Chapter 412: Only My Unique Law Chapter 412: Knight Order (5)

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Protagonist:

Chen Yi

The flames from the flamethrowers were neither red nor yellow, like chicken blood spilled onto eggs.

The Mexicans, perhaps missing their corn tortillas, laughed and chatted while pulling triggers, burning trees as thick as four or five men could embrace and shrubs several meters high clean away.

Sun Ruihe inside the tank watched them, both protecting and guarding against them. The Rhombus Conference Hall actually didn't want the Mexicans or South Americans clustering together, but with the language barrier, specially cultivating Spanish-speaking Konjac was troublesome too, so Sun Ruihe could only try to split them into different squads, then let them regroup on their own.

Compared to the Chinese who first came to the West Continent, the Mexicans' hardworking endurance deserves praise; very few even asked stupid questions like "Where are we?" Those Mexicans noted as knowing engineering machinery didn't necessarily know how to operate bulldozers and excavators, but the 20 machines never stopped running — even clumsy operation, as long as it was continuous, greatly accelerated their learning speed.

Transport vehicles had to stop at the front ring road to avoid sinking into mud when heavily loaded. They brought mostly fuel; the various burning methods filled the construction site air with a thick barbecue smell. Insects kept flying out like moths to flame; these big things weighing over 500 grams screamed when burned, but most broke through the fire barrier. Machine gun fire attracted most of them; those occasionally closing within 20 meters were incinerated by back-to-back trainees with flamethrowers. Every so often a trainee faced danger; if insects closed in twice, they were allowed to retreat to the armored vehicle and rest an hour, also evading large insect swarms so they couldn't find targets, then resume spraying after machine guns inflicted mass casualties.

The Yin Sen Family's several Knights were assigned to the farthest construction site, where trees dozens or even over a hundred meters tall on both sides had just been toppled, entering the swamp-filling phase, so large monsters could emerge at any time. Some were just passing through; some were the traditional ill-tempered aggressive type.

The Construction Ministry gentlemen weren't afraid of those big strong guys — even the mightiest Dragon Beast only got blasted to slag under 100mm armor-piercing rounds and Milan anti-tank missiles. What they worried about were the agile, sharp-toothed, small-target things that could take two heavy machine gun rounds — like wild leopards. In this jungle, mainly the "Yellow Waist Beasts" hiding in tall trees — they leap from thirty to fifty meters up, deploy waist membranes midair, glide nearly a hundred meters, and ambush working Mexicans.

Not all engineering vehicles were modified; cranes bought directly from Earth didn't even have doors, welded on only after arrival. A three-meter "Yellow Waist Beast" just needed to find the right spot — glass or thin sheet metal railings — and one swipe produced a bloodied mess. Though vehicle interiors were converted to two-person duty mode, automatic rifles lacked stopping power, only preventing beasts from entering the cab; one slip caused casualties. So before the Yin Sen Family Knights appeared, West River Water Fortress effectively suffered ongoing casualties, with continuous serious injuries sent to the field hospital. This was also one motive for burning the primeval forest — trees hundreds of meters from the road, Yellow Waist Beasts jumping down, no vehicle or pedestrian on the whole road could avoid them; if they didn't want future nonstop transport convoys obstructed, they had to reshape the environment.

Using Combat-skill-level Knights against mere monsters naturally raised the safety factor rapidly; by the time Chen Yi returned to the West Continent, not only was engineering progress on target, but personnel casualties had ceased entirely.

Chen Yi brought a large amount of mining machinery — mainly open-pit rock drilling equipment.

These were all purchased by Emily from several U. S. mining machinery companies, then shipped to Jiangning — relatively simple professional equipment to operate — along with over 30 trainees trained by the ship's crew en route. Chen Yi hoped they could independently operate this mining equipment, like China's first purchased foreign products — not seeking full mastery, but functional capability.

If that really didn't work, he'd consider sending a few specialists. Jiangning had no mining machinery company of its own; any hiccup in between would be more troublesome.

Yin Senyong hurriedly brought his four clansmen to see Chen Yi, then introduced them respectively: "The big-bearded one is Yin Senjin, the small-bearded one is Yin Senlie, the round-faced bearded one is Yin Senchen, the two-stroke mustache one is Yin Sen Guan."

"The clean-shaven one is Yin Senyong." Chen Yi smiled: "You're the Five Barbarians Generals."

"We obey the Lord's command!" All five dropped to one knee.

Chen Yi pressed down lightly twice, sat in the chair, and asked: "The contract — you've all read it?"

"I recited it to them." Never mind the 200-plus page contract, even a 2,000-page one Yin Senyong would memorize — "Abide by the Oath" was no joke, especially for his kind of Knight who linked one Divine Art with others; he especially had to mind the boundaries — cross the line too far and the loss would make him weep before he could even cry.

"Then do you have any objections?" Chen Yi looked at the four.

