All resources will become military resources during the war. The high-strength graphite ore rich in Mohua Planet was originally the most urgently needed resource in the war. Therefore, when the war began, the southwest mining area naturally became the southwest theater, becoming a federation and an empire. The hot land that was desperately contested, and then gradually turned into wasteland under the trauma of gunpowder and ammunition.
Sage City, located in the center of the Southwest War Zone, is the largest settlement of workers in the imperial graphite mining area. Thousands of years of mining and cultural accumulation have brought a pleasant atmosphere to the city. Old-style buildings are neatly arranged on both sides of the street. The large plane trees spread their broad leaves peacefully, bringing shade and happiness to the people who walk among them.
Now the city has long been in ruins. The tenacious plane trees were felled neatly by the army and dumped on the streets as barriers. Atmosphere to speak of.
The tragic battle that lasted for three years, the sound of gunfire seemed to reverberate in the city for three years, without a moment's pause, the seemingly silent alley could be heard at any time with violent explosions, and only a few stubborn ones were left. At Liang's bell tower, I don't know how many snipers are hidden, looking for enemies in the gray and ruined city, always ready to pull the trigger.
There are too many dangers hidden in the ruins. Every minute soldiers in military uniforms fall down, and then they can't get up again. Occasionally, soldiers are lucky and stand up tenaciously. Who knows if he will really fall again in a few days
The original residents of Sage City, only had time to evacuate a very small part before the war, and more civilians could only hide in their homes in helplessness and panic, waiting for a rocket to destroy the wedding photos in the room. He was smashed to pieces at the same time, or the soldiers of the Federation kicked open the door roughly.
It seems that three years longer than life have passed. There are very few civilians in this city who are lucky enough to survive. They hide in the cellar, from panic to numbness, from anger and sadness to numbness, from blood excitement to numbness , living numbly, numbly waiting for the arrival of death.
However, in recent months, even numbness has become a luxury, and the city of Sage has turned from hot to waste and now to scorched, and the arrival of death seems more rash and random.
In the strategy formulated before Du Shaoqing's departure, the Southwest Theater was identified as an important target to cover for the Battle of the Strait. In a desperate offensive, the dense missiles ripped through the gray sky, and hundreds of close-air fighters swooped and dived and then fell away or trailed with fire tails.
In this terrifying war environment, even trying to survive like a wild dog is not easy.
Szede Kabdanovich was an ordinary old watchmaker in Sage, rubbing his increasingly rheumatic legs, looking at the broken tank in the corner, the wrinkles on his face became more than pain More deeply, his dry and gray lips moved slightly, counting how many things were left in the cellar.
There were only two bags of compressed biscuits left in the reserve, which were the booty that the old watchmaker risked his life to climb out of the cellar in the middle of the night and found on a Union soldier on the street last month.
The unreleased lamp oil is almost gone, and the dim lamp hanging in the middle of the cellar seems to want to cry.
What is even more desperate is that the micro-circulating water filtration system in the corner that his son bought at a huge price before the war finally stopped working after three years of strong support.
"Azirah, don't fix it anymore, come here to grandpa, I have something to say to you." The old watchmaker looked at his granddaughter who was working in vain at the water table with loving eyes, and said with emotion: "After your father died , who would fiddle with such advanced things?"
Azra is sixteen years old this year, with beautiful dark chestnut curly hair. Due to malnutrition, her eye sockets are somewhat sunken, but she looks more and more beautiful. She looked back at the old watchmaker and said, "Grandpa, then we What should I do?"
"There has been no knocking in the cellar over the old Tom's house for three months." The old clockmaker sighed, scratching his thinning hair and said, "I guess they are no longer there. Later at night, I will go through the sewer. Touch it to see if there is any left in his water tank."
The girl Azra frowned and protested in a low voice: "Grandpa! That's too dangerous, your legs are inconvenient, so I'll go too."
"How can a little girl take away the old man's job." The old watchmaker laughed, took out the shotgun from the black cabinet behind him, and stood up with extreme difficulty.
"Grandpa, I'm sixteen years old." The girl Azra pouted unhappily.
The old watchmaker was slightly startled, his brows were deeply locked, and he said with uncontrollable sadness: "Yes, my beautiful Azra, you and my old man have been in this dark place for a whole time. Three years."
To survive in this ruined city, apart from luck, you only need to be strong and strong, so the old watchmaker did not allow himself to be immersed in the harmful emotion of sadness for too long. He took a deep breath and let himself He calmed down, then checked the shotgun carefully, confirmed that it was in excellent condition, and nodded with satisfaction.
