Rebirth in 1972: Redemption in Changbai Mountain

The group changed course and headed down the slope, stepping on the ice shards. The frozen pebbles under their boots made their soles creak.

Before they had gone half a mile, the shallow mark that had been deliberately swept across the snow surface was revealed, with half a crushed pine needle still clinging to its edge.

Zhou Rui turned his head and exchanged a glance with Gu Dayong, neither of them showing the slightest surprise.

In the rugged terrain of Changbai Mountain, the hunters who spend their lives traversing the mountains are far more adept than Hao Ge and his city folks.

For Hao Ge and his gang of city criminals who escaped halfway through the journey, escaping the search would require them to be even more adept at burrowing than lynxes in the forest.

Woof woof woof.

Big Yellow and Sniffing Wind suddenly stopped at the same time, their neck fur standing on end, and they barked wildly at the thicket of bushes so dense that even the wind couldn't get through.

Gu Dayong suddenly raised his hand and pressed down, and Zhou Rui and the soldiers of the platoon next to him immediately rushed to the trees and crevices on both sides.

More than a dozen guns were mounted steadily, their sights locked onto the bushes.

"Those inside, come out and surrender! You're completely surrounded!" Squad Leader Li's shout echoed through the woods, his deep voice carrying the intimidating power honed through years of training at the shooting range.

The wind whipped up snowflakes, whistling through the branches, the rustling sound drowning out all other noises.

Zhou Rui's finger rested on the trigger, his eyes fixed on the gap in the bushes. Ten seconds passed, but not a single person appeared inside.

Squad Leader Li lay prone in the snow, his head slightly raised half an inch, his voice becoming even deeper.

"Don't take any chances. We've known exactly where you're hiding."

"If you come out and surrender now, you can still get lenient treatment; if you resist stubbornly, you will only face death."

No sooner had he finished speaking than a burst of bullets suddenly erupted from the bushes.

Bullets swept across the snow, kicking up a spray of snow half a foot high. Small pine trees, as thick as bowls, were snapped in half, and splinters of wood mixed with ice shards rained down on people's faces.

Squad Leader Li rolled to the side with a sudden movement, his back slamming heavily against the trunk of an old pine tree. Icicles hanging from the bark tore through the collar of his cotton-padded coat.

Everyone instantly buried their faces in the snowdrifts. Snow that had been knocked off the trees by the gunfire tumbled down and trickled into their cotton-padded coats through their collars.

"Hidden, with an ambush."

Gu Dayong's roar cracked as he simultaneously raised his water-powered rifle and pulled the trigger at the spot in the bushes where a flash of fire had just appeared.

The bullet swept through the branches, and a short, muffled groan came from the woods.

Immediately afterwards, a denser barrage of gunfire erupted from the depths of the bushes, interspersed with the distinctive sharp crack of sniper rifles.

The bullet grazed past Zhou Rui's ear and struck a rock behind him, sending sparks flying.

Click, click.

The gunfire from the other side suddenly stopped.

I don't know if it was due to a malfunction in the gun or because the magazine was empty.

"All hands on deck, fire!" Gu Dayong suddenly lifted his head from the snow, his face still covered in snowflakes, and immediately gave the order to fire.

Bang bang bang... Da da da...

Rifle, submachine gun, and light machine gun fire instantly poured into the bushes, sending broken branches, fallen leaves, and snow mist flying everywhere.

All I could see was a white blur; I couldn't even make out the outline of half a tree.

The two hunting dogs lay obediently in the snow, their ears pressed tightly to the ground.

They had followed them into the mountains to hunt for so many years, and they had never heard such a dense barrage of gunfire before. It was completely different from the sporadic gunshots they usually heard when hunting bears.

"Ceasefire!"

Gu Dayong suddenly raised his hand, and everyone immediately put out their fire.

Logically, command should have belonged to the younger squad leader, Li, but during the firefight just now...

Squad Leader Li almost jumped up and rushed into the woods, completely forgetting the proper boundaries of a commander. Everyone subconsciously followed Gu Dayong's instructions.

The twelve men remained still, while some bent down and quickly loaded bullets into half-empty magazines. Only the rustling of the wind through the branches could be heard on the snow.

No one was in a hurry to rush forward. Everyone knew that in this deathly silence after a fire had just been fired, it was easiest for a sniper rifle to be hidden without a flash.

Suddenly, a shadow stumbled out of the thick snow fog, running erratically and moving as slowly as if its tendons had been pulled out.

"Dajun... come back... save me..." Hao Ge's voice drifted over, whistling through the air, and he couldn't even speak clearly.

"We'll go our separate ways, and leave our fates to destiny."

Dajun didn't even dare to turn his head. Blood dripped down his trousers, leaving a long red trail on the snow. He just kept going into the depths of the dense forest in the distance.

He had received prior training and was much more familiar with mountain warfare than Hao Ge.

During the firefight, I took advantage of the chaos to sneak out of the bushes, hoping to slip away under the cover of snow and fog.

However, he did not expect that Zhou Rui's firepower was too dense. Stray bullets had already hit his hind leg. He had only run a few steps when he twisted his ankle and almost fell.

Hao Ge lay paralyzed in the snow, his cotton-padded coat soaked with blood from his chest. His lungs felt like broken bellows, with blood and foam gushing out with every breath.

He watched Dajun's retreating figure without turning his head, then suddenly let out a bitter laugh and muttered something only he could hear.

"To hell with fate, I can't run away, so you'll stay here with me."

As soon as he finished speaking, he suddenly raised the jammed AK in his hand and aimed it at Dajun's back based on his memory.

Bang, bang... bang bang bang.

He managed to detonate the last few misfired bullets.

Dajun's body jolted violently, his neck stiffly turning half an inch to the side and back, but he couldn't utter a single word before collapsing heavily into the snow, splashing up a small patch of snow mixed with blood.

Zhou Rui immediately led two soldiers to rush forward, first kicking the gun out of Hao Ge's hand, and then quickly binding his wrists with a rope.

Hao Ge lay in the snow, his eyes fixed on Da Jun's corpse, a strange smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.

He can't escape, and he will never let this person who abandoned him at the last moment walk out of this forest alone.

The sun peeked out from behind the clouds, its warm light falling on the snow and slowly turning the two bloodstains a dark brown.

"Squad leader, both of them are dead. But... I found something on that guy."

"What?" Squad Leader Li turned his head and saw the young soldier's hesitant appearance. He frowned, not understanding why the soldier looked so troubled when examining a corpse.

The young soldier bit his lower lip, hesitated for a long time, and finally handed over what he was holding in his hand.

It was a red discharge certificate with worn-out edges, and the five-pointed star on the cover was still shining.

Squad Leader Li reached out and took the paper. The moment his fingertips touched the worn cover, he froze on the spot.

He opened his lips, but his throat felt like it was stuffed with a ball of snow-soaked cotton, and he couldn't utter a single word.

Gu Dayong walked over and patted Squad Leader Li's shoulder heavily.

"Don't be sad."

"Life in our unit has always been pure, but you can't see into someone's heart. There are always a few bad elements who are blinded by greed and sneak in."

"They used all the talent they had from wearing military uniform to do heinous things."

He pointed to the red badge on Squad Leader Li's hat; the sunlight shone on the gleaming badge, making one's eyes feel warm.

"We soldiers don't need to care what wrong paths others take later. As long as our conscience is clear and we are worthy of the badge we wear, that's enough."