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

The bluebird squatted beside the fire, clutching a twig skewered with wild boar meat in its hand. It didn't eat it; it just held it there.

She glanced at the Rocket Force personnel opposite her, then looked down at the meat in her hand.

Then she spoke, her voice not loud, with a hint of something indescribable.

"I thought our Air Force mess hall was good enough."

She paused, then flipped the meat over.

"But now I feel like the Rocket Force's mess hall is even better."

Lin Yun was using her dagger to turn the largest piece of meat over on the fire. Without even looking up, she used the blade to probe the edge of the meat to check if it was cooked through.

"What, regretting joining the Air Force?"

Qingniao immediately put the meat aside and hugged Lin Yun's arm tightly.

"Oh, I was just saying, just saying."

She rubbed her face against Lin Yun's shoulder, leaving a muddy mark on the shoulder of his training uniform.

"The Air Force is great, it has Lin Yun."

Lin Yun's lips twitched slightly, but he didn't say anything and continued flipping the meat.

On the other side, the army and navy men squatted in a circle, looking down at the piece of charred wild boar meat roasting over the fire.

No one spoke.

Kim Seung's Adam's apple bobbed involuntarily.

"Then why did you even bother participating in the selection process?"

He asked this question to Jiang Xingchen, but his eyes were still fixed on the meat.

Jiang Xingchen pushed her sunglasses down, revealing a pair of very bright eyes.

The light from the campfire reflected off his glasses and flickered twice.

"Everything we have now was bought with the lives of our ancestors."

"Sixteen dishes, and not all of them were made by one chef."

"It was achieved at the cost of countless lives on the battlefield."

He paused.

"If I could go to 1937, I could fight alongside my predecessors."

"Even if I die there, I will have no regrets."

The campfire crackled.

The spark floated up and flew into the sky, but it didn't go very high before it went out.

No one speaks.

Lin Yun inserted the dagger into the roasted wild boar meat and made a cut.

She cut the meat slowly and evenly. There were twenty-four pieces, each about the same size.

She handed out the meat piece by piece.

Twenty-four pieces of meat, twenty-four people.

The meat was very hot.

It was so hot to hold that my fingertips ached from the heat.

But no one gave up.

Lei Xiong held up the meat and glanced at it in the light of the campfire.

"eat."

One word.

Twenty-four people bit down at the same time.

No one spoke; only the sounds of chewing and the crackling of the campfire could be heard.

Grease oozed from the corners of his mouth; he wiped it with the back of his hand and continued chewing.

After finishing the last bite, Lei Xiong stood up.

He wiped the oil off his fingers on his clothes, bent down, scooped up a handful of mud, and covered the campfire. The flames struggled for a moment, then went out.

The embers, pressed down by the mud, made a faint hissing sound, and white steam rose up, scattering into the moonlight.

Others also stood up.

Brush off the grass clippings, tighten the shoelaces, check the firearm, pull the bolt, and engage the safety.

Lei Xiong wrapped the remaining wild boar meat in leaves, three layers of leaves, wrapping it tightly, and stuffed it into the innermost part of his backpack.

Lin Yun checked his equipment, then turned around and removed the grass clippings from Qingniao's shoulder one by one.

Zhou Zhenhai drew his military knife, glanced at the blade, then sheathed it again, patting the hilt to confirm its position.

Jiang Xingchen put the compass into her chest pocket, pushed up her sunglasses, and looked up at the moon.

No one gave the order.

But the twenty-four people took their first steps almost simultaneously.

The moonlight cast their shadows long, stretching across the reeds like a row of moving fences.

Jin Sheng walked beside Lei Xiong, holding the simulated grenade in his hand.

"So, who do you think those 'enemy troops' in the chemical plant are?"

Li Huai pushed up his glasses, the lenses reflecting the moonlight.

"They're from the special forces. They didn't get selected, and they're very upset with us."

Wang Jin twirled the dagger in his hand, the blade flashing between his fingers so fast it was impossible to see.

