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The following spring, a thick sadness permeated the Alabama airport.

The platform was crowded with young soldiers about to head to the front lines and their families. Cries and words of advice filled the air, creating a mournful farewell.

Mrs. Gan held her two sons tightly, as if she were using all her strength.

Her tears had long since dried up, leaving only a hoarse voice and bloodshot eyes.

“Listen, my children,” she gripped Suning and Agan’s arms tightly, truly not wanting to let go, “You must come back safe and sound! I don’t ask for anything, no medals, no honors, I just want you to come back alive! Promise me!”

Forrest Gump was moved by his mother's emotions and awkwardly patted her back. "Mom, don't cry. I'll run really fast, bullets won't be able to catch me. I'll protect my brother, I promise you!"

Mrs. Gan turned her gaze to Su Ning, the son who made her both proud and heartbroken.

Her trembling hand stroked his sharply defined face: "Su, you're the older brother, and the smartest kid in the family. Take good care of Forrest, and take good care of yourself. War... war is the most foolish and hateful invention of mankind! But what can a family like ours do..."

Her voice was filled with the helplessness and sorrow of ordinary people at the bottom of society.

They lack the resources to seek exemptions and the channels to obtain special treatment.

They can only be like pawns on a chessboard, pushed by an invisible hand into the unknown distance.

Su Ning hugged his mother back, and he could feel the immense fear emanating from her frail body.

How could he not know the cruelty of war?
With his intelligence, he wasn't without ways to avoid military service...

Whether it's feigning mental instability, exploiting minor physical ailments, or even migrating to Canada like some wealthy young people, it's all part of the process.

He could harm himself, but that would go against his deep-seated rationality and pride.

In his view, it was a lower form of loss of self-control.

“Mom, I understand.” His voice was deep and steady, like a stone thrown into a torrent. “We will come back. I promise you.”

Just then, a commotion caught their attention.

Not far away, a young man with obvious intellectual disabilities, accompanied by his family, was bewildered as he put on an oversized military uniform. He was grinning foolishly at the shiny buttons, completely unaware of what he was about to face.

The officer in charge of the team put a checkmark on the list without any expression.

Suning's eyes suddenly turned cold.

He lowered his voice and said to his mother, "Mom, do you know why kids like Forrest Gump get drafted?"

Mrs. Gan looked up blankly.

“Because I’ve studied the data,” Su Ning said with a sarcastic smile, “the military has repeatedly lowered its recruitment standards due to the continued shortage of manpower. Internal reports I’ve seen indicate that during this war, it is estimated that about 320,000 people like Forrest Gump, whose intelligence level is below the standard, will be recruited.”

This number struck Mrs. Gan's heart like a cold hammer.

She looked incredulously at her innocent youngest son, Forrest, who was trying to help a crying little girl pick up a doll that had fallen to the ground.

“Three hundred and twenty thousand…?” Mrs. Gan’s voice was broken and shaky. “How could they… How could they… Ah Gan can’t even tell left from right…”

“In their eyes, these are just numbers.” Su Ning’s gaze swept over the numb officers and the group of new recruits around him who resembled Forrest Gump and were clearly not very intelligent. “Forrest Gump is just one of these 320,000 people. They were sent to the battlefield not because of their abilities, but simply because… they met the lowered ‘standards’.”

At that moment, Mrs. Gan's sorrow transformed into immense anger and despair.

She hugged Forrest tightly again, as if trying to hide him away.

"No... my Forrest Gump can't... he can't go..."

“Mom, it’s okay.” Forrest Gump seemed to sense his mother’s extreme fear, and he tried to straighten his chest. “The drill instructor said that obeying orders makes a good soldier. I will obey orders!”

Forrest Gump's words, both naive and cruel, further highlight the absurdity and tragedy of the entire event.

The boarding whistle blew mournfully, like the urging of death.

Su Ning gave her mother a final, tight hug and whispered firmly in her ear, "I'm alive, Mom. We'll be back."

Then, he pulled up Forrest Gump, who still didn't understand what this meant, turned around, and with heavy steps, boarded the plane heading towards an unknown hell.

The plane climbed rapidly, and the mother's cries and waving arms outside the airport gradually became blurred.

Through the airplane window, Su Ning watched his hometown shrink and disappear from view.

She not only had to face enemies in the Vietnamese jungle, but also protect her innocent younger brother, who was being ruthlessly swept up by the times, amidst the torrent of fate.

His rationality and his knowledge will no longer be tools for exploring the mysteries of the universe, but rather his only weapons for survival on this brutal battlefield, for himself and Forrest Gump.

I must come back alive from this war.

……

Da Nang, Vietnam.

The hot, humid air clung to the faces of every newly arrived American soldier like a shroud soaked in sweat.

The airport runway was warped by the scorching sun, and the roar of the transport plane engines had not yet completely dissipated when Suning could already smell the mixture of mud, humus, and a faint smell of gunpowder in the air.

The new recruits were crammed into the back of the truck like sardines, bumping along as it drove to their assigned posts.

The carriage was filled with a silent fear and the smell of sweat.

