"My team leader, my team, chapter 24. “No way.” “What’s wrong with that?” “You’re talking nonsense.” “Not good enough.” “Nonsense talk.” “Shut up you.” This kind of all-over-the-place veto language popped out in the same second, from A Yi, from Hao Shouyi, from Mi Long, from Dou Bing, from Bu La, from Kang Ao, from everyone. Who has ever been simultaneously negated by people from all over the world? I could only stare at them blankly. This was the only way I thought of to get away from a few of them. But I forgot that we were mute and blind, armless and legless, no one dared to leave anyone. Our superiors calculated us as a bundle, and we ourselves treated each other as bundles."

  I looked at them and said "Let's fight then. No time left."

  "How can we defeat them?"

  I glared at Ah Yi, running into a superior like this who pushes all the problems onto you is really asking for trouble. "They're fighting infantry in front and artillery support behind. It's foggy and there are forests, machine guns and grenade launchers aren't easy to use. Don't be afraid of death, rush up and grab the rifles from the infantry in front."

  Then Ah Yi repeated to the crowd like a wooden puppet: "Don't be afraid of death, go up and grab the guns."

  I looked at everyone still standing there like wooden sticks, not good to kick Ah Yi, I had no choice but to kick Kang Ya hard, "Squat here and you'll never have to be afraid of death again! All hide!"

  This group of scattered soldiers finally understood, and went to find a place to hide in the dense thicket. I pulled A Yi, looking at his gun - when I rushed up, I needed that thing. A Yi looked at me and crawled into the thicket, pretending to be stupid and not seeing it. I looked at Mi Long again, and he finally put the crowbar back on his waist and held the rifle in his hand.

  I need that gun, it's my weapon of attack, but just like I need Ate's watch, he won't give it to me - even though in his hands, it's only a tool that makes him feel safe.

  So I had no choice but to go find my hiding place with a defeated look on my face.

  The Japanese troops chasing us finally appeared on the Linjing, just like my previous experience, they were in a triangular formation, with light infantry searching in front, and a group of light machine guns and a group of grenade launchers covering behind. I could only see the first light infantry group, and the rest of the supporting troops were hidden in the forest and fog, we couldn't see them just like they couldn't see us.

  When Lugou Bridge sounded the alarm, I dropped out of school. When Xuzhou was besieged, I joined the army. In four years, we lost countless battles but managed to escape time and again. Later on, I became very angry. Planes and tanks were not our forte, let alone the enemy's infantry tactics which seemed to have been fossilized in a rigid pattern. The triangular formation that had remained unchanged for ten thousand years was still being used in the jungle and thick fog, dispersing firepower and manpower. Any Chinese soldier who had fought for half a year would say it was suicidal.

  But we were still defeated. We lost until one day I had no choice but to think that there was a problem with us ourselves."

  Those Japanese soldiers at the head of the column still maintained their triangular formation on the narrow mountain path, and the dense jungle and thick fog that were troubling us were also troubling them. The藤条 (a type of vine) had wrapped around their feet, and the rustling sound was coming from the leaves. And so on. In the distance, where the branches were almost obscured by the fog, their supporting firepower finally appeared as a vague shadow. My attention was drawn to the blood dripping from the tip of the Japanese soldier's bayonet at the head of the column, which clearly came from one of my comrades who had fallen behind and been killed.

  I turned my head to look at A-yi, who was squatting in the bushes and sweating profusely. I began to move slowly, with several comrades from the vanguard moving with me. I adjusted our position so that we were in a straight line with the Japanese support fire, with the triangular formation of the platoon leader as the midpoint.

  I whispered to the person next to me, "Get down. They're blocking the machine gun." At the same time, I glanced back at A-yi and saw that his hand holding the gun was trembling. "Steady your aim. Don't hit our own people." After saying that, I had no more time to pay attention to him.

  I had long understood that when there was no choice, the Chinese were not afraid of death. I patted my comrade on the back, and our vanguard had already rushed towards the several infantrymen a few meters away. The Japanese army opened fire, and their marksmanship was surprisingly accurate. Two guns hit one Chinese soldier, and one gun hit another. But this side was also truly fearless of death. I was knocked down by my comrade who was hit by two guns at the same time. The one who was shot once still rushed forward, but he was stabbed in the body by the Japanese with a bayonet, and his body stuck to the tip of the opponent's knife.

