If, at the beginning, Zhou Ze still had the instinct to deliberately suppress himself from breaking through the illusion,
Now,
He really had forgotten.
The illusion created by Lawyer An, combined with the memories of the "captain"'s military spirit that had taken over his body, began to merge and resonate with each other;
in short,
As time goes by, the sense of immersion is becoming stronger and stronger, and Zhou Ze slowly begins to lose track of who he is.
It's like watching a movie.
Commit yourself wholeheartedly,
Every move of the characters in the movie tugs at your heartstrings.
With his joy and anger,
Equal to his sorrow and joy,
Look at what he sees,
Listen to what you hear.
This damn rain,
This damn rain,
Zhou Ze has never hated rainy days as much as he does now.
The mud on the ground, the coldness on the body,
Every step you take must be taken with all your strength. If you are not careful, you will fall down directly, and it will be even more difficult to stand up again.
This doesn't feel like a march.
It's more like being tortured.
Zhou Ze had a messenger who spoke Sichuan dialect and was not very old, probably only sixteen or seventeen years old.
Although Zhou Ze felt that it was a bit early to join the army at this age, he also felt that what else could he do if he didn't join the army at this age
He is sometimes contradictory.
I always feel like my thinking is a little messy.
And every disorder brings unbearable pain, blurred vision, and noise in the eardrum.
The messenger said the commander was ill.
Shouting to find a military doctor,
But they had already been in the mountains for five days, and the team had long since lost its organization. Not to mention that they had no idea where the military doctor was. Even if they had seen him, given the current situation, it was impossible for any medicines to be left.
People who are sick,
There are simply too many.
Zhou Ze knew that he was the last group of troops to enter the mountain. There were already teams ahead of him. Along the way, he saw too many corpses lying on the ground.
Malaria and other diseases began to spread rapidly in the army, like human harvesters, madly reaping the lives of passers-by.
He shouted to the messenger not to look for him anymore, what if he got lost again.
But Xiao Sichuan insisted on looking for it.
He went,
Then the flash flood came,
Zhou Ze sat under a big tree.
I watched helplessly as the slope below me was washed away by the mountain torrent.
Many soldiers were swept away.
Here,
There is Little Sichuan.
Zhou Ze opened his eyes wide and angrily pounded the muddy ground with his hands, splashing up streams of mud.
He hates
He was unwilling.
Even if I die in battle,
Even if I die in a desperate charge against the Japanese,
He wouldn't feel so aggrieved!
Soldiers have the awareness and preparation of soldiers. To die on the battlefield is not a good ending, but it is a destination that everyone can accept.
But now,
Along the way,
He saw that in order not to burden the troops and not to be captured, the wounded soldiers were burned with gasoline.
He saw bodies lying on the road.
He saw young faces sitting on the roadside wailing from illness and hunger.
I saw the thick mud left by the sudden mountain torrent.
Why is this
Even if it means death,
Why do you want to die here!
Why!
It seemed that I was infected by the anger and was completely immersed in everything. The headache that had persisted for a long time began to weaken.
Zhou Ze got up again, found a wooden stick, and continued walking forward.
Full of resentment and anger,
But as a soldier, he couldn't allow himself to just sit here and wait to die. Although he had seen many soldiers shoot themselves to death due to mental breakdown along the way, he would not do that.
The military order was to return home through the Savage Mountains.
Then he,
Just go back home!
I continued to stagger forward, but the road was still difficult and the damn rain didn't stop for a moment.
Wait until dark.
Zhou Ze saw a shed in front of him. The Savage Mountain Range was called the "Devil's Forbidden Land" by the local Burmese people, so there were naturally no villages or houses there. And because the team was marching, they rarely saw things like tents along the way.
I was really exhausted and the cold was unbearable.
Zhou Ze walked into the tent tremblingly.
I found that there were already several soldiers inside.
He did not report his identity or rank. At this point, his rank and identity are all meaningless. No one knows whether he can walk out alive. If he puts on airs at this time, what can he do but be crazy
Zhou Ze found an empty corner and lay down.
This sleep,
I slept soundly.
The rain would no longer hit me wantonly. The double fatigue of body and mind came over me again and again, and was finally covered by sleepiness.
When you wake up,
Zhou Ze suddenly felt a sharp pain in his right leg.
He lifted his leg and found that it was swollen from being soaked.
Because I slept outside the shed, one of my legs was exposed last night and slipped into a puddle nearby. However, I was too tired and slept too deeply that I didn't realize it.
“Hiss…”
Zhou Ze stood up with great difficulty, using the wooden stick as support.
When I look back,
The body suddenly trembled.
