land. This is simply outrageous!"

“Children, this is God’s will. God wants us to drive these backward and barbaric animals out of this fertile land…”

"laugh!"

The captain's pupils contracted slightly as he felt a sudden chill on the back of his neck, as if he had been bitten hard by some kind of insect.

The soldiers' eyes remained fixed on him, awaiting his next words.

He took a few difficult breaths, opened his mouth as if to say something, but soon even breathing became difficult.

"Are you OK?"

"Ugh...no...it's okay...I'm fine, I..."

His face quickly turned a strange bluish-purple, he clutched his neck, and then suddenly collapsed to the ground.

Blood overflowed from every orifice on his face, as if he were being strangled bit by bit by an invisible hand!

"Look!" the soldier exclaimed in surprise as he turned the still-warm body over, "There's something stuck in his neck!"

It was a small, nimble blowgun.

The terror of cold weapons was on full display at this moment—no sound, no light, in the pitch-black night, you couldn't see the enemy's location at all. You only knew that the opponent was very close to you, close enough that the Grim Reaper's scythe could be pressed against your neck.

The distorted shadows of the trees seemed to transform into individual people.

"ah----!!"

Some soldiers couldn't resist firing at the flickering shadows of the trees; the bullets, like fireflies, briefly illuminated the darkness.

"boom!"

……

Moments later, poisoned arrows, blowguns, and darts rained down from all angles of the forest, overwhelming them and delivering a devastating blow!

Chapter 688: It's Time for Them to Pay Interest

"Crack!"

"Crack!"

……

Inside the peregrine falcon's hut, a bright light was on, and Silverfrost, wearing gloves, was crushing the medicine in the stone mortar bit by bit with a pestle.

"Ugh……"

The peregrine falcon, looking somber, sighed as it faced the boiling cauldron.

"What happened?" Silver Frost asked anxiously, "Did it get in your eyes?"

"Not really, I'm just lamenting... that we've finally come to this." The peregrine falcon cut the black-crowned aconite root in front of him into small pieces, put them in a pot to boil, and then added some silvery-white mineral powder when bubbles appeared in the pot.

"What are all these things?" Silverfrost, true to her nature, maintained a childlike curiosity even in this situation. "Shan never told me that such dangerous things exist in the High Tree Camp?"

“The focus of the training we three received was completely different.” Peregrine took the powder the girl handed him, poured it into the iron pot, and stirred it as he spoke. “He taught Eagle how to fight, taught you how to use ‘witchcraft,’ and as for me, I was taught ‘poison.’”

"According to him, this is called 'teaching according to aptitude.' Even if one of the three of us betrays Gao Shu one day in the future, the other two can still go and punish him."

The peregrine falcon was silent for a moment, then pointed to several medicinal herbs on the table and explained one by one, “This is Black Crown Aconite, the kind of purple flower that grows in damp rock crevices and resembles a hood. Its roots contain the highly toxic aconitine. Just half a teaspoon of it can cause palpitations and suffocation.”

"This is 'blood-eyed celery,' which grows on the edge of swamps. Its stems have dark red markings, and its sap contains coniine. When extracting the sap, it is best to use a stag antler knife to cut the stems and avoid skin contact."

"What's left are some animal toxins: snake venom glands, spider glands, and birch bark gel mixed together and added in. There's also a silvery-white ore, the fine powder after calcination, which is also poisonous... Put them all together, and it's done."

After waiting for it to cool, the peregrine falcon tilted the large pot slightly, and the liquid inside flowed into a ceramic pot, thus creating a perfect bottle of poison.

"In the ancient High Tree tribe, this poison was given to traitors. After drinking it, the nerves are paralyzed, breathing becomes impossible, and the face quickly turns a bluish-purple like a pig's liver. A few seconds later, the poison explodes in the body, and the person bleeds from all seven orifices and dies. It is said that the death is extremely painful, as if being burned."

"And now..."

The peregrine falcon sighed softly.

What was once part of ancient culture has also become a weapon of murder.

When a nation itself is teetering on the brink of annihilation, it has no energy left to worry about anything else.

With a loud bang, the wooden door was pushed open.

"How's it going?" Zhang Renfeng rushed in, asking, "Have you finished the new one?"

Yinshuang handed him the bottle, somewhat embarrassed, "Zhang, the remaining medicine needs to be cooled down a bit more, otherwise..."

“No, this is enough for now.” Zhang Renfeng shook his head. “You two have worked hard, take a rest.”

……

"open."

Before leaving, the peregrine falcon called out to him, "I don't understand."

"Hmm?" Zhang Renfeng turned around. "What's wrong?"

“I understand what I’ve concocted. These poisons… even if applied to melee weapons and fired, will only kill a very small fraction of the enemy. It’s pitch black outside, and even tribal warriors don’t have night vision, so it’s impossible for them to hit their targets every time.”

The peregrine falcon asked suspiciously, "Why insist on using poison? If it's just to kill people, what's the difference between it and gunpowder or bullets?"

……

"Well..."

Zhang Renfeng gave him a calm smile.

However, from the side, the peregrine falcon found that smile to be truly terrifying.

"The number of people that weapons can kill is ultimately limited."

"But fear...fear can kill an infinite number of people."

He picked up the earthenware jar in his hand, shook it, and the poison inside dripped out with a meaningful sound. He said, "They used fear to start this war."

"Now, it's time to pay the interest."

----

"What!?" Colonel Jarworth's face paled in shock, and he jumped to his feet, his voice trembling. "It's collapsed?"

……

In any era, the "collapse" of an army is a sign of a major defeat.

After Ma Su lost Jieting, Zhuge Liang rushed to his aid, but on the way, he received a military report with the words "The troops have all scattered," indicating that the battle was hopeless. All the hard-earned resources had been completely squandered by this spendthrift son.

……

"how so……"

"That can't be right, is the enemy's firepower that intense?"

"This doesn't make sense... If they had such armed forces, why would they still be hiding in the forest? Wouldn't they have come out and fought us to the death long ago..."