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

The following day, the fifth day in the grassland, was unusually quiet.

In the sky, the hazy clouds resembled a moldy old quilt, tightly covering the earth, preventing even a wisp of wind from getting in.

Suddenly, the world went silent.

There were no birdsong, no insect chirping.

On this vast wetland, the only sound you can hear is the sticky thud as your feet pull out of the mud.

"Pop—pop—"

Kuang Ge followed in the middle of the group, mechanically taking steps.

His vision was somewhat blurry, but the hunched figure in front of him was exceptionally clear.

The old sergeant walked at the front, his right sleeve empty, swaying slightly with each step.

The "golden fishhook" made from a discarded embroidery needle was pinned to his collar, and even without sunlight, it stood out starkly in the deathly gray world.

Those were the medals of their entire class, and the only bright spot at that moment.

Even though it was broad daylight, the atmosphere in the live stream made the chat feel incredibly oppressive.

"Guys, why am I feeling even more scared than watching a horror movie?"

"This is too quiet... I'd even appreciate a crow cawing twice."

"Don't mention crows. In a place like this, all living things except people are probably dead."

Kuang Ge glanced at the comments but didn't say anything.

His throat was so dry it felt like he'd swallowed a handful of sand, even though he'd had fish soup the night before.

That bottomless hunger still gnawed at my stomach like worms.

Sudden.

"Bang!"

A muffled gunshot rang out without warning from the far distance, tearing apart the maddening silence.

"hidden!!"

Almost at the same second the gunshot rang out, before the old squad leader's shout had even finished, Crazy Brother, Eagle Eye, and Soft Soft's bodies had already reacted instinctively.

The three of them instantly threw themselves down on the side of the damp meadow, skillfully using the small mound of earth, about half a meter high, as cover.

Xiao Hu was quick to react, holding his broadsword horizontally in front of his chest, directly blocking the old squad leader's side.

Although Little Bean was a beat slower, he still scrambled to hide behind Eagle Eye and clung tightly to the old barrel.

This series of tactical maneuvers was so fluid and fast that the viewers in the live broadcast room didn't even have time to react.

"Holy crap! That reaction speed! Is that the same Ruan Ruan I know?"

"Is there enemy activity?!"

Mud splashed all over his face, but Crazy Brother didn't bother to wipe it off, only his eyes were exposed as he stared intently ahead.

The old sergeant held his gun in one hand, his cloudy eyes instantly becoming sharp as an eagle's, his ears twitching slightly as he caught even the slightest vibration in the air.

one second.

two seconds.

Ten seconds passed.

There were no sounds of intense gunfire, no shouts of killing, and no whistling of bullets cutting through the air.

The world returned to that suffocating silence.

"Strange..." Hawkeye lay down next to Madman, his brow furrowed, and analyzed in a low voice, "If it were an encounter battle, there wouldn't have been only one shot fired."

"Could it be an accidental discharge?" Ruan Ruan asked softly, her voice trembling.

No one answered.

About a minute later.

"Bang!"

Another sound.

Still dull, still distant.

This time everyone heard it clearly; the sound was coming from behind a patch of waist-high water plants in front.

The rhythm was very steady, moving from far to near.

The old squad leader's brows furrowed into a deep frown.

He slowly straightened up and put away his gun.

Although the alert was not lifted, the murderous aura faded somewhat, then transformed into a more complex and solemn atmosphere.

"Let's go take a look," the old squad leader said in a deep voice. "They're not the enemy."

If it were the enemy, the gunfire wouldn't be so sparse, let alone getting louder and closer.

The team regrouped, maintaining their battle formation, and cautiously made their way towards the direction of the gunfire.

As the distance closed, the strange gunshot rang out twice more.

"Bang!"

……

"Bang!"

Each gunshot was followed by a long, unsettling silence.

After passing through the dense, somewhat smelly patch of water plants, the view suddenly opened up.

Ahead lay a rare, dry, high ground, as big as a basketball court.

But the scene before them instantly froze everyone who was already in a state of high tension.

There are no enemies.

There was no ambush.

There were only a few horses and seven or eight ragged young soldiers there.

The horses were so thin they were skin and bones, their backs bony and protruding like knives hidden beneath their skin.

The once glossy mane was now knotted and covered in mud.

They stood quietly, some bowing their heads to nibble on grass roots, others simply hanging their heads, their eyes cloudy and weary.

Beside each horse stood a warrior with tears streaming down his face.

They were holding guns.

The young soldier closest to Kuang Ge and his group looked to be not much older than Xiao Hu.

He was using a worn-out, stiff-bristled brush to groom the mane of a black horse in front of him.

The brushing was done very carefully and gently.

The young soldier was brushing his teeth while tears streamed down his face, and he was muttering something under his breath.

"Big Black, you have to be good... When we get there, there will be good grass to eat, and we won't have to walk through muddy puddles anymore..."

The old horse, called Big Black, seemed to understand something.

It neither ran away nor made a sound.

It simply lowered its head slowly and gently rubbed its frosty nose against the little soldier's muddy cheek.

Its eyes were filled with murky tears.

Then a tear slid down the long outline of the horse's face.

Tick.

It crashed onto the muddy ground.

This scene sent chills down the spines of millions of viewers in the live stream.

"What...what are they doing?"

"Why are you crying? Those are their horses!"

"Don't tell me..."

The next second, the cruel truth made everyone's hearts clench.

The young soldier dropped the brush and, with trembling hands, unfastened his rifle from behind his back.

He tried to raise the gun, but his hands trembled so badly that he dropped it several times because he didn't have enough strength.

Finally, he simply knelt on the ground and burst into tears.

"Squad leader! I can't do it! Big Black saved my life! It carried wounded soldiers, it carried ammunition... it even shielded me from the wind yesterday..."

A slightly older-looking animal husbandry supervisor walked over from the side.

The man had a full beard, and his eyes were red and swollen like peaches.

He snatched the gun from the young soldier's hand.

"You idiot! What are you crying for!"

The head of the animal husbandry team roared, but his voice was full of hoarse sobs.

"The orders from above... cut off, cut off food supplies, too many people have died."

"If we don't... turn them into meat, our troops won't be able to leave this grassland!"

"Rather than..."

The head of the animal husbandry team had nothing to say, or rather, he couldn't continue speaking.

Of the more than 10,000 who first arrived, at least one or two thousand have perished by the time they reached this point.

This seemingly ordinary grassland was more difficult than the first high mountain they crossed during the Long March, and even the snow-capped mountains they climbed later.

It will be even more difficult.