Chapter 309: Heroes

“I’ll fight even at the cost of my life!”

“They are the same as well. Although those people aren’t their real parents, their parents are behind those people. If the enemy isn’t forestalled, the enemy will invade the country, and everyone will suffer. Do you think it’s worth it for them?”

Red Boy did not reply.

At that moment, someone ran over, shouting all the way, “We are abandoning the front line! Pull back! Pull back immediately! We are retreating immediately!”

Red Boy heaved a sigh of relief when he heard that shout. Were they finally retreating?

When the soldiers heard that, they obeyed the order and began retreating despite being extremely unwilling to do so. The explosive blasts continued as their lives were no longer in their hands. They left it up to fate. Huang Ren and Chen Dashan were running together but this did not continue for long before an artillery shell landed close to them. When the blast boomed, Huang Ren felt his mind turn abuzz from the shock. At that moment, a huge figure charged over and pushed him into a trench,

At the same time, the spot where Huang Ren had been standing was hit by an artillery blast!

When Huang Ren crawled up in a daze, he noticed Chen Dashan smiling at him.

At that instant, Huang Ren had an ominous feeling. He subconsciously said, “Brother…”

“Leave, quickly leave,” said Chen Dashan.

“Leave? We leave together!” When Huang Ren tried to grab Chen Dashan, he looked down to realize that one of Chen Dashan’s legs was gone! His back was mangled. Clearly, he had been a victim of the blast!

At that instant, Huang Ren’s tears gushed out. Huang Ren, who had remained tearless even when he was hit by bullets and bleeding, was now bawling like a child. He cried, “Brother, why are you so foolish?”

“Since you call me brother, I definitely have to send you home. Alright, this is the end of the road for me. Quickly leave. Leave! According to the plan, our artillery should be launching their attacks. Once our artillery unleashes its barrage of attacks, reinforcements will come. All we need to do now is retreat and wait for reinforcements! Ignore me. I’ll just lie here, watching, watching those bastards die!” cried Chen Dashan.

“No, if I leave, we leave together!” Huang Ren squatted down to hug Chen Dashan.

Chen Dashan bellowed angrily, “Why are you this foolish? How will you run while carrying me? We will die together if you do that! Quickly leave. Go!”

“We leave together! Together!” Huang Ren ignored Chen Dashan completely as he carried Chen Dashan and ran forward. However, just as Chen Dashan said, how could he run while carrying a person? Instead of calling it running, it was just a little faster than walking. They could die at any moment with artillery shells flying behind them!

Another shell landed a spot far behind them not long after they started running. Both of them fell to the ground, but Huang Ren immediately got up and grabbed Chen Dashan by the hand. He was determined to take Chen Dashan away with him even if he had to drag him!

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“Let me go!” shouted Chen Dashan.

“No! If you die, we die together! If you live, we live together!” cried Huang Ren. Nearly at the same time, a series of explosions boomed behind them. It was the division’s artillery battery. They had finally unleashed their iron fury! Instantly, the enemy’s attacks were repressed. Their tanks were reduced to scrap metal from the blasts as the enemy’s forces were finally repressed.

“Run! This is the best opportunity!” shouted Chen Dashan.

Huang Ren shook his head.

Chen Dashan dug his hands into his clothes, pulled out a cloth bag, and handed it to Huang Ren, “My hometown is in the northeast. It’s called Dawn Village beside the Songhua River. My wife’s name is Yu A’xiang. Tell her that I have thought of our son’s name. It will be Chen Baoguo! Go. Those villagers still need our protection. We can’t all die!” Chen Dashan yelled with all his strength, which drained him of his last strength. His eyes turned turbid and dimmed. Finally, he stopped breathing.

Huang Ren knelt in front of Chen Dashan’s body, wailing. However, he quickly lifted Chen Dashan’s corpse and retreated amid gunfire. At that instant, the artillery fire seemed to turn silent, leaving only him alone. Solitude, pain… He clasped the tiny cloth bag tightly in his hands.

At that moment, Fangzheng finally saw that large numbers of refugees far behind the front line were being taken away. Clearly, the platoon that Huang Ren was part of had stayed behind to cover the retreat.

In the end, among the 3416 soldiers in Huang Ren’s brigade, only 53 people survived! The rest had all perished in battle! The remaining were mostly injured.

However, none of them cried. After the battle ended, they focused on recuperating. They cleaned their rifles and prepared to be inserted into the next battle!

After the end of the battle, Red Boy looked at Chen Dashan’s corpse amid the billowing smoke. He sighed and cursed, “What a bunch of idiots.” Then, he squatted down to cover Chen Dashan with a tattered flag.

Fangzheng asked, “Are they really idiots?”

“Heroes…” whispered Red Boy.

Fangzheng also finally learned where Huang Ren’s merit came from. The merit accrued by all the soldiers in their act of saving civilians would have been split equally but as too many people had died… Almost all the merit finally got transferred onto him, giving him his present merit.

The scene changed again. On the banks of Songhua River, Huang Ren, who was more than fifty years old, looked at the box in his hand. He opened it silently and in it was a military medal of honor! The medal was not given by the local army but by the national army. Huang Ren always knew that Chen Dashan had been a soldier elsewhere, but he did not know he had a military medal of honor!

“Brother, many villages were destroyed after the Songhua River flooded. The people scattered so how am I to find your family.” Huang Ren slowly knelt down while facing the gurgling river waters. He continued, “It’s been more than twenty years, but I haven’t found your wife. I’ve let you down. But don’t worry. Even if I die searching, I’ll continue. After I’m not around, my family will continue the search. I’ll keep looking forever!”

The remaining scenes turned jumbled, but it ultimately revolved around Songhua River. The elder traveled through the rain and snow, asking anyone he met about Dawn Village or Yu A’xiang. However, he was disappointed with every inquiry, but the elder had never given up. He went from a healthy body with a head of black hair to one with white hair and wrinkles.

He nearly covered every inch of land! During this period, the elder refused all rewards or jobs that were given to him. He used his entire social network to seek out Dawn Village to find Chen Dashan’s wife, Yu A’xiang. Unfortunately, the search ended fruitless.

However, the scene turned more jumbled when finally, the scenes stopped at a particular point in time. A phone call came, “Brother Huang, I have done a thorough investigation. There’s really no Dawn Village. However, I did hear of a story, a story about dawn. It’s a short story that has been handed down in some villages. It speaks of a child’s fisherman parents who passed away out at sea. The child’s sister told her innocent younger brother that the day dawn arrived in the east was the day their parents would return. As the child gained hope, he remained strong-willed. Only when he grew up did he realize that dawn was not a point in time but hope. His sister had given him hope and he had lived with his parents all his life with that hope, never feeling lonely.

I believe Chen Dashan must have lied to you. He did not have a family and only wished for you to leave. He hoped that you would continue living on with this hope and belief…”