When Hu Hao told Ye Zifeng and Bo Gang that he was going to personally infiltrate the county to assess the situation, the two commanders were absolutely stunned.
“Hao-ge, you can’t be serious!” Ye Zifeng immediately protested. “You’re a Division Commander! Since when does a Division Commander personally run frontline reconnaissance?! That is incredibly dangerous!”
“He’s right, Hao-ge. We have absolutely zero intelligence regarding the Allied dispositions inside Santong County. If you go in there and get surrounded, what the hell are we supposed to do?!” Bo Gang agreed urgently.
“Relax. I know what I’m doing. If they want to catch me or kill me, it’s going to take a lot more than a few scattered patrols,” Hu Hao replied calmly. “Furthermore, our Recon Company lacks systematic urban infiltration training. They might not be able to gather the high-value intelligence we actually need.
That’s why I have to go. The two of you, pull the armored column back into the nearby forest and camouflage the vehicles. Establish a defensive perimeter and wait for my call. I’ll tell you exactly what to do once I’m inside.
Sitting out here blind isn’t a strategy. Since we don’t know what’s happening on the other side of that wall, we can’t make effective tactical judgments. So, I’m going over the wall.”
“Hao-ge, this is unacceptable! If anything happens to you, we’re all screwed!” Ye Zifeng pleaded, his face tight with worry.
“I brought you men out here, and it is my absolute responsibility to bring you back alive,” Hu Hao’s expression hardened. “As commanders, you both need to remember this: while we can never guarantee that every single soldier makes it home, we bear the solemn responsibility to do absolutely everything in our power to maximize their survival. It is our absolute duty.
Someday, you two might become Division Commanders, or even Corps Commanders. Carve that responsibility into your hearts!
Enough arguing. I’m taking my three radiomen and heading in. You two hold the line here. If an Allied force pushes toward your position, call me immediately. If it’s a small force, devour them. If it’s a massive force, break contact and retreat instantly!” Hu Hao ordered with finality.
“Yes, Hao-ge,” Bo Gang sighed, realizing they couldn’t stop him. “Honestly, Hao-ge… we’re incredibly lucky to have you. If we were following any of the other aristocratic Division Commanders, they wouldn’t give a damn if we lived or died.”
Shortly after, Hu Hao and his three radiomen stripped off their Imperial uniforms and changed into civilian clothing they had scavenged earlier. They commandeered an abandoned civilian car and drove until they were roughly a kilometer and a half outside of Santong County.
They parked the car in a concealed ditch, split up, and approached the county limits on foot. Once inside the urban perimeter, Hu Hao contacted Liu Shuyi.
“Hao-ge?! What are you doing here?!” Liu Shuyi gasped when Hu Hao slipped into their observation post.
“Mmh. Listen to me. Contact your Recon platoons. Order a detachment to immediately push toward the pre-war Imperial military base and confirm if there is an Allied presence holding it.
Order the remaining detachments to push toward Daman City and establish observation posts along the primary highway. If the Allied forces dispatch reinforcements from Daman toward Santong, I want immediate early warning!” Hu Hao instructed.
“Yes, sir!” Liu Shuyi nodded, immediately pulling out his satellite phone to relay the orders to his platoon leaders.
Hu Hao left the radiomen on the lower floors and quietly made his way up to the roof of the seven-story apartment building they were using as an observation post. He unslung his binoculars and slowly crawled toward the edge of the roof.
“Hao-ge, look down there. The Allied troops are actively looting the civilians,” Liu Shuyi whispered, having followed him up. “Based on the insignia on their uniforms, they belong to Limaguo. But we still don’t know their total numbers.”
“Mmh,” Hu Hao nodded, peering through the binoculars. He scanned the streets below, eventually spotting the highest-ranking officer in the immediate vicinity—a mere Captain.
Hu Hao lowered the binoculars and turned to Liu Shuyi. “You hold this position and keep observing. I’m going to push deeper into the city to get a better look.”
“What?! You’re going alone?!” Liu Shuyi asked, alarmed.
“Yes. I’ll take one satellite phone, two fragmentation grenades, a suppressed pistol, and… give me your combat knife,” Hu Hao listed his requirements.
“Hao-ge, absolutely not! It’s way too dangerous! The city is swarming with Allied troops, and we still don’t know how many there are!” Liu Shuyi pleaded, trying to stop him.
“There’s nothing I can’t handle. I’m just going to take a look around; don’t worry. You men stay hidden here. Do not let the Allied patrols spot you. I’ll be back shortly. Give me three hours tops; I’ll figure out exactly how many bastards are in this city,” Hu Hao reassured them.
“But… what if they discover you? What do we do?!” Liu Shuyi pressed.
“If you hear gunfire nearby, do not move. Do not break cover. I will handle it,” Hu Hao ordered strictly. “Maintain your observation post and do not expose your position.
I’m dressed as a civilian. The Allied forces have no idea the Imperial Army is operating this far forward. If they spot me, they’ll just assume I’m a desperate local trying to get revenge. Stay hidden!”
Knowing they couldn’t stop him, Liu Shuyi handed over his combat knife. Hu Hao secured his gear, slipped down the stairwell, and cautiously exited the building. Checking the street to ensure the coast was clear, he sprinted across the main avenue and melted into the dense network of residential alleyways.
After traversing two blocks, Hu Hao suddenly heard a woman screaming for help. He paused, pinpointing the sound to a two-story house nearby. Without hesitation, he moved toward it.
