The sizzling oil from the frying pan of smoked meat appeared before Su Yue's eyes, and only then did he feel alive again.
Only now does he feel like a human being again.
Large quantities of cans were buried in the mud and covered by the clouds of rain. Corporal Fisher threw several cans to each person, some of which were embedded directly into the cracks in the mud of the trench.
Su Yue felt his clothes were soaked, and he felt extremely uncomfortable all over, especially inside the collar of his clothes, where it felt as if there were many muddy earthworms and small insects crawling around.
When it rained, the trenches became natural reservoirs. The stump of a towering ancient tree appeared in the direction he had been digging, which caused problems with his digging progress and forced him to detour in an L-shape. The digging of the communication trenches had to be carried out during the day, while the night was left to distant artillery fire and destruction.
As night falls.
Su Yue was awakened time and time again by the flying shells and the splashing dirt and mud. Later on, even with the roar of cannons right in front of him, Su Yue was able to remain calm and still without any tension.
"Artillery fire!!!"
"boom!!"
A soldier named Kimberly, whose exact location in Cloud City was unknown, spoke with an accent that was difficult to understand. His right arm was injured somewhere, and a medic was quickly stopping the bleeding and treating the wound.
"Artillery fire!!!"
Just as they were dealing with the gaps in the wounded soldiers, the gaps in the trench lines widened even further. It was as if, after a person contracted an illness, other germs and viruses, even flies, mosquitoes, and ants, swarmed over the wounds. It seemed that the decaying skin would naturally attract a second, a third, and even countless layers of decay, until the wound penetrated deep into the skin, deep into the bone marrow, and then drilled even deeper from the bone marrow, sucking away all the strength from the internal organs.
Su Yue clearly saw that the medical staff who had just been treating Kimberly beside him was instantly thrown up by the shockwave. His body was torn to pieces, and flesh and blood fell like mud, creating a scorching red mist of blood mixed with high temperature in front of him...
Sergeant Major Fisher roared:
"Get out of the way quickly!" He would often shout as they ran ahead with entrenching tools, rushing towards another trench, "Get into cover as soon as possible!"
But at this moment, they are in the bunker, in the bunker fortifications, where else can they hide?
The recorder responsible for investigating the names of the dead ran over tirelessly from the rear to collect the soldiers' badges. The badges of the dead were missing, probably smashed through and buried in the muddy, dusty trenches.
It could also be melted and shattered by the explosion of a huge shell.
"Waaaah... I want to go home."
A soldier stares at the butter and toast in front of him, a scene reminiscent of a demon emerging from hell. The muddy and dark scenes and images instill a sense of tension in everyone's soul. Their inner world seems to be being molded into a round, flat, or distorted wrought iron color under such pressure.
"My mother is still waiting for me far away, and I must go back safely."
Henry, wearing a steel helmet and missing an ear, said tremblingly.
"Su Yue, what do you think?"
Henry looked at Su Yue beside him and couldn't help but ask the silent middle-aged man a question.
“I have two children and a wife, and I have to go back.”
Su Yue said calmly.
To everyone's surprise and confusion, there was no excessive fear in his eyes. Henry asked in bewilderment, "Why aren't you afraid? Are you paralyzed with fear?"
There are always some who are detached, and others who are kneeling in prayer, believing that the more devout they appear in their attitude toward war, the less likely they are to die.
The group, who were still chatting, heard the sound of an explosion of air currents again, and a ball of scorching black and red light exploded seven or eight hundred meters away.
Sergeant Major Fisher said, "Stop talking and get some rest."
"Yes, sir."
A man wanted to change into his own pantyhose, but in this environment, he found that he had no new clothes to change into.
"Does anyone have a pair of pants they can lend me?"
"No, they're all rotten."
"Do you want it all wet?"
Su Yue watched as the steel armor containing the liquor was handed to him. He took a small sip. He didn't know why, but having just arrived on the battlefield, he already felt a little homesick.
——————————
As darkness and rain gradually rolled forward, the postman arrived...
"Haha, my mother sent me a letter, and there are lucky silver coins inside."
"Is this all the people you have left?"
The postman looked at Su Yue and his men on the front lines of the trenches with a puzzled expression, because it seemed that their numbers were much smaller than last time, no, to be precise, at least two-thirds less.
