Strongest Soldier King

After confirming the identity of the enemy, Luo Zheng felt no joy in eliminating his foes, and fled toward the mountaintop. The dense gunfire made Luo Zheng extremely anxious, speeding up his pace involuntarily. Upon reaching the summit, his face changed dramatically—countless enemies had already charged out from the valley, leaving only a small squad to block the pursuing gardener. There was no sign of the farmer behind the gardener, while the student and Monk were rushing down the sides of the hillside, still some distance from the blocking enemies.

"Where's the farmer?" Luo Zheng looked at the spot where the farmer had been ambushed, and nobody was there. Glancing again at the retreating enemy, he caught a glimpse of a familiar shadow, and was shocked. Without any hesitation, he dashed down the mountain. The farmer had been captured, and he must be rescued.

At that moment, Luo Zheng hated the men from the Wild Wolf Mercenary Group with a passion. Had it not been for their sneak attack, he wouldn't have been distracted to deal with them and could have provided his comrades with fire support. The farmer would not have been captured. He also hated himself for being useless, for not having killed the two sneaking enemies sooner, which wasted precious time.

What had happened had happened; all he could do now was to make amends. Luo Zheng raced down the ridge, picked up his AK47, switched it to full auto, and began a ferocious spray of bullets at the blocking enemies. The red-eyed gardener also launched himself into the fray, charging forward fiercely, heedless of the enemy bullets.

With them attacking from before and behind, and the student and Monk assaulting from both flanks, the more than twenty armed militants blocking them were all taken out. The group regrouped, faces filled with urgent concern. The student stared at Luo Zheng and asked, "Is everyone alright? Why didn't you provide sniper support from behind?"

"Eh?" Faced with the student's questioning, Luo Zheng was somewhat slow to react.

It was the gardener, noticing the two M16 rifles on Luo Zheng's back, who caught on and interjected to defuse the situation, "Did someone sneak up on you from behind?"

Monk glanced at the weapons on Luo Zheng's back and also realized what had happened, speaking anxiously, "Now is not the time to talk about this. The farmer has been captured, we must rescue him quickly."

The student, seeing the weapons on Luo Zheng's back too, came to the realization and said, embarrassingly, "Sorry, I was too impatient." His expression then turned to one of grief and indignation. The farmer's capture was ultimately due to the student's tactical miscalculations. Without dividing their forces, they could have held out longer with their combat skills until Luo Zheng had dealt with the attackers. And it was also unfortunate that they lacked equipment and communication devices; the student had no idea that Luo Zheng was under attack and issued the command to encircle from both flanks.

If there had been no attackers, with Luo Zheng's sniper support, the farmer and the gardener, plus Luo Zheng's long-distance sniper support, could definitely have held off the enemy's frontal attack. As the student and Monk would have moved in for an encirclement from the sides, the course of battle could have been completely changed. However, there are no "ifs" in battle, and the student's judgment and command of the fight weren't wrong. The mistake was in underestimating the enemy's tactics, failing to consider someone ambushing the most crucial sniper. Without the sniper's fire support, the student's plan was full of holes, and a frontal charge completely fell apart. The gardener, unharmed, could avoid the brunt of the attack, but the farmer, with a leg injury, was immobile and couldn't escape the enemy's clutches.

"Now is not the time to talk about this. Let's think about what to do next," Luo Zheng said solemnly, his face grave. The farmer had fallen into enemy hands wounded, and anyone could guess that nothing good would come of it.

"It's all my fault," the Scholar said with a face full of grief and indignation. "If I had listened to you, we wouldn't have fallen into the enemy's ambush. I should have anticipated this; since the enemy knew our whereabouts, they had no reason not to guess our intent to evade and set up an ambush in advance. If I had listened to you and approached from the front, which the enemy would never expect, none of this would have happened."

"Captain?" the Gardener called out loudly.

"I know, now is not the time for repentance, but in my current state, I'm simply not fit to continue commanding. Throughout this journey, I've made mistakes every time, underestimating how cunning the enemy is. In contrast, Luo Zheng's judgments have proven correct every time after the fact. I propose that we let Brother Luo Zheng take over as captain. If anyone has objections, they can voice them now. If there is another candidate, speak up too. This is about the Farmer brothers' lives; we can't afford to delay," the Scholar said solemnly, his grief-stricken expression turning serious.

"This?" Everyone looked at the Scholar in surprise, not expecting him to drop the ball at such a critical moment.

It seemed the Scholar saw what everyone was thinking and quickly explained, "Brothers, it's not that I don't want to continue, it's just that I'm not calm enough right now to make any decisions. It's my command errors that caused the Farmer brothers to be in this situation. If anything happens to them, I am willing to give up my life in exchange. Make a decision quickly, everyone."

The Gardener and the Monk exchanged glances. Although Luo Zheng had impressed them with his performance along the way, entrusting their lives to him made them uneasy and hesitant. Their main concern was that they did not understand Luo Zheng's commanding abilities. According to his file, Luo Zheng had only been in the regular army for half a year and had joined the Special Forces just over half a year ago. Compared to others with three or four years of experience in the Special Forces, he was clearly lacking in both seniority and experience. Was he fit to take on the role of captain?

Seeing that the Gardener and Monk did not immediately take a stance, Luo Zheng couldn't help feeling anxious and said, "I am aware of my capabilities and know that I am not yet qualified to be the captain. The Farmer brothers have been captured, and we have no time to waste. We should rescue the Farmer brothers before discussing this further, or you two decide quickly who will be the captain, so we can come up with a plan at once."

"We cannot blindly mount a rescue. If someone ambushed you, those people will definitely set up an ambush en route. Rushing in without a plan could lead to disaster. We need a plan, so let's first decide on the captain and then formulate a rescue plan," the Scholar immediately countered, becoming anxious when he saw the Gardener and Monk still hesitating. "How about this: I'll temporarily act as the captain, and we can revisit the captaincy after we've rescued the Farmer brothers."

"That sounds good. It's not that I've got anything against Brother Luo Zheng, it's just such a critical matter, and I'm not confident. What do we do next?" the Gardener said apologetically, nodding towards Luo Zheng. He was indeed an upright man.

Seeing that the Monk had no objections, the Scholar quickly said, "Brother Luo Zheng, you understand more about the ambushing enemy than we do. How do you rate their combat strength? I would like to hear your opinion on what our next move should be." The Scholar wouldn't dare to act without a viable plan, for fear of plunging into another crisis.

Luo Zheng gave a wry smile, sensing that the Scholar was asking this question to establish his authority. Now was not the time for affectation. After organizing his thoughts, Luo Zheng spoke with a grave expression, "Do you remember the previous two times? Once, at night in the woods, it was a member of the Yellow Race; another time, it was a sniper I ambushed, a white man. This time, my ambusher was also from the Yellow Race, nationality unclear, and I suspect a mercenary. They are very formidable fighters. If not for luck and having the terrain advantage, it likely would've been me who died. I am not certain how many more like them there are."