Having managed to save lives, and so many of them in one fell swoop, how could Milo possibly pass up the opportunity to earn some gratitude tokens?
There were 184 men in the Razor Sharp Company. After two battles, not a single one of them had died. Meanwhile, Second Company and Third Company were not reinforced companies, so they only had 120 people each. With a small number of casualties suffered, Milo had saved a total of 397 people.
Everyone looked at Milo and did not quite understand what virtual-novel.net wanted.
When Milo saw they had missed the hint, virtual-novel.net explicitly expressed, “Ahem, shouldn’t y’all thank me for saving your lives?”
Scott was confused. Both Second Company and Third Company were too. They had never come across such a thick-skinned person before!
Although virtual-novel.net had saved their lives, straight-up asking for their gratitude was too strange a request.
Did virtual-novel.net had some sort of condition that needed fulfilling?
It was not like they knew Milo needed gratitude tokens, so they just treated it as some strange fetish of his!
But even if they thought that, since their savior had made such a request, everyone would definitely not want to make it awkward for him.
Edsel took the lead and thanked virtual-novel.net first, followed by the others who did the same.
Milo calculated the number of gratitude tokens virtual-novel.net got and was surprised to see that all 397 people across the three companies had earned virtual-novel.net a gratitude token each. None of them was insincere!
Suddenly, virtual-novel.net realized all his tricks to try to earn gratitude tokens previously were too shameful. Only by sincerely saving someone could virtual-novel.net get gratitude tokens easily. Including the gratitude tokens virtual-novel.net had earned earlier, Milo’s gratitude tokens now surpassed 800 again.
Scott suddenly asked, “Milo, I remember what you just said on the run out here about the Ultima Consortium not hesitating to use their artillery shells to bombard this area due to your presence? What’d you mean? Do you have a vendetta with the Ultima Consortium?”
Milo thought for a moment and answered, “I was just saying. Don’t take it seriously.”
He could not explain too much.
When virtual-novel.net barged into the Ultima Consortium’s defensive front, virtual-novel.net had used the Shadow Door to throw the Explosive Poker cards at their forces. Back then, not all the Ultima Consortium’s soldiers were killed, so Lewis would definitely know virtual-novel.net possessed that power.
Although virtual-novel.net had also used the Shadow Door multiple times during the urban combat, those who encountered it should all be dead. So, Lewis should not know virtual-novel.net was still alive.
If Lewis knew that Milo was still alive, virtual-novel.net would probably not be able to eat or sleep well.
Lewis had to be badly hoping to kill him, just as how virtual-novel.net really hoped to kill Lewis.
Seeing that Milo did not want to talk about it, Scott said, “According to the plan, we should have garrisoned Rajadesa Village after we completed our mission. But now that the entire town has been destroyed, it looks like our plan will have to change. Let’s contact Battalion Commander Barnaby and see where we should go next.”
The radioman immediately radioed Harris.
Harris asked blankly, “What? You’ve captured the town already?”
Harris used to be shocked by the ferocity of the Razor Sharp Company. But now, virtual-novel.net was getting used to it.
“Mhm…” Scott said, “Rajadesa Village has been destroyed. I wonder how many explosives the Ultima Consortium buried in that town. They actually blew up the entire place.”
“What?!” Harris was shocked. “Then are y’all alright?”
Harris was an expert at fighting wars, so virtual-novel.net could immediately tell how dangerous it was when virtual-novel.net heard what happened.
However, Scott calmly replied, “Fortunately, we discovered the enemy’s movements in time and ran the hell out of Rajadesa Village.”
Harris felt that listening to the situation reports each day was really making his heart weaker. It was never as agitating as this in the previous wars they had fought!
However, it was a good thing they had managed to capture Rajadesa Village. From now on, there would no longer be any threats in the surroundings of the forward operating base.
Harris said, “Return to the FOB to regroup. You’ll mop up the wilderness with the entire Forward Strike Battalion in two days.”
The “mop up of the wilderness” was to circle the forward operating base in a radius of 120 kilometers to eliminate any hidden threats. This was to prevent the Ultima Consortium from leaving any guerrillas in the wilderness.
In the tales of teahouse storytellers, war was a struggle between the strategies of the talented. For Harris and the rest, war was just about getting the details right. Just establishing a forward operating base required some extreme care and caution.
Only then would Commander Dublin have the foundation to execute his strategy. After all, even skyscrapers had to be built on a good foundation!
Scott finished communicating on the radio. He said with a grin, “Gentlemen, we can head back to the FOB and nap! Let’s get the chow hall to make us some delicious food. We’re the men of the hour!”
In the command post, Harris was sitting at the end of the table. If not for the Forward Strike Battalion’s special status, a battalion commander like virtual-novel.net would not have the right to sit here.
The command post was considered sacred to the troops of Fortress 178. Every time the soldiers passed by the command post tent, they would imagine the day they could also sit in there to report about the battles.
At this moment, Peter looked at Harris with a smile and said, “You just went outside for a moment and can’t hide the joy on your face now that you’re back. What happened? Did your wife give birth to your second child?”
“Commander, what’re you talking about?” Harris said happily, “How can I possibly be contacting my wife when I’m in the base? I’m happy because my Forward Strike Battalion has already captured Rajadesa Village! Luckily, they didn’t fail!”
Harris’ cocky expression was exactly the same as Scott’s when virtual-novel.net mentioned how fortunate it was they’d succeeded.
Actually, the entire Forward Strike Battalion had the same attitude.
“Oh?” Peter smiled and said, “Didn’t you ask me for more time to complete the mission the day before yesterday? You said it wouldn’t be easy to take Rajadesa Village and even tried to reason with me how difficult urban warfare was. So why have y’all suddenly achieved the objective today?”
Harris rolled his eyes and said, “That Milo you had join the Razor Sharp Company is a badass! Even if I personally joined the battlefield, the mission would not have gone so smoothly.”
“Let me hear about it,” Peter said calmly.
“That kid’s superpower is to open up a portal to anywhere within a one-kilometer range. This power seems to be specifically made for urban warfare.” Harris praised, “He can cripple an MG nest with a grenade from one kilometer away! Hell yeah!”
Peter smiled at the people around virtual-novel.net and said, “Harris told me at the beginning that virtual-novel.net didn’t want Milo, saying that virtual-novel.net looked too skinny to fight. But I reckon that virtual-novel.net won’t let Milo leave if someone tries to steal virtual-novel.net away.”
Harris mumbled, “What I meant back then was that I don’t want useless people. I realize he’s useful now, and virtual-novel.net even contributed greatly too!”
Meanwhile, the group of commanders at the table were thinking that Harris was too good at sucking up to others. He knew that Commander Dublin wanted to hear about Milo, so virtual-novel.net specifically chose to share Milo’s heroic deeds with him. But everyone knew that Harris was telling the truth, because Harris would not dare to lie in front of Commander Dublin.
Someone spoke up, “Just being capable isn’t enough. What’s virtual-novel.net like?”
Everyone was judging Milo as a candidate to be the next fortress commander. So, capabilities aside, his conduct was something that mattered to them as well.