Su Yue was covered in mud, looking like a mud man. At this moment, the thing everyone on the front line was most looking forward to was just one thing: taking a bath.
After the torrential rain, the land turned into a dry wasteland... Many people developed athlete's foot, with sores appearing on the backs of their feet. Perhaps it wasn't cold yet, but malaria, mosquitoes, and blood-sucking leeches and leeches also came knocking.
Some of the entrenching tools they dug with had a broken corner, and many of their uniforms had holes worn through and were patched with seven or eight ugly patches.
The postman said, "Today you need to advance another 12 kilometers south. All supplies and reserves need to be moved there, but it seems you don't have any horses or transport equipment."
"Only one-tenth of the tanks remain."
"Yes, sir, we have suffered heavy losses."
"The only good news is that the surviving soldiers have learned a lot of common sense about war, and they can be considered half veterans."
"A soldier thug?"
"hehe."
Fisher's face was wrapped in gauze, and he looked somewhat disheveled. He had been seriously injured in a surprise attack and thought he would be abandoned on the battlefield. However, the many new recruits he had been training hard spontaneously launched a rescue plan. No one knew whether it was the black bread he was given on a regular basis or the extra two pieces of butter and cigarettes that made the difference.
It was either because Fisher, this serious and meticulous fellow, executed orders with the coldness of a machine, saving many civilians; or because he was a wise commander, and despite the high casualties of other teams being wiped out, their unit was not disbanded.
In the dark steel jungle, amidst a hail of bullets, he survived with incredible tenacity.
Su Yue also survived.
Su Yue pulled a large worm from a withered tree trunk. He took the worm and threw it into his mouth, chewing it amidst the polluted mud and water. The tender protein and meat-sauce-like juice, mixed with the mud dripping from his face, made him feel as if he were enjoying a grand and unparalleled feast.
"It's delicious!"
Su Yue felt nauseous. Many soldiers were catching and eating insects. They didn't care about stomach aches or dysentery. In short, they had been having diarrhea ever since they entered the battlefield. No one was spared from having diarrhea every few days.
On the contrary, Su Yue's reaction surprised them.
Aren't you going to the toilet?
The open-air toilets were piled up together, and sometimes Su Yue could see the bare buttocks of soldiers from other companies. It was said that some people were also very interested in this scene and would secretly go to watch every time, which resulted in them being punished by their superiors.
"discipline!!!"
"Discipline must be maintained at the front. Our goal is to completely drive out the enemy forces that attacked Cloud City and kill those damned Duval people."
The trenches did not receive many assaults.
This also means that, in fact, the Soviet Union and Vietnam did not have close contact with enemy soldiers and troops when they entered the front lines of the war.
Their biggest task every day was digging trenches and dodging incoming artillery shells.
The shells rained down like a never-ending storm. Every time the soil was ripped up, a soldier might be randomly drawn into a lottery, and without exception, the prize was either serious injury or death.
The number of those lightly wounded by the shells was not large. Su Yue did not know how many millimeters the shells were, but in any case, each explosion would cause all the soldiers within a ten-meter radius to be torn to shreds by the high-pressure air, which was like a dark cloud bursting apart.
After advancing about 15 kilometers further, a radio station appeared in the trench.
Signs appearing in women.
Many people lit cigarettes at night, like small, mobile light sources. Su Yue didn't mind the smell of cigarettes; instead, he looked at the new army group hiding in the distant buildings with a strange expression.
"This is……"
"A frontline military camp."
Is there a field hospital?
"Of course, look at that stretcher over there..."
Su Yue followed the trench, looking at the field hospital at the foot of the mountain, hidden by the trees and mountains, amidst the black and red tents that were perhaps indescribable in color.
Many soldiers began to line up...
A long, muddy convoy carrying weapons and ammunition stretched out in the night, like a nightingale in the distance, with soldiers carrying heavy backpacks and leg wraps everywhere beside it.
Su Yue didn't know how many times she had taken off her clothes and backpack.
Looking at the gentle and tender woman in front of him.
His expression showed that he was deep in thought.
"Perhaps you should have taken a shower before you came."
"……there is no time."
"But we don't mind..."
