First Battlefield Commander! - Chapter 44
Chapter 44: Overt Plot
The students monitoring the nearby statistics watched as the numbers suddenly began fluctuating.
First, the White Team's numbers started dropping sporadically one by one, bringing visible joy to the eliminated Red Team members.
"We've got this! The trend shows we've got this!"
Then the Red Team's numbers plummeted off a cliff like crashing stocks, a straight green nosedive plummeting relentlessly downward.
It felt like a gaping hole had been torn from their chests as everyone stared at the data and roared in unison: "What the hell—!"
They jostled each other to get a closer look, utterly unable to accept this development. Nearby students were drawn to the commotion, creating complete chaos on site.
"It's malfunctioning! This has to be a malfunction! How could the numbers drop this fast!"
"Holy shit it's still falling!"
"This is fucking unbelievable!"
"If this isn't self-destruction I'll eat my hat!"
Fang Jianchen listened for a while before suddenly getting up from the ground.
He decided to participate in the upcoming battle analysis, rushing over and shouting: "Make way! Let me see, I'll analyze it for you!"
The crowd disdainfully shoved him out: "Get lost! Go take off your gear!"
This was the White Team's true counterattack—once launched, it swept forward with unstoppable momentum.
The frontline had descended into chaos, with situation reporters dying mid-sentence. Those in the rear who didn't know the truth came to reinforce, but in this situation, reinforcements might as well have been walking to their deaths.
Now leveraging their absolute numerical advantage, the White Team began sweeping forward.
The quartermasters extended their sinful little hands to loot ammunition from the "corpses," then redistributed it to platoon members.
Ji Fangxiao hesitated as he listened to the voices in his earpiece. What was happening? Should they reinforce or not?
By now, how could they not understand? They'd been played.
All White Team members obeyed a single commander. There was no division, no Eastern and Western factions. The enemy had only one supreme commander—that demonic Lian Sheng!
"Aaaaah—!" Cheng Ze lamented, "Outstanding comrade, you were right—she's not human!"
Now he'd been hurt too! A wound that would never heal!
A platoon leader shouted: "They're all fucking Oscar winners! With skills like this why aren't they in acting school? Majored in drama queens, did they?"
"Quiet!" Ji Fangxiao barked. "Listen to my orders!"
The public channel instantly fell silent.
Ji Fangxiao took a deep breath to calm himself. Regret wouldn't help now. They still had advantages, yes. Absolutely couldn't lose more.
How many mistakes had they made today? He didn't know. Until just now, he'd thought there were none. Whatever opening the enemy had seized to counterattack couldn't be allowed to happen again.
"All units assemble. Don't approach them, maintain distance and wait for main forces to regroup! Flanking units fall back immediately!" Ji Fangxiao clenched his fist in encouragement. "The scales of victory still tip in our favor. Don't be intimidated by the enemy's bluster—keep to our rhythm! You're the Military Department's finest students. Regroup and in one concerted push, we'll take them down!"
When the enemy stopped actively approaching, Lian Sheng knew Ji Fangxiao had regained his senses. She led her troops in one final fierce assault leftward before swiftly turning upward to attack as the enemy gathered.
After all, the numerical disparity remained significant. The White Team had previously sacrificed over sixty cannon fodder troops, most eliminated. Only a few near the main force had escaped. Now they'd fractured the Red Team's defenses, harvesting kills from weak points. If the enemy adjusted and counter-pinched from both sides, the White Team would gain nothing.
They reached the mountaintop, securing the high ground advantage. The Red Team had stabilized, wings folding inward to form complete ranks. Forces assembled.
The two armies faced off across the distance, glaring fiercely. Murderous intent filled every gaze.
"Never mind who their main force is, who commands them, how many they have or where they're from! Don't you want to slap them hard across the face? Don't you want to declare with absolute certainty that you're the winners, that victors are the strong! You are the strong!! Grasp victory in your hands and let them go to hell!"
Lian Sheng swallowed hard while shouldering her gun, then touched her throat and shouted hoarsely: "Reform ranks! All units follow my orders! Horizontal formation! Prepare to descend!"
