Chapter 103: Counter_thinking

After killing the first group, Long Tao proceeded backward. The bandit's plan was good enough to take care of the situation, but what surprised him even further was the power distribution. The general distribution would be according to the enemy. But this enemy acted upon some random intel to concentrate their power on the other groups. This was something Long To didn't feel right about. He let his avatar follow the princess's group while being in shadows. His gut gave him a feeling that something was off about this situation. Long Tao proceeded towards the convoy at the back.

The fighting in those locations was a bit messy too. The leader of the bandit stronghold was not to be seen in this location. Also, this was the place where the Qi general from the Jiao royal guard was stationed. The fighting in here was a bit on the one-sided part too. Long Tao decided to take a look at the last convoy, as the general looked like he can take care of his group and the fight on his own. The last group was the strongest in terms of soldier placement. But the enemy they were facing was the most dangerous one.

Just as Tiger Zheng was about to attack Su Menqi with his halberd, another weapon suddenly appeared out of nowhere to set up a resistance for the attack. Long Tao soon reached the location, to find the member of the Chu military already down. The only group of people remained standing was the Black-buck squad, and Tiger Zheng was now proceeding towards Su Menqi, who had the highest kills until now." Why are you fighting someone, whose power is beneath you? I will play with you, my friend". Tiger Zheng responded in kind. He continued on with his set of attacks. A major brawl started.

Meanwhile, within the hidden location where the princess was currently stationed, the atmosphere was getting cold. Even the princess got a feeling that something was not right. The group reached the location safely, just to find a group of people already being there. It was as if they were waiting for the convoy to arrive here.

"We finally got to see her majesty. would you be kind enough to lay down the weapons and surrender? I will be sure to be merciful and spare your subordinates. If you try to resist, we will have to get our hands dirty. The filth generated from violence is not a good view, is it princess Jiao." Jiao Mingue was nervous. She couldn't have predicted this outcome. How did they know that she was a part of the first convoy itself? Was there another mole present in their group? That was the only plausible explanation for the current situation. Somebody informed them of her location.

The guards arranged themselves into a battle position. They were ready to attack. The group of people began to move forward. They had absolute confidence in their power. The strongest players of the group were already engaged elsewhere. They couldn't come here to execute a rescue. "I am surprised at your wits princess. You really are the top strategist of the Jiao country, to be able to predict our pattern of attack, and trying to use the reverse psychology, which would have worked, if not for our supporter."

So, there was a mole in the group still. "I hope you will let me know the name of the person who screwed me." The leader of the group was surprised by the calm shown by the princess. "I will have to commend your mental stature, to be able to remain calm in a situation like this requires mental fortitude. Why do you think I would give you a name? A dead person would have any benefits on knowing the name anyway". The princess glanced at the leader and said" I would at least have peace with myself, that I know the cause of my death.". "You are quite an amusing person princess, to be able to act naïve at this moment."

"Would you please step up my friend. The princess wants to get a look at you.". One of the personal guards of the princess stepped up. She was shocked by this revelation. Not only her maid, even one of her personal guards were involved in the conspiracy of getting her killed. This was set back. The conspiracy seemed to have involved people with a deep connection in the royal court, for them to be able to insert an assassin as one of her personal guards. "Now that you know about who the traitor among you is, would you be kind enough to offer me your head." The figure raised his dagger and attacked Jiao Mingue.

"It's appeasing, but we would like to deny your offer, sir.". A voice sounded from somewhere, and just as the figure was about to reach the princess, the hand holding the sword was cleaved out. It was so fast, that he couldn't realize it until he waved his hands to land the strike. A loud howl of extreme pain was heard coming out of his mouth, on finally discovering his missing hand. A man soon walked into the light from the other side of the cave. He was holding a whole arm, which was torn off.

Walking up to the injured attacker, putting his feet on his face, Long Tao gave out a demeaning look of absolute cruelty and arrogance. "I really am impressed by the series of events that took place. You are one hell of a planner. You made a plan which was the absolute best considering the situation. The same goes for the decision-making capability, to allow a simultaneous attack on all these groups, which would lead you to have lots of causalities on your side. But you took the decision anyway, which means that you don't care about what happens to your subordinates."

"the next interesting piece was your plan after getting to know what our design is to get the princess out of here. The fortitude of yours is commendable too. You didn't flinch from the original plan. You stuck with the same distribution, while just disengaging your small group from the party which is attacking the third convoy and came here. You knew all of this might just be a hoax and your plan would fail, resulting in the death of Tiger Zheng while he attacks the third party and gets overpowered. I hope my analysis was right now. But what actually provokes my thoughts is not your brilliant decisiveness."

"It is the reason behind how you could make such a great decision. A person is having one of the three reasons behind being confident about acting under such low probabilities. The first way is a simple one, you have an incredible power distribution which would allow you to take the chance in a perfect way. Necessarily you should be confident about your power is greater than the enemy. But that is not the case here, because your second group is already annihilated, and you know that too, which is why you got the best members of your squad to be here."

"The next option is the fact that your organization would be having a solid back-up plan, which allowed you to take your chances here. The basic requirement for this is the fact that your organization sent more than just you on the assassination mission and the comrade of yours has a solid, sure kill the plan. But I think you won't be acting on that basis, as any assassination organization or a black division in general acts on the merits of its members. You need to show your value to the organization. So, I am sure you aren't relying on that either."

The man lying was having a serious expression just now. The analysis that Long Tao provided was shockingly so detailed and reasonable, even he was surprised. "No need to fake your surprised expression. I am yet to arrive on the real reason. The most promising reason is quite simple as well. It's the presence of a mole in the enemy ranks which provides the crucial information required to act on a particular pressure point so heavily. "The princess knew that the analysis was good, but the reason was quite obvious. Why was Long Tao stating all of these?

Just as the man was about to show a more reclusive expression, Long Tao grabbed his hair, pulled it up so that his face was visible to the eyes, and then said" But we looked at it in the wrong way. You have moles in our rank. And that is the point, moles. The one standing there is a mole without a doubt, but he is not the one who provided you with the information right. After all, only three people in the group knew, which convoy was the one, and he isn't one of the three."

"Let me list the names for you.". Long Tao looked at his expression quite carefully. "Its the princess, the royal guard leader of Jiao country, and lastly the captain of the squad which general unrivaled assigned to us." Long Tao drew his face real close to the guy and said with an enthusiastic tone" Who do you think it was?"