Volume 1 Chapter 4 Born from Fire, Buried in a Bullet Hole (2)

  Xu Kai's wound was a huge bloody hole that couldn't be stitched, Ding Ru had tried several times, spread his hands and helplessly watched the blood on his hands congeal into ice in the cold wind.

  "Hurry up! Carry it on your back! No, lift it away... damn it!" Chen Zizhong panicked, Xu Kai was like a straw target pierced by a bayonet, and would shatter into pieces with just one touch.

  "Stop it, stop wasting gauze." Xu Kai pushed away Ding Ruogang, who refused to give up, as the light yellow gauze was stained with a striking crimson.

  "Get moving! Are you stupid?" Chen Zizhong looked back, crossing the US and South Korean military blockade line during the day and safely arriving at the field hospital was no easy task, let alone with Xu Kai bleeding profusely, he could pass out after walking a few steps.

  The warriors looked at each other, and soon dragged back several corpses from the pile, stripped off their American military uniforms, tore them open, and bound simple stretchers. Chen Zizhong limped and urged with a loud roar in his mouth.

  "I said no!" Xu Kaitou's eyes widened in shock, staring at Chen Zizhong who turned his head away.

  "Lao Chen." Xu Ke's gaze skipped over the gauze and the first-aid kit confiscated from the American corpse, saying in a low voice: "If you still consider this living dead man your company commander, come and chat with me for a bit."

  Chen Zizhong's Adam's apple moved with difficulty, cutting like a knife.

  "Ah!"

  The warriors dispersed, Chen Zizhong knelt beside Xu Kai, grasping his hand tightly. Their hands were all trembling, and thick blood dripped from the edge of their palms.

  "Old Chen, don't mind me saying this. In my eyes, you're still a rookie, only those soldiers from the establishment of our regiment, they were the real veterans, but... but most of them are dead now, I'm ashamed to be alive, it's good now, too good."

  Xu Kai gasped heavily, spitting out blood foam. His gaze slid over Chen Zizhong's face and looked up at the cloudless sky: "In the past, when we were in Yan'an, it was bitter, often a whole team of soldiers would starve to death, and only after several months would they find a pile of white bones surrounded by guns... Now it's also bitter, but it's different. Do you know why it's different? We're in Korea!"

  Chen Zizhong's hand tightened, Xu Kai's gaze was like a candle that had burned out "If you hold a gun, be prepared to be born in fire and buried in bullets. I've been ready for a long time... You new recruits have become squad leaders, I'm at ease... This gun wasn't held in vain... In the past, in the future... even if I die, I'll be content..."

  "Old Xu, stop stalling, what's your wish? I'll definitely make it happen." Chen Zizhong's heart was racing as he stared at the faint light swaying in Xu Ke's eyes.

  "I've long been prepared to be born in fire and buried in a bullet hole!"

  Xu Kai burst out laughing, with fresh blood shooting out of his mouth like an arrow. His eyes were hooked on Chen Zizhong's waist as he said, "This wound... don't waste it, just bury me in a bullet hole."

  Anger, unbearable, despair, compromise, several emotions flashed in Chen Zizhong's eyes, he finally "ah" pulled out a hand grenade, turned his back, and gently placed it beside Xu Kai.

  "Old Chen, the troops have been handed over to you. You said before that our Sharp Blade Regiment is a stubborn and unruly one."

  "With a stubborn and arrogant attitude, Chen Zizhong stumbled and staggered towards the battlefield, for the first time in his life feeling the weight of the word 'escape'."

  An explosion sounded behind Chen Zizhong, and a large area of snow on the canyon above slid down, burying the shell hole with a rumble, forming a huge white tomb.

  Chen Zizhong scrambled up the battlefield, ripped open his shirt, and faced the biting cold wind, roaring: "You're all damn stubborn!"

  Ding Ru Gang stared at Chen Zi Zhong from afar for over ten or twenty minutes without blinking an eye, muttering to himself.

  The general offensive began in the late afternoon, with military bugles and trumpets sounding simultaneously. The sharp trumpet sound echoed endlessly in the mountains, this unique Northeastern trumpet blew from the north to the southeastern coast, from the southeastern coast to northern Korea, every time it sounded, he and his comrades-in-arms attacking cities and strongholds would see red flags all over the fields.

  On the high ground, Chen Zizhong witnessed a magnificent and majestic war painting: under the cold moonlight and starlight, several dozen kilometers of battlefield stretched out, with soldiers from both sides engaging in intense fighting along the highway, their cries shaking the heavens, countless tracer bullets and flares crisscrossing the sky, as if pulling back the dusk to dawn. Artillery shells ripped through the air with dense whistling sounds, while hand grenades, explosive packs, and dynamite sticks detonated with muffled explosions that echoed incessantly from the valley below.

  "Old Xu!" Chen Zizhong waved two box-shaped cannons, like shells bursting out of the barrel, scorching and merciless.

  Four M-4 medium tanks were facing the valley in a U-shape, with South Korean soldiers sitting in front of diesel stoves eating dinner. When Chen Zizhong led his men to charge over, they abandoned the tanks that did not have time to start and escaped several hundred meters away.

  A pot of boiling beef stew sat on the diesel stove, a bottle of wine with its cork removed emitted a strong aroma, Chen Zizhong rushed forward a few steps before suddenly stopping and turning around, his dirty and cracked hands scooped out two pieces of beef from the pot and stuffed them into his mouth, bent down to pick up the wine bottle and took several big gulps, tucked it under his arm, and then charged out again.

  Abandoned American and South Korean artillery, tanks, armored vehicles and all sorts of cars stretched out as far as the eye could see. Scattered documents, papers, photos, shells, US military flags, ROK Taegukgi flags and piles of military supplies were everywhere.

  The myth of the invincibility of the US Cavalry was thus shattered.

  The Korean soldiers who abandoned their helmets and armor were forced to surrender, they were almost scared silly by the people who captured them: The faces that had been smoked black by gunpowder smoke grew messy beards like weeds, their uniforms had long since lost their original color, and several tufts of cotton were exposed in tatters. They wore two pairs of US military boots of different sizes on their feet, the knees of their pants were ground to a thin paper-like texture, and the crotch was torn open for more than ten inches. What's even more terrifying is that he had a bottle of wine under his armpit, chewing wildly without any restraint, and with a random shot, he smashed the US military who was hiding under the car to resist.

  "Damn it, what a waste!" Chen Zizhong raised the empty wine bottle and poured the last few drops into his mouth. He shouted loudly towards the distance: "Second squad leader, you can speak Korean, ask who their cook is, drag him out to the snowy ground and kill him, this beef stew tastes like cowhide sugar."

  Ding Ru Gang walked up to him with a dark face and gave a crisp salute: "Squad leader, our army treats prisoners of war well."

  "Can't even tell when someone's joking?" Chen Zizhong lifted his hem and sniffed hard, the wine had spilled all over his clothes in the chase.

  "You are a commander, there's no joking around in the army!" Ding Ru's eyebrows were tightly knitted, unyielding.

  "I used to say that Chiang Kai-shek deserved to die, now should I take a boat to Taiwan?" Chen Zizhong spat out the unchewed beef onto the ground and left Ding Rugang who was on the verge of exploding with anger, turning around to look for wine instead.