344: Chapter 336 They have mutated pack rhinoceroses, I have an armored army group

Zhang Mu planned to speed up the spaceship project, but he had to be careful not to let the Director realize he was pushing for it.

It wasn't difficult to implement; he just needed to find a suitable reason.

In the early morning, Zhang Mu wandered over to the mountain cave base, under the pretext of "occasionally tasting the food of the mortal world is also a fine thing."

Then, while eating and chatting, he casually revealed that Ying Country's spaceship construction progress had already overtaken them, and America was catching up as well.

This lie wasn't sophisticated—it could even be called clumsy. As long as China and Ying Country communicated, it would fall apart.

However, Zhang Mu wasn't worried at all, because it was impossible for the two countries to share the specific details of their respective projects.

Although the two countries had a good relationship, there was also competition, especially regarding the moon landing, which concerned who could take a step ahead on the path of transcendence.

The Queen had ambitions, and China was unwilling to be inferior to others, so they would naturally keep the details under wraps.

After saying this, Zhang Mu caught a glimpse of the Director becoming anxious, shifting restlessly on his stool. He guessed the man was probably in a hurry to leave and gather his subordinates to discuss how to increase the construction speed of the spaceship.

This scene was what he hoped to see, so he didn't delay the Director and stood up to take his leave.

Returning to "The World," he didn't practice his Meditation Method or Knight Magic. He opened the door to the Saul Continent to check on how the war preparations in Lake were progressing and to scout for news of the enemy army.

Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be defeated.

Zhang Mu was not an expert in warfare, but he still understood this basic principle.

If he relied solely on Blue Star technology and magic-conducting weapons, believing they were enough to easily defeat the coalition forces, he would surely lose quite miserably in the end.

Upon arriving in Lake, Zhang Mu went to the palace as usual to find the King, who was currently practicing, and asked about the recent movements of the coalition forces and the Kingdom.

The King led Zhang Mu to the study, rummaged through a pile of coarse paper on the desk for a while, pulled out two sheets, and began to speak while looking down at them.

Likely because the Little Cat Girl's True Word Spell was about to expire, the coalition forces had been restless lately.

First, they stationed troops at the border, sending small units every day to provoke them along the boundary line.

Lake was currently busy reorganizing its army and had no time to spare to drive them away. Seeing this, the coalition forces became even more arrogant, sending people into cities near the border to widely publicize that those who surrendered after the war started would not be killed, aiming to disturb the people's hearts.

The effect was quite good; the King had received intelligence that many acting city lords were already secretly contacting the coalition forces.

This situation wasn't unexpected. After all, in the eyes of others, Lake—which was being targeted by the gods—would not be able to survive the subsequent continuous crusades even if it didn't lose this battle.

Zhang Mu didn't care; those acting city lords who betrayed them in secret were merely burdens to Lake.

The King felt the same; it didn't matter if there were a few fewer acting city lords.

However, his heart was heavy at the moment, and the source was a cavalry unit of the coalition forces.

The leader Kingdom of the coalition forces had a species of Mutated Rhino-Ox living within its borders.

Unlike ordinary Pack Rhinos, which could only serve as a means of transportation, the Mutated Rhino-Ox had a much more massive physique and skin with terrifying defensive power. They could be used as mounts to crash through the battlefield.

Lake also had cavalry—the Griffin Legion. Furthermore, the combat power of the Griffin Legion far exceeded that of the Rhino-Oxen.

However, when comparing the two, the former had a fatal flaw: they were scarce in number and difficult to train.

How many were in the Griffin Legion?

Counting the wingless subspecies of griffins, there were fewer than six thousand.

And the Mutated Rhino-Oxen?

Fifty thousand!

A nearly tenfold difference in numbers. While not enough to completely erase the combat power disadvantage of the Mutated Rhino-Oxen, it meant they wouldn't be easily annihilated by the Griffin Legion.

Moreover, the Mutated Rhino-Oxen were far easier to train than the Griffin Legion.

Lake had accumulated for over a thousand years to build a five-thousand-man Griffin Legion, yet the leader Kingdom only took fifty years to raise fifty thousand Mutated Rhino-Oxen.

In other words, if both sides suffered heavy cavalry casualties in the war, the latter could quickly replenish them, while the former would find it impossible to perform on the stage again after this clash.

The King's worry about this cavalry was only partly due to these reasons; the most troublesome thing was that the skin of the Mutated Rhino-Oxen could withstand bullet fire.

This meant that Lake's side would have no way to deal with the Mutated Rhino-Oxen and could only let them slaughter their own Soldiers.

Zhang Mu listened quietly and then began to laugh.

The King looked completely confused.

I know the weapons you found in the maze are very strong, but they've lost their effectiveness now. Lake has lost its most powerful reliance; why can you still laugh?

He asked the question in his heart, but Zhang Mu didn't bother to explain. He left a sentence: "Don't worry, I guarantee that Rhinoceros Cavalry unit will be completely buried within Lake's borders." Then he didn't stay any longer, left the palace, and found Avril, who was busy in the military camp.

