Not enough Japanese devils to kill? 1.4 billion people volunteer for the Battle of Shanghai.

Those Japanese soldiers were still charging.

They carried guns and bayonets, roaring as they ran.

They didn't know, or even realize, that death...

—They came down from the sky.

Standing at the back of the line, Yamada Masao, sword in hand, was still shouting, "Tenka-san—!!!"

His voice was so loud that the surrounding soldiers could hear it.

But his eyes were looking up at the sky. He saw that black dot, a black dot flying from the Chinese position, not in a straight line, but in a high arc.

It flies very high, like the sun.

Like a sun that fell from the sky.

It fell very fast, faster and faster.

Masao Yamada's pupils suddenly contracted.

What is that? Is it a shell? It doesn't seem like it.

Artillery shells shoot in a straight line, but this thing—it shoots into the sky.

But his intuition told him that this thing was dangerous!

His mouth opened, as if he wanted to shout "Take cover," "Lie down," or "Run."

But it was too late. That thing was too fast.

The shell exploded thirty meters above their heads.

It wasn't an ordinary explosion. It was an airburst. The instant the projectile shattered, a massive burst of flame erupted in mid-air, like a blooming flower, like a sun that had exploded.

The flames were orange-red, dazzling, and scorching, as if they were going to burn through the sky.

But what truly kills is not the flames. It's the steel balls, the pre-fabricated shrapnel, and the shattered projectiles.

They sprayed in all directions like a torrential rain, 360 degrees, with no blind spots, no dead ends, and nowhere to hide.

With its landing point as the center, every Japanese soldier within a radius of fifty meters was hit by the steel ball.

Whether you run fast or slow, whether you stand in front or behind, whether you hide behind a rock or lie prone in a crater—

Death is random.

The steel ball pierced directly through the Japanese soldier's helmet, then through his skull, through his brain, and out from the back of his head.

The Japanese were really lucky.

He was only hit in the leg by a steel ball.

Unfortunately, it wasn't one, it was two.

Two steel balls struck the Japanese soldier's thighs simultaneously.

The Japanese soldier screamed and fell to the ground, his voice growing weaker and weaker until finally—he stopped rolling.

Of the more than three thousand Japanese soldiers, several hundred fell in an instant.

The remaining Japanese soldiers looked at the death zone that stretched for fifty meters in radius.

Fear spread like a plague.

Those Japanese soldiers who were still alive didn't know when the next shell would come, whether those steel balls would hit them, or whether they would be able to return alive.

They only knew one thing: whether they ran fast or slow, they could be hit by the steel ball falling from the sky, or be engulfed by the flames falling from the sky, and then become corpses.

Death is just a matter of a moment.

But fear is endless.

On Liu Xing's position, those men in gray-blue military uniforms covered their ears, but they still heard the explosion.

It wasn't a "boom," it was a "thud"—a dull, heavy sound, like a giant clapping his hand in the sky.

Then they saw the yellowish-brown waves, like wheat cut by a sickle, falling in swathes.

Chen Xiaogou squatted in the trench, his hands covering his ears, but his eyes were wide open.

"Good heavens...good heavens..."

Zhao Desheng lay there, mouth agape, eyes wide open.

This is... divine punishment...

He turned to look at Liu Laosi beside him, "Old Liu, have you ever seen anything like this?"

Liu Laosi's mouth was open and his eyes were wide open.

He shook his head, his voice trembling: "Never seen anything like it... I've fought for five years, and I've never seen anything like this..."

He paused, swallowed hard, and said, "That's fucking... satisfying."

Lei Gang stood there, holding up his binoculars, looking at the still-smoking battlefield, and roared:

"Su Yue." He pressed the communication button. "Beautiful."

Su Yue's voice came through the communication device: "One high-explosive bomb, covering an area of ​​fifty meters in radius. Estimated kill count: two to three hundred Japanese soldiers."

Lei Gang laughed loudly: "You even calculated this?"

Su Yue didn't answer. But the corners of her mouth curled up slightly.

That laugh was the kind of laugh that comes from having killed enough, having killed to your heart's content, and having made the Japanese soldiers cry out for their fathers and mothers.

In the distance, Naoki lay prone at the very back of the group.

He saw the shell, saw it explode overhead, saw the steel balls fall like rain, and saw his soldiers fall like wheat.

"な...なにが..." (What...what...) His voice was shaking like fallen leaves in the wind, "あれは...Hey..." (What is that...)

At this moment, Lin Mo's gaze passed through the still-burning battlefield, through the billowing smoke, and through the still-screaming Japanese soldiers.

He was looking for the Japanese soldier with the gold-rimmed glasses.

He found it.

At the very back of the 10th Brigade, Naojiro Tenma lay on the ground, trembling all over.

Lin Mo's crosshairs were pressed against the back of his head. That position was a sniper's favorite spot.

One shot, and his head exploded.

His finger was on the trigger.

But it wasn't deducted.

Because Su Yue told him to keep an eye on it.

Let him watch his Tenth Brigade die one by one.

Let him live first, live in fear, live in hell.

"Su Yue," Lin Mo asked, "Can I snipe him now?"

There was a moment of silence on the communication device. Then, Su Yue's voice rang out.

"He's a high-ranking official, we can have some fun with him."

She paused for a moment, then added, "Of course, if you feel you've had enough fun, you can snipe him."

Lin Mo thought about it seriously for a moment.

Then he removed his finger from the trigger.

No deduction was made.

Because he hadn't had enough fun yet. Because that brigade commander hadn't yet witnessed the complete annihilation of his Tenth Brigade.

He didn't deserve to die so quickly.

"Wait a little longer," Lin Mo said softly. His crosshairs remained pressed against the back of Naoki's head.

After this Japanese soldier collapsed and went into despair.

One shot. Send him on his way.

At the very back of the 10th Brigade, Naojiro Tenma knelt on the ground, trembling all over.

He experienced a fear he had never felt before. From Manchuria to North China, and from North China to Shanghai.

He had seen artillery shells.

But he had never seen such a weapon before.

That shell wasn't fired at us; it fell from the sky.

It exploded overhead, the steel balls, the flames, the death, falling like rain, drifting like snow, blowing like the wind.

There are no blind spots, no dead ends, and nowhere to hide.

His soldiers, those who had just been charging forward, those who had shouted "Banzai," those who believed that the imperial warriors were invincible, fell like wheat cut by a sickle, in swathes of them.

This scene terrified him even more than the series of explosions of Japanese tanks that had just occurred.

The tank explosion was visible. A shell flew from the other side, hit the tank, and it exploded.

He knew where the enemy would attack from, where the shells would come from, and where to hide.

But this time, he didn't know.

He didn't know when it would come, where it would attack, or where he should hide.

All he knew was that it came, and then people died.

It's gone, but who knows when it will come back.

"Retreat, retreat, brigade commander." Kobayashi Isamu's voice came from the side. He was lying next to Tenma Naojiro, clutching the field telephone as if it were his last straw.

"Brigade Commander...we...we should retreat..."

Naoki glanced at him, then snatched the phone from Kobayashi Isamu's arms like a madman.

His fingers were trembling, and he couldn't dial the number. He had to try several times before it finally connected.

He screamed in despair into the microphone:

"Requesting backup—!!!" His voice echoed through the smoke of battle, "Lord Yamamuro Munetake—!!!"

"I need backup—!!! The 10th Brigade—!!!"

"I...I can't hold on much longer..."

PS.

Thank you Jingchen for the character summon. I wonder which character you would like to summon?