He quickly strapped them on, recovering the image of a poised and resolute regiment commander.
“I will immediately assemble the guard platoon and reliable personnel. You…”
He glanced at Gu Qiancheng and hesitated for a moment.
Having the other party follow was undoubtedly the strongest guarantee, but the other party’s abilities were too shocking; exposing them in a large-scale operation might cause unnecessary panic or suspicion.
“I’ll follow.”
Gu Qiancheng seemed to see through his concerns and said casually, “Don’t worry, ordinary people won’t notice me unless I want them to.”
“You capture whoever you need to; I’ll watch the fun and, by the way, prevent any other surprises.”
Lu Fan did not say anything more, nodded, and lifted the tent flap to walk out.
Outside the tent, the chaos had not yet completely subsided, but the 682nd Regiment was elite after all, and the junior officers had already begun to work hard to gather the troops and identify the source of the explosions and gunfire.
Seeing their commander appear safe and sound, many officers and soldiers breathed a sigh of relief and quickly approached him.
Lu Fan did not waste time explaining the details and directly issued orders in his capacity as regiment commander: “Guard platoon, assemble!”
“First Battalion Commander, take your men to control the north channel of the camp! Second Battalion Commander, guard the perimeter! Without my orders, no one is allowed in or out of the camp! Move out immediately!”
The orders were clear and decisive, carrying an unquestionable majesty.
Although the officers of the 682nd Regiment were full of doubts, their trust in the regiment commander and the instinct to execute orders overwhelmed everything else, and they immediately split up to take action.
Soon, an elite team of about thirty people was assembled, consisting mainly of Lu Fan’s guard platoon and several officers he trusted absolutely.
Gu Qiancheng had already quietly followed to a position slightly behind Lu Fan’s side, invisible spatial ripples undulating on his body, and the surrounding soldiers and officers, surprisingly, really did not notice his existence.
The group quickly rushed toward the central area of the camp, where Zhao Zhenwu’s tent was located.
In the night, the beams of torches and flashlights swayed, and the footsteps were rapid.
Encountering soldiers from other units asking questions along the way, they were all briefly dismissed by Lu Fan with the excuse of “performing an emergency guard mission.”
The atmosphere was tense and murderous.
However, when they arrived at the Deputy Chief of Staff’s tent, which was wider than Lu Fan’s and should have been more heavily guarded, they found that something was wrong.
Outside the tent, the double guards that should have been there were nowhere to be seen.
The tent flap was slightly ajar, and it was pitch black inside, silent and still.
Lu Fan’s heart sank, and he made a gesture.
Two guard platoon soldiers immediately stepped forward with their guns, carefully lifting the tent flap and flashing in, the beams of their flashlights sweeping quickly across the interior.
“Commander! There’s no one inside!” the soldiers poked their heads out to report.
Lu Fan’s face turned cold, and he strode into the tent.
Gu Qiancheng followed him in.
The furnishings inside the tent were slightly messy, the quilt on the army cot was half-turned back, the documents on the table were scattered, and a cup of water was knocked over on the ground, soaking some of the paper.
A lingering scent of smoke remained in the air, but it was very faint.
Most importantly, Zhao Zhenwu’s personal belongings, sidearm, and some document boxes that clearly belonged to him were all gone.
“He ran.”
Lu Fan gritted his teeth and slammed a punch onto the folding table nearby, making a dull thud.
“This old fox! He moves really fast!”
Apparently, the previous officer’s failure might have been made known to Zhao Zhenwu in some way, or perhaps he had planned to relocate immediately after the assassination was launched.
In any case, he had slipped away first.
“Search! He can’t have gone far! He must still be in the camp or nearby!”
Lu Fan turned and growled at the officers who followed him in, “Notify all entrances and exits; conduct strict inspections! Send out reconnaissance teams to search outward, radiating from the tent! Focus on vehicles, material stockpiles, and any direction where he might be hiding or fleeing quickly!”
“Yes!”
The officers took their orders and quickly dispersed to arrange things.
Lu Fan’s face was livid.
Letting Zhao Zhenwu run away meant endless trouble.
He not only knew the strength, deployment, and weaknesses of the 103rd Division’s remnants, but he might also be in direct contact with the Shi Bian Ti.
He must be captured or killed before he caused greater damage or made contact with external enemies.
He led the remaining guard platoon soldiers and Gu Qiancheng out of the tent and was about to lead the search party personally.
Just at this moment…
“Bang! Bang! Bang!”
Crisp and rapid gunfire suddenly erupted from the northwest direction of the camp, exactly opposite the area where the Staff Department’s tents were located.
Following that, there was more mixed gunfire, interspersed with brief screams and roars.
“It’s an ambush!”
