"Hello? Hello! Damn it, what's going on!" I tapped on my earphone. If I hadn't heard the other team leaders also asking questions, I would have thought the radio had malfunctioned again. In fact, I didn't even have a chance to discuss it with others. A series of bullets rushed towards me, scaring me so much that I quickly hid behind the abandoned car that served as cover.
On a whim, I simply crawled under the car and started shooting. There was a strong, pungent smell of rust under the chassis.
"Old Gu, something's wrong!" Liang Dong seemed to have noticed something. "We're surrounded. They've been driving us in one direction!"
Ji Han quickly scanned the mental map in his mind. "That direction leads to the abandoned vehicle parking lot!"
"Damn it! Do they think they can trap me?" Lu Wanqing retreated after taking out an enemy fire point. "Do they think I'm a turtle waiting to be caught?"
"Aren't you a turtle?" Ji Ling retorted.
"Do you want me to give you a slap in the face?"
Seeing that the time was right, I rolled out of that cramped and torturous space. Liang Dong, who was running backward while carrying a light machine gun with one hand, helped me up. I used precise shooting to cover Luo Bing, who was at the back. The demolition expert scattered mini landmines along the way and then ran behind me. After firing the last bullet in my magazine, I also turned around.
The explosion sound from behind was unusually short. After triggering the landmines, the other side simply retreated and changed their route. Luo Bing pressed the detonator in reverse, and wisps of smoke rose above the not-so-wide street.
The battle situation had become crazy. There were gunshots everywhere, and the flames died out along with the embers. The drones shuttled back and forth between Fula and Kreber time and time again. The disadvantage of the MQ - 1's low-altitude hanging made our situation even worse. Moreover, in the frequent attacks, the opponents had learned to avoid drone attacks, greatly reducing their lethality. Even one of the drones had its wings damaged when dropping precision-guided bombs.
"Up ahead! Up ahead!" Liang Dong randomly found a support and set up the light machine gun to attack the distant fire point. The "sonata" of the weapon went silent in less than a second, leaving only the empty cloth ammunition drum. Noticing this, he shouted hoarsely, "Magazine!"
"Don't you still have one?"
"It's all tracer bullets in there! Do you have any water?"
"You won't have a chance to drink it now or in the future!" Both Luo Bing and I threw out magazines—not the 30-round magazines I used, but the 60-round small ammunition chain packs specially prepared for Liang Dong. We just habitually called them magazines. We didn't choose the drum magazine because as riflemen, we simply didn't have room to carry it, so we just used the long magazines instead.
When I heard gunshots above my head, I immediately dropped to the ground to avoid the bullets. Liang Dong fired back in a sweeping motion. Luo Bing released the last smoke grenade to create chaos so that we could escape. As the only intact team besides Team Zero, the responsibility of covering the rear naturally fell on us. Liang Dong with the light machine gun, Luo Bing who always carried heavy weapons, and I, the commander, became the last three people.
The feeling of running and fighting at the same time was really uncomfortable. Sometimes we had to run vigorously, and sometimes we had to aim our guns, especially in a place like Akria where the daytime was long and the weather was hot. During the twists and turns, the contraction of my lungs had reached its limit, forcing me to cough and trot forward.
"Gu Xiaoyao!" Jiang Li's voice sounded like heavenly music. "Don't look back. I'll cover you! Rush!"
Rush?
I had lost my perception of the outside world. The world was a dead white expanse to me. In this state, I couldn't sense anything or feel myself. Only colorful patches were floating in the white... Floating and forming a familiar figure with its back to me.
Who are you?
The moment this thought popped up, I became aware of my own existence again. A huge and irresistible force surrounded me and forcibly pulled me out of this world. Colors took over again. Against the backdrop of the vast blue sky, the first thing I saw was Yang Shixiu's face.
Something wet was on my face. I shuddered and reached out to wipe my face. "What the hell!"
"The captain's awake!" Yang Shixiu took back the canteen. "I told them it was because of exhaustion! But these young people didn't believe me!"
Ji Ling pinched his chin and squatted down. "I thought we had to splash water on you..."
"I'll splash it on your damn face!" —That's what I wanted to say, but suddenly a mixture of nausea and weakness erupted from my respiratory tract like a volcanic eruption. At that moment, I saw stars and fell back to the ground again.
"Captain." Yang Shixiu helplessly helped me up. "Why did you rush just because Jiang Li told you to? You didn't have to be so reckless..."
