Chapter 7: The Defector Dies

  After crawling out of the stuffy train carriage that had been stuck for over 40 hours, You Fei and others were just about to relax their muscles when Hu Weiyue suddenly shouted at the top of his lungs: "First squad, hurry up and line up!" The eleven second-class soldiers in the first squad slowly gathered together, not one of them looking obedient. Some shook their heads like a rattle drum, some pounded on their joints as if they had arthritis, and others were even picking their noses, making Hu Weiyue's nostrils flare with anger.

  "Everyone, stand at attention!" Hu Weiyue's voice rose several decibels.

  "Lao Hu, you've swallowed gunpowder, shouting so loudly." A person walked over with a smile, and You Fei looked around to find that it was the one person he least wanted to see - Class 4's monitor Qiu Lin.

  Hu Weiyue burst out laughing and ran over to hug Qiu Lin, the two of them seemed to be quite familiar with each other. Hu Weiyue shouted at his classmates: "Brothers, this is Qiu Lin, the class leader of Class 4, I, Hu Weiyue, have been through life and death with him, you must treat him with the same respect as me, got it?"

  "I'm afraid I can't guarantee that, Squad Leader Hu," You Fei sneered coldly.

  Hu Weiyue's face sank, and He Tianhao and others looked at You Fei with reverence. Out of the eleven soldiers, six listened to You Fei's orders. Hu Weiyue was extremely annoyed by this. He cleared his throat and said, "You Fei, don't stir up trouble for no reason!"

  "Haha, Old Hu, you and I have some grievances. The night he was supposed to be in the bridal chamber, I dragged him into the army, so how could he treat me like he treats you?" Qiu Lin said slowly from the side. Hu Weiyue finally understood and said: "Tonight we will rest at the station, take the time to get familiar with the guns on your body, don't go mute on the battlefield."

  "Yes!" everyone responded in unison.

  "Squad leader, these two days in the carriage, always compressing and decompressing, practicing but all in vain. We must issue some bullets to practice, otherwise even if we know how to shoot, when the time comes, if we can't hit the target, won't the enemy take our lives away?" He Tianhao said with a curved back and a chuckle.

  Hu Wei Yue's eyebrows twitched, and he shouted: "Although what you said makes sense, the superior has not given the order, so I won't let you practice with live ammunition. Once we get to the battlefield, there will be plenty of opportunities for you to shoot guns. As long as you survive for ten days or half a month without dying, every one of you will become a godly marksman. What's all this nonsense? Alright, go and practice! Lin Fu Gui, you're in charge of supervision. If anyone is lazy, I'll deal with them when I get back." After finishing speaking, Hu Wei Yue walked away with Qiu Lin, chatting and laughing as they went to gossip.

  Ptoo! You Fei spat a wad of phlegm heavily onto the ground, his teeth clenched with a cracking sound as he glared fiercely at Qiu Lin's back.

  "Don't slack off, now put in more effort and you'll have a better chance of survival on the battlefield. Anyone who thinks they can afford to be lazy will get a break." Yu Fei shouted in a stern tone. He Tianhao and the other five repeated those dull mechanical movements with renewed vigor, while the other four people saw that even the most restless ones were practicing diligently and didn't dare slack off either.

  Looking around, most of the other classes were resting, and it was hard to find another class that worked as hard as this one. At this time, Feng Ping happened to have just gotten off the train car, and when he passed by the side of Class A, he saw the soldiers working so hard, and he nodded silently in his heart. Feng Ping walked up to the crowd of Class A and stopped, saying: "Great, you're still practicing your shooting movements during rest time, it's really rare. Which class are you from? Who's your class leader?"

  As soon as they saw him, Feng Ping, a group of people stopped and stood at attention with their guns, shouting in unison: "Officer good!" You Fei took a step forward and said: "We are the first battalion, first company, fourth platoon, first squad. Our squad leader Hu Weiyue is not here right now, I am deputy squad leader You Fei!"

  "Deputy squad leader?" Feng Ping smiled, "I've been in the army for many years, but I've never seen anyone call themselves a deputy squad leader before. What does this 'deputy squad leader' of yours mean?"

