Industrial Cthulhu, starting from the island lord

Chapter 528 "Run!"

"It's probably fake news again. Isaac's intelligence system is still unreliable. The North has been receiving nothing but fake news lately."

Hodge pursed his lips.

"First, a little white-haired girl wiped out an entire army, then a moving skeleton appeared—damn, doesn't Isaac find that strange?"

"Hmm, perhaps Mr. Isaac has his reasons."

"Hmph, he was so confident before that he said your resistance army was wiped out, which almost ruined everything." Hodge still looked angry.

"Alright, let's not talk about that anymore. I heard that fortress is completely finished now?"

"Yes, but it hasn't been named yet."

A month ago, when the expeditionary force learned that the resistance was still resisting and had not been wiped out, they quickly sent a large amount of supplies over and built a fortification on the spot to prepare for the future wave of enemies.

As it turned out, the enemy did indeed come in waves, but it was a receding tide, and the expeditionary force couldn't keep up with the speed at which they surrendered.

That fortification remained unused for a long time.

A whole month has passed, and the expeditionary force, while conquering in all directions, has crossed fortifications and continued to build the railway northward. They are now almost at the northernmost Canary Mountains.

With this, the main railway line from Bloodharbor to the North is basically completed. Perhaps some railway network will be built in the North in the future, but that's a matter for the future.

Once the railway was built, many things became much simpler.

In the past, finding Count Bazel was like finding a needle in a haystack, after all, the North was too vast, and finding an army was almost an impossible task.

But now with the railway, a patrol doesn't take much time. Scouts can be dropped every so often to search, and the search area is greatly expanded with the railway as the center.

I believe it won't be long before we can drag Bazel out of the North.

Octavia was able to escape because she was located in the westernmost part of the North, where her territory bordered the Empire on a large scale, making it easy for her to sneak into the Empire.

But Bazel wants to get through? The cities in Octavia's territory are all occupied by the resistance now, so it's basically impossible for Bazel to get through unnoticed. It should be a matter of time before they find him.

This means that the last enemy force in the North will also surrender. Now the entire resistance is gearing up to capture Bazel and bring him back to Castell for a severe trial, and then have Nora chop off his head.

This is quite difficult, since you have to capture them alive. This is the thing the expeditionary force is least good at. In previous battles, the opposing commanders basically had to use shovels to collect them.

“There are quite a few people stationed in that fortification now, some from the Expeditionary Force, but even more from your resistance forces.”

What were they doing stationing themselves in the fortifications?

"What else could it be? He doesn't want to leave." Hodge shrugged.

"Your men all want to fight this final battle with you before going back. In my opinion, that's completely unnecessary—what trouble can those Bazels cause? Octavia's army is much larger than his, and yet that Grand Duchess still fled to the Empire. Who knows which church she's converted to now?"

Gwen wanted to advise Hodge not to be careless, but after thinking about Bazel's Winter Wolf Riders and Frost Earth Guards, she kept quiet.

Whether it was a cavalry charge or heavy infantry shields, they made little difference under the heavy machine guns of the expeditionary force.

Sometimes Gwen felt that bullets were the only true equalizers, bringing death to everyone equally.

“We’re in the Canary Mountains now. Quite a few people have gathered here again. The train will be back soon to take them back, and then we’ll head back to the fortifications.” Hodge flipped through his notebook, checked it again, and then looked up with some confusion. “Gwen? You…”

Hodge shut his mouth. He saw Gwen with her eyes slightly closed, waving her hand slowly at him, signaling him to be quiet.

Hodge reached for the holster on his waist.

Damn it, this is a military camp. Although it's relatively simple because it's on the front line, none of the many sentries around us, whether visible or hidden, have reacted.

The next moment, Gwen drew her longsword and charged forward. Hodge rolled to the side, hid behind a pile of boxes, drew his pistol, and released the safety.

He cautiously peeked out, only to find Gwen standing frozen by the wall in the distance. Hodge silently observed the surroundings for a while before deciding to go to the duty room to call for reinforcements.

Hodge, look at this.

Gwen seemed to have discovered something, pointing to the ground and muttering to herself. Hodge ignored her and jogged to a house not far away.

Soon, a group of fully armed resistance fighters followed him over, and the soldiers in the duty room had already sounded the alarm.

Hodge was always cautious, and Gwen was very perceptive and had helped the expeditionary force a lot. Hodge chose to trust her, thinking that at worst it would just be an emergency assembly exercise.

After instructing the soldiers to keep watch, Hodge approached Gwen, only to find the girl frowning as she stared at the ground in front of her.

Hodge looked down and was immediately taken aback.

"Run away?"

These words were clearly written on the ground, the handwriting rather hurried. Hodge looked around; this was near the wall, but still within the military camp, and outsiders couldn't just come in at will.

"Do you recognize this handwriting?"

“The handwriting isn’t familiar, but it feels familiar.” Gwen said something strange, and her expression was also quite off; she was clearly very concerned about the writing on the ground.

"Run! This should be a warning!" Hodge narrowed his eyes. He hadn't forgotten that the expeditionary force had been guided all the way to the resistance, with someone secretly helping them.

However, the person was never found. Isaac and his mother-in-law both tried to investigate, but to no avail, and the matter became an unsolved mystery.

"Run! Run!" No reason was given, not even a destination was specified; only the order to run was written.

Hodge hesitated for only a moment before turning to the soldiers beside him and ordering, "Blow the whistle, emergency assembly!"

The alarm was previously sounded only to remind the soldiers to stand by and to warn of any unknown situation that might occur; only the soldiers on duty would assemble.

Blowing the emergency assembly whistle is the highest level of response; all soldiers who hear the whistle must stop all tasks and immediately assemble to prepare for battle.

This whistle is usually only sounded after a battle has already begun.

The soldiers beside him were also surprised, but their bodies had already subconsciously carried out the order, and the sharp whistle pierced the tranquility of the early morning.

Just a few breaths later, a large number of soldiers poured out of the barracks, and more whistles sounded. When the emergency assembly whistle was heard, the message had to be relayed to prevent the soldier who blew the whistle in the emergency from being killed in the battle, so that some people would not hear the whistle.

The quiet military camp erupted in excitement almost instantly.

(End of this chapter)