Chapter 8 Avalanche
The second squad leader only rushed out for two steps before coming to a stop. An inconceivable scene unfolded in front of us. The foul-smelling strange ladybug suddenly separated into three, each one the same size as the former.
Among the three blue fireballs, one of them immediately threw itself onto the second squad leader while the other two, akin to bolts of lightning, immersed themselves in the group. Including second squad leader, there was also the cook, Old Zhao,and the correspondent Little Lin. All three of them were hit by the incoming fireballs. Their entire bodies burst into flames as they screeched in pain and terror. They twisted and struggled on the ground, desperately rolling around to extinguish the great flames on their bodies.
Then, a terrifying thing happened. As a result of facing the fireballs earlier, the soldiers became excessively nervous and had unlocked the safety on their firearms, tightly gripping the magazines of their fully loaded guns.
At that time, the messenger Little Lin was only sixteen years old so he lacked the valor and the strong mentality of the instructor and second squad leader when facing death. The fiendish blazing fire had burnt away his rationality. Under the suffering of being engulfed by raging flames, it caused the semi-automatic rifle in his hands to go off accidentally with a series of ‘tak~ tak~ tak~ tak~’. Amidst the heavy sounds of gunfire, three comrades were hit by the stray bullets he fired, and they eventually collapsed into a pool of blood.
The situation had devolved into the worst possible scenario. The commander would rather kill himself than let us fire, but all of his efforts were in vain and someone had fired. Even stranger was the fact that even though the attack of the fire beetles was terrifying, it was nothing compared to the avalanche that firing a shot would cause. Any avalanche meant complete and utter drowning in snow. None of the members of the small team was going to survive. In the valley under the glacier, even speaking too loudly would cause an avalanche. But this gunshot would most definitely bring out the worst possible outcome.
After seeing Xiao Lin madly fire off his shotgun and kill three of his brothers in arms, I didn't waste a second in thinking about what to do next. I clenched my teeth and picked up my rifle and shot three short bullets, giving Xiao Lin, the Deputy Squad Leader and Old Zhao a merciful end to their pain.
The sound of the shots echoed throughout the valley. Since the valley was so narrow and the glacier created a smooth wall, it was like a natural amplifier. Shots, shouts, and cries created waves and waves of echoes that never ended.
I wasn’t able to come out of the pain of having shot my own comrades. All I could think about was the look of their smiles and the sound of their laughs when they were still alive. My consciousness was starting to drift. I suddenly felt something cold fall onto my head, bringing me back to reality. I touched my head. They were snowflakes.
That day, the skies were clear and bright. The sun hung high and brightly lit the sky. It couldn’t possibly be snowing. Once I felt the snowflakes, I felt my heart sink. The first thought in my head was, “Its coming.”
From within each of the corpses of my three dead comrades flew up a blue fireball. There was no need to worry about whether I would shoot or not anymore. Er Wa had the highest accuracy within our little team. Without even targeting, he raised his rifle and immediately fired. Every shot hit the center of the fireballs. The bugs within them weren’t even bullet-sized. With one shot, they were completely blasted away, making the fire disappear.
After experiencing this cruel and savage conflict, of our original ten soldiers, including the second commander and commander, only Giant, Er Wa and I were left of the soldiers; of the scholars, only Liu Gong and Luo Ning survived.
The snowflakes that fell from above got denser and denser. I could hear a rumble in the distance. The entire valley was shaking. I looked up at the wall and saw that a storm was beginning to form along the snow. It was like an all-encompassing tsunami rolling towards our valley.
Giant pulled me up and shouted, “Old Hu! Motherf*cker, what are you doing at a f*cking time like this? Hurry the f*ck up!”
Luo Ning had already fainted. Giant picked her up and threw her over his shoulder. Er Wa and I grabbed Liu Gong at the same time and ran away from the glacier, hoping that before the avalanche fell, we’d be able to climb over a slightly higher hill and grab that slim chance of survival.
