Chapter 184 The Flames of the Past, the Baggage of the Future
1937.
These four numbers, like four heavy mountains, weighed heavily on Zhou Jue's heart.
She could even smell the heavy stench of gunpowder and blood that had traveled across time and space, drifting from the dust of history.
That is not a strange world where one can laugh and rage, nor a fantastical plane where one can explore and find treasure. It is a scar etched into the bones and blood of every Chinese son and daughter, a wound that can never heal.
Zhou Jue stood there, silent for a long time.
"What's wrong, Xiaojue?" Qi Si keenly noticed that something was wrong with her and asked with concern.
Zhou Jue suddenly came to her senses. She looked up at Qi Si's face, which was full of concern. She opened her mouth, but found that her throat was extremely dry. She took a deep breath and forced herself to calm down.
This is not just her problem.
"Qi Si, my next mission world is here."
She didn't hide anything and relayed the task issued by the system to Qi Si word for word.
When Zhou Jue uttered the words "the 26th year of the Republic of China," Qi Si's usually calm face showed a sudden and intense emotion. Her pupils contracted sharply, and her hand, which was at her side, unconsciously clenched into a fist.
She didn't speak, but just looked at Zhou Jue quietly, her eyes churning with a turbulent emotion that no one else could understand.
After a long pause, she finally spoke slowly, her voice filled with extreme restraint: "Are you sure?"
"I'm sure."
"Report this immediately!" Qi Si's tone was firm: "This isn't just your task, it's... all of ours!"
...
The message was transmitted upwards at top speed.
When Chief Zhang and a group of gray-haired old generals appeared in the conference room, she knew that the country attached even greater importance to this time travel trip than the last one.
These elderly men, who had survived countless battles and remained unmoved even in the face of imminent collapse, shared a remarkably similar expression.
Shock, astonishment, and then a mixture of pain and anticipation.
"The 26th year of the Republic of China..." Chief Zhang murmured to himself, his fingers tapping lightly on the table. His eyes, which always held a kind smile, were now bloodshot. "That year... my father was only fifteen years old, having just completed the Long March with the troops..."
“My grandfather died on the battlefield of Shanghai, and his remains were never recovered,” said a bespectacled, scholarly general, his voice hoarse.
"The hardships of those years, once experienced, are enough..."
Someone spoke in an almost inaudible voice.
This sentence was like a spark, instantly igniting the tinderbox in everyone's hearts in the entire conference room.
Commander Zhang slammed his hand on the table and stood up. His usually gentle voice was now filled with resolute determination: "Since we have the opportunity to go there, even if it becomes a parallel world, we can still make those sacrificed ancestors suffer less! We can let them have a full meal before they sacrificed themselves! We can let them have a dose of penicillin when their wounds are festering!"
penicillin!
These four words made everyone's eyes light up!
"Yes! Medicine! The last thing we have in abundance right now is medicine!"
"And food! Compressed biscuits, high-energy chocolate! Those will keep you full!"
"What about weapons? With our current technology, even if we build the simplest Type 56 semi-automatic rifle, it would be a godsend to bring over there!"
"Feasible!" A general in charge of the technical assessment immediately agreed: "Aren't those invaders just relying on their airplanes and artillery, on their superior weaponry, to invade us with such impunity? Then let's bring out even more advanced weapons!"
"And gold! Gold is hard currency! Give Xiao Jue plenty of gold to support our own team!"
"That's feasible!"
At this moment, the entire command center went completely mad.
They were like a group of parents who wanted to support their children, wanting to cram all the good things in the house into their homes.
One command after another was issued from this small conference room, and the entire national machinery began to operate efficiently.
The best surgeons and pharmaceutical experts were summoned overnight to compile a simplified "Battlefield First Aid and Antibiotic Use Manual".
They began to mobilize all kinds of medicines that might be needed.
The food factory's production line was running at full capacity, producing a batch of specially made high-energy compressed dry food, compressed vegetables, canned goods, and other foods that had no modern labels and were only wrapped in oil paper.
The central bank's vault was quietly opened, and standard-sized gold bars were packed into inconspicuous wooden boxes.
Weapon experts compiled various weapon manufacturing methods based on the technology and production conditions at the time.
Some agricultural experts even worked through the night to compile planting methods for various high-yield crops, as well as simple manuals on how to prevent and control pests and diseases, hoping to grow more grain on that barren land.
They can't do much, but they want to do their best.
When Zhou Jue returned to the warehouse, he saw mountains of supplies, all of which were the most needed items of that era.
Medicines, food, gold, fabrics, salt, radios, drones...
Commander Zhang and Chen Jianguo stood beside the supplies, their eyes bloodshot.
Chief Zhang handed her a thick brown paper bag: "Xiao Jue, inside is a list of our agents who have infiltrated various places from 1937 to 1945, compiled based on all the historical materials we have. It also includes lists of agents from the Kuomintang and Japan. There's also a telegram codebook. You can keep our agent list; don't take it out. As for the other things, you can give them to the appropriate person in charge, depending on the situation."
"Don't rely too much on these, especially codebooks. When you intercept intelligence using their codebooks, they may switch to new codebooks. History is not static."
Commander Zhang looked at her and said solemnly, "We hope that, on the premise of ensuring your own safety, you can go and see those ancestors for us, and tell them that we have not forgotten them, and tell them that the future they protected with their lives and blood is one of beautiful mountains and rivers, and peace and prosperity for the country."
Zhou Jue took the heavy paper bag, feeling as if she were receiving a half-century's worth of entrustment. She nodded without saying a word, and simply categorized and put all the supplies into the Starry Secret Box.
At the last minute before departure, the boss personally called. In the video, the boss looked tired, but his spirits were exceptionally high.
He didn't say much, but spoke gently: "Xiao Jue, take good care of yourself on your journey. We'll be waiting for you to come back."
"Yes, sir!" Zhou Jue stood at attention and gave a standard military salute.
After hanging up the call, the room returned to silence. Zhou Jue walked into the time-travel room and looked at the two people outside who seemed to have a thousand words to say.
He solemnly said, "Grandpa Zhang, Uncle Chen, wait for my good news."
[The world's anchor point has been locked: China, 1937 (Republic of China Year 26).]
[Countdown: 10, 9, 8... 3, 2, 1]
[Teleportation initiated.]
A flash of white light, and Zhou Jue's figure vanished completely from the room.
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