I was speechless. Yeah, why did I listen to her so obediently?
In that moment of rushing, was I following her instructions or... chasing after something else?
The parking lot was full of rusty vehicles, piling up and crushing against each other to form a metal barrier, sheltering us who came here to take refuge. The only entrance was empty. There were corpses lying scattered on the street in various states of death. The scarlet human organs were like fish discarded by vendors in the vegetable market, baking under the scorching sun. A pool of indistinct, wriggling flesh and blood was the last desperate cry of the nerves before death... I had witnessed Jiang Li's god-like shooting skills during the tactical assessment. Under her brutal killing, the Holy War Army had to retreat and regroup. They had originally wanted to trap us in this alley-like situation but didn't expect to lose their lives at the only entrance instead.
A crow cawed across the sky. Forced by the ground battle, it didn't dare to land to look for food but just flapped its wings and circled, blatantly showing its greed.
"How ruthless..." Yang Shixiu gasped in horror. I didn't know if he was commenting on Jiang Li or himself.
"Old Gu," only then did I notice that Liang Dong had been behind me all along. He was wearing dusty gloves and kept slapping his equally dirty face. "Sometimes I wonder if it was right for us to come here... They're all human beings after all."
"I don't know." I sat down and took out bullets from my backpack to load into the empty magazines. "But I think I'm past the age of believing that good deeds will be rewarded... You can't trust fate. That's not something I should think about. I don't care about fate, and I don't believe in it either."
Four months ago.
"...Maybe they could be... Forget it." Liang Dong stopped talking after mumbling a few words and changed the topic. "It's useless to talk about these old clichés."
"Yeah." I said softly. "Who would do this if they weren't forced to?"
Yeah. I came to Yitlan because of the deaths of my parents and sister. I've always felt guilty about whether Ji Ling came here for Ji Han or for me... Liang Dong must also have his own reasons. Everyone has their own reasons. It's just that Yitlan happened to provide such an opportunity for us to meet.
In fact, the existence of Yitlan itself is quite distorted, okay... It's just that everyone is more or less influenced by their inner obsessions and ignores it.
"Enemies approaching!" Liang Dong suddenly noticed something and raised his gun.
Our conversations were always interrupted like this. I was almost used to it.
"BTR!" Lu Wanqing gave a warning. "Armored vehicles approaching!"
Two armored vehicles slowly drove in. They weren't BTR - 60s but the earlier BTR - 152s that were popular among the Warsaw Pact countries and used to escort important personnel. However, these two 152s had been slightly modified. The general-purpose machine guns on the roof had been replaced with more lethal M2 heavy machine guns, and roof protection had been added. The infantrymen were hiding behind the vehicles and advancing.
The heavy machine gun roared menacingly. The moment it rang out, Liang Dong and I had already given up the idea of resistance and lay flat on the ground. Fight against armored vehicles head-on? Are you kidding? How could these pieces of scrap metal block 0.5-inch bullets!
Sparks flew. A piece of iron sheet that was blown off grazed my cheek, leaving a small, long cut. Amid the dust, I propped up my rifle and fired a grenade just relying on my sense of direction!
It sounded like the shot had an effect. The heavy machine gun stalled for a few seconds before starting to fire again. Suddenly, a spider-web-like crack appeared on the windshield of the slowly advancing armored vehicle. I was stunned for a moment, thinking it was an illusion.
Then it shattered into colorful shards. The armored vehicle slowly stopped, and within a minute, its companion on the left suffered the same fate. At this time, they were still one-third of the distance away from us.
I realized that it was Jiang Li's doing. Hitting the same spot with two shots was an easy thing for her.
I pressed the team communication button. "Is everyone okay?"
"Fine." "All good." "What could be wrong with me?"
"Xiaoyao, Luo Bing and I are working on something at the rear. It'll probably take..."
"Three minutes."
"Liang Dong, set up a fire point. Everyone retreat and don't shoot for now. They like to push forward, so let them in and then fight back!"
I moved to rendezvous with the others from Team 072. Ivan led the remaining forces of Team 029 to set up a front line, preparing to face the enemy head-on. Bob led his men to flank and support.
The Holy War Army first threw grenades into the parking lot. Small pieces of earth shot up into the sky and scattered like rain, making our faces itchy. Then they rushed in all at once. The muscular machine gunner held his weapon horizontally and swept it around. Amid the crowd, he stood out the most.
