Billionaire's Long Journey of Chasing His Love-Chapter 426 - 373: Did Someone Outwit You? (Third Update)
Tong Airui ate and drank his fill, and after sleeping for less than three hours, he got up and headed to the combat command room. He had calculated that by now, John and Raman should be starting to engage.
As he expected, within five minutes of entering the command room, a signal flare streaked across the upper-right corner of the large screen.
Tong Airui picked up the headset. "Cave Two, Cave Two, do you copy?"
"Cave One, Cave Two copies, go ahead!"
"How much longer until you reach the training base?"
"About forty minutes."
"Slow down. Arrive at the base in sixty minutes."
"Got it!" Mi Chenxuan immediately slowed down after receiving the instructions.
The people in the combat command room couldn’t figure out what Tong Airui was thinking. They were already engaged in battle; why slow down?
Yuan Hang chuckled. Only the boss knew what was on his mind. Just as the sun was about to rise, Tong Airui returned to his room to wake Yi Luowa.
Yi Luowa buried herself in the covers, wanting to cry but having no tears, refusing to come out. She felt that whatever happened last night must have been heard by everyone on the ship.
"Get up, no one really heard anything. If we get up now, we can still catch the sunrise."
"..."
"The sunrise at sea is stunning! You’ll regret not seeing it!" Tong Airui extended a hand and pulled her out from the covers.
Yi Luowa, puffing her cheeks in anger, stomped her way into the bathroom.
Tong Airui leaned against the doorframe, patiently waiting for her. "I think we might go back earlier than planned."
Yi Luowa pouted, "Tingting isn’t someone who’d be easy to deal with."
"True," Tong Airui nodded with a smile.
Yi Luowa wiped her face and walked out. "What are you smiling at? Don’t get too cocky just yet. I just had a flash of inspiration—what if, after all your scheming, the four opposing nations join forces in secret to deal with you? What will you do then?"
Tong Airui froze for a moment. "Wifey, you and Kou’er go to the deck to watch the sunrise first. I need to take care of something. I’ll find you later."
Yi Luowa pursed her lips and headed to the deck with Kou’er.
At that moment, the horizon in the east turned an orange-red color, briefly deepening into a fiery hue before fading back into a pale gray.
Within this pale gray, a half-circle of soft crimson light slowly emerged. Beneath the light, the edge of the sun broke through, radiant and red, rising higher and higher until it leapt out of the water in an instant.
Yi Luowa stood there, mouth agape, amazed by the beauty before her.
"Sister Luowa, isn’t it gorgeous?" Kou’er asked with a smile.
"It’s beautiful—so beautiful!" Yi Luowa glanced at Kou’er suspiciously. "Kou’er, you must see these sunrises at sea all the time, don’t you?"
"When we were back at the base, I could see them every day."
Yi Luowa chuckled. "Oh, so the base is located at sea, huh?"
"You didn’t know?"
"Nope. Tong Airui didn’t tell me, so I never asked."
Kou’er pouted. "It’s a pity we had to hand over our phones. Otherwise, I could have taken some stunning photos for you."
"That’s okay. We’ll take pictures when we get back," Yi Luowa said, tilting her head towards Kou’er. "By the way, Kou’er, if you were in a situation where you initially agreed to form an alliance with someone, would you later change your mind and join forces with someone else, turning on the original ally?"
"That would depend on the circumstances."
"So it’s possible for something like that to happen, right?"
Kou’er nodded.
Yi Luowa furrowed her brows. "No way. I need to go talk to Tong Airui..."
"Talk to me about what?" Tong Airui asked with a grin as he walked over.
Yi Luowa hurriedly exclaimed, "Tong Airui, I have a bad feeling about this."
"Your instincts are spot on," Tong Airui shrugged with a laugh.
Yi Luowa was stunned. "So... you’ve already been played?"
"Yep. John set a trap for me. He’s been laying the groundwork ever since your sister came back."
"And you can still laugh about it?" Yi Luowa frowned.
"If they want to toy with me, I’ll play along. I’ve already initiated Plan B," Tong Airui said as he pulled her into an embrace, lowering his head to smile. "The sunrise on the sea is stunning, isn’t it?"
"I’m not in the mood to admire the sunrise," Yi Luowa retorted, patting her chest. "You had a Plan B? Why didn’t you mention it yesterday? You scared me half to death!"
Tong Airui raised an eyebrow. "You were the one who ordered last night that after answering your last question, I should go to bed. How was I supposed to dare bring it up?"
Yi Luowa glared at him. "You left it out on purpose!"
"Fine, I admit it. I did it on purpose because I didn’t think they’d be that devious. Turns out, I was wrong. Except for Tingting, who didn’t fall for John’s persuasion, Lu Jia and Lu Kaisheng were both bought by John. They created the illusion of an escalating conflict to catch me off guard. Good thing I didn’t send Lao Ba into the battlefield too early to serve as cannon fodder."
"What’s the plan now?"
"If no one can outmaneuver the other, we’ll just fight our own battles."
"Where’s the base? Will you tell me now?"