  I was the third to rush up, and when I grasped a sharp rock and jumped up, a rebounding branch heavily whipped my leg wound. I fell to one knee in pain, while the fourth and fifth comrades leaped past me. At this moment, I heard a shrill gunshot, the bullet whizzed past my ear, and my hair roots were completely scorched. There was no doubt that it was aimed at me, and equally without a doubt, it came from behind me.

  I turned back, Ah Yi held his pistol with both hands, shaking uncontrollably, the muzzle pointing at me, "Don't retreat... rather be shattered jade than intact tile."

  I glared at him in anger, Ah Yi shrank back a bit, but didn't put down the gun, "...... I'm on patrol."

  He's scared out of his wits. In his next life, he should be reincarnated as a butterfly or a flower tree. We're done for, we've got problems.

  I turned back to look at our battlefield, the fourth soldier had already been shot and killed, the fifth soldier was being stabbed to death by two Japanese soldiers, the most critical thing was that the second triangle had changed from a straight line to a flank, machine gun fire crossed the forest, cutting off any attempt for us to charge again.

  I turned around and shouted: "Run! Run!"

  A Yi's gun was still aimed at me, suddenly woke up like a sudden movement, then turned around and ran away without hesitation, taking away the courage of most people who insisted on going on, with a large group following behind him.

  I followed Ba Bu with difficulty, saw the dragonfly staring at me, he fired a shot and killed the Japanese soldier who was about to stab me from behind - our only gain.

  The Dragon King cursed: "Being with you guys is no better than recognizing a mouse as a relative!" However, he still rushed over two steps and pulled me up. That guy's strength was inhuman, and I limped even faster than before.

  We fled in disarray once again, the Japanese grenade launchers and bayonets were unable to fully utilize their capabilities during the pursuit, but another poor devil beside me fell from rifle fire - our situation was even more precarious than before.

  I stared at the faint light that came from the end of the forest, Ah Yi ran in front, bare-legged, and the Japanese scout's jacket on him was like a spread-out crow's wing. A bunch of guys who were driven by fear followed blindly behind Ah Yi.

  I was dragged by the dragon, using all my strength to shout at Ah Yi: "Don't run out of the woods! You're asking for death!" But that guy didn't even turn his head and ran out of the woods with rare boldness. I could only yell at the other guys: "Let him die! Run into the woods!"

  Traceable bullets came from the woods, they chased Ari like a flock of sheep bitten by a sheepdog.

  I had no choice but to follow closely behind and run out of the woods, and I also figured out why Ah Yi was desperately running towards where he was going - there were flames in the fog, because the fire was burning, casting a vague silhouette of buildings under the light of the flames.

  "Don't run towards where there's fire! Are you dissatisfied with how inaccurate the Japanese guns are?"

  It's completely useless, in the midst of fog and terror they ran towards their unknown lighthouse without hesitation. I stood still in despair, took a deep breath, and cursed loudly: "Bastard Commander! Fucking Drillmaster!"

  A Yi glanced back at me, continuing to rush towards his light, which means he heard all my shouting just now, but he completely gave up thinking - a burst of bullets that came chasing after almost hit the heel of the dragon's foot, the dragon jumped up and pulled me to continue this desperate long run.

  At last I saw what the interpreters had found: two simple buildings on the edge of the woods. Both were burning, one with a smaller fire and the other with a larger one, the latter exploding with a loud crash, next to the smaller one, two British soldiers were trying to make it burn as big as the other, their work was almost done, three-gallon gasoline drums had been thrown at the edge of the house, they were getting into the car.

  I shouted over in English: "Halt!"?

  Although they didn't aim at us intentionally, they indeed fired at us. We dodged randomly and didn't hit anything, but blocked any possibility of our escape.

  "Damn Burmese!" The British soldier cursed as he started the car, and like the first British vehicle we had encountered, it was instantly swallowed up in the fog. I clearly saw the British man who cursed us make a cutting motion across his throat with his hand and stuck out his tongue at us.

