Chapter 4: The Damned Grenade Launcher

  When the artillery fire started, I was still carrying Erwa on my back. Subconsciously, I held Erwa's body against mine, which to some extent reduced the threat of shrapnel to me. However, my heart was pierced by the sharp sword of morality, as if Erwa was not yet dead and could still feel pain. Several times, I wanted to push Erwa down under me, but my body seemed to be paralyzed, unable to move at all. Even during the intervals between artillery fire when we changed positions, I forgot about it on one side.

  "Not bad, but it's time to change places." Hǎozi rolled over during the artillery fire, grabbed me and pulled me to a new hiding spot, while èr Wá's body remained in its original position. Listening to Hǎozi's words, my heart felt a pang of sadness, and I had an uncomfortable feeling in my throat. I really didn't know if Hǎozi was speaking sarcastically, blaming me for being cowardly, but looking at his expression, I didn't sense any accusatory feelings.

  "Not bad." The pillar nearby also gave me a thumbs up.

  "Follow me, let's move together." Hǎozi said with a forceful pat on my head.

  Continuous bombardment, I followed the wasteland's continuous prediction of the landing point, continuously hiding in different shelters, learning the wasteland's military movements. It has to be said that death is the best teacher. If military training was in such an environment, I believe no one would fall behind. Gradually, I have been able to keep up with the wasteland's rhythm, and the timing of my choices has become more accurate.

  "The devils are coming!" The artillery fire had just stopped for a moment when the shout came from the comrades in the position.

  "Prepare for battle! Prepare for battle!" The class leaders and platoon leaders shouted loudly.

  I, Lao Gui, have a Type 38 rifle in my hands, the squad leader has a Czech-style machine gun and next to him is a captured Japanese heavy machine gun. And the second shooter next to him is actually Si Xi, I really don't know how this Si Xi became the squad leader.

  "Zhùzi, don't use that crooked handle anymore, it's got too many problems." Lǎo Guǐ said with a glance at Zhùzi.

  "Got it, I'm not a rookie on the battlefield, and this crappy gun's firepower is too weak. Can't even kill a dog 500 meters away! And these two legs (gun mounts) are so high, I don't want to get shot in the dark!" Zhuzi steadied his Czech-style light machine gun, turned to Si Xi who was lubricating the Type 99 next to him and said: "Si Xi, this time we'll try to get our hands on the enemy's 92 heavy machine gun. If we succeed, I'll give you this Czech one, how about that?"

  "Really?"

  "You have to ask the squad leader about this. Hehe!" said Zhu Zi with a sly smile.

  "Grass!"

  "Get ready for battle!" The squad leader's voice carried a clear rebuke and reached our side, and Zhuozi and Sixi simultaneously shut their mouths.

  "Everyone heard my order to fire, the shooting is not human, don't care about you, others don't waste bullets!" The battalion commander shouted loudly, I even suspect that it's because this kid has a particularly loud voice that he became the battalion commander.

  "Devil brother, whose marksmanship isn't human?" After several rounds of cannon fire, everyone had become familiar with each other, so I asked the old devil beside me.

  "Bang!" The rifle of the comrade beside him suddenly rang out, and a devil 300 meters away fell to the ground with a thud.

  "Good shot!" A chorus of approval rose from the trenches.

  "My grass, ghost brother, 300 meters away! Are you kidding me?!" I shouted in surprise at Lao Gui. I remember watching an anti-Japanese TV series in my previous life, where a communist soldier hit a target from a kilometer away without a scope, and I really wanted to ask the director if he had any brain problems. A kilometer distance is not easy even with modern weapons and high-powered scopes, and 1,250 meters is already within the record of US military snipers. The probability of hitting a target at such a long distance without a scope is probably lower than winning the lottery five times in a row! It's artistic exaggeration! So you can imagine how shocked I was when I saw a small dot 300 meters away fall down after a gunshot.

  The old ghost smiled slightly at me with a calm face and answered my question: "This shot was indeed a probe, the first shot was a test shot."

  "But this gun isn't. Bang!" Before Haoyi's voice had fallen, the gun in his hand fired again, hitting its mark!

  "Good shot!" The camp was lively again, it's really fucking morale-boosting.

  "It really isn't a human!" Looking at the devil who fell in the distance, such a far distance was just a small point that fell down, and I almost didn't have a position to be hit.

  "By the way, the distance exceeded 300 meters." Hàozi said with a characteristic smile, but now it doesn't look ugly at all!

  "Damn it, I must learn from Haoszi later, he's really cool!" I just made up my mind to ask Haoszi to be my master, but then I thought: "Forget it, let's talk about it after we leave the battlefield alive."

