3: Bayonets coming straight at you!

"Clearing weeds?"

Chen Xi stared at the tattered sickle in his hand and then at the screen full of "hahahahas," so angry he almost laughed out loud.

He was about to argue with the system about what "Hell Difficulty" meant when a burst of raspy conversation in a non-Chinese language suddenly drifted from behind some ruins not far away.

Chen Xi's movements froze instantly.

He whipped his head around to look.

He saw three short Soldiers wearing khaki uniforms and field caps with neck flaps emerging from behind a collapsed wall. They were all holding long rifles with fixed bayonets, their muzzles scanning the area alertly.

One of the Soldiers' boots crushed a tile on the ground.

*Crunch.*

The crisp sound was exceptionally piercing in the deathly silence of the ruins.

The gazes of the three Soldiers shot simultaneously toward the direction where Chen Xi was hiding.

—

Exposed.

The leading Japanese Soldier was momentarily stunned when he saw the oddly dressed Chen Xi.

Then, he bared his teeth, revealing a mouthful of rotten yellow-black teeth, as a cruel, cat-and-mouse grin surfaced on his face.

He shouted something incomprehensible in Japanese.

The other two Soldiers understood immediately and quickly moved to flank Chen Xi in a standard triangular formation.

They didn't fire.

It seemed they felt that using a bullet on such an unarmed "Chinese soldier" would be a waste.

The leading Soldier followed unhurriedly, even taking a cigarette out of his pocket with interest, lighting it, and taking a deep drag, looking like he had the victory in the bag.

Cold killing intent, like a physical net, tightly enveloped Chen Xi from three directions.

—

Chen Xi's brain was working at high speed.

Run.

Must run.

He spun around and looked behind him.

There was a waist-high broken wall, and behind it lay deeper, more complex ruins.

But the two flanking Japanese Soldiers had already blocked all his routes to that area.

To the left was open ground; running out there would make him a sitting duck.

To the right was a building burned down to its skeleton, its entrance completely blocked by collapsed beams.

A dead end.

He was trapped in this small corner.

The footsteps of the two Japanese Soldiers drew closer and closer; he could even smell the sickening mixture of sweat and tobacco on them.

He could clearly see the undisguised cruelty in their eyes, a cruelty that viewed human life as nothing more than weeds.

—

Just then, one of the Soldiers stopped.

He raised his rifle and stood firm in front of Chen Xi.

Then, he slowly aimed that triangular bayonet at Chen Xi's heart.

The tip of the bayonet reflected a cold, pale light under the gloomy sky.

That light, like a key, instantly unlocked a bloody hell in the deepest part of Chen Xi's memory.

The world seemed to have been put in slow motion.

The sound of distant artillery, the crackling of flames, the footsteps of Soldiers... everything vanished.

He could only hear his own heart beating like a drum.

"Thump, thump, thump."

A scene he had deliberately forgotten flashed uncontrollably before his eyes.

The same wasteland, the same khaki buildings, and his partner, "Madman," using his body to shield a woman holding a child from a... sharp blade stabbing from behind.

When that blade was pulled out, it brought with it a spray of hot blood.

The mist of blood sprayed onto his face.

It was warm.

"No..."

Chen Xi's pupils contracted sharply, his breathing became rapid, and his limbs felt like they were filled with lead—cold and stiff.

He wanted to move, but he found his body completely unresponsive.

Cold sweat poured down his spine in streaks.

—

The bullet chat in the livestream room also completely changed its tone at this moment.

The viewers who were mocking the sickle earlier all fell silent.

In its place was a screen full of panic and fear.

[Holy shit! Holy shit! Holy shit! Streamer, run! Why are you just standing there?!]

[This isn't a drill! This isn't CG! That devil's eyes really look like he's going to kill someone!]

[It's over, it's over, it's over. The streamer is getting spawn-killed. Fastest closed beta experience in history.]

[Don't! Master Xi! Move! Aren't you a Soldier king? Fight him!]

[R.I.P.]

[Wait a minute... can you actually... die in this game?]

That last comment sent a bone-chilling shiver through everyone.

—

The Japanese Soldier clearly enjoyed the fear showing on Chen Xi's face.

Grinning, he let out an unintelligible roar from his throat, gripped the rifle butt with both hands, and lunged forward!

That cold triangular bayonet, accompanied by a gust of foul wind, stabbed straight toward Chen Xi's chest.

Zero point five seconds.

Even less.

The scent of death was already in his face.

At this life-or-death moment, the survival instinct finally overrode the paralysis brought on by PTSD.

Chen Xi's eyes instantly became bloodshot.

He had no time to think.

No time to dodge.

Relying purely on the final instinct of a Soldier, he slammed the only thing he could hold onto against that bayonet.

That rusty, chipped, fragile-looking thing.

The weeding sickle.