Chapter Seventeen: Proposals and Plans

“What matter?” Hearing Rod’s words, Emio was briefly stunned before, as if suddenly remembering something, he widened his eyes and asked in confusion.
“Have you finished that task?” Then, as if recalling something, he hurriedly added before Rod could speak.
“What else could it be? Once it’s done, I’ll discuss it with you to hear your opinion!” With a wry smile, Rod was truly impressed by this guy—how could he forget such things? It was hard to understand how he had managed to rise to his current position. The army wasn’t an ordinary place; often, the intrigue and competition there were even fiercer and more ruthless than outside. Rod was well aware of this—it was the same everywhere. With memories from past lives, he was used to such things!
“Alright, things here are almost done. I’ll leave someone to watch over them. Come with me!” A hint of excitement appeared on his face. Clearly, Rod’s words had greatly excited Emio.
After some thought, he gave instructions to Nagran on the other side, seemingly delegating responsibilities here. Rod had neither the mood nor the interest to pay more attention to the details.
Soon, Emio was by his side, leading Rod toward the city gates.
In no time, the two arrived at Emio’s command camp. They sat face to face, and Emio, clearly impatient, began asking questions right away.
Seeing this, Rod could only smile wryly helplessly, then lowered his head to sort out his thoughts. He took out the plan outline he had prepared over the past few days and placed it in front of Emio, saying, “We can’t be careless about this. It’s impossible to come up with a perfect plan. You should know that in such a situation, no matter when or under what circumstances we try to retreat, casualties are inevitable. All we can do is minimize them!
We must pay a small price to ensure the safety and benefits of most people. There are still many people behind us waiting for the outcome of our battle—you should be aware of that!” As Emio flipped through his plan, frowning within moments, Rod spoke in a low voice.

He also thought his plan was a bit extreme, but he was sure there was no better alternative at the moment. In the current situation, their opponents were none other than the army of demons, the demon legions, as well as the vampires and werewolves, with even the demons lurking in the shadows. Which of these guys was easy to deal with? None of them were kind! No matter what happened, they would surely take advantage to attack if they saw an opportunity to retreat!
Retreating only when unable to hold out in battle was undoubtedly the worst option. He didn’t need to explain the severity of the situation—Aemio could surely imagine it too. Being chased like a stray dog was an unimaginably terrible situation!
A slightly better option was to retreat voluntarily, but even then, it couldn’t be done perfectly, and the enemy would surely notice. They would then chase after them, causing inevitable losses.
Rod’s idea was simple: form a suicide squad to stay on the first line of defense to distract the enemy, while the main force retreated. As for how those who stayed behind could retreat and survive, it depended on their luck—only heaven knew the outcome.
“There are a bit too many!” After reading Rod’s plan with a frown, Aemio let out a sigh. That was his first reaction, which didn’t surprise Rod at all!
“Not too many. It’s already reduced to the minimum. With the army of demons attacking day and night, having fewer troops not only fails to distract them but also makes it impossible to withstand their attacks. We can’t have any fewer!” Rod said solemnly, looking at Aemio with a bitter smile.
“What about the timing?” Aemio asked after giving Rod a deep look and lowering his head in thought, seemingly pondering his words. After a moment of silence, he suddenly asked.
“The vampires and werewolves haven’t taken any action today! Since they appeared, there was some commotion on the first day, but nothing else since then. Don’t you find that strange? If the vampires and werewolves are here, where’s their army? Why are there only these vanguard forces? And the demons—this whole situation can’t happen without their involvement. Without the demons’ backing, the vampires and werewolves wouldn’t dare act like this or unite. Their relationship isn’t as good as we think! Only the demons have the capability, but have you ever wondered why they haven’t shown up yet?
This isn’t as simple as we think. You should know, and many people do, that it’s always quiet before a storm. This is that quiet time! Perhaps a storm is coming soon, and by then…”

Time cannot be delayed any longer; we can’t afford to procrastinate! Withdraw as soon as possible and get fully prepared—once the storm hits, it will be difficult to escape!” Rod said in a deep voice, with a sigh and a slight frown.