  "You Fenglang said: "On the battlefield, death and injury are common occurrences. If Squad Leader Hu Weiyue unfortunately died for his country, and I am still alive, then among all the squad members, I would be the most qualified to be the new Squad Leader."

  "Bastard, who curses their own superior to death? If you want to sit in my position, don't you also have to burn incense every day and beg for me to die early?" Veins popped out on Feng Ping's neck.

  You Fei's eyes stared at Feng Ping, without revealing a hint of fear. He smiled and said: "Which soldier doesn't want to climb up? It's just that you have to step on the corpses of those who came before you to get there. I don't mean to curse others, I just believe I'll be the one who makes it out alive."

  Feng Ping took a deep breath and said in a low voice, "You Fei, good, I've remembered your name. I hope you can live for a long time." After that, Feng Ping left with big strides.

  Feng Ping walked away, and everyone's suspended hearts finally put down. Jiang Zhuang panted and said: "Big... big brother, you scared me to death! Didn't you hear what Hu Ban Zhang said? If a soldier disobeys an official, that's... that's punishable by gunfire!"

  You Fei pinched the fatty flesh on Jiang's face with great force, and Jiang cried out in pain. You Fei laughed and said: "Big fat Jiang, I'm still alive and kicking!"

  On the other side, Hu Weiyue and Qiu Lin were chatting happily when Qiu Lin suddenly asked: "Old Hu, what do you think of that kid You Fei in your class?"

  "Yóu fēi? Liú lǐ liú qì de, liǎng yǎn zhū zǐ lǎo zài dǎ zhuàn, cāi bù tòu tā zài dǎ shén me guī zhǔ yi. Yǒu shí hou jiàn tā yǎn zhū zǐ yī zhuàn ya, wǒ zhè xīn li jiù fā huàng. Tā yǐ qián shì gè liú máng ba, tā nà liù gè xiōng dì bǐ qǐ tā lái què shì chà dé tài yuǎn!" Hú Wèi Yuè suí kǒu yìng dào. "ěi, nǐ wèn zhè ge gàn má, wǒ kàn tā hěn bù dé bǎ nǐ zhěng gè tiáo jìn dù lǐ qù, nǐ bù huì shì xīn li pà le ba, hè hè!"

  "He is a sharp blade that has yet to be unsheathed!"

  "What did you say?" Hu Weiyue asked.

  "Oh, nothing, where were we just now?" Qiu Lin steered the conversation back again.

  Hu Weiyue said with flying spittle: "Just now I was talking about that year when we went to the mountains of northern Guangdong to suppress bandits, that time was really cool, I still remember..." The two chatted and reminisced about their past glories.

  After Feng Ping left, the group of people all started practicing again in a half-squatting position. Huang Long stopped and shouted: "Big brother, I have an emergency, going to relieve myself!" After saying that, he didn't wait for You Fei's response and ran off.

  "You're really lazy, full of crap!"

  After a while, Huang Long returned from the restroom and mysteriously pulled You Fei to one side. You Fei was annoyed: "I said what's with the nonsense, why drag it out and talk about it!"

  "Big brother, I just heard many people discussing escaping!" Huang Long said in a low voice.

  "Young Long, this is no small matter, deserters will be beheaded, did you hear that clearly?"

  "Huang Long nodded and said, 'Of course, boss. I understood everything. I overheard it when I was in the restroom earlier. They're going to make a run for it tonight. From the sound of it, there are quite a few people involved. What do you think? Should we also take advantage of the chaos...'"

  "This matter should not be mentioned to others again. You'd better pretend you haven't heard it, and continue with what you were doing. Got it?"

  "But!" Huang Long said with a bitter face.

  "There's no 'if', but if something goes wrong, I'll twist your head off!" You Fei said sternly.

  Huang Long nodded with a gloomy face, and You Fei gave Huang Long's head a heavy blow before returning to practice.

  It was late at night, the waiting hall of the train station was filled with soldiers lying horizontally and vertically, each holding their guns tightly and curled up into a ball. The large hall had only two dim kerosene lamps, the light flickering on and off in an eerie manner.

  A figure slowly stood up from the pile of people on the ground, followed by more and more figures standing up. These people moved stealthily in the crowd, slowly making their way to the entrance of the hall like ghosts. The two guards who were supposed to be guarding the hall were also leaning against the door, fast asleep with their guns in hand. The individuals slipped out one by one, the entire process was carried out without a single sound, just like a group of ghostly spirits.

