Following their joyous reunion, only an endless melancholy settled in their hearts. Just as Lin Yu knew nothing of the others, Nangong, too, was ignorant of the whereabouts of anyone beyond Lin Yu.
Having decided against hotpot the previous afternoon, Nangong had intended to return the small dog to its owners. However, despite searching for a long time, she couldn’t locate the grandfather and grandson from outside the mountain.
Just as she was about to head back, artillery shells suddenly rained down on the logistics area, with one shell directly striking the station building.
The surrounding crowd instantly devolved into chaos, the surge of people separating her from the little stray dog and sweeping her along to the outskirts of the logistics zone. Standing by the railway, gazing at the fires engulfing the logistics area, she realized it was hardly an opportune moment to return. Consequently, she spent the night in a nearby inn.
While Lin Yu was frantically searching the entire logistics area for Nangong, Nangong herself, having overslept, was several kilometers away, hurrying back. Before she could even reach her destination, she discovered the front line was under attack, with all survivors on the position retreating in disarray. She was then swept along by the fleeing soldiers, forced to travel a considerable distance in the opposite direction.
Subsequently, she was gathered with the other retreating soldiers by the 104th Reserve Regiment and assigned some related work. It was then, as she volunteered to establish a medical point across the river, that she was spotted from afar by a dazed Lin Yu.
“Alright, alright, don’t hold me so tight. Haven’t I told you I’m fine?”
“I thought you were dead…”
“But I’m still alive, aren’t I? Don’t jump to conclusions so easily before getting definitive news, and that goes for everyone else too.”
Lin Yu also recounted to Nangong everything she had witnessed and experienced in the logistics area, including the ruined remains of Commander Yang’s residence.
“Perhaps they were late returning from buying groceries, or maybe they, like me, had temporarily gone out for something. Don’t be so despairing; crying all day will only make you an ugly monster.”
Nangong gently stroked her hair, comforting her just as she always had.
“Mm…”
The feeling of something cherished being cruelly snatched away by war, only to be suddenly retrieved, was like an emotional rollercoaster, plummeting from a great height only to slowly ascend again. It was as if fate were playing an unwilling trick on her.
But if every ending could be a reunion like this, rather than a destined tragedy, Lin Yu would gladly let fate play countless tricks on her.
“I know.”
After chatting for a while longer, arm in arm with Nangong, they parted with reluctance. Nangong enlisted several people to help her transport supplies to set up a frontline medical point across the river, while Lin Yu returned to the operating table to resume her busy work.
This was not yet the time for reminiscing; each had their own tasks to complete and their own duties to fulfill.
When the time came, whether to call Nangong back to this side or go over to help her, Lin Yu found herself a little undecided.
Hmm, she should come back. Remaining on the other side of the bridge was simply too dangerous. Should the bridge be destroyed by either their own forces or the enemy, Nangong and the soldiers on the opposite bank would likely have to compete in a triathlon.
Compared to the north, winter outside the mountains wasn’t excessively cold, though temperatures still hovered around the teens and could even drop to single digits in extreme conditions. With so much equipment, swimming back directly would likely be no simple feat.
Moreover, Nangong, it seemed, couldn’t swim.
Secretly resolving to persuade Nangong to return to this side of the river, Lin Yu stood by a basin, sterilizing her hands.
Ah… I seemed to have unconsciously concluded that the Diaclan defenders would be defeated. My apologies.
****
As night approached once more, the western sky held a lingering sunset, casting swathes of orange afterglow across the riverbank positions. The engineers had finished their work and returned to the rear, while soldiers squatted in chest-deep trenches, smoking and chatting idly. The railway bridge stood firm over the river, its polished rails reflecting two luminous lines.
The young woman’s gaze fell upon the distance, where the distant bridge shimmered. On a more distant hill, another pair of eyes also watched the bridge.
[Initiate long-range artillery bombardment now. Ensure the impact points do not affect the bridge. Annihilate all Diaclan personnel on the bridgehead position within their fortifications.]
The officer lowered his binoculars and commanded the person behind him.