The conversation took place in the darkness. There were no cannons hidden in the room. The women's makeup and attire were heavy and exaggerated, almost like scribbles, as if they were trying their best to conceal their true appearances. It was as if Su Yue and his men should be on the front lines of the battle, and they, too, needed to obtain survival and supplies here.
Su Yue had previously heard Lelingwood say that if you give a piece of quinoa bread to the women of the enemy country in the countryside, they will willingly let you tell them everything.
The searchlight swept across the darkness, but Su Yue felt a little sleepless.
——————————————
The next day, Su Yue and his team were reassigned to a new attack site. The barbed wire, the devastating dead trees, and the scattered corpses all around could not stop the wheels from turning...
Lerlingwood said, "It's good that we're assigned to the same group again. Here you go."
"Chocolate? Where did it come from?"
"Someone else gave it to me."
Su Yue took a bite and felt a sharp pain in his dry, cracked lips. He didn't have any serious illness; he just had a few small punctures in his arm. These were minor injuries, and the nurses had already treated them without needing a doctor's help.
Su Yue had seen many guys who had been blown apart, their upper and lower halves separated.
Among the corpses were some shirtless people. Those who were without clothes were not stripped of their uniforms, but rather their bodies were separated from their clothes in mid-air by the powerful impact of the shells.
Some of them still had burn marks on their bodies.
Those burn marks meant that the flames had scorched him. Human civilization thinks it understands war very well, but in reality, once the insignificant self embarks on this journey, it is difficult for humanity to predict its fate in the next minute or the next second.
Su Yue had no idea what changes would happen to her in the future.
The chocolate has a subtle sweetness.
It tasted much better than the yellow water in the swill bucket. Here, he felt a unique loneliness, a kind of beauty that was dying out. One second the old rogue was telling you a story, the next second he might become a corpse. If it weren't for the beautiful fireworks and free performances, Su Yue might have wanted to leave.
"Hiss!!"
A cavalryman's horse was startled, and another wheel got stuck in the mud, requiring manpower to pull it out.
Su Yue and his group, who were assigned to the engineering corps, did not need to participate in the war directly, but even so, being busy occupied most of their daily lives. The letters brought by the postman became everyone's hope and expectation. None of them knew when they could take a vacation, or when they could take the train or motorboat home... even though the train was not entirely safe.
They have evolved from humans into animals at this moment.
A dejected young man suddenly stood there, gripping his rifle, staring blankly at Su Yue.
"Mr... Mr. Su Yue??"
Su Yue didn't expect to run into an acquaintance here.
Isn't this Cloud City seven hundred years in the future?
Isn't this a scene 700 years after the destruction of the Turin world?
Isn't this reality?
Why would there be acquaintances involved?
The gaunt man with the steel gun had a thick beard and was unkempt, but even though Su Yue didn't immediately recognize him, the man seemed to recognize Su Yue:
"My lord... is that you?"
"What? His name is Su Yue something? Sir?"
"When did Su Yue become an adult?"
"I heard he has two more children at home."
The sound of murmurs reached Su Yue's ears. Su Yue looked up at the guy. His face was covered in black mud, his cheekbones looked thin, and his black hair and helmet could not hide the tired cracks on his face and eyelids. Those cracks were not wrinkles, but trenches filled with mud, which had been stained with blood and the cruelty of war.
The eyes, on the other hand, are like a lake.
His lake-blue eyes, seemingly at risk of being bombed from the outside world, were filled with doubt and joy, as well as a signature faint sadness.
"Gregory???"
"It's me, sir."
"!!!!"
At this moment, the coffin-carrying team was transporting a large number of corpses into the distance. Su Yue didn't have time to exchange pleasantries with Gregory, as they needed to continue on their way to their planned location.
"..."
Gregory saluted him and said, "There should be more surprises waiting for you ahead."
"A surprise? What surprise?"
Gregory laughed and said, "You'll have to see for yourself."
"Damn it, why are you all keeping me in suspense?"
"..."
Gregory didn't kneel down, but in Su Yue's eyes, it was as if he had already knelt down before him, watching him leave with his eyes fixed on him. Su Yue said, "Live well, and wait for me to come back from my vacation so we can go home and have a drink together."
"Yes, sir."
The other soldiers found the conversation between the two somewhat strange, or rather, they felt a certain curiosity. "Who is he? Your friend?"
"kindness."
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