The First Shot (5)

  Dozens of hand grenades exploded on the mountain top, flying sparks tore through the dark world, intense shaking shocked the ground, a burst of fresh blood erupted, and a severed arm fell in front of Chen Zizhong, thick sweat hair was clearly visible under the firelight.

  The American soldiers who reacted fastest and jumped out of their sleeping bags first were almost all blown up by hand grenades.

  "Damn it, luckily I reacted quickly!" Chen Zizhong took advantage of the firelight to shoot left and right, and several American soldiers were shot dead. Hou Fengzi stripped off his pants, yelling as he rushed forward, and the two American soldiers who were still getting out of their sleeping bags immediately became minced meat.

  Chen Zizhong was right, he encountered a US military team that dared to fight with bayonets. Dozens of tall and strong American soldiers rushed over, including a black soldier.

  "What's with you, always consorting with ghosts?" Chen Zizhong put away his twin guns and charged into the enemy ranks, gripping his Soviet-made rifle with a fixed bayonet.

  American troops grasped bayonets, guerrilla fighters leaped to the mountaintop, and two armies from three different countries collided like two giant fists, killing sparks flying everywhere, blood mist filling the air.

  To prevent friendly fire, both sides stopped shooting, and the burning caused by the grenade explosion also gradually extinguished. The world fell into darkness, and when the warriors jumped to the top of the mountain, they were still shouting and scolding, but soon merged into the darkness in silence.

  This is a life-and-death struggle taking place in the dark, with both sides relying solely on the sound of their shoes touching the ground and the direction of breathing to distinguish between friend and foe.

  The sound of metal clashing, bones shattering, the dagger stirring inside the body, the dying man's cry for help, all the chaotic sounds were thrown behind by the fierce warriors in battle.

  Fresh blood gushed out of the torn body, bursting in mid-air and falling onto the snowy ground, a stark red and white contrast.

  The fierce battle lasted only a dozen minutes or so, and twenty-odd young guerrilla fighters stopped breathing forever.

  The high ground on the mountain top suddenly came under a burst of light machine gun fire, several American soldiers were hit, Ding Ruo stood beside the light machine gun and shouted in English: "Hands up!"

  Ding Ruo Gang used his gun to lift up a burning cotton garment, the raging flames illuminated the battlefield, and the remaining American soldiers saw the menacing light machine guns and several Chinese soldiers ready to fire at any moment.

  American soldiers still clutched their weapons and refused to surrender, only dropping them one by one amidst a chorus of angry shouts.

  Chen Zizhong let out a slight sigh of relief, planted the spear covered in fresh blood into the ground, and panted heavily.

  The sudden footsteps crushed the ice on the ground, and three American soldiers ambushed Chen Zizhong from behind.

  The black soldier in the front rushed forward, and the gun stock slammed towards Chen Zizhong. Chen Zizhong dodged to the side, swung the box cannon and fired a shot, the black soldier fell to the ground like a broken package, his neck was pierced through.

  "Halt!" A warrior ran past from behind and blocked two American soldiers.

  Three bayonets flashed in the wind at the same time, the soldier's bayonet stabbed into the chest of the American on the right, and the American's bayonet on the right pierced through his ribcage. Chen Zizhong clearly saw a gleam of sharp blade exposed from the soldier's body.

  Another American soldier simultaneously stabbed a bayonet into the warrior's abdomen.

  "Charge, fire!" The warrior tightly grasped the bayonet that had been thrust into his abdomen, and a large amount of blood gushed out from his nose and mouth, filling the gaps between his teeth with bloody threads.

  Chen Zizhong's bullet and Hou Lianzhang's flying knife simultaneously shot into the body of an American soldier.

  The warrior's dying roar lingered in the air for a long time, making everyone's scalp numb. The cotton clothes were burned to ashes, and the world fell into boundless darkness once again.

  "A convoy is coming this way, estimated to be a battalion."

  The guerrilla force launched a silent attack, silently retreated, without time to clean up the battlefield, without time to take away captured supplies, and even without time to bury fallen comrades.

  After daybreak, US military officer Stevenson took off his cap and gazed at the "statue" in front of him for a long time.

  "The sculpture" consists of a Chinese soldier and two American soldiers facing each other, all three having long since stopped breathing.

  Two American soldiers, one holding a carbine with a fixed bayonet and the other an automatic shotgun, thrust their blades into the body of a Chinese soldier from his ribs and abdomen. The Chinese soldier's right hand held a Soviet-made rifle with a fixed bayonet, which was inserted into the chest cavity of the American soldier on the right, whose left hand tightly grasped the hilt of the blade that had been thrust into his abdomen from the left side. Three bullet holes were visible on the chest of the American soldier on the left, and a pistol-shaped flying dagger made of artillery shell casing was stuck in his forehead.

  The deceased Chinese soldier strides forward with his chest out, eyes wide open in anger, and his mouth still maintains the shape of a dying roar, the sound seemingly still echoing in the air.

  The sky was again drifting with goose feather-like snow, burying the mountain top in a funeral-like manner after the bloody battle. The remaining Chinese soldiers stood unyieldingly in the vast snow.

  Stevenson was a lieutenant colonel, known for wearing a flak jacket and carrying an M3 submachine gun. He was the deputy commander of the 187th Airborne Regimental Combat Team, which later participated in the massacre of Geochang POW camp during the Korean War and took part in the famous Battle of Chosin Reservoir, earning a reputation for fearlessness. Stevenson's main responsibility was training the KLO unit, known as the first special forces unit in South Korea, whose primary tasks included gathering intelligence in the North, rescuing downed pilots behind enemy lines, guiding US Air Force bombers and searching for downed airmen. Although the KLO did not perform well on the battlefield, Stevenson's efforts were consistently recognized.

  Two days ago, Stevenson led infantry Companies B and C, a battalion headquarters company, a communications platoon, and a composite cannon platoon to search for US paratroopers who had been air-dropped in the wrong place. By the time he arrived at the hill where the paratroopers were bivouacked last night, it was too late; except for the bodies left on the battlefield, all of the paratroopers had been captured.

  Stevenson was extremely puzzled as to why the paratroopers, who couldn't even be found by the US military themselves, were discovered and easily annihilated by the Chinese army. These paratroopers were the aces among aces.

  At least one-third of the paratroopers' uniforms were embroidered with the word "Ranger" and a sleeve badge in the shape of a ribbon, which is the emblem of the Rangers. The Rangers are composed of the most elite soldiers in the US military, with strict training and high morale. The famous Rambo is also one of them.

  Among the dead Rangers was a friend of Stevenson's, the black soldier who had been shot by Chen Zi-zhong after attempting to sneak up on him. He was Sergeant First Class Ralph W. Sutton, B Company, 2nd Ranger Battalion, and the only African American fatality in the night battle.

  The mountain wind howled, Stevenson involuntarily wrapped his military coat tightly around him.