Even at our most desperate moment, we hadn’t thrown away our guns. Guns were a part of an army man’s life. Throwing it away meant throwing away the honor of being a military man. You can throw away any other equipment, even your own bag, but never, no matter the situation, can you leave your gun behind.
The avalanche came down upon us too soon. It unfurled towards us like a tsunami. The ground shuddered and quaked under our feet.
I had once heard someone describing what happened during an avalanche, but never would I have imagined that there was a power as strong as the one I was witnessing between the heavens and the earth. Being here just crushed all hopes of surviving. Even if we had grown two more legs we wouldn’t have been able to escape the destruction that the avalanche laid.
However, the heavens never completely barred one’s road, and there was always a way out. The violent shaking from the avalanche had split open the glacier, creating a downward facing cave.
The growing blizzard was already upon us. Everyone didn’t waste another moment to think and charged straight for the cave. The slope within the cave was incredibly steep. Never would I have expected there to be such a long drop to the bottom. We all stumbled and rolled straight to the bottom of the pit.
Afterwards, a large pile of snow fell, completely plugging up the opening and burying us. The five of us all violently gasped for breath and coughed once we dug ourselves out. The rumbling finally calmed down after what felt like an eternity. Who knows how many tons of snow had toppled atop our cave.
I couldn’t see anything in the dark. Now that everyone had narrowly escaped death, it took a few moments before anyone broke the silence. The first voice to break the silence had a northeastern accent. I knew with one listen that it was Giant. Giant asked, “I’m hearing a lot of breaths. Old Hu, Ga Wa Zi, Liu Gong, Luo Gong, are you all there?”
I felt my entire body collapse. So much pain ran through me that I couldn’t even squeeze a sound out. All I could do was mumble in agreement, showing that I was alive.
Ga Wa also responded. He pulled out his flashlight and shined it around the area. Luo Ning sat there, stupefied. He seemed to be unharmed. Liu Gong was semi-unconscious next to him. His left leg was bent out of shape, revealing the white bone underneath.
Chapter 8 Avalanche
The second squad leader only rushed out for two steps before coming to a stop. An inconceivable scene unfolded in front of us. The foul-smelling strange ladybug suddenly separated into three, each one the same size as the former.
Among the three blue fireballs, one of them immediately threw itself onto the second squad leader while the other two, akin to bolts of lightning, immersed themselves in the group. Including second squad leader, there was also the cook, Old Zhao,and the correspondent Little Lin. All three of them were hit by the incoming fireballs. Their entire bodies burst into flames as they screeched in pain and terror. They twisted and struggled on the ground, desperately rolling around to extinguish the great flames on their bodies.
Then, a terrifying thing happened. As a result of facing the fireballs earlier, the soldiers became excessively nervous and had unlocked the safety on their firearms, tightly gripping the magazines of their fully loaded guns.
At that time, the messenger Little Lin was only sixteen years old so he lacked the valor and the strong mentality of the instructor and second squad leader when facing death. The fiendish blazing fire had burnt away his rationality. Under the suffering of being engulfed by raging flames, it caused the semi-automatic rifle in his hands to go off accidentally with a series of ‘tak~ tak~ tak~ tak~’. Amidst the heavy sounds of gunfire, three comrades were hit by the stray bullets he fired, and they eventually collapsed into a pool of blood.
The situation had devolved into the worst possible scenario. The commander would rather kill himself than let us fire, but all of his efforts were in vain and someone had fired. Even stranger was the fact that even though the attack of the fire beetles was terrifying, it was nothing compared to the avalanche that firing a shot would cause. Any avalanche meant complete and utter drowning in snow. None of the members of the small team was going to survive. In the valley under the glacier, even speaking too loudly would cause an avalanche. But this gunshot would most definitely bring out the worst possible outcome.
After seeing Xiao Lin madly fire off his shotgun and kill three of his brothers in arms, I didn't waste a second in thinking about what to do next. I clenched my teeth and picked up my rifle and shot three short bullets, giving Xiao Lin, the Deputy Squad Leader and Old Zhao a merciful end to their pain.
