Chapter 553: Who says you have no clothes? I share the same robes with you

The rain cleared, and the hunter squad, having rested for a night, continued on their way.

In order to obtain supplies, Lan Yu led his team members through the mountain gullies, rushing toward the nearest town.

The mountain road after the rain was muddy, and the speed at which everyone walked was not fast.

Lan Yu and Old Zhang were still chatting about the topic from last night:

"The Northern Barbarians are too poor; even if the Western Continent is willing to sell them weapons, what do they have to buy them with? They can't even get enough to eat themselves."

"Indeed, as long as we can block these barbarians and not let them grab things, they won't have money to trade with the Western Continent."

"If you ask me, it's also unlikely that the grassland royal court will trade with the Western Continent; the distance is too far."

"Taking the land route, large quantities of goods are easily discovered. Taking the sea route, how far would the Western Continent have to go around on the sea?"

"Makes sense! In that case, the only ones most likely to trade with the Western Continent are the two great desert nations."

"Hmm, the southern border side is not something for us to worry about."

"..."

Regarding the possibility of the Western Continent selling weapons, Lan Yu was truly concerned.

After thinking about it all night, he finally came to such a conclusion.

This made the anxiety in his heart ease slightly.

"When will we be able to produce such guns ourselves?"

Lan Yu spent the whole journey fantasizing about himself holding new weapons in the future, killing enemies on the battlefield.

Slap!

The sound of a heavy object falling to the ground broke Lan Yu's fantasy; he turned his head to look, only to see a soldier carrying a wounded person accidentally fall into a mud pit.

The surrounding teammates hurriedly went up to help the two of them up, but the wounded person suddenly stopped breathing.

"Quick, save him!"

"Medicine!"

"What's going on—"

After a flurry of activity, the wounded person ultimately could not be saved.

The other party was already seriously injured, and that fall just now caused him to stop breathing completely.

"It's all my fault! It's all my fault..."

The soldier responsible for carrying the wounded person was full of tears of guilt.

Lan Yu walked to the other party's side, looking at the hideous scar on the other party's face.

Fighting until now, everyone in the team was injured, it was just a difference between light and heavy injuries.

This soldier who was crying was named Geng Yong, the youngest in the team, only twenty-one years old this year.

In that battle in the jungle yesterday, Geng Yong was slashed on the face, and his mouth was almost cut open.

When eating at night, the other party was shivering with pain, but he hadn't shed a single tear.

Lan Yu hugged Geng Yong: "It's not your fault, Brother Xu was already unable to hold on anyway."

"It's all my fault..."

Geng Yong was completely trapped in the emotion of guilt and couldn't extricate himself.

Brother Xu, whom he carried, had saved him more than once, and as a result, he had caused Brother Xu's death.

"Little Geng."

"It's all my fault..."

Slap!

Lan Yu suddenly slapped Geng Yong heavily on the face, slapping the wound on the other party's face open again, and blood flowed out.

This slap woke Geng Yong up.

Lan Yu glared at him, like an angry lion:

"Are you awake now?!"

Geng Yong stood up silently, wiping the blood and tears from his face.

"Continue forward!"

Lan Yu gave the order.

They had no time to bury their teammates, because Northern Barbarians could be encountered in this area at any time.

They needed to obtain supplies as soon as possible.

Brother Xu's body was placed on the side of the road, and the team continued to move forward in the muddy mountain stream.

"Enemy encountered!"

The warning sound from the scouts ahead suddenly came.

Lan Yu immediately grabbed two Bertening pistols and hurried forward.

But the scene ahead was different from the battle he had imagined:

Thick smoke obscured the morning sun, and Lan Yu and the others crawled on the hillside, poking their heads to look down.

A burnt, fishy, sweet smell drifted in the morning mist; a village in the mountain hollow was rising with columns of black smoke, and orange-red firelight leaped under each smoke column.

The screams of women pierced the mist, wrapped in the intermittent cries of children, scraping the eardrums of every soldier like a dull knife.

"Damn it!"

Old Zhang gripped the rifle in his hand tightly, his knuckles turning white.

These days they had also passed through several villages looted by Northern Barbarians, leaving only a mess.

No living people, and no corpses.

This was the first time they had encountered a village being looted.

Lan Yu's Adam's apple rolled; his eyesight was extraordinary, and through the broken fence wall in the distance, he could clearly see Northern Barbarian warriors wrapped in fur coats dragging a young girl toward the granary, the girl's embroidered shoes drawing winding bloodstains on the muddy ground.

