Chapter 18 — I Built an Empire in the Wasteland

Alarm bells rang throughout Camp Dawn at dawn, when the sky in Phế Thổ had not yet changed from black to gray. Bích Vân, leading the advance reconnaissance group stationed three kilometers north of the camp, ran back to report the news, her chest breathing heavily.

"They're here!" She shouted. "Large formation, with armored vehicles at the forefront, estimated at more than a hundred people!"

Bạt Phong stood up, his heart beating rapidly but his mind immediately became cold again like the days when he was leading the class at his old school before every important exam. He gave a short, decisive order. "All in place. Just as planned."

The whole camp moved like a well-rehearsed machine over the past two days. Thanh Sơn divided small groups into old tunnels that Tư Rỗ had carefully marked on his self-drawn map. Kình Bá Đông and the forces from Ash Valley hid behind the ruins on the eastern flank. Diễm Thư set up a field aid station right in the center, her hands shaking but her eyes steadfast.

Yên Nhi wore the light protective suit that Bạt Phong had prepared specifically for her, holding a small energy gun in her hand. "I'll be at the command post, monitoring sensors and coordinating signals," she spoke, her voice firm and without any trembling.

The Black Eagle Army appeared on the horizon, three armored vehicles in the lead, a squad of commandos lined up behind with terrifying precision. Doanh Chính Nam sat in the command vehicle in the middle of the group, binoculars in hand scanning the camp area.

The battle opened not with a massive attack, but with a series of small artillery shells fired directly at the outer defense line. Soil and rocks scattered. Loud explosion sound. Several people in the first group of defenders fell, blood splattering on the gray ground.

"Hold!" Bạt Phong shouted through the amplifier, standing straight in the smoke and dust, the energy gun in his hand aimed straight at the nearest armored vehicle. He pulled the trigger. The blue energy ripped through the thin armor on the front of the vehicle, causing it to stop and smoke.

This is the first fight, and it's just begun.

From secret tunnels, small groups of Thanh Sơn suddenly emerged behind the attacking commando squad, firing suddenly, causing chaos in the enemy ranks for a moment. But the Black Eagle commandos were well-trained and quickly regained their formation and counterattacked fiercely. Two young men in Thanh Sơn group fell down immediately.

"Retreat to the bunker! Second round!" Thanh Sơn shouted, pulling the injured man back, the remaining group disappeared back into the darkness of the tunnel before the enemy could pursue.

On the eastern flank, Kình Bá Đông led his troops to rush out at the right time, taking advantage of the chaos to flank the main formation. Screams, gunshots, and metal colliding mixed together into a violent chaos. This is the second act, and the cost is starting to become clear: bodies are scattered on both sides, the screams of the wounded echo across the battlefield.

In another corner of the battlefield, Lôi Quang Việt led the remnants of the Gray Wolf army to advance according to Doanh Chính Nam's orders, attacking the north flank as assigned. But when he encountered the small defense group led by Tư Rỗ himself - civilians holding sticks and a few old guns, eyes full of fear but still resolutely standing in front of the tunnel door leading to the area where children and the elderly were sheltering - he suddenly stopped.

"Big brother, can you fight?" A junior asked, impatiently waiting for orders.

Lôi Quang Việt looked at old man Tư Rỗ standing trembling but not backing down, looking at the young faces of several young men who had just joined the camp, holding weapons for the first time in their lives. Something inside him, something that had been buried during his years as a bandit leader, suddenly emerged—not outright compassion, but a vague awareness that he was on the wrong side of this war.

"Wait." He signaled to stop, although he could not clearly explain the reason to himself. That hesitation caused his formation to slow down a few precious seconds, enough for Thanh Sơn to dispatch more reinforcements to the north flank, repelling the surprise attack more easily than expected.

Doanh Chính Nam, observing from the command vehicle, realized the enemy's dispersion tactics. He gave cold orders over the radio. "Concentrate fire on the main defense point. Ignore small groups, they are just a waste of time."

The main force of the Black Eagle changed tactics, focusing all its firepower on Bac Phong, who was standing at the main defense point. Bullets shot like rain. He must constantly move, use energy shields to block, and counterattack with accurate shots. The powered armor vibrated intermittently when exposed to concentrated fire, a warning of dwindling energy levels appearing bright red on the wrist panel.

This is the third act. More dangerous. More intense.

A grenade exploded near Diễm Thư, the force knocked her down, her ears rang so hard she couldn't hear anything for a few seconds. She stood up, blood flowing from a small wound on her forehead, but still tried to crawl to pull a seriously injured person to the ambulance station.

