As soon as Dream Jia caught sight of Haoyun's stubborn demeanor, which infuriated her to no end, she disregarded him and instead gazed out from the upper floor towards the distant battle, saying, "Those ambushers must have established a defensive stronghold in the distance, holding off the attacks from the three-legged soldiers here. However, their position is conveniently blocked by several tall buildings in front, so I can't observe the specifics over there right now. Judging from the current situation, though, these three-legged soldiers have completely seized the initiative. It's only a matter of time before those ambushers are eliminated."
The long night continued on, much to Haoyun's surprise. The distant battle didn't end as expected by them but instead continued relentlessly. It appeared that the ambushers had fortified their defensive position so effectively that the three-legged soldiers couldn't swiftly end the battle and were continuously sending reinforcements from the frontline positions.
However, as the battle progressed, Haoyun and his companions noticed something peculiar. The number of three-legged soldiers appearing from the surrounding streets to support the battle had significantly decreased. Initially, each unit sent to the battlefield consisted of about twenty soldiers accompanied by combat aircraft. Later, there were no longer combat aircraft leading the three-legged soldiers, and the size of each reinforcement squad reduced from around twenty to about ten soldiers. Now, the soldiers appearing from the nearby streets were reduced to just two or three per group.
Thus, Dream Jia was the first to inquire, "Have you noticed anything odd about these three-legged soldiers?"
"Of course, these guys are strange! They're all tripedal humanoid robots!" Haoyun replied.
Dream Jia retorted impatiently, "Obviously! I'm not blind! Of course, I can see their peculiarity! What I meant is, judging from the sound of the battle coming from the front, although these three-legged soldiers have the absolute advantage, the fighting there is still intense. This has resulted in the continuous depletion of forces on the side of the three-legged soldiers. That's why they're still sending reinforcements."
Haoyun and Dao Lao nodded in agreement with Dream Jia's assessment.
Dream Jia continued, stroking her chin, "But why do I feel like these soldiers supporting the battlefield give me a sense of calmness? From their unhurried steps, it seems they don't have the urgency they should when supporting the battlefield. How should I put it? In my opinion, these soldiers seem more like going through the motions. They don't seem eager to eliminate those ambushers; instead, they're trying to sustain this battle. Otherwise, why wouldn't these three-legged soldiers, who already have the upper hand, increase their reinforcement efforts and decisively wipe out those ambushers? Also, I've noticed these soldiers seem to be arriving on a strict schedule."
"What do you mean by arriving on a schedule?" Dao Lao asked, puzzled.
In response, Dream Jia added a countdown timer to the real-time monitoring screen shared with Haoyun and Dao Lao. The timer showed a countdown task totaling ten minutes, with five minutes and thirty-seven seconds already elapsed. Then, Dream Jia explained, "The reason I say this is because I've found the timing of these three-legged soldiers' reinforcements to be remarkably consistent. I've calculated twice according to the time on the N38 timeline of Earth, and found that the intervals between each round of reinforcement by the three-legged soldiers are exactly ten minutes."
After explaining, Dream Jia gestured for Haoyun and Dao Lao to wait for the countdown timer to finish again and see if more soldiers would appear behind the building. Sure enough, as the countdown timer reached ten minutes again, they witnessed two more three-legged soldiers marching in the same orderly manner, heading towards the battlefield in front of the building. Simultaneously, on corners around the building, several other groups of two or three three-legged soldiers sporadically appeared.
Seeing two three-legged soldiers pass below the building, Dream Jia said, "See? Just as I said, these three-legged soldiers not only reduced their reinforcements but are strictly adhering to a ten-minute frequency in sending reinforcements to the frontline battlefield. Although they've surrounded those ambushers and the total number of reinforcements is considerable, it's clear these forces won't be able to annihilate the surrounded ambushers. Instead, they'll face significant depletion in the next ten minutes. Thus, this battle will likely continue as long as those ambushers have ammunition left."
As Haoyun and Dao Lao listened to Dream Jia's findings, they continued to wait for the countdown timer to complete once more. Sure enough, as the timer reached ten minutes again, they saw two more three-legged soldiers marching with the same precision, seemingly replaying the scene of the previous appearance of three-legged soldiers.
"There's no reason for these three-legged soldiers to behave like this, right? Judging by the intensity of the battle between these two groups, they should be mortal enemies, shouldn't they? If so, why aren't these three-legged soldiers ending the battle quickly once they have the advantage? Could it be that they're worried the ambushers might have other tricks up their sleeves, so they choose to continue battling them in this attritional manner?" Haoyun said, puzzled.
"Using siege tactics to slowly wear down the enemy is fine, but they shouldn't mindlessly keep reinforcing like this, right? Isn't this equivalent to fighting a battle of attrition even when they have the advantage? The behavior of these three-legged soldiers makes no sense at all," Dream Jia added.
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Dao Lao stroked his pristine white beard, puzzled as he said, "Hmm. With this analysis, the behavior of those three-legged soldiers is indeed very strange. Could it be that they have other motives for not hurrying to eliminate the ambushers? It seems we need to observe the frontline situation more closely to avoid being caught off guard if the situation suddenly changes."