After leading most of the people into the ambush circle, this guy naturally became the priority target and fell to the ground with a hideous blood hole in his throat. Realizing that they had stepped into a trap, the armed militants formed a circle, shooting outward while shrinking inward. I hid in a gap and fired back. The bullets cut the hanging iron bars in half.
"Hello, hello? Can you hear me? Can you hear me?" The unexpected call from the base rang out. "This is Thunderbird."
"Aaron!" Since we worked together under the same roof, I was somewhat acquainted with the caller. "We're in the parking lot!"
"Received. We're gathering satellite images. The images will be keeping an eye on you..." "This is Team Zero," Dongfang Muxue interrupted the conversation. "We're preparing to break through to the west!" "Received. The helicopter attack group is approaching from the south!" "This is Alpha One. We'll start ground attacks in one minute!"
"Boom!"
There was a deafening noise. The earth trembled. A burning car leaped into the air, performing a magnificent two-and-a-half somersault. The demolition experts artificially created a gap among the abandoned vehicles piled up in the parking lot. I threw a fragmentation grenade and ran westward.
The rhythmic thumping of the propellers grew louder as three Little Bird helicopters dove towards the ground. The mounted guns and missiles were all fired, weaving a net of death. Wherever they passed, people fell like grass being cut. Even the armored vehicles couldn't resist and turned into burning piles.
"Thunderbird, this is the Quick Reaction Force. This is Angehefi," It was the long-unseen squad leader. "We've picked up Team Seven. We'll send a Black Hawk back with the two seriously wounded first."
"Medical teams have already been arranged... All teams, report casualties!"
There were a total of eight seriously wounded and one dead. The situation was not optimistic. All the teams were struggling to move forward. The drone air strike system was already at full capacity. The Holy War Army rushed into houses every few minutes to avoid attacks.
"Hold on. Once we pass that building, we'll be out of the city!" Hedwig encouraged the morale. The trainees formed several arcs to protect the stretchers carrying the wounded in the middle. The target building had flashes of fire. Unexpectedly, Yang Shixiu was shot in the calf and fell to the ground.
I quickly dragged him into cover to check his injury. Fortunately, it wasn't his thigh that was injured. Otherwise, the medical soldiers would have to spend the rest of their lives in wheelchairs. But as I expected, Yang Shixiu wouldn't be able to move independently until he returned to Kreber.
There was still confusion and pain in Yang Shixiu's eyes. He seemed to be quite surprised at his own injury. After I finished bandaging him, Yang Shixiu slowly uttered some hoarse words: "Captain..."
"I know it hurts." I called the assault soldiers over to help Yang Shixiu up. "Bear with it."
"No." Yang Shixiu had cold sweat pouring down his forehead. "You tied the knot wrong."
"...Don't worry about that at a time like this! Luo Bing, fire a big one! I'm in a really bad mood right now!"
"Roger that, Captain." Luo Bing lifted the launcher. "Everyone step back two meters."
The launcher was filled with white smoke. In the blink of an eye, orange and white flashes appeared and disappeared in the building. With the roar of the nitro compounds' fury, billowing smoke poured out of every window and rose into the blue sky.
Jiang Li adjusted her gun to cover us. We carried Yang Shixiu and ran as fast as we could. All the way, he frowned tightly and his injured leg hung limply. In fact, many people have misunderstandings about being shot. Losing the ability to move isn't because of the pain but because nerve damage reduces the control over muscles.
"This is Team Zero. We're approaching the evacuation point!" The leaders at the front turned around to cover the wounded when they reached the edge of the town. Gun flames burst out on the small mountain not far away, and bullets flew by. On the small plain in front of the mountain, I watched my own shadow as I fought with all my might to move my legs. My heart was pounding, pumping the updated hemoglobin throughout my body.
"Hey, buddy!"
The nearby classmate who came to pick us up put away his smoking gun and ran over to support me. In the exhaustion caused by lack of oxygen, I clearly saw his tea-brown eyes. "You're safe now, Gu."
He turned around and shouted, "Medic! There's a wounded person here!"
"Thanks, Justice." While panting heavily, I leaned on him and walked slowly into the mountain. Along the way, there were only skinny trees with sparse leaves, growing stubbornly towards the sky.
At least for now, I might have a temporary moment of peace.
That's great.