Chapter 8

  How is he still not dead? Why has he not died yet? How can he possibly not be dead yet?

  If he doesn't die, then I'll be the one who dies!

  At this time, I can only blame myself for being unlucky. Why did I have to run into this small stream and send myself to death? I'm really stupid, I know that this small stream is the best hiding spot, and of course, the Vietcong sniper also knows it. How could I not be vigilant at all? If it were in peacetime, being careless would be okay, but this is on the battlefield, one carelessness can cost a life, and I won't have a second chance...

  "Don't shoot (Vietnamese: ??ng b?n)!" At this time, I don't know if it was a flash of inspiration or what, but I suddenly blurted out a sentence in pure Vietnamese: "Ta là ng??i nhà!"

  Maybe someone will wonder why I can speak Vietnamese... It's a long story, the old man joined the army very early and was sent to Vietnam as an artilleryman during the Anti-American Aid Vietnam War, when China and Vietnam were still comrades and brothers. At that time, the old man "seduced" a Vietnamese woman from a good family, and this woman later became my mother...

  "Comrade!" I continued in fluent Vietnamese: "I'm a militiaman who infiltrated the enemy's ranks, my surname is Nguyen and I live in Sa Pa!"

  Past experience of chatting up girls has taught me that if you want to gain someone's trust, then you should first tell them your identity. Moreover, telling the other person first also has another benefit, which is that you can say what you want to say, and when the other person asks questions later on, they will often ask things that you can't answer, especially now.

  The other party did not move, seemingly in thought, or perhaps looking for a flaw in what I said.

  However, I think I'm quite good at lying. In the past, when I was in modern times, I successfully made several girls believe that I was still a virgin...

  This is a digression, at that time the devils couldn't find my weakness because I had already blocked all possible mistakes beforehand. Isn't that right? The militia represents no number, and the surname Nguyen is one of the biggest surnames in Vietnam, as for living in Sabah... this is where my cleverness lies.

  Sure, here is the translation:

  "Sure enough, this guy saw that I didn't say the whole address and continued to ask: 'Where in Sabah do you live?'"

  "Number 36, Gangwan Street!" I replied without thinking. In my heart, I was secretly counting, this is my mother's address, she has told me so many times, how could I not remember?

  Then this guy dispelled the last bit of doubt I had, and then he collapsed to one side, panting heavily.

  I turned around and took a look, damn it... This guy was shot in the left shoulder, I must have been the one who shot him. Both legs were broken, the broken legs hung on his thighs like two broken wooden sticks, and even the left leg could still see a segment of bone sticking out... This should be when he fell from the tree and broke it, why bother climbing so high?

  Looking at the bloodstains all over his body and his pale face, I couldn't help but wonder how he managed to survive, let alone crawl all the way here with the blood on his back.

  "Comrade!" The Vietnamese sniper looked at me dazedly and weakly asked, "Do you have a first-aid kit? I need to bandage myself!"

  "Ah, okay!" I replied, and immediately took out a first-aid kit and started bandaging his left shoulder.

  "Keep your voice down!" the Viet Minh sniper said: "Pay attention to cover, after the enemy leaves we'll crawl back along the waterway... Hmm, what are you doing?"

  Actually, I didn't do anything, just took the opportunity to bind his only movable right hand while dressing the wound for this Vietnamese devil. Damn it, this guy is not a fuel-efficient lamp, even if he only has one hand that can move, I don't dare to collide with him head-on, isn't it better to sail safely for ten thousand years?

  "You don't know yet, do you?" I chuckled and pointed to the wound on his left shoulder: "This shot was fired by me! My marksmanship is poor, only one of ten bullets hit the target, sorry about that!"

  "Hmm!" The Vietnamese sniper was taken aback, glanced at the gun on my back, and let out a bitter laugh: "I never thought I, Vuong Xuan Minh, would die at your hands, would lose to a gun like yours... I..."

  He suddenly stood up, seemingly wanting to fight me, but his two broken legs wouldn't listen, and after staggering for a moment, he fell into the water and fainted.

  Honestly, I was really scared by him. I never thought that a person would be so desperate and still have the will to fight. Can this even be called human? It's simply like a beast.

  At this time, I couldn't help but think of the old man. Didn't he also have his eyes blown out and still charge forward with a single pull? I'm afraid only the old man can compare to this guy in front of me. At this moment, I seem to understand the old man's approach a bit more. This era really needs people like him...

  After a good while, I plucked up the courage to walk forward and kicked his abdomen hard with my foot. Only then did I dare to pull him out of the water. Upon checking his mouth and nose, damn it, he still had breath in him! This life is really tough!

  "Yang Xuefeng!"

  "Yang Xuefeng!"

  ……

  I don't know when the artillery fire stopped, but I heard several shouts from comrades upstairs. I hastily responded with a shout: "Over here! Caught a prisoner!"

  The scar-faced man ran up, took one look and burst out laughing: "Damn it, you really did it! You were gone for a moment and then caught a prisoner, and it's even the enemy's sharpshooter!"

  To be honest, I don't care about this devil's godly marksman. Although his ferocity still makes me a bit fearful, at the same time I also know that even if he survives such a severe injury, from now on he'll just be a toothless tiger.

  What I care about is his gun - the ultra-long barrel, the hollowed-out stock, plus a scope... immediately caught my attention. I hugged this gun in my arms, fondling it lovingly, and the feeling was like playing a lackluster online game, but suddenly getting a divine weapon...

  All along, I have been facing this battlefield with an attitude of hiding if possible. But after getting this gun, I suddenly had a desire and impulse to go to the battlefield to practice my skills.

  "Comrade Yang Xuefeng!" When we returned to the camp, Knife Scar hesitated and sat in front of me.