Peeking around the corner of a narrow alley, he spotted several fair-skinned Allied soldiers standing outside the courtyard gate, laughing and chatting in a foreign language. Hu Hao ducked back. He backed up a few steps, took a short, explosive sprint, and vaulted silently over the high brick wall bordering the back of the property.
The moment he landed in the courtyard, the metallic scent of copper hit him. Several bodies lay sprawled on the concrete, fresh blood pooling rapidly around them. They had clearly just been murdered.
Hu Hao spotted an open window on the ground floor. He slipped beneath the sill and risked a quick glance inside. In the living room, an Allied soldier was aggressively pinning a young woman to the couch, tearing at her clothes.
Hu Hao vaulted through the window.
The Allied soldier spun around, startled by the sudden intrusion. He reached for his slung rifle, but he was far too slow.
Hu Hao crossed the room in a blur of motion. He wrapped his arm around the soldier’s neck in a vicious chokehold and violently wrenched his arms in opposite directions.
CRACK.
The soldier’s neck snapped instantly, and his body went entirely limp.
The young woman on the couch stared in shock. She opened her mouth to scream, but Hu Hao lunged forward and clamped his hand tightly over her mouth.
“Shh!” Hu Hao pressed a finger to his lips.
The girl, her eyes wide with absolute terror, nodded frantically. Hu Hao slowly released his hand. He picked up the dead soldier’s rifle; a quick glance confirmed it was the standard-issue assault rifle of the Lima military.
He quickly patted down the corpse. The rank insignia indicated the man was a Second Lieutenant. Rummaging through his pockets, Hu Hao found a thick wad of Eastern Spirit currency—several thousand credits, undoubtedly looted from the civilians. Hu Hao unceremoniously shoved the cash into his own pocket.
Suddenly, footsteps echoed from the front courtyard.
“Go upstairs. Hurry!” Hu Hao hissed at the trembling girl on the couch.
But the girl just sat there, her eyes vacant and unseeing, completely unresponsive to his command. Hu Hao sighed in frustration. He grabbed the scavenged rifle and positioned himself behind the front door.
An Allied soldier pushed the door open, likely sent by the others to check why the Lieutenant was taking so long. The moment he stepped inside, he saw the officer’s corpse on the floor. The soldier’s eyes went wide, and he instinctively opened his mouth to yell while raising his rifle.
Hu Hao stepped out from the blind spot. He delivered a brutal, perfectly placed chop to the back of the soldier’s neck.
CRACK.
The strike severed the soldier’s spinal cord instantly. The man collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut. Hu Hao caught the body before it hit the floor and dragged it out of sight.
“Get upstairs right now! Do you hear me?! If you stay here, you are going to die!” Hu Hao ordered, grabbing a discarded jacket from the floor and throwing it at the girl.
The girl continued to stare at him with dead, hollow eyes. Hu Hao realized her mind had completely snapped. The trauma of whatever she had just witnessed—likely the brutal murder of her family in the courtyard outside—had broken her completely. She was entirely catatonic.
Hu Hao sighed heavily and moved back to the front door. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to help her, but he simply couldn’t. She couldn’t follow instructions, and he couldn’t carry her out of a city swarming with enemy troops while completing his mission. He had no choice but to leave her.
Loud, foreign chatter suddenly erupted from the courtyard gate. The remaining soldiers were coming in.
Hu Hao raised the captured assault rifle, leveling it at the doorway.
The moment the four Allied soldiers stepped through the threshold, Hu Hao squeezed the trigger.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Four shots. Four dead soldiers. Each one caught a bullet directly between the eyes before they even realized they were under attack.
Because the Allied forces were firing randomly throughout the city to intimidate the populace, and because Hu Hao was using an Allied rifle, the gunshots didn’t draw any immediate attention.
Hu Hao tossed the empty rifle aside. He cautiously approached the front door and peeked out into the alleyway. Seeing no other patrols nearby, he quickly dragged the four bodies deep into the courtyard, hiding them behind a shed.
He then dragged the bodies of the murdered family members and positioned them prominently near the front gate, leaving the gate itself wide open. It was a grim tactic, but effective: any passing Allied patrol would see the bodies, assume the house had already been looted and purged by another squad, and move on.
It was the only protection he could offer the catatonic girl inside.
Having done all he could, Hu Hao slipped out of the courtyard. He continued his infiltration, sticking entirely to the narrowest alleyways and silently vaulting over courtyard walls to avoid the main thoroughfares.
Along the way, he encountered several lone Allied soldiers who had wandered off to loot. He dispatched them with silent, brutal efficiency, hiding their bodies in dumpsters or abandoned sheds where they wouldn’t be immediately discovered.
After roughly twenty minutes of rapid infiltration, Hu Hao heard a large commotion ahead. He quickly scaled the exterior wall of a nearby house, slipping into a second-story bedroom. He crept to the window and peered out through the curtains.
“Fuck… a Major General?” Hu Hao muttered.
Down the street, a heavily guarded entourage was moving toward the city center. At the center of the formation was an Allied Major General, flanked by two Brigadier Generals and several field-grade officers, all surrounded by a massive detail of elite guards.
TN: The term “Guo” (国) means “state” or “country.” In this novel, I retain “Guo” after place names because the political structure of these entities—whether republic, kingdom, or empire—is not specified.