Chapter Thirty-Six

  BOOM! I dodged to the side and hid behind a wall, hearing the deafening sound of the hand grenade explosion. The blast was so close that the shockwave mixed with shrapnel and mud rushed into the ruins where Mountain Bear and I were hiding... along with the unlucky guy's blood...

  "Hey, this is it, can you safely take us out?" The voice of the mountain bear came from beside my ear, his teasing tone making me feel extremely embarrassed.

  "Hehe~" I had no reason for myself, so I could only smile awkwardly and gave him an apologetic glance.

  "Damn it!! You've wasted the only chance to survive, the last 5 minutes!! If you haven't thought it through yet, don't blame us for being ruthless!!" Someone outside shouted, "Why didn't we take him down too?" Regretting not firing a second shot, he could only start regretting in his heart.

  "Hey! Last 5 minutes, are you going out?" The mountain bear leaned against the wall, while I walked into the house, to the corpse of the assault team we killed earlier, ready to rummage for something useful.

  "What do you think?" He bent down and pulled out a water bottle from the waist of the corpse, casually tossing it to Mountain Bear, who caught it nimbly. Then he asked him a question in return, and afterwards went to another corpse's waist to pull out a water bottle for himself.

  "What about you?" He slowly walked over, sat down beside the mountain, opened the lid of his canteen and took a small sip. The mountain bear had already thrown the question back at him.

  "Do you want to go out?" The self who had a drink of water kicked the question back to the mountain bear again.

  "Damn it!!!" He only said one word, but I understood what he meant, 'You don't even want to go out, why are you calling me out?'

  "My choice is the same as yours." I replied faintly.

  "Brother, how old are you this year?" The mountain bear leaned his head against the wall, his eyes gazing out of the gap in the ruins at the sky above, and slowly asked this question.

  "I'll be 24 soon, and in two more months, I'll be 25. You should know that, right?" I didn't look up at the sky like he did, but instead casually placed the water bottle by my feet. Lowering my head, I took out a magazine from the pistol, mechanically ejecting the bullets, reloading, ejecting, and reloading again.

  "I know I shouldn't ask again, right? Brother, I just passed my 30th birthday." His words made me stunned, usually, I only knew he was older than me, but I didn't know his age was actually that big. As I looked at him with a surprised gaze, he also became embarrassed.

  "Don't look at me like that, what's wrong? Didn't think I'd be this old?" He threw back a question, looking embarrassed.

  "No, I think you're at least 40, didn't expect you to be so young!!" As soon as my words came out, I saw his eyes widening in an instant, and his mouth opening, feeling like he wanted to bite me. "Just kidding, haha, just kidding."

  "Ah!!! The mountain bear took off his helmet and smashed it on my head, 'Ouch!!!' As I covered my head in pain, he said, 'Damn! Am I that old? You're making fun of your brother, you little brat don't want to live anymore!! Haha~' He couldn't help but burst out laughing as soon as he finished speaking."

  At this time, I also raised my head and looked at the sky above me. It's already afternoon now, the time is 16:00, and the sun will set in a few hours. "Do you think we can see tomorrow's sun?" I slowly let out the words that were about to come out of my mouth, and even I could feel the helplessness in my own voice.

  "No way!" The mountain bear loudly answered my question.

  "Because it's going to be cloudy tomorrow!" I took over his words and spoke out the answer to the question.

  "Haha~~~" This laughter is what I and Xiongmao (Panda) let out together, we are laughing happily, regardless of whether there are tears in the corners of our eyes.

  "First time seeing you little brat laugh like this!" The mountain bear's question made me stunned.

  "Really?" A puzzled me asked this question.

  "Normally, you kid, either don't smile or when you do, it's just a skin-deep smile. It makes people feel uneasy when they see you smiling." Mountain Bear's words were still spoken in a tone with a hint of a smile, but hearing his words didn't make me feel that happy. "Since the war started, I've never laughed so happily like this before." The words I said to myself, although I don't want to admit it, are actually true.

  "Do you remember that young man we saw last time when we were having dinner at the restaurant?" Mountain Bear's question made me pause. 'Why did Mountain Bear bring him up?'

  "Is that the guy who wants to be my partner? What's he doing here?"

  "It's that guy, Zhang Feng or something. Know him? That guy also came here and did over 50 in a month!" Mountain Bear replied with an admiring tone to my question.

  "Does this have anything to do with me?" A puzzled self asked out this question.

  "It's okay, it's okay. Ah! Ask you a question?"

  "Alright, go ahead." 'Are you starting to have problems too?'

  "Why don't you find a partner anymore? A two-man sniper team is quite normal!" As the bear's words came, I raised my head and looked at him deeply, then lowered it...

  "Coward!!" A voice echoed in my memory.

  "I'm not! Why are you saying I am!!" The voice in her heart loudly refuted.

  "Isn't that right? Using your partner's life to achieve success!! Is the medal really that important to you?" The voice rose again, with many more questioning and disdain.

  "I didn't!! I just wanted to kill one more enemy!!" I was still refuting, but I found that my voice was so weak, the feeling of being so weak......

