NEC Chapter 100: Internal Conflicts and Great Loyalty

The ogre and goblin bandit camp completely exploded in hysterical screams and several tents being ignited for no reason, amid chaos.

Campfires toppled over, sparks flew everywhere, igniting the dry canvas and the nerves that had already been stretched to their limits.

At that time, Little Kaga hadn't fully realized what had happened.

He even felt a trace of worry.

At the enemy's current advance speed, in another five or six days, they could reach Vast Sea Territory's administrative center.

According to Kaga's shallow understanding, in the final day or two, when enemies sensed they were approaching the territory and caught the scent of their prey, they might march day and night in frenzied assault.

Just like when Little Kaga came to pledge himself to the lord, that final stretch where he sprinted recklessly.

Based on this, Kaga calculated the remaining enemies and felt the elimination speed was still too slow.

Well, he still had to work hard and not let their filthy claws contaminate the lord's tent.

The young little centaur still lacked understanding of morale. In fact, if not for this desert environment, this bandit gang would have collapsed long ago.

Such a rabble would waver at insignificant casualties and collapse at minor losses.

The reason they hadn't fled by now had little to do with troop discipline or leadership ability. They were simply locked in by this death desert.

They had encountered attacks only after walking more than half the distance through the desert. The path forward was shorter than the path back, so they could only grit their teeth and continue forward, nothing more.

However, when casualties reached a certain level, panic completely destroyed reason. No matter what, these bandits absolutely refused to advance toward that "hellish place" that seemed forever unreachable.

Thanks to the biological detection radar he carried, Little Kaga immediately captured the movement of that massive, chaotic "flow of people" beginning to turn around.

When the centaur assault team caught up from the side, they saw a completely collapsed force.

The camp remains were in shambles. Tents were brutally abandoned, broken supply wagons overturned beside sand dunes, debris scattered everywhere, rapidly buried by wind and sand.

The great goblins wrapped their heads tightly with cloth scraps, no longer caring about the blazing sun overhead, trudging through the scorching sand grains with unsteady steps.

Behind them was a sparse, scattered small groups of stragglers, lone deserters stumbling blindly through the desert.

There were also wounded who collapsed beside sand dunes as they walked, letting out hoarse cries and wails.

The fleeing bandits had lost their guides and completely lost their sense of direction. They could only blindly follow their kind visible ahead, completely unaware they had already deviated from course.

South was Vast Sea Territory, north was Banner Mountain, west... after the desert was still desert, stretching hundreds of kilometers.

Little Kaga tried firing a grenade at the fleeing bandits. As the thunderous sound rang out, these guys immediately scattered in all directions like cockroaches whose hiding cover had been lifted.

Crying, calls for help, and wailing filled the air above the sandy battlefield.

Realizing what had happened, Kaga immediately called the lord's private line.

Receiving the report, Chen Mo hung up the receiver without changing expression.

During this period, Chen Mo was under great pressure.

It wasn't worry about being unable to defeat the enemy. With support from home, even if it was just him with a few skeletons, he could eliminate the opponents sooner or later.

His greater concern actually came from the human race within the territory.

As soon as news of the bandit invasion arrived, the temporarily hired mercenary teams in the territory requested contract termination.

"Respected Lord," the mercenary team's eyes were somewhat evasive, but their tone was unusually firm, "What we originally signed was a contract for guidance and simple guard duty, not a death match with a fierce bandit gang of over six hundred!"

"Please allow us to take our leave. We will refund the difference from your advance payment according to actual service days... Please forgive us!"

Next were the sand people.

Lord Chen Mo still had modern East Xia thinking, work provided meals, no reason not to feed people fully.

So during this time, large numbers of able-bodied sand people had come to Vast Sea Territory to serve as sentries, assistants, construction workers, and odd job laborers for the lord.

This was much easier than painfully tracking those big bugs in the desert and risking injury to capture them.

However, the lord's generous food supply policy couldn't make the sand people truly loyal because of it.

The letter from East Xia to Chen Mo specifically bolded this sentence:

"They will praise your mercy and virtue, then turn to obey orders from someone who can beat them."

The sand people found various reasons: the sand worms' breeding season was approaching, they needed to prepare nets and ropes in advance; they hadn't seen the elderly and children at home for a long time, it was proper to go back and visit; working by the sea for too long made their bones ache from the wind, they needed to dry out in the desert...

In short, they wanted to return to their sand settlements hidden in some corner of the desert.

Then there were the centaur clans.

Besides Kaga and a few other hotheads shouting about going through fire and water for the lord, most centaurs remained silent, quietly completing the territory's transport, cleanup, and excavation work.

The furious Kaga came to Chen Mo to complain, discovering his uncles were secretly storing grain, perhaps preparing to flee again at any time.

As the current centaur leader, Little Kaga encountered the same situation Chen Mo had faced before. The core reason he could lead the clan was Lord Chen Mo's full support. When the lord's position began to waver, Kaga's leadership authority also became precarious.