More than a dozen corpses lay on the threshing floor east of the village, the oldest elder nailed to the millstone with a long spear, his white hair soaked in dark red blood.

Several Northern Barbarian warriors were using curved knives to slash and kill villagers for fun, the silver light of the blades flashing, and arms flew onto the haystacks...

Making a rough estimate, there were more than two hundred Northern Barbarian warriors below, and the tattoo totems on some of the Northern Barbarian warriors were clearly Tuodu warriors, that is, martial artists, and the proportion was very high!

Not to mention that this hunter squad had already suffered more than half casualties, even when at full strength, it would be very difficult to win against such a Northern Barbarian team.

Lan Yu's breathing gradually became heavy.

"Boss."

Old Zhang grabbed Lan Yu's arm and gritted his teeth: "The situation of this Northern Barbarian team is a bit strange; the number of Tuodu warriors is too high, it's possible there are big fish inside, we can't be impulsive, we have to send the military intelligence back!"

He used such a reason to persuade Lan Yu, and at the same time, he was also persuading himself.

These hunter squads of theirs also needed to pass on intelligence so that the generals above could deploy tactics and allocate forces according to the military intelligence.

Lan Yu turned his head to look at Old Zhang, then turned to look at his teammates, looking at these faces he spent day and night with:

The arrow scar on the left cheek of the scout Chen Ping was twitching, the one-eyed old soldier Old Zhao, the oldest, had bloodshot eyes, and Geng Yong, whose mouth was still oozing blood, was trembling, but not because of fear.

Even the slickest team doctor, Little Six, had bitten his lip...

They had fought hard for several days, were injured, and were short of ammunition.

Lan Yu could see deep fatigue and uncontrollable anger from their expressions, just not seeing any retreat.

He suddenly smiled.

Being able to fight side by side with such a group of brothers, this life was worth it.

"As soldiers, we can't endure this!"

He also gave himself a reason:

"Old Zhang, you take a few people, take the wounded behind and retreat, and send the intelligence here back."

"Damn it!"

Old Zhang was furious at the first moment.

"This is an order!"

Lan Yu roared back in a low voice:

"The rest of you, follow me to kill these barbarians!"

"Yes!"

Everyone gripped their weapons one after another, their expressions relieved.

"I'm not leaving!"

Old Zhang, as the deputy captain, was the only one who dared to question Lan Yu. "If we die, we die together!"

Lan Yu glared at him: "You damn well just said that these people below are strange, someone must send the intelligence back!"

"..."

Old Zhang couldn't speak.

He was the deputy captain and also the second-strongest combatant in the team.

Next, leading the team to send the intelligence back, he was the best candidate.

"Stop talking nonsense, get out, send the intelligence back!"

Lan Yu urged.

There wasn't so much fuss on the battlefield; Old Zhang left with blood-red eyes.

"Open fire, lure everyone up, everyone find a good position, pay attention to crossfire."

Lan Yu simply deployed the tactics.

They only had a dozen people in total; charging down directly wouldn't cause any waves at all.

Only by utilizing the terrain and attracting the Northern Barbarians below to charge up could they cause the greatest damage.

Estimating that Old Zhang and the others had already left a certain distance, Lan Yu fired the first shot.

But the village below was thousands of meters away from here, already exceeding the range of the guns, so this shot was just to attract the Northern Barbarians' attention.

Sure enough, as soon as the gun fired, the Northern Barbarians who were reveling in the village were all startled, and their movements stopped.

Lan Yu stood up directly, holding a piece of human skin embroidered with tattoos high in his hand.

This was the totem on the Northern Barbarian warrior at the level of Qi-Refining martial master he killed yesterday; it was his trophy and also proof of his military merit.

Among the Northern Barbarian warriors below, there were also those with amazing eyesight; after seeing the piece of human skin in Lan Yu's hand clearly, they immediately let out angry roars, pointing at Lan Yu and cursing loudly.

Soon, the Northern Barbarians in the village split into a small team, about thirty people, and charged toward the hillside where Lan Yu and the others were located.

"Prepare!"

Lan Yu squatted down again, holding guns in both hands and holding them level.

Six hundred meters, five hundred meters, four hundred meters...

"Fire!"

After the Northern Barbarians entered the range of three hundred meters, Lan Yu shouted to open fire.