With the war approaching, she was a bit uneasy. Every day, besides handling government affairs, she inspected the military camp.

The two of them walked into a small grove outside the camp and spoke while standing in the shade.

"Coming here every day lately?" Zhang Mu looked up, squinting his eyes to enjoy the sunlight filtering through the leaves onto his face.

"Yes, I feel a bit more at ease after taking a look."

"I remember, Senior, that you don't understand military affairs?" Zhang Mu looked at her and asked curiously.

"I don't, but I can still tell whether the Soldiers are training seriously or not."

"Hahaha... that's true."

Avril seemed to be in a bad mood and didn't respond.

Zhang Mu had seen it as soon as he met her: "Are you worried?"

"It's inevitable."

"Have a little confidence in me, okay?"

"It's not that I don't have confidence in you." Avril raised her head, her gaze fixed on him. "It's just... I..."

"Alright, I understand."

Zhang Mu interrupted her and walked quickly to her side.

Avril blinked, wondering what he was going to do. Before she could figure it out, Zhang Mu pulled her into his arms.

His right hand gently stroked her smooth, ice-blue hair that always radiated a cool sensation: "Feeling better?"

Avril buried her head in his chest: "Mm."

"I know you're worried about Lake's destruction, the people being displaced, and me being caught up in it and dying."

"Junior, you've never complained, but I always feel... you shouldn't have to sacrifice so much for Lake."

"The person I'm sacrificing for isn't Lake."

"Eh?"

"It's you."

Zhang Mu rested his chin on Avril's head, unable to see her expression.

Avril was silent for a long time before she slowly said, "Quietly leaving the capital and running to Kas Town was the luckiest choice of my life."

"I'm also glad I was born... cough, Kas Town is quite nice."

They snuggled for a while longer. After parting, Zhang Mu informed her that he had to go to the border to scout for information on the Mutated Rhino-Oxen.

He had made his boast in front of the King very smoothly and with full confidence, because Zhang Mu was certain that tanks could definitely blow those Mutated Rhino-Oxen away. However, it was unwise to underestimate the enemy, and it was very necessary to understand the foe in advance.

After saying goodbye to Avril, Zhang Mu activated his Shadow Technique and rushed all the way to the vicinity of the border, then crossed it without stopping to reach the coalition camp.

Flying above and looking down, he lamented that it was indeed hard to find someone on the Saul Continent who knew how to fight a war.

The coalition camp was not centered around the Legion Commander's tent with Soldier tents scattered in a circle; instead, it stretched out in a straight line.

With an alliance of more than ten Kingdoms and principalities, the number of Soldiers was naturally not small. From the sky, the entire camp looked like a long snake lying on the ground.

Doesn't it look familiar?

Zhang Mu scratched his head. If Lord Liu saw you setting up camp like this, he would probably slap his thigh and cry out, "This will never do!"

Zhang Mu wondered if he could replicate the strategy of burning linked camps on the Saul Continent.

It wouldn't be very difficult and wouldn't involve much danger.

He had the Shadow Technique; after setting the fire, the coalition forces wouldn't even be able to find where he was.

But after considering it for a moment, he gave up on this tempting idea; it didn't make much sense.

There must be a large number of High-tier Professionals in the camp. He estimated there would be many water-attribute Magisters, and perhaps even Saint-levels.

With them present, even if the fire spread rapidly and the flames reached the sky for a short time, putting it out would be just a wave of a hand.

It wouldn't cause much loss and would reveal that their side had Professionals who could turn invisible. Zhang Mu felt it wasn't worth it.

So he stopped paying attention to the camp layout and looked around for where the Mutated Rhino-Oxen were stationed.

A legion of fifty thousand, not to mention that the Mutated Rhino-Oxen were as large as heavy trucks, made them very conspicuous. Finding them wasn't difficult.

After flying for more than ten minutes, Zhang Mu saw a large group of Mutated Rhino-Oxen lying on their sides resting on the grass in the middle of the camp.

"Truly impressive. Never mind that the cavalry unit doesn't have its own camp, but putting it in the middle... if you're attacked, how are you going to charge... forget it."

Zhang Mu shook his head, thinking to himself that it was a good thing the enemy was stupid. He landed and walked boldly to the foot of a Mutated Rhino-Ox, looking up to examine it closely.

Big.

That was his first impression.

Standing by its foot, enveloped in the shadow of the Mutated Rhino-Ox, Zhang Mu felt like he had come to a land of giants. He had to tilt his head almost parallel to the ground to see that head, which looked like a mountain range.

He flew to the rear of the Mutated Rhino-Ox and reached out to poke it.

"It's no different from a steel plate." Feeling the hardness, Zhang Mu smacked his lips and withdrew his hand. "But it's not a big problem; it hasn't exceeded the limit that tanks and armored vehicles can handle. Hmm... it's just that building a tank group isn't that simple either."

Tanks were easy to obtain—Neo had as many as he wanted. The trouble was the shells and gasoline.

Tanks could be used indefinitely as long as they weren't broken, but shells and gasoline were consumables. As the war progressed, they would need continuous replenishment.