  As soon as they walked out of the hall, they rushed to run towards the outside streets. However, before they could run more than a dozen steps away, gunshots rang out. The surrounding area suddenly lit up with many torches, illuminating the empty space in front of the train station like daylight. The people running ahead had already fallen to the ground, and the slowly reddening ground indicated that these people had bid farewell to this world. The remaining people were frightened and hastily crouched on the ground, trembling with fear. In front of them, the police squad aimed their guns at them, how could they not be afraid?

  Feng Ping, wearing a long coat, walked out from behind the guards who were holding live ammunition. The guards were half of Yu Hanmou's original guard unit, all of them seasoned veterans who had been through many battles. Looking at the over 200 people in front of him who were about to be executed, Feng Ping felt a surge of indignation.

  The soldiers in the hall were also awakened, and each company hastily formed up, moving quickly from the gate to the open space outside. Many companies were short of men, and some had only a few people left, with the squad leader yelling for half a day but unable to gather anyone. It took a moment for all personnel to rush out. Feng Ping saw the disorganized personnel and was very unhappy in his heart, thinking: With this quality, it's not just that they can't fight against the Japanese, I'm afraid they can't even beat the bandits in the mountains. During the reorganization time, he had to give them a good beating, otherwise, when they went to the front line, they could only be cannon fodder.

  Feng Ping pulled out his pistol and fired two shots into the night sky, and the originally noisy soldiers immediately fell silent. Feng Ping held his gun and pointed at the deserters in the middle, saying: "These people attempted to escape from the army under the cover of night, according to military law, all deserters should be executed on the spot. Not killing them would not be enough to uphold military law, not killing them would not be enough to maintain military discipline, not killing them would not be enough to comfort the comrades who shed blood on the front lines, not killing them would not be enough to comfort the spirits of the countless civilians who died under the Japanese guns. The entire guard company, raise your guns, take aim, fire!" After Feng Ping finished speaking, the sound of gunfire crackled, and the cries of pain were brief, because many people were hit in the head and died instantly. The guard company was indeed worthy of being Yu Hanmou's personal bodyguard company, each one with excellent marksmanship.

  When the gunfire stopped, more than 200 people were unable to stand up. Feng Ping looked around and saw that the soldiers' heads were all bowed down, and the entire scene was silent as a tomb. "Whoever dares to desert will be killed! The 137th Regiment does not allow any cowards to exist! This time we go north to fight against Japan, we must have the determination to sacrifice our lives for the country, and the will to die together with the enemy. We must preserve the unyielding war spirit of China! Did you hear that?!

  "Yes!" The soldiers all shouted in response.

  "Alright, everyone take a rest. I had you all sleep in the main hall earlier to test out that scum who was just eliminated. During wartime, it's not allowed for troops to sleep under a roof. If enemy planes come to attack, you'll all be buried under rubble. From now on, everyone will be sleeping in the open."

  The soldiers of the guard company quickly removed the corpses from the ground, but no one cleaned up the blood on the ground. Feng Ping shouted: "Each company will find a place to rest quickly and continue to rest. We'll have an early morning exercise tomorrow!" After finishing speaking, Feng Ping turned around and left.

  No one dared to lie down in the place where the fleeing soldiers had fallen, but so close to the ground, the gentle breeze blew over, and the bloody smell was very strong, stimulating the soldiers to recall the scene of more than 200 people being shot just now. Everyone's heart was trembling with fear, and no one could sleep anymore. All eyes were wide open, and their bodies trembled slightly, unsure whether it was due to the cold or fear.

  "Huang Long trembled with his voice and said in a low tone to You Fei who was lying beside him: "Big brother, it's so dangerous!"

  "Stop the nonsense, go to sleep!" You Fei turned around and ignored Huang Long, his eyes were wide open. He used to think that he was more ruthless than others, but a few minutes ago, over 200 people just ended like that, more than 200 lives were gone just like that. This had exceeded You Fei's psychological endurance. It seemed that officials really didn't take soldiers seriously, and this saying was indeed accurate.

  The wind howled mournfully, and the soldiers lying on the empty ground could not fall asleep for a long time...