The sound of the shots echoed throughout the valley. Since the valley was so narrow and the glacier created a smooth wall, it was like a natural amplifier. Shots, shouts, and cries created waves and waves of echoes that never ended.
I wasn’t able to come out of the pain of having shot my own comrades. All I could think about was the look of their smiles and the sound of their laughs when they were still alive. My consciousness was starting to drift. I suddenly felt something cold fall onto my head, bringing me back to reality. I touched my head. They were snowflakes.
That day, the skies were clear and bright. The sun hung high and brightly lit the sky. It couldn’t possibly be snowing. Once I felt the snowflakes, I felt my heart sink. The first thought in my head was, “Its coming.”
From within each of the corpses of my three dead comrades flew up a blue fireball. There was no need to worry about whether I would shoot or not anymore. Er Wa had the highest accuracy within our little team. Without even targeting, he raised his rifle and immediately fired. Every shot hit the center of the fireballs. The bugs within them weren’t even bullet-sized. With one shot, they were completely blasted away, making the fire disappear.
After experiencing this cruel and savage conflict, of our original ten soldiers, including the second commander and commander, only Giant, Er Wa and I were left of the soldiers; of the scholars, only Liu Gong and Luo Ning survived.
The snowflakes that fell from above got denser and denser. I could hear a rumble in the distance. The entire valley was shaking. I looked up at the wall and saw that a storm was beginning to form along the snow. It was like an all-encompassing tsunami rolling towards our valley.
Giant pulled me up and shouted, “Old Hu! Motherf*cker, what are you doing at a f*cking time like this? Hurry the f*ck up!”
Luo Ning had already fainted. Giant picked her up and threw her over his shoulder. Er Wa and I grabbed Liu Gong at the same time and ran away from the glacier, hoping that before the avalanche fell, we’d be able to climb over a slightly higher hill and grab that slim chance of survival.
Even at our most desperate moment, we hadn’t thrown away our guns. Guns were a part of an army man’s life. Throwing it away meant throwing away the honor of being a military man. You can throw away any other equipment, even your own bag, but never, no matter the situation, can you leave your gun behind.
The avalanche came down upon us too soon. It unfurled towards us like a tsunami. The ground shuddered and quaked under our feet.
I had once heard someone describing what happened during an avalanche, but never would I have imagined that there was a power as strong as the one I was witnessing between the heavens and the earth. Being here just crushed all hopes of surviving. Even if we had grown two more legs we wouldn’t have been able to escape the destruction that the avalanche laid.
However, the heavens never completely barred one’s road, and there was always a way out. The violent shaking from the avalanche had split open the glacier, creating a downward facing cave.
The growing blizzard was already upon us. Everyone didn’t waste another moment to think and charged straight for the cave. The slope within the cave was incredibly steep. Never would I have expected there to be such a long drop to the bottom. We all stumbled and rolled straight to the bottom of the pit.
Afterwards, a large pile of snow fell, completely plugging up the opening and burying us. The five of us all violently gasped for breath and coughed once we dug ourselves out. The rumbling finally calmed down after what felt like an eternity. Who knows how many tons of snow had toppled atop our cave.
I couldn’t see anything in the dark. Now that everyone had narrowly escaped death, it took a few moments before anyone broke the silence. The first voice to break the silence had a northeastern accent. I knew with one listen that it was Giant. Giant asked, “I’m hearing a lot of breaths. Old Hu, Ga Wa Zi, Liu Gong, Luo Gong, are you all there?”
I felt my entire body collapse. So much pain ran through me that I couldn’t even squeeze a sound out. All I could do was mumble in agreement, showing that I was alive.
Ga Wa also responded. He pulled out his flashlight and shined it around the area. Luo Ning sat there, stupefied. He seemed to be unharmed. Liu Gong was semi-unconscious next to him. His left leg was bent out of shape, revealing the white bone underneath.