"What's the use of opinions? Just fight."

Before the words were even finished, the area in the distance, in the direction of the chemical plant, suddenly became lively.

A barrage of gunfire came from the direction of the abandoned chemical plant, like a wall collapsing simultaneously. The sounds included continuous firing of simulated heavy machine guns, bursts of rifle fire, and muffled explosions—simulated artillery shells.

The sound rolled across the open ground, making the muddy ground beneath their feet tremble slightly.

Lin Yun stopped in his tracks.

She looked up in the direction from which the gunshots came.

"The attack has begun."

Jiang Xingchen took the compass out of his pocket; the copper case gleamed a dark yellow in the moonlight. He ran his thumb along the edge of the compass, turning it round and round.

"More than 800 people participated in the secondary forest challenge."

He held up his compass and glanced at the moon.

"There may be more than just the twenty-four of us who will pass."

Then put the compass back in its pocket.

"Let them test the firepower first."

"We'll wait for our opportunity!"

Meanwhile, not far away, there was an open area.

The open space was vast, at least three hundred meters wide. The ground was covered with pebbles and weeds, with a few abandoned cement pillars standing scattered in the middle, their shadows cast crookedly by the moonlight.

At the end of the open space stood a building.

Eight floors.

The walls were grayish-black, covered in rust. None of the windows were intact; some had only half a frame remaining, others were just black holes. Pipes jutted out of the walls, winding and twisting like broken ribs.

The lightning rod on the rooftop was tilted, pointing southeast.

There wasn't a single light in the entire building, but flames were spitting out from every window opening.

The muzzle flashes in the darkness, like dozens of eyes blinking at the same time.

On the open ground in front of the chemical building, people were already charging forward.

Leading the charge was a lieutenant. His surname was Ma, and he came from the army's armored corps. His face was blackened and whitened by gunpowder smoke, and two buttons on his collar had popped open, revealing the sweat-soaked collar of his shirt.

He was followed by nine people, his squad.

Ten men formed a skirmish line, crouching low as they charged forward. Their boots creaked on the gravel, each step kicking up a cloud of dust.

"Spread out! Spread out! Don't crowd together!"

Lieutenant Ma's voice was hoarse from shouting; his throat sounded like it had been sanded, and every word had a rough edge.

From a window on the second floor of the chemical engineering building, a simulated heavy machine gun suddenly opened fire, firing bullets in rapid succession.

The simulated bullets were ejected from the muzzle, and their trajectories were invisible under the moonlight, but they would explode into a cloud of white smoke when they hit a concrete pile.

When it hits a person, a cloud of white powder immediately blooms on their training uniform, like a flower that suddenly blossoms.

White flowers.

One after another.

A soldier to Lieutenant Ma's left had a puff of white smoke explode from his chest. He was pushed backward by the impact and looked down at the white mark on his chest.

Vital parts.

disuse.

He lay down and remained motionless.

According to the rules, a person hit in a vital area cannot move, speak, or give any hints to their teammates.

He just lay there.

Lieutenant Ma didn't turn around to look at him; he couldn't look.

"Keep going! Don't stop!"

Another person has fallen.

White smoke exploded on his shoulder. Not a vital spot, but his right arm was now unusable.

He switched the gun to his left hand and continued charging forward. His left hand was unsteady on the gun, and the muzzle was wobbling, but he kept charging.

He had run less than ten steps when a second bullet hit his leg.

White smoke exploded at the knee.

He knelt on one knee, supporting himself with his gun with his left hand as he tried to stand up, but his legs gave way and he knelt down again.

As his teammates ran past him, the two of them bent down at the same time, each grabbing one of his arms and pulling him up to run forward.

The soldier who was being held down gritted his teeth, squeezing out the words through his clenched teeth.

"Don't worry about me, you guys charge!"

The two people supporting him did not let go.

One of the soldiers was very young, looking no more than twenty years old, his face covered in mud and sweat, panting as he ran.