"Azra, I've told you many times that every time you leave the cellar it's a fight."
The old man looked at his granddaughter lovingly, stroked her dark chestnut curly hair that was knotted, and said, "Some people in this city have surrendered to the enemy, some are fighting, some are waiting, I am old, but sometimes I can still talk to those The invaders fight, but you're a girl and you should wait."
The young girl Azra squatted in front of the old watchmaker's knees and said in a positive tone: "I can't do anything but wait? If I had a gun, I could kill a few federal people."
"If you live to my grandfather's age, you will understand that everything in this world is trivial, including war, and happy people always only need to do one thing."
"What's the matter?" Azra opened her curious eyes with pupils as beautiful as gems.
The old watchmaker said in a tone of truth: "Live, just live."
At this moment, in the corner of the cellar, at the broken iron sheet, there were a few dull sudden noises, and the old watchmaker's expression suddenly became tense. Above the broken iron sheet was a ventilation pipe made of pig iron, which could be clearly heard. sound from the ground.
The muffled sound continued. The old watchmaker frowned and listened for a while. After confirming that it was the sound of gunshots, he lowered his voice and asked, "Is the door closed?"
"No." Azra replied.
The old watchmaker didn't bother to reprimand the girl, and motioned her to lock the iron door at the entrance of the cellar. Although the entrance was disguised, there was a possibility that it might be discovered by the soldiers on the ground.
In the past three years, the grandfather and grandson have heard the sound of gunfire on the ground countless times, and encountered such a situation, so the girl Azra was not nervous. She carried her stained skirt and jumped towards the door like a deer. go.
There were footsteps outside the door.
The old watchmaker opened his mouth slightly, with a desperate look on his face, subconsciously lowered his head and pushed open the magazine, and then touched the cold bullet beside him.
The girl Azra covered her mouth in horror, preventing herself from screaming, and ran to the door. However, when she just ran to the door, before she had time to reach out, the heavy iron door was kicked fiercely. open.
The iron gate slammed hard on the girl's delicate body, shaking her to a distance of two meters, and she fainted just like that.
Looking at the two federal soldiers rushing through the door, the old clockmaker howled in anger and despair, wanting to pick up his gun and fight to defend his last home.
However, the watchmaker is really old, and after three years of torment, the hands that used to repair the most delicate watch movements became trembling and unstable, and he failed to press the bullet into the barrel for a long time. His keen eyes had already become cloudy, and he could only vaguely see the figure of the enemy.
The federal soldiers who rushed into the cellar pulled the trigger on the old man without hesitation. The bullet hit his chest and abdomen, leaving three terrifying bullet holes under his ribs, and blood was gurgling outwards.
The old clockmaker's body fell from the chair, and he didn't stop breathing immediately. He panted and looked at the Federals, and with the last of his strength, he pleaded in the most humble and desperate tone: "Please let my granddaughter go."
It was a federal captain and his orderly who rushed into the cellar. In the previous tragic battle, the captain's unit was directly crushed into blood by an imperial mecha battalion. In this house, I didn't expect to find a cellar fortunately.
The federal captain with his tattered military uniform looked extremely embarrassed. At this time, his mood was also extremely irritable. He looked at the old man from the empire who looked like a skinny dog and roared, "What did he say?"
"I don't know." The orderly replied honestly.
The captain spat on the ground and pulled the trigger again without hesitation.
The bullet pierced through the shriveled body for the second time, without bringing out much blood, it directly brought death.
In the city of Sage, the imperial ink flower planet, an ordinary old clockmaker named Sheldon Kabdanovich ended his life in this dark cellar.
The young girl Azra woke up. She looked pale and looked at the old man lying in a pool of blood. Her eyes like jewels suddenly lost all brilliance, and she was as unconscious as a stone. She fell on her knees and climbed to the old man. Beside him, he stretched out his weak trembling thin arms and hugged him gently.
The federal captain frowned at her, reached out to grab the girl's curly hair, and roughly pulled her up, then saw that pale, sad face that was still fresh enough.
The girl stared at his face, the stones in her eyes began to burn, she raised her head stubbornly, and then prepared to shout, she believed that there must be the empire's own troops on the ground.
The captain went to cover her lips, Azra bit him hard, the captain groaned, looked at the bleeding palm, and knocked the girl to the ground with a backhand, like a wounded wild dog.
After a moment of silence, the captain's expression gradually became cruel and strange. He stared at the girl who was half-crying under his feet and weeping. Face, pressed up, kicked off his pants and began to gasp for breath.
like a dog.