Chapter 28: The Sorrowful Requiem

  In this vast and boundless historical/river that stretches to the limits of the universe

  There is a small corner

  We once used our hands together to support a blue sky

  Fill each other's life with passion

  The wind blows by/Sorrowful breath

  A meteor of memories passing through the heart

  Time and again, I suddenly look back

  What's left is the indomitable military spirit and the laughter of the past

  In this dark/cruel/turbulent world

  I sing for you a sorrowful requiem

  In the depths of our hearts / An indelible heroic monument for you

  Watching you on another blue planet

  Embracing the rising sun with open arms

  Rewrite life's tenderness

  ……

  (The little demon: I just wrote these lyrics, they're not polished yet. When writing the lyrics, I will also compose the music in my heart at the same time. This is a song that only I can hear. I want to dedicate it to the heroes who sacrificed themselves on the real battlefield. The name of this song is called "Sad Requiem")

  A faint light has emerged from the dark sky, I stand on the top of Hill 477, facing the howling north wind, lightly sniffing the thick bloody smell that cannot be dissipated in the air, and seemingly hearing the rumble of automatic weapons firing on the battlefield. Chang Sun Ting stands silently behind me, while Liu Kangnan and Cheng Yuanxia are bandaging wounded soldiers with two first-aid kits not far away.

  Fang Xiang was killed in action, Yang Yu was killed in action. Only three soldiers were able to survive with Zhang Sun Ting and make it to the 477 high ground. The elite assault team of 500 men lost its highest commander, and all junior officers were killed except for me, the temporary acting company commander.

  None of us went near that radio again, and we silently retreated from this most brutal battlefield.

  "Bailey died."

  Upon hearing the news, Zhang Sun Ting casually let out a light "hmm". Having gone through the most intense battles in a short period of time, each and every one of us had seen too many deaths, and had become somewhat numb. I suddenly turned around and fiercely punched out with my fist, catching Zhang Sun Ting off guard and causing his nose to bleed profusely. He covered his own nose, foolishly asking: "Big brother, why did you hit me?"

  I looked at my own fist and shrugged calmly: "Nothing, I just suddenly felt a little itchy in my hand."

  In the pocket of my military uniform, I hid a bullet head wrapped in white cloth, stained with the blood of Weirui Qi, a woman who moved and pained me.

  I led the remaining thirteen men of the assault team on a long march of four hundred miles through the dense forest. The Indian army, led by the hunting dogs, approached us time and again, and we repeatedly hovered near the line of death. After a tense march, I began my most arduous task, using maps to repeatedly work out various possible retreat plans, trying to avoid clashes with the Indian army as much as possible. Such caution was truly like walking on thin ice.

  Five days later, we finally appeared on the China-India border line, separated by barbed wire. I could clearly see the silhouette of Chinese border guards with binoculars, but we had no chance to return to China at all. On the hundreds of kilometers long border line in the east of China-India border, Indian troops set up two layers of iron nets over 2 meters high. Carefully observing these iron nets, some places on them still hung small animals like squirrels and wild rabbits, obviously already connected with high voltage electricity.

  Within the range of my observation, just fifteen minutes passed and twenty-four patrols went by. Roughly calculated, on the eastern border alone, the Indian army has deployed at least two thousand patrols.

  Every Indian patrol team is equipped with a military jeep, mounted with a vehicle-mounted heavy machine gun and a small mortar, and some patrol teams also have soldiers carrying sniper rifles. Just for our thirteen people, India has invested more than 20,000 troops and thousands of military vehicles. I only feel bitter in my mouth, it seems that the Indian military has made up its mind to annihilate us remnants. Unless we all learn to hide ourselves and are not afraid of the high-voltage electric wire on the iron fence, we can successfully return to China under the eyes of the Indian army.

  Seeing the motherland in front of us, yet we can only lie on the snowy forest ground, enduring hunger and fatigue. We must be like rabbits, with our ears perked up high, ready to fight or retreat at any moment when the wind blows through the grass. Our dry rations were finished two days ago, we dare not start a fire, nor shoot animals for food, and the heavy snow has made it impossible to find any edible plants to fill our bellies. Those who have never experienced putting wild grass roots into their mouths and chewing hard while using handfuls of snow to help swallow the food can absolutely not imagine this inhuman suffering.

  I spread out the map and looked at it again and again, facing everyone's hopeful gaze. I remained silent for a long time before saying in a low voice: "The enemy has set up a trap along the border line. If we try to force our way through, it will be like moths flying into fire, giving the Indian military an excuse to capture us. We can only sneak into Bhutan first and then turn into Chinese territory. I estimate that everyone will have to march at least 500 miles in the dense forest."

