Chapter Twelve: Ah Leiman

  The crowd finally calmed down after a long time, and Liu Qi's mood, which had been suppressed by the strike of lightning, the crossing, and the danger in the valley, also became much lighter.

  "Zhong Xiao, you can finally rest easy. Everyone was worried sick, thinking they'd never see you again." Da Luoxi said to Liu Qi.

  "Don't worry, I've got a long life ahead of me. There are still many things in this world that I haven't enjoyed, how could I bear to die?" Liu Qi said with a look that all men understood.

  The soldiers next to them, whether German or Italian, also nodded in unison.

  "By the way, Captain, before you arrived just now, there was another earthquake. This earthquake caused the mountain to crack open again, and I've sent someone to check it out already. The crack is passable, and it's a direct route through, with no obstacles on the road." Kaito said.

  Liu Qi knew that was the road Moses had opened up for himself using his last divine power. Alas, Liu Qi let out a light sigh. Then he said to the SS soldier beside him, "Assemble the troops, we're departing immediately."

  The team gathered soon, and Liu Qi saw that there were less than 300 people. He didn't say anything else, waved his hand to signal advance, and the team continued along the road Moses had pioneered with his life. This time, no difficulties arose, not even many stones on the road.

  After another day of marching, the German-Italian army finally left the place called Death Valley by locals. It was already afternoon at this time. The team that had nearly 800 people now has less than 300 people left. However, since it is a war, there must be deaths. Liu Qi is also worried about how the other half of the troops led by Duoke and Fred are doing. Because the soldiers carrying signal bombs in the valley fell into the deep pit of the waterfall, they had no way to contact them.

  Looking around at the troops, after dozens of hours of marching, these guys are still full of energy, it seems that those who can do something aren't given for free. Looking out at the endless Sahara desert landscape in front of him, Liu Qi felt a sense of emotion and was slightly excited to the point of almost reciting a poem. However, he quickly came back to himself and realized it wasn't the right time.

  Liu Qi ordered "Stay where you are, all officers come and gather here."

  The soldiers heard the rest and immediately lost their energy. One by one, they found a place to sit with their backs against the sun.

  Several SS officers, K?the and the Rosi brothers followed Liu Qi to find a shady place to sit down. Liu Qi took out the local military map and placed it in the middle of everyone. Then he said, "We have now crossed the Ruvészat Hill, our next goal is here, Ahleman." Liu Qi pointed to a small point in the middle of the map.

  "Central school, you are going to raid the British command center." A Waffen-SS officer said. Although the military quality of the Waffen-SS officers was not as good as that of regular Wehrmacht officers, they were also highly educated and if it weren't for the difficulties in supplies, aircraft and fuel shortages, the German intelligence department had long known that Ahlem was a British command center, but could do nothing about it.

  "Yes, I'm going to Alemann. Only by destroying their command center can our army possibly defeat the British."

  "But, sir. The British command post is definitely heavily guarded and our current position to Ahlem must pass through several British troop defense zones. We have less than 300 people, and most of them are unarmed. I estimate that our chances of success will be very small." The German SS officer continued.

  "I know it's a small chance and it's difficult," said Liu Qi. "So I gathered everyone to see if there's any good way."

  "We can't move during the day, the British planes patrol every hour. Marching during the day is out of the question. Moreover, our freshwater supply is running low, only enough for 2 days. If we march during the day, the consumption of water will be even greater, and it's estimated that we can only last one more day." said the SS officer.

  "That's all we can do, take it one step at a time. Let's rest for now and march again after dark." Liu Qi said, then spread his raincoat on the ground and lay down, his tired body soon fell asleep.

  "Middle school, wake up. It's time to set off." A loud call pulled Liu Qi back from his dream. When Liu Qi woke up, it was already pitch black. The rain had stopped, and the soldiers around him had already gotten up and started eating. Liu Qi stretched his waist and also got up, hastily eating something.

  Then Liu Qi said to Kechi, "Kechi, take a few people to scout ahead. Just take care of your own safety, I'll bring the others behind you. If you encounter a patrol team, be sure to hide well and don't let them discover you."

  "That's middle school, if I run into a patrol team, how am I supposed to contact you?" Kaito replied.

  "Don't worry about this, I have my own way. Just take care of your own safety," said Liu Qi. Liu Qi thought to himself, "I have infantry radar, as long as you can bring out the darkness in my mind, avoiding a patrol team ahead of time is not a big deal."

  Kai Qi led a few soldiers to disappear into the darkness. Liu Qi felt that several black dots on his mental map were getting farther and farther away, about 20 minutes had passed. Liu Qi then led his men to follow Kai Qi's direction of advance.