  The shadow of the Japanese army appeared vaguely in the fog behind us, and the machine gun fire swept over. We didn't move on the spot, and they could finally use their awkwardly designed crooked-handled machine guns. Another man fell, and the Alsatians took off again.

  "I shouted hoarsely: 'Split up and run! Don't go into the house! I beg...'"

  I stared blankly, they were so scared that they didn't even dare to rush through the Japanese army's organized shooting line. Ah Yi rushed into a house that hadn't been burned too badly, and others also rushed into the house. So my last scream turned into a murmur: "...... you guys."

  That huge house caught fire and exploded with a small blast, something burning wildly like a giant firework that had just been lit and then kicked over.

  The dragon was scolded severely, he got a slap on his hand, and then he dragged me into the house without caring about anything.

  The structure of this house is very simple, single-storey, almost made of single-layer cement board, it is obviously designed by some lazy British soldiers rather than Burmese people, with a bent corridor that separates many individual rooms, like a simple barracks.

  The people who rushed in fell to the ground in a heap, and several of Ah Yi's physically weak companions were already vomiting loudly. Ming Long threw me among them, cursing and scolding as he fired a shot into the mist outside the door, which was merely a show of force and had no chance of hitting anything.

  I no longer care about them, and I rush straight in. I want to find an exit, but all I can find is a dead wall. I stare at the wall for a while, but it doesn't stare back with an exit. I pound on several doors inside the building, they are all wrapped in thin iron sheets, without exception, locked. I am sure that I cannot open them with my strength.

  I stumbled back to my own crowd, coughing from the smoke that filled the building and listening to the explosions and screams coming from next door. The others were retching and coughing, getting themselves together, while some people were banging on the doors in a futile attempt, just like I had done before.

  I leaned against the wall beside me and burst out laughing after a while.

  A Yi looked at me with a pitiful gaze that seemed to say she knew she had done something wrong, and it was really unbearable for me.

  I laughed and said: "You're really something, really something. The houses of the Yunnan-Burma border people are all interconnected, but you managed to find a British warehouse with only one door."

  Awakened A Yi now wants to mend the fold after the sheep has escaped. He waves his handgun and shouts "Get ready to defend!"

  "It's too late. Have you been to war? Don't you know that when we lose, it's like being a frightened sheep, rushing to what we think is a safe place and then getting rounded up and killed?" I was so disappointed that I didn't even want to talk to Ah Yi anymore.

  A Yi still wanted to maintain his identity, waving his gun and saying: "Don't shake the military's morale!"

  "Give me another shot - don't wave that gun around, it's not a training team's whip, you're going to fire!" I said.

  He's more awake now, won't wildly fire his gun and doesn't plan to give me another shot, but he beckons to the others: "Follow me! Charge out!"

  "Brothers, let him go first for ten seconds." I said loudly from behind.

  Now everyone has calmed down relatively, so they no longer followed A Yi to run, and there was no need for ten seconds. As soon as A Yi rushed to the door, he was covered by several precise rifles and came back. Hao Shouyi desperately rushed up and pulled back a soldier who was slow-witted enough to follow A Yi - that man is now a wounded soldier.

  The dragon cursed, rushed to the door and raised our only rifle to aim outside. He couldn't see the Japanese army in the fog at all, only the distant mist and the nearby flames.

  I pushed away that brave guy, the machine gun's hail of bullets and a hand grenade were used to blast him, the two corners of the triangular formation launched together, the machine gun dug out a row of pits where he had just stood, and the shell exploded outside the door with a burst of smoke. The shockwave blew us both back.

  We retreated to a relatively safe place. The dragon spat out the sand in its mouth, and it was actually impressed by the explosion, "This little guy is fierce! From northeast to southwest, this little bomb is getting more accurate!"

  Not spicy but somehow proud: "Little ones are just ruthless."

  She farted and ruined his mood, "He said it was a little Japan."

  Spitting with disdain, "Pfft."

  I didn't want to speak, I looked at A Yi, A Yi sat back in the place where he was before, he glanced at me and then lowered his head, because my eyes were very venomous.

  "I've decided not to let him off, 'It's been sealed, the camp. Didn't you think when you ran in? The flames are burning brightly above your head, your eyeballs are almost falling out from the smoke, you can't see them, they're staring at you, and running out is easier than shooting a fixed target because you're blind. We can rest now, they won't come in, they're even trying to save bullets now. The roof will burn through soon, this place will collapse, simple death, simple death for us.'"

