5: Chapter 5 Crisis Resolved

The first hour after the battle ended, Wang Jie did not rest.

He led the remaining soldiers to clear the battlefield.

Over three hundred zombie corpses were piled up like a small mountain. The black blood was still flowing, emitting a pungent, rotting stench. The three mutant corpses were placed separately to the side; the system prompted that they could be converted into resources.

Wang Jie stood before that mountain of corpses, looking at things that used to be human.

There was a zombie wearing a wedding dress. The white wedding dress had already turned grayish-black, stained with blood and grime. Her face was completely decayed, but a ring was still on her finger.

There was a child wearing a school uniform. He looked only eleven or twelve years old, small in stature, with a hole blown through his head.

There was a mother holding an infant—no, not holding, the infant was still tightly strapped to her chest. The infant had also turned into a zombie, its small head hanging down, motionless.

Wang Jie closed his eyes.

Lin Waner walked over and stood beside him.

"Stop looking," she said. "You'll go crazy if you look too much."

Wang Jie opened his eyes.

"I know."

He turned around and said to the nearby soldiers, "Burn them."

The soldiers began pouring gasoline onto the mountain of corpses. The pungent smell mixed with the stench of rot, making one want to vomit.

A match was thrown on.

Flames soared into the sky, illuminating the gray, gloomy sky.

Wang Jie watched the ball of fire, watching those twisted limbs shrink, deform, and turn into ashes in the fire.

He suddenly remembered a phrase: Dust to dust, earth to earth.

Lin Waner held his hand.

Her hand was cold, but she held it tightly.

Wang Jie turned to look at her.

Lin Waner didn't speak, just watched the fire.

The firelight reflected on her face, making her profile appear exceptionally soft.

Wang Jie suddenly felt that having someone by his side didn't seem so bad.

By the time the corpses were finished burning, it was already three in the afternoon.

Wang Jie returned to the base and began to calculate the losses.

【Battle Damage Statistics】

【Conscript: 1 KIA (No. 01), 2 lightly wounded】

【American Soldiers: 2 KIA, 1 seriously wounded, 3 lightly wounded】

【Heavy Soldier: No casualties】

【Sniper: No casualties】

【Buildings: 3 sections of walls damaged, 2 machine gun bunkers damaged】

【Ammunition consumed: approximately 8,000 rounds】

Wang Jie looked at this data and was silent for a few seconds.

Three dead, six wounded—in his view, it was the best possible outcome. After all, they had faced over three hundred zombies and three mutants.

But he still felt a heavy blockage in his heart.

Especially when thinking of No. 01.

The soldier who was the first to walk out of the Barracks, the soldier who always stood by his side, the soldier who had rushed in front of him at the last moment to block a claw for him—

He had said that death meant starting over.

But was the one who started over still him?

Wang Jie didn't know.

He only knew that he needed No. 01 now.

He walked to the front of the Barracks and opened the system panel.

【Conscript 01: KIA】

【Retrain?】

【Note: Retrained units will retain partial combat experience, but personality data cannot be fully restored.】

Retain partial combat experience, but personality data cannot be fully restored.

In other words, the new No. 01 and the original No. 01 were not the same person.

Wang Jie stood there, silent for a long time.

Then he clicked "Confirm."

Fifteen seconds later, the gate of the Barracks opened.

A young soldier walked out, wearing a gray-green military uniform, a steel helmet, and carrying a rifle. It walked up to Wang Jie, stood at attention, and saluted:

"Comrade Commander!"

Wang Jie looked at it.

The face was the same face, the voice was the same voice, the actions were the same actions.

But the eyes were different.

The original No. 01 had something very special in its eyes—he couldn't say what it was, but it just made him feel that the person wasn't just data.

This one now had very pure, very clean eyes, just like a blank sheet of paper.

"What is your name?" Wang Jie asked.

The soldier was slightly stunned: "Reporting to the Commander, my designation is 01. You can call me Conscript 01."

Wang Jie nodded.

"Go. Go find your comrades."

No. 01 saluted and turned to walk toward the Conscript queue.

Wang Jie watched its back, feeling empty inside.

Lin Waner walked over: "Isn't it the same?"

Wang Jie shook his head: "Not the same."

Lin Waner didn't ask again.

She just stood by his side, keeping him company.

In the evening, Wang Jie gathered all the soldiers for a short meeting.

He stood on an ammunition crate, looking at the forty faces below—some new, some old, some familiar, some strange.

"Today, we fought a tough battle," he said. "We won."

The soldiers looked at him quietly.

"But we lost three men," Wang Jie continued. "No. 01, No. 07, No. 15. They were heroes."

He paused.

"In the future, we will fight more battles and lose more people. But I promise you—I will not waste your lives. In every battle, I will exchange the smallest cost for the greatest victory."

He scanned those faces.

"Because you are not just my soldiers. You are my comrades."

No one spoke.

But Wang Jie saw that the eyes of a few soldiers had changed.

That change was very subtle, but he saw it.

That was the look of being treated as a human.