His message was clear: he wanted Emio to make a decision and take action quickly, as they really didn’t have much time left.

Immediately, the two began a tense discussion in the quiet camp, the atmosphere somewhat surprised and oppressive, with no other noises heard except their voices!

From morning until nearly noon, they stayed inside the camp without leaving, making detailed plans and discussions about this matter.

Only after everything was settled did Rod turn to leave this uncomfortable place. Looking at Emio, who sat there frowning and seemingly dazed, he sighed, not knowing what to say. In the end, they still hadn’t come up with a specific, feasible plan or exact timeline!

Emio still had reservations and hesitations about this matter, which troubled Rod greatly. He knew the saying “hesitation leads to chaos,” and he naturally understood its meaning—many things aren’t as simple as they seem; there are many unknown factors involved.

Those in positions of responsibility had to consider far more things, far more broadly, unlike him who could be simpler and more direct. They had to worry about many things—things he didn’t even need to worry about.

With another sigh, he looked up at the bright blue sky. Under the harsh light, he couldn’t help closing his eyes. There was always a feeling that the blue sky carried a hint of gloomy crimson—soon, it might turn into a blood-red world. Thinking of this, Rod couldn’t help but smile wryly. He had started to overthink lately. Hopefully, it wouldn’t come to that!

……

Back at Camp 19 in Area C, as soon as he stepped through the camp gate, he heard shouts coming from afar. Hearing this, Rod couldn’t help but smile, knowing everyone was training at the moment.

Tapping his own head, he realized he’d likely be scolded by Nightingale again. Being away for a whole day must have worried everyone.

Without returning to his own tent, Rod headed straight to the training ground—the one he was familiar with, where he had been training the First Squad lately. It should be there.

Sure enough, upon arriving at this open area, Rod immediately saw all the members of the first squad and Nightingale standing at the front. They were training diligently under Nightingale’s supervision, with no one showing signs of slacking off, which gave Rod some relief. Although the recruitment this time was hasty, it was generally satisfactory—at least his squad didn’t have any troublemakers or loafers!

After all, what kind of place was Iron Bar Town these days? Those loafers would likely not show up here. In such a dangerous place, it would be better for them to go elsewhere and continue slacking off; those people were afraid of death.

Looking at the members across from him, his sharp eyes quickly spotted Kiro and the others, along with Jim and two more. They seemed to have recognized each other as they gathered together. Thinking of this, Rod smiled bitterly. It seemed there would be some interesting developments. Who knew when they might cause trouble for him?

Feeling annoyed at the thought, he shook his head. Since he had come this far, he could only take things as they came and not overthink things. Looking at those training, it was not bad, but it was obvious that Jim, Sambik, and Kambi were still struggling greatly. What surprised Rod wasn’t this—after all, their strength was far inferior to the others, so struggling was normal. What surprised him was that despite the difficulty, these guys managed to persevere and seemed to integrate into the group quickly, which made him secretly admire them.

It seemed these guys hadn’t been idle over the past year or so; they had grown significantly in every aspect! On the other hand, Rod also felt conflicted. He wasn’t sure if what he had done was right or wrong. Keeping them in Iron Bar Town was dangerous for them. Perhaps he shouldn’t have said what he said yesterday; it might have been better to let them leave right away. Leaving Iron Bar Town was the safest option.

But since he had already done it, there was nothing he could do but hope they could hold on until the end!

He walked toward the squad, and soon they noticed him. After some greetings, he joined the training. With Rod’s return, the training became more lively. Under Rod’s leadership, everyone worked hard and learned as much as possible within the limited time, hoping to fully integrate tactics into combat. Only in this way could they increase their chances of survival and fight better, bringing out all their strength.