43: The wall is about to collapse!

"Something's not right."

Shangguan Zhibiao's voice squeezed out from between his teeth.

He stared out of the breach, his eyes narrowed into slits. The Japanese Soldiers weren't charging; instead, they were retreating. They pulled back fifty meters, crouched down, and set up their guns.

"What the hell are they planning?" a Soldier with a blood-stained face asked hoarsely beside him.

Before his words even landed, a shrill whistling sound plummeted from the sky.

It wasn't artillery shells. They were small grenades from grenade launchers and mortar shells. The sound was sharper, denser, like a swarm of wasps descending.

The first one slammed into the wall on the left side of the breach.

Brick and stone exploded, fragments flying everywhere. The wall shook, and dust rustled down.

The second, the third... they all hit the same spot. Both sides of the breach, that section of wall already riddled with cracks.

"Fuck!" Shangguan Zhibiao realized, "They're trying to tear down the wall!"

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The explosions didn't stop. One after another, they landed precisely in the same area. The cracks on the wall seemed to come alive, starting to writhe, widen, and extend.

Bricks loosened and fell, hitting the ground with dull thuds.

Chen Xi was on the second floor and felt the soles of his feet vibrating.

It wasn't the vibration of an explosion; it was something deeper. It was as if something inside the wall had snapped, cracked, and was about to fall apart.

He rushed to the window and looked down.

The cracks on the wall were no longer just cracks. They were openings, holes. The widest part could fit a fist. Dust sprayed out from within, carrying a musty smell and the choking scent of lime powder.

The system interface suddenly popped up.

He hadn't opened it. it popped up automatically.

Lines of red data flashed across his retina: [Structural Stress Analysis Initiated], [Wall Load-Bearing Coefficient: 17%], [Collapse Countdown: 03 minutes 42 seconds].

The countdown was ticking.

03 minutes 41 seconds.

03 minutes 40 seconds.

Chen Xi's head buzzed. He roared at the floor below: "Shangguan! The wall is going to collapse! All of it!"

Shangguan Zhibiao looked up at him, not hearing clearly: "What?"

"The wall!" Chen Xi pointed at the wall covered in cracks, "It's going to collapse! The whole thing! Get out of the way!"

This time, he heard clearly.

Shangguan Zhibiao's face turned pale instantly. He turned and roared at the Soldiers still crouching behind the low wall: "Retreat! Get out of there! The wall is going to fall!"

The Soldiers were stunned for a moment and looked back at the wall.

Another grenade from a launcher slammed into the center of the cracks.

Boom—

The sound was different this time. It was muffled and heavy, like striking a broken drum. The wall groaned, creaking and groaning. The cracks instantly burst open, turning into a palm-wide gap that ran from the bottom to the top.

Broken bricks rained down like a storm.

"Run!" Shangguan Zhibiao shouted at the top of his lungs.

The Soldiers scrambled to retreat. Just as they had retreated five or six meters, an even louder sound came.

It wasn't an explosion.

It was tearing. It was a collapse.

Starting from that gap, the wall began to tear open to both sides. Bricks detached, concrete shattered, and the rebar inside bent into twisted arcs, emitting the shrill screech of stretching metal.

The entire West Wall, extending ten meters north and eight meters south from the breach, began to tilt outward like a biscuit being snapped apart by a giant's hands.

It was slow at first.

First, a tilt—five degrees, ten degrees. Bricks cascaded down, kicking up a cloud of dust.

Then it accelerated.

Twenty degrees, thirty degrees. Rebar was pulled apart, snapping and popping, with sparks flying everywhere.

Finally, the collapse.

The entire wall fell outward, like slow motion yet also in an instant. Brick, stone, concrete chunks, rebar, and wooden beams mixed together, slamming into the ground.

Rumble—

The sound was so loud it was deafening.

The ground shook violently, and Chen Xi almost lost his footing on the second floor. Dust soared into the sky like a yellow mushroom cloud, instantly swallowing the breach area.

Nothing could be seen anymore.

Only dust, thick dust, with the choking smell of lime and the musty scent of rotting wood from the wall, forced its way into his nose.

Coughing sounds came from within the dust, heart-wrenching and desperate.

Chen Xi covered his nose and mouth, squinting as he looked down.

The dust slowly began to dissipate a little.

The West Wall was gone.

The original breach was now a massive, wide-open hole. It was over fifteen meters wide, extending from the ground all the way up to the height of the second-floor windows. It looked like a monster had taken a bite out of it, the edges jagged and hanging with broken rebar.

Where the wall had fallen, a small mountain of brick and stone had piled up. A small section was buried in the dust.

The defenders had retreated quickly; no one was buried.

But everyone stood frozen in place, staring at that hole.

It was too big.

Before, the breach could still be blocked with sandbags or filled with lives. Now, this hole... forget sandbags, even if they piled up every single sack in the warehouse, they wouldn't fill a third of it.