  After about two hours, Liu Qi felt that Kechi had stopped in front of him. Suddenly, from the dark edge of his mind, two blue bright spots appeared. The diameter of these bright spots was much larger than Kechi's black and gray bright spots. The two bright spots moved very quickly and soon passed by Kechi's side.

  Liu Qi made a covert gesture with his hand. The crowd looked at Liu Qi in surprise, but didn't ask anything and all found a hidden place to lie down. Liu Qi also lay down on the edge of an earth mound. Before long, the sound of engines came from afar. Everyone looked at Liu Qi with puzzlement, thinking how Major Zhong knew that there would be a patrol team coming over.

  Liu Qi crouched on the ground, watching two armored vehicles approaching from a distance, one in front of the other. There was also a searchlight installed on the vehicle, which occasionally swept around. Liu Qi's heart couldn't help but tense up. The armored vehicle got closer and closer, and Liu Qi could even feel the slight vibration of the ground caused by the roar of the engine. Sweat broke out on Liu Qi's palms, and his heart was filled with a flustered excitement.

  Just as the armored vehicle was about to pass by Liu Qi's hiding place, a sudden screeching sound came from the brakes. The one behind stopped. Then the searchlight shone on the mound where Liu Qi was hiding. Liu Qi's mind buzzed with a sense of doom, they had been discovered. Liu Qi thought of turning around and running away in terror. But fear had drained all his strength, he couldn't even shout, let alone run. His heart was racing like a drumbeat during Chinese New Year, without any rhythm. His mouth was so dry it felt like smoke was coming out. His brain was spinning like a fly on a merry-go-round, buzzing non-stop.

  At this time, the armored vehicle's door opened, and a British officer wearing an armored helmet jumped out. He quickly came to the small hill where Liu Qi was hiding under the spotlight of the armored vehicle, took a closer look at the small hill, then unfastened his belt, pulled out his thing and relieved himself. As he relieved himself, this guy was still whistling in his mouth, and Liu Qi, who was already tense, felt a surge of heat rushing out uncontrollably due to the stimulation of this guy's whistle.

  The British military official was done, shook his stuff, and fastened his belt. He got back into the armored vehicle and drove forward. It wasn't until a while later that Liu Qi came to his senses. The palpitations after wave after wave of fear were still surging nonstop. Liu Qi felt his wet pants and was utterly ashamed. Fortunately, it was dark and no one could see him; otherwise, Liu Qi would have been so humiliated he wouldn't know what to do.

  But when Liu Qi led the team forward again, everyone's eyes looking at Liu Qi became incredibly respectful. It turned out that Liu Qi was so scared that he couldn't move on the spot and was considered a symbol of bravery by the soldiers, even other SS officers admired him greatly. Even two soldiers whispered to each other, "Hey, look, this is our lieutenant colonel. He's not afraid of British armored vehicles, didn't even flinch."

  "It's not possible, if our former officers had been here earlier, they would have surrendered long ago." another soldier replied.

  "I never thought we'd be following such a brave officer. With him by our side, I feel like there's nothing we can't do."

  "Yes, me too. I was also scared to death just now, if I hadn't seen that the middle school student didn't move at all. I reckon they would have shouted out loud."

  "Zhongxiao is said to be of a very noble birth, from the former aristocracy. No wonder he's so brave, it's in his blood." The third soldier chimed in.

  "Ah, that can't be a descendant of the former emperor. I see Colonel Mitzi resembles our family's portrait of William II. Is Colonel Mitzi a prince?" The soldier in front also turned around and joined the conversation.

  "It must be so, but I've never heard of a prince at Zhongxiao. There's only one possibility - Zhongxiao is the emperor's illegitimate son." Another soldier said.

  Liu Qi became a hero in the eyes of the soldiers due to his 'brave' behavior earlier. He also became the illegitimate son of Emperor Wilhelm. Eventually, he was linked to the incident in the valley and became the messenger of God, possessing unparalleled divine power. Liu Qi also heard the soldiers' discussions and felt extremely ashamed, adding to his wet pants. He couldn't help but feel a little angry and immediately ordered everyone not to speak.

  The order was thoroughly executed immediately, and the whole team was silent. Along the way, Liu Qi encountered several patrol teams again, all of which were accurately avoided by Liu Qi. The soldiers' eyes on Liu Qi rose to another level again. Because Liu Qi had already become a messenger of God in the eyes of the soldiers, this behavior was also seen as nothing out of the ordinary by the soldiers.

  Just as the sky was breaking, Kaito returned from the front. When he saw Liu Qi and others sitting on the ground resting, Kaito couldn't help but feel a little surprised. Kaito found it strange that he had brought several people to the front as vanguard. Avoiding the British patrol team was easy, but Colonel's men were many. It would take some time to completely hide, but there hadn't been any gunshots all along the way. This shows that Colonel had never been discovered at all. How did Colonel do it?

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