Current status:
White Team survivors: 211.
Enemy forces within own territory: 0.
Red Team survivors: 267.
Enemy forces within own territory: 211.
This situation—where the advantage truly lay—was something rarely seen in years.
But through that single assault, the White Team had reduced the kill gap from over 120 to just over 50—an enormously successful battle. Had Ji Fangxiao's reactions and adjustments been slightly slower, they might have lost outright.
Wasn't this how battlefields worked? Fortunes reversed in an instant.
Right now, morale undoubtedly favored the White Team.
On screen, the White Team began moving.
Contrary to the Red Team's consolidation, the White Team actually dispersed again. They aggressively descended from both flanks.
Having learned his lesson, Ji Fangxiao chose to hold position this time, warily watching all sides for the enemy's next move.
The White Team gradually took shape as they approached.
Was this... an encirclement?
The instructors watching the screens finally couldn't remain seated.
They were attempting an encirclement? A numerically inferior force attempting encirclement?
Was this a miscalculation? Impossible—the enemy was right before their eyes. Couldn't they see the numbers?
Encirclement tactics might seem domineering and maximize control over friendly casualties, but they required one prerequisite: sufficient numerical superiority.
"With tenfold strength, surround them; with fivefold, attack them." Without enough troops, the enemy would break through.
That wouldn't be an encirclement—just a flimsy facade.
This move spread their already disadvantaged forces even thinner. Everywhere were vulnerabilities.
Wasn't this suicide?
No matter how inspiring Lian Sheng's words, their disadvantages remained obvious. The kill gap from their initial numerical inferiority could already decide the entire battle. This gap could only be bridged by ammunition. Uneven initial ammunition distribution plus excessive sacrificial deaths directly caused supply shortages with no follow-up reserves.
They couldn't afford attrition—it would only bring them closer to defeat. What they needed was burning their boats.
Lian Sheng had distributed all remaining bullets. Whether this assault succeeded or failed, the outcome would be decided.
Life or death—clean and simple.
With both sides' numbers now sharply reduced and the Red Team consolidated, the combat area had shrunk dramatically.
Snipers waited at about 130 meters while nearly everyone else was inside the circle.
Watching this, the Red Team again fell into debate and confusion.
Cheng Ze: "What are they... trying to do?"
After a brief silence—
A platoon leader timidly said: "I feel like there's a trap. Maybe they've got men hidden somewhere?"
Cheng Ze: "..."
"Once bitten, twice shy," another platoon leader said. "I smell a trap too."
Ji Fangxiao said: "All numbers are accounted for. This time we'll see the truth."
Gunfire erupted everywhere as fierce attacks left them in dire straits. Without Ji Fangxiao's instructions and unable to decipher Lian Sheng's intentions, they were momentarily paralyzed.
Having suffered multiple losses, they dared not act rashly again.
Cheng Ze urged: "Outstanding, quick, use your brainwaves to figure out the enemy."
Zhao Zhuoluo: "..."
"Yeah, don't go silent now! Senior misjudged you—you've got eagle eyes!" the platoon leader said. "Great Senior Brother, what kind of monster are we facing?"
Zhao Zhuoluo paused, then said: "I think trying to guess Lian Sheng's thoughts is unreliable since we don't know her well. And we're stuck in a mental loop, likely projecting our own biases."
Ji Fangxiao: "And?"
"Objectively, we have the advantage while the enemy's strength is clear. This is a good opportunity to attack." Zhao Zhuoluo said, "If it were me, I'd stick to our own rhythm."
"Oh—!" A platoon leader agreed. "Outstanding lives up to his name—steady as a rock!"
Ji Fangxiao felt suddenly enlightened.
Lian Sheng's influence and presence were overwhelmingly strong—every decision she made made them instinctively try to decipher it. But what was the point? They didn't understand Lian Sheng at all.
Right, they should keep to their own rhythm and stop being led by the nose.
Ji Fangxiao: "Zhao Zhuoluo, prepare your squad to break through. Tian Hao, provide cover."
The White Team fought with rising fervor. The enemy seemed to have given up, moving like headless chickens.