The Japanese Soldiers were just fifty meters away.

They hadn't moved either. The dust was too thick; they couldn't see this side either.

But the dust would eventually settle.

Shangguan Zhibiao walked out of the dust, his face completely covered in grime, leaving only his eyes and teeth white. He walked to the edge of the hole and looked down.

The wall had fallen outward, and the bricks piled outside the warehouse had instead formed a gentle slope.

A gentle slope for charging in from the outside.

"Motherfucker," he cursed, his voice dry.

Chen Xi rushed down from the second floor, his feet slipping on the broken bricks. He ran to the edge of the hole, the system interface still flashing red.

[Structural Analysis: Remaining Load-Bearing Wall Stability: Low], [Suggestion: Evacuate this area immediately].

Evacuate?

To where?

The warehouse was only so big.

Xie Jinyuan ran over from the direction of the command post with a few men, their footsteps echoing in the empty warehouse. He ran to the front of the hole, stopped, and looked outside.

The dust had cleared a bit more.

The Japanese Soldiers were visible now. They were densely packed, crouching behind cover fifty meters away. Their muzzles were pointed this way.

He could also see things further back.

Two Type 89 Tanks, bean tanks, their dark gun barrels already turned and aimed at the warehouse.

There were also infantry guns, mortars, and grenade launchers.

Everything was set up.

"Wait for the dust to settle completely," Xie Jinyuan spoke, his voice terrifyingly calm. "Then they will charge."

He turned to look at Shangguan Zhibiao: "How many can still fight?"

Shangguan Zhibiao licked his dry, cracked lips: "Less than... thirty."

"Ammunition?"

"Less than twenty rounds per person for the rifles. Grenades... all gone. One machine gun left, two boxes of ammo."

Xie Jinyuan nodded and didn't speak.

He walked to the edge of the hole and looked out. He looked for a full ten seconds.

Then he turned and said to everyone who could still stand: "Find positions. Second-floor windows, stairwell corners, behind pillars. One man must do the work of three."

He paused and then added: "This time, we don't need to defend the breach. We can't hold it. Let them in and fight in the streets. Their tanks can't get inside the warehouse."

His voice wasn't loud, but every word slammed onto the ground.

The Soldiers didn't say a word and began to move.

Dragging the wounded, carrying ammo boxes, finding cover. Their movements were numb, but they didn't stop.

Chen Shusheng dragged his injured arm as he walked toward the second floor. When he passed Chen Xi, he stopped for a moment.

"Brother Chen," his voice was terribly hoarse, "The wall... how did it just collapse?"

Chen Xi looked at him and didn't speak.

Chen Shusheng didn't wait for an answer and continued upward. He left bloody footprints on the stairs.

Chen Xi walked over to Xie Jinyuan's side.

Xie Jinyuan was looking at a map, his finger tracing over it: "When they come in through the hole, they'll split into three routes. One will head straight for the command post, and two will flank the stairs. We need to..."

"Regimental Commander," Chen Xi interrupted him.

Xie Jinyuan looked up.

"How much time is left?" Chen Xi asked.

Xie Jinyuan was silent for two seconds: "The dust will settle in three minutes at most. They'll use the tank guns for one round of shelling, and then the infantry will charge."

Three minutes.

Chen Xi opened the system mall.

There were still some emotion points left. Most of the points that had surged earlier had been spent on the [anti-smog mask] and ammunition. What remained wasn't enough for any big items.

He quickly searched through the lists.

The [Engineering Module] was grayed out, locked. It was terrifyingly expensive.

He scrolled down to the ordinary items list.

[weeding sickle] was still there. [slingshot] was still there. There was still half a bottle of [mosquito repellent spray].

Useless things.

His finger stopped on one item: [High-Strength Fiber Rope], 100 meters, one-ton load capacity. The price wasn't expensive.

But what could a rope do? A tripwire for horses?

There were tanks outside.

Chen Xi closed the interface.

The dust thinned another layer. He could clearly see the reflection from the Japanese Soldiers' helmets.

The tank engines began to roar, a chugging sound like a panting beast.

Xie Jinyuan put away the map and said to Chen Xi, "Mr. Chen, you go to the third floor. The visibility is good there, and your... slingshot can be put to use."

Chen Xi shook his head: "The third floor is too far. After they charge in, there will be many corners; the slingshot won't be able to hit the blind spots."

"Then where do you want to be?"

"The first floor," Chen Xi said, "behind the stairs."

Xie Jinyuan looked at him, didn't ask why, and nodded: "Fine."

He turned to leave, then stopped and looked back: "Mr. Chen."

"Yes?"

"Thank you," Xie Jinyuan said. "Thank you on behalf of the brothers."

He left after saying that, his military boots crunching on the broken bricks.

Chen Xi stood in place, listening to the tank engines growing louder and louder.