  A Yi didn't say I was shaking the military's heart, but Veterinary Hao pulled me away and I sat down.

  It's finally over, this thing called living. It doesn't matter if my will is found or not, I'm just glad that I was able to use all my strength to move my family south, to a place that is still relatively safe for now. My father didn't love me, and motherly love isn't suitable for a man who scorns the world. My fiancée Wen Dai will also get married soon. I hope she won't marry a traitor - but what does it have to do with me?

  I pulled out the medicine bottle from my pants, which I had tied to my pants with a rope when boarding. I looked at the bottle and then around me - the desperation of the crowd before the end was really nothing to look at, so I looked back at the medicine bottle - I still had four sulfonamides left.

  I poured all four pills into the palm of my hand, and with a swirl, this was the last thing I had left. Chewed it up, chewed away the last connection between me and the world.

  I put them all in my mouth, chewed them up, very bitter, the medicinal flavor is quite intense.

  Hao Shouyi watched me making a twisted face while chewing the medicine and reminded me: "You've taken too much. This medicine has strong side effects."

  I'm amused, "What's with the doctor act at a time like this?"

  Hao said: "I am the doctor."

  "If I were stupid enough to believe everything, then I would believe you are a doctor."

  "You won't spend your last moments arguing with me."

  "I'm going to spend my last moments arguing with you."

  But he ignored me, and whispered to A Yi, A Yi tore off some cloth from her clothes and gave it to him, and he went to bandage the wounded who followed A Yi's failed charge.

  I watched them bustle about, without forgetting my own sarcastic nature, "In the future, our tombstones will be inscribed with, they had a pair of underpants - if we have tombstones at all."

  They are unmoved, and I can't be more devastated than the impending death that is about to arrive.

  The gate we couldn't get out of was under the crosshairs of a crooked machine gun, and that gun was mounted on a tree branch, so our besieged Japanese army didn't even need to waste their strength holding guns.

  A much larger explosion occurred in the adjacent building, blowing off one corner of the roof. The place we were in was filled with smoke, a mixture of smoke and fog, with fire, making us feel like we were under a lighthouse on a dark night.

  The distant sound of car engines.

  We are all waiting stupidly for the house to collapse, no one is crying but everyone is crying, because the smoke has thoroughly filled the building, and everyone is coughing with tears.

  Kang Yao actually still asked people for things, but this time what he wanted was a bit special, "Do you have any? Just give me one gun."

  The dragon stood up and said: "Good, good, I like straightforward people."

  He said it was true, took the rifle and aimed at Kang Ya's head. Kang Ya was also calm, carefully examined the muzzle and said: "Forget it."

  The dragon was furious, "You died and I won! Who can be more pleased?"

  He was furious, and whenever the dragon was furious, he always felt like doing something. He went to smash the door, took the gun stock to smash it open, and finally used his shoulder to bump us. We watched him in vain as he bounced back from the door.

  The snake's buttocks dissuaded him: "I've tried it, but it can't be done."

  Not spicy but practical, "even if you open it, this house has no windows."

  But the dragonfly exerted its evil strength, and it violently collided again, only to be bounced back once more. A lump had already clearly formed on its shoulder. The guy picked up his gun and fired two shots at the lock, "bang bang". It crashed again, and was bounced back once more.

  "The three eastern provinces will be Japanese territory from now on, you damn well better get used to it!" Ming Long was furious.

  He's a madman with his own methods, we watched as he charged forward, and the thin iron door actually fell straight down, even the hinges were knocked off by him, the dragon rushed in, and we heard the sound of wood shattering from inside.

  We pulled the dazed dragon out of the pile of wooden crate fragments. We looked around at the room that he had smashed open, which was clearly a British military warehouse, judging by its appearance. The place was half-empty, with only a few crates remaining in one corner - apparently some British officer's collection of exotic Eastern fabrics and other treasures, hastily stowed away in wooden boxes. Now those boxes were smashed to splinters, and Dr. Hao was carefully pulling out the wooden splinters that had stuck into the dragon's hide.