"No, we said we wouldn't abandon anyone."

The soldier who was being held didn't say anything more.

He lowered his head, his chin resting on his chest.

He was putting in his strength. He was putting all his weight on his two teammates, trying his best to make his legs as little of a burden as possible.

The firepower in the chemical building is getting stronger and stronger.

The windows on the third and fourth floors were also opened fire. Crossfire covered the open area from different angles.

One by one, the people around Lieutenant Ma fell down.

White smoke kept exploding in the ranks, like a white flower sea that suddenly bloomed.

When he reached the middle of the open area, he was left with only six people.

At this time.

On the rooftop,

They opened fire.

It's a cannon.

A simulated artillery shell was fired from the launcher on the roof, arced through the air, and landed less than ten meters to Lieutenant Ma's left.

Shells splattered.

A cloud of white powder exploded like a wave, covering a radius of nearly ten meters.

When the white dust fell, all three men's training uniforms were simultaneously covered in white powder.

Their helmets, shoulders, and chests were all white.

The referee's voice came through the loudspeaker, devoid of any emotion.

"Extensive coverage, key areas contaminated, three people eliminated."

The three people stopped.

One of them took off his helmet and threw it on the ground. White powder was shaken off the helmet and floated up like a small mist.

He didn't swear or shout.

He simply squatted down and covered his face with his hands.

His teammates came over, squatted down next to him, and put their hands on his shoulders.

They didn't say "it's okay".

He didn't speak.

It's just sitting there.

Lieutenant Ma did not turn around.

There were only three people left with him.

The chemical plant was still spitting fire. Gunshots and artillery fire mingled together, rolling across the open ground.

He was less than 100 meters away from the chemical building.

This 400-meter sprint has been going on for almost ten minutes.

For every person who falls, as long as it's not a vital injury, there are people helping to support, carry, and prop them up.

The open ground was littered with drag marks. The gravel had been churned into furrows by the body, the furrows filled with white powder.

A soldier who had been shot in the leg lay on his teammate's back. The teammate, bent over, walked back step by step, slowly but steadily.

The soldier on his back buried his face in his teammate's shoulder, his voice muffled.

"Next time, I'll carry you on my back."

My teammate didn't turn around; his voice drifted over from ahead.

"OK."

Just one word.

Another shell was fired from the rooftop.

A white arc streaked across the moonlight and fell behind the open ground.

There is a reserve force advancing there.

When the white dust exploded, all five people were covered at the same time.

They didn't run away.

There's no escaping it.

The five people stood there, looking at the white powder on each other's bodies.

One of them laughed.

"Alright, they've confessed everything."

Another person patted the white dust off his shoulder, but after a couple of pats, it wasn't completely clean.

"Let's wait for the next group."

Five people stood in the white dust, the moonlight shining on them, making them look like five snow-covered statues.

Gunfire continued to ring out in the open field.

Lieutenant Ma and the last three men had already rushed to the base of the chemical building.

He leaned against the wall, panting heavily. His chest heaved like a bellows, each breath carrying a metallic taste.

He looked down at his hands; they were trembling.

This is because I just ran 400 meters, and the adrenaline is burning in my blood vessels.

He looked up and glanced to the left along the base of the wall.

There are still people rushing on the left.

It wasn't his team, it was another one. I didn't recognize them, I couldn't recall their names, but they were also rushing towards the base of the wall.

The person running in the lead was hit; white smoke exploded in his chest, and he took a step back and stopped.

The people behind him bypassed him and continued charging.

The man who was hit stood still, the moonlight shining on the white mark on his chest.

He suddenly shouted.

It wasn't something he was saying to his teammates.

It was shouted at Lieutenant Ma.

"Brother—find a way to shoot down the blasting cannon on the roof!"

The sound was almost drowned out by the gunfire, but Lieutenant Ma heard it.

He nodded three times to the complete stranger.

Then he turned around, hugged the wall, and crept towards the entrance of the chemical engineering building...