Bright Sword: The Flowers of War

Chapter 305 It’s Over

It must be said that even in such a desperate situation, the Japanese army in 1940 still possessed a certain fighting capacity.

Hunger, cold, and exhaustion did not break their spirits; instead, they stirred up the last ferocity deep within them, making them even more frenzied and reckless, like wild beasts driven to the brink of despair.

"Charge! Shatter the jade!"

Takagi Masami suddenly waved his hand and roared hoarsely.

At his command, two soldiers carrying heavy explosive charges leaped out of the trench like two cornered beasts driven to the brink of despair, roaring wildly.

They trudged through the mud, rushing towards the tanks that were slowly climbing up the mountain.

However, they had only rushed out a dozen meters when they were pinned to the mud by a hail of bullets from tanks and infantry behind them.

"Da da da... Tu tu tu tu!"

The dense bullets instantly tore through their uniforms and ripped their flesh apart.

Their bodies trembled and convulsed uncontrollably under the impact of the bullet's immense kinetic energy, as if pulled by invisible ropes, and finally fell heavily to the ground.

The explosive charge in his hand was thrown away by the momentum of his body, rolled several times in the mud, and finally landed far away, failing to achieve its intended purpose.

Under the cover of Chaffee tanks, the soldiers of the First Regiment of the Shanxi Militia continued to advance toward the Japanese front-line trenches.

Lying deep in the trench, Takagi Masami watched helplessly as his soldiers fell one after another, his anger and despair almost tearing him apart.

Suddenly, he saw a soldier from the Shanxi militia crouching on the muddy ground, his rifle spitting fire as he aimed at the trench where he was, continuously firing suppressive shots.

Takagi Masami's eyes were bloodshot. He snatched the Type 38 rifle, still smelling of gunpowder, from the soldier next to him. The cold butt of the rifle struck his shoulder. He pressed the butt against his right shoulder and aimed the sight at the soldier who was firing through the cold scope.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

He fired several shots at the soldier in a fit of rage, almost as if in a fit of fury.

The Shanxi militia soldier who was crouching and firing suddenly froze, and his rifle clattered to the ground in the mud.

Several blossoms of blood instantly erupted from his chest and abdomen, spreading rapidly under the wash of the rain. He groaned, swayed twice, and finally collapsed to the ground, face down in the cold mud, splashing up large sprays of filthy water, remaining motionless.

"Damn Chinese!"

Takagi Masami cursed under his breath. He was about to pull back the bolt to reload his rifle when he suddenly felt a chilling killing intent coming from his right. He turned his head sharply and saw a dark gun muzzle that had silently been pointed at him without him even noticing.

The cold, metallic texture seemed to carry the gaze of death. He didn't even have time to see the other person's face clearly; he only instinctively felt a tremendous sense of crisis.

Before he could even react and complete half a crouching motion, he saw a blinding flash of flame erupt from the muzzle of the other's gun.

"puff!"

Takagi Masami felt a sudden, intense, tearing pain in his chest, as if a hammer had struck him hard.

The powerful impact instantly knocked him over.

His body involuntarily leaned backward, and the Type 38 rifle in his hand fell to the ground in the mud with a crisp clang. He fell heavily into the mud in the trench, the cold mud instantly soaking his back.

The moment Takagi Masami fell into the trench, his consciousness began to blur, but his hearing became unusually sharp.

He heard the dense sounds of machine guns and submachine guns, as well as the deafening roars of the Shanxi militia soldiers.

Among these sounds were also faint yet clear desperate howls and shrill screams in Japanese.

"The position has been breached..."

This was the last faint trace of consciousness in Masami Takagi's mind.

His vision began to dim, and his body grew heavier and heavier. Finally, everything fell silent, leaving only the sound of rain and the continuous roar of gunfire in the distance.

…………

Masami Takagi is dead... He lies in a damp, muddy trench, his chest torn open by a bullet, his body growing cold.

In normal times, the death of a regimental commander would be a major event, but in such a fierce battle, it seemed so insignificant.

Gunfire continued to resound intensely through the valley, accompanied by the shouts of soldiers and the screams of the dying, creating a scene reminiscent of hell.

Crouching low, taking advantage of the chaos for cover, Japanese Private First Class Yusuke Minamida stumbled out of the forward trenches.

He staggered and plunged headfirst into a huge bomb crater.

The bottom of the crater was filled with murky mud and water. His military boots sank in, and the icy mud and water instantly submerged his ankles. The biting cold spread up his calves.

Completely soaked by the rain, the wet military uniform clung to his body, making him feel extremely cold and causing him to shiver uncontrollably.

"Uh... ah..."

Just then, he heard a faint, painful groan. He looked toward the crater and saw a wounded Japanese soldier, covered in mud and blood, crawling weakly toward him.

The wounded soldier's face was ashen, his lips were bluish-purple, and every time he crawled, he left a scarlet trail of blood on the muddy ground.

Behind him, the triumphant shouts of Chinese soldiers and the rapid gunfire echoed intermittently, as if the footsteps of death were drawing ever closer.

Seeing that his comrades were still alive, a complex emotion flashed in Nantian Youliang's eyes. Ignoring the cold and exhaustion, he quickly reached out, grabbed the wounded soldier's cold arm, and dragged him deeper into the crater, trying to hide him under the muddy slope at the edge of the crater.

