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

"Queen Bee, well done."

Bian Yun stood on the turret of the No. 104 Qilin tank, the morning sun shining on his face stained with gunpowder.

The queen bee took off her tactical helmet, revealing short hair soaked with sweat.

Her voice came through the earpiece, carrying the unique tone of a female PhD student from the National University of Defense Technology, a blend of academic rigor and youthful vivacity:

"Captain, I'm a girl too~ Using drones to do this kind of 'battlefield cleanup' is the most suitable."

Her voice paused, as if she had seen something on the screen:

"Data statistics complete: This drone strike took 14 minutes and 37 seconds, eliminating 301 targets, with an average single-shot hit rate of 99.2%, and ammunition consumption was 13% lower than estimated. I've optimized the algorithm; I can mention that again next time—"

Before the words were finished—

"Flanker—!!!"

A thunderous roar exploded from the battlefield, like a tiger howling in the forest, shaking the very air.

It was Lu Bei who walked through the smoke of battle to reach Bian Yun's side.

Lu Bei's right shoulder was cut open by shrapnel, revealing the edge of the bulletproof plate inside, but the most shocking thing was not his injury.

It was the person he was carrying on his back.

A person whose human form is no longer recognizable.

The man lay on Lu Bei's back, his arms hanging limply at his sides, swaying with Lu Bei's steps.

He was wearing a tattered 1937 Chinese military uniform, the kind of coarse, yellowish-brown cloth uniform that was now soaked in some kind of yellowish-green viscous liquid, the fabric and flesh stuck together.

I can't tell where the clothes are and where the skin is.

His face, or rather, the place that used to be his face.

Now it's a swollen mass of flesh, oozing yellow fluid and pus.

Only two thin slits remained where the eyes should have been, from which murky liquid oozed. The nose had collapsed, and the lips were everted, revealing charred gums and broken teeth.

His entire head resembled a rotting fruit corroded by strong acid.

But he is still alive.

To live weakly and painfully.

With each step Lu Bei took, a faint, off-key groan escaped his throat.

The sound didn't seem to come from a human; it sounded more like the instinctive wail of a severely wounded animal in its final moments.

Bian Yun jumped off the Qilin Tank.

His foot stepped into the pool of blood with a "smack," but he didn't care.

He rushed towards Lu Bei, his eyes fixed on the figure on his back.

"Put it down!" Bian Yun's voice was hoarse. "Put it down now!"

Lu Bei knelt on the ground and carefully put the person on his back down.

Bian Yun knelt beside him and reached out to take it.

His hand stopped the instant it touched the person's body.

It's not that I'm afraid to touch it.

Yes... I don't know where to touch.

The man's entire body was covered in festering sores. His arms, chest, and legs were covered with blisters of all sizes.

Some of the blisters have ruptured, revealing the bright red dermis underneath.

The most serious problem was his hands.

Each of his ten fingers was swollen like a carrot, his nails had all fallen off, and the skin and flesh at the fingertips were rolled back, revealing the white finger bones.

"Damn it..." Bian Yun gritted his teeth and squeezed out a single word.

He forced himself to calm down and gently supported the man's head and shoulders.

"Angels!" Bian Yun roared, "Angels!!"

The angel arrived, and left quickly, so quickly that her digital combat suit fluttered in the wind, and her short hair was ruffled by the wind.

She rushed to Bian Yun's side, knelt down on one knee, and began to examine him.

"Mustard gas burn, with extensive erosive lesions on the entire body's skin."

"Immediate full-body rinsing, anti-infection treatment, and steroid pulse therapy are required. A joint consultation by specialists in burns, ophthalmology, respiratory medicine, and toxicology is also necessary."

"Treatment must be received within half an hour."

"And this is healthcare in 2026."

Bian Yun nodded and looked at the line of text on his retina:

"Countdown to the Return of the People's Republic of China - Twenty Minutes"

Fortunately, it wasn't too late.

While the angels were providing emergency treatment to Xiao Hubei...

Bian Yun then turned around and looked at Lu Bei.

Lu Bei was still kneeling on the ground.

He didn't stand up; he just looked down at his hands.

Those gloved hands that had just been supporting the wounded.

The gloves were soaked with pus, and the yellowish-green liquid dripped down the fingers, making a soft "plop" sound as it fell onto the scorched earth.

