Chapter 104: Landmine

The fully armed Divine Machine Battalion marched majestically toward Luolong County. Thousand-man Unit commander Zhang Chao, wearing bright armor and riding a tall steed, walked in the middle of the formation. His brows were tightly furrowed, and he appeared to be burdened with heavy thoughts.

Zhang Chao had originally led this Thousand-man Unit of the Divine Machine Battalion to garrison Zhanghe County, which was his hometown, where his parents and relatives lived.

The situation in Zhanghe County was very similar to that of Luolong County; the villages and towns outside the city had already been occupied by the Demon Race, and the common people had all been reduced to food for the Demon Race.

Under these circumstances, the Thousand-man Unit of the Divine Machine Battalion led by Zhang Chao was the stabilizing force of Zhanghe County. He worked day and night to reinforce the city's defensive fortifications, swearing to defend Zhanghe County to the death.

Yet at this critical juncture, Zhang Yiqing, the Prefect of Dongchuan Prefecture, issued an order for him to lead the Divine Machine Battalion to Luolong County to suppress the rebellion.

To tell the truth, Zhang Chao did not want to come, because the situation in Zhanghe County had also reached a precarious moment. However, for a soldier, obeying orders was their Heaven-ordained duty; since the Prefect had already issued the order, Zhang Chao had to come whether he wanted to or not.

"Speed up. Once we wipe out the rebels in Luolong County, we can return to Zhanghe County," Zhang Chao said loudly.

Many members of this Divine Machine Battalion were natives of Zhanghe County, and their relatives also lived within the city of Zhanghe County, so naturally, they also wanted to return to their hometown as soon as possible.

The Divine Machine Battalion had arrived too suddenly, and the defensive fortifications within Luolong County were not yet in place. Therefore, Meng Yifan led a squad of Martial Artists to set out first to delay the advance of the Divine Machine Battalion and buy more time for Luolong County.

Two kilometers away from the Divine Machine Battalion, Meng Yifan, Meng Yitong, and the others were racing against time to dig pits and bury Thunder, preparing to give the Divine Machine Battalion a big surprise.

"Here, here, and here—dig pits for me. Everyone, move faster," Meng Yifan said.

Meng Yitong and the other young men were all Martial Artists; they were strong and sturdy, and their digging speed was very fast. Before long, three large pits were dug.

Meng Yifan placed the pre-prepared Gunpowder Barrels into the pits and used fuses to connect the three Gunpowder Barrels together, ensuring that the three Gunpowder Barrels could explode at roughly the same time. Then, he covered the Gunpowder Barrels with a layer of soil so that the enemy would be unable to discover the buried Thunder from a distance.

Lacking a long-distance detonation device, Meng Yifan prepared a thin, long fuse, encased it in a bamboo tube, and buried it underground. Then, Meng Yifan and the others retreated to behind a small hill over a hundred meters away, waiting for the Divine Machine Battalion to arrive.

The Divine Machine Battalion carried a large amount of equipment, so the formation was very long; the distance between the vanguard scouting troops and the rear troops was at least one kilometer.

Ten-plus minutes later, the vanguard of the Divine Machine Battalion had already appeared over the Gunpowder Barrels buried by Meng Yifan and the others.

Meng Yitong held an incense stick in one hand and a fuse in the other, asking nervously, "Brother Meng, should we light it?"

"Wait. Do you see that general riding the tall steed? He's wearing bright armor even on the battlefield; he's truly courting death. We'll blow him up first in a moment. Once the Divine Machine Battalion is leaderless, it will be easy to fight."

Meng Yifan wanted to detonate all the Gunpowder Barrels of the Divine Machine Battalion at once, but after careful observation, he discovered that the Cannons and Gunpowder Barrels of the Divine Machine Battalion were placed separately and were not gathered together.

The explosives Meng Yifan and the others buried could at most destroy three or four Cannons, which would not be very effective. Since that was the case, they would use the Thunder to carry out a decapitation strike, hoping it would succeed.

"Alright." Meng Yitong nodded, staring intently at the Divine Machine Battalion in the distance.

The fuse Meng Yifan and the others buried was over a hundred meters long; from the moment they lit it until the Gunpowder Barrels exploded, it would take at least ten-plus seconds. Therefore, when to light it had to be calculated in advance.

This was a somewhat complex mathematical problem that required calculating the burning speed of the fuse and the marching speed of the Divine Machine Battalion. Meng Yitong and the others lacked the education, so they could only estimate a rough time based on experience. However, for Meng Yifan, this problem was a piece of cake; he could calculate the optimal detonation time with a turn of his mind.

Three minutes and twenty seconds later, Meng Yifan said, "Light it."

Meng Yitong hurriedly used the incense stick to light the fuse.

"Sss... sss..." The fuse burned inside the bamboo tube, and a spark spread rapidly toward the Gunpowder Barrels a hundred meters away.

Zhang Chao was a Third-Grade High-Level Martial Artist. When he walked near this area, he did not know why, but he felt as if he had needles pricking his back and his hair stood on end. He vaguely felt that he was in great danger, yet he could not clearly say where the danger came from.

"Something is wrong. The whole army, halt! No one is allowed to make a sound." At Zhang Chao's command, the Divine Machine Battalion obeyed instantly, all remaining motionless and making no further noise.

Zhang Chao channeled his True Qi into the meridians near his ears. His ears suddenly grew a size larger and twitched slightly, just like a small radar.

The technique Zhang Chao practiced was called Heaven Ear Connection. It was an auxiliary technique with no direct combat power, but it could significantly increase one's hearing. He calmed his mind and listened carefully.

The sound of the wind blowing through the treetops, the heartbeats of the surrounding soldiers, and the chirping of birds playing in a large tree in the distance all appeared in Zhang Chao's ears. He discarded these noises and soon heard the faint, sizzling sound coming from underground.

Zhang Chao was a Thousand-man Unit commander of the Divine Machine Battalion and had dealt with gunpowder for years. He was too familiar with this sizzling sound and instantly judged that it was the sound of a fuse burning.

"There is a fuse burning underground! Not good, there must be Thunder buried nearby." Zhang Chao was shocked. His body soared up like a giant bird spreading its wings to fly, rushing toward the place where the underground fuse was burning.

"Bang!" Zhang Chao slammed a fist heavily into the ground. Meng Yifan and the others had buried the fuse ten centimeters underground, but Zhang Chao's punch directly smashed a fifty-centimeter-deep pit into the ground, and both the bamboo tube containing the fuse and the fuse itself were snapped directly.

"That was close!" Zhang Chao looked at the fuse with its smoldering sparks underground, his heart trembling with fear. Fortunately, he had heard the sound of the fuse burning, otherwise, it would have been a disaster.

"We were discovered by that corrupt official," Meng Yitong said with great regret.

Meng Yifan was also somewhat surprised. The fuse was buried underground and encased in a bamboo tube; the sound of the fuse burning was minimal. Coupled with the fact that the Divine Machine Battalion would certainly create a large amount of noise while moving, logically, they should not have been able to discover the fuse burning underground.

Yet that general of the Divine Machine Battalion had just had his ears grow a size larger and had incredibly heard the sound of the fuse burning, even breaking the fuse. This disrupted Meng Yifan's deployment.

"Use the Elm Cannons to bombard! Lock the target onto the Gunpowder Barrels we buried. Aim accurately and try to detonate the Gunpowder Barrels underground as well," Meng Yifan ordered, while he himself shouldered the specially-made Congreve Rocket Launcher and aimed it at that Divine Machine Battalion general.