Now that they were a company under his command, Zhang Fan began to consciously cultivate the team's guerrilla warfare mentality.

First, the 100 male soldiers were divided into 10 squads according to the "three-three system," with each squad consisting of three three-man teams plus a squad leader. Every three squads formed a platoon, and three platoons formed a company. Company Commander Brandon led a squad alone, serving as a reserve alongside Zhang Fan, and was responsible for overall command.

All female soldiers were assigned to the logistics support force, and even some female soldiers with outstanding combat capabilities were assigned to guards in the logistics force.

As the column advances, two three-person teams will be positioned ahead to search and advance, while three-person teams will be positioned to the left, right, and rear to extend the main force's perimeter by one kilometer.

In the primeval forest, people can hardly be seen if they are a few meters away. Since the teams do not have electronic communication equipment, it is easy for them to get separated or lost.

However, under Zhang Fan's guidance, the three-person team has become adept at communicating by whistling and imitating bird calls.

The forward search teams would leave guidance signals for the rear troops, which only the 5th Company of the 102nd Airborne Brigade could understand, by breaking branches, scratching bark, or placing stones on the ground.

Each three-person squad moved freely through a jungle strewn with road signs. Even if they occasionally got lost, as long as they could find any of the "road signs" left by the troops ahead, they could follow the directions indicated by each sign to catch up with the main force.

As time went by, these three-person teams became increasingly bold, and a week later they expanded their perimeter to 5 kilometers.

Around noon that day, while the team was still moving forward, a three-person team that was responsible for exploration turned back.

"Report to the brigade commander! A settlement has been spotted five kilometers ahead."

"A settlement?" Zhang Fan asked, puzzled. Was there some resource point around here?

Generally speaking, the presence of settlements outside of cities implies the existence of valuable targets in the surrounding area.

There couldn't possibly be any military fortresses here. Zhang Fan was worried about encountering Fass soldiers in the occupied military fortresses, so he deliberately chose routes that avoided targets with military value.

Since it's not a military fortress, there are likely rare mineral resources nearby, which is why Ryan established a settlement in the forest.

"Can we go around it?" At this point, Zhang Fan really didn't want to cause any unnecessary trouble.

"Hmm... sir, I think you'd better go and take a look." The soldier who returned with the order didn't seem very happy.

"how?"

"Sir, I don't know how to describe it. You'll see when you go and take a look."

Zhang Fan felt somewhat confused, so he took Brandon's independent class ahead to check it out.

After traversing 5 kilometers of jungle, a wide clearing suddenly appeared before us.

Zhang Fan frowned as he stepped into the open space.

The area is covered in charred marks, clearly indicating a severe forest fire, and a faint smell of gasoline still lingers in the air.

This was a man-made fire.

Zhang Fan walked into the center of the fire, where rows of makeshift houses had collapsed. The foundations and walls of the houses were made of pieces of waste ore, and the tree-built roofs had all burned and collapsed. A small hill next to it had been half-excavated, confirming that it was indeed a settlement of the mining area.

But where have all the residents gone?

"Brigade Commander, over there." A male soldier came over to point out the way to Zhang Fan.

Zhang Fan followed the male soldiers to the side closer to the mine, where there was a large pit. Judging from the surface, it was a pit formed by the collapse of an underground mine. A row of male soldiers covered their mouths with their clothes and stood on the edge of the pit.

From afar, one could smell a foul, rotten odor.

Reaching the edge of the pit, Zhang Fan saw that the stench was coming from inside the pit.

Before me lay a pile of charred corpses, lying haphazardly in a chaotic mess. The fire had only dried the surface of the bodies; once soaked by the rain, they emitted a stench.

“Sir, these should be workers from the nearby mines and their families.” Brandon walked over, covering his mouth and nose.

Zhang Fan stared speechlessly into the pit. This was war; it was always the ordinary people who suffered.

"They're wrong to do this!" Some male soldiers gritted their teeth as they looked at the mountain of corpses piled up in the pit. "This is just an ordinary mine, it's unarmed! And it has no military value."

"What they did violated humanitarian principles and constituted a war crime!"

"Come on," some male soldiers shook their heads. "'Humanitarianism' has always been a handout from the strong to the weak. If the weak shout about humanitarianism in front of them, they will only be laughed at."

"The cruelty of the Fass towards prisoners is well known. Even if they do not admit it, burying prisoners alive, burning them, and conducting biological experiments on them are their traditions."

"I heard that their aristocratic class's favorite way to flaunt their wealth is to buy decommissioned spaceships, then lock up prisoners they also bought inside and use them as target drones to sink them, and they enjoy doing it all the time."

"A bunch of perverts!"

"brute!"

The main force slowly caught up, and some female soldiers couldn't contain their curiosity and approached the edge of the pit. Seeing the piles of charred corpses was actually not too bad, since many of the female soldiers were originally medical personnel.

However, when they saw the charred corpses "smaller" and "even smaller" in the pit, many female soldiers broke down emotionally, some even fainting and needing male soldiers to help them down.

"Report!"

At that moment, a male soldier rushed over; he was one of the three-man squad members responsible for perimeter security.

"Brigade Commander!" The soldier came running up, panting, his face showing excitement. "We've captured a Phash soldier alive!"

"Phos soldiers?" Zhang Fan immediately became alert. Why would there be Phos soldiers nearby?

"Bring it up!"

"Go!" Soon after, two male soldiers escorted a Phos soldier over.

The Phos soldier, with his arms tied behind his back and his mouth gagged, was also astonished when he saw the group of about a hundred people appear in the forest clearing.

"Brigade Commander, we saw him acting suspiciously in the woods, so a few of us sneaked over and took him down," said the male soldier who brought him over.

"I'll ask you a question, and you'll answer it. Do you hear me?" Zhang Fan pulled the gag out of the Fass soldier's mouth and looked at him coldly.

"Pah! Do you even know where you've trespassed?" The Phos soldier spat out the filth in his mouth and looked at Zhang Fan with a smile.

Snap!

Zhang Fan slapped the Fass soldier across the face and pulled out a dagger from his waist, holding it to the soldier's neck.

"I'll say it! I'll ask you a question, and you'll answer it, do you hear me?" Zhang Fan applied slight pressure, and the tip of the knife pierced the neck of the Fass soldier, drawing blood.

"Hahaha!" the Phos soldier laughed wildly. "For a Phos soldier, being captured by the enemy is tantamount to being dead."

"Even if you are merciful enough to let me go back, I will not survive."

“So death is no threat to me.” The Phos soldier, tired of laughing, looked around. “You’re the missing Ryan doll soldiers, aren’t you? I didn’t expect you to have gotten here. The search direction above is wrong. No wonder we can’t find you.”

"Heh heh, a bunch of idiots who've never killed anyone." The Phos soldier arrogantly stretched his neck. "Come on! Who dares to come up here? Come on, you idiots!"

Zhang Fan was in a dilemma. Killing the Phos soldier was easy; a swift stroke would leave a scar. However, he wanted to extract some useful information from the Phos soldier.

Judging from the current situation, this is difficult, as interrogation is not his specialty.

“I’ll do it!” Brandon drew his military knife and stepped forward coldly.

A pair of soft hands blocked Brandon's path from the side.

"Let me do it." Lucia, who had been standing silently by the pit, suddenly smiled sweetly.