Chapter 2

  (The following is written from the perspective of that female nurse. I will make a note when switching back.)

  The war on our homeland has been going on for 2 years. When the war started, I was still studying at nursing school. By the time I graduated, the army had come to recruit nurses for the front lines. We who studied in the rear never knew about the cruelty of the war in the front and didn't know about the dangers there. I was just a little nurse who knew nothing, as my mother would say, still a little girl.

  I knew nothing, despite the officer recruiting nurses telling us about the cruelty of the battlefield, my parents trying to stop me, but I still signed up and boarded the southbound train. I didn't know what I was expecting, every time I saw the soldiers escorting us, I looked at his firm eyes, dark face, and listened to his loud voice as he told us about his experiences on the battlefield, I would imagine it. What was I imagining? Was it that when I got there, a soldier of my own would come to protect me? I always asked myself this softly, but I didn't know.

  The squad leader who escorted us, the one I just mentioned, from other soldiers' mouths, I learned that they all called him "Mountain Bear" because of his massive physique? "Hehe~" Thinking about this made me laugh out loud. We also heard that he was a combat hero. Every time we begged him to tell us stories about his battles, many people would gather around him. Listening to his voice take us to the battlefield filled with smoke and danger, he wouldn't tell stories, but from his words, we could still feel the thrill of hitting enemies when he fired his gun and the danger of bullets whizzing past his ears. Every time he talked about bullets flying past his ears and knocking off his helmet, we listeners couldn't help but cover our mouths with our hands, it was really so dangerous! But in our hearts, a strange excitement would emerge, is it anticipation for that feeling? I don't know.

  But every time he got to the last part, he never continued, and when we urged him to go on, he just smiled foolishly and then fell silent. One time, I accidentally passed by a corner and saw him there, smoking and wiping away tears. I didn't know why he was crying - I had heard before that our soldiers on the battlefield were bleeding but not crying. I also didn't dare ask him, afraid he wouldn't answer me, afraid he would know I had discovered his secret.

  Later, I still found out the answer to this question. One day when we were chatting with other soldiers, I inadvertently asked this question. At that time, almost all the soldiers stopped talking, and the atmosphere suddenly became very depressing, and my friends blamed me for saying the wrong thing. Just as I was about to cry in self-reproach, their deputy platoon leader broke the silence and told me the reason. It turned out that at the time, they had a regiment stationed on high ground without any external support, and the order from their superiors was to hold out for 3 days before reinforcements would arrive. They really did hold out for 3 days, and there were three regiments of troops below the mountain, plus the enemy had artillery. Later, when the reinforcements arrived, the entire regiment was left with only 7 soldiers, including him and that Mountain Bear.

  When he spoke to the end, I could see that his eyes were also filled with tears. However, he endured and didn't let the tears fall. Our eyes didn't have his endurance, when he spoke halfway through, my sisters and I had already cried out loud. Then he said a sentence: "Chinese soldiers shed blood but not tears, but that's towards enemies, towards the departure of our own brothers, don't we even have the right to cry?"

  Then came the painful training, which only lasted for a month. It was bitter and tiring. But I persisted, just because of that deputy captain's one sentence. At that time, I told myself in my heart that I must make them shed fewer tears, so I persisted.

  Then we went to the battlefield, still with the soldiers who escorted me. The other sisters had all gone elsewhere, and I was left behind to become their combat nurse. After completing our training, one day, Shan Xiong came running to tell me that headquarters had issued an order for us to support a position where the soldiers had been holding out for 6 days. Shan Xiong was very anxious at the time, urging me to hurry up, faster and faster.

  On the vehicle, I found out that including our squad, there was a whole battalion going to support that position. On the vehicle, Shan Xiong was extremely anxious, and at that time, I could already understand his mood. He was worried that we were moving too slowly, and in his words, if we were late by one minute, one more soldier would leave us on the battlefield. However, we were still far away from there, and after a whole day of bumping around on the vehicle, we finally arrived at our destination. Because we were afraid of being detected by the enemy, we began our long trek, and it wasn't until noon on the second day that we finally arrived.