"The enemy's platoons and companies are now fragmented, riddled with vulnerabilities. This rare opportunity demands just one thing from you—kill!" Lian Sheng said. "You're all future soldiers, heroes carrying the people's hopes, warriors safeguarding our nation's peace! Let them witness your mettle! Fight to the death here—no retreat!"
A frontline soldier reported: "Commander, they're preparing to break through left flank!"
Lian Sheng: "If you can't stop them, let them go. All units adjust positions—Third Platoon intensify firepower! Snipers focus! Don't let anyone escape our firing range!"
Only when the White Team moved did everyone realize this wasn't an encirclement—it was... chewing gum.
Their intent was clear: We can't stop the snake's head, so go wherever you want. But we'll clamp down hard on your vital points.
The team's maneuvers were fluidly adaptable. Not an impregnable wall but water—clinging tightly to the enemy, moving as they moved.
Command had shifted from Lian Sheng to platoon leaders. They switched channels to their platoons, directing their units' positioning in real time.
Flexible and elastic, biting relentlessly. Enemy retreats, we retreat; enemy advances, we advance.
Whenever Zhao Zhuoluo's breakthrough squad approached, White Team members actively shrank aside. When forces concentrated, they fiercely counter-bit, driving them back to redeploy.
They waited for movement—any movement gave distant snipers opportunities to strike.
Lian Sheng lay in the grass firing shot after shot. Zhao Zhuoluo's squad found every move constrained, unable to breach this defense line.
This was the downside of small-scale battles. Numbers themselves provided cover, but with few participants, everyone became a focal point.
The Red Team changed tactics again, opting for direct assault. There was no second choice now.
After several rounds, Ji Fangxiao finally understood Lian Sheng's plan—the simplest one. They wanted to leverage penalty points for direct victory. The "encirclement" was just to hinder their movements.
At a disadvantage in direct combat, losing was losing. But final victory wasn't determined solely by kill count. Every surviving Red Team member in enemy territory was worth two points.
No more overthinking the enemy's intentions. Ji Fangxiao shook his head and shouted: "All units move right! Return to enemy territory and victory is ours!"
Lian Sheng roared back: "Hold them at all costs! Stop them whatever it takes!"
As fierce combat erupted, both sides' numbers plummeted.
The Red Team had assembled in an awkward position—neither here nor there, quite distant from territorial lines—giving the White Team perfect conditions.
From the moment they entered this trap, escape became impossible.
Within twenty minutes of direct combat, the system announcement came:
"Broadcast. Remaining participants: 250."
Everyone stiffened.
It was almost over!
Lian Sheng's neck flushed red as she bellowed: "Steady! Here and now, each of you counts as two of them! Every kill saves two points! Absolute advantage is ours! Don't let them pass—if you die, die clinging to their legs! Die on this land!"
Ji Fangxiao: "We've fought this far—don't fail at the last step! Everyone break through! Break through!"
Lian Sheng: "Watch them trample your corpses! Your comrades' corpses! Can you tolerate that? If not, then stop them!"
Firepower instantly exploded.
The White Team was nearly out of bullets but didn't care.
Those caught in the crossfire found their ears nearly numb from the barrage, unable to distinguish tinnitus from actual gunfire.
This was warfare at its most frenzied.
"Broadcast. Remaining participants: 210."
Just ten more!
Lian Sheng stood: "All units attention! Forget concealment and kills—on my mark, charge out en masse! If you've got bullets left, pour them on! Before the enemy reacts, take them down!"
She swung her arm down, issuing the final order: "Kill—!"
The voice through their earpieces seemed to send blood rushing from their feet to their heads.
The White Team burst from cover, unleashing a storm of bullets forward.
This was a do-or-die last stand. With only ten slots left, they needed no consideration for what came after.
In those brief seconds, no one knew who died first or when it ended. Only the system voice repeated:
"Broadcast. Remaining participants: 200."
"Red vs. White Faction Battle concluded."
"System calculating final results. All students please descend the mountain in order."
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YAAAAAA THAT WAS THRILLINGG
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