Chapter 36: Slaughter, The Final Moment

  "Rat-a-tat-tat!" With a burst of gunfire, a warrior to Cheng Feng's right fell down. Cheng Feng took a swift step forward and just managed to prop the warrior up against the embankment when a dark figure pounced towards him.

  Cheng Feng turned around and fired at the black shadow, but no bullets came out. The opponent was stunned for a moment, also pulled the trigger, but like Cheng Feng, there were no bullets left. With no time to hesitate, Cheng Feng threw away his gun and rushed towards the Indian soldiers.

  The Indian soldier was knocked to the ground by Cheng Feng, and the two men wrestled together in the trench. The Indian soldier's body was tall and strong, at least half a head taller than Cheng Feng. Cheng Feng stretched out his hands and grabbed the other man's neck, while the other man's hands also grasped his own neck. Cheng Feng felt that the other man's hands were very powerful, and as the other man's strength increased, he began to breathe rapidly, his constricted neck feeling like it was going to split open. The other man's heavy breathing sprayed directly onto his face, and Cheng Feng felt himself on the verge of collapse, his consciousness starting to leave his body. Just at that moment, the hands grasping his neck suddenly relaxed, and then the other man's strength gave out. Cheng Feng stood up, one hand clutching his neck, leaning against the side of the trench, and opening his mouth wide to breathe desperately.

  As he looked up, Old Li was standing in front of him with an axe in his hand, covered in blood, like a bloodthirsty evil spirit. The axe in his hand was still dripping with the blood of the Indian soldier he had just fought. The Indian soldier's head on the ground had almost been split open by Old Li's axe, and the white brain matter mixed with bright red blood, giving off a strong stench that hit his nose like a punch, making him feel extremely nauseous.

  Under the bayonets of the Japanese soldiers, all the Indian troops who charged into the trenches were killed, and the enemy's attack was repelled again. Old Li and Chengfeng supported each other, standing at the edge of the trench. The brief battle just now had almost exhausted Chengfeng's physical strength. As the crisis in front of him temporarily disappeared, his tense muscles also relaxed suddenly. Chengfeng felt that his legs were soft, his hands were shaking desperately, and there were sparkling golden stars mixed with everything he saw.

  The sky is bright, the newly born sun in southern Tibet is crimson, and the snow on the distant mountains is white.

  Everywhere on the battlefield were broken guns and equipment, bayonets snapped in two, rifles with broken stocks, grenades stained with blood, engineer shovels, and all sorts of tools that could be used to kill people. The bodies of fallen soldiers and Indian troops were piled high, frozen in various combat poses from when they were alive.

  A warrior's back is a bloody mess, apparently stabbed by several bayonets at the same time. The blood from his wounds has already coagulated. He lies on his side in front of the position, with something black clutched between his teeth. His left hand stretches out in front, pointing to an Indian soldier's corpse lying half a body length away. This Indian soldier is lying on his back, with both hands pressed against his neck. From the frozen expression on his face, it can be seen that he was so terrified before he died. The blood vessels and trachea on his neck were bitten off, and the entire front part of his neck was almost gone.

  Another warrior's head was heavily hit by something, and half of his skull had collapsed. However, under his body, on the corpse of an Indian soldier, the wounded left chest was inserted into the right hand of this warrior. Cheng Feng knew that the warrior had inserted his hand into the wound of the Indian soldier, tore open the ribs, and grasped the heart of the Indian soldier with one hand.

  There was also that little warrior who urinated in his pants, leaning on the left side of the trench. A machine gun bullet pierced through his helmet and then through his head, leaving a bloody mark at the back of his brain. The little warrior's left hand was blown off by a grenade from the elbow, and only a few blood vessels and meridians connected between his left leg and upper arm. The little warrior had an emergency package in his mouth, and his right hand holding a bayonet was inserted into these blood vessels. It turned out that the little warrior was preparing to cut off his own severed limb when he sacrificed his head.

  A row of bodies that had been sacrificed were pressed down on top of two Indian Army corpses, three people from the waist down were all bloody and mangled, it was clear that a row of soldiers had detonated hand grenades strapped to their own bodies.

  Cheng Feng was no longer feeling any distress. Just a day ago, he would have felt nauseous and wanted to vomit at the sight of these things, but after just a few dozen hours, Cheng Feng had already matured, he had become accustomed to this life-and-death struggle on the battlefield, with blood and flesh everywhere. Now all he could think about was that he had completed his mission, and the next outcome would be sacrificing himself, making his last effort to hold off the Indian army, buying time for the Seventh Company's reinforcements to arrive.

  "Alright, alright, are you okay?" Old Li saw Chengfeng spacing out and immediately asked.

  "Oh, it's nothing, old buddy, just a bit tired." Cheng Feng smiled at Old Li, while stretching out his own hands, which were slightly trembling from the excessive force used earlier.

  "Come on, brother, sit down." Old Li pulled Chengfeng to sit down in the trench.

  "The second row is gone, the tank regiment is also gone. They were very heroic, every brother fought to the end, they all fought until the last man." Old Li said, taking out a cigarette box from his chest pocket, shaking as he lit one up and took a fierce drag.

  "Old Li, I guessed it, we've completed the task, our Steel Eighth Company, not a single coward, I think in the end it's just a matter of making do." Cheng Feng said, leaning against the edge of the trench.

  "I'm old, I won't say anything else. To be able to die in battle with you, Old Li feels that he hasn't lived in vain." As Old Li spoke, he got a bit emotional and wiped away the tears at the corner of his eyes with the hand that wasn't holding a cigarette.

  "It's just a pity for these good brothers, they were still together before."

  "Old Li, don't think about it anymore, this is war!" I don't know when it started, but Cheng Feng has become the one comforting Old Li instead.

  "Lao Li, I've made up my mind. Death is nothing to be afraid of. To be able to walk with you and our brothers from Steel Eighth Company, I feel honored," Cheng Feng said, his face filled with pride.

  "Alas, I'm a bit regretful. How good it would be if there were no wars." Old Li said, taking out his family photo from his breast pocket and gazing at it seriously.

  "I can bring my family here to enjoy the beautiful scenery, these are really beautiful"

  "Yes, Old Li, but at least we died on our own soil." Chengfeng took over the family photo from Old Li and handed it back to him while gazing out at the distant mountains. In fact, he had also thought about coming here with Qianqian after the war to take in the majesty of the Tsangnan River Mountains.