Homo Sapiens

Meanwhile.

Yangon.

The leaders of a dozen major coastal families, along with local leaders from surrounding areas, gathered at a manor for a low-key, urgent meeting.

The meeting’s organizer, Wu Yebao, was also a member of Mao An’s family clan.

In Hongsawaddy, people typically have names but no surnames. Prefixes like "Wu," "Mao," and "Ko" aren’t family names but honorifics. For example, "Wu" means "Mr.," "Mao" means "younger brother," and "Ko" means "older brother."

Wu Yebao sat formally in the center and instructed his butler to play a disc on a nearby projector.

Soon, a series of videos, interrogation transcripts, and photos appeared on the projector screen.

The full story, from beginning to end, was laid out before everyone. Captured individuals, particularly Wu Yao and his men, had personally confessed to many things. With both witness testimony and material evidence, Wu Kailuo’s guilt was undeniable.

Upon seeing the videos, the many people present who were not affiliated with the Homo Sapiens Company burst into an uproar.

"Dammit!"

"Has Wu Kailuo lost his mind?"

"We have to stop him..."

"That bastard was just stalling for time before."

"Thank god we didn’t go to Bamana. We would’ve been dead for sure."

Wu Kailuo’s brutality had been a major threat, but now that the Defense Division had so swiftly defeated the 502nd Division, many people’s fear of his corps began to wane.

Wu Yebao seized the opportunity to propose they temporarily set aside their internal conflicts and focus all their efforts on dealing with the threat from Wu Kailuo.

The attendees, knowing this was no time for infighting, quickly reached a consensus.

Seeing the southern factions temporarily united, Wu Yebao and the few other agents planted by the Homo Sapiens Company revealed satisfied smiles.

They quickly used newspapers, the internet, and television stations to publicize Wu Kailuo’s innumerable crimes, demanding his immediate surrender.

...

As it was nighttime, Wu Kailuo’s men were on a silent forced march and did not receive this news.

But he was unaware that it wasn’t just Bamana and Yangon that were having problems—even his own base of operations was now unstable.

「Mandalay.」

The two divisions stationed here were Bo Qi’s 505th Division and Mang Zhengshan’s 503rd Division, which had been transferred from Shwebo Province.

The two divisions were not stationed together; one was in the southern suburbs, the other in the northern suburbs.

The purpose of this arrangement was mainly to guard against the Kachin Army to the north and the Mao Gu Corps to the southeast.

Just this evening, on the pretext of fostering camaraderie, Mang Zhengshan had invited Bo Qi, the commander of the 505th Division, as well as several leaders of Mandalay’s major families and other important figures.

None of them suspected a thing, but they would soon regret it bitterly.

Mang Zhengshan looked at the captured targets, then glanced at his watch. The time was exactly 18:44 in the evening.

A moment later, his Soldier intelligence officer reported to him, "The 3rd Regiment has taken control of the 505th Division. The Mao Gu Corps’ 306th and 307th Divisions have arrived in southern Mandalay."

"Excellent. Have the 3rd Regiment stay behind to help the Mao Gu Corps stabilize the area around Mandalay."

"Yes, sir."

Mang Zhengshan picked up his service cap, took his Guard Battalion and the remaining three regiments of the 503rd Division, and quickly rendezvoused with the Mao Gu Corps’ 306th Division.

The combined force rapidly advanced south along the highway.

Still on his way back to Mandalay, Wu Kailuo had no idea his base had been taken, or that Mang Zhengshan was now leading troops straight toward him.

In fact, even if Wu Kailuo hadn’t retreated, Mang Zhengshan and Mao Gu would have advanced south anyway to coordinate with the Defense Division in Laiwei Town, encircling and annihilating Wu Kailuo’s remaining two divisions in Bamana City.

But Wu Kailuo had lost his nerve at the critical moment and chosen to flee back to Mandalay overnight, causing Domino’s encirclement plan to fail.

Therefore, Domino activated the backup plan.