  The snake's butt complained, "Nothing useful was obtained."

  "Put the door back on! It's going to burn in no time!"

  The dragon could be said to have gone to great trouble for nothing, having smashed open the door only to put it back again. Several snakes helped him move the door back and forth, but the dragon suddenly remembered something and threw away the half-moved door to mess with those fancy fabrics.

  Kang Ya, who almost got his foot crushed, complained: "Is there anyone with a mouth? Let go and you want to say it!"

  I've been watching from the doorway with a scowl, "Mí Lóng, how's business at the underworld's black market for dark silk fabrics?"

  But the dragon didn't pay attention to us at all, he tore off a piece of brocade and wrapped it around himself. When he turned his body towards us, he looked just like a Buddhist monk with an alms bowl.

  "My old man didn't think he'd die like this." He said and walked out with a gloomy face.

  We stayed for a while, and then we all started moving. A few of them didn't have much imagination, wrapping cloth around their bodies like a dragon, and Hao Shouyi didn't want to look like an Indian monk, so he wrapped it around his body like a bandage.

  Hao Shouyi looked at Kang Ya and said, "You look like a Burmese."

  Kang Ya retorted, "That's just a shroud for the old and dead."

  At this time, others also came in and out one after another, apparently reminded by the dragon, we divided the fabric among us. Later, AYue also quietly came in, he also knew that wearing a top with bare legs was not good-looking, so he wrapped a skirt around himself.

  I took a smaller piece of cloth than theirs, found a nail head on the door that had fallen to the ground, and used that nail to tear open a hole in the middle of the fabric.

  As I busied myself with the shroud, I couldn't help but find it hilarious, yet tragic and absurd. For years now, I've been thinking about this until my head is almost split open - what exactly are we so particular about?

  I picked up a piece of rope they had discarded to tie up the fabric, threaded it through the opening in the fabric and put my head through it, then tied the rope around my waist.

  My silent colleagues turned around and stared at me in silence for a while.

  "Wow, he's become a wealthy landlord!"

  Hao nodded, "Even Lian Kan has arrived."

  Kang Ya also looked for a rope everywhere, "This kid is clever."

  Everyone started grabbing for the rope because there was definitely enough cloth, but definitely not enough rope.

  Then we heard the roar of car engines outside the house, and a voice shouting "Banzai" in Japanese - we had all been to war, didn't understand Japanese but at least knew this sentence, and we could also hear the frenzy in it.

  We were all gathered around the equally green and verdant dragon, when he was holding a gun looking outside - of course, smart enough not to get close to the door - from our limited field of vision, outside was still foggy, and the sound of cars was running wildly outside, east and west were both in a state of chaos, and the Japanese army that ambushed us was also frantically shouting "Ultraman", it sounded like we were surrounded by a whole battalion of frenzied Japanese soldiers - of course, whether it was a battalion or half a platoon, the final result would not make any difference to us.

  "What's going on?"

  "Those devils surrounding us are all dead, what's the use of calling out for their souls?"

  We'd better pretend we didn't hear it, such a wonderful wish wouldn't come true anyway.

  "I think they're going to charge." A Yi said with a guess.

  "With a sarcastic tone, I said: 'It's not the right time to launch a surprise attack, but since you've done so, it seems that our commander and yours are evenly matched in tactics.'"

  A Yi could only pretend not to hear, and even Hao Shouyi just coughed lightly. We who were wronged by him would not plead for him. Now that eerie voice was coming from one direction, the front we were facing, although all we could see in that direction was a vast expanse of fog.

  The dragon shouted out: "If you can't even get angry properly then hurry up and return to your place! Go back to that island of yours and wail!"

  He's really a troublemaker, he just shouted and the machine gun on that side went off, rumbling for a long burst. We all retreated back to our rooms at the fastest speed, having experienced hardships before. The burst stopped, but no bullets swept towards us. We peeked out, and the gun fired again with a short burst, the high trajectory almost taking out A-Yi.

  Then it quieted down.

  We held our breaths, dead silence.

  One man jumped off the car, and we could hear him changing magazines. The Type 38 rifle mounted on the branch was still aiming at the door that we couldn't come out of, he didn't shoot, lowered his head and took a glance.