However, after a brief examination, his heart sank; the guy was beyond saving.

His left waist was completely severed by a bullet, leaving a shocking hole the size of a fist. Blood gushed out of the wound like a spring, quickly staining the muddy water beneath the wounded soldier red under the cold rain.

Through the gruesome wound, one could even clearly see the white intestines and some indistinct internal organs, trembling slightly in the rain.

The wounded soldier convulsed from excessive blood loss and collapsed limply at Nantian Youliang's feet. His eyes gradually became unfocused, and he made barely audible muttering sounds, as if he were whispering something, but it was hard to hear clearly.

Nantian Youliang put down the dying wounded soldier, carefully poked half his head out, and cautiously glanced to the left, right, and front.

Everywhere you look, there are fallen imperial soldiers and destroyed fortifications, flesh and dirt mixed together, and the air is filled with the unique stench of gunpowder, blood and dirt.

A desperate realization rose in his mind... Perhaps, he was the last surviving soldier in this battalion.

About fifty meters ahead, several Chinese soldiers in gray uniforms were crouching low, cautiously searching this area.

Whenever they passed a Japanese soldier's corpse, they would skillfully raise their rifles, aim the muzzle at the fallen dead man, and prepare to fire.

Immediately afterwards, two other Chinese soldiers armed with submachine guns would not hesitate to fire a brief burst of fire at the dead or wounded on the ground.

Guns spat fire, bullets precisely tearing apart bodies that had already stopped breathing, or causing wounded soldiers with a sliver of life to die completely in agonizing spasms.

Their methods were skillful, their movements ruthless and efficient, as if they were carrying out a routine "cleaning" operation, leaving no survivors.

As the enemy drew closer, the rat-a-tat-tat of machine guns, the bangs of rifles, and the conversations of Chinese soldiers became exceptionally clear, as if they were right next to our ears.

Nantian Youliang gripped the rain-soaked Type 38 rifle tightly in his hand; the cold barrel conveyed the aura of death.

He knew that he would be next, and he had no choice but to fight to the death.

"boom!"

Just then, a shell whistled down and landed next to the crater where Nantian Youliang was. The huge explosion was deafening, and mud, water, and rubble mixed with gunpowder smoke shot into the sky.

The powerful shockwave instantly ripped up the crater where he was, sending dirt flying everywhere.

Not far away, a pine tree affected by the bomb blast creaked and was uprooted amidst the violent tremors. Its massive trunk, along with its branches and leaves, crashed down with a loud bang, covering most of the crater and completely blocking Nantian Youliang's view.

"No... I don't want to die. I want to go back to my homeland to see my mother. I'm not married yet!"

Yura Minami huddled in the muddy crater, the cold mud seemingly unable to cool the intense will to survive deep within him.

With trembling hands, he carefully moved the body of his comrade, which he had just dragged in, to his side, and then used all his strength to cover himself with it.

The cold corpse, carrying a hint of blood, became his only cover at that moment.

He buried his face deep between the corpse and the soil, curling his body into a ball, trying his best to minimize his presence, as if this would allow him to escape the gaze of death.

At this moment, he had only one thought in his mind, an incredibly strong thought that even surpassed fear... He wanted to live, to live at all costs.

Time seemed to drag on endlessly deep within the crater.

Nantian Youliang felt himself curled up in the cold, damp mud, his body numb. He didn't know how much time had passed; maybe a minute, maybe a century.

The surrounding noise seemed to gradually subside. The gunfire and shouts of battle were no longer so intense, and they gradually faded away, replaced by sporadic gunshots and occasional indistinct voices.

He held his breath and, for the first time, carefully examined the Chinese soldiers so close to him through the narrow gaps between the fallen pine branches.

Those figures in gray military uniforms were casually walking around the battlefield, either poking at the corpses on the ground with their rifle butts or talking in hushed tones.

Their weapons gleamed coldly in the rain, especially the automatic rifles and submachine guns that could fire bullets in rapid succession, which seemed particularly deadly to him.

"How wonderful it would be if I had a rifle that could fire continuously..."

A mixture of envy and resentment welled up in Nantian Youliang's heart. He imagined himself wielding that weapon that could continuously spew flames, charging into the enemy ranks, and felling those Chinese soldiers one by one. How powerful and exhilarating that would be!

However, his beautiful but short-lived "dream" was soon shattered by the harsh reality.

A Chinese soldier carrying a gun walked listlessly past the shell crater where Yusuke Minamida was hiding.

His gaze casually swept downwards, then his brow furrowed almost imperceptibly. He noticed that inside the crater, mostly obscured by fallen pine branches, the muddy water had taken on an unnatural red hue, standing out starkly against the gray, rainy sky.

What alarmed him even more was that under the pile of branches, there seemed to be something that looked like half a corpse. Although the shape was blurry, in this battlefield full of dead bodies, any abnormality was enough to arouse suspicion.

The Chinese soldier didn't think much of it, and didn't even go closer to take a closer look.

He skillfully took a grenade from his waist.

The dark green metal lump twirled in his hand, his index finger swiftly hooking the pull ring. With a sharp tug, the safety pin snapped out. Without hesitation, he swung his arm, and the grenade traced a low arc before swooshing down into the crater hidden by pine branches.

"boom!"

With a loud bang, it was all over.

(End of this chapter)