For a time, inside and outside the territory, people's hearts were restless, quite like the feeling of "mountain rain approaching, wind filling the tower, black clouds pressing down on the city."

Reality was not a game after all. It wasn't that recruiting a unit would give you MAX loyalty and make them bleed and fight for you until complete victory...

Each unit under your command would have their own thoughts, most of the time, selfish thoughts.

Fortunately, Chen Mo had never relied on these guys anyway.

The East Xia Tactical Staff Department far away in "home" had already conducted detailed simulations of various situations that might arise in the territory and provided several response plans.

They left the final choice to Chen Mo.

After much consideration, Chen Mo ultimately chose the plan with the smallest commotion.

After experiencing this period of unrest, he couldn't completely trust this bunch. This plan had the smallest scope of firearm proliferation.

That is to say, the vast majority of people in the territory had no qualification to access or possess firearms.

Only a few little centaurs.

Trust in the centaurs stemmed from Kaga's decisiveness. When he discovered he couldn't mobilize his centaur compatriots to die for the lord, Kaga angrily had a huge fight with the adult centaurs in the clan, then left the clan with his dozen or so companions to serve as guards by the lord's side.

"As long as I'm here, not a single goblin can touch the hem of your garments!"

Chen Mo smiled and patted Kaga's bald head, "Then, go make a trip and clean up all those damned guys!"

During the few days of centaur special training, Chen Mo waved his hand grandly and agreed to the mercenaries' departure request. He didn't even make them refund the remaining payment, instead proposing a simple condition.

"After you return, if my territory remains safe and sound, then freely help me transport a load of grain here. This request isn't excessive, right?"

The mercenary captains felt greatly relieved upon hearing this, hastily beating their chests, pointing to heaven and earth, swearing by the deities they each believed in.

For the sand people, the lord similarly granted their request to return home to visit, also proposing one condition.

"If my territory wins this war and enemies flee, you sand people must be responsible for dragging these guys out of the sand. This can be done, right?"

The sand person elder knelt trembling on the ground, "Thank you for the great lord's grace. The sand people... sand people simply cannot fight groups of goblins. If enemies scatter and flee in the desert, the sand people will certainly catch them for you!"

"Fine, wait a couple days and I'll let you go."

The lord kept his word. Two days later, at the temporary camp entrance, he held a grand farewell ceremony with roaring bonfires and the aroma of meat filling the air.

Before dispersing, Chen Mo beckoned and called over Kaga's three-centaur squad.

Kaga had removed all his armor, wearing a lightweight sun protection garment, carrying two sets of tactical backpacks, with a long gun slung diagonally across his neck.

Most conspicuous was the hat the maid had hurriedly sewn on his head, with a red star shining brightly in the center of his forehead.

"Come, Little Kaga, say goodbye to these 'uncles' of yours. Then go completely eliminate those annoying bandits for me!"

"Don't let them bother me again!"

Little Kaga reared up on his hind legs, then heavily stamped the ground, making an explosive sound, "Please rest assured, Lord, I will resolutely complete the mission!"

"Go!"

In the following days, Chen Mo continued as if nothing had happened, practicing cultivation methodically, studying calmly. Master Downs inquired curiously several times, but Chen Mo laughingly deflected each time.

But some things were just that wonderful. After a week, the sand people returned.

And they returned in a manner no one had imagined.

The sand person great elder not only brought back all the able-bodied members of the tribe, but also brought all the elderly and children of the entire clan, along with their essential pots, pans, and simple belongings, all piled onto sand beetle backs, clearly a mighty migration.

Under the gaze of many complex eyes, the great elder shuffled to Chen Mo's front, prostrated deeply, pressing his forehead devoutly against the lord's boot tip, his voice trembling.

"Great Lord of Vast Sea... we wish to offer you the humble loyalty of our entire sand person race."

"We will defend your territory to the death! Please... please forgive our previous stupidity and absurdity... please... give us a chance to serve you!"

Chen Mo smiled without showing emotion, "What, figured it out?"

"Yes, great lord, the sand people received guidance from the desert god. The invading enemies will soon collapse."

"We will depart early and not let a single enemy who dares desecrate the great Vast Sea escape!"

Well, the great elder had already received the news.

In the desert, sand people had their own survival methods and behavioral principles.

They excelled at concealment, tracking, and observation. More critically, sand people in various places had traditions of mutual communication.

All struggling to survive in the desert, when northern and southern sand people encountered each other, they would provide mutual assistance as much as possible.

After suffering continuous attacks from the centaur squad, the sand people in the bandit gang used special message-leaving methods to pass information to the home sand people in this region.

These sand people had very sharp eyes. They were the first to realize that facing enemies with such long attack range and high mobility, they couldn't hit back or catch up. So in the vast desert, no matter how many people they had, they could only let opponents slaughter them at will.

Even if they actually charged into Vast Sea Territory, as long as the other side withdrew and maintained such continuous attacks, the entire bandit gang would ultimately have only a dead end.

The sand people didn't want to be buried with them.

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