Chapter 94: Why Take Advantage of Me
After the battle was completely over and it was confirmed that no enemies were present in the area, the soldiers withdrew from the region.
As long as no one interferes, the Storm Magic energy lingering in the corpses of the armed workers who died in the ruins will gradually dissipate on its own and won’t last long.
Of course, these activated Storm Bombs are very unstable. Before the energy completely dissipates, there is always a risk they might explode due to some reasons.
Additionally, Gu Hang had to guard against the cultists returning to reuse the corpses.
Therefore, a company of soldiers would be stationed nearby, setting up a cordon and completely sealing off the area until the issue was resolved.
Ideally, professional personnel should handle the safe disposal of the energy in these corpses.
Gu Hang had the capability, and so did the nuns.
However, there were too many other pressing matters in Revival City, and they couldn’t afford to spend time here dealing with the aftermath.
Gu Hang himself was incredibly busy, dealing with everything from civil affairs to economic production and military governance; the nuns of the Holy Lily had to further investigate the cultists’ whereabouts.
Their activities at Norris Factory were definitely not their only schemes.
So, it had to be left as it was.
The factory had already been destroyed by the earlier heavy artillery bombardment.
As long as no one was inside, even if all the Storm Bombs exploded and blew the ruins sky-high again, it wouldn’t matter much.
Next, Gu Hang needed to have a good talk with Sister Superior Gretel about the follow-up investigation of the cultists.
However, before Gu Hang could seek her out, Gretel came to him first.
“Sister Superior, you came at the right time, I… uh…”
Gu Hang’s words were cut off by an embrace.
Gretel hugged him tightly and whispered in his ear, “Thank you, Governor Gu. Without your help, my sisters would have suffered great losses, and I might have been consumed by guilt and regret for a long time.”
Gu Hang didn’t know where to put his hands.
Everywhere felt quite stiff.
He could only say, “Uh… we are allies, after all. This is what I should do. We still need to cooperate closely in the future to eliminate those traitors who have betrayed the God Emperor.”
“Yes.” Gretel released him from her embrace, “But I still want to thank you. This is a blessing from the Emperor.”
With that, she kissed Gu Hang lightly on the forehead and then turned to leave.
Watching Gretel gradually walk away, a thought suddenly emerged in Gu Hang’s mind:
“A blessing is one thing, but why are you taking advantage of me?”
…
[Resounding Victory, earned 221 Grace Points]
[Losses: 154, Eliminated: 5073, Captured: 9]
[Governor’s Infantry Regiment: Losses: 154, Eliminated: 4488]
[Holy Lily Sisterhood (Allies): Losses: 0, Eliminated: 585]
After the battle, Gu Hang, as usual, saw the settlement information on the system interface.
The Grace Points harvest was quite good, even more than what was earned from the outer city battle previously.
Capturing almost an entire Alliance regiment yielded only 133 Grace Points. But now, eliminating four to five thousand people earned over two hundred points.
The difference here is likely because the action of capturing the Alliance regiment was simply taking advantage of a situation where the main problem had already been resolved by the allies, resulting in a lower Grace Points yield coefficient.
In this battle, although the Battle Nuns’ assistance was significant, the main issues were still resolved by Gu Hang’s own troops.
The heavy artillery bombardment was the primary source of casualties in this battle.
Without the hundreds of shells fired by these ten heavy cannons, storming the factory would likely have cost two entire infantry battalions with no guarantee of success.
Attacking a defending force is inherently disadvantageous, especially when the attacking force is 600 versus 5000, nearly a tenfold difference.
But the firepower provided by the heavy artillery bridged this gap.
Subsequently, the assistance of the Battle Nuns was substantial.
Nonetheless, during the attack, the 2nd and 6th Battalions suffered significant casualties.
The companies they each sent to spearhead the assault were nearly wiped out.
Including subsequent reinforcements, the total losses amounted to 154 men.
These losses were quite painful.
From the time Gu Hang mobilized his troops to now, this was the battle with the highest single-incident casualties.
However, thinking coldly, the cost-benefit ratio was still acceptable.
After acquiring the entire Revival City, by offering suitable benefits, Gu Hang could easily replenish manpower from the outer city; training over a hundred soldiers to T5 level only costs 1 Grace Point, essentially free; and the weapons and equipment replenishment could currently be fully supplied by the Wasteland Society’s military production capacity.
Thus, Gu Hang’s current Grace Points had reached 356.
Wealthy!
Satisfied, Gu Hang closed the battle settlement page and noticed new changes in his personal information on the [Hero] interface.
A new entry appeared:
[Holy Lily’s Blessing (15 days): Slightly increases Spirituality and Constitution attributes, decaying over time.]
After receiving the ‘Emperor’s Blessing,’ Gu Hang felt a warm sensation in his body.
He found it strange, but it wasn’t an uncomfortable feeling. Now he saw that a simple kiss could have such benefits?
Gu Hang was already contemplating how he could get kissed every 15 days.
No other reason, purely for the buff enhancement!
…
After this brief interlude, everyone went back to their respective tasks.
The nuns continued to track down the cultists.
Old Norris was caught, surprisingly still alive.
The cultists hadn’t silenced him, perhaps thinking it unnecessary.
If the Storm Traps in the industrial area had been activated, even the nuns in Power Armor might not have survived, let alone old Norris.
He had been hiding in a basement, and during the final phase of the bombardment, the entrance was buried under rubble, trapping him inside.
It wasn’t until the soldiers were clearing the area and heard his wails that they dug him out.
However, his future might be quite grim.
The nuns would interrogate him about his collusion with the cult.
The questioning process by the Holy Lily nuns likely wouldn’t be as gentle as their smiles.
Some special methods could ensure they got the answers they wanted, though they might not be too kind to the subject’s brain.
After the nuns were done, Norris would be handed over to Lambert, the head of the ‘Alliance Purification Committee.’ Lambert could then exact his revenge.
Besides Norris, an important source of information, the Holy Lily nuns also captured several blue-robed cultist sorcerers alive.
These individuals would also be sources of intelligence, with hopes of extracting useful information from them.
Additionally, with Norris being the most critical obstacle removed, cleaning out the other powerholders in the city would become easier for Lambert, likely facing no resistance.
It seemed that the nobles of Revival City had deep ties with the Original Owl Beast Sect.
The nuns should be able to find breakthrough points from this connection.
Two-pronged approach.
The conventional route of tracking the cultists was left to the nuns, while Gu Hang focused on capturing cultists through city-wide screening.
Osena was handling this task.