  "Wait a minute, get a little closer and see the power of Laozi's machine gun!" Zhuzi seemed to be somewhat dissatisfied with my surprised expression.

  "Zhùzi, you'd better not show your head so early. The enemy's Type 38 Arisaka rifle isn't a fire poker that can be easily dealt with. You're showing your head too early, and the first one to get hit will be you with that machine gun. Besides, we haven't fought against the enemy before, who knows what tactics this little devil will use?" Lao Gui held back Zhu's desire to show off.

  The third shot of the waste hadn't been fired yet, and the crossfire officially unfolded. The guns were all over the place - the Type 99 rifle, the Czech-style rifle, the Hanyang Arsenal rifle, the standard-issue rifle... All sorts of weapons were firing nonstop. I pulled the bolt back, loaded a new round, took aim, but my hand was shaking slightly as I held the gun. Just as I had finished aiming, the sound of a bullet whizzing through the air made me flinch and shrink my head into my shoulders. My right index finger unconsciously squeezed the trigger. Because of my shrinking motion, my shoulder hadn't absorbed the recoil. As the gunshot rang out, the powerful kickback of the Type 38 rifle slammed solidly into my shoulder.

  "Heh heh! A little bird has fallen down!" The mouse beside him chimed in with an inappropriate remark.

  "It's a good thing it was Sanba Dage, if it were Chuntian, with your small build, you'd probably fly out." The pillar next to me also started teasing me.

  I lightly shrugged my shoulders, repositioned myself on the battlefield, loaded the gun, took aim, and fired in one swift motion. A Japanese soldier fell to the ground with a thud, seemingly hit in the leg. "Damn it! I was aiming for his head!" I cursed inwardly while glancing sideways at my comrade, hoping he'd give me some feedback. But all I got from him was an unimpressed expression before he turned and walked away. "Shit, this is my first time firing a gun!" I mentally berated myself again. Killing someone 200 meters away, even if it was the enemy, still sent shivers down my spine. Yet, as I gazed at the fallen soldier, an unexpected thrill of the hunt rose within me - a sense of control over another's life and death, a feeling of superiority. I imagined my expression must have been ecstatic, and with that thought, I readied myself for the next shot.

  Just as I was about to fire, I felt a tug on my back and suddenly crawled into the trench. My chin hit the edge of the trench, and the sour pain made tears and snot immediately flow out. But before the pain had fully taken over my brain, the trench I was crawling in was swept by machine gun fire, and the sound of bullets hitting the dirt was really nice to hear. After experiencing a while of fighting, I felt like I could act rationally again, and even started to be able to blend into this situation, even when bullets were flying over my head, I wouldn't feel as cold as I did at the beginning, with my sphincter loosening and wanting to pee in my pants. Looking not far away, a new recruit was squatting in the trench, covering his head and staring blankly, and I couldn't help but curse: "Fucking idiot!"

  "Grass, didn't you see the enemy machine guns set up? Three machine guns are all aiming here at me? Are you not going to hide, do you want to die?" The pillar's foul mouth sprayed saliva stars on my face, but the entire position was filled with smoke and gunpowder mixed with blood, compared to which the pillar's bad breath was no longer scary.

  "Transfer, transfer, pillar, quick!" The old ghost shouted while quickly moving to another place. Although I didn't understand the old ghost's intention, Zhu and I instinctively followed him and started running.

  "Boom!!!!!!" Several hand grenades landed in the position where the pillar had just been designed.

  "What the...! How accurate is this?! Is it a mortar?!" Zhang shouted loudly, holding his head and patting Lao Gui's back. The consecutive explosions just now had left everyone's ears somewhat deaf.

  "Hand grenade! God damn it! It's a hand grenade, can you hear me?" The devils were shouting loudly too.

  "Can you see that? It's really amazing. Can a grenade launcher be so accurate?" said Zhu Zi in response.

  "What now?" I shouted at the pillar huddled in the corner like me, putting on a helmet of a ghost we had killed before. Now nothing else mattered, as long as I could survive, I didn't care whose helmet I wore.

  "Brother Gui, what to do? This damn grenade launcher is too powerful, it directly blasted into our trench and there's not even a dead angle to hide in." Zhu Zi's body was also cut by shrapnel, he did some simple treatment while shouting at Lao Gui.

  "Bang!" A bullet flew onto the helmet on my head, scaring me so much that I shuddered all over, and quickly put my hand into the helmet to carefully feel around. "It's okay, it's okay! Nothing happened, nothing happened!" I told myself with rapid breathing.

  "Counterattack, counterattack! Give me a fierce grenade launcher to throw at the devils!" The battalion commander and company commander shouted loudly.