  Even the elite soldiers of the assault team, with their strong willpower, showed a look of despair on each of their faces after hearing my words. Without supplies, we might starve to death in the dense forest.

  Always eating wild vegetables, three days later a soldier started bleeding from the whole body and losing all his strength. Even if we took off all his equipment to help him carry it, he was still staggering when walking and couldn't keep up with our rapid march. We could only increase extra rest time again and again, trying every means to find easily digestible food.

  In order not to implicate everyone, the soldier secretly swallowed the button on his collar. Looking at his icy corpse, all of us lowered our heads. He was the first non-combat death in our assault team!

  To prevent such incidents from happening again, when passing by a frozen pond that had already been iced over, we risked being pursued by the enemy and threw down several hand grenades. The ice layer on the pond was blown to pieces, and dozens of stunned fish floated up. We scooped them up, and Cheng Yuansha licked his lips, saying, "If only we could roast them, they would be the most delicious dish in the world."

  I grabbed a fish and threw it on the ground, shouting: "In this case, don't consider yourself human anymore, eat it with me!"

  I crouched on the ground, like a wild dog that had gone mad with hunger, fiercely biting and struggling on the ground like a fish, sucking its fresh blood, swallowing the fish meat with scales into my stomach, not even sparing its internal organs and fish bones.

  Look at me, I look at you, finally also started to gnaw food like me, these warriors who fought on the battlefield with sweat and blood without complaint, when eating like a wild dog, half of them shed tears.

  That night, Zhao Wei, the sixth among us sworn brothers, was clutching his stomach and rolling around. I reached out to touch him and was shocked to find a hard lump in his belly.

  I grabbed Zhao Wei's collar and roared: "What on earth did you eat?"

  "Skin, skin, skin..." Zhao Wei was in so much pain that his whole body was trembling and he couldn't even say a word. Following his gaze, I found a half-eaten military police anti-riot boot in Zhao Wei's backpack.

  Zhao Wei took off the poisoned soldier's boots, cut them into long strips with a bayonet, and swallowed them one by one. Since they couldn't be digested, the cowhide formed hard lumps in his stomach. After being soaked in gastric juice for a long time, the cowhide began to expand. With each stir of the stomach, these cowhide strips scratched Zhao Wei's stomach lining. I dare not imagine how painful Zhao Wei is now, has he started bleeding from the stomach?

  I took out a few bullets from the cartridge, dismantled the bullet head and mixed the gunpowder with water to forcibly feed Zhao Wei, hoping to help him digest the cowhide in his stomach. However, at 3 am, Zhao Wei still died in my arms with tears streaming down his face.

  He is my brother, he is China's best soldier, he didn't die on the cruelest battlefield, but died of indigestion caused by a pair of boots!

  My face turned pale, I bit my lip desperately, and punched the giant tree beside me with all my might. In the midst of flying blood, my fist sank into the trunk of the tree, which was at least 15 or 16 meters high. The tree shook violently and made a loud creaking sound.

  I want to scream loudly, I want to grab a submachine gun and sweep it towards the sky to vent my pain, but I can't do that. I can only clench my fists, raise my head high, and in the midst of trembling muscles all over my body, force back the tears that have already welled up in my eyes. I am the highest commander of this assault team, I am the big brother of all brothers, and now I am the spiritual beacon for everyone. No matter what desperate situation we face, I absolutely cannot cry again!

  To be a hero, one must abandon his own tears and all weaknesses!

  I pulled out the wine jug from my body, pouring all the strong liquor into Zhao Wei's tomb, I think no matter if it's ten or twenty years later, on this vast and endless land, there will always be a small piece of land soaked with heroic blood, carrying the fragrance of fine wine. When Zhao Wei misses us, even in the dark of night, he will stretch out his tongue to gently savor the taste of our hometown from this land.

  I tossed the wine jug out, looking at Chang Sun Ting who was about to speak but hesitated. I said calmly: "Now I don't need that thing anymore. True power doesn't come from some special ingredient in liquor, who cares about bile secretion or gallbladder rupture? Fu Yinxue is just Fu Yinxue!"

  Chang Sun Ting looked at my solemn and unyielding face, nodded heavily, and hugged me tightly, exclaiming: "I'm really happy! The big brother I respect is back! I always believed that the wine was just a booster, it must be able to help big brother find himself again!"

  (Xiao Yao: Everyone is urging me to write quickly, I post at least one chapter a day, which isn't slow, right? I also urge everyone to give more votes. Today I came up and saw that the vote count wasn't bad, my mood is great, hehe)