Intense gunfire rang out.

Those who could be selected for the hunter squad were all elite veterans.

Even if they weren't martial artists, their marksmanship was very outstanding; more than a dozen people fired at the same time, and more than half hit their targets!

Half of the Northern Barbarian warriors charging in a scattered manner fell.

The remaining dozen or so were fearless and continued to charge.

They knew very well that as long as they reached close quarters and entered hand-to-hand combat, they would have the advantage.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The unique gunfire of the Bertening rang out clearly and rhythmically.

Lan Yu picked off the few Tuodu warriors who charged the fastest one by one!

After these Northern Barbarian warriors charged close, the remaining soldiers all switched to revolvers and fired continuously.

More than thirty Northern Barbarian warriors finally all fell on this hillside; the Northern Barbarian warrior who charged at the very front had his blade only a few meters away from slashing Lan Yu.

This was the advantage brought by weapons and equipment.

If you set aside the battle of top powerhouses, if the million-strong Northern Barbarian army combined their forces, they might be directly crushed by the ten thousand Northern border soldiers!

Greater roars came from the village below, and more Northern Barbarian warriors began to charge toward this hillside.

The battle just now had already let them see clearly that there were no traps in the terrain, and the number of Lan Yu and the others was also very small, so the remaining people no longer had any concerns.

Before these Northern Barbarian warriors entered the range, a figure swept out at a very fast speed and rushed to the very front.

The opponent had no intention of dodging in a curve at all, charging straight toward the hillside, leaving behind trails of afterimages!

His speed had exceeded the reaction upper limit of the remaining soldiers; in the team, only Lan Yu could barely keep up with the opponent by fully stimulating his own extraordinary abilities, and then rely on his gun sense to shoot.

The moment Lan Yu aimed, the opponent erupted with crimson Qi.

Lan Yu hit the same impact point with four bullets in a row, but failed to break through his protective Qi.

The distance of several hundred meters was quickly covered by this Northern Barbarian warrior; the air was torn apart, and the turbulent airflow brought up dust, forming a long yellow dragon, spreading straight toward the top of the hillside!

"Tudu warrior?!"

Lan Yu's heart sank.

The Northern Barbarians' Tudu warriors were equivalent to the Central Plains' Dao-Foundation Realm powerhouses!

Lan Yu didn't expect to encounter such a powerhouse here.

"What a pity, no chance to use that new type of rifle."

Such a thought flashed through Lan Yu's mind.

He fired three more shots, still failing to break through the opponent's protective Qi, and this Tudu warrior had already charged in front of Lan Yu with a bloodthirsty face.

He didn't give Lan Yu a chance to react at all; he gripped Lan Yu's throat, lifted Lan Yu up, and his feet left the ground.

This Tudu warrior could actually kill Lan Yu directly from a distance with Qi, but he didn't do so.

He wanted to use the most cruel way to torture and kill this ant who used a gun bit by bit!

With a brush of crimson Qi, hundreds of wounds were cut on Lan Yu's body, turning him into a bloody person.

Seeing this scene, the surrounding soldiers were heartbroken, and they pulled out their knives one after another to kill toward this side.

Geng Yong, whose face was still bleeding continuously, rushed at the very front:

"Come on! Kill me first—"

Swish—

A golden sword Qi appeared out of thin air, like a hot knife cutting through butter, breaking through this Tudu warrior's protective Qi, then piercing through his skull, and splitting him in two!

Warm blood splashed all over Lan Yu; he sat on the ground in a daze, seeing the most shocking scene of his life:

Trails of sword Qi crisscrossed back and forth among the group of Northern Barbarian warriors at the foot of the hillside.

Amidst the crisscrossing sword Qi, whether it was ordinary Northern Barbarian warriors or Tuodu warriors who had become martial artists, they were all torn apart like rags!

In the blink of an eye, more than a hundred Northern Barbarian warriors turned into corpses all over the ground.

Those Northern Barbarian warriors who still remained in the village didn't even have time to feel fear before golden sword Qi appeared above their heads, picking them off one by one!

The battlefield that was just noisy just now became incomparably quiet at this moment.

"Are you Northern border soldiers?"

A gentle voice brought Lan Yu back to his senses; he turned his head and saw a young man wearing a golden robe, full of righteousness between his brows.