  "What's wrong?" I asked, fiddling with the sniper rifle in my hand as I looked at Scar doubtfully. Judging from his expression, this time he came to find me definitely wouldn't be anything good.

  "Comrade Yang Xuefeng!" Knife Scar handed me a cigarette and said with deep meaning: "In these battles... you have performed very well, this is worthy of praise, especially in dealing with the Vietnamese sniper, you showed great bravery, successfully capturing the Vietnamese sniper and making great contributions. However..."

  This proves that my thoughts were right, and it's indeed not a good thing.

  "But... " Scar's knife paused for a moment before he continued, "You must hand over this gun!"

  "What?" I heard this and suddenly stood up, saying: "What's the reason? The Japanese sniper was shot by me, and the gun was also seized by me. What's the reason for handing it over?"

  "Comrade Yang Xuefeng!" Scarface said with a heavier tone, "You must understand, we are a revolutionary team, an organized and disciplined troop. If everyone were like you, whoever gets the gun is whoever's, wouldn't that be chaotic? Wouldn't we just become bandits then?"

  "Just think I'm undisciplined and unorganized then, anyway I just won't pay!"

  "Hey!" Scar's face turned red with rage, he paced back and forth in front of me a few times before saying breathlessly: "Let me tell you the truth! This time our mission was all about this gun, do you know how many people we sacrificed for this gun? Five, five living lives! Comrade Yang Xuefeng! It can be said that this gun was exchanged with the lives and blood of our comrades, are you shameless enough to claim it as your own? Aren't you embarrassed?"

  Hearing this, I couldn't help but fall silent. My attention had been focused on the gun all along, and it wasn't until now that I realized we had lost five comrades just a short while ago.

  "Comrade Yang Xuefeng!" Scar's tone slowed down, seeing that I wasn't as opposed as before: "You should know, every battle and every merit is the credit of all soldiers. Think about it, if you were alone just now, could you have captured the prisoner and seized this gun? Individualism and self-interest are not allowed..."

  "Wait a minute!" I interrupted Scar's words and said: "There is a saying that good steel is used on the blade, I have confidence in using this gun well, so why not assign it to me?"

  "You...". Now even Knife Scar is at a loss for words.

  I actually knew all along what Dao Cuo said made sense, but I don't care about that personal gain or self-interest anymore, I just want this gun.

  "Comrade!" At this time, the rifle walked up and sat heavily in front of me, then raised the gun in his hand towards me and said: "In our company, I can say that I'm second to none when it comes to shooting, but still have to use this Type 56 semi. Do you know why?"

  "What's good about it?!" This is a question even an idiot can answer!

  "Do you know the consequences of having no good guns?" The rifle asked again.

  This has got me stumped, I've only been in this world for a day, how am I supposed to know what the consequences are.

  "Do you know why people are risking their lives to grab this gun? Five comrades have already sacrificed for it."

  I shook my head, and in fact, this was also what I had been wondering about in my heart.

  "Our guns...". The rifle took the cigarette handed over by Knife Scar, lit it and said: "A Type 56 can't even reach 400 meters, but what about those devils' guns? Seven or eight hundred meters is no problem for them. We're often at a disadvantage because of our inferior weapons. Sometimes an entire company is pinned down by one of those devils and we can't do anything about it. Isn't that infuriating?"

  I couldn't help but feel a chill run down my spine, although I had only been a soldier for one day. But I could imagine how it would feel if an entire company was pinned down by a single Viet Cong sniper and unable to advance or suffering heavy casualties. It must have been a feeling of utter despair, as if even the dead were afraid.

  "One of my fellow villagers, also a comrade-in-arms..." At this point, the rifleman gave a bitter smile: "He was killed by the Vietnamese sniper's bullet. It's not that his marksmanship wasn't as good as the enemy's, but he had to run nearly 300 meters to get close to the enemy. Three hundred meters... how many shots can the enemy fire in three hundred meters? He... didn't want to give up, and before he died, he kept grasping my hand, telling me I must avenge him... He never mentioned his newborn child or his wife who was still in confinement after childbirth, just that I had to avenge him, avenge!"

  "Company Commander!" After a moment of silence, I said with some confusion: "Didn't you say... we were going to take revenge? How can we hand over our guns then? Your marksmanship is accurate, so just use this gun!"

  I really don't want to give in, but I think things have come to this point and if I still stubbornly hold on, it wouldn't be right either.

  "It's like this, Comrade Yang Xuefeng!" Scarface interrupted: "This time... we're willing to risk five lives to get this gun because our superiors want to take it back for research. Do you know what research means? It means... taking one and then being able to make a hundred or a thousand more!"

  "Ah!" Scar said, and I suddenly understood. It turned out to be a copycat version. As for this point, I believe it, our country is notorious for being the counterfeit capital of the world, right? Whatever passes through our hands, with a few tweaks, we can churn out a knockoff version.

  "It's a known fact!" Scarface spat out smoke and continued, "Those Japanese devils are quite clever. They also know we lack good guns, so even if our sharpshooters get injured on the battlefield, they'll destroy their guns before being captured. That's why we still haven't been able to seize one of these guns until now. You're the first one to capture it, and the higher-ups will be thrilled when they hear about it... who knew you wouldn't turn it in?"

  "Alright, alright!" As soon as I heard this, I knew that the rifle was definitely not going to be kept. Whether it's for national righteousness or camaraderie, this rifle doesn't belong to me. So I simply pushed the rifle into Knife Scar's hands and said: "What if next time I capture another one..."

  The scar-faced man patted his chest and said with a loud "Boom Boom" sound: "Next time you hand over another one, I'll be in charge and allocate it to you!"

  I glanced at the sniper rifle, feeling reluctant in my heart, thinking that I would never see it again. But unexpectedly, this gun not only didn't leave me, but also followed me through the entire war...