Besides himself, there were four soldiers lying inside, but they were also motionless at this time.
I couldn't see clearly when it was dark, and I thought they had fallen asleep when I came in. Now I realize something is wrong.
Zhou Ze immediately bent down and turned over the two soldiers on the ground, only to find that they were already dead, and there were many insects crawling under them.
"vomit!"
A wave of sourness rose in my chest.
I want to vomit but there is nothing to vomit.
I have been out of food for a long time.
My stomach is already twisted after eating and chewing tree bark all the time, what else can I vomit out
I don't have the energy to help them dig their graves.
There were so many dead bodies along the way that it was impossible to dig them all out.
Zhou Ze silently saluted his "roommates" from last night.
Leaning on a stick,
Walked out of the tent.
“Ahhh!!!!”
After walking a few steps, two soldiers in front of me were lying on the ground, holding their stomachs and crying in pain. There were many mushrooms scattered around them.
When Zhou Ze approached, these people could no longer shout, white foam kept coming out of their mouths, and their faces began to turn purple.
Next to them, there seemed to be the companions of these two people, standing silently. In the end, it seemed that they could not bear to see their companions continue to endure this kind of pain, so they picked up the knife and stabbed them in the chest, giving them a quick death.
No guns were used because the Japanese pursuit troops were likely nearby and firing would easily expose them.
The two poisoned soldiers died with a look of relief on their faces.
As if liberated,
yes,
When you die, you won’t feel hungry, and when you die, you won’t have to keep walking.
Here, death is the simplest thing, even a beautiful thing.
Zhou Ze continued to walk forward. He didn't know how far he had to go, he just walked forward step by step numbly.
This is purgatory.
The soldiers marching through here,
It's like a group of dry bones walking in purgatory.
My shoes are worn out and fall off.
Keep walking forward barefoot.
My feet were rubbed and it hurt a lot at first, but then it became numb.
corpse,
corpse,
There were corpses everywhere.
Surrounding the corpse are often groups of leeches and other insects. These terrifying little creatures in the rainforest can turn a living person into bones and peel off everything in just a few hours.
Zhou Ze saw three soldiers sitting on the side of the road.
When Zhou Ze walked over,
They were looking at Zhou Ze.
One of them seemed to notice the difference in Zhou Ze's military uniform.
And gave him a military salute,
Zhou Ze nodded, but didn't return the greeting.
It's not that I don't want to go back,
His left arm was bitten by leeches in several places. He didn't notice it at first, but when he stopped and patted it, several leeches fell out, swollen and as thick as two finger joints.
My left arm is still numb, and my right hand is holding on to the wooden stick.
He was afraid that when he raised his hand to salute again, he would fall down and would not be able to get up.
As he continued walking forward,
Three gunshots were heard behind me.
The soldiers who were also marching nearby turned their heads and looked back.
Those three soldiers shot themselves.
Everyone began to subconsciously speed up. Although they were still walking slowly, they were a little faster than before because those who were still alive knew that the sound of gunfire might very well attract the pursuing Japanese troops.
actually,
At the beginning,
The Japanese were really pursuing us.
Just like they were chasing the British in Burma,
But this Savage Mountain is also fair,
As time passed and everyone went deeper, fewer and fewer Japanese came chasing after them.
I don't know how many days I walked.
I don't know how far I went.
People have great potential.
But it cannot be taken seriously that man can conquer nature.
Zhou Ze knew that he had a fever and was most likely suffering from malaria.
He held out for another day.
finally,
He really couldn't walk anymore.
Leaning against a big tree,
Sat down.
He knows.
As long as you sit down,
I could never stand up again.
He looked up.
Now he is very calm.
No fear of death,
Even in my heart I am still longing for death to come soon.
End all this suffering for yourself.
Next to him, a soldier with a Hunan accent shouted hoarsely to a soldier standing still beside him:
"Get up...get up...don't scare me, we agreed to go home together, go home, go home..."
go home…
Go home...
Images of Tongcheng began to emerge in Zhou Ze's mind: the bookstore, South Street, and the sofa, but soon they turned into a picturesque countryside, which seemed familiar yet strange.
Which,
This is home
"I can't do it anymore."
Zhou Ze was stunned for a moment, and asked in a hoarse and weak voice:
"Who are you?"
"I really can't do it anymore. I can't get out. Many people can't get out either."
"Who the hell are you? Who's talking to me?"
"We are so cold, so cold..."
"My head hurts..." Zhou Ze was in pain, his head hurt.
"We want to go home, go home..."
“Ahhh!!!!”
Zhou Ze screamed.
"Please, take me, take us,
Lead everyone,
Go home. "