Chapter 1256, You Have to Live
The third day of the countdown.
Early morning.
The autumn rain had briefly stopped, and the air was filled with the earthy smell after the rain.
On the third echelon defense line where the command tent was located, the sound of gunfire could still be heard over the second echelon defense line.
The abyssal rift across the ground blocked the way of the second enemy army in the northwest, and those AI soldiers on foot would have to march for at least a day to bypass the rift that was tens of kilometers long.
With his own strength, Yan Liuyuan had blocked the biggest crisis in front of him for the Dawn Defense Line.
When Yan Liuyuan arrived at the defense line from the north with his herdsmen, Ren Xiaosu noticed at a glance Yan Liuyuan’s ascetic-like head of short inches.
He froze for a moment, then asked Yan Liuyuan, “What’s wrong with your hair?”
“Ao, it’s nothing,” Yan Liuyuan smiled and explained, “It will grow back again. Brother, I have more than 20,000 warriors from the tribe here, they might be able to help you.”
As a result, at this time, the P5092 next to him shook his head and said, “No need for that, now that the Dawn defense line is planning to retreat backward, if you have any spare strength on your side, help take some of the wounded away.”
Yan Liuyuan thought about it and said, “Okay.”
On this defense line, other than the combat troops of the third echelon defense line, the only ones who could leave alive were the wounded who had retreated.
It wasn’t that the P5092 suddenly developed any humanitarian spirit, but these wounded couldn’t continue fighting even if they stayed in their positions, so it was better to bring them back to the rear and keep them as a spark for humanity.
At this time, there was a specialized unit in charge of transporting the wounded, and they were going to each position to count the specific number of wounded and then retreat with them.
At position 141, the soldiers had just repelled a group of enemy troops and were able to take a short break.
The commander of the 2nd Battalion of the 2nd Division’s Iron 2 Battalion, who was in charge of this position, was having his wounds bandaged by his own orderly.
Yesterday in the middle of the night, during a sudden attack, a shot from nowhere hit his arm and broke his arm bone.
In the barracks there are special splints for fixing bones, but there is no need to be so miserable as to take a wooden stick to fix it.
When the battalion commander bandaged his wound, cold sweat broke out on his head and his lips turned white.
That kind of pain after the broken bones, the Northwest hard man also some can not carry.
Just at this moment, a young soldier on the position ran over, he said to the battalion commander with a surprised face: ”Battalion commander, the rear demanded that all the wounded must retreat, it is said that they are retreating to the 178th fortress side. You should quickly go over and let them look at their injuries, only the wounded can retreat now, your sister-in-law is still waiting for you at home.”
As a matter of fact, the Northwest Army soldiers in the second echelon had all learned that they could not retreat, and had to buy time for their comrades behind them to retreat.
How to buy time? By using their lives.
It was quite difficult for everyone at first, but for some reason, everyone accepted this reality overnight.
No one came to do ideological work for them, and no one came to persuade them of family and national sentiments, everyone just felt that since they were soldiers of the Northwest Army, they shouldn’t be greedy and afraid of death.
Northwest Army three words, like an indefinable emotion, when the Northwest Army soldiers do not seem to have a lot of special treatment, but when living in the barriers, you have to give way to others, sitting on the tram have to give up their seats to old people and children, for fear of defacing the shoulder insignia on their shoulders.
Just like this young soldier, he was not from 178 Fortress, he was drafted into the army after the unification of the Northwest.
He didn’t know why, but when he saw the bright red banner at the conscription office that day, he went to sign up.
When the 144th fortress trade was booming, many people in the family advised, don’t go to the Northwest Army as a soldier, follow uncle to do business, earn more than being a soldier ah.
But every time he smiled and did not say anything, he did not know how to answer, but he just wanted to stay in the Northwest Army.
It was the same now, although he knew he would die if he stayed, he just wanted to stay in the position with his comrades.
There wasn’t much of a reason for it, he just felt it was what he was supposed to do.
But now it was different, the wounded had a valid reason to leave, and the young soldier knew that the battalion commander had two children, his wife was still unemployed, and the family couldn’t live without him.
So he was thinking that the battalion commander could take this opportunity to leave the second echelon of the defense line and retreat with the main force.
This was not a case of being greedy and afraid of death, but the battalion commander’s current arm was really not suitable to continue fighting in the position.
At this time, footsteps came from outside the camp tent.
The young soldier was surprised to see the battalion commander rip off the splint on his arm, and then used his uniform to cover the wound on his arm.
Someone from outside walked in, an unfamiliar face who said to the group, “I heard that there are wounded here, and our side is going to take the wounded away to be evacuated together.”