As time passed, the sky began to lighten with a pale dawn. Although there hadn't been any apparent changes in the frontline situation as speculated by Haoyun and his team, there were signs of significant reduction in the exchange of gunfire between the two sides. Simultaneously, the frequency of reinforcements by the three-legged soldiers was decreasing, and after the sky had gradually brightened, they completely ceased sending reinforcements to the frontline battlefield.
"Ah! Is it finally over? It seems those ambushers have been more or less wiped out," Haoyun stretched lazily, seeing no more signs of three-legged soldiers on the streets below the building. At this moment, the sun had begun to rise, and only sporadic gunfire remained in the distant battlefield.
"Is that the end of it? But why do I feel like the end of this battle is somewhat inexplicable?" Dream Jia, concealed on the rooftop, looked at the thick smoke rising from the distant street, expressing her confusion.
Dao Lao agreed with Dream Jia's viewpoint. He also felt that the battle didn't end because one side clearly won over the other, but rather because the number of reinforcements from the three-legged soldiers had significantly decreased, ultimately ceasing altogether, which ended this prolonged night battle.
"The three-legged soldiers stopped reinforcing the battlefield, probably because they've already eliminated most of the ambushers," Haoyun speculated. "Or perhaps it's because their reinforcements have been exhausted, forcing them to temporarily halt operations until new reinforcements arrive. Anyway, it's unlikely that both sides stopped fighting just because they were tired after a night of battle, intending to take a temporary ceasefire at dawn and resume fighting after resting."
Although Dao Lao and Dream Jia found the end of this battle somewhat unnatural, they agreed that Haoyun's speculation made more sense. So Dream Jia added, "Since those three-legged soldiers have won, they should soon withdraw their wounded soldiers and send others to clean up the battlefield."
"Exactly. It's wise for us to observe the situation here and then plan our next move," Dao Lao suggested.
"I think you guys should come and see this," Haoyun suddenly said, sounding very puzzled.
Upon Haoyun's indication, Dream Jia and Dao Lao immediately looked towards the intersection he pointed out. They saw two three-legged soldiers lingering there for a while before disappearing around the corner. But that wasn't the end of it. After waiting for a few more minutes, the two soldiers appeared again at the same intersection and circled around before returning to the same street they came from.
"What's going on? Those two soldiers seem to be patrolling? And why do I feel like they're just patrolling within that fixed area?" Dream Jia wondered.
"Let's not forget, those soldiers are all robots. It's likely that the front battle has ended, causing them to switch from attack mode to patrol alert mode. If that's the case, then who exactly is controlling these three-legged soldiers? Could it be those two mysterious individuals?" Haoyun speculated.
"Possibly," both Dao Lao and Dream Jia replied in unison, continuing to observe the situation at the intersection. They soon noticed that the two three-legged soldiers appeared at intervals of about five minutes at that intersection.
"It's strange. Why do they keep lingering nearby? Could it be to prevent enemies from entering or leaving that area?" Dream Jia pondered.
Dao Lao shook his head, unable to explain the behavior of the two three-legged soldiers for the time being. However, he quickly added, "Since those three-legged soldiers have stopped fighting, it can be assumed that the ambushers have been eliminated. Furthermore, since they're only patrolling in a fixed location, as long as we avoid their line of sight, we should be able to safely leave this building."
Dream Jia nodded in response, "Exactly. And now I feel like the situation in this city is very peculiar. So perhaps we should take this opportunity to evacuate from this area, at least to the outskirts of the city. We'll observe the situation here more and gather more intelligence before planning our next move."
"I agree with your suggestion, Dream Jia. Where do you think we should evacuate to?" Dao Lao asked.
"On the bright side, the aggressiveness of those three-legged soldiers has decreased significantly now. As long as we can avoid their patrol areas, we shouldn't be discovered," Dream Jia continued to analyze while checking the situation outside the window. "Because last night's battle mainly focused from seven o'clock to eleven o'clock in our direction, those three-legged soldiers are heavily concentrated in that area. Therefore, it should be relatively safe for us to evacuate from the area between two o'clock and five o'clock of the building. Even if we encounter three-legged soldiers on the way, their numbers shouldn't be too many. Besides, I think all the three-legged soldiers deployed around us are now in a state of alert, just like those two soldiers at the intersection. As long as we are careful enough, we can completely leave here without alerting them."
Dream Jia's analysis received unanimous agreement from Haoyun and Dao Lao. Therefore, the three of them wasted no time and immediately retreated from the right side of the building after clearing their traces inside.
Once they evacuated the building, they swiftly crossed a narrow alley and entered the adjacent mobile building. This building, similarly ravaged by heavy shelling, had its upper floors collapsed, yet the ground floor lobby, with its stone arch structure, appeared merely broken and posed no risk of further collapse. Moreover, the debris from the upper floors' collapse actually made the interior of the ground floor lobby more conducive to hiding. Thus, Haoyun and his companions decided to traverse through this damaged lobby to further reduce the chances of being discovered by Three-Legged Soldiers at any moment.
However, just as Haoyun and his companions had covered less than half the distance through the lobby, a deep voice suddenly came from ahead, commanding, "Stop! Don't move!"
Although Haoyun and his companions were prepared for encountering enemies during their retreat, they did not expect to be discovered by surrounding enemies so soon after leaving the building. Despite feeling somewhat embarrassed for not detecting the enemies hidden in the adjacent building earlier, the three of them remained calm. In fact, they even felt a sense of relief.