A guard platoon officer following Lu Fan reacted very quickly, whispering a low command.
He instinctively bent down and at the same time pushed Lu Fan into the shadows beside the tent.
“Commander, watch out! Don’t just stand there, you bastards! Find cover! Get down!”
Before his words died away, the sound of more bullets tearing through the night sky rang out, and the bullets hit the surrounding tents, vehicles, and the ground with “pfft, pfft” sounds, splashing up dirt and debris.
In the distance, the figures of a few 682nd Regiment soldiers responsible for the perimeter guard swayed and fell to the ground.
The attack came suddenly and violently.
Lu Fan, protected by the officer, quickly hid behind the wreckage of a military truck, his heart pounding wildly.
Through the gap between the wheels, he looked toward the area where the gunfire was densest.
About 200 meters away, behind a slope of rubble on slightly higher ground, as well as around several tents that had been specifically reinforced and appeared abandoned, flashes of muzzle fire flickered.
The fire points were not in one place; they had formed a crossfire network, locking tightly onto the core area where they were located and the road leading to the 682nd Regiment’s encampment.
The attackers were clearly well-prepared and had been lying in ambush for a long time.
On the other end, on the high ground of the rubble slope…
Zhao Zhenwu, dressed in a crisp general’s wool coat with shiny shoulder straps, was coldly watching the position where Lu Fan and the others were caught in a brief moment of chaos below.
His eyes were sinister, and his lips were currently pressed into a cold, straight line, with no sign of panic, only an indifference that suggested everything was under his control.
Standing beside him were several officers who were also fully armed and had murderous expressions, as well as a technical sergeant wearing glasses and operating a portable battlefield terminal.
Each team was firing in cross-patterns, suppressing their counterattacks, with a special focus on small groups of people attempting to assemble or break out.
Zhao Zhenwu’s voice came through the night wind, terrifyingly steady, “Where is the fire support team? Have the mortar positions calibrated yet?”
An artillery commander next to him, wearing the rank of major, replied immediately: “Reporting to the Deputy Chief of Staff! Three mortar teams are in position; azimuths are set and can cover the target area at any time!”
Zhao Zhenwu nodded and was just about to give the order.
Beside him, an older officer, carrying the rank of captain, showed a strong struggle and hesitation on his face.
He looked down at the 682nd Regiment soldiers who were looking for cover in the gunfire—soldiers who were clearly his comrades from the 103rd Division—and finally could not help but speak slowly, his voice hoarse: “Deputy… Deputy Chief of Staff… Please, please think twice… Those below… they are also our brothers from the 103rd Division… Is it possible… is it possible there is some misunderstanding? Commander Lu, he…”
“Are you questioning my order?”
Zhao Zhenwu abruptly turned his head, his gaze piercing the captain like two cold cones.
The muscles on his face twitched slightly, and his expression turned extremely gloomy in the shadows, even carrying a hint of ferocity.
“You all saw it just now; Lu Fan led troops to storm my residence, what was he trying to do? Seize power! Mutiny!”
“At such a time, this behavior is treason! It is desertion!”
He stepped forward, closing in on the captain, his voice lowered, yet every word dripped with blood: “For such scoundrels who collude with the Shi Bian Ti, betray their brothers, and try to disrupt military morale on the eve of battle, the only thing we must do is respond with the guns and cannons in our hands!”
“Use their dog lives to pay homage to the heroic souls of our 103rd Division who died in battle! Do you understand?”
The captain’s face turned white under his stare, cold sweat seeping from his temples.
His lips moved, but in the end, under that unquestionable gaze that mixed authority with madness, he hung his head listlessly, not daring to say another word.
Zhao Zhenwu snorted coldly, turned back, and stopped looking at him, his gaze returning to the battlefield below where gunfire flickered, as if watching a group of lambs waiting to be slaughtered.
He raised his hand, preparing to drop it and issue the final order for artillery fire.
However, at the very moment his arm was about to swing down…
A voice, playful and lazy, yet clearly piercing through the noise of guns and cannons to reach directly into his ears, spoke up: “Tsk, paying homage to the heroic souls? Deputy Chief of Staff Zhao, I’m afraid the incense you offer with your blood-stained hands might irritate the eyes of the martyrs, won’t it?”
Zhao Zhenwu shook violently and turned around in horror.
Only to see that about five or six meters to his front and side, on a rock that had been empty before, someone had appeared.
Hair as red as fire, clothes as dark as night, and the faint light on the vest flowing eerily in the darkness.
Gu Qiancheng was sitting on the rock with his legs crossed, resting his cheek on one hand, looking at him with a smirk.
“Aren’t you afraid your tongue will slip from such big talk?”
That look was like watching an absurdly ridiculous farce.