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墨書 Inktalez
With a muffled thud, Tie Zhu felt a sharp pain in his shoulder. He suppressed a cry of anguish and picked up his rifle, carefully walking over to the Japanese corpses, delivering two more stabs to each before he weakly leaned against the door and sat down.
There were two Japanese bodies nearby, and despite the pain, Tie Zhu began to search them.
To his surprise, the Japanese had some valuables. One Japanese Soldier had about ten silver dollars and a pocket watch in his pocket, suggesting he was a junior officer. There were also two packs of cigarettes.
The other Japanese Soldier was less fortunate, with only three silver dollars and half a pack of cigarettes.
Encouraged by his luck, Tie Zhu stood up and searched all five Japanese Soldiers' bodies, collecting over twenty silver dollars, seven packs of cigarettes, a pocket watch, and three wristwatches taken from the Japanese Soldiers. The most valuable item was a gold necklace he took from one of the Japanese's necks.
After cleaning up the battlefield, Tie Zhu secretly tucked the gold necklace into his chest and hid several silver dollars and the pocket watch before heading back inside.
"Commander, the enemy is dead; it's all clear now."
Hu Lian peeked out from a corner on the second floor. Upon seeing Tie Zhu, he descended the stairs, tightly gripping his Flower Mechanism.
"Tie Zhu, what happened? Are you hurt? Xu Staff Officer, come take a look."
When Hu Lian reached the bottom of the stairs and saw that Tie Zhu had taken down five Japanese Soldiers, he realized this rookie was quite lucky; today, Tie Zhu's kill count nearly matched that of an entire company under his command.
Tie Zhu grinned foolishly and waved his hand. "It's nothing; I think I got hit by shrapnel from a grenade. Just a bit painful."
Xu Staff Officer approached and examined Tie Zhu's wound. He pulled out a first aid kit from his pocket. "Good thing I brought this today; otherwise, you'd be in trouble. The whole regiment is low on morphine. Just bear with me while I remove the shrapnel. Take off your shirt so I can clean it properly; otherwise, you might get an infection."
Feeling somewhat awkward, Tie Zhu scratched his head, unsure of what to do. He had a pile of loot hidden in his clothes—his future capital—and he didn't want Commander to confiscate it.
Hu Lian wandered around the Japanese corpses looking for two packs of cigarettes but found nothing in their pockets. He sighed inwardly at how poor these Little Devils were.
At that moment, he turned around and saw Xu Staff Officer asking Tie Zhu to take off his shirt. Tie Zhu wore a silly grin and said nothing. Upon closer inspection of Tie Zhu's bulging chest and pockets, Hu Lian immediately understood what was going on.
"Alright, alright, take out a pack of cigarettes. The things you confiscated belong to you; I’ve made an exception. Now, take off your clothes."
Tie Zhu immediately took out a pack of cigarettes to give to Hu Lian, but Hu Lian waved his hand and said, "Just sit there; I'll get it myself."
Tie Zhu set the cigarettes aside and began to pull out the items he had hidden in his clothes. Hu Lian looked at what he was pulling out and thought, wow, this kid is impressive. Don’t be fooled by his silly appearance; he’s quite clever.
There were about twenty silver dollars, a gold necklace, a pocket watch that looked expensive, three wristwatches, and several packs of cigarettes.
Xu Staff Officer scolded Tie Zhu a couple of times and then took a pack of cigarettes from Tie Zhu's loot before preparing to get the tools to remove the bullet fragments. Tie Zhu's clothes were cut open by Xu Staff Officer, revealing a patch that was already stained red with blood.
After Tie Zhu took off his clothes, his face began to turn pale, showing signs of excessive blood loss.
Hu Lian sat in front of the machine gun and noticed that Tie Zhu's complexion was off. He anxiously asked, "Tie Zhu, are you okay?"
Tie Zhu shook his head and replied, "Commander, I'm hungry."
"…"
"Tie Zhu, here, have a bite of this."
Hu Lian handed Tie Zhu a piece of something dark. Tie Zhu curiously looked at it and then stuffed it into his mouth.
"It's pretty good, quite sweet, but a bit bitter."
"This is called chocolate; Westerners like to eat this. It replenishes energy so you won’t feel hungry anymore."
