53: Chapter 54 Flower Seeds in the Rain and the Burning Village

The heavy rain had turned the mountain roads of central Korea into a river of sludge.

This time, the login interface did not feature the familiar Andong Railway Station Square.

When Jack opened his eyes, icy rainwater was streaming down the edge of his military cap and into his collar, as cold as a snake.

"Don't stop! Keep up!"

Half of the squad leader's roar was swallowed by the sound of the rain.

Jack wiped the muddy water from his face.

He was surrounded by players with freshly shaved buzz cuts; no one spoke.

There was only the squelching sound of rubber boots being pulled out of the mud and the dull thud of equipment clashing against their bodies.

Overhead, US reconnaissance planes darted beneath the clouds like flies, the sound of their engines drifting closer and then further away.

This road led to Iron Field.

It was the final gate for the Volunteer Army's Great Retreat.

Jack looked down at his hands.

In reality, these hands had only ever held a mouse and a coffee cup, but now they were covered in calluses and grime, with black mud stuffed under the fingernails.

For the past few days, the list for 'Angel Island' had been like a thorn stuck in his mind.

Those civilized men in suits had treated children like prey on that island.

And now, he was on the opposite side of this so-called 'civilized world'.

"Village ahead!" Brother Bao shouted in the channel.

"It's the only way through. Everyone, double time!"

By the time the team rushed into the village, the rain had intensified.

This place seemed to have just undergone a round of air strikes.

Broken walls poked toward the sky like black teeth.

The smell of charred wood was everywhere, mixed with the metallic scent of rainwater.

"Spread out! See if there are any survivors!" the company commander ordered.

The medical squad, which included Dai Dai, searched behind the broken walls.

She carried a heavy medical kit,

stumbling through the ruins with uneven steps.

This was the second time she had seen such a scene in the game.

It wasn't the bloodiness of a battlefield,

but the desolation of a life torn to shreds.

A shattered kimchi jar,

half of a burned family portrait,

and a cloth doll pinned under a roof beam.

"Wu..."

A very faint sound came from a corner.

Dai Dai stopped, slung her gun behind her back,

and slowly cleared away a pile of broken tiles.

A little Korean girl was huddled in the corner.

She looked only seven or eight years old,

her face covered in soot,

and the flowered jacket she wore was already torn.

Upon seeing Dai Dai, the girl shrank back suddenly,

her eyes filled with terror,

as she clutched a dirty cloth bundle tightly to her chest.

"Don't be afraid," Dai Dai said, squatting down.

The system automatically translated her speech into broken Korean.

The girl didn't move, her eyes fixed on the red five-pointed star on Dai Dai's helmet, her body shaking like a leaf.

Dai Dai pulled a compressed biscuit from her jacket.

These were the dry rations issued by the system; they were hard enough to kill someone if thrown, but in a place like this, they were a lifesaver.

She handed the biscuit over.

The girl swallowed hard, her clear eyes darting back and forth between the biscuit and Dai Dai's face.

After several seconds, a small, dirty hand tentatively reached out,

snatched the biscuit, and began gnawing on it desperately, forgetting even to tear off the wrapper.

Dai Dai felt a lump in her throat and reached out to wipe the girl's face.

The little girl suddenly stopped chewing.

She hesitated for a moment,

then held out the bundle she had been guarding so fiercely toward Dai Dai.

The cloth bundle fell open.

Inside, there were no gold or silver treasures, nor any family heirlooms.

It was a handful of dark brown seeds.

The little girl pointed to the scorched earth beneath her feet, then to the seeds,

muttering indistinctly, "...Jindallae..."

Dai Dai was stunned.

In these ruins where even the houses were gone, in this hell where it was uncertain if anyone would survive until tomorrow,

what this child was protecting was actually a bag of flower seeds.

At that moment, the bullet chat in the livestream went silent.

There were no jokes or memes.

Millions of viewers watched the screen, watching those small, frostbitten hands holding those seeds.

"Is this the 'barbarism' that those bastards across the ocean want to eliminate?"

In reality, a viewer posted a comment.

Just then, a piercing whistle tore through the curtain of rain.

"Air strike!!"

Before Jack's roar could even land, the first napalm bomb exploded at the entrance of the village.

It wasn't an ordinary explosion.

It was a mass of orange-red, viscous fire that instantly boiled the rainwater.

The flames splashed out like liquid, burning everything they touched.

"Save them!"

Jack rushed toward Dai Dai's direction like a madman.

US 'Sabre' fighter jets swept past at low altitude,

their autocannons plowing two deep furrows into the ground.

It wasn't just war; it was a massacre.

Dai Dai threw herself over the little girl.

A splash of burning napalm flew over and landed on a nearby roof beam.

Fire instantly consumed that half of the wall.

"Go! Take her and get out!"

Xie Dabao set up his machine gun outside, firing fruitlessly at the sky.

Dai Dai picked up the little girl and rushed out.

The cloth bundle in the girl's hand came apart, and the seeds scattered everywhere.

She struggled to pick them up, but Dai Dai held her firmly in her arms.

"Don't pick them up! Your life is more important!"

BOOM—

Another bomb fell.

This time, it was too close.

The shockwave knocked Dai Dai to the ground.

She felt as if her internal organs had shifted, and her ears were filled with a sharp ringing.

She struggled to crawl up, reaching for the child in her arms.

Her hand felt something warm.

The little girl who had been gnawing on a biscuit and talking about planting flowers just a moment ago,

now had her head hanging limply.

A piece of shrapnel had pierced her back.

That small, dirty hand slowly relaxed,

and the last few seeds rolled into the muddy water,

instantly crushed into the soil by a mud-covered military boot.

Dai Dai knelt in the mud, her mouth open, yet unable to make a sound.

Jack rushed over and pulled Dai Dai up.

He saw the child, and he saw the seeds on the ground.

His mind flashed to the girl pinned to the sofa in the 'Angel Island' video,

and to the 'superhero' laughing while holding a glass of red wine.

The two faces overlapped.

"AHHH—!!"

Jack did not cry.

He let out a beast-like roar.

It was a fury that exploded from his chest.

He slammed the bolt of his rifle back, the sound of a round chambering startlingly crisp in the rain.

He didn't look at the dead child; instead, he stared fixedly at the fighter jet pulling up in the sky.

The veins on the back of his hand bulged like earthworms, and his knuckles turned white.

"Mission updated."

Su Yun's cold voice rang in the ears of all players.

[Guarding Hope: Assist in the evacuation of villagers (Failed)]

[New Mission: Defend Iron Field to the Death. Your homeland is behind you; do not retreat a single step.]

Jack wiped his face.

It was rainwater mixed with mud, and perhaps tears.

"Let's go."

His voice was hoarse, as if he were chewing on crushed glass.

"To Iron Field.

I'm going to let these bastards know that the seeds in this ground are watered with blood."