As a result, before the others could speak, the battalion commander unexpectedly spoke up and said, “It should be a misunderstanding, we don’t have any wounded here.”
The soldier who was in charge of evacuating the wounded froze for a moment, “Really?”
He gave the battalion commander a suspicious look, in fact, even if the battalion commander removed his splint, that face could not be the face of a normal person, so he could already tell that the battalion commander had been injured.
The battalion commander hesitated for a moment and said, “Brothers, I want to be with my brothers, I can’t go back by myself.”
The soldier who was in charge of evacuating the wounded was silent for a few seconds, then stood up straight and gave the battalion commander a salute and turned to leave.
Neither of them said anything more to each other, we were all soldiers of the Northwest Army, if they were to be this battalion commander instead, perhaps they would have chosen the same.
After the soldiers who evacuated the wounded left, the young soldier looked at his battalion commander and said in a daze: “Battalion commander, don’t you want to go back? You’re really wounded, not pretending to be wounded, this is not an act of war-weariness.”
The battalion commander cursed and said, “Grass, it hurts me to death, hurry up and re-fix the splints for me, right, give those brats outside to say, all give me a spirit, the last battle must be fought beautifully.”
The battalion commander did not answer the young soldier’s question.
Things like this, for example, had happened so many times throughout the second echelon defense line that the soldiers in charge of the retreat were all red-eyed.
It was still early in the day, and the group troops on the third echelon defense line began to take advantage of the low visibility of the satellites at night to evacuate towards Fortress 178.
Everyone saluted in the direction of the second echelon defense line before leaving.
Just as the first echelon army was withdrawing from the dawn defense line, Ren Xiaosu stood at the edge of the position with Yang Xiaoguan, Yan Liuyuan, and Sister Xiaoyu, looking out at the night sky.
Yan Liuyuan looked at Ren Xiaosu and smiled, “Brother, are you hesitating?”
Ren Xiaosu sighed, “You know what I’m thinking?”
“Well,” Yan Liuyuan nodded, “The AI seems to have become irresistible, and I haven’t been able to come up with another way to resolve this crisis so far, so the way out seems to be the only one.”
The way out Yan Liuyuan was talking about was Ren Xiaosu incarnating the will of the world as a way to cut off Zero’s future from the root.
No matter how powerful Zero was, he was always still in this world and could not fight against the world itself.
Therefore, when disaster struck, the question always seemed to hover between sacrificing others or sacrificing oneself.
Ren Xiaosu said in a low voice, “Sometimes I would think that since this is the only choice I have, then I should simply be more decisive, so that fewer soldiers of the Northwest Army would die as well. The more I hesitate, the more people will die because of this disaster. But you know, Six Yuan, I’ve always been a very selfish person, before this I never thought of sacrificing myself for anyone, unless it was for Little Geun, you, or Sister Xiaoyu.”
“Well, I know that,” Yan Liu Yuan said in a low voice, “That’s why, when I hurried over this time, it was actually like I wanted to stop you. Brother, let’s leave this place. This world is a big one, even if Zero is more powerful, it’s not like there’s no place for us to stay. Okay, I know it might be a bit self-defeating to say this, but brother, I really don’t want to see you sacrificing yourself for the entire world, when it’s so unfair to you.”
Ren Xiaosu said, “Can you let me talk to Xiao Ge alone?”
Yan Liuyuan and Sister Xiaoyu looked at each other and silently left.
Ren Xiaosu took out a tarpaulin from his space to spread it on the high platform at the edge of the trench, and he sat side by side with Yang Xiaoguan on it, looking at the dark night sky.
“You don’t want me to go that far either right?” Ren Xiaosu asked.
“Well,” Yang Xiaoguan said with certainty, “You know, Xiaosu, no one is supposed to pay anything for this world.”
“Liu Yuan always felt that this world is a bit bad for me, but I feel that I’m actually quite lucky ah, with such a beautiful girlfriend, and such a strong strength, in the past, I thought that my parents abandoned me, but after a trip to the Sorcerer’s Kingdom I realized how much they had paid for me to stay alive. So now I don’t feel miserable at all, I heard that my father was the one who fell in the last plague to save everyone, now that I think about it, I actually kind of admire his courage. In fact, after hearing his story from the knight, I realized that he was the more qualified leader, and that I was just a kid with not much ambition.”
Yang Xiaoguan shook his head, “What he did, you may not want to do.”
“But there’s no other way, Xiao Ge, you have to live,” Ren Xiao Su said with his head bowed.
Yang Xiaoguan turned her head to look, and she suddenly realized that Ren Xiaosu’s expression was hidden in the shadows, so she couldn’t see what was going on.