Tie Zhu nodded; the thing called chocolate did taste good, but he was still very hungry.
Xu Staff Officer injected some morphine into Tie Zhu's wound while chatting with him: "Tie Zhu, where are you from?"
"I am from Dabie Mountain, of the Zhao Family Gathering."
"Oh, does everyone there have the surname Zhao?"
Tie Zhu shook his head, "Not really, there are other surnames too, like Wang and Li."
Xu Staff Officer noticed he had captured Tie Zhu's attention, so he took out a pair of tweezers, ready to help Tie Zhu remove the shrapnel. "Tie Zhu, how did you end up as a soldier?"
"My hometown was hit by disaster, and I had no choice but to flee. When I got to Xuzhou, I hadn't eaten for a long time. I saw the recruiting officer and thought that joining the army would mean food, so I enlisted. If I didn't join, I might starve to death. Ah, it hurts, it hurts!"
Tie Zhu suddenly felt a sharp pain in his shoulder and then sensed something being pulled out.
Xu Staff Officer tossed the shrapnel aside and pressed down on Tie Zhu. "Don't move, Tie Zhu. I'm going to stitch you up; otherwise, your bleeding won't stop. Where am I going to find blood for you on the battlefield?"
"Xu Staff Officer, how did you become a soldier? Your medical skills are so good; why not become a doctor?"
Xu Staff Officer focused intently on stitching Tie Zhu up. Tie Zhu kept trembling, making it difficult for him to sew. "What else can I do besides being a soldier? In this world, how many people can I save as a doctor? Serving the country as a soldier is what truly matters."
"Commander, do you think we can defeat the Japanese soldiers?" Tie Zhu asked.
Tie Zhu felt intense pain in his shoulder but didn't want to appear weak in front of the Commander. He kept trying to change the subject to distract himself. He remembered how he used to cope with beatings from his father by focusing on anything else; as long as he didn’t think about the pain, it wouldn’t hurt as much.
Hu Lian patted the Type 92 Heavy Machine Gun in front of him thoughtfully. "Of course we can! Tie Zhu, didn't you kill a lot of devils today? Let me tell you, our country has four hundred million people while Japan has only forty million. If each of us kills one devil, we can wipe them all out and still be just fine."
"Commander, when you go into battle, are you afraid of dying?"
"Of course! How could I not be afraid? Anyone who says they aren't is lying. Let them try going into battle; I bet even the sound of a grenade exploding would scare them half to death."
Tie Zhu chuckled. "When I went into battle today, I was so scared that I almost wet my pants. At that moment, I felt completely useless."
"I wasn't much better than you. When I first went to the battlefield, I was also scared out of my wits. But I was the Company Commander, and at that moment, I didn't remember anything; I just knew to charge forward. Once I started running, I forgot everything."
Tie Zhu and Hu Lian were chatting, slowly forgetting the pain in their shoulders. By the time they noticed again, Xu Staff Officer had already begun to pack up his tools.
"Sit still. Come find me in a week, and I'll take out your stitches. It's nothing serious; the shrapnel didn't penetrate deeply. Just be careful and don't get infected."
Tie Zhu quickly nodded and took out a watch from his spoils, handing it over. "Xu Staff Officer, thank you, thank you. This is for you; I won't need it anyway."
"No, Tie Zhu, take it back. This is your trophy; you earned it. You're trying to bribe me."
"Xu Staff Officer, you saved my life. Otherwise, I might have bled to death. Please accept it."
Hu Lian looked at the embarrassed Xu Staff Officer and said, "Just accept it. That old watch of yours has been with you for over ten years; it's time for a change."
"Alright, I'll accept it this time, but Tie Zhu, this is not a precedent."
Xu Staff Officer only took the watch after Hu Lian spoke up, playing with it in his hands. He had felt a bit awkward accepting a bribe in front of Hu Lian.
Seeing Xu Staff Officer holding the watch, Tie Zhu handed another watch to Hu Lian. "Commander, since Xu Staff Officer accepted it, you should take this one too!"
Hu Lian glanced at Tie Zhu and smiled wryly. "Alright, alright, I'll take it. You little rascal! You look like a simpleton but are actually quite cunning!"
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