"Brother, we'll be together, right?" Agan asked softly, snuggling close to Su Ning, his eyes filled with unease about the unfamiliar environment.

Su Ning didn't answer immediately, but instead squeezed her younger brother's hand tightly.

He had a bad feeling.

The allocation order was announced in a makeshift camp.

A sergeant major with a cigar in his mouth and a scar on his face held a list and read out the names and unit numbers in a emotionless voice.

“Forrest Gump! 25th Infantry Division, 1st Brigade, 4th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Battalion, B Company! Looking for your boss, Lieutenant Dane!” Forrest looked at his brother blankly, then at the sergeant major, seemingly not quite understanding.

"Go now, you idiot!" the sergeant shouted impatiently.

A tall, muscular officer, Lieutenant Dane, with eyes as sharp as a hawk's, called out coldly from a short distance away: "Gan! And you, Bubba! Come here! Stop dawdling!"

A black soldier named Babu quickly pulled Forrest Gump, who was still looking back at Suning, and ran towards Lieutenant Dane's team.

As Bubble ran, he whispered to Forrest Gump, "Hey, buddy, looks like we're on the same team now. My name is Bubble, I'm from Alabama, my family are shrimp fishermen..."

"Suning Gan!" the sergeant's voice rang out again, "25th Infantry Division, 1st Brigade, 8th Infantry Regiment, 1st Battalion, Company A! Follow those men!"

Fate so easily separated the two brothers.

Suning watched as Forrest Gump was taken away by Lieutenant Dane. The black man, Bab, seemed very talkative and was trying to communicate with the still somewhat bewildered Forrest.

He himself was assigned to another company.

Suning's unit, Company A, was stationed in a newly cleared forest clearing, surrounded by dense tropical rainforest.

Elder Walker was a gray-haired, experienced veteran, but his eyes were full of weariness.

“Welcome to ‘Jungle Paradise,’ kids.” Old Walker’s voice was hoarse as he surveyed the group of recruits, most of whom were under twenty. “Here, the rules are simple: survive, obey orders, and don’t trust anything you can’t see. The Vietnamese (VC) are in this forest; they are the ghosts. Trees, rocks, even the villagers around you could be your enemies.”

A young private named Jenkins, with a face full of freckles, asked in a low voice, "Lieutenant, when can we go home?"

Old Walker sneered, “Whether you're lying there being stuffed into a body bag, or you survive until the end of your service—if you live that long.” Conditions at the camp were extremely poor.

The tent was unbearably hot and humid, teeming with mosquitoes. When on night watch, any unusual noise coming from the forest was enough to make one's nerves pound.

With his exceptional observation and learning abilities, Su Ning quickly mastered basic jungle survival skills and weapon handling. However, he was keenly aware that there was a huge gap between book knowledge and actual battlefield experience.

He overheard the veterans talking in hushed tones about the elusive traps, the cleverly disguised snipers, and the Vietnamese guerrillas who launched surprise attacks like phantoms at night.

Elder Walker looked at Su Ning with a strange expression and asked, "Su, I heard you are a top student from MIT?"

"Yes! But you still have to come to Vietnam to join the army if you are drafted."

"I think it's entirely because of your skin color. If you were white, you would definitely be exempt from military service."

“…” Su Ning did not continue with this complicated question.

……

Meanwhile, the atmosphere in B Company, where Forrest Gump and Bubba were located, was equally tense, even more oppressive.

Lieutenant Dane stood before his soldiers, his gaze sweeping across each face like a knife, lingering for a moment on Forrest Gump and Bubba.

“My name is Frank Dann.” His voice was cold and devoid of emotion. “My family has been in the military for generations. My great-grandfather died at Little Bighorn, my grandfather died in the Argonne Forest, and my father died in Guadalcanal. The men of the Dann family either die on the battlefield with honor or return home with honor. In my company, there are no cowards, no fools, only soldiers!”

He walked up to Forrest Gump and stared into his innocent eyes: "You, I heard you can run very fast?"

Forrest Gump nodded honestly: "Yes, Lieutenant. I run very fast."

Lieutenant Dane scoffed, "I hope your legs are just as fast when the Vietnamese are chasing you."

Then he looked at Babu: "And you, the shrimp catcher? I hope your hands can hold a gun steadily, in addition to peeling shrimp shells."

Babu nervously swallowed.

Their camp was near a muddy river, where the humidity was even higher, and leeches and venomous snakes were a common sight.

Bubba and Forrest quickly became friends, and Bubba kept describing to Forrest their grand plan to shrimp together after the war: "Listen, Forrest, once we get out of this hellhole, we'll go back to Alabama and buy a shrimp boat... 'Bub-Forrest Shrimp Company'! I'll be in charge of the shrimp fishing, and you... you can be in charge of running the shrimp delivery!"

Although Forrest Gump didn't quite understand the complexities of war, he could sense the pervasive tension and danger around him.

He remembered his promise to his mother: to protect his brother and to run fast.

I also remember Su Ning's words: "Forrest Gump, on the battlefield, if you encounter danger, you must run for your life. The most important thing is to stay alive."

……

Despite belonging to different companies and being in different areas, Suning and Agan faced the same core dilemma: they were thrown into a completely unfamiliar and hostile environment.