  The enemy's machine gun, although capable of continuous fire, generally only fires a few dozen rounds. After the grenade launcher fired seven or eight rounds in succession, the enemy's machine gun also entered a period of ammunition scarcity, and its firepower was significantly weakened.

  "Rat!" shouted the old devil for another time.

  "Got it!" The weasel, not far from us, turned around and drilled into another part of the formation. The weasel's advancing movement was almost quadrupedal, not like running with a bent waist, but like a mountain monkey jumping, extremely fast.

  "Ghost brother, this little devil's charge is different, can you see it? He's using a grenade launcher to suppress our machine gun, the machine gun is suppressing our rifles, and then the infantry charges while accurately shooting and killing our brothers. This damn firepower and tactics we've never seen before!" Four Joy said to the old ghost, looking at several brothers with headshots not far away.

  Following Four Joy's gaze, several brothers with headshots lay there. Due to the 200-meter distance, the 6.5mm caliber, 9g bullet head, and 700m/s initial velocity of the Type 38 rifle had a relatively small stopping effect and strong penetration, so it didn't create a gruesome scene of their heads flying off. However, the flowing brain matter still made my stomach churn.

  Luckily, I had already vomited quite a bit earlier, so there was nothing left in my stomach. Looking at the continuously flowing brain matter, I cursed in my heart: "Damn, this is more stimulating than arms and legs!"

  "Haha, just watch and learn!" Zhuzi saw my pale face, patted me on the back, said that, then flipped over and picked up his machine gun again. Lao Gui did the same, climbing back up.

  "Get up, you sons of bitches! Get up and fight for me! Whoever is hiding in the trenches, I'll kill them!" The battalion commander yelled at the top of his lungs, his voice as unpleasant as it was loud. Looking around, I saw that many soldiers were cowering in the trenches, shaking with fear from the enemy's intense firepower. In my mind, I cursed those anti-Japanese movie directors and YY authors who exaggerated the heroism of our troops. How could they portray the enemy as so weak? In reality, every single one of them was a goddamn sharpshooter! At a distance of 200 meters, from running to stopping, finding targets, aiming, and firing, each soldier could complete these actions in just a few seconds. Their movements were uniform, their accuracy high, and the machine guns - not just the usual ones, but also some that looked like Czech-style pillar-mounted guns - had incredibly strong firepower. And those accurate grenade launchers that could hit our trenches... Looking at the casualties around us, then looking at the enemy in front of us, I realized that our battalion, relying on these trenches, was actually suffering more losses than the enemy, despite having a numerical advantage.

  "Get up, you bunch of cowards! All of you, get up! This time the company commander is scolding us new recruits. As soon as the enemy's firepower weakened, the old soldiers immediately lay back in the trenches and launched a frenzied counterattack with grenades and machine guns."

  "Fire, fire, shoot quickly!" The old devil also opened his mouth and shouted at us several new recruits. It seems that the fear of these new recruits made them bear more firepower.

  The trench on my head occasionally transmitted the "popping" sound of concentrated gunfire, and I wanted to stand up and shoot, but my legs seemed to be stiff. "Huff! Huff! Huff!" I could clearly hear my urgent breathing, my chest felt like it was being pressed by a stone, my throat seemed to be choked, and I knew this was the tension causing my blood pressure to rise, leading to a reaction in my neck nerves. I forced myself to roll my tongue, which was taught by our class teacher during the college entrance examination, and didn't expect to use it here. The pain from my tongue immediately dispersed the pressure, and I felt much more comfortable. Looking at Zhuozi and Lao Gui, they were still firing back under the rain of bullets. The self-blame weighed on my chest like a huge stone, "Damn! Just die!" I mustered up the courage, flipped over, and lay back in the trench. Bullets hit the surrounding soil piles, and the familiar "popping" sound entered my ears again. This fear of being shot at any time made it difficult for me to aim accurately at the enemy, my hand was shaking, and the cries of "Cry daddy, scold mommy" around me also disturbed my mind. "Relax, they can't hit you, your position is great!" Hàozi ran past me and said a sentence, which seemed to have magical power, instantly stabilizing my mind. I took a deep breath, aimed, and since the distance was not far, the wind's influence was small. My index finger lightly pulled the trigger, "Bang!" The targeted ghost fell to the ground, the bullet hitting his chest perfectly. "Good shot!" Hàozi said behind me, then ran towards another place. Looking at Hàozi's back, I muttered: "They can't hit me, my position is great!"

  I kept repeating the words that Haozi told me: "They can't hit me, my position is great!" Although I didn't know whether this sentence was true or not, but constantly repeating it made me shoot better, at least I wasn't as scared as before. Looking at the devils falling under my gun, a perverted voice slowly rose in my heart: "The feeling of killing people is really good!"