  "Kill more enemies!!! I think you're killing your own people instead!!! You've had three partners, each of whom died in less than a week. Is the life of a comrade not even worth one digit on your record!!!!!" Still questioning, still questioning......

  "No, no, really no, please, please...please don't say that anymore, I really didn't use their lives to exchange for anything?" The current self has already begun to beg, begging the voice not to question me again, not to continue tearing open my scars.

  "None? Hmph... Then you're a broom star, always harming the people around you while you yourself are safe and sound, broom star!!!!!" This voice spoke out the words I least wanted to hear.

  "No!! I'm not!! I really am not!!!!" Still refuting, still pleading, still futilely trying to prove something.

  "Broom star!! Broom star!! Broom star......" The questioning in my heart continues, still repeating the three words I least want to hear, repeating......

  "Please, don't say it anymore... Please..." The me in my heart is still futilely resisting, futilely begging...

  "Brother? What's wrong? Brother???" Suddenly, I found a pair of hands shaking me, pulling me out from my memories. I lifted my head and saw the worried expression on Shan Xiong's face, while at the same time hearing his concerned words. "Don't be so good to me, you'll end up getting killed because of me."

  "Want to know why I don't have a partner?" I raised the water bottle, tilted my head back, and let the cool water flow over my face, also allowing me to temporarily sober up. With water all over my face, I didn't wipe it off, but instead let it drip slowly from my chin, leaned my head against the wall, gazing at a cloud drifting by in the sky, and faintly asked San Xiong this question.

  "Alright, but if you don't want to say it, I don't want to know either." The considerate bear also looked up at the sky and said his words in a light tone.

  "My former partners, they're all dead... I've had three partners, and they're all dead." My words drifted faintly into the bear's ears. I didn't have the interest to look at his expression; I was afraid, afraid that he would leave me.

  "Really?" The mountain bear's words were just a faint feeling, without surprise or any other emotions, just faintly, faintly...

  "Don't you want to know how they died?" I asked in puzzlement.

  "Why would you want to know?" The bear's words made me feel like he was puzzled.

  "Don't you know what people used to call me?" I couldn't help but loudly expose my old wounds.

  "I know! But knowing, what's the use?" Still in a calm tone, calm...

  "Coward! Coward! I used to be called a coward!! I always use my partner as bait, and then I get the achievement, you know? Sweeper Star!! I was also called Sweeper Star!!! People who are with me always die cleanly!!! Aren't you afraid that I'll get you killed too?" Unable to bear it, I suddenly stood up, stood in front of Mountain Bear, grabbed his collar, and loudly showed him the deepest wound in my heart.

  "How was it? Don't know, so what!!" The mountain bear still spoke in a light tone, making me feel like he didn't care about me at all, and had become very cold.

  "It's all my fault, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry..." The weak self let go of the bear's collar and sat on the ground, muttering these words from his mouth.

  "Brother, since I consider you as a brother, that means we are brothers for life. I know about your past, but I've never brought it up with you. Do you know why? Because I consider you as a brother, this is the battlefield, anything can happen, and we might even be sacrificed by our superiors. You're just lucky, those who talk about you are jealous of you, do you know that?" He sat down next to me, lowered his head, and suddenly a pair of shoes appeared in my line of sight. Then, it was Mountain Bear's large hands, pinching my face, forcing my head up, making our eyes meet. From his eyes, I saw the trust he had in me, he opened his mouth and said words that calmed me down.

  "Are you really not concerned?" I asked hesitantly, still filled with doubts.

  Bam! A slap landed on my face, "Wake up, you idiot!! Where did you get so many ideas from? You're always ignoring other people's gazes, why are you now making a fuss with me here?! You're really annoying!!! My face, covered by his hand, was burning with pain. Hearing Mountain Bear's words, I suddenly felt like laughing, really wanted to laugh at my own foolishness...

  Leaned against the wall again, looked up at the sky, "Thank you, really thank you."

  "What's with all the nonsense? Brothers are brothers for life, got it?" The bear's words were filled with impatience.

  "You still have one minute... don't blame me for being impolite later, 56... 55... 54... 53... 52......" The voice from outside came at this time, still counting down the seconds.

  "Do you regret it?" The mountain bear heard the words outside and cocked his gun, then asked me this question.

  "Never happened!" I replied to the mountain bear's words, and also removed the rifle's magazine, replacing it with my specially made bullets, with a "click" sound as I loaded them.

  "When we get downstairs, remember to ask Xiao Feng to introduce a wife for my brother. This matter is entrusted to you." Shan Xiong said after finishing his words, raised the water bottle and drank the last mouthful of water.

  "Don't worry! With a brother like you, it's great!" The speaker himself also drew out two handguns and began to check the bullets.

  "With a brother like you, I'm happy as an older brother!" He has already started checking if there's anything wrong with the detonator of the grenade.

  "Right, happy birthday..." I said, having finished checking my pistol. With the sound of two pistols being cocked, Mountain Bear and I stood up together, leaning against the broken wall. At this time, the countdown outside had already reached 15...