In the rain, he was walking on the muddy path in a pair of worn straw sandals with bare feet. His tattered pants were so dirty and wet that the color could not be seen. His shirt was the same, with buttons missing. He had a hemp rope tied tightly around his waist and a tattered felt hat on his head. He looked twenty years old with a red face.
The most eye-catching thing is that there is a big knife tied on the back, which is about one meter long. The blade is wrapped with rags, and the handle is tilted above the shoulder. The copper-yellow knife ring sways coldly in the rain as the pedestrians walk.
I climbed up a ridge, wiped the rain off my face, and looked up again. In the hazy front, I could vaguely see two mountains. The path under my feet extended all the way to the valley between the two mountains. There seemed to be a village there.
When the man with the knife on his back entered the village, he was disappointed. It was a place of broken walls and ruins. This place had once been a village, but it had also been a battlefield.
At least stop to avoid the rain. Most of the roofs were burned, and there were black ashes everywhere. After being washed by the rain, they fell to the ground and stirred, turning into streams of flowing black water. Not far away, a house had half collapsed, but the half-crumbling broken roof was still supported. The man with a knife on his back walked towards it in the rain.
Although the ground under his feet was covered with broken bricks and wood formed by the collapse of the ruins, at least this small area belonged to Yu Zao, which made the knife-carrying man in a good mood. He bent down on the spot, pushed away the broken walls, lifted up the broken pillars to make a small flat place for rest, and then pulled out all the wooden objects that could be used for lighting a fire, such as cabinet fragments, window frame fragments, etc. from this pile of Yu Zao's ruins.
Crash—
A large piece of the broken wall that was leaning on the ground suddenly broke apart, raising a cloud of dust.
The man with the knife on his back wrinkled his nose and waved his hands in front of his face. When the dust settled, he glanced into the broken gap and saw a corner of the wooden box.
After a while, smoke began to rise from under half of the roof and a fire was lit.
The man with a knife on his back sat by the fire with a long flat wooden box in front of his feet. He stretched out his dirty hands and wiped the box casually, revealing a few traces of military green under the dust, as well as a few crooked knife-carved words.
The man with the knife on his back could not read and did not care what was written on it, so he opened the wooden box directly... As expected, the box contained guns.
He took out one, an old sleeve, which was broken beyond recognition, and the bolt probably couldn't be pulled open. He fiddled with it for a while and put it aside. He took out the second one, which was a Hanyang-made one, and it was much better than the old sleeve one before, but unfortunately it had no bolt. Is it any different from a stick? After a long time, the box was full of broken goods, so he casually put the Hanyang-made one aside, and looked down into the box again, stunned.
The third rifle was taken out. It had a dark metallic luster. The wooden body of the rifle seemed dark and yet also had a red and blood-red tint. There was a beautiful and smooth longitudinal groove in the middle of the rifle body where the hand could hold it. One could feel the comfort of holding it at a glance. The back of the rifle fit the slightly raised wooden curve. A strap was hung on the gun body. There was a blackened area in the middle of the strap that seemed to have been burned by fire.
The man with the knife on his back was a little distracted. This gun... is too beautiful. It is definitely not made in Hanyang, and it is definitely not the one used by the Japanese. I have never seen it before. With a loud noise, the bolt was a little sluggish, almost new, but the magazine was empty.
The rain was rustling all around, and the fire under half the roof occasionally made a crackling sound. The man with the knife on his back was warming himself by the fire, fiddling with the rifle, and found a row of inconspicuous numbers on the bottom of the butt, which seemed to be engraved later, but he still couldn't figure out what they meant. He simply stopped guessing and just picked up the gun and gestured randomly to pass the time.
The box containing the guns was also added to the fire, and the flames were climbing up the crooked words engraved on the box: Independent Regiment Supply Department.
The inscription under the buttstock is: 1070-1963
In the rain, Hu Yi panted, put the revolver into the holster behind his waist, knelt down, turned over the corpse in the mud, tore open the collar of the corpse, and stretched out his muddy hands to feel around.
If it's not under the neck, then reach under the armpit. Many Japanese soldiers have this habit and will sew it there.
He clenched it, pulled it hard, and spread out his palm. There was an oval bronze medal in his hand. Raindrops hit the surface of the bronze medal again and again, wetting the ugly numbers and the dog's name on it, gradually wetting it into a large area.
He put it into the muddy water in his pocket, stood up, looked at the rain in the woods for a while, turned around and ran towards the open mud.
In the rain, the tall mud shadow continued to look embarrassed.
After falling down, he would gasp for a while, then crawl using his hands and feet for a while. When he felt better, he would stagger to his feet, run for a while, and then suddenly fall down again.
I don’t know how far I have run, nor how long I have run. Mud, water, green, and rain, no matter how the scenery in front of me changes, there are only these four themes.
She struggled to prop up her weak arms in the mud and raised her head. Her former beauty was obscured by the mud. All she could see was the white rain and endless mud. Then she burst into tears again.
