Atlas of Heaven and Man

After a journey of more than ten hours, Chen Chuan and his party got off the train and rested for half an hour at the fortress garrison along the way. Then, they drove seven armed off-road vehicles from the garrison and continued towards their destination.

Seeing the sky outside gradually darkening, Consultant Rao said, "We need to reach the next garrison point as much as possible before dark!"

Not all military garrisons are along the railway line. Some are distributed along the rivers of the fusion zone, and some are located in strategic terrain.

The place they were going to this time was the latter.

Before night fell, Chen Chuan and his party entered the local garrison at almost six o'clock. As they entered the fortress area, darkness seemed to descend in an instant. Looking back, it was already pitch black outside.

Consultant Rao had been very nervous along the way, constantly looking at his watch. At this moment, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Unlike his nervous journey, Chen Chuan and the other two were all fighters, confident in resisting external threats, so they maintained a good physical and mental state.

This garrison was just a small fortress, with more than fifty people stationed here. The sudden influx of such a team made it seem a little crowded.

Consultant Rao said, "On the one hand, we rely on air transport, which can solve the supply of provisions for a long time. We can also occasionally obtain simple supplies from some locals."

"Locals, like those remnants?" Yuan Qiuyuan interjected from the side. He said in surprise, "Are they still willing to cooperate with us?"

Consultant Rao replied, "Some are, and some are considered natives here."

"Oh, there are natives?" Yuan Qiuyuan suddenly became interested.

"Speaking of natives, they may be people who came here earlier during the period of change. They have completely adapted to the environment here, and there are slight differences between their appearance and inner being and ours. One study suggests that they may be distant relatives of ours from two to three thousand years ago, or perhaps even several thousand years ago."

Yuan Qiuyuan said, "Wow, that distant relative is far enough."

Consultant Rao said, "These people are different from those remnants of the Imperial family. Most of them maintain a certain good relationship with us, because they are equally afraid of the existence on the other side and have been fighting against it for a long time. In this, we are on the same side.

After all, they came into contact with the existence on the other side earlier than us and have a lot of information we don't know, but some of them are very hostile to us."

Chen Chuan said, "It seems that their relationship with the remnants of the Imperial family is not very good either."

Consultant Rao said, "Yes, in recent centuries, the remnants of the Imperial family have often relied on force to plunder their wealth and population, and encroach on their territory, so they are also more cooperative in dealing with this enemy."

Chen Chuan nodded. In fact, he knew that the governments and companies of various countries were not necessarily good people either, but at least they knew which ones could be temporarily cooperated with and utilized. It could be regarded as a mutual need. If there really was no common enemy, the performance of the governments and companies of various countries would probably not be much better.

Yuan Qiuyuan clicked his tongue and said, "This place is complicated enough."

"Complicated?"

Consultant Rao shook his head, "Where is this? Because we are about to move away from the railway line, we must be careful of the various creatures in the fusion zone on the next section of the road. If we accidentally break into the territory of these creatures, it is possible to be attacked by them."

He explained that most of the creatures in the fusion zone are huge and very fierce. This is still good, as there are some weapons that can be used against them. What is most feared is encountering some groups of creatures that come in swarms, covering the sky and earth, and are very difficult to deal with. It is impossible to stop them without hiding in the fortress.

Therefore, he suggested avoiding them in time if encountered. If there are losses due to accidentally encountering them, such sacrifices are not worth it.

After eating, Consultant Rao took another map and pointed to a place, "If the journey goes smoothly, we can reach here in two days, the fortress garrison numbered 'Seventy-three'."

Chen Chuan looked over. From the map, this small fortress was blocking the entrance of the river valley, at the pointed intersection of two mountain ranges. If you wanted to go to the rear without passing through here, you would have to go a long way around, which, under completely ideal conditions, might take ten and a half days more.

Outside the fortress, there were only a few outposts, and they were relatively sparse. Further away, there was a patch of bright red, which should be the control area of the old dynasty.

However, the fusion zone was vast and boundless, and every central city in the world had an entrance to the fusion zone, so what they were facing now was only the enemy on their side.

I don't know what the situation is in other central cities.

