129: Dawn Army established

With Li Qinglong's surrender, the battle was nearing its end.

Some of the other Z Tower soldierss fled, while the remaining dozens were captured as prisoners.

Dawn Base suffered quite heavy losses.

113 people died in battle, over 300 were injured, and only five or six Mountain Top Rabbits remained.

Qin Zhong, Second Sister, Third Brother, Cheng Xiao, and others all sustained injuries of varying degrees.

Inside the main base, almost none of the villa houses were intact. The northern outer base was bombed to ruins and needed to be rebuilt.

Ammunition was almost completely depleted, and nearly half of the weapons were destroyed.

It was already late at night, and everyone was exhausted, pushing their physical limits.

Seeing this, Pan Han did not arrange for immediate repairs; he only had the Mountaintop Stronghold squad responsible for patrolling and guarding the prisoners.

"Mr. Mo, let's rest for tonight. Tomorrow, I'll arrange for someone to get you a truck and load it with supplies."

"That's kind of you. Then Lord Pan should also rest first. I estimate Z Tower won't have the capacity to counterattack for a while," Mo Li nodded in satisfaction.

"Thank you for the reminder, Mr. Mo. Please!" Pan Han saw Mo Li off.

He then returned to arrange the Dawn Squad members.

After everything was settled, he stood at the entrance of the main hall, looking at the base in ruins, filled with emotion.

To achieve great things, one must cross a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood.

Suddenly, a lit cigarette was offered to his mouth.

Pan Han turned around and saw it was Cheng Xiao.

"Thank you!" Pan Han took the cigarette and began to smoke.

Cheng Xiao embraced him from behind, pressing tightly against him. Pan Han continuously caressed her hands, and for a moment, neither of them spoke, as if afraid to break the brief tranquility.

"Your inner demon is broken; you can rest assured now!"

After a long while, Pan Han slowly spoke.

"Mm," Cheng Xiao whispered, holding him even tighter.

"I might need to leave for a few days. When I return, we'll begin special training, and then go participate in the Trial," Pan Han turned around and looked at Cheng Xiao.

"I'm a little scared," Cheng Xiao's eyes gazed at Pan Han with deep affection.

"Scared of what?" Pan Han smiled slightly and kissed her forehead.

"Scared that one day you'll leave and never come back."

"Now is not the time for romantic sentiments. After this battle, I've realized that if everyone wants to live a stable life, we still have a long way to go," Pan Han originally wanted to comfort Cheng Xiao, but he swallowed his words.

"So what do we do next?" Cheng Xiao had lost her usual toughness and had completely transformed into a young girl, like a gentle wife listening to her husband.

"Come, let's go upstairs and talk," Pan Han embraced Cheng Xiao and turned to go up to the second floor.

Returning to the small room, he took off his clothes, which were stained with blood and mud.

After preparing hot water, they both got into the wooden tub and began to bathe.

"Here, let me put this on your face. Look how swollen you are," Pan Han picked up a hot towel and, with a pained expression, applied a hot compress to Cheng Xiao's face.

"I'll hold it myself. Just tell me what we do next."

"I need to go back first to set up the food processing line. That way, our food supply can be continuous. Also, you all need to intensify your search for gold, continuously, without stopping," After freeing his hands, Pan Han lit another cigarette.

It was time to start planning again; he needed something to clear his mind.

"Alright, the gold search has indeed stopped these past few days. I'll personally oversee it going forward."

"And we have a big matter to attend to," Pan Han's gaze was burning.

"Ah?" Cheng Xiao immediately perked up upon hearing this.

"It's time to establish the Dawn Army," Pan Han said solemnly. This idea had been brewing in his mind for a long time.

"Dawn Army? We're going to build an army?"

"Mm. With our own army, we can develop better and implement our will more effectively," Pan Han tossed away the cigarette butt and cupped Cheng Xiao's face.

Cheng Xiao looked at Pan Han with misty eyes; at this moment, he was radiating a golden glow.

"Tomorrow, we'll discuss this matter," Pan Han kissed her.

"You're so great!" Cheng Xiao blurted out this unexpected remark. She didn't know why she used that word to describe him, but she couldn't find a more suitable one.

"The Dawn Army is meant to save this world, to let everyone live a normal life, to let humans be truly human," Pan Han spoke his inner thoughts.

Although this wasn't the first time he had proclaimed his ideals, after this great battle, everyone's understanding would be much deeper than before.

Without its own army, it would always remain just a gang, not a true team.

Moreover, this army needed to have grand ideals, strict discipline, and obey commands.

This was the most difficult path, but once they persevered, it would snowball later, developing faster and faster.

"Let's sleep first; we have a lot of things to do tomorrow," Pan Han patted Cheng Xiao's backside, coaxing her to bed.

...

The next day, Pan Han arranged for someone to load Mr. Mo's supplies and provided him with a large truck.

"Mr. Mo, I wish you a safe journey," Pan Han said, shaking his hand.

"In a month, we will send someone to pick you up. I hope you are prepared in advance," Mo Li patted the back of his hand.

"Don't worry, Mr. Mo."

"The mech is yours. Treat it well."

Just now, Mr. Mo had spent half an hour explaining it to him in detail.

"No problem."

Thus, everyone said goodbye to Mo Li one by one and watched him leave.

"All Dawn Squad members, Reich and Ma Ji, and Wei Monk, Mountain Top Rabbit. All of you come with me," Pan Han called everyone to the main hall.

After everyone was seated, Pan Han took out a pack of cigarettes, lit one for himself, and offered them to everyone to take freely.

"I'll get straight to the point. In this fierce battle, we suffered heavy losses, but we also gained a lot," Pan Han prepared to give a battle summary.

Upon hearing this, everyone perked up and sat up straight.

"Although this might sound unpleasant, I'm still quite relieved that all of you are unharmed," Pan Han made no secret of how much he valued everyone.

"Lord Pan, you are strategic in your advances and retreats, and clear in your rewards and punishments. We all understand," Reich joined the battle most recently, and he was naturally very happy to be pulled into such a meeting by Pan Han.

"Because, next, we are going to undertake a great endeavor, and all of you must dedicate yourselves to it," Pan Han finished speaking, his gaze sweeping over everyone.

"We swear to follow Lord Pan to the death," Cheng Xiao was the first to declare.

"We swear to follow Lord Pan to the death," the others echoed in unison.

"Chirp!"

"I trust all of you one hundred percent. Without you, I wouldn't be where I am today. It's no exaggeration to say that all of you are my teachers," Pan Han cupped his hands in greeting to everyone.

"Lord Pan, I haven't taught you anything!" Sixth Brother said foolishly.

"Me too!" Wei Monk chimed in.

"Sixth Brother, Wei Monk. Your loyalty alone is worth me learning from!" Pan Han said gently.

"Hehe, that's too embarrassing. I just think it's comfortable and united here. Who wouldn't want to stay here?" Sixth Brother scratched his head, embarrassed.

"Lord Pan, you are my lifesaver. If I were to have second thoughts again, would I still be human?" Wei Monk said with a serious expression.

"Mm, very good. But you've only got half of it right. Just being loyal to me isn't enough. What I need is for everyone to be loyal to our own cause! I myself am no exception!"

Upon hearing this, everyone looked at each other, only Cheng Xiao was confident.

"Lord Pan, just tell us directly what we should do from now on!" Qin Zhong spoke on behalf of everyone.

"Good! Now I announce, we are going to establish the Dawn Army!" Pan Han said each word distinctly, announcing the major decision!