Chapter 265: Will Chengcai Still Be A Deserter?
The enemies ahead were using fire suppression on him, and there was no way to contact the team leader and command post via walkie-talkie; the entire world seemed to leave only him alone.
Wu Liu Yi panicked.
For a moment, he didn’t know what to do.
His body was only reacting on instinctual crisis response and the muscle memory from rigorous training: he drew his gun and fired back toward the other end of the passage, carrying out sustained fire suppression.
To prevent the enemies from advancing along the passage and posing a fatal threat to him.
“Click~”
The bullets ran out.
Wu Liu Yi quickly pulled his gun back to replace the magazine. During reloading, his mind went completely blank, as if filled with paste, completely losing the ability to think.
He was purely operating on muscle memory, and the combat was entirely on instinct from long-term training.
“Hoo~”
After loading the new magazine, Wu Liu Yi let out a long breath.
Just as he was about to poke his head out to shoot again, he then noticed that the passage had gone completely silent, with no trace of the enemies left.
Wu Liu Yi cautiously poked out half his head and checked the other end of the passage through night vision goggles.
He still saw no enemies.
Even more, no enemies fired at him.
At this moment, the enemies had vanished, and there was no teammate to be seen around him, only the pitch-black passage and the unknown ahead.
Wu Liu Yi felt unprecedented panic; his entire being was swallowed by anxiety.
“Calm down, calm down; things aren’t that bad.”
Wu Liu Yi took several deep breaths, trying to comfort himself to calm down, to not be so chaotic; he finally regained a bit of clarity.
“C1, where are you? Can you hear me?”
“C3, what’s the situation ahead? Can you respond?”
Wu Liu Yi first chose to call out again, hoping for a response from his teammates; after all, he was just a newcomer, habitually hoping for a veteran to lead.
This was originally a deliberately designed assessment, so naturally there was no response to the call.
“Could they all have sacrificed?”
After waiting ten or twenty seconds with no reaction, a terrifying thought popped into Wu Liu Yi’s mind; in panic, his emotions nearly collapsed.
Forcibly suppressing his pounding heart, Wu Liu Yi had to engage his brain again.
He realized a core point…
Since the veterans showed no reaction, whether they had sacrificed or whatever, the mission wasn’t over; he still had to continue.
But Wu Liu Yi didn’t know, in the current situation, exactly how to complete the subsequent mission.
So he could only escalate, calling the command center.
“Command center, this is C4; I’ve lost contact with all my teammates. I need you to tell me what to do now.”
After the call, there was still dead silence; no response came through the earpiece.
“No signal in the air-raid shelter? Communications cut off?”
Wu Liu Yi had to think in that direction, and extending from the current communications terminal, he realized a situation he had to face.
No way to contact superiors, all teammates missing ahead.
What should he do next?
Survival instinct told Wu Liu Yi that even the more experienced old A’s had already sacrificed ahead; if this rookie continued forward on mission, he was very likely to die here.
But as soon as this thought emerged, another voice told Wu Liu Yi.
His comrades ahead likely weren’t dead; they were probably captured by the enemies or already injured, urgently needing his help.
Moreover, the mission wasn’t complete yet; if the bomb really exploded, the consequences would be unimaginable.
For the lives of over a million people in the city, he had to muster courage and charge forward at this moment, even if it meant death, to ensure the people’s safety.
Defend the country and protect the people is the soul of a soldier!
One step forward meant a high probability of death, but possibly saving over a million civilians, as well as his injured teammates hiding somewhere ahead waiting for support.
One step back meant abandoning all honor and duty in exchange for his own survival.
Was it to live in humiliation.
Or to die holding one’s head high.
The two thoughts were like angel and devil, crazily colliding and intertwining in Wu Liu Yi’s mind, constantly tormenting his human nature and soul.
This process was extremely painful and one that every excellent special forces soldier must inevitably go through.
After one or two minutes of agonizing struggle.
The soldier’s backbone deep in Wu Liu Yi’s soul, that exceptionally tough Steel Seventh Company hard bone grown strong, and the single-minded persistence that could conquer the fear of death, triumphed over the fear and cowardice toward death.
“Steel Seventh Company is an honor company forged in blood and battle; the soldiers it produces absolutely cannot be cowards.”
