It was supposed to be a casual game, but the Long March dungeon brought tears to everyone's eye

"The Capture of Luding Bridge," in the preparation hall.

This place should be bustling.

Just now, three groups of players, each with a thousand members, successfully completed the "Crossing the Dadu River" game on its true historical difficulty.

But at this moment, as they watched the screens of the various pioneering teams go black one after another, they all fell silent.

In a corner of the hall, a small team of five people was gathered, namely Yakumo Kage, President Xie, and Cao Qingyi, who had previously organized the "Disturbing Residents Blacklist".

They just finished "Crossing the Dadu River" and got their tickets to "Seizing the Luding Bridge".

Logically speaking, now is the best time for these top players to compete for the "first kill in the entire server".

But Mr. Xie's finger had been hovering over the red "Enter Instance" button for a full five minutes.

His gaze was fixed on the main viewpoint in the center of the big screen, which was the live stream room where Kuang Ge, Ying Yan, and Ruan Ruan were located.

In the scene, the heavy rain has just stopped.

On the muddy mountain path, the old squad leader, whose right arm was still recovering, was leading his team through the mud with a breathtaking rhythm, driven by the sound of the company commander's bamboo clappers.

That rhythm, even through the screen, makes you feel the blood in your lungs.

"Mr. Xie, shall we go in?" a player next to him asked in a low voice.

Mr. Xie's fingers trembled slightly.

He looked at the old squad leader's arm, which was tightly slung across his chest by bandages, at the two white marks on Kuang Ge's face from the mud, and then at the five of them who hadn't even finished the grassland arc.

"I'm not going in."

Mr. Xie withdrew his hand, his voice low, as if afraid of disturbing the people running in the scene.

Yakumo Kage raised an eyebrow in surprise, then pondered for a moment before nodding.

"I'm not going to go in—it's not a technical problem, it's a problem of willpower."

Cao Qingyi, who was standing to the side, also hummed in agreement and pointed to her chest to add to the discussion.

"In our current state, going in would be a joke..."

Upon hearing this, President Xie smiled wryly and looked at Brother Kuang and his group on the screen.

"Yeah, they're working so hard, but we haven't even gotten past the Grassland arc."

"It's not shameful to not have cleared the Grassland chapter..."

"But going in at this time would be an insult to them and a desecration of that history."

The five fell silent again, quietly giving up on this expedition.

Then, along with the other players who had also given up, they gathered in the live stream of the three members of the "Crazy Brother" group, becoming a special cheering squad.

"Keep it up, big brothers and sisters who are still running!"

"Don't stop, don't stop!"

……

Inside the instance, the weather did not improve as the players had hoped.

The rain stopped and the sun came out.

For a team undertaking an extreme forced march, this was not a blessing, but rather the most vicious punishment.

The scorching sun beat down on the earth without any shade.

The mountain path, which was just filled with water, is now rapidly evaporating under the high temperatures of late May.

A thick cloud of moisture rose from the soil and grass, turning the entire narrow valley into a giant, humid sauna.

Everyone's uniforms were soaked.

But this dampness was no longer cold rain, but sweat warmed by body heat, mixed with suffocating steam.

The clothes clung tightly to my skin, like I was wrapped in an airtight plastic wrap.

With each leg lift, the trouser leg would become stiff from the dried mud, rubbing against the delicate skin on the inside of the thigh.

"Huff... huff..."

Not a single person in the elite detachment spoke.

The moment you open your mouth, the hot, damp steam with its earthy smell rushes into your lungs, making your already burning trachea even more painful.

Sweat streamed down his forehead and into his eyes.

The intense, salty stinging sensation made people want to rub it, but no one dared to lift their hand.

Because my hands were covered in mud, rubbing them would ruin them.

All I could do was blink frantically to squeeze out the sweat.

The chat room was filled with expressions of sympathy.

"This awful weather... When it rains, the roads are slippery and easy to fall, and when it's sunny, it's so stuffy. Old Luo, you really don't want people to live!"

"My stamina bar is dropping faster than when it rains!"

"Is this what a real march is like? This is too much suffering..."

However, the soldiers of the elite unit seemed to have long been accustomed to this.

They moved mechanically, their eyes somewhat vacant, but their steps remained in sync with the rhythm of the bamboo clappers that the company commander had set out earlier.

No one complained about the heat.

For them, being able to reach Luding Bridge alive was better than anything else.

At this moment, the sun was directly overhead.

The stamina bars of all three members of the Madman were already at the red.

"Don't stop! No one is allowed to stop!" The company commander's shouts echoed through the ranks.

"Eat while running! Stuff the food bag into your mouth!"

"As long as your legs can still move, keep your mouth busy!"

This is the cruelest order.

Eating in this state of oxygen deficiency and extreme fatigue is a double torment to the esophagus and stomach.

In the middle of the line.

The old squad leader's steps began to become somewhat unsteady.

His lips were cracked and purplish-black, with layers of white dead skin peeling off.

That's a sign of extreme dehydration.

At this moment, he could only move one hand.

To maintain balance, I had to occasionally grab a tree branch from the roadside for leverage, so I couldn't free my left hand to untie the food bag tied around my waist.

Moreover, his right arm was suspended and fixed, and the entire space in his chest and abdomen was occupied by bandages and his arm, with the food bag squeezed to the outside of his thigh.

The food bag swayed as he ran, making it extremely difficult to grab.

The old squad leader tried twice, and as soon as he reached down with his left hand, his body suddenly swayed and he almost fell into the ditch by the roadside.

He growled angrily, then decided to ignore the bag altogether, gritting his teeth and staring intently at the road ahead.

Suddenly, a petite figure darted up from behind.

Ruan Ruan's face was covered in mud and ash, and her hair was stuck to her face in strands with sweat, making her look as disheveled as a mud monkey.

She quickly caught up with the old squad leader's pace, ran to his right side, and took out an oil paper package from her pocket.

There she had prepared it beforehand, using stones to crush and grind the brown rice into dry powder.

"Open your mouth!"

Ruan Ruan is becoming increasingly adept at taking care of the "wounded".

The imposing tone of his voice startled the old squad leader, who instinctively opened his mouth.

Ruan Ruan seized the opportunity, grabbed the dry powder from the oil paper package, and stuffed it into the old squad leader's mouth.

"Cough! Cough cough cough!!"

The dry powder went down his throat, and the suffocating feeling of having his saliva instantly sucked out caused the old squad leader to cough violently.

Under normal circumstances, this would be an extremely dangerous move.

But during a forced march, this is the only way to replenish energy.

"Swallow it!!"

Just as the old squad leader coughed and staggered, about to fall,

Crazy Brother charged to the left like a raging bull.

"Bang!"

A muffled thud.

With his broad shoulders, Kuang Ge braced himself against the old squad leader's leaning body, acting as a mobile "human crutch".

"Don't spit it out! That's food!"

"Crazy Brother!" he shouted, spitting on the old squad leader's face.

"Swallow it! Don't stop!"