As everyone retreated into the mountains, the holy warriors ceased their pursuit. The nearly 200-meter-wide open space in front of the mountains revealed the disparities in Mean Origin of Error (MOA) accuracy, weapon accessories, and training quality between AKs and ARs on the small flat ground.
Bad luck often comes in succession, but good things tend to follow as well. Anghefei set up a small camp on the hill, providing medical care, ammunition, and lunch. The lunch was field rations. Since I was previously part of the rapid response force, I had used them relatively infrequently, so this was a novelty for me.
After devouring my meal, I received an order fromHedwig (name): "All commanders, gather here."
Those who arrived included Anghefei, Ivan (who came on behalf of his sister), Bob, and Good.Hedwig (name)was concise: "I plan to send one or two helicopters back with the injured and the bodies. Tell me your numbers."
"Three." "Two." "One..." I was about to report the medic when I suddenly remembered another person and changed my answer: "Two."
"That's nine, including Tucker (the dead body). Inform them," saidHedwig (name), who then leaned against a dead tree, closed her eyes, and no longer concealed her immeasurable fatigue.
What was causing her fatigue? The current situation or the fighting itself?
Returning to 072 with doubts, I could still hear gunshots echoing over the town of Fra. That was proof that Wilson and the Austinites were still fighting.
However, I didn't go to look for Yang Shixiu.
"Jiang Li," after looking around, I found the girl who was neither too close nor too far from the team's bridge. LikeHedwig (name), she was pretending to sleep. "Can you... help me with something?"
"What." The sniper opened her eyes and looked me up and down with sharp eyes. "Say it."
Actually, after the last gathering, I felt that Jiang Li was avoiding me. This was the first time I had faced her alone since then. Staring back at her without showing weakness, she slightly turned her head to avoid me and said again, "Say it."
"I hope you can knock Zhuge out later."
"You, you, you!" As if realizing something, blood rushed to her skin, and Jiang Li's face turned red instantly. "You're dreaming! I won't become your accomplice in crime!"
"What are you thinking! Did you grow up reading manga? Is that how you see me?!!"
"Don't even think about it!"
"Please," I said with a bitter smile, "I just want to... send Zhuge away."
"Why?"
"I think," I sat down next to Jiang Li, "after Zhuge's last experience when her team was wiped out under siege inkrieger (Greek letter ), and..."
I recalled Zhuge Yu's pale face during the plane crash: "...she still has psychological trauma from all that. If everything were normal, it would be fine, but speaking now, I'm afraid she'll have a mental breakdown."
"No way." Jiang Li flatly refused. Unexpectedly, she turned to look at me, her eyes shining like Walden Pond described by Thoreau: "If you knock her out and send her back, she'll also have a breakdown."
"Why?"
Jiang Li stood beside me, looking down at me with her eyes shining slightly in the shadows on her face. "Have you heard of the cliff effect?"
I was stunned. At this moment, I suddenly couldn't tell whether Jiang Li was referring to Zhuge Yu or herself, or perhaps not just them. Before I could answer, the girl continued on her own: "It's about a submarine sinking uncontrollably into the deep sea in a state of losing control..."
"That feeling is like falling in the dark little by little, with no one to help you. You even dare not move because as soon as you do, a cold sense of despair floods in from all sides... You want to get rid of it, but you also rely on it because only it tells you that you're still alive, that you still exist." Jiang Li pursed her lips, and a fleeting glimpse of sparkling tears could be caught. "I hoped someone would appear, hoped someone would save me, hoped someone could take me away from this painful reality... But no one came. I cried silently alone, everything was alone, the whole world was unrelated to me, and I was falling further and further away from it... Then that light appeared and led me away from the deep sea."
She stared at me, and vaguely, I saw the shadow of another person on her face. "So, don't you guess what 072 means to Zhuge Yu? Zhuge isn't afraid of the battlefield; she regrets it. She blames herself for why everyone else died and only she survived... Death is可怕, but what terrifies her more is the act of living itself."
"Have you ever thought about what Zhuge Yu would think when she wakes up alone inKrefeld (city in Norway)?" Jiang Li continued. "Would she think she was abandoned? Death has already abandoned her once. What will she recall if you do this? Compared to being alone, I think she prefers to be with us."
"Gu Xiaoyao, the feeling of being alone... isn't pleasant, is it?" Jiang Li said softly. At this moment, I finally saw what was in her eyes—a feeling of compassion for those who have suffered similarly.
We are similar; we've all experienced those dark times in life. However, she has walked out of the black corridor forged by despair and self-imposed collapse, while I haven't. I've actively trapped myself inside it. After such a long time, I'm still wandering back and forth in that small room alone, with self-imposed despair constantly present.
It took me a long time to speak: "Then let Yang Shixiu go."
"That's your decision to make," Jiang Li leaned back and closed her eyes. "Not mine."
"Right," I said with a bitter smile, turning to look for Yang Shixiu. After walking out about twenty to thirty meters, I suddenly turned and shouted, "Jiang Li, is it because of Gu Rou?"
There was no answer. The dead tree trembled slightly and soon returned to calm.
I think I know the answer.
I carried Yang Shixiu to the Black Hawk alone. The crew took him from me and found a suitable position to lay him down. Ivan patted his sister encouragingly: "Wait for me to come back."
"Okay," Valjina replied coldly.
"Captain, it's really awkward over there," Yang Shixiu whispered.
I quickly put my finger to my lips: "Shh, there's a simultaneous interpreter. What if they hear us?"
Ivan: "..."
"By the way, Captain," Yang Shixiu patted my shoulder. "Why am I the only one? I thought there would be a deputy captain. Didn't you ask Jiang Li?"
"I did... but then I changed my mind."
"That's right," Yang Shixiu smiled. "Go down! I'll wait for you at the base! There'll be a feast when you get back, so come back early!"
Later, I realized that I was right before; that Yang guy was a flag bearer.
Two minutes later, the enemy mortar conducted a test firing, and a shell hit one of the four Black Hawks, killing the pilot Daniel, Jemmen, and the mechanic and machine gunner Krug on the spot.