Roughly speaking, among the four Yin Senjin was oldest, around thirty-seven or eight; the others slightly younger but still past thirty. Compared to Yin Senyong they were half a generation to a full generation older, but judging by their Combat-skill ranks they all counted as young and promising. However, Yin Senyong had become a Divine Art Knight, instantly leaving them all behind.

Compared to the contract oath, the Divine Art Knight status was clearly paramount, so the four at most shifted their buttocks slightly, but absolutely voiced no opposition.

"If you don't speak now, that's full acceptance. Later if you violate it, before your Divine Power even dissipates, I'll kill you first — understand?"

"Understood." All four bowed in unison.

Chen Yi could certainly negotiate the contract with them, but under such overwhelmingly strong-handed circumstances he didn't want to negotiate. On Earth besides Buddhism there were plenty of religions. He could fully establish a Divine Knight Corps — worry not about scarcity but inequality; no need to modify the oath.

"You go out. Call Yu Weichao in."

"Yes." The five bowed and hurriedly left the conference room. Chen Yi's body carried the Divine Art of Suppression Strike; even without active use it made their spirits tremble. This was a class difference — like sheep seeing a tiger — an innate awe.

Artificially raised sheep might not have seen a tiger for generations, but when zoo workers throw a healthy sheep next to a non-hunting tiger, the sheep still paralyzes in fear — the body automatically produces fear pheromones; the reason, perhaps, is ancestors repeatedly witnessing tigers devouring their kind, engraving fear deep into genes.

When Yu Weichao entered, Chen Yi deliberately reined in the Suppression Strike and ate two Green Breath Berries.

Even so, Yu Weichao still shivered, sitting respectfully on the opposite sofa.

"One month from now, I want to see iron ore. In a bit I'll leave two Land God Carriages; you load the iron ore directly into them. Two carriages' volume equals 60 ordinary freight train cars — you just fill them to the brim, understand?"

"Yes." Yu Weichao said uneasily: "Produce in one month, we'll try our best, but loading thousands of tons of iron ore might be a bit difficult."

"No matter. However much you load counts. First batch I take back for testing. Also, I see you're burning the forest?"

Yu Weichao knew Chen Yi's "frugal" habit and explained: "The primeval forest is too dense and vast; those vines, mosquitoes and insects are terrifying. We considered burning — on one hand it hardens the ground, on the other it speeds construction. When building the Xima Highway before, that was an ancient road of many years, with wild cattle and Saber-toothed Beasts constantly emerging on both sides; now this Shenqi Road has too many unknown creatures."

"Control the fire well. Build this highway well, and it's a great merit." Chen Yi praised first, then said: "Burning it all wastes too much. Once Ma La is merged later, forest resources will become vital resources, so the paper pulp production department must maximize use of trees on both sides of the highway — understand?"

Yu Weichao said yes with a grave face. This was the first time Chen Yi spoke of merging Ma La; from his understanding of Chen Yi, this matter would likely soon enter substantive implementation, and the upcoming administrative work was truly a headache. Today's West River Water Fortress didn't have so many Commoners to deal with, but Ma La had plenty of Nobles.

"Any problem?" Chen Yi knew from his expression.

Yu Weichao hurriedly gave an ugly smile, not rushing to discuss the Ma La merger but continuing about the forest: "Primeval forest trees are too big — like Australia's almond eucalyptus, 150-meter heights everywhere, many trunks over 15 meters diameter, twenty to thirty meters too. Sent to Earth they'd be thicker than our thickest trees. Such trees — scrapers and bulldozers can't handle them, must be sawed, and at the forest edge with no protection, it's truly dangerous."

"I'll suggest two methods. One, send Mexicans or slaves to saw. Two, blast."

"Blast? Seems a bit wasteful."

"Explosives cost pennies; with channels we can ship boatloads over — go ahead worry-free. But tank shells, machine gun shells, especially missiles — no wasting. They're expensive. Right, let's go check the hospital." Chen Yi was slightly dissatisfied with Yu Weichao's indecisiveness; though he'd broken out of the expert-professor mold, his guts were ultimately too small — if Big Yang's bunch did this, they'd probably train a few hundred slaves and use them as consumables.

The field hospital was nearly full. Sima Lue initially was dissatisfied with too few patients; now in the highway-opening period, daily surgeries no fewer than two, often emergency cases regardless of time, instantly working Sima Lue to exhaustion. Besides, whether nurses or pseudo-paramedics, he had to train them all himself — busy like a battlefield.

Chen Yi handed Sima Lue his daughter's photos, videos, and letters directly, inspected the hospital, saw the wounded, and that concluded this condolence activity. "Purge Jungle War" wasn't a real war anyway; medals awarded by the Rhombus Conference Hall would suffice.

"Back to Jiangning."

When these words were spoken, even Yin Senjin and the others' breathing became labored, like girls lying on hotel beds.

……(To be continued. If you like this work, welcome to Qidian (qidian. com) to vote Recommendation Tickets, Monthly Tickets — your support is my greatest motivation.)