Ren Xiaosu analyzed the information revealed by the Great Hoodwinker. He suddenly asked, “You said that they already had a secret legacy in place before The Cataclysm? What sort of legacy was that?”
“I think it’s a magus order, some kind of a magician organization. Their methods in war were very peculiar.” The Great Hoodwinker said, “At that time, a black mist enveloped the battlefield that I was fighting on and blocked everyone’s line of sight of the enemy’s position. Our comrades on the other battlefields also said that they encountered some strange enemies, and some of them even encountered strange creatures too.”
“Are there many of said magicians?” Ren Xiaosu wondered.
“That’s where we were fortunate.” The Great Hoodwinker said, “Although they employed strange fighting methods, their numbers weren’t that great. Over the years, we also attempted to send our people there to check on the situation. What surprised us was that the areas our agents were posted to were full of other similar yellow people with black hair. This was because in the past two hundred years, they had kidnapped so many of our people back to their lands. Moreover, they assimilated into our culture. Perhaps this is the reason why there hasn’t been a war between the two sides in over a decade now.”
Ren Xiaosu admitted the Great Hoodwinker’s deduction made some sense. He had read a lot of books about the Pre-Cataclysm times, and he had to admit the Central Plains culture was one that easily assimilated other cultures.
“What’s the political structure over there like?” Ren Xiaosu asked curiously, “Why did they kidnap so many people from our side?”
“I happen to know that. Intel says that kings are a thing over there, so it should be a monarchy.” The Great Hoodwinker said, “However, those mysterious magi rank above the kings. Kings are just normal people who keep order in society on their behalf while a minority of those magi are the true rulers of that world. They don’t have to work or put in any effort and can stand at the top of the pyramid just like that, absorbing all of what their society produces.”
This was a system where it felt like the magicians had declared themselves gods and controlled the world order as the ruling class.
The Great Hoodwinker continued, “But Future Commander, as you know, we only started sending our agents to infiltrate their territory after Commander Zhang returned to the Northwest. As such, we’re unable to find that much information on them, and it’s not easy for intel to be relayed back either. We aren’t usually able to track those magi because they can’t be located. Our agents have already been stationed there for some time, yet they still haven’t had any contact with a real magician. Over there, everyone calls those who are magi the Omniscient, and they all belong to a unified organization.”
“At first, they took advantage of the fact that the Central Plains had not recovered from the Cataclysm to steal our people. Perhaps they did so to build up their hierarchical society. Only with a large number of laborers were they able to build their basic infrastructure and send a steady stream of resources to the top.” The Great Hoodwinker said, “I heard that in the early years, people with black hair and yellow skin were the lowest caste of society. They could only do the most tiring jobs and were not paid for it. Later, this situation changed due to one of their compatriots becoming a magician.”
Ren Xiaosu frowned. “Since we have compatriots among the magicians, why did they still attack us 17 years ago? Shouldn’t they have stopped all of that from happening?”
The Great Hoodwinker shook his head with a smile. “Future Commander, rumor has it that the yellow and black-haired magus has already been dead for over 40 years. During his time as a magician, Fortress 178 really did not get attacked.”
“Alright then.” Ren Xiaosu nodded. He looked carefully at the black stone in his hand but could not figure out how his third unlocked weapon was related to a mysterious organization outside the borders of the Alliance of Strongholds. Should he try to catch a magus and copy their power?
After all, the black stone had appeared in such a grand manner. No matter how one looked at it, it did not look like a standard item. But holding it did not have any effects, which really made Ren Xiaosu very curious.
Ren Xiaosu somehow felt the secret of the black stone could probably be unlocked by searching for answers from a magician.
The steam locomotive arrived at the Zhou Consortium’s stronghold a dozen hours later. This time, Ren Xiaosu did not waste any time and took the refugees away without hiding his identity.
There was no need to use potatoes to trick the refugees into following him anymore. His status as the future commander of the Northwest was the strongest lure!
When the Zhou Consortium received news that Ren Xiaosu was back again, they felt extremely troubled.
However, they still watched from afar as Ren Xiaosu called for the refugees to board the train. The Zhou Consortium did not dare to step forward to stop him. Now that the Riders were lying low somewhere, who knew if they would reappear and attack them again?
When Zhou Qingyang found out Ren Xiaosu had really returned, the coward obediently stayed in his official residence with thousands of garrison troops stationed around him. It was as though he were afraid Ren Xiaosu would try to assassinate him this time.
The Zhou Consortium’s officials were all very aggrieved. There were only the two of them, yet they could still openly abduct the refugees like that. How arrogant!
However, there was really nothing they could do, nor did they dare to.
As a matter of fact, Ren Xiaosu’s outstanding achievement of assassinating three Zhou Consortium officials in a single day had really struck fear in these cowardly Zhou Consortium officials.
Some of the Zhou Consortium’s officers were filled with righteous indignation as they suggested that Ren Xiaosu be surrounded and killed here. In the end, the other officials found some random excuses to place these officers under house arrest.
It was as though the Zhou Consortium’s officials had turned into Ren Xiaosu’s supporters overnight.
When Ren Xiaosu called for the refugees to board the train, he even felt a little emotional. In this chaotic world, a group of good-for-nothings really should not be allowed to take charge of things. Otherwise, they could get sliced apart and divided among the other organizations in these highly contested wastelands at any moment.
The Zhou Consortium was probably going to be gone soon.
Ren Xiaosu believed the current Zhou Consortium was no match for the Wang Consortium. When the Wang Consortium’s troops arrived, some of the Zhou Consortium’s troops might even surrender immediately and lead them in.
A lot of refugees had gathered around the steam locomotive. Ren Xiaosu waved to the Zhou Consortium’s garrison troops not far away and shouted, “Don’t just stand there! Can’t you see that it’s a little chaotic here? Come over and maintain order! Have the refugees line up in front of each car door and usher them in one by one only after I say to get on. Otherwise, it’ll be too disorganized!”
The soldiers of the garrison troops were aggrieved. Why did they have to help maintain order when the enemy was trying to abduct their people?
Why did they have to stand so close to the commotion? Wouldn’t everything have been OK if they had only stood farther away? This was too humiliating!
When Ren Xiaosu saw them not moving for a long time, he took out his black saber and shouted, “What are y’all still standing there for?”
The garrison troops’ commanding officer hurriedly said, “Coming, we’ll be right there.”
After that, the soldiers formed a human wall at the carriage doors and organized the refugees into boarding the train one by one.
Nearby, the Great Hoodwinker sighed emotionally. It was so fun to work together with the future commander. In the past, it would take him several months to “abduct” someone for the Prosperous Northwest. But now, Ren Xiaosu had managed to convince close to 10,000 people to join them in just a single day.
Compared to the efficiency of the Prosperous Northwest plan of the past, this fully deserved to be called the brand-new Prosperous Northwest 2.0!
In conclusion, it could only be summed up in a word: domination!