Wu Liu Yi took another long deep breath; when he slowly exhaled, the confusion in his eyes had been replaced by resolve.
All hesitation and fear were dispelled, leaving only the determination to complete a soldier’s mission.
“Xu Sanduo, Cheng Cai, if I die, remember to bring my ashes back and bury them by that small river in Shangrongshu Village; that’s my favorite place from childhood, and sleeping there must be very comfortable.”
Wu Liu Yi made his final radio call, regardless of whether they could hear, like muttering to himself or speaking to himself.
After speaking, he reorganized his equipment and resolutely walked toward the front of the passage.
At this time, the three veterans of C Group who had already run out of the passage and were sitting outside resting could clearly hear through their earpieces all the words Wu Liu Yi said.
Even though they knew this was just an assessment, not a real life-and-death parting.
But Wu Liu Yi’s words, this determination to face death, still moved them deeply; for the first time in their lives, they felt guilt.
Feeling that deceiving Wu Liu Yi like this was simply heinous.
…
At the same time.
The newcomers setting off from several other directions also encountered the same situation as Wu Liu Yi, all losing contact with team members and superiors.
Even Cheng Cai and Xu Sanduo in the same group were deliberately separated by two veterans.
And their team leader was Qi Huan, whose acting skills were even more superb than the other old-timers, even adding a long emotional scene.
In a tone of severe injury and gasping breath, he told Xu Sanduo they were done for.
When Xu Sanduo urgently wanted to rescue them, he stopped Xu Sanduo from coming to rescue and gave Xu Sanduo two choices.
He could choose to return the way he came, bearing no responsibility.
Or choose to continue the mission.
However, when Xu Sanduo anxiously shouted asking exactly what he needed to do, Qi Huan didn’t say clearly what to do.
He only told Xu Sanduo: “Do what you can do.”
Then Qi Huan went silent as if he had passed away, with no more sound coming through.
Xu Sanduo’s reaction was just like in the original drama: that unique single-mindedness from Rongshu Village, plus the extreme kindness and simplicity few people have.
Even in desperation, Xu Sanduo resolutely overcame fear and chose to continue the mission.
Even if he didn’t know if he could complete it.
Because Xu Sanduo’s pure and simple mind never thought about how dangerous this mission was; he only knew those six words in his mind—
Never abandon, never give up!
With such a simple thought, Xu Sanduo also chose to fight alone.
While in the original drama, Cheng Cai, who gave up the mission out of cowardice and fear of death when all teammates went missing and couldn’t contact command,
Because of the transmigrator Chen Jun’s appearance, starting from new recruit company, had been influencing Cheng Cai.
Letting Cheng Cai, over these past few years, feel comradeship absent in the original drama, a sense of honor he had never experienced, and a sense of mission he never knew or remembered in the original drama.
It was precisely long-term immersion in a loving Steel Seventh Company with strong cohesion and sense of honor that caused a massive change in Cheng Cai’s character.
Just like that:
Those near vermilion become red; those near ink become black.
With a bunch of comrades who shared life and death, experiencing what comradeship and team are, and awakening early to understand a soldier’s duty—Cheng Cai.
In this near-desperate situation, unlike before, didn’t abandon out of fear of death.
Though he was indeed very afraid, the fear of death making his hands tremble, feeling extremely helpless with no one to help.
But thinking of Xu Sanduo, Wu Liu Yi, and other old comrades-in-arms still fighting the villains ahead.
They might even have encountered the same as him, now fighting alone and very dangerous; if he could find them, they could regroup into a powerful fist.
The scale in Cheng Cai’s heart tipped to one side; fear was ultimately forcibly suppressed.
Even if just a little.
But that little bit was completely enough.
“Xu Sanduo, wait for me; you can’t have an accident; you must hold on, and Squad Deputy Leader Wu, we came out of Steel Seventh Company together, so we must go back together; no one can stay here.”
Cheng Cai shouted loudly in vent, as if to dispel the inner fear.
Though wearing a full-coverage gas mask, the sound muffled inside came out very small, but it was enough to firm his resolve.
He smashed his eyelids a few times to shake off the sweat flowing down his forehead, then heavily thumped his chest.
Cheng Cai forcibly suppressed his heart pounding over 120 from fear and terror, picked up his gun, and continued walking into the darkness ahead.