At that moment, on the command sand table in Laiwei Town, the situation of all parties was displayed with perfect clarity via the pheromone reconnaissance network.

Bamana City had been taken over by the 104th Division. The 103rd Division left one regiment stationed in Laiwei Town, next to Bamana City, while sending three regiments in pursuit of the Wu Kailuo Corps.

After fleeing for over two hours, the Wu Kailuo Corps had now reached Yangmideng Town, more than seventy kilometers away.

Meanwhile, the Mao Gu Corps’ 301st Division had appeared in Glaub Town. From this high vantage point, they were less than fifty kilometers from the railway line that the Wu Kailuo Corps would have to take.

As for Mang Zhengshan’s forces, they had already reached Wendun Town, a small town that was also a railway junction. They were also only about seventy kilometers from the Wu Kailuo Corps.

In other words, Domino’s encirclement was gradually tightening.

Panicked and fleeing blindly, the Wu Kailuo Corps only noticed the Defense Division pursuing them from behind, completely unaware of the inescapable net laid out before them.

In a relatively narrow section of a River Valley Plain, Mang Zhengshan knew he was on the path the Wu Kailuo Corps had to take.

He quickly ordered the 505th Division under his command, as well as Mao Gu’s 306th Division, to prepare an ambush. Their main force was actually the cargo trucks brought by the 306th Division, which were loaded with a huge number of suicide drones.

Time ticked by, second by second.

About two hours later, the exhausted Wu Kailuo Corps passed through Dashi Town, and its vanguard began to enter the ambush zone.

At the same time, Mao Gu’s 301st Division and the Defense Division’s 103rd Division also converged in Dashi Town.

Both Mao Gu and Mang Zhengshan realized the time was ripe and immediately ordered a drone airstrike.

When hundreds of drones appeared in the sky above the valley, the Wu Kailuo Corps was thrown into disarray by the sudden attack.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

COUGH! COUGH!

"Enemy attack—!"

"Cough, cough... Don’t step on me!"

"On guard... cough, cough!"

The dense tear gas, amplified by the valley’s terrain, quickly plunged the area into chaos, even leading to stampedes as people crowded together.

The mosquito offensive that followed caused the Wu Kailuo Corps to collapse completely. Many soldiers, overwhelmed by fear, began firing their rifles indiscriminately, hitting many of their own comrades.

But as time went on, more and more people were bitten by the mosquitoes, and the Wu Kailuo Corps’ attrition rate became staggering.

In less than twenty minutes, over 18,000 men had fallen.

Only about 5,000 people remained conscious, and that number was still rapidly decreasing.

Inside his armored vehicle, Wu Kailuo was scared out of his wits. Beside him, his adjutant, Mao Li, and the head of military intelligence, Mang Feng, were also staring around in terror.

But the smoke and the darkness of the night seemed like a wild beast stalking them.

Just then, a special drone carrying 100 kilograms of TNT, guided by a reconnaissance fly on the armored vehicle, scored a precise hit.

BOOM!

A terrifying explosion blew the armored vehicle to scrap metal. Wu Kailuo and the others inside had met their end.

Soon, soldiers from the 306th and 301st Divisions, wearing protective suits and gas masks, quickly entered the scene. They eliminated the remaining resistors from Wu Kailuo’s forces while disarming and taking the unconscious soldiers into custody.

The entire battle lasted less than an hour. After a dozen or so remnants hiding in armored vehicles were taken out by concentrated rocket fire, the soldiers of the Wu Kailuo Corps in the remaining vehicles quickly surrendered.

The end of this battle also marked the beginning of the end for Wu Kailuo’s entire faction.

The Mao Gu Corps, along with the turncoat Mang Zhengshan’s 505th Division and the two Defense Divisions, managed to seize control of all territory previously held by Wu Kailuo’s faction in less than three days through a combination of internal cooperation and surprise attacks.

The political landscape of Hongsawaddy had shifted so dramatically in just three days that by the time the outside world had a chance to react, the dust had already settled.

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