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

92. You're treating me like I'm nothing? Huh?

Yangtze River, 6:47 AM.

The morning mist, like a layer of grayish-white gauze, shrouded the riverbank, reducing visibility to less than fifty meters.

The mudflats on the opposite shore appeared and disappeared in the fog, like a distant and dangerous mirage.

The straight-line distance from this port to the landing area is 2000 meters.

This distance should have been insignificant to the more than 5,000 elite soldiers participating in the selection.

During regular training, 10000-meter armed swimming is a common occurrence.

But today is different.

Water temperature: 16 degrees Celsius.

Water flow: three meters per second, with turbulent undercurrents.

"Enemy forces": On the opposite shore, a reinforced company of more than 300 special forces soldiers stood ready for battle.

More importantly, these soldiers in the reinforced company were assigned as "enemy troops" and were unable to participate in the selection process.

So, they were seething with anger and wanted to give those who could participate in the selection a hard blow.

…………

"Brothers, follow me!"

A man about 1.8 meters tall, with muscles sculpted like those of a knife and axe, stood on the riverbank.

His name is Yuan Man, deputy battalion commander of a reconnaissance battalion of a certain group army. He has been in the army for twelve years and has won the group army competition championship twice and the firearms runner-up once.

Behind him stood nine men, all elite members of the reconnaissance battalion.

Yuan Man glanced back at the other teams still observing, a cold, hard smile curving his lips:

"If you fall behind, you will be bullied."

"We want to be the first team to land."

Before he finished speaking, he warmed up briefly and then jumped into the river.

Pfft!

Water splashed up.

The icy river water instantly enveloped his entire body, feeling like thousands of steel needles piercing his skin. Yuan Man gritted his teeth, forcing himself to adapt, and then began to paddle.

His movements were precise and powerful, like a water propulsion machine at full power. Behind him, nine team members entered the water simultaneously.

Ten people, like ten arrows released from a bow, shot towards the other side.

The power of example is endless.

After Yuan Man's team went into the water, the teams on the riverbank began to stir.

"Go! We can't let them beat us to it!"

"Charge!"

"We absolutely have to be number one!"

Thump, thump, thump...

Like dumplings being dropped into boiling water, one team after another jumped into the Yangtze River.

In just three minutes, the river surface was covered with heads.

The wide river surface was now like boiling porridge, with water splashing everywhere and people making a lot of noise.

The Thunder Bears team also went into the water.

Five people: Lei Xiong, Jin Sheng, Li Huai, Wang Jin, and a scout.

Lei Xiong's swimming style is just like his fighting style—violent.

He hardly used the standard freestyle pose; instead, like a real bear, he slapped the water with tremendous force, carving a path through the rapids.

Water splashed more than a meter high, and the people following behind were choked and coughed.

"Lei Xiong! Slow down!" Jin Sheng shouted from behind, "Keep formation!"

But Lei Xiong seemed not to hear.

He took the lead and rushed to the front.

Wang Jin followed behind Lei Xiong; this explosives expert had chosen a strange way of swimming.

He barely made a splash, his body almost completely submerged in the water, only occasionally raising his head to breathe, like a silent fish.

But he followed closely.

Because the thunder bear clears the way in front, the water flow is split open, and the resistance behind will be much less.

Zhou Zhenhai's team stood by the riverbank, motionless.

Eight Marines, all wearing soaking wet ocean camouflage.

"Captain, shouldn't we follow?" asked a sergeant with a scar on his face.

Zhou Zhenhai stared at the river and at the scrambling crowd, and snorted coldly:

"There's a reinforced company stationed on the other side."

"There are at least three machine gun positions, providing crossfire."

"Charge now—" he pointed to the dark mass of heads on the river, "they're sitting ducks."

He paused:

"We are the best swimmers."

"Let them draw the enemy's fire first."

"Wait until the 'enemy' runs out of ammunition, wait until their attention is diverted—"

Zhou Zhenhai's eyes shone like two lamps in the morning mist:

"Signing late but arriving early."

On the air force side, Lin Yun and his five team members also stood motionless by the river.

She was holding the binoculars and observing the opposite bank.

The morning fog affected visibility, but the outlines were still clearly visible through the military high-powered binoculars.

"Machine gun positions: one at the three o'clock position, one at the nine o'clock position, and another concealed one behind the mudflats directly in front."

Lin Yun said in a low voice, "The shooting sectors overlap, but there are also blind spots."

The second lieutenant beside her asked, "Captain Lin, when are we going down?"

"No rush." Lin Yun put down his binoculars. "Wait until they're tired of fighting."

"Tired of playing?"

"That's right." Lin Yun pointed to the river. "This is the first wave, the fiercest wave. The 'enemy's' ammunition, energy, and attention will all be focused on these people."

She paused:

"After they finish this wave, there will be a short period of relaxation."

"That's our chance."

The Rocket Force contingent, including Jiang Xingchen's team, was also observing.

All six people were wearing sunglasses—even in the morning mist.

Jiang Xingchen was holding an old-fashioned compass and adjusting the angle.

"Captain, we..." one of the team members hesitated before speaking.

"Wait," Jiang Xingchen said, uttering only one word.

"What are you waiting for?"

"Wait for the water flow to change." Jiang Xingchen pointed to the river surface. "It's the end of low tide now, and the water is flowing from west to east. But in twenty minutes, it will turn into high tide, and the water will flow from east to west."

He paused:

"If we go into the water now, we'll be going against the current."

"You'll be in the water in twenty minutes; it'll be downstream."

"The speed with the current is twice as fast as when we swim on our own."

This missile expert from the Rocket Force even took the tides into account.

…………

On the river, the first group had already swum three-quarters of the way.