The junior officer, thus addressed, showed a difficult expression. “But, Colonel, we…”
“But what?”
The respondent, whose collar insignia indicated a much lower rank than the officer holding the binoculars, and whose expression was considerably more distraught than the former’s, replied, “All the artillery shells our forces carried have been destroyed; the artillery cannot commence bombardment.”
“What did you say? When did this happen? Why am I not aware of it?” The officer immediately demanded loudly from his subordinate what exactly had transpired. “Where are the men responsible for guarding the supplies? Are they all incompetent fools?”
“The news was received just two minutes ago, as the casualty count was only recently completed… Lieutenant Green, who was in charge, has already fallen in the line of duty. It is said that two Diaclan spies covertly carried out the sabotage, working in tandem, one openly and one clandestinely.”
“Damn it, what good are those military police?” His face darkened, and his knuckles cracked as he clenched his fist, before he ruthlessly commanded, “Inform the 36th Regiment to attack directly. Our men will remain on standby for now.”
The subordinate, having understood the words and about to turn to relay the order, froze in place. “You… you mean…”
“I said, have the Auliang 36th Regiment immediately launch an attack on the Diaclan bridgehead position! Without delay, with utmost speed!”
In this era, ordering infantry to charge directly into trenches without artillery cover was tantamount to a firing squad. Provided the defenders possessed complete and ample weaponry and ammunition, such an attack would yield no favorable outcome.
The command issued by this Colonel, skilled in artillery use, was effectively a death sentence for those Auliang soldiers.
“Without artillery cover, their sacrifice will be—”
“Isn’t that precisely what Auliang soldiers are for? Or do you possess some superior insight that would allow us to seize this bridge intact?”
“…Yes.”
The junior officer, finding no response, saluted on the spot, then walked down the hill to relay the exact command to another officer of equal rank, whose appearance, however, clearly did not belong to the Lanforthians.
Upon hearing this command, that officer’s face was the most ashen of the three.
Ten minutes later, a unit charged out along the railway tracks, launching a frontal assault on the recently completed positions on the left bank of the Mang River.
As the native Auliang soldiers fell on a foreign battlefield for the interests of a distant suzerain power, would they recall the fear that compelled them to submit to the Lanforthian ironclads and cannons?
Would they, furthermore, regret that their ancestors did not choose to resist to the very end?
The Diaclan soldiers, roused by battle cries they had never heard before, remained oblivious.
The regular Lanforthian army soldiers, stationed at the foot of the mountain and observing the battlefield from afar, remained oblivious.
And the native Auliang soldiers, struck by bullets and lying on the blood-soaked red earth… they, too, remained oblivious.
For the sake of a single bridge, figures in khaki uniforms fell in swathes, the blue flashes of rifle fire illuminated half the dim twilight, while the other half was lit by Diaclan supporting fire.
The 104th Reserve Regiment possessed complete artillery and ample ammunition. To support this unit in its defensive mission, the General Staff had specifically reallocated a large quantity of supplies from nearby units, prioritizing their provision to the regiment.
The meaningless charge continued until night fully descended. The “Lanforthians” then retreated in panic, abandoning nearly a thousand corpses and wounded men who were soon to become corpses.
The first day of the Mang River battle concluded with a decisive Diaclan victory.
The medical soldier, who had played a crucial role, was still unaware of her own achievements. Having finished her last surgery, she lay drowsily in a tent designated for medical personnel, surrounded by the scattered forms of the 104th Regiment’s medical staff, all roughly Nangong’s age.
Lin Yu, unable to sense fluctuations, was still unaware that a battle had erupted at the bridgehead. As for the explosions of falling artillery shells, she simply assumed they were routine bombardments by their own forces targeting potential Lanforthian assembly points.
The other crucial assault soldier was pressing a five-round strip of bullets into their rifle, silently noting the number of enemy soldiers killed that day, all while giving thanks for the Emperor’s presence.
Blood seeped into the already crimson earth, and death quietly lingered at the bridgehead.
Many more lives would be lost for this bridge, this distant, unattainable bridge.