Nearby, Sáu Mộc was helping evacuate a group of small children into the deepest shelter tunnel when a piece of artillery shell hit her leg, causing her to collapse, her screams of pain drowned out by the continuous explosions around her. A boy about ten years old panicked and pulled her hand, trying to help her stand up but didn't have enough strength. Bích Vân, having just defeated a nearby commando, promptly rushed forward, hoisted Sáu Mộc onto his shoulders, almost dragging her to a safe shelter just narrowly before another series of bullets swept across the position they had just stood at.

"Hold on, Mrs. Sau, we're almost there." Bích Vân gasped, sweat and dust smeared her youthful face, her hands trembled but still held tightly around the woman who had cooked countless warm meals for her since the day she joined the camp.

From the command post, Yên Nhi monitored the sensor screen and discovered a commando group circling the western flank - the only direction that had not been fully defended because the force was stretched across other fronts.

"The western rib is exposed!" She shouted through the communication device, her voice urgent. "They're coming in from there, they'll be at the ambulance station in a few minutes!"

No one had free time to mobilize more troops. Yên Nhi looked around the empty command station, then looked down at the energy gun in her hand. She can stay safely, waiting for someone else to deal with it. Or she could take action.

She chose to act.

Yên Nhi rushed out of the command post and ran toward the west flank, where the commando team was approaching Diễm Thư's first aid station. She hid behind a block of concrete, observed the three commandos approaching, then remembered exactly what Diệp Thanh Sơn had instructed about the weak point in the light armor of the Black Eagle commandos - the joint at the nape of the neck, which was not sufficiently protected to ensure visibility.

She aimed carefully and pulled the trigger. One fell down. She rolled to another position before the remaining two men could identify the source of the shot and fired a second shot to knock down the second man. The last guy discovered her and turned his gun around, but Yên Nhi was already hiding behind a block of concrete, her heart beating like a war drum.

"Come here, little girl!" The commando shouted, moving closer. "The Colonel wants you to be alive, but that doesn't mean you can't be hurt!"

Yên Nhi held her breath, her hands trembled but she still held the gun tightly. When the commando rounded the concrete block, she was ready and shot him straight in the shoulder, causing him to collapse and the weapon to fly away. She stood up, panting, looking down at the three commandos scattered around her—for the first time in her life that she could remember, she had fought and survived on her own, without anyone to protect her.

"The ambulance station is safe!" She reported through the communicator, her voice still shaking but full of pride.

At the main defense point, Bạt Phong heard the news through his headphones, a new source of strength seemed to give him more energy while the armor's energy was running out. He roared, rushing straight into the middle of the approaching commando squad, using both mechanical strength and will to repel each attack.

But just when it seemed that the main defense line had temporarily stood firm, a second armored vehicle appeared from the south flank - a direction that the entire alliance did not expect, carrying Doanh Chính Nam himself and his most elite bodyguards.

The vehicle stopped not far from the main defense point. The car door opened. Doanh Chính Nam stepped down, standing upright and full of authority of a person who had commanded countless battles. His cold eyes swept across the chaotic scene before him, then stopped, locking onTô Bạt Phong who was standing in the middle of the battlefield, his power armor was mottled with scorch marks but still standing firmly.

"So this is the person who dared to challenge the Black Eagle," Doanh Chính Nam said, his voice echoing menacingly amidst the sound of gunfire still sporadically erupting around. "I have to admit, you're stronger than I thought."

Bạt Phong stood up straight, panting but his eyes did not waver, facing directly the leader of the organization that had brought so much suffering to Yên Nhi's life for seven years. "And you, are just a person hiding behind the name of 'survival selection' to hide your own cruelty."

Doanh Chính Nam smirked coldly, signaling the bodyguards to line up behind him. "We'll see who really understands survival, young man."

The elite guards formed a bow formation, one by one stepping forward with energy weapons far more modern than anything Bạt Phong had ever faced before. He glanced at the wrist panel — the armor's power level was less than a third, not enough to withstand a prolonged battle with a technologically equal opponent.

You have to buy time. He needed time for the allied forces to regroup, so that Yên Nhi and the others had a chance to support. He tightened his grip on the gun, his eyes never leaving Doanh Chính Nam, mentally preparing himself for the decisive battle to come - a fighting that would no longer be discrete attacks, but a direct confrontation between two people representing two completely opposing ideals about the future of this desolate land.