Lan Yu inexplicably felt a bit nervous; he nodded and stood up from the ground:

"We are a hunter squad of the Northern border soldiers, ordered by the Provincial Military Commander to hunt and kill invading Northern Barbarians in the rear. Who are you?"

"I am Li Fei."

The person who came said calmly.

Lan Yu and the surrounding soldiers all widened their eyes upon hearing this, doubting their ears for a moment.

But combined with the shocking scene just now, they soon believed it.

"Subordinate pays respects to Marquis..."

Lan Yu endured the severe pain, stood straight, and gave a military salute to Li Fei.

He originally intended to address Li Fei as "Marquis," but as if by some divine intervention, he changed the title:

"Pays respects to the Great General!"

The dozen or so soldiers around also paid respects to Li Fei one after another, saying in unison:

"Pays respects to the Great General!"

This "Great General" was from the bottom of everyone's hearts.

Not only because Li Fei's position was Great General of the Northern Expedition, but also because his record of fighting seven alone in Lanling City had spread to the Northern border.

As soldiers, Lan Yu and the others were all boiling with blood!

Upon learning that Li Fei would lead the army north and fight side by side with them, Lan Yu and the others felt even more honored!

Li Fei was silent for a moment.

Since he took over the position of Great General of the Northern Expedition, this was the first time he had been addressed like this.

Paying respects to the Marquis, although respectful, still carried a sense of alienation.

Paying respects to the Great General meant that they were already comrades!

Li Fei's gaze swept over these soldiers, and he guessed what was going on from the situation at the scene at a glance.

So he solemnly returned a military salute to Lan Yu and the others:

"You've worked hard, well done!"

Hearing this, the youngest Geng Yong shed tears again.

He hurriedly turned around to wipe his face.

The Great General is watching, can't lose the face of the Northern border soldiers!

A soft green light suddenly shrouded the soldiers present.

The hundreds of wounds cut on Lan Yu's body began to heal at a speed visible to the naked eye, the injuries on the others were the same, and their exhausted spirits were also soothed, becoming incomparably relaxed.

A moment later, Li Fei stopped using "Green God."

"Great General..."

Lan Yu's eyes turned red; he really wanted to say that they weren't worth Li Fei consuming so much power.

Li Fei waved his hand: "I have other things to do, I'll go first."

How would Lan Yu and the others dare to delay Li Fei; they paid respects and thanked him again.

"Great General."

Just as Li Fei was about to soar into the air, Lan Yu suddenly shouted.

Li Fei looked at him.

Lan Yu took a deep breath and said loudly:

"It is our honor that you can come to the Northern border and fight side by side with you!"

Li Fei smiled and also said solemnly:

"It is also my honor to be able to fight side by side with soldiers like you!"

After speaking, he nodded to Lan Yu and the others, then soared into the air and soon disappeared into the horizon.

Lan Yu and the others all looked up at the sky.

Slap!

A slap suddenly rang out.

Lan Yu turned his head to look, only to see Geng Yong, whose facial injuries had already healed, give himself a slap:

"Am I dreaming?"

"Damn it, this life is worth it!"

"If I can live to go back, I can brag about today's events for a lifetime!"

"Hehe, suddenly I'm reluctant to die."

"..."

Everyone spoke one after another, all full of excitement.

Lan Yu was somewhat puzzled.

According to the marching speed, the Northern Expedition Army coming to reinforce should still be on the road.

How could Li Fei have arrived in Beichuan Province alone?

After thinking for a while, Lan Yu stopped thinking about it; anyway, it wasn't his turn to worry.

He looked up at the direction where Li Fei disappeared again, his eyes resolute.

Although the Great Lan Dynasty was currently an enemy to the whole world, because Li Fei was here, it was still full of hope!

Above the sea of clouds, Li Fei, who was flying fast, was also recalling Lan Yu and the others he had just seen.

A dozen people launched an attack on an enemy several times their size.

Knowing it couldn't be done but doing it anyway!

At this moment, Li Fei also had a thought in his heart:

With such a group of people in the Great Lan Dynasty, there is still hope!

He remembered the conversation with Lan Yu at the end, feeling the sword intent in his chest surging, wanting to spit it out:

Who says you have no clothes? I share the same robes with you.

This sentiment is worth a sword!

Boom—

Li Fei suddenly accelerated, turning into a golden light and galloping forward.

In the air, the sea of clouds was split open.

Sword Qi whistled for a thousand miles, and heaven and earth raised thunder!

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 554 =====