CHAPTER 1493: CHAPTER 1410: LAST COURAGE

When Zhou Ergou woke up, he found his whole body in pain. He had no idea how long he had been lying there, only remembering that when he passed out, dust filled the air, making it impossible to see anything else.

Now, the surroundings had returned to silence, the dust had settled, and Zhou Ergou could clearly see the dried blood on the ground in front of his face.

It was the traces of nosebleed and blood seeping from his ears due to the shock, not much, but shocking to behold.

Fortunately, the weather here wasn’t cold; if he were in the north, lying in the ruins like this, he’d probably freeze to death. Although it was nearly February, the nighttime temperatures were still very cold.

Zhou Ergou persisted in getting up from the ground. He was lucky to hear the sound he made himself, which proved that at least he hadn’t gone deaf.

The dust from his body fell to the ground as Zhou Ergou saw a rifle nearby, and a long-dead body beside him.

That was his comrade, a Qin Army soldier who had been hiding with him here, also a recruit, a perceptive young man.

He heard that the young man came from the western city of Guangmian in Qin Country, and was a cotton farmer before being conscripted only a month ago, not even learning the basic drills.

The young man followed Zhou Ergou hoping to learn some survival skills from him. Unfortunately... on the third day of arriving at the front, the young man died.

Zhou Ergou didn’t even clearly remember the young man’s name because he knew so many names, which would mostly have no use in the future.

Feeling pain all over his body, Zhou Ergou clumsily struggled to the wall of the ruins, sat against the wall, and took deep breaths of somewhat murky air.

Honestly, with a corpse beside him, the smell here was unpleasant, but Zhou Ergou still breathed heavily as if he had never enjoyed breathing this way before.

His somewhat confused mind was filled with various thoughts, and for a moment, he didn’t even know which one he should deal with first.

Why hadn’t any medics come to find him? Was his troop still here? What time was it now? Would the Tang Army’s shelling continue?

Through the gaps and openings in the ruins, Zhou Ergou saw the abandoned defensive positions in the distance. Over there was unrecognizable, with scrapped machine guns left crooked beside corpses, looking so desolate.

Damn... his troops must have left. If they were still here, they wouldn’t have let a damaged machine gun stay on the position.

Zhou Ergou knew that the machine gun was the company commander’s treasure; it seemed to be the only machine gun for fire support in the entire company.

Since the Qin Army had already withdrawn, then... had the Tang Army arrived? This was the second concern for Zhou Ergou. He didn’t dare shout or confirm if there were any of his comrades around because he didn’t know if his shout would call his allies or a group of Tang People.

Damn it... how long had he been unconscious? Why hadn’t those damn medics checked if he was still alive before leaving him on the battlefield?

Why was every Qin Army retreat so hasty, to the point of ignoring their own people’s lives and escaping without their armor and helmets?

More than ten years ago, wasn’t the Qin Army still a force that struck terror into people? Weren’t they then a force that even the Dahua Empire didn’t dare to provoke? Back then, weren’t they known for conquering any fortress and winning every battle?

But after just over ten years, how did the Qin Army he knew, or used to know, become like this?

Finally, after recovering for a few more minutes, Zhou Ergou could move a little. He leaned through an opening and saw a Tang Empire armored vehicle outside. Beside it was a group of Tang Empire Soldiers resting.

They were chatting and laughing, seemingly having a meal, with a strange-looking tank parked in the distance, its rounded turret loaded with various devices.

Zhou Ergou certainly couldn’t recognize it as a modified tank equipped with night vision devices and laser rangefinders—a Type 59 tank—but he recognized the wheeled armored vehicle next to it.

It was the only "Tang Army" he had seen before; he once saw this type of wheeled armored reconnaissance vehicle from afar. Later, he learned it was one of the most equipped "Door Knocker" in the Tang Army reconnaissance units.

It was a nickname the Qin Army gave to such wheeled armored vehicles because, once these vehicles appeared, the Tang Army would soon organize shelling and destroy the exposed Qin Army positions.

Alright, now he had a choice—to surrender. As long as he walked out with his hands raised, it seemed that everything would come to a peaceful conclusion.

Yet, for some reason, Zhou Ergou scrambled back to his rifle, grabbed his 98K, and returned to that opening.

He set up his weapon, aiming through the sight, aligning his aim on a Tang Army Soldier who was eating.

Damn it... What am I doing? Zhou Ergou shouted in his heart, but his hands continued to move slowly.

He pulled the bolt back, chambering a round, then adjusted his erratic breathing, trying to steady his trembling hand somewhat.

At this moment, he was afraid because he knew once he fired, his position would be exposed, and those Tang Empire Soldiers would come from all directions to kill him.

But he still decided to do something for himself and Qin Country. He didn’t want to hide and run like a coward anymore; at this moment, he was prepared to be brave.

"Hoo..." He exhaled turbid air, then pulled the trigger. The Tang Army Soldier at whom the muzzle was pointed fell as the shot rang out. Around, the Tang Army Soldiers started dodging as if electrocuted; within a breath, the bustling area left only the fallen Tang Empire Soldier.

"There’s a sniper!" Zhou Ergou heard someone shout.

"I roughly know his position! Flank him! Cover! Cover!" Amid the urgent orders, Zhou Ergou even saw the turret of the wheeled infantry fighting vehicle turning.

"Bang!" Having pulled the bolt back again, Zhou Ergou fired once more, but this time his bullet hit the thick steel plate of the armored vehicle, to no effect.

Forget it... at least he killed one, that’s enough. Thinking like this in his heart, Zhou Ergou saw the hand grenades rolling to his feet. The Tang Army had discovered his hiding place and had no intention of taking a prisoner.

After an explosion, he knew nothing more.