"I really don't understand how you still have the energy to cry."
These plain words and this low voice made Zhou Wanping, who was lying in the mud, turn her head suddenly. She saw clearly the muddy figure of the man in the rain behind her and suddenly cried louder, hoarser and more shamelessly. She didn't care about his age or status at all. She just wanted to cry desperately to show him how much she loved him.
Hu Yi was speechless. He was worthy of being Dr. Zhou, who could always do what others could not. He stood in the mud, in the rain, and watched her lying in the mud a few meters away crying. He did not help her, and did not help her until her crying gradually subsided. Then he said, "Wouldn't it be better to save this energy and use it to continue running?"
"I won't run away, I'll just stay here... You don't have to worry about me..."
"Perhaps there will be more enemies chasing us."
"I don't care."
"You will be raped and then killed."
“I don’t care.”
After taking a deep breath and no longer hoping that Zhou Wanping, who had collapsed from exhaustion, would get up immediately, Hu Yi glanced around in the misty rain. He then took out the compass and opened it. He raised his head again to carefully confirm the direction and put the compass away again.
He rolled up his mud-soaked sleeves a little higher, tightened the rifle strap he wore across his shoulder, strode towards Zhou Wanping who was lying in the mud, bent down, grabbed one of her arms with his left hand, and grabbed one of her thighs with his right hand.
"What are you doing?"
"I'll find a place to rape you and then kill you." After saying this, Hu Yi called out with force, lifted Zhou Wanping upside down onto his right shoulder, and walked towards the confirmed direction.
The figure carrying the woman gradually faded in the rain, and the sound of their conversation also gradually faded in the rain.
"Where are you going?"
"We must get to the division as soon as possible. This is a big problem."
"This is too uncomfortable... Can you carry me on your back instead?"
"If you don't like it, you can go back to the mud and stay there."
"Oh well… "
"Sister, can you be honest?"
"How can I hold on to all this mud on your back?"
In the rain, Section Chief Xu walked on the muddy path. He looked very bad, his brows were deeply furrowed, and his face was wet and sticky, not sure if it was rain or sweat.
Platoon Leader Ye, who was walking in front, looked back at him, stamped the mud off his feet, turned around and continued walking, while asking, "What are you worried about?"
"Oh... I... nothing." Section Chief Xu came back to his senses and looked at the shaking mud under his feet again.
"It won't hurt to be honest." Platoon Leader Ye continued walking, but Section Chief Xu behind him didn't say anything, so he continued without turning his head: "I promised you that I won't lie to you, but the premise is... you should think the same way."
Section Chief Xu suddenly sighed deeply: "Don't worry, I didn't lie to you, but I... I think it will be difficult for me to survive."
These words made Platoon Leader Ye stop. He turned around and looked at Section Chief Xu with a complicated expression without saying a word.
Section Chief Xu at the back had no choice but to stop. Seeing the look on Platoon Leader Ye's face, he couldn't help but smile bitterly: "It's not that I don't believe what you say, it's that I don't believe you." Section Chief Xu deliberately emphasized the last two words.
"What's the meaning?"
Section Chief Xu looked back at the team behind him, then at the vague distance in the rain, hesitated for a while and said, "For my own sake, I am willing to tell you something first. Although that is the division headquarters, the garrison force is at least a battalion. Even if I lead you there and explain the defense situation to you in full, you will not succeed. If you can't succeed, how can I survive?"
Platoon Leader Ye understood his concerns and couldn't help but smile: "I have to say, you are a very interesting person, you are very smart, I like to work with smart people." He waved his hand to signal the team around him to continue moving forward, and then said: "Don't worry, I know myself and know how to do what I can. You just need to do what you should do. Whether to fight or wait depends on the situation."
After finishing his words, Platoon Leader Ye turned around and continued to move forward. After walking a few steps, he turned back again and added, "In view of your honesty, I can also tell you one thing. My name is Shangchuan Qianye."
Looking at Platoon Leader Ye's back, Section Chief Xu's expression did not change much. He stood in the muddy place in silence for a while before continuing to move forward with the team.
He said... Whether to fight or wait depends on the situation. What are you waiting for? The reinforcements are far away in the mountains. Then send someone back to report? Impossible? Besides, this is not outside the mountains. Doing so will cause too many variables and is not safe at all.
Starting from the person at the front of the team, looking back one by one until the end, there were a few people carrying various boxes or something like that, some covered with oilcloth to protect them from rain, and they were not large in size. It was certain that these more than 30 Japanese soldiers did not have a radio. Of course, if they were carrying a radio, they would be exposed once discovered.
How do they notify the reinforcements? Do they really have to send someone to run errands? This question lingered in Section Chief Xu's mind, and he was puzzled.
Walking in the rain, I could no longer feel the coolness of the raindrops falling on my neck. Looking at the road under my feet, I was distracted and didn't notice the pit at my feet. Section Chief Xu, who had been struggling with the answer to the question, finally fell into the mud pit...