My own war game

Chapter 53 The Scythe of Death
At night, Rose Manor.

A pen ticked the calendar, crossing out July 7th.

Christine used her slender fingers to move the kerosene lamp to make the light brighter, then picked up a pen and wrote a paragraph in the sketchbook.
"It's the fourth day, and the miracles are still going on. A few people held a fortress for four whole days surrounded by thousands of German troops. If it were in the past, I would have thought it was a shameless exaggeration of military exploits and false reporting of achievements, but it really happened, and I was even a participant."

"Although we held on here, the situation was becoming increasingly severe. The heavy machine guns and mortars had been destroyed, gasoline was in short supply, and almost everyone was injured. By the afternoon, we could only rely on light weapons and cocktails to fight the enemy."

Christine looked up at He Chi who was still bandaging the wound and continued writing.

"Cocktail is a Molotov cocktail. It was invented by He and it was also named by him. He is a man who can create miracles. Even in such a difficult environment, he can always create miracles to bring us hope, and then hope really comes."

Lights lit up in the south, and a large camp appeared on the horizon.

Reinforcements from the Allies arrived.

A force of at least several thousand people built simple fortifications in the south. Judging from the flags, they were a joint force of the US and French armies. This created a strange situation on the battlefield. He Chi and his team were in the center, surrounded by thousands of German troops, while the US-French forces formed a larger encirclement to block the Germans outside.

"That's good now. Our people are here, and the Germans will retreat soon. Then we will become heroes. When I am old, I can tell my grandchildren about what happened in these four days while leaning in a rocking chair." Lieutenant Jason said excitedly.

"Then you need to have a girlfriend first," a comrade beside him joked.

"What are you afraid of? Maybe I'll get it after this war." After the lieutenant said this, he stole a glance at Camille, and the girl dodged with a red face.

With the arrival of the Allied Forces, the originally dull atmosphere in the manor suddenly became lively. They, who had been determined to die, suddenly found that they had a chance to return home, and everyone's face was filled with hope.

"Look, what I found!" Margaret ran up from the basement and unfolded what was in her arms. It was a tricolor French flag.

"How about we hang up the flag?" Camille suggested happily with her hands clasped together, and the others turned their eyes to He Chi.

"Well, maybe it's a good idea. It can make a conspicuous identification for our side and prevent accidental artillery hits." He Chi thought about it and nodded in agreement.

So in the morning light, a small flag-raising ceremony was held here. Big Groot hung the flag at the highest point of the building. Christine, Jason and another soldier sang the "Marseillaise" (the two nurses were British, and He Chi and Groot were from the Foreign Legion).

When the singing ended, the big man suddenly ran down from upstairs and pointed excitedly at the edge of the woods.

"What's wrong? Groot?" He Chi asked while holding the big guy down. The black giant just kept motioning him to go upstairs and take a look.

The confused crowd climbed up the stairs together and looked to the north at Groot's signal.

Rows of strangely shaped pipes were erected, with dark grey gas cylinders on the side. The German soldiers operating nearby had crow-like gas masks on their faces.

He Chi and Kristine turned their heads at the same time and saw looks of fear in each other's eyes.

Poison gas bombs! A huge number of poison gas bombs!

"Oh my God! If these things are launched, the other side will..." Christine covered her mouth.

He Chi's heart moved, and he tore off a piece of paper from an old newspaper beside him and held it high in his hand. The gray paper swayed gently in the wind and pointed to the Allied camp in the distance. "Downwind..."

Boom, boom, boom! ! ! !
Before He Chi could finish his words, a dull sound came from the German position. Hundreds of small black dots flew towards the Allied positions and landed more than 100 meters away from the military camp. There was no large amount of fire, only a slightly muffled explosion sound.

A pale yellow gas drifted out, and the Grim Reaper raised the scythe in his hand.

The scene below was like purgatory. In front of everyone's eyes, countless small black dots kept shaking in the distance. Those were the soldiers who had inhaled mustard gas and were struggling in pain on the spot. They tore their throats, tore their clothes, leaving streaks of blood, rolled on the ground in agony, wailed, and finally stopped moving.

Although they couldn't see clearly due to the distance, nor could they hear the sound, their hearts still twitched as if they were hit by a sledgehammer.

"Oh my God! How could this happen! Oh my God!" Margaret closed her eyes and dared not look at what was happening in front of her. The faces of the others all turned pale, and the youngest, Camille, even vomited.

It took a full hour for the yellowish smoke to dissipate. The American positions originally stationed there were already in ruins, with wounded soldiers lying on the ground in agony.

The Allied vanguard withdrew from the original camp that day.

At night, because of what happened during the day, everyone was silent, and the girl's sobbing could be heard faintly.

He Chi looked out the window silently, his heart trembling equally violently.

At first, he participated in the dungeon with a gaming mentality, with the simple purpose of completing the task and earning more time, but as the war progressed, his own state of mind was unconsciously affected.

Margaret, Jason, Groot, Camille, and Kristen, needless to say, these people are already his comrades-in-arms and friends who share weal and woe.

Even ordinary soldiers are not simple data symbols, but living people with emotions and pain. Seeing this behavior that can be called a massacre today, he also felt very uncomfortable.

A piece of coarse bread was handed over, and Christine smoothed her hair and sat down beside him.

"He, you didn't eat anything at night, so you should eat something."

He Chi took the bread and looked at the blonde girl. The French female reporter no longer had any of the arrogance and willfulness she had at the beginning. There was no more confusion on her gray little face, and her eyes that were once filled with fear were replaced by a firm look.

The battlefield can make a person grow rapidly.

This is true for both He Chi and Kristen.

He Chi took a bite of the bread, thought for a moment and said, "I plan to send you and the two nurses out."

"Go out? How is that possible?!" Christine opened her eyes wide.

"Possibly." He Chi raised his hand and pressed the eye of an oil painting. A secret door dented in, revealing a narrow passage.

"You said before that many lover's manors have secret passages. I tried to find it and just found it yesterday." He Chi said with a complicated expression as he looked at the passage in front of him.

(End of this chapter)