“What is there to be surprised about?”
The light-footed knight glanced at his incredulous comrades nearby.
At this moment, the veteran finally reacted; seeing everyone turning pale, the knight actually looked even stronger with the counterarguments.
The veteran thought it was due to the knight’s good physique, or perhaps he had privilege behind him, but he didn’t consider what that privilege was.
However, the veteran indeed hadn’t thought in this direction; after all, the knight had previously talked to him about ideals, noble ladies, and how he used to eat and live with Doug Lars, wanting to kill enemies and seeking promotion. No matter how you looked at it, he didn’t seem like a mole.
The veteran even doubted if he himself was a mole, never imagining the knight could be one.
“Do you know? My current mood is like realizing that my beautiful wife becomes a middle-aged woman without makeup.”
“Where’s the middle-aged woman?”
The veteran mimicked the knight’s tone and said, “That’s something you shouldn’t ask.”
“Okay.”
The knight shrugged and said, “I know where supplies are; I can take you there tonight.”
The people in the room quickly accepted this reality. Once they accepted this setting, the thought of defecting seemed unimportant.
As the idea of defection arose, the world suddenly expanded.
“Compared to this.”
The veteran asked, “When exactly did you become a mole?”
“Can you guess why they’re not allowing patrols outside now?”
By nightfall, the veteran finally understood what the knight’s answer meant.
The shadows roaming at night were no longer scouts or special forces from Graywhite Territory but were other moles within the Beitang Defensive Line.
The knight even naturally greeted those moles and then led everyone to a corner.
“This is it, the fixed ‘food pickup point.'”
Before the knight could finish speaking, the veteran and the other soldiers were in tears, wolfing down the food.
After finishing, the knight didn’t rush to take the veteran back; instead, he asked, “This is different from what you had before. Do you know what this means?”
“Of course.”
The veteran wiped his mouth and said, “Go ahead, when do we start?”
“In about three days. Before we start, weapons will be supplied to us, and by then everyone will have gray cloth wrapped around their arms. Those with gray cloth are our people.”
“Are you really that eager?”
The veteran looked at the high walls of the fortress behind him. In the dark night, the Beitang Defensive Line truly resembled a despairing barrier that made it impossible to have even a speck of thought about attacking.
“Exactly, I wanted to wait until the last day to reveal everything to you.”
The knight explained, “It’s not a matter of eagerness; there really aren’t many supplies left in the fortress now.”
“Have they really all been sold?”
Although the veteran was somewhat shocked, he managed to keep himself composed. After all, weird things had happened with Lars’s army before; it wasn’t unheard of.
“That’s right, and it’s still handled by me.”
The knight lowered his head slightly, a hidden disappointment in his eyes, along with some anger.
Upon hearing this answer, the veteran suddenly understood why that knight who once told him he wanted to kill enemies, seek promotion, and even thought that Doug Lars would promote him would suddenly become a mole.
Three days quickly passed. On the night before the uprising, the veteran rubbed his firearm and sat in the corner with the knight, waiting for dawn.
“Look at this craftsmanship, look at these materials; this is a weapon.”
Every veteran had a special attachment to his weapon, but the moment the weapons from Graythorn Territory landed in the veteran’s hands, he unhesitatingly abandoned his old companion.
“No wonder that little place can keep Governor Doug under pressure. It seems now that Governor Lind is the real master of the Northern Border.”
The veteran wasn’t joking; with his rich combat experience, he looked at the knight’s firearm that was identical to his own and realized a lot of things. Though he had no concept of quality control, he could tell the difference from the weapons crafted by alchemists on Doug’s side at a glance.
“I feel like we might have defected too late. Among those distributing weapons, I recognized a few—they were the ones who went missing during the night patrols.”
“This isn’t called defecting; this is called abandoning the dark and joining the light.”
The knight was sitting calmly with his weapon, and he had lost the sharpness he had when he used to talk with the veteran before the war even started, becoming even steadier than the veteran.
Although the weapon distribution site was very quiet, it still caused some disturbance. However, the soldiers inside the fortress turned a blind eye to it.
In this fortress, the closest to Graythorn Territory, most were the lowest-tier soldiers. They were not conspicuous at that moment, but they were extremely familiar with this fortress and this defensive line. A few soldiers wanting to shout loudly or leak secrets were controlled, while the remaining ones were either moles or soldiers who enjoyed the spectacle.
After all, most people were already too hungry to stir trouble. Everyone just wanted this bizarre, rule-bound existence to end quickly, no matter which side would win. Some even joined the uprising that night, hoping at least they could have a full meal for the night.
“What do you want to do once this is over?”
The knight looked at the moon and took the lead in conversing with the veteran. Before the veteran could answer, the knight started talking to himself, “I want to look for those guys I used to play football with and play a couple of matches; it would be best if I could find that middle-aged woman from my neighbor’s house and apologize to her.”
But before the knight could finish, the veteran covered his mouth and said, “Pah pah pah, it’s most taboo to talk about such things on the battlefield. Generally, those who say such things don’t survive to see the next day.”
The night ended in turmoil.
The commander of the Beitang Defensive Line began a meeting on the survival of Beitang Fortress early in the morning, deep within the most solid fort.
“Commander, I’ve noticed something off with my soldiers lately. They’ve been eating just one meal a day, yet they don’t seem hungry at all; I suspect they have become rebellious moles.”
A knight looked worried. His men seemed to be increasingly disobedient, but others didn’t pay much attention. After all, in this environment of rampant rumors, which soldiers would obey?
“This knight, what you said is incorrect.”
The deputy commander beside the commander said, “My soldiers and I have also been well-fed. Does that mean I am also a rebellious mole?”
The commander tried to reassure him, “This knight, you are too sensitive. The rations I distribute have all been carefully calculated; how could there be a situation of people going hungry?”
The knight who raised the issue suddenly had nothing to say. After all, every batch of distributed rations was stripped a little, and the low-tier soldiers had hardly any left—was that something he could mention?
“Besides, this isn’t the main issue right now.”
The commander slapped the map on the table and said, “Our supplies have been cut off; we can no longer hold this defensive line. We must find a way to break out and join Lord Doug’s other troops.”
“Isn’t it a little late for that now?”
The knight who spoke earlier stood up again. “All the cities supporting us have been captured. Where can we go once we leave the defensive line?”
Before this knight could finish, sounds of cannon fire came from outside.
The commander’s eyes lit up. Was the enemy going to attack? Although the supplies of the Beitang Defensive Line had been cut off, the facilities could still operate normally. If they could win, perhaps they could even capture some enemy soldiers to exchange for supplies.
At this moment, a guard rushed in in a panic and shouted, “Commander, it’s not good! The soldiers have rebelled!”
“Huh?”
The commander was momentarily flustered. He had come to command here because he had heard that the Beitang Defensive Line was impregnable. The true capabilities of these soldiers fell short of Kiss, but not by much—the daily affairs of the fortress were mainly handled by the deputy commander.
Thinking of this, the commander looked at the deputy commander.
“Deputy commander, what do you think we should do now?”
The deputy commander looked calm and said, “Commander, do not panic; I have a plan to resolve this situation.”
Facing the suddenly eloquent deputy commander, the commander didn’t sense anything odd, and he even cooperated by speaking in the ancient language: “Quickly tell me.”
The deputy commander took off his cloak right in front of everyone and waved it. To everyone’s surprise, the reverse side of the cloak was embroidered with a Northern Wind Bear, the old Lars family emblem. Doug not only wasn’t recognized but even prohibited his people from using it, for this was the emblem of the Graythorn rebels.
“I call upon the commander to offer his head!”
