Chapter 470: Chapter 470
He was a young Volunteer Army soldier, his face covered in soot, but his eyes glittered fiercely as he pulled out a bayonet.
Zheng Chen fell to the ground, constantly inching his body backward.
And that Volunteer Army soldier had already pierced the stomach of another American Federation soldier.
"Help me! Mom! Help me!!!"
The battlefield had descended into complete chaos.
Soldiers of the American Federation were stunned by the sudden close-quarters combat, and their ranks began to crumble.
Some dropped their guns and attempted to run back, but more were forced to face the onslaught, sounds of bayonets clashing mingling with the cries of the dying.
A deafening explosion.
The impregnable tank had transformed into a fiery ball.
A Volunteer Army soldier, covered in blood, somehow climbed to the back of the tank and stuffed an explosive pack into the engine compartment.
The shockwave from the explosion flipped over five or six nearby American Federation soldiers.
The heatwave swept through.
It seared the faces of Zheng Chen and the American Federation soldiers around him.
The American Federation soldiers couldn’t understand why, under such circumstances, these men refused to abandon that high ground and were still crawling forward with explosive packs.
Despite the prolonged bombardment, why were there still so many of them?
They didn’t know why.
Perhaps they would never know why.
In Li Ran’s livestream in Riutang Village.
At the frontline position.
Eight corpses of American Federation soldiers and six corpses of Volunteer Army soldiers were intertwined, a testament to the ferocious close-quarters combat that had occurred here last night.
And these bodies, due to the temperature of -30 degrees, had been frozen for half the night.
They were inseparable now.
The people intended to clean up the battlefield.
But for the moment, didn’t know where to start, so they first searched the bodies of these soldiers for any useful information.
They rummaged through the soldiers’ pockets, finding yellowed photographs, small notebooks filled with writing, and cloth strips with words unknown to the American Federation soldiers.
Though they couldn’t read them, the sheer amount of words made the American Federation veterans suspect it was important intelligence.
Especially that small notebook filled with writing.
Li Ran heard their discussion, walked over, looked at the cloth strips and notebook in their hands, and said:
"Hand them over, let me take a look."
The American Federation soldiers were puzzled, the veteran who cheated at cards yesterday looked astonished:
"You can read their writing?"
Li Ran nodded, took the cloth strips and notebook handed over by the crowd:
"I learned it for a while before."
In reality, it was a player privilege, automatic translation.
And in the livestream, the Blue Star viewers were curious about what was written on the cloth strips and notebook found in the Volunteer Army soldiers’ pockets.
Could they really be some kind of secrets?
As soon as the cloth strips and notebook were opened, the curious comments in the livestream momentarily fell silent.
Li Ran’s movements also froze.
The nearby American Federation soldiers, seeing this, curiously asked:
"Could it really be military secrets?"
"Then we’ve made a great contribution."
Looking at the words on one of the cloth strips, Li Ran said:
"These aren’t secrets."
Hearing Li Ran’s words, the surrounding American Federation soldiers were a bit bewildered:
"Why would they carry these things for no reason?"
"What does it say above?"
The surrounding American Federation soldiers were skeptical, wondering who would carry slogans and banners during combat, as they were useless.
Li Ran shook his head, picked up a cloth strip, and pointed to the words on it:
"This cloth strip reads ’As long as the position is there, we live and die with it!’
"It means that as long as one is still alive, the position must be held, even if it means dying on the battlefield."
Then he picked up another cloth strip and said:
"This one reads ’If I’m chosen for the first battle, victory is assured!’
"Meaning, when I’m picked for the first fight, we will surely win."
Moving on to the next cloth strip:
"This one says ’Freeze to death standing against the wind, starve to death with head unbowed!’
"Which means even if freezing to death, one should stand tall; even if starving, one should never bow."
He took out the last cloth strip and said:
"This one reads ’Defeat American imperialism!’
"Uh... it’s quite straightforward."
Around them, the United States soldiers were full of disbelief, evidently unable to accept the translation of these slogans for a moment.
But the veteran who was cheating at cards yesterday suddenly thought of something, hurriedly reached out to flip through the book in Li Ran’s hands, and said:
"What about this?! What about this?!!!"
"What does it say here!"
