Chapter 40.6

The sniper's grip on his rifle trembled as he heard Li Xinwen's word. His heartbeat pounded in his ears. With each thud, the weight of Li Xinwen's word sank deeper in his heart. He knew that he is now threading on a thin line between life and death. With a shaky breath, he lowered his rifle slowly to the floor and raised both hands in a gesture of surrender.

"I… I will submit," the sniper whispered. His voice laced with fear and panic. "I don't want to die."

Li Xinwen's lips curled into a smile and he withdrew his blade from the sniper's neck. "Wise choice," he said as he acknowledged the sniper's quick thinking to come to a decision. "Turn around and tell me your name and rank?"

"I'm Lt. Corporal Yan Yueyan of the 3rd Army."

"Yan Yueyan?" Li Xinwen repeated the name slowly. "Very well. From now on, you will come with me. I am not that hard to please. As long as you show me your loyalty from now on, I will take care of you. But if you decides to betray me in the future…" Li Xinwen's tone dropped several degrees colder as his icy gaze locked onto the sniper. "You would wish that I had killed you here today."

Yan Yueyan could feel himself shivering in fear as he nods his head rapidly. "Yes, Sir."

"Good," Li Xinwen said as he took a step back to give Yan Yueyan to collect himself. "Tell me, are your rank higher than those people down there?" he asked as he gestured at the soldier below who are still in a defensive position, unaware of Yan Yueyan's fate.

"Yes, Sir. I outrank most of them. Only the officer who ran inside outranks me at the moment. The rest of the higher ranked officers of 3rd Army are still at the main base."

"Perfect!" Li Xinwen's eyes gleamed with mischief. "Then, you'll be my voice and tell them to surrender," he said. "Where do you think that officer from before will run to?"

"… Captain Luo… He either go to one of the warehouse which we had transformed to be a temporary bunker… or to escape via the back exit," Yan Yueyan answered in a slightly hesitant tone as he was not sure of the information himself. He's worried that if the Captain is not where he said he would be, Li Xinwen would think he had played him.

Li Xinwen naturally noticed the sniper's worry but he didn't say anything to assure the other. After all, Yan Yueyan still have yet to gain his trust. "I will go in and you wait here with those soldiers. Once I am done I will come out and deal with the rest of them," Li Xinwen said before he picked up Yan Yueyan over his shoulder.

Yan Yueyan: "?!!"

Yan Yueyan was startled by the sudden change of event. He had a mixed feelings in his heart. On one hand, he was surprised by how Li Xinwen could easily pick him up. He is a full grown man with a full military gear, yet Li Xinwen carried him as if he weighed no more than a feather. On the other hand, his pride as a grown ass man felt deeply bruised for being picked up like a child. "S-sir?!"

"Hold on tight," was Li Xinwen's only warning before he jumped down from the watch tower. It was only fortunate that Yan Yueyan is a soldier so he quickly composed himself from not screaming out loud.

Li Xinwen landed on the ground below gracefully and almost immediately, the soldiers aimed their guns at him ready to shoot. But when they saw who was on Li Xinwen's shoulder, they held back from pulling the trigger.

"Lt. Corporal Yan!" one of them shouted, his voice tinged with shock and worry.

"Lower your gun, lower your gun!" Yan Yueyan cried out with a worry of his own. The soldiers hesitated, but at the end, they still lowered their gun even though their mind is filled with confusion. Especially seeing their superior in such an awkward state. "I am unharmed! No one fires unless you want to be killed!"

As soon as Yan Yueyan said that, the soldier looked at their comrades that stood beside them after a while, they finally lowered their guards after seeing Li Xinwen not attacking them. Li Xinwen who saw this, also dropped Yan Yueyan off to the ground. "I'll leave them to you," he said before he left the area leaving only a gust of winds.

Now that the source of danger has left, one of the braver soldiers stepped forward, his brows furrowing. "Lt. Corporal Yan, what's going on?! Are we surrendering?!!"

Yan Yueyan stood up and straightened his outfit, doing his best to try and look both calm and composed despite the tense situation. "Yes," he said firmly. "As you all can see, he is not someone we can fight. The Captain clearly has abandoned us here to our death while he escape to safety," Yan Yueyan added.

"But… What of our dead comrade?!" another soldier asked in an angry tone.

There was hesitation in Yan Yueyan, his jaw tightened at the thought of their fallen comrades. His gaze flickered towards the soldiers. Some of them had an angry expression, some grief and most were just uncertain.

"Do you think I don't feel the same?" Yan Yueyan said in an exasperated tone but one could still sense the sorrow within. "Everyone of us signed up knowing the risk but we do so to protect those who are dear for us. But, the Captain betrayed us. Left us to our death. Can you imagine? If we die here, who are going to protect our family in this trying times? Our Captain?"

The soldiers fell silent. They exchanged uneasy glances. They are clearly lost. During their military academy, they were taught about honor, loyalty and bravery. They felt like they are betraying their creed if they were to go against their Captain but at the same time, they knew what Yan Yueyan said was true.

Yan Yueyan saw their hesitation so he decided to strike while the iron is still hot. "Think… Would your family want you to die here in vain?" he asked them. "The Captain had made his choice to save himself. Now, we are just making our choice for our survival…"

"But… it feels like we are also betraying our comrades…" another soldier spoke up with guilt.

Yan Yueyan's eyes softened but his tone remained firm. "Their sacrifice… will be for nothing if we all die. Only when we are alive can we honor them. We cannot change what had happened, so all we can do now is to protect their family along with ours, so that they can rest in peace."

There was a tense silence before finally one of the soldier came forward. "Lt. Corporal Yan is right," he said in a steady voice as he addressed his comrades. "Our families needs us alive."

The soldiers words hit home and murmurs of agreement began to be heard through the group. The tense atmosphere is slowly easing over.

Then, another soldier who appears to be younger than most of them steps up. "If we surrender… what will happen to us?" he asked in a slightly shaken voice. "Are we prisoners now? What will become of our fate? Will that man—" he glanced over to the direction of their temporary base. "—take us in and protect us?"

"We have no choice but to follow his order," Yan Yueyan answered. "He has already spared us once. As long as we don't do anything to slight him, he won't take our lives," he added.

Yan Yueyan silently looked over at the group. Seeing the shift in their demeanour, he quickly gave his order. "Alright, for now we'll split into two groups. One group will lay our dead comrade to rest while the other, gather the civilians. We will wait for his next move."