115: People's hearts are complicated

Li Xiao looked him up and down again. "Are you a soldier?"

"Before our Team Leader came over, he was a bona fide Captain company Commander in a reconnaissance company!"

Before Cheng Mo could speak, someone beside him stood up to say something. Seeing this, Cheng Mo turned back and whispered, "No one will think you're a mute if you don't speak!"

"So you're a company Commander, no wonder! Let me formally introduce myself. I am Li Xiao, the Team Leader of the Xiaoyao Squad, and of course, from now on, I am also your, yours, yours, and all of your Team Leader!"

Li Xiao pointed at everyone on Cheng Mo's side. "The phrase 'those who know the times are heroes,' which villains often say, I won't repeat here today. However, I believe that the reason you chose to surrender is more out of respect for your brothers' lives!"

"Don't say anything else. The sneak attack on Xi City was my decision, and I am responsible for everything. It has nothing to do with them!"

Cheng Mo didn't want to hear Li Xiao preach any principles here; as a soldier, he spoke simply and directly.

"Team Leader Cheng certainly has the integrity of a soldier who takes responsibility for his actions. However, history is written by the victors. Although you have surrendered, in order to ensure the unity of the squad..."

Upon hearing Li Xiao's tone, Cheng Mo wasn't overly agitated; he seemed to have already anticipated this outcome.

"If you want to kill me, then kill me. But if you dare to touch my brothers who surrendered, I won't let you off even as a ghost!"

As he spoke, Cheng Mo stared fixedly at Li Xiao.

Only then did Li Xiao slowly say, "In order to ensure the unity of the squad, Zhaoming City will be left for you and your team to continue managing!"

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone behind Cheng Mo was overjoyed, as if they had just returned from the gates of hell.

"What do you mean by this?"

"It doesn't mean anything. I only want the squad's military factory and your military strength. If I kill all the Commanders, who will help me lead the troops?"

"Aren't you afraid that I'll find a chance to kill you!"

Cheng Mo said coldly.

"Heh, the person who can kill me probably hasn't even turned into a tadpole yet!" Li Xiao turned his head confidently.

"Everything is settled. Take all the troops back for rest."

Since Cheng Mo had already joined the squad, Li Xiao didn't need to worry about Cheng Mo going back on his word.

As for whether Cheng Mo was willing, he didn't care at all. Even if Cheng Mo immediately quit the squad, he still had a month to reform the command system of Zhaoming City.

Watching Li Xiao leave the conference room, Cheng Mo felt a mix of emotions. What was this, keeping a surrendered general?

"Team Leader, that was so dangerous, you almost..."

"In fact, if he had announced he was going to kill me, I would have immediately detonated the C4 explosives!"

Cheng Mo silently opened his palm, revealing a remote detonator for C4 explosives.

Seeing this, everyone couldn't help but gasp. He was planning to perish together with Li Xiao.

"Then Team Leader, what should we do next? Are we really going to listen to that kid?"

"Yeah, how about we learn from Lan Bing and Tang Wu's move and stab Li Xiao in the back?"

Cheng Mo shook his head: "Do you think the King of War who could stand out from five million people is that easy to deal with?"

"He was able to think of a decapitation strike, so naturally, he will also guard against others doing the same to him."

"This..."

For a moment, everyone was speechless. Cheng Mo turned to everyone and said, "Fortunately, Zhaoming City is still under our control, we only lost the squad military factory."

"Let's cooperate with the Xiaoyao Squad's actions for now and see how things go later."

Returning to the Xi City command post, Li Xiao breathed a sigh of relief. Although the battle for Zhaoming City cost three blade ifvs, it was traded for a squad military factory.

Now, he would have an output of three Armored Personnel Carriers every week. Plus, with the two vehicle production lines about to be launched at the base, although a blade ifv could only be produced every half month, with two production lines running simultaneously, that would equal one per week.

This armored vehicle output was already quite considerable.

Liu Nian was even more excited than Li Xiao. As soon as he entered the conference room, he said, "Haha, now our Xiaoyao Squad has broken through 7,000 people. It's really unimaginable; two months ago we only had about a hundred people."

Yun Dongliu was more rational: "Deputy Team Leader, don't be too happy too early. I see that although Cheng Mo is a soldier, he is very calculating and won't be completely devoted just because of the Team Leader's few words."

"Of course I know that, but since they have already joined the squad, it won't be so easy for them to cause any trouble," Liu Nian said confidently.

At this time, Xuan Yu, who had been sitting on the side without speaking, said, "Team Leader, I think we can have Yun Dongliu find someone to monitor Cheng Mo's movements. In case he also wants to try a decapitation strike, it would be hard to defend against."

Li Xiao smiled and said, "That won't be necessary. Use people you trust, don't trust people you use. Since he joined the squad, he can't mobilize troops to cause trouble; he would have to do it himself, and I naturally have my own ways."

"Alright, but we must also guard against him hiring external help, such as other squads or larger mercenary groups."

After a simple summary meeting, Li Xiao returned to the base. He still had some things to deal with.

After today's battle, Di Yun's armored company lost one-third of its vehicles, but the remaining seven blade ifvs were fierce, each with over ten million durability points.

Once he spent some time repairing the durability to full, going out to fight again would be extremely powerful.

In addition to vehicles, almost everyone in the armored company was promoted by one rank, some even by two. Company Commander Di Yun was promoted directly from Captain to Major.

Di Yun's current comprehensive strength rating had reached F-grade 7-star, and in two more stars, he would reach E-grade.

The biggest gain this time was the Life Pool. The attack on the Jiantu Squad ultimately annihilated 120,000 people, with 100,000 casualties on their own side.

They obtained 18 million Life Points, with a cumulative Life Points of over 24 million. Most of the durability points had already been used on the blade ifvs. However, during the time Li Xiao attacked the city, Tang Wu's troops chased down the Jian Tu garrison on the east side and destroyed over 1,000 meng hu off-road vehicles and 3,000 vehicles blocking the road.

Plus, when Li Xiao attacked the City Hall, he also took out over 100 meng hu off-road vehicles, so there were over 19 million durability points remaining.

"Hmm, it looks like I have to go to Yun City tomorrow."

Li Xiao still owed a debt to the Dark Soul Mercenary Group. Last time they emptied their rockets to help him resolve the siege by Jian Tu, and that wasn't something that could just be settled with friendship.

Of course, this time he would pay directly in cash, because durability points were very valuable now. If he gave them upgrades like before, he would lose out big time.

The next day, while it was still early, Li Xiao got up and dragged Zhao Feipeng and Li Le out to set off.

The distance to Yun City was really far, but in order to make money, he had to endure it.

Zhao Feipeng and Li Le took turns driving a civilian off-road vehicle, and it took a whole day plus half a night to arrive at Yun City once again.

But this time, as soon as Li Xiao left the toll station, he was blocked by two luxury off-road vehicles. Several burly men in suits and sunglasses immediately got out of the cars.