Zhang Mu couldn't spare the time to set up a production line in Lake for now, and it wasn't a good time anyway.

There were a lot of deeply hidden spies inside, as well as people waiting for an opportunity to rebel. Until they were cleared out, Zhang Mu didn't intend to let production lines for magic-conducting weapons and original weapons appear in Lake.

As such, for the shells and gasoline, Zhang Mu would probably have to transport them himself, running between the two worlds for a short period.

"It'll be a bit of a hassle, then. After the first battle is fought... hmm?"

Zhang Mu saw from a distance a group of about a dozen ordinary cavalrymen galloping out of the camp toward the border line.

What are they doing?

Since Zhang Mu was also preparing to go back, he decided to follow them and see.

The dozen or so cavalrymen didn't carry weapons. Waving their whips, they rode all the way to a spot not far from the border line and shouted across to the Lake Soldiers on the other side.

"Gutless cowards, come out quickly!"

"Look!" One rider gave a French military salute, showing he had no weapons. "I only have a horsewhip. Do you still not dare to come out?"

"Hahaha... he thinks the swords in his hands are no match for a horsewhip."

Because of the Little Cat Girl's True Word Spell, Lake wasn't worried about the coalition forces launching a sneak attack into their territory at this time. They hadn't sent heavy troops to guard the border; only four or five people were monitoring the coalition's movements.

These few Soldiers were quite angry. The captain pulled out his sword and squeezed his horse with his legs, about to charge, but his subordinate beside him grabbed the reins.

"After Lake is defeated, we won't deign to accept the surrender of a coward like you!"

Seeing that the Lake Soldiers hadn't been provoked into losing their minds, the dozen cavalrymen shouted an insult and then rode back to camp, laughing loudly.

"Damned bastards!" The captain angrily threw his long sword, and the blade sank halfway into the ground at an angle.

Zhang Mu watched him with interest for a few moments, remembered his appearance, and turned to return to the capital.

He rushed back to the capital in a day and a night. Just as he entered the palace gates, the King hurriedly found him and delivered some bad news.

A sudden anomaly had occurred in the Silent Forest.

The news was sent by Pavlina.

Soren had been transferred to the capital by Zhang Mu to be responsible for setting up the intelligence department, so Pavlina was left alone in Gur City.

With nothing to do and having learned from Soren that Zhang Mu lacked excellent scouts, she simply used the connections and resources left by the city lord to try and train a scout team.

Setting aside the results for now, Pavlina's attitude was indeed incredibly serious, rather than just for fun.

This morning, she led her team out for field training as usual. When passing by the Silent Forest, she suddenly noticed that something was wrong with this forest that had descended a thousand years ago.

It seemed... a bit illusory.

Zhang Mu scratched his head. What the heck? Illusory?

The King took a few breaths: "There have been similar situations on the Saul Continent."

"Tell me about it."

"Within the territory of the Red Sky Empire, there was a sacred Lake bestowed by the gods."

"Did it appear overnight, just like the Silent Forest?"

"Yes."

"And then?"

"That Lake suddenly became... how should I describe it... it slowly became transparent. The transparency got higher and higher until it completely disappeared."

Zhang Mu didn't care whether the description of the past was accurate or not. He asked in surprise, "You mean the Silent Forest will also disappear?"

"It seems so."

This was troublesome.

The peace between the Kingdom and Lake had lasted for over a thousand years, not because both sides had set aside their grudges, but because they were blocked by the forest between the two countries, making it impossible for large armies to safely reach the other's territory.

Even so, the Kingdom had not given up its ambitions. It had spent a thousand years preparing and launched a sneak attack at the end of last year.

If Zhang Mu hadn't happened to go to Gur City and repelled the Kingdom, Lake would have been in danger that time.

Now the King was saying the Silent Forest would disappear. Wouldn't that mean the Kingdom could attack at any time?

Zhang Mu's brow furrowed.

The Kingdom's legions and number of High-tier Professionals couldn't compare to the coalition forces, but it knew he had magic-conducting weapons.

Zhang Mu felt that compared to the coalition forces, the Kingdom would be more difficult to deal with.

Having learned the lesson of the crushing defeat in the Silent Forest, the Kingdom would definitely not gather its legions again in the next clash.

Zhang Mu still had the confidence to win, but it would just take more time.

"Those bastards really know how to cause trouble." Zhang Mu looked up at the sky, as if peering through endless space and time to meet the gaze of the god sitting on the divine throne, looking down on the Saul Continent.

"There are still eleven months until the end of the year. If the Kingdom wants to sneak attack us, they must wait eleven months for the magic beasts of the Silent Forest to migrate, so I didn't send troops to Gur."

Zhang Mu waved his hand: "What's the panic? If there's a problem, we'll solve it."

"I'll immediately transfer troops to Gur."

"Don't be in such a hurry." Zhang Mu pinched his chin and pondered, "Such a large forest won't be taken back too quickly. I'll go and take a look. Maybe the time it takes for the Silent Forest to disappear will be enough for us to repel the coalition forces."