Li Ran looked at the brief words and dates above and said:
Then he looked at the content of the diary and instinctively read it out:
"November 5, 1950, Ji’an."
"The train stopped by the river, waiting to depart."
"The Company Commander said there weren’t enough cotton coats, but the orders had come, so we had to leave."
Little Shandong broke the last half of a cornmeal bun into three pieces, gave me one piece, keeping only a thumbnail-sized bit for himself, and said with a smile, "After the war, in Jinan, I’ll treat you to braised pork."
"Actually, he hasn’t eaten braised pork either, nor have I; I really want to try it."
"November 14, 1950, somewhere unknown."
"Old Liu from the cooking squad shared the last bit of stir-fried noodles among everyone, then licked the bottom of the pot himself."
"He said, ’After the war, I’m going to steam a whole pot of white bread buns and eat my fill.’
"A bomb dropped by a bomber fell on the cooking squad’s location."
"The pot was gone, and so was Old Liu."
"November 18, 1950, an unknown village."
"Passing by a bombed village, I saw a mother digging out her daughter’s body from the ruins."
"That little girl was still clutching half a candy, so much like the candy her little sister was holding when the devils killed her."
"This war must be fought to the end."
"November 24, 1950, outskirts of Riutang Village." Read complete versıon only at 𝕟𝕠𝕧𝕖𝕝•𝖿𝗂𝗋𝖾•𝘯𝘦𝘵
"The snow reached up to the waist, the wind whipped so hard you couldn’t open your eyes."
"Old Zhao’s ear froze off, and he himself did not notice, even asking me why I was looking at him."
"In the latter half of the night, when I looked at him, Old Zhao was already motionless."
"November 25, 1950, outskirts of Riutang Village."
"The snow was too heavy; Little Shandong died."
"November 27, 1950, outskirts of Riutang Village."
"It’s too cold, I might die too."
"Don’t know if I can hold out until tonight’s general offensive."
Perhaps afraid of not holding on, three lines were written immediately after this diary entry.
[Don’t believe in tasks that can’t be completed.]
[Don’t believe in difficulties that can’t be overcome.]
[Don’t believe in enemies we can’t defeat.]
Looking at the deep marks on the words, one could imagine what kind of strength the Volunteer Army soldier used at the time to carve them.
These United States soldiers didn’t understand, but some Blue Star netizens in live-stream rooms knew, this was the combat belief of the Republic’s Ninth Corps when entering the war.
The last line of the diary, mixed with bloodstains and looking exceedingly faint, read:
"After victory....hope someone can try Jinan’s braised pork for me."
As Li Ran finished reading, around him, some United States soldiers touched the cross on their chests, some stared incredulously at the notebook, some were so shaken by the content of the diary that they began to doubt everything.
On the distant ridge.
After successive bombings, the United States troops trying to retake the high ground were engaged in combat with the Volunteer Army hidden everywhere on the mountain, backed by the urgent alarm sounds from the camp.
Everyone looked at the notebook in Li Ran’s hands.
The descriptions in the notebook were a huge departure from their understanding; were they righteous or invaders?
The sound of a deafening battle horn came from the distant ridge.
Tat-ta-ta-ta-ta——! Tat——!!
After successive bombings, the remaining Volunteer Army soldiers were leaping out from bombed fortifications.
Dragging frostbitten legs, wrapped in thin cotton coats, they charged towards the United States soldiers, and in the machine gun’s flaming tongues, people fell continuously, yet more figures rose from the snowy ground.
Everyone was stunned.
Looking at the fearless Volunteer Army on the mountain, then turned to look at the notebook in Li Ran’s hands.
The figures moving on the ridge were overlapping with the characters in the notebook.
One veteran watched the fearless Volunteer Army soldiers in the distance:
The howling north wind blew through.
Upon the yellowing pages, those three lines of pencil words stood out under the sun:
[Don’t believe in tasks that can’t be completed.]
[Don’t believe in difficulties that can’t be overcome.]
[Don’t believe in enemies we can’t defeat.]
This kind of nation, this kind of will.
What kind of people are they really fighting against?
The United States soldiers shocked by the Volunteer Army were still unaware that the bloody battle at Changjin Lake.... was just beginning.