  I was left on the mountain closest to the battlefield, with two snipers by my side, and they were quietly sneaking up to the battlefield, preparing for a surprise attack. I lay on the mountain, able to clearly overlook the battlefield below, where our soldiers defended their positions with their lives. But when I saw it, all I could utter was "Oh my god, what am I seeing?" and I lost all language ability. What I saw was a blackened wasteland, the sniper whispered softly in my ear. There, where we had dug trenches everywhere, now all I saw were patches of scorched earth and people like ants.

  As I strained to see clearly, the sniper next to me handed me a pair of binoculars, and from them, I could see even more clearly. I saw that the enemy was charging, but they were moving very slowly, as if they were afraid of something. But where were our soldiers? I didn't see any, only the enemy. Wait, wait, one of the enemies suddenly flew out, and then another one was shot flying out. The sniper next to me whispered in my ear, "That's our sniper, looks like he's using an anti-material rifle..." I no longer paid attention to the voice next to me, all my attention was focused on the person who fired the shot. I could see him suddenly stand up, fire, and then quickly crouch down to avoid bullets. Every time I saw him stand up, my heart almost jumped out, but when I saw him safely crouching down, I wanted to cheer for him.

  But just as I couldn't help but cheer him on loudly, he stood up and suddenly fell into the pit before even firing a shot. I didn't know what had happened. At this time, the sniper next to me muttered to himself, answering my question: "Damn it, why haven't they given the signal to attack yet? Can't they see that there's only one person left on the entire battlefield?" "Oh my god!!!" I was shocked and could only cover my mouth with my hand. He was all alone now and injured too, no way, I had to go down. Just as I was about to run down, another sniper grabbed me and told me that the people below hadn't entered their attack positions yet, so we couldn't start attacking yet.

  No way, I suddenly saw the person in front of me, a burst of smoke rose up. "Damn it, we're too late, he's pulled the honor shot." The words "honor shot" echoed in my mind, and I had one here too, but he was dead...I don't know why, but tears started falling from my eyes. But I still wanted to know how many people he took with him, so I continued to look through the binoculars with blurry eyes. Suddenly! I saw someone jump out of a crater, and the entire battlefield was quiet at that moment. Then I saw him raise his hand, and the people around him suddenly fell down one by one, only then did I hear the sound of gunfire coming from afar. Next, I saw him try to roll towards a distant mound, but he must have been hit suddenly, because he didn't make it behind the mound, and again raised his hand, and another person fell down. "Must be the guy who shot him earlier," I said to myself. Then I saw him continuously fire his gun, and another person fell down. "Damn it, how long do we have to wait? He's already out of ammo." Just as I was wondering why he threw away his gun through the binoculars, I heard the voice of a sniper next to me. Next, I saw him pull out what looked like a dagger, and try to charge forward, but then another gunshot rang out, and I saw him fall to the ground again. "How long do we have to wait? Can't you see our brothers down there are suffering?" Another sniper shouted out loud. He tried to throw away the dagger in his hand, but I saw his arm only lift up once before falling back down with another gunshot, and the dagger flew far away. "Oh my god, I can't watch this anymore," a voice said next to me at that moment, followed by the sound of a gun being cocked, as if someone was holding him back. And I was still looking at the person in the binoculars. It seemed like everything had ended, he just sat there quietly, and the people around him were shouting something, but I couldn't hear it. His limbs seemed to have been hit, and they were all limp and unable to lift up.

  Just as we thought he was going to be captured, his left hand suddenly went to his neck. "What's in his hand? Is he going to kill himself?" Just as the sniper next to me shouted this out, a voice came through my earpiece telling us to get ready to start the attack. Upon hearing two loud shots from beside me, the two snipers opened fire. I only saw the two people closest to him being shot and flying to one side. Then, what happened after that I don't know because I was rushing over quickly, 'I must save him' my heart kept repeating this phrase...