"Lu Bei," Bian Yun called to him.

Lu Bei raised his head.

His eyes were bloodshot, not from crying, but from a mixture of bloodshot veins and anger, a red that bordered on madness.

"Squad Leader..." Lu Bei's voice trembled, "That's mustard gas, a chemical weapon that's strictly prohibited..."

He took a deep breath, so deep that it made him cough violently.

He coughed for more than ten seconds, until tears came to his eyes, before he finally managed to stop.

Then he raised his hand and pointed at the boy who was facing away from him:

"His name is... Little Hubei." Lu Bei's voice was hoarse, like a broken bellows.

"I don't know his real name... He speaks with a Hubei accent, everyone calls him Little Hubei... He's seventeen... maybe not even that yet... He still has baby fat on his face..."

Lu Bei's hands were shaking, shaking violently:

"When the poisonous smoke drifted over... I was at a sniper position 1,500 meters away, and I was fine..."

"But Xiao Hubei and his men at the highway position... had no masks... only wet towels..."

"The Japanese knew we were unprotected... so they deliberately fired the poison gas bombs downwind..."

"Yellow smoke...wafted over like miasma..."

Lu Bei closed his eyes, as if trying to stop the images from flooding his mind, but he couldn't stop them:

"I saw with my own eyes that Xiao Hubei, this seventeen-year-old soldier, rushed into the poisonous smoke and stabbed a Japanese soldier to death with his bayonet."

"Then he knelt on the ground, covered his face with his hands, and screamed... When the toxic smoke dissipated a little, we rushed over, and his face was so badly rotten that we couldn't even see his features."

"Watching his skin blister, ulcerate, and peel off..."

"Watching his eyes bleed and him go blind..."

"Watching him... little by little become... like that..."

He opened his eyes, and tears finally streamed down his face.

"Squad leader...will we still have this kind of poison gas in 2026?"

Bian Yun was silent for two seconds, then shook his head:

"no."

"We destroyed all our chemical weapons long ago."

"Our People's Liberation Army is an army that protects the people."

Lu Bei lowered his head and roared:

"But those little devils..."

Bian Yun walked to Lu Bei's side and squatted down:

"The Japanese devils are beasts."

Bian Yun's voice was soft, but each word was like a steel nail being quenched:

"And that's why we've come..."

He paused, then spoke slowly and deliberately:

"Send that beast to hell."

Lu Bei nodded vigorously.

He struggled to his feet, wiped his face, which was covered in tears, sweat, and blood.

"Squad leader, over on Roja Highway..." His voice regained its composure, but within that composure burned the flames of revenge. "The situation is dire."

"The Japanese 5th Brigade concentrated two infantry regiments—the 34th and 68th Regiments—and attempted to break through under the cover of twelve Type 95 tanks."

"Their tactics were clear: use poison gas to clear a path, forcing our men out of their fortifications or suffocating them. Then they would run them over with tanks, followed by infantry."

Lu Bei retrieved the battlefield map from the individual soldier's terminal:

"I established a sniper position on the ruins of the clock tower on the east side of the highway. Using drones for reconnaissance, I located the Japanese command nodes and artillery observation posts."

"In two hours, 27 Japanese officers were killed—including two majors and six captains. 53 machine gunners and 13 mortar observer groups were also killed."

He paused:

"Then...they used poison gas."

The queen bee appeared at some point.

She held a tablet computer in her hand, the screen displaying historical satellite images and real-time thermal imaging data of the Loga Highway.

"Bian, from a tactical perspective, the Japanese army used poison gas in order to break through our army's strong defensive fortifications at the lowest possible cost."

She pulled up a document:

"Historically, the Japanese army used poison gas multiple times during the Battle of Shanghai. According to postwar statistics, at least more than 1,000 poison gas shells were used, causing more than 10,000 casualties among the Chinese army."

The queen bee raised her head and looked at Bian Yun:

"The current situation is that if we don't immediately support the Luojia Highway, after the next wave of gas attacks, all the Chinese soldiers on that position will become wounded like those in Xiao Hubei, or die directly."

The queen bee paused, then added:

"More importantly—"

For the first time, her voice showed a certain emotional fluctuation:

"If we just stand by and watch the Japanese use poison gas to slaughter our compatriots, and do nothing..."

"Then what is the point of us traveling back in time?"