Ren Xiaosu continued in a low voice, “If I hesitate any longer, maybe even you will die. I thought about it all day yesterday, and suddenly realized that I couldn’t accept that outcome. I can not save the whole world, but I have to save you. We all have to admit one thing, Zero’s power has grown to such an extent that sooner or later we will have to face it, perhaps we can escape to the Witch Kingdom for a while, or a more distant place to live alone. But every time we escape for a while, it becomes one point more invincible.”
Yang Xiaoguan stared blankly at Ren Xiaosu, in the middle of this brutal battlefield, under the dome of the sky, the other party suddenly used simple logic to speak the most heartfelt words of love, which made her a bit overwhelmed.
“Then you can’t sacrifice yourself,” Yang Xiaoguan said.
Ren Xiaosu smiled bitterly, “I don’t want to either, if I can really live, who wants to die?”
“Promise me, since Qing Zhen said to wait for him for 9 days, let’s wait until the 9th day and see,” Yang Xiaoguan said, “If he doesn’t make it on the 9th day, no matter where we go at that time, I will accompany you.”
……
The Northwest First Group had already withdrawn most of its forces from the Dawn Defense Line, and in P5092’s plan, the second echelon of the defense line would hold off the AI for almost a day.
It was still about 131 kilometers away from Fortress 178, and at the speed of the AI forces, they would be dueling at Fortress 178 on the last day.
Whether they lived or died would be revealed on that day.
On the way to withdraw from the position, amongst the tens of thousands of people Wang Yun suddenly asked, “Huh, where is P5092? Just now he was watching us evacuate together?”
As he spoke, Big Snooze and the others also looked around for P5092’s figure.
At this time, Ren Xiaosu, who knew P5092 the best, returned to his position without saying a word, and when he rushed all the way into the General Commander’s tent, he just happened to see P5092 holding a gun aimed at his jaw.
Ren Xiaosu’s palm went through the Gate of Shadows as he slapped the muzzle to the side with a bang, but if Ren Xiaosu had slowed down a little bit more, I’m afraid that P5092 would have already died through.
“What are you doing?!” Ren Xiaosu said in shock, “Why did you kill yourself?”
P5092 said, “The final mission of the Dawn Defense Line has been completed, so my mission is done. The war further down the line won’t mean much with or without me, and the day of the 178 Fortress duel won’t depend on schemes, but on courage.”
“So you’re going to die?” Ren Xiaosu frowned and asked, “Why?”
“Just because I personally sent Black Fox and the others on the most dangerous mission, just because I refused the frontline soldiers of the Dawn Defense Line to retreat,” P5092’s eyes were filled with exhaustion.
For the sake of winning the war, P5092 did everything in the coldest way, ordering one cold-blooded decision after another.
However, it was for the sake of victory, but not for himself.
If he hadn’t carried the belief in fire, perhaps he would have made other choices.
P5092 said softly, “On the day I parted from Black Fox, I had always wanted to be like the officers of other units, to live and die with the soldiers and fight side by side, however, I knew that the Dawn Defense Line needed me, so I couldn’t die. However, as an officer, I am ashamed of them.”
Ren Xiaosu fell silent, he didn’t know how to comfort the military genius in front of him.
It was obvious that the other party was born for war, but he was harboring a kind heart.
But the kinder the other party’s heart was, the more painful it would be to make every decision.
This pain kept accumulating, eventually giving P5092 the idea of lightening his life, and the other party was going to accompany his soldiers, because it was he who had personally sent these soldiers to their doom.
Even if he had a very legitimate reason.
Ren Xiaosu put away P5092’s matching gun into his palace space, then said in a cold voice, “After winning this battle I will naturally find a way to use the Yingling God’s Temple to awaken Black Fox and the others, but by that time if you’ve already committed suicide then you’ll only be separated by yin and yang because the Yingling God’s Temple can’t summon someone who has committed suicide.”
P5092 froze for a moment, and at this time, he suddenly remembered this ability of Ren Xiaosu, “But the Fire Seed Combat Troop led by Black Fox has more than ten thousand people! Luo Lan’s Ying Ling Shrine can only summon 12 people only.”
Ren Xiaosu said in a serious tone, “That’s because Luo Lan can’t, not because this ability can’t.”
Right at this moment, the AI also seemed to realize that the Northwest Army on the Dawn Defense Line was withdrawing.
For a moment, all the defenders of the second echelon defense line felt the pressure multiply as if a majestic tsunami had come crashing down on them.
Together with the unit that Yan Liuyuan had blocked with his abyss, they began to advance at a trotting speed.
In the southwest direction, those two troops that had traveled north from Qing had actually discarded some of the provisions they had carried earlier as a means to achieve another speed boost.
That raging tsunami was going to directly flood over the Dawn defense line, swallowing Fort 178 along with it.