"On the border between Soya and Z-country."
Yi Luowa frowned slightly. "John and Tingting have home-field advantage there. Fighting an away game puts us at a disadvantage."
"No worries. I’ve already made arrangements," Tong Airui replied with a mysterious smile.
The warship continued its journey for nearly ten hours before they disembarked at the planned dock.
Yi Luowa thought they’d meet Mi Chenxuan here. However, when they arrived, there wasn’t even a trace of Mi Chenxuan.
Once all personnel and vehicles were unloaded, Tong Airui didn’t rush toward the training base but instead ordered everyone to rest on the spot. It wasn’t until the next day, in broad daylight, that the troops geared up and set off.
At this point, the camper Yi Luowa had built finally came in handy. This mobile command post continuously received battle reports from all directions.
In the first-floor conference room, the seats were filled with people ready to respond to sudden incidents at any moment.
Yi Luowa didn’t dare disturb them. She sat on the stairs, quietly listening to their discussion of the situation at the front.
"Captain, S-country’s Shadow Fox has engaged Soya’s Steel Armor!"
"Captain, Raman’s Giant Scorpion has also joined the fight; they’re helping S-country’s Shadow Fox."
"Captain, Z-country’s Reaper has entered the battlefield but hasn’t made any moves yet."
"Captain, Cave Two is awaiting your orders."
"Tell him to retreat from the battlefield immediately!"
Messages poured in like snowflakes. Yi Luowa listened quietly and quickly guessed why the situation had turned into such chaos—it was definitely Lao Ba stirring things up.
She was only half right. Mi Chenxuan had indeed caused trouble. Tong Airui had ordered him to disguise himself as Soya’s soldiers and ambush S-country’s Shadow Fox. Since Lu Jia already didn’t get along with his big cousin, he took this as an excuse to engage John in a scuffle. Raman, the only true ally among the four nations, seized the chance to align with Lu Jia’s forces.
Two against one quickly turned into three against one. Leng Chuting wouldn’t miss such an opportunity.
Soon, John became the first to withdraw from the competition.
Leng Chuting wasted no time forming an alliance with Lu Jia to counterattack Raman. Just then, Skyhawk descended onto the battlefield.
Lu Jia became the second to withdraw from the competition.
The ensuing battle turned into a tug-of-war. Tong Airui had anticipated returning home early, but Leng Chuting was truly a formidable opponent. Even with Giant Scorpion and Sharp Sword teaming up against her, she managed to prolong the war by half a month.
Tong Airui pushed her from the plains to the mountains, and then from the mountains to the jungle.
Once Reaper entered the jungle, word soon spread that Leng Chuting wasn’t acclimating to the environment and had fallen ill, handing over command to Mu Heyang.
Mu Heyang was no less capable than Leng Chuting. However, he was deeply devoted to his wife and preferred being the man behind the scenes for her.
After taking command, Mu Heyang quickly launched a brilliant counterattack, wiping out nearly a third of Raman’s forces and over 200 of Summer Witch’s soldiers.
Tong Airui narrowed his eyes at the latest war report before him. "I underestimated my brother-in-law."
Yi Luowa chuckled. "Underestimating the opponent is the bane of any military strategist."
"Then I’ll take him seriously and hit him hard!"
Tong Airui issued an order to surround the jungle, aiming to eliminate Reaper as quickly as possible.
On the third day of the siege, Tong Airui received a call from Mu Heyang.
As soon as the call connected, Tong Airui laughed, "Brother-in-law, calling me at this time—are you ready to surrender?"
Mu Heyang’s mouth twitched slightly. "In your dreams! I’d rather die in battle than surrender. Your sister Tingting’s illness is severe, and I don’t have the medicine to treat her here. Take her away, and I’ll stand here and let you bomb me directly."
"Haha... Brother-in-law, why go to so much trouble? You could simply wave a white flag!"
"Are you going to take care of your sister Tingting or not?"
"Of course! I’ll give you a passage. Send her over to me."
Tong Airui hung up the phone and turned to his staff officer. "Colonel Leng is seriously ill. Open up a passage for her immediately." 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢
"Yes, sir!" The officer gave the order without hesitation.
Yi Luowa frowned slightly.
"Captain..." Seeing everyone looking at her, Yi Luowa hesitated before speaking.
Tong Airui chuckled. "We’re all on the same team. Just say what’s on your mind."
Yi Luowa bit her lip and mustered her courage. "I think Tingting’s illness is a bit suspicious."
Tong Airui smiled. "So, what do you suggest we do?"
"Open the passage, but if Tingting is truly sick, we can’t afford to delay her treatment. However, I suggest laying an ambush around the passage."
Haha...
The crowd burst into laughter.
Yi Luowa pursed her lips. "I shouldn’t have said anything. Look at you all laughing!"
Tong Airui stopped laughing and pointed at the group, deliberately putting on a stern face. "Stop laughing, all of you. Do as Engineer Yi suggests—set up the ambush now!"
"Yes, sir!" the staff officer responded with a straight face.
