I painted an aircraft carrier on the courtyard house for Dongda University.

The Laze Mountain Pass on the border between Xia Kingdom and India.

Inside a border outpost of our army, ten soldiers are warming themselves around a campfire. The orange-red firelight illuminates their young and resolute faces. Each of them keeps their gun within easy reach, maintaining a high level of vigilance at all times.

One of the young soldiers, about 18 years old, held an enamel mug in his hands, looking at the flickering flames in the campfire with a strange expression on his face. After hesitating for a long time, he finally asked.

"Squad leader, what do you think those Indians are thinking? Didn't the higher-ups say they were negotiating with them and even agreed to each side retreat 20 kilometers? We've already retreated to the mountain pass and given up Laze Mountain, how dare they still build bunkers on the mountain? Isn't that blatantly breaking the rules?"

The squad leader sitting to the side was probably in his thirties, with two frightening scars on his face.

He added a piece of firewood to the campfire, his brows furrowed, his tone full of frustration: "How am I supposed to know what these Indian idiots are thinking? We've been retreating again and again for over a month, lowering our stance as much as we can, but the Indians on the other side not only didn't retreat as agreed, they even built several bunkers on the mountain, with machine guns pointed in our direction. These guys are really brainless."

Another dark-skinned soldier slammed his enamel mug on the ground, his tone indignant: "Squad leader, I just don't understand why we keep having to retreat. These Indians are all like dogs; give them a little attention and they'll take advantage. I saw it clearly on patrol the other day—an entire battalion of their soldiers had moved into the old outpost across the way, and they'd even brought a lot of equipment. They're clearly trying to cause trouble!"

The squad leader glared at him, his tone instantly turning stern: "We do whatever we're ordered to do. What's there to complain about? Soldiers are duty-bound to obey orders. It's not our place to question command."

He paused, his voice softening slightly, "Besides, our regiment hasn't been working for nothing these past month. The main highway behind the mountain has been repaired, and supplies can be delivered directly up. I heard that four reinforced regiments have already arrived to support us. We've also received strict orders from above: whether the Indians fire first or take another step beyond the boundary marker, we will immediately launch a counterattack. They'll be crying then!"

The 18-year-old soldier stuck out his tongue, then suddenly remembered something and asked curiously, "Squad leader, there's something else I'm really curious about. Why are there so many women with that Indian reinforcement unit? Are they planning to be stationed here long-term?"

The squad leader was taken aback at first, then seemed to think of something unpleasant. He raised his hand and slapped the young soldier's cap, laughing and scolding, "You little brat, what are you meddling in? Maybe he brought a woman over to help with laundry and cooking. Stop thinking about these things. Cleaning your gun is more important than anything else."

Just then, "Bang..."

A sharp gunshot suddenly rang out from the distant border, breaking the silence of the valley.

The squad leader's expression changed drastically. He stood up abruptly, grabbed the five or six soldiers beside him, and shouted sharply, "Not good! It's the direction of the border sentries! You damn Indians, you bastards, you blind fools actually dared to fire! Everyone grab your weapons immediately and come with me to see what's going on, quick!"

The ten soldiers instantly turned serious. Without the slightest hesitation, they grabbed their weapons and followed their squad leader out of the outpost, sprinting towards the border line 500 meters away.

Beside the temporary boundary marker on the border, two Xia Kingdom sentries stood there solemnly, holding Type 56 submachine guns with their muzzles slightly raised. Their eyes were warily locked onto the figures on the opposite hillside. There were three or four hundred Indian soldiers gathered there in dense numbers. The gunshot just now was fired into the sky by someone who looked like an officer on the other side, clearly a provocation.

At that moment, a man suddenly ran out from the back of the Indian group, panting as he rushed to the front. With an arrogant expression, he shouted in extremely broken Chinese, "You Chinese, get out of the way! We've received orders from our superiors to occupy the entire Laze Mountain range. Don't get in our way, or we won't hesitate to send you all to see the Lord of the World, Brahma!"

Upon hearing this, the two sentries' expressions changed drastically.

Their orders were to hold the Lazeshan Pass to the death, without retreating an inch.

Moreover, both sides clearly agreed to retreat 20 kilometers each. Now they have strictly adhered to the agreement and retreated 20 kilometers, and are even about to exit the Laze Mountain Range. How dare these Indians be so arrogant, not only pushing directly to the border line, but also threatening to make them retreat further?

One of the older sentries gripped his gun tightly, his knuckles white from the force, and his eyes were filled with icy coldness as he shouted sternly, "Our orders are to hold the Lazeshan Pass to the death, not to yield an inch! The temporary boundary marker is right here. If you dare to cross it, you will be declaring war on the Xia Kingdom, and you will bear the consequences!"

Upon hearing this, the translator on the other side changed his expression slightly and immediately translated the sentry's words to the Indian officer at the front of the column.

The Indian officer, whose head was wrapped in an enormous "zongzi" (a type of Chinese rice dumpling), immediately threw his head back and burst into loud, arrogant laughter after hearing the translation.

After laughing his fill, he spoke loudly in fluent Indian, his tone full of disdain and arrogance.

"Cowardly people of Xia, you have no courage to declare war on our great India! Your retreat to a 40-kilometer area and the surrender of the entire Laze Mountain range are nothing but self-deception by your cowardly leaders!"

He proudly raised his chin. "Our great Indians have the support of two world superpowers, the United States and the United Kingdom! And our great Chief Administrator has given a death order: advance immediately and occupy Mount Laze. If you dare to resist, we will kill you on the spot! Get out of here! As a merciful high-caste Kshatriya, I can forgive your disrespect this time. It's not too late to leave now!"

Upon hearing this, the translator's face changed drastically, and beads of cold sweat appeared on his forehead. Hesitantly, he leaned forward and whispered, "Commander Singh, you've only just arrived to provide support, so there are some things you might not know. The Xia Kingdom's border troops have been reinforced, and their firepower..."

But the Indian commander named Singh didn't give the translator a chance to finish speaking. He abruptly raised his hand to interrupt him and shouted sternly, "Shut up! My mission is to completely occupy the entire Laze Mountain Range at all costs. We cannot allow a single Xia person to exist in this mountain range! These people dare to stand guard at the mountain pass, and that outpost 500 meters away—this is absolutely unacceptable! I order you damned Xia people to get out of our country's territory immediately, or the noble high-caste Kshatriya Commander Singh will sentence you to death! Do you understand?"

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