Chapter 110: The Miserable Divine Machine Battalion

Zhang Chao set out once again with a vanguard squad composed of Second Grade Martial Artists. Just as before, the Second Grade Martial Artists circulated hard-body techniques like the Golden Bell Shield, wore heavy armor, and each held a large wooden hammer to strike the ground, while Zhang Chao circulated the Heaven Ear technique to detect whether anything was buried underground.

"Stop!" At Zhang Chao's command, the members of the vanguard squad all halted. They knew Zhang Chao must have discovered another wooden barrel buried underground.

Zhang Chao's face showed some conflict; he was certain that a large wooden barrel was buried fifty meters ahead, but he did not know if it was filled with Black Powder or excrement.

Zhang Chao had a bit of a germaphobe streak, and the mere thought of having to face those filthy things again made him feel miserable all over.

"That bunch of wicked rebels, daring to put explosives under a barrel of excrement—how could they even think of that? It's truly infuriating. Once I catch them, I'll throw them into a latrine and make them eat shit and drink piss."

The moment Zhang Chao thought about being splattered with excrement and urine, with wriggling maggots in his hair and clothes, he felt disgusted and harbored a deep, bone-piercing hatred for the rebels of Luolong County.

Zhang Chao had the heart to let his soldiers investigate the large wooden barrel, but in the Divine Machine Battalion's Thousand-man Unit, he was the only Third-Grade High Stage Martial Artist who could use a Dharma Artifact Shield to withstand the explosion of a Gunpowder Barrel. If he had someone else investigate, and it really was filled with gunpowder, that person would likely be blown to death. Therefore, the task of investigating the barrels could only be done by him.

"Those rebels use incense sticks to ignite the gunpowder. They must have placed the incense based on our speed of advance. Logically speaking, we are now close to this area; if it is a gunpowder barrel, shouldn't it be about to explode?"

Zhang Chao ordered the soldiers to rest in place, waiting a few minutes to see if the large wooden barrel would explode before going to check.

Five minutes later, the large wooden barrel showed no movement. Zhang Chao decided not to wait any longer; he took his Dharma Artifact Shield, held his breath, and cautiously walked to the front of the large wooden barrel. He quickly cleared away the soil, opened the barrel lid, and took a look inside. It was yet another large barrel of excrement, and Zhang Chao was so angry he wanted to curse.

"Boom!" Just as Zhang Chao opened the barrel lid, a blast suddenly erupted from beneath the large wooden barrel again. A full barrel of excrement splashed out, flying toward Zhang Chao.

"Screw your grandfather!" Zhang Chao cursed loudly. This time he was prepared; the moment he heard the explosion, he tapped his toes on the ground and retreated violently, narrowly dodging the splashing excrement.

Within a thirty-meter radius, excrement and urine flowed everywhere, filthy and unbearable. The stench hit his face like a giant cesspit. Zhang Chao hid in the distance, fuming with rage.

"Huh! Those rebels used incense to detonate the gunpowder, which means they calculated in advance that I would come to check the barrel in five minutes. Could it be that my every step is within the enemy's calculations?"

Thinking of this, Zhang Chao felt a shock in his heart. Predicting the enemy's moves is easy to say but hard to do. Those rebels he had never met had actually calculated his actions so clearly; it was truly terrifying to think about.

"Continue forward." Zhang Chao had a headache, but he had to bite the bullet and continue forward.

Excrement barrel, excrement barrel, another excrement barrel. Zhang Chao was going crazy. On the road ahead, there was a large wooden barrel buried almost every hundred meters, and he was forced to stop and investigate, which severely slowed the advance of the Divine Machine Battalion army.

"There's another large wooden barrel buried ahead." Zhang Chao was already numb. Having seen several large barrels of excrement in a row, some of which—damn it—would even explode, this was truly not a pleasant experience.

Zhang Chao frowned, his expression conflicted. He held his breath and cleared the soil, intending to flip open the barrel lid. He knew it was very likely another large barrel of excrement.

"Boom!" Suddenly, the Black Powder placed inside the barrel was ignited by the incense. The large barrel of gunpowder exploded violently, forming a circular shockwave mixed with dense, fragmented iron pieces that spread in all directions.

Zhang Chao was worthy of being a Third-Grade High Stage Martial Artist; his reaction was extremely fast. At the moment of the explosion, his body curled into a ball, hiding completely behind the Dharma Artifact Shield.

The shockwave from the explosion hit the Dharma Artifact Shield, pushing Zhang Chao back fifty or sixty meters. After landing, Zhang Chao rolled on the ground to dissipate the impact. Because he was prepared in advance, the close-range explosion of the gunpowder barrel only made him feel slightly uncomfortable and did not injure him.

"Place a few excrement barrels, then place a barrel of gunpowder—playing with the false and the real, the true and the fake, toying with me like this." Zhang Chao's face was ugly; he felt the rebels of Luolong County were extremely troublesome.

The Divine Machine Battalion was now only three kilometers away from Luolong County city, but this stretch of road was surely buried with many such large wooden barrels.

Must he cautiously investigate every single one? That would take at least two or three hours to reach Luolong County city; it was too much of a waste of time.

"Something's not right. Why would those rebels use these large wooden barrels to block our speed of advance? They should have already discovered that these large wooden barrels could no longer cause us massive damage. Why do it still?"

Zhang Chao paused, realizing that the rebels of Luolong County holding up the Divine Machine Battalion's speed of advance must be setting something up in Luolong County city.

But what powerful thing could they set up in two or three hours? Did they think those preparations would be enough to defeat the fully armed Divine Machine Battalion? Impossible.

"No matter what those rebels want to set up, in any case, they must not be allowed to succeed. We must speed up our advance. But the large wooden barrels buried underground cannot be ignored either—what if there is gunpowder buried inside?"

Zhang Chao thought for a moment and decided that if he discovered a large wooden barrel again, he would directly use Explosive Shells to bombard it. The Divine Machine Battalion was an artillery unit with plenty of Explosive Shells; they would just blast their way through.

The Divine Machine Battalion began to advance again. This time, as long as they discovered a large wooden barrel buried underground, Zhang Chao ordered them to fire cannons directly, blasting the large wooden barrel to smithereens, and the troops accelerated their advance.

Just like that, the Divine Machine Battalion pushed forward all the way, cannon fire roaring, blasting excrement and urine into the sky. The Divine Machine Battalion soldiers stepped on the excrement and urine, smelling the foul stench, and advanced rapidly toward Luolong County city.

"Damn it! I stepped in shit again. How disgusting."

"Don't talk about it, two maggots crawled into my shoe, and they're still moving. Hmm, alright, I've already stepped on them to death."

"Ugh! Why does it feel like we've been marching in a cesspit the whole way? The rebels of Luolong County are just too good at being disgusting."

The soldiers of the Divine Machine Battalion began a miserable march. Now, every single person in the entire army was more or less stained with excrement and urine, as if the whole army had rolled in a cesspit.

Zhang Chao held a belly full of anger and led the Divine Machine Battalion to advance rapidly. Luolong County city was almost here; when the time came, he would let those rebels know the consequences of angering him.