146: It's really unbelievable to ask the enemy for supplies.

"What does that town councilor called 'Old John' want to do?"

In the Alice Springs live broadcast room, many viewers asked.

In the live broadcast, the senior officials of Alice Springs came out after entering a small house for a secret discussion.

Then Old John came to the street, stood on the bed of a military pickup truck, and spoke to the U.S. Military stragglers sitting everywhere in the town with a loudspeaker.

"Friends, U.S. Military soldiers, I know you now need the protection of Alice Springs, a non-military zone, and we will not force you to leave the town at this time."

"But I need to represent the town government and state some basic facts to you."

"According to our statistics, there are already 10,000 U.S. Military soldiers receiving shelter in Alice Springs."

"To be honest, this has really exceeded the capacity of our town."

"There are not enough empty houses, and not enough stored food or drinking water."

"If we keep allowing you to stay here, our own townspeople will starve—"

Several U.S. Military soldiers loudly questioned, "What exactly do you mean?"

Old John: "It's simple, there aren't enough supplies."

"From now on, either you leave the town, or someone sends you survival supplies. Otherwise, Alice Springs cannot continue to accommodate you."

What?!

At this, the U.S. Military stragglers who had been listless on the ground became agitated and started making loud noises.

"How can this be?"

"If we're driven out, won't we just become prisoners?"

"Yeah, even if we're not captured, we have no food, no water, and no vehicles. How can we reach a safe zone? The nearest town is hundreds of kilometers away!"

Old John also didn't want to overly pressure these U.S. Military soldiers.

Although as the price for receiving the town's protection, the soldiers' weapons had been confiscated early on.

But after all, they were all young and strong. If they really went berserk, the townspeople really couldn't suppress them.

Old John loudly explained, "Please rest assured, what I said earlier is not compulsory, but you also don't want mutual snatch to occur due to overall material scarcity, do you?"

"So either you leave, or we get survival supplies."

The soldiers finally calmed down slightly.

A person who looked like an officer asked, "Councilor John, what exactly do you have in mind? If we don't leave, how do we get survival supplies?"

Old John: "Within hundreds or even thousands of kilometers around Alice Springs, there are no decent towns, so obtaining supplies from the civilian sector is impossible. It can only be through official channels, for official transportation."

"I have tried to contact Australia's officials, but their attitude is ambiguous, and it seems there are many difficulties in long-distance transportation of supplies."

"Of course, you can also notify your U.S. Military through the military, so that the U.S. Military can transport a large amount of survival supplies by land or air."

The officer immediately shook his head.

"That's impossible."

"I have observed around the town. Now, the war in this area seems to have ended. The surroundings are the Anti-War Army's territory, and air superiority does not belong to us, so our People's Army's supplies cannot enter."

"If they could get in, we could leave ourselves."

Old John: "Therefore, there is only one way left."

"Obtain survival supplies from the Anti-War Army."

Ah?!

Everyone who heard this looked at each other, whether they were U.S. Military stragglers, residents of Alice Springs, or viewers watching the live broadcast online.

"The Anti-War Army can provide survival supplies?"

"Aren't the two sides mortal enemies? The war hasn't even ended yet, has it?"

"This is nonsense. If the Anti-War Army heard this request, they would definitely burst into laughter—"

Old John: "Where there's a will, there's a way. We can first contact the Anti-War Army and discuss it."

"But before that, I need people with higher military ranks among you soldiers to come forward and participate in the negotiations, so it carries weight."

Old John's gaze scanned the U.S. Military officers and soldiers below, and he prioritized looking at an officer who had questioned him earliest.

Seeing everyone looking at him, the officer reluctantly said:

"My rank is only a captain, I'm afraid I can't represent 10,000 people in negotiations... it's best to find someone at the field officer level or higher, or even a general... is there anyone?"

Everyone was looking around to find someone with a high enough military rank.

Some people dressed as officers successively stood up, reporting their military ranks and original combat units.

Unfortunately, the highest-ranking straggler present was only a major, which is equivalent to a battalion commander, quite a stretch.

Old John was slightly disappointed and was about to say that the major would be the representative when a person suddenly stood up from the crowd.

"I—"

The person's voice was loud, as if he was shouting after suppressing his Stuffy for a long time.

This caused everyone to look over.

Then, many U.S. Military stragglers recognized the person's identity and gasped.

"Ah, that seems to be General Aris—"

"What, our Deputy Commander this time, General Aris?"

"He, he also hid in the town?!"

A strange feeling surged in the hearts of all the U.S. Military stragglers present.

First, instinctive contempt.

As the second-in-command of the army, you deserted and hid with us lower-ranking soldiers, and you even deliberately concealed your identity before. Isn't that shameful?

But there was also a sense of relief.

After all, you see, even a General deserted, so the actions of these people themselves don't seem like a big deal.

When Aris came to Old John's side, he took a deep breath and spoke.

"I am General Aris, the Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Military's military operation this time. I want to represent this U.S. Military unit in participating in the negotiations with the Anti-War Army."

Old John was stunned.

After a long while, he was reminded by his assistant beside him before he hurriedly responded, "Welcome, welcome."

At this moment, the atmosphere in the online live broadcast room was extremely heated.

"Whoa, I didn't see wrong, General Aris, he seems to have been the U.S. Military's Commander-in-Chief in the last Darwin City battle, and this time he's been demoted to Deputy Commander-in-Chief."

"Last time, the U.S. Military could be understood as a minor defeat. This time, he's the second-in-command, and he actually directly became a deserter, even needing to rely on a non-military zone for self-preservation. Heh heh, he's lost face completely."

"The question is, even the second-in-command of the army has become a deserter, so what about the first-in-command, the U.S. Military's Commander-in-Chief this time? What about all the high-ranking military officials in the headquarters? Could it be that they've all been captured?"

"Haha, if they've all been captured, then the entire U.S. Military has been defeated."

"Stop guessing, let's continue watching the live broadcast..."

Alice Springs.

Now, through the town's communication equipment, the town has successfully contacted the Anti-War Army.

Councilor Old John explained the town's predicament and difficulties in the communication, while Aris stated his identity and demands.

Both of them originally thought they would have a fierce debate with the Anti-War Army.

Who knew that the negotiating representative on the other side responded in the communication just a minute or two later.

"Our Anti-War Army Commander Fang has agreed to your request for survival supplies."

"The first batch of survival supplies will arrive over Alice Springs in about half an hour for airdrop. We hope Alice Springs will temporarily open its airspace to allow our transport helicopters to enter."

"Do you agree?"

Old John was stunned for a moment before he reacted and immediately replied hastily, "Agree, agree, we agree."

Aris was also stunned.

He had originally prepared himself mentally, thinking that the Anti-War Army would demand the town hand him over as a prisoner in exchange for supplies.

Aris was filled with mixed emotions for a moment.

Half an hour later, the first three Chinook transport planes hovered over Alice Springs, and then material boxes were steadily placed on the ground.

The transport planes returned.

The townspeople and soldiers rushed forward, excitedly and anxiously opening the boxes.

Inside were indeed large quantities of canned goods, compressed biscuits, drinking water, and the like.

They immediately cheered collectively.

The global audience in the live broadcast room was dumbfounded.

"Holy cow, the Anti-War Army is too generous. They are clearly the enemy, and not only did they not capture them as prisoners, they actually airdropped supplies to them."

"So benevolent."

"Yeah, I thought those boxes were all time bombs..."

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