The dense jungle was the best ally of the Vietnamese resistance fighters, while these well-equipped American soldiers were like blind men who had wandered into a maze, constantly exposed to unknown threats.

In Company A, Su Ning used his wisdom and composure to observe everything, striving to find patterns and opportunities for survival amidst the chaos.

Meanwhile, Forrest Gump, in B Company, relied on his pure intuition, extraordinary physical strength, and unwavering commitment to his promises to navigate everything around him with a sense of bewilderment.

Both brothers were caught in the meat grinder of this war, their fates temporarily separated in the damp jungles of Vietnam, yet both were bearing the heaviest and cruelest pressures of the war.

They must each find their own way to carve out a path to survival in this green hell.

……

Since parting ways with his brother Su Ning at Da Nang airport, the phrase A-Gan most often uttered during his time in Company B was: "My brother said..."

Lieutenant Dane's B Company was stationed at a camp beside a murky river, surrounded by what seemed to be an endless tropical rainforest.

Every morning, while other soldiers were still struggling with dampness and mosquitoes, groggily getting out of their cots, Forrest Gump was already dressed and vigorously shaking the big black man in the cot next to him.

"Babu, get up! It's time for a run!"

Bubble Brooks, a black soldier from an Alabama shrimp boat family who was just as kind-hearted, was Forrest Gump's only friend in the company.

He sat up groggily, rubbing his eyes: "Good heavens, Gan, it's not even fully light yet! And there's no forced march today..."

Forrest Gump looked very serious, taking his brother's words as gospel: "My brother said that on the battlefield, you have to be fast to survive. Bullets won't catch you, and traps won't kill you. We have to practice every day, or we won't be able to run fast!"

Although Bubba is a little smarter than Forrest Gump, he is still the type who is simple-minded but physically strong, otherwise he wouldn't have gotten along so well with Forrest Gump.

He scratched his short hair, pondering Forrest Gump's logic.

In his simple worldview, Forrest Gump's brother Suning is a "genius from MIT," and what a genius says can't be wrong, right?
"Hmm... what you said seems to make sense, Gan," Babu muttered. "Back home, when we were catching shrimp, only the fastest ones could catch the biggest ones. Okay, I'll run with you!"

So, at B Company camp, every day at dawn and dusk, a peculiar scene would unfold: Forrest Gump and Bubba, carrying backpacks full of stones, like two tireless mules, would begin their weighted cross-country run along the muddy path at the edge of the camp.

"Faster, Bubba! Faster!" Forrest Gump ran ahead, breathing evenly and striding steadily. His amazing running talent became more and more apparent with each day of training.

"Wait for me... Gan... My lungs... My lungs are on fire!" Babu followed behind, panting heavily, sweat streaming down his dark skin like streams, but he still gritted his teeth and persevered.

Their bizarre behavior quickly became the talk of the company during their leisure time.

During a break, several veterans sat on ammunition boxes, watching the two men still running in the distance, and sneered: "Look! Our company's 'Speedy Runner' and 'Black Whirlwind' are training again!"

"Do you think their brains have been damaged by the Vietnamese sun? Aren't they tired enough from marching and fighting all the time?"

"Especially that Gan, I heard his brother is a top student, how come he's... so honest?"

"And that black guy, Bab, actually believed it and followed him around like an idiot every day. Birds of a feather flock together, really!"

On one occasion, they even ran past Lieutenant Dane, who was examining a map.

Lieutenant Dane looked up, gave them his signature icy gaze, and said to the sergeant beside him, “Make a note of this: Fores Gan and Bab Brooks, overexerted. Next time there’s a reconnaissance mission, prioritize them.”

Despite the ridicule and incomprehension of the crowd, Forrest Gump remained completely unmoved.

In his black-and-white world, his brother's words were absolute truth.

Although Babu sometimes had doubts, especially when he was so tired he was about to stick his tongue out, he would waver again when he saw Forrest's incredibly serious eyes.

“Hey, Gan,” Babu asked during a break from running, gulping down water, “did your brother really say that if you run fast enough, you can make it home alive?”

Forrest Gump nodded vigorously, his eyes clear and determined: "Yes! My brother never lies. He also told me to protect Bubba. So we ran together, survived together, and then went shrimp fishing together!"

Babu was touched by Forrest Gump's sincerity. He grinned, revealing his white teeth: "That's right! After the war, our 'Babu-Gump Shrimp Company' will still need the two of us! For the shrimp boat, let's run!"

He seemed to regain his strength, stood up, and pulled Forrest Gump to continue their "life-saving training".

And so, Forrest Gump and Bubba became known far and wide as "two big idiots" in B Company and even the entire camp.

No one understood their seemingly futile efforts; everyone regarded it as a delightful joke in the dreary life of war.

What they didn't know was that Forrest Gump's seemingly foolish persistence stemmed from his unwavering trust in his brother.

And this daily running is quietly accumulating for them the only possible glimmer of hope in some sudden, bloody storm to come.

In that jungle where death could strike at any moment, being able to run fast is sometimes more than just a joke; it's the most basic rule of survival.

...(End of chapter)