The call ended, and He Zhongwu explained to Huo Rou, "Miss Huo, please wait a moment longer."
Huo Rou's cold gaze swept over.
She had already found the blueprints for the factory's converted office building and had a preliminary grasp of the terrain. She could actually start some basic deployment now.
Why wait again?
He Zhongwu found that looking Huo Rou in the eye required a lot of courage. The coldness in Huo Rou's eyes was intensifying.
"It's like this, for safety's sake..." He Zhongwu felt as if he were making excuses. He wiped a bead of sweat and continued, "For safety's sake, Chief of Staff Pei is arriving soon. He's very close to here."
"Chief of Staff Pei?" Huo Rou narrowed her eyes. She hadn't met him yet, despite hearing his name several times. He was highly regarded by Qin Nishui and popular among the troops.
Even though he hadn't been there for long.
The squad leader nodded frantically. Chief of Staff Pei was practically his highest goal at the moment.
After all, they were not much different in age, yet he was already a chief of staff.
He leaned in and whispered to Huo Rou, "Chief of Staff Pei is very capable. We owe our ability to control the situation so quickly to him."
"He is indeed capable," Huo Rou said indifferently.
She had met many capable people, so she didn't feel particularly emotional. It was just... her An'an...
Huo Rou turned her gaze to the window, her eyes following the road stretching to the horizon. The end was veiled in a light mist, and the sun was hidden behind dark clouds, casting a dim light.
"Let's deploy first." She didn't intend to place her hopes on a legendary Chief of Staff Pei.
He Zhongwu hesitated for a moment but acted decisively, taking the pen and paper.
The squad leader's confused gaze met He Zhongwu's equally confused one.
"Vice General, please instruct us!" The squad leader quickly snapped into action.
He Zhongwu opened his mouth. "Let's deploy after Qin Ningyi returns from his reconnaissance. For now, rest well."
Huo Rou glanced at him, then took the pen and paper and began to draw the terrain.
"This..." The squad leader's eyes widened.
How did Huo Rou have the terrain map if Qin Ningyi hadn't returned?
He Zhongwu looked towards the computer Huo Rou had been fiddling with earlier, a sense of premonition dawning on him.
The blueprint on the screen still had the watermark of an archive...
And Huo Rou, without even looking up, could reproduce the terrain they needed to pay attention to.
Immediately, Huo Rou began making markings on it.
He Zhongwu was initially just glancing casually. After all, he didn't intend to listen to Huo Rou's deployment. Her combat skills were excellent, but strategic deployment had nothing to do with combat skills; it tested one's grasp of the overall situation. He didn't believe Huo Rou, a woman who stayed in the lab, focused on her small workbench, would be capable of strategic deployment.
He assumed her ability to draw was merely due to her excellent memory.
After all, someone with so many diverse skills must have extraordinary memory.
He didn't understand some of Huo Rou's initial markings and turned his attention to studying the terrain map on the computer. He felt it was better to thoroughly study the terrain during this time spent watching an amateur's deployment, so he could act more effectively later.
"Teacher Huo, what does this mean?" The squad leader, as if joining the fun, watched for a while and then raised his question.
Huo Rou, without looking up, replied, "Personnel."
"Huh?" The squad leader was confused.
Huo Rou then vaguely remembered that she was now acting with Qin Nishui's second-in-command and his 112th squad, not her original...
She looked at the patterns she was drawing. These guys weren't cooperating with her now.
She quietly made another stroke, replacing it with a different symbol.
The squad leader noticed a fleeting look of loneliness in her eyes and pointed to another marking on the map, trying to break the awkward silence. "This looks very familiar, it's the same symbol we use for combat deployment!"
Fearing Huo Rou wouldn't believe him, he specifically explained the meaning of that symbol during their combat deployment.
"Yes, that's what it means." Huo Rou nodded, casting aside the memories that had just surfaced.
Seeing her regain her focus and continue, the squad leader breathed a sigh of relief and, as usual, asked a few more questions. To his surprise, they were indeed the same symbols they used, with the same meanings!
This realization left him somewhat stunned.
This couldn't be a coincidence, could it?
A coincidence couldn't be this frequent...
Amidst the squad leader's repeated questions, He Zhongwu also turned his head in surprise to look at the paper in Huo Rou's hand.
The previously clean terrain map was now largely covered with markings. He recognized most of them. The squad leader wasn't exaggerating; these symbols were indeed the ones they used internally!
How could Huo Rou know this?
This question lingered in his mind, and He Zhongwu glanced sideways at Huo Rou.
She had shed her protective suit, dressed in a neat brown outfit, her hair tied back, appearing very capable. Although she looked delicate, the strength in her eyes was hard to meet directly.
At this moment, the squad leader saw another unfamiliar symbol. "Teacher Huo, I haven't seen this symbol before. What does it mean?"