Amidst the uproar, Fatty’s voice remained clear: “If we don’t reassign our troops, then the Imperial Army will continue attacking the Garo Mountain until they accomplish conquering Cato! If we redeploy the troops, then we’ll be using the troops from the other defense lines, moving them slowly towards the Garo Mountain region, which would slowly grind and consume our strength until the right moment has come—then they would break through the most appropriate defense line before achieving the same battle outcome!”
“The reason behind why this happened is because of us. We have always been watching the magician Russell’s performance, wondering how he could link those rings that could not be linked together. The sudden increase in military strength represents a wheel without a gap. Garo Mountain and the other surrounding defense lines are precisely two other sets of wheels chaining together without any gaps as well. All our attention has been attracted unto the mobilization on Garo Mountain’s General Offense, thus making us miss his other tactics. Actually, as long as we pull apart his hand, we’ll discover the lack of military strength over at the counterattack lines, where the enemy troops are stealthily gathering. This is actually a very simple game!”
“The combat data has been forged by him seamlessly, and even the addition of the Myth Legion is a fancy move used to confuse others. If not for that sign, I would not have been able to come to this conclusion. He is clearly telling us ‘kill me; otherwise, you die’. I don’t know why Russell decided to do this, thus this inverse deduced conclusion might just be another wheel in his chain of wheels!”
Finishing that, Fatty sat down in dismay. This deduction was the only explanation that could fit into the current battle situation. However, he was still filled with frustration, as he did not know how to break this performance. Facing a famous general who could move a few steps ahead of you that could with your thinking and emotions, helplessness emerged within him.
“If that’s the case…?” An Lei looked at Tian Xing Jian before softly asking him, “How should we pry apart the hands of this magician and cause this magic trick of his to fail?”
“She is talking to me…” Fatty’s immature spirit was instantly filled with happiness. A single sentence, two sentences, a hundred sentences, marriage, XX, having babies, living together; all sorts of rubbish thoughts surged in his mind as he looked in a daze at An Lei, who had slightly puckered up her tiny nose. That divine light which flashed past Fatty previously appeared again, and this time, Fatty had almost used the entirety of his mind to grab onto this divine feeling!
The queer expression of his only returned back to normal after quite some time. Casting a glance at An Lei, he immaturely avoided her clear eyes: “Actually, it’s very simple. If you take a look here…” He displayed a posture as if he was devising a battle plan in a military tent during a crucial moment; Fatty pointed out at a passage above the right flank of Garo Mountain before explaining, “Since his sign is telling us to kill him, then it implies that we have an opportunity to turn defeat into victory. We have to do it simultaneously while maintaining the pressure on both Garo Mountain and the other defense lines. In this situation when it’ll lead to the same outcome where the Empire can use the fastest speed to take down the most appropriate target regardless if the Federation has assigned troops or not, then the location of the Imperial Army’s assembly must certainly be right here—the Lower Ridge Forest! Just like a magician performing the ring toss magic trick, that small gap of the ring rim in his hand must be placed right in between his thumb and his forefinger in order to put the other rings into it easily.”
Fatty cast a glance at An Lei again before swallowing his saliva. Thinking in his heart, “If not for the thought of wanting to bite your cute little nose when I was young, I would not have thought until here.”
He marked out several routes on the map and said, “Only at this location could they hide their military strength under the condition where both sides’ various pieces of reconnaissance equipment have been destroyed after the strong electronic battle. Furthermore, this location is within the Garo Mountain region, the right flank to the 3rd Public Road defense line, and the top of the Miari Valley defense line. Starting their offense from this location will enable them to reach their destination within six hours regardless of which defense line they would proceed to. This is Russell’s right fist that has been hidden behind his body.”
Seeing An Lei’s serious and beautiful expression as she listened to him, Fatty felt kind of happy. Ever since that incident which happened ten years ago, this had been the first time An Lei had spoken to him on her own initiative. Even though this did not imply anything, it was nevertheless a good start.
He added, “Since they gathered at the Lower Ridge Forest, then we can immediately grab the initiative and attack them, prying open this hand which he had gripped so tightly. The 3rd Public Road defense line’s troops and the Miari defense line’s troops could use a pincer attack on this area. Behind the enemy in the various cities, they could completely ignore the offenses of the enemy which lacks the power, and instead, immediately start their counterattack, suppressing their strategic space and squashing the force which was prepared in the Lower Ridge Forest. This would ensure that this fist becomes just like water, evaporating under a full-on attack by our army. The situation at Garo Mountain would then be similarly solved. If my calculations are right, then the current military strength at Garo Mountain could even send some force to provide an all-out attack!”
Shocking! Everyone in the meeting room stared at Fatty at a loss for words. Regardless of whether his deduction was accurate or not, this line of thought was courageous enough and took on a truly unimaginable route. It could completely solve their current conundrum. Russell was still a human and could not bring in reinforcement troops from thin air, so if they understood why Russell was sending this message, then everything would be seamless!
However, why would Russell do this? That was a dead-end!
Several high-ranking officers who had always been silent began laughing. They looked at each other before standing up simultaneously to applaud. Bernadotte praised him similarly, “First Lieutenant Tian! We are truly convinced this time. For you to solve this problem amidst the spider’s thread and horse track [1], which we couldn’t solve despite holding onto the key, I think assigning you over to the combat planning department as a staff officer will be my most brilliant decision ever!”
“Holding onto the key?” The other people looked at each other, as they did not understand what General Bernadotte was thinking about. Unless, they knew what Russell’s intention behind this was?
Seeing the confusion in everyone’s eyes, Bernadotte laughed: “That’s right, just now when First Lieutenant started telling us about the Peirce’s Sign, we knew that this sign is deliberately shown to us by Russell!
Bernadotte pointed to An Lei and said, “This is our liaison officer from the intelligence department, Major An Lei. Just previously, she brought a very important news to us, and it is precisely because of this news that affirmed First Lieutenant Tian’s deduction to be completely accurate. Only with such a deduction will it apply logically and explain the current battle situation.”
As the several Research Unit directors thought about how the staff officers under them had been sure that this was a negligence with the intelligence department, wasn’t this the case of scolding a monk, saying that he is bald? Their faces immediately turned red.
“The reason why Russell came to the front lines personally is because of this very plan. However, this plan isn’t agreed upon between both of us, as we could not confirm Russell’s intentions. That was why such a situation would happen today. Major An Lei, please tell everyone what the report is!” Bernadotte said to An Lei.
An Lei stood up and took over: “Yes, General.” Her temperament was forever not that of a valiant and formidable one, but instead, it brought some sort of sweet-tempered gentleness. The Federation uniform had accentuated her wonderful figure; there was no hardness in it.
An Lei’s voice was truly feminine, clear and soft. Anyone who heard her speak would wish for her to continue speaking even longer.
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[1] Small and almost not noticeable clues