Only 500 meters remained to reach the landing beach.

Yuan Man's team was at the forefront.

They had already swum 1,500 meters and were extremely exhausted.

But Yuan Man didn't stop, and neither did anyone else.

Yuan Man glanced back at his teammates: "Hang in there! The last 500 meters!"

The mudflats on the opposite bank became increasingly clear.

You can even see fortifications made of sandbags, and the shadowy figures moving behind them.

Victory is in sight.

But just then...

Machine guns opened fire from the other side.

Not just one.

There are three.

Rat-a-tat-tat-tat-tat—! ! !

The dull, continuous sound of gunfire tore through the morning mist.

Although it was a blank cartridge, the flames spewing from the muzzle were particularly dazzling in the morning mist.

That aura, that voice, made you instinctively want to run away.

The bullets hit the river surface, splashing up a series of water droplets.

The closest one was less than five meters away from Yuan Man.

"Scatter! Scatter!" Yuan Man roared.

The ten people immediately dispersed.

But the machine gun's firing range was too large.

The bullets followed their trajectory, like the whip of death, lashing the surface of the river.

"Blind spot found!"

Jin Sheng shouted in the water. He was following Lei Xiong's team and had swum 500 meters.

Li Huai, who was next to him, pushed up his glasses, which were covered in water, but he still tried his best to observe the machine gun positions on the opposite bank.

"The machine gun has a blind spot! Thirty degrees to the left front!"

Lei Xiong was the first to swim in that direction.

Like a real bear, he forcefully twisted his course in the rapids. His massive body unleashed astonishing power, sending water splashing two meters high.

"Wang Jin! Follow me!"

Wang Jin remained silent.

He adjusted his breathing, changed his swimming style, and like a fish blending into the current, silently followed behind Lei Xiong once again.

The demolition expert's advantage became apparent at this moment; he possessed an innate sensitivity to trajectory and angle. Lei Xiong precisely utilized the water flow he was cutting through, striking the most energy-efficient rhythm with each stroke.

The "enemy" forces on the other side discovered their intentions.

The machine gun was turned around.

Bullets followed the trajectory of Lei Xiong and Wang Jin, sweeping across the battlefield.

Even more frightening was that several floating objects suddenly appeared in the middle of the river.

Black, round, undulating with the waves.

Simulated naval mine.

"Get out of the way! Get out of the way!" Li Huai roared in the water, his voice drowned out by the gunshots and the sound of the water.

Thunder Bear nearly ran into a mine.

At the last second, this 1.95-meter-tall man twisted his body sharply, like making a tactical evasive maneuver on land, contorting his body into an incredible angle in the water.

The mine grazed past his shoulder.

The distance was less than ten centimeters.

It doesn't count as an explosion unless it touches something.

At this moment, we are only two hundred meters away from the landing beach.

What normally takes a few minutes to swim now feels like the ends of the earth.

On the river, people were constantly being "hit"—determined "dead" by the referee and forced to stop and wait for rescue boats.

People kept triggering the mines, and colored smoke rose up, indicating "death by mine".

Yuan Man's team has seven people left.

Three "fallen" soldiers floated listlessly on the river.

One of them even cried out loud because after being "killed in action," he lost the right to go to 1937 with Bian Yun.

This is almost equivalent to losing the opportunity to have a separate page in the family genealogy.

Anyone would feel upset in that situation.

As the team leader, Yuan Man continues to strive forward.

He took a deep breath and glanced at the opposite bank—only fifty meters left.

Once you get ashore, you've passed the test.

As long as you set foot on that mudflat.

"Brothers!" he yelled, turning to the remaining six team members, "Last fifty meters! Dive! Dive all the way in one go!"

This is the riskiest, but also the most likely to succeed.

Underwater, bullets cannot hit you.

If you can dive fifty meters in one breath.

This is not something difficult for them to do.

All six people took a deep breath at the same time.

Then, they plunged into the water at the same time.

Like six silent fish, they disappeared into the murky river water.

On the opposite bank of the mudflats, a young soldier ran into the command post:

"Company Commander! There are too many people! We can't sweep them all up! A few have slipped through the net and are trying to come ashore by diving for air!"

Inside the command post, an officer in his thirties with a scar on his face that stretched from his brow bone to the corner of his mouth was observing the river through binoculars.

His name is Xu Le, a company commander in a special operations brigade of the Eastern Theater Command. He was the combat champion in the all-army competition, but missed the selection registration due to a training injury three months ago.

Therefore, he was assigned to be the "enemy".

So he was seething with anger.

Xu Le put down the binoculars and spat.

He saw the six figures disappear underwater.

I saw the spot where they last entered the water.

They spotted their possible landing point.

"Want to go ashore?" Xu Le sneered, his voice like a knife scraping rust. "I'm not even qualified to go to 1937."

"You want to go?"

"On what grounds?"

He threw away the binoculars, took a QBZ-191 rifle from the wall, fitted with a waterproof kit, and modified it for underwater firing.

Then, he did something that left everyone speechless—

He rushed out of the command post and headed towards the riverbank.

With a single leap, it plunged into the Yangtze River.

In the river.

Yuan Man was diving underwater.

The air in his lungs was being consumed rapidly.

Fifty meters is an impossible task for ordinary people, but he is the deputy battalion commander of the reconnaissance battalion, and his underwater breath-holding record is three minutes and twenty seconds.

enough.

He was calculating the distance.

Thirty meters.

Twenty meters.

ten meters.

almost.

Just hold on for a few more seconds.

if only--

He raised his head, ready to break through the water.

Ready to set foot on the mudflats.

They were preparing to be among the first to land.

But the moment he looked up—