Finally, Wu Zhe’s side had the smallest commotion; the old A’s made no extra moves, seemingly worried about being seen through by the top student Wu Zhe.
Also after an intense gunfight, they collectively vanished.
The other newcomer in the same team also lost trace at this time; no response no matter how he called via walkie-talkie.
Wu Zhe’s heart was equally very panicked and uneasy, but his thoughts were relatively mature, without the complex ideas of Xu Sanduo and others.
The Wu Zhe who clearly knew obeying orders is duty acted like a robot knowing the standard answer.
Even if all teammates likely died, he still firmly executed superiors’ orders, suppressed fear, and continued forward on mission.
Moreover, as a skeptic, he always doubted everything.
Even at this point, ninety percent believing this was actual combat, Wu Zhe still sought suspicious signs.
Wanting to prove this was acting, not real combat breaking out.
Not wanting any comrades to really sacrifice!
“Calm mind, calm mind, calm mind…”
After chanting his signature phrase over a dozen times continuously, Wu Zhe also embarked on this solo path.
The new recruit cadets advancing from four directions all chose to continue the mission; not one became a coward, pressing deeper into the factory interior.
Wu Liu Yi, using the faint field of vision in the passage, kept searching for injured veteran team members along the way.
Unfortunately, he didn’t see a single one.
But after scurrying east and west in the air-raid shelter, he soon found an exit passage; the faint light gave him hope.
“This should be the exit; the corresponding position should be somewhere in the main warehouse.”
Wu Liu Yi stared at the exit for a long time, knowing that going out would likely encounter enemies and real gunfight would erupt soon.
Thinking of the mission that must be completed, and the comrades fighting on other paths.
Wu Liu Yi chose to crawl along the passage, and upon reaching the exit, cautiously poked his head to survey for a moment, confirmed the outside terrain, then carefully crawled out.
After going out, he saw no villains; Wu Liu Yi moved forward hugging the wall.
With the gas mask, field of vision wasn’t great, but the entire warehouse was filled with dense yellow smoke, blocking vision while making him afraid to remove it.
Just as he passed a corner, he suddenly heard faint friction from the other side of the corner.
That was the friction of feet and ground when walking carefully.
“Enemies!!”
Wu Liu Yi’s nerves tensed instantly, first aiming his muzzle at the corner.
But on second thought, since this was covert action, firing would attract all the villains in the warehouse, causing everything to fall short.
So he chose to lower his gun and drew the tactical dagger from his waist to sneak over.
Three meters… two meters… one meter…
Just as the target was about to come around the corner, Wu Liu Yi lunged forward; left hand grabbed the opponent’s muzzle and pushed it upward, right hand dagger stabbing diagonally from above, locking on the opponent’s neck.
This was a standard move from crawling knife; hitting would sever the enemy’s carotid artery.
However.
Just as the knife was midway in the air, Wu Liu Yi’s hand suddenly stopped.
Because even through the gas mask, he recognized the person coming: surprisingly, it was the old acquaintance Cheng Cai assigned to the west entrance.
“Cheng Cai? How is it you?”
Wu Liu Yi yanked Cheng Cai over, and after squatting hidden on this side of the corner together, he urgently whispered.
“Squad Deputy Leader Wu, too good; meeting you is too good.”
Cheng Cai, shrouded in panic and nervousness, was truly scared limp by the sudden attack; discovering it was Wu Liu Yi, excitement instantly replaced it.
In this oppressive solo combat environment, meeting a teammate was truly exhilarating.
Not to mention an old Seventh Company buddy!
“Where’s Xu Sanduo? Where are the people in your team? How are you alone?” Wu Liu Yi asked again, wanting to know what happened.
“Don’t know; I don’t know where they went. Earlier in the passage, combat suddenly erupted; everyone else in our group, including Sanduo, all vanished; my walkie-talkie can’t reach them either.”
Cheng Cai tried to calm his emotions to explain more clearly.
“Hm? Suddenly all vanished?”
Wu Liu Yi thought of his own encounter; hearing this news, his heart suddenly tightened, thinking they met a group of very formidable villains.
Able to act silently and instantly take down special forces from two squads.
This combat ability was truly strong!
Completely unaware of this major loophole: how could two squads of terrified old A’s encountering villains happen to have the exact same situation at the same time.
Thus, from this major loophole, suspecting this was a premeditated act.
