There was no light at all. Hundreds of Mechas trudged through the torrential rainforest. Through the night vision goggles of the Mechas, the surroundings appeared distorted, with blobs of green and red colors blurring the vision.
The ridge began to stretch downwards. The nine anti-slip mechanical spikes, six at the front and three at the back of [Logic]'s feet, extended out, lifting up chunks of mud with each step, leaving deep footprints in the muddy terrain.
Seeing such a dilapidated Mecha suddenly falling silent, moving more lightly and quietly than a cat, the Fierce Tiger Special Soldiers following behind Fatty clicked their tongues in surprise.
Half an hour later, the team finally entered between several high peaks. The formation compressed, and several [Antenna] simultaneously activated signal jamming.
In the backdrop of distant artillery fire, Fatty sensed an unusual silence in the mountain hollow. What he didn't know was that the Gazalin Empire Army had already descended into chaos. And the Mythical Army had already entered the hollow ahead of them!
The actions of this mad dog were much faster than expected. Upon receiving a direct order from the Imperial Family, they maintained their offense in the Jialuo Mountain Battlefield to avoid raising suspicion at the command center, while secretly dispatching two companies of [Demon Tiger]s and a platoon of [Vajra]s to arrest Russell.
Even with such caution, the movements of the Mythical Army still attracted Russell's attention. The initial plan of this Imperial Vice Admiral was to wear down this loyal dog of the Royal Family bit by bit using a tactic of attrition, so he specifically instructed Hamid to keep a close eye on the Mythical Army.
Half an hour after the Mythical Army's unusual actions appeared, Hamid noticed that the frontline assault of the Mythical Army began to weaken and discovered a small Mythical detachment heading towards the Low Ridge Jungle.
Almost at the same time Hamid reported to Russell, Russell received an urgent report from the Freedom Front's agent hidden within the Imperial Political Department.
This report left Russell dumbfounded for ten minutes; he hadn't anticipated that he would be betrayed by the Leray Federation so thoroughly and cleanly!
A spy whose identity had been exposed spoke a few words, and all his strategic plans were reduced to a bubble, without leaving any ground for criticism!
It took him a long time to understand that the relationship between two people is not only between friends and enemies! Sometimes, friends can become enemies, and enemies can become friends!
Militarily, he could play both nations in the palm of his hand, maneuvering around and hiding his true intentions was his strength; sweeping the battlefield in the midst of artillery fire on the map was his forte.
But politically, he still wasn't a match for these senior politicians, pointing to a deer and calling it a horse, smiling with hidden knives; that was their skill, their sharp tongues ran free across the vast seas!
While he was using the Leray Federation, wasn't the Federation also using him? No matter how fancy the mutual agreements, without real benefits, the Federation wouldn't be naive — which of these politicians is less cunning than the other? As long as there are benefits, any friend might be betrayed at any time; that's politics!
Leray Federation's politics are simple. Everything is for national interest!
As a small resistance organization, their political experience was still too lacking. If he could have hidden his political intentions deeper, if he wasn't so eager to capture this final opponent to deplete the Imperial Army's strength, if he had cooperated with the Federation openly from the start, perhaps this situation wouldn't have occurred.
Understanding this, Russell laughed heartily. He very much admired the politicians of the Leray Federation; these guys might be terrible at reading maps, but they were exceptionally good at mental calculations!
Russell was absolutely a person who could take things up and put them down. When the report burned to ashes in the firelight, he had already let go of his burden. He was no longer a Freedom Front leader yearning for a new order, nor was he an Imperial Vice Admiral respected by others. As long as he could escape to the Federation, there was a chance to start over, even if the starting point was lower without the Vice Admiral's title.
He unhesitatingly issued several consecutive commands. His trusted guards first detained all personnel at the Gazalin Empire Army's forward command, including two Vice Admirals, and executed them immediately! Simultaneously, all Imperial Army units, still kept in the dark, were mobilized to the frontlines, and the Freedom Front soldiers hidden within the army began to secretly assemble, ready to move collectively towards the Leray Federation-controlled area.
The royal order also reached the Miloke General Staff thousands of miles away. A group of staff officers, normally only responsible for simulations and plans, were stunned into a stupor, facing a notification Russell sent to the entire army.
The notification declared that the Mythical Army, swayed by the Leray Federation's temptation, had defected at the frontline, including Russell's two Vice Admirals. The notification ordered the army to immediately execute the aforementioned personnel on sight.
The Staff Department hastily issued a completely contradictory notification, stating that they had received a royal command, declaring Imperial Vice Admiral Russell a traitor, relieving him of his duties, and ordering all Imperial Army units to arrest him immediately upon sight.
The Imperial Army was in complete disarray. The Staff Department, lacking the authority, issued an order to arrest the Vice Admiral directly, while the overall command claimed that the Mythical Army had defected. Coupled with Russell's high prestige within the Gazalin Empire Military, frontline units were, for a moment, enveloped in a thick fog of confusion, unsure of whom to trust. The defensive lines, under full-scale assault, collapsed almost immediately.
The shattered Imperial Army was forced to fight independently, and the infiltrating Federation troops continued to cut them off bit by bit, turning the entire Miloke star battlefield into a tangled mess! Chasers and scatterers were everywhere!
When the Mechas of the Mythical Army entered the hollow, Russell, under the protection of a Guard Company, had already started his escape.
Behind the Mythical Army, led by Tian Xingjian, a Federation rescue team also entered this basin surrounded by mountains. This basin was vast, and its vegetation particularly dense, being a completely pristine forest, where hundreds of Mechas entering would leave no trace.
Tian Xingjian took over command, moving to the front of the team. The holographic radar of [Logic] was at maximum power; encountering the enemy here would result in a narrow, decisive battle — whoever lost first would be doomed, with no chance for a second reorganization in such an environment.
For a staff officer to take command, Stewart was displeased. If not for the upper instructions repeatedly emphasizing to follow this Fatty's command before departure, he would have certainly taught this pale, loud Fatty that not everyone could handle Special Forces' operations!