Consultant Rao then said, "There are three options for entering the rear. One is to make a large-scale detour, but that would take too much time, and the situation is constantly changing. Maybe by that time the team we sent out will have returned, or more forces will have been recruited from the rear, so 'Iron Demon' won't choose to do that.

The second option..."

He pointed to a certain place, "Here, Fortress 'One-Zero-Four', which is located at an upstream river bend, where it is very easy to raft or go down the river.

It is impossible for Iron Demon to bring his men and horses from there without being discovered, and even if he sneaks past, we can block this retreat, so he will either simply ignore it, or choose to remove this place before advancing.

There is also the last place, which is the 'Seventy-three' fortress we are going to."

Chen Chuan said, "Consultant Rao is taking us straight here, is it because he believes that Iron Demon will choose this place as the breakthrough point this time?"

Consultant Rao nodded.

"Based on the intelligence obtained before, as well as the analysis of Iron Demon's character and behavior patterns, we believe that this time, he is most likely to break through from here and enter our rear!"

Qin Qingque then asked, "Consultant Rao, if they launch an attack, when does the intelligence room estimate it will be?"

"Iron Demon is leading no less than fifty cavalry soldiers this time. According to the journey, if they are heading straight for 'Seventy-three', then they will be able to reach there in three to four days. At most, they will be one or two days later than us. If they don't care about horsepower and travel day and night, then they may be able to arrive in one or two days, so our time is relatively tight."

Chen Chuan's eyes focused on the map, "Then let's get there as soon as possible."

After resting for one night, they accelerated their journey during the day, and the journey went smoothly. After a day and a half, they arrived at Fortress Seventy-three. More than two hundred soldiers were stationed here, and there was always a third-limit fighter guarding here all year round.

This fighter, named Hai Cheng, was burly, and both hands had been replaced with implants, and even one eye had also been replaced. He was already fifty years old, but the age of a fighter would not reduce much strength, and the experience was even richer.

This man had already learned through the radio that they were here specifically to deal with Iron Demon, so he was prepared and very enthusiastic, because several of his friends and many of his subordinates had been killed in this Iron Demon's attack.

Chen Chuan let the team rest, and he himself talked with Hai Cheng to understand the situation here. At this time, he saw a fourteen- or fifteen-year-old boy looking at them in the distance, and also approaching Yuan Qiuyuan, trying to inquire about news.

He glanced at him and asked, "Hai Garrison Officer, do you have soldiers here who are so young?"

"Him, ah." Hai Cheng touched the short hair on his head and said, "How should I put it, his father is from Dashun, and it is said that he is also my fellow villager. He was a predecessor stationed here, and later fell in love with a native woman here, so he simply settled down here, and later did not return to the central city.

My fellow villager left early, leaving behind two sons. The eldest son, like him, joined the garrison troops. He was a very good young man. Later, Iron Demon attacked our patrol team, and the entire team, including this young man, died in Iron Demon's hands. This kid is determined to avenge his brother, so he has been staying here looking for opportunities.

In fact, I originally drove him back, but I thought, if I don't agree, this kid might run out by himself, but his mother's family is very powerful here. If something happens to him again, it might affect our relationship, so I simply kept him by my side as a logistics soldier, which can be regarded as giving him a thought."

Chen Chuan nodded and said, "There will be a chance."

He asked Hai Cheng to assign a soldier who knew the surrounding situation to take him around to familiarize himself with the terrain around the fortress. Then he returned to the fortress and discussed and arranged specific tactics with Consultant Rao.

However, they waited for two days in a row, but did not see Iron Demon's figure.

At this time, they received a message through the radio that last night, a small group of troops passed through the river controlled by Fortress One-Zero-Four.

The sentries carried out long-term machine gun strafing, and at dawn, they found that the interception cable on the river was cut off, and a dead dragon-nosed horse was found downstream. It was suspected that the Iron Demon and his party had passed.

This intelligence disrupted their original arrangement. Could it be that Iron Demon did not intend to go here this time, but chose to break through from another place?

If this is the case, then they have been guarding the wrong position this time. Next, it seems that they can only choose to evacuate from here and chase after this group of people.

However, Consultant Rao was very persistent about this. He said to Chen Chuan, "No, I still think that is not his choice. This is most likely a smokescreen released by the other party. Iron Demon's target should still be us here!"

......

......