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墨書 Inktalez
Tie Zhu lay on the ground struggling for a long time, his face scratched by his own hands, his hair covered in dust, his eyes bloodshot, and he kept mumbling to himself, "I am not a monster, I am not a monster, not a monster!"
Somewhat dazed, Tie Zhu stumbled to the door, wanting to go outside. But then he remembered something and turned back into the room, climbing out of the window. He had stayed inside for a long time; it had started to rain lightly, the drops pattering on the tiles, making a crisp sound.
The cold raindrops briefly brought Tie Zhu back to his senses. He looked up at the sky and shouted loudly, "I really am not a monster!"
His voice was loud, very loud, yet it was also hoarse. Tie Zhu poured all his strength into shouting at the sky. He felt somewhat drained and took two steps back, tripping over a stone and falling against the wall, hitting his head hard against the windowsill.
"Ouch!..."
Tie Zhu held his head in pain. The impact brought him back to some clarity, but his gaze remained vacant as he stared blankly ahead.
In the distance, the sound of gunfire snapped Tie Zhu out of his stupor.
"Revenge! Yes, I want revenge!"
Tie Zhu didn’t understand the type of guns or the caliber of shells being fired, but he knew that with gunfire at this time, it must mean that the Japanese were attacking while the Nationalist Army was regrouping.
Inside a Ruined Building, a Japanese Soldier perked up his ears and smiled faintly upon hearing the gunfire.
Tie Zhu got up from the ground and moved forward to continue his journey of revenge.
"This is it!"
Tie Zhu stopped in his tracks; not far ahead was where he had been shot just moments ago!
He looked around at his surroundings. The buildings along the roadside had changed from two stories to one right in front of him. Tie Zhu realized that he had likely been shot because he lacked cover from the Japanese Soldier's line of sight. This meant that the Japanese Soldier could see this area, indicating he was at least on the second floor or higher.
Tie Zhu cautiously pressed himself against the left wall and slowly moved forward, sticking closely to the wall and carefully sidestepping as he advanced.
The distance wasn’t long—about fifty or sixty meters—where all the buildings were single-story. After passing this stretch, he would reach buildings with two stories.
As Tie Zhu was carefully moving forward, he approached an intersection near a tavern.
"Where is the artillery firing!"
Hu Lian, frowning while crouching on the ground, sprang up from the ground. Although the sound of gunfire was not loud and there was still some distance from him, it was undoubtedly the sound of Japanese artillery.
"The artillery fire is coming from the east!"
"The east? Is Japanese going to land again? Has our regiment assembled completely?"
Xu Staff Officer nodded: "Regimental Commander, at this position, our regiment can still field less than twelve hundred men, including Lightly Wounded. Moreover, we are short on ammunition and need resupply! Otherwise, the soldiers will have to fight Japanese with bayonets!"
Hu Lian paced back and forth in the room: "When will the supplies from Division Headquarters arrive? Didn't they already send a telegram? Why haven't they come yet?"
"I don't know. Division Headquarters replied that they would supply our regiment with provisions and personnel as soon as possible. It's been half an hour already; I think they should be coming soon!"
"There's no need to wait. Issue orders for everyone to immediately move to the First Battalion. Third Battalion should quickly move to the eastern front of the town. The Japanese are about to land, and the front-line troops won't hold out for long. Otherwise, we'll have to engage in Urban Warfare with Japanese Soldier. We must not let them in; also, Second Battalion, which has suffered the most casualties, should defend the south and north sides where it is not the main attack direction of the Japanese. There shouldn't be any major issues!"
After finishing his orders, Hu Lian picked up his weapon from the ground and rushed downstairs. The Japanese were launching another attack. Although they had not yet reached Luodian, Hu Lian still felt the pressure. The fierce battle throughout the morning had shown him the formidable combat power of the Japanese!
"Yes!"
Xu Staff Officer saluted and followed behind, starting to relay orders.
The recently assembled Kuomintang Soldier barely had time to eat a few bites of hot food before shouldering their weapons and moving towards their defensive positions.
"Regimental Commander, if we don't engage in Urban Warfare with Japanese Soldier, what should we do if the Japanese Naval Gun bombards us again?"
Xu Staff Officer looked at Hu Lian with some concern.
Hu Lian sighed deeply: "We will hold our position in the town. The power of the Japanese Naval Gun will decrease significantly. We will resist gradually and give up some peripheral areas, but we must not let them enter the town. The soldiers' reaction and adaptability are too poor; they are no match for the enemy in Urban Warfare. If they get in, Luodian cannot be defended!"
"If only we had a fleet, then there would be no way for those little devils to act so arrogantly!"
Xu Staff Officer gritted his teeth, looking very frustrated. This was simply an asymmetric war; from light weapons to heavy weapons, the Japanese were far superior to the Nationalist Army. The only advantage of the Nationalist Army was its numbers. Around Soochow, hundreds of thousands of various troops had gathered—elite units, mixed forces, Sichuan troops, Cantonese opera troops, and even troops from Northeast China had fled all the way to Shanghai.
Tie Zhu had already passed through the dangerous area and was quickly moving toward the alley entrance, his face filled with excitement as he kept murmuring to himself, "Shunliu Brother, just wait, I will avenge you soon!"
The alley was a narrow path leading to a main road, forming a T-shaped intersection with the alley.
Tie Zhu crouched down and darted to the other side of the path, slowly moving to the left.
Exiting the path led to the main road, or more accurately, the main thoroughfare of the town. A row of Small Buildings stood along the roadside, and the Japanese Soldiers were likely hiding in one of them.
Unbeknownst to Tie Zhu, he was currently in a blind spot of the Japanese Sniper, commonly referred to as "the darkness under the lamp." He cautiously felt his way forward step by step until he reached the edge of the road and quickly darted under the eaves of a Small Building, finally letting out a long sigh of relief.
"Where the hell are those Little Devils hiding?" Although he had successfully approached the location where the enemy was concealed, there were dozens of Small Buildings on this road, making it impossible for Tie Zhu to determine exactly where they were. His brows furrowed once again.
"If only Shunliu Brother were here; he could definitely deduce where the enemy is hiding based on just a few clues!"
Complaining about his own uselessness, Tie Zhu slowly pushed against the door of a Small Building. The door was secured with a long lock. He frowned and tried pushing open the windows on either side, but they were all tightly shut.
"They shouldn't be here!" After trying for a while to open the door without success and not wanting to force it open for fear of being discovered by the Japanese Soldiers, he turned and walked to another house.
This house had no lock and appeared to belong to someone living there. However, inside was a complete mess, as if it had been ransacked by thieves. Tie Zhu cautiously looked around on the first floor but found no targets and slowly made his way up to the second floor.
The second floor was still empty; the windows were tightly closed, and both rooms were in disarray just like downstairs.
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