67: Chapter 68 The Tunnel, a Graveyard for the Living

Time had lost all meaning.

Jack didn't know what day it was.

He only knew day and night.

During the day, they hid in the pitch-black tunnel, enduring the American artillery fire and aerial bombardment.

Every explosion felt like being buried alive once more.

At night, they rushed out of the tunnel onto the scorched earth soaked in blood to engage in the most primitive hand-to-hand combat with the enemy.

Using bayonets, entrenching tools, and even their teeth, they fought to reclaim the positions lost during the day.

Then came the next day, the positions were covered by artillery fire again, and lost again.

This cycle repeated endlessly.

This place was not a battlefield; it was a giant mill, constantly grinding down human flesh, blood, and will.

"Water... Give me some water..."

A severely wounded soldier let out a faint moan.

His lips were cracked like parched earth.

Dai Dai held an empty canteen, her face etched with despair.

"There's no water left, not a single drop."

The air in the tunnel grew increasingly thick and foul.

The smell of gunpowder, blood, sweat, the stench of rotting wounds, and the odor of excrement—all these smells mixed together to form a suffocating sensation capable of driving a person mad.

Due to the lack of water and medicine, many wounded soldiers' injuries began to fester and suppurate.

Dai Dai could only watch helplessly as they developed high fevers, spoke deliriously, and finally died slowly in agony.

As a Medic, the only thing she could do now was hold their hands and accompany them on their final journey.

"How much ammunition is left?"

The company commander asked.

"Rifle bullets, less than five rounds per person on average.

Grenades... they are all here, twelve of them."

Brother Bao's voice was weak.

Food was also running out.

The compressed biscuits were long gone.

Now, each person's ration was half a piece of fried flour cake mixed with sand per day.

Jack's leg wound was constantly causing him a low-grade fever due to infection.

Leaning against the tunnel wall, he felt his consciousness starting to blur.

On his system panel, the various negative statuses he suffered had stacked up to a terrifying degree.

[Severe Hunger: All attributes reduced by 30%]

[Extreme Dehydration: All attributes reduced by 40%]

[Wound Infection: Continuous health point loss]

[Mental Contamination: 35% chance of experiencing hallucinations]

"This can't go on."

Brother Bao looked at the surrounding players and NPCs whose eyes were numb, like walking corpses.

"We're going to be trapped and starved to death here."

"What about reinforcements? Supply lines?"

A player shouted in breakdown, "Why hasn't anyone come to save us!"

His words voiced the question in everyone's heart.

The company commander remained silent. After a long pause, he slowly spoke.

"Behind us is the entire main defense line of Hill 597.9. Every day we hold here, the main force gains one more day of time."

"As for the supply line..."

He pointed outside the tunnel.

"The enemy has blockaded every road leading to us. Every ravine, every open area, is under their artillery coverage."

"To deliver anything in, we can only fill the gap with human lives."

As soon as his words fell, a soldier responsible for observation scrambled and tumbled back into the tunnel.

"Commander! Someone! Someone is rushing over!"

Everyone's spirits lifted, and they rushed to the tunnel entrance.

In the distance, within the no-man's-land sealed by artillery fire, a frail figure was frantically running while carrying a huge pack between the shell craters.

He ran unevenly, nearly falling several times.

"It's our transporter!"

"Quick! Cover him!"

Jack struggled to raise his rifle and fired a few wild shots toward the American positions, trying to draw fire.

But it was useless.

The American artillery seemed to have eyes. Dozens of shells chased the figure, exploding continuously around him, kicking up towering columns of smoke.

The figure flickered in and out of the dust, his speed slowing down.

One of his legs had been blown off, and he could only crawl forward on the ground.

One of his arms was gone too, so he could only bite down on the strap of the pack with his teeth, using his remaining hand to painstakingly, inch by inch, crawl toward the tunnel.

Blood trailed behind him, leaving a long, horrifying mark.

In the tunnel, everyone held their breath, staring intently at the figure struggling on the line of death.

In that moment, no one complained anymore, no one despaired.

In everyone's heart, only one thought remained:

He must survive. He must be allowed to crawl inside.

In Su Yun's studio, the atmosphere was heavy.

On the huge holographic map, the point representing Hill 597.9 was already marked in the deepest, most dangerous red.

Surrounding it, the American firepower blockade formed a net that was impenetrable.

He had already issued three rounds of emergency 'Frontline Transport' missions.

In total, more than thirty thousand players and NPCs had participated in the transport, but... but not a single one had successfully reached the tunnel.

Su Yun looked at the blue dots constantly appearing and instantly vanishing on the map without speaking.

The disappearance of every blue dot represented the passing of a life.

Survival rate... less than one percent.

"Our comrades in the tunnel are waiting for them."

Su Yun's voice was calm, in-game.

Jack felt like his eyes were about to split open.

He stared fixedly at the figure writhing amidst the artillery fire. Less than twenty meters remained to the tunnel entrance.

This distance normally took only a few seconds, but now it felt like crossing an insurmountable celestial river.

The transporter's body was already mangled beyond recognition; Jack couldn't even discern what he originally looked like.

He was driven forward solely by a superhuman force of will, propelling a broken shell.

"Faster! A little faster!"

Dai Dai knelt at the tunnel entrance, stretching out her hand, crying out uselessly in that direction.

Shells continued to fall.

A shell landed near the transporter. The blast wave lifted him up and slammed him down heavily.

He stopped moving.

Everyone's heart sank to the bottom.

"No..."

Dai Dai let out a cry of desperate grief.

But a few seconds later, the wreckage moved again.

He used the last of his strength to forcefully throw the pack he had been biting onto with his teeth toward the tunnel.

The pack traced a parabola in the air and landed less than five meters from the tunnel entrance.

After completing this action, the transporter's head drooped powerlessly and never lifted again.

The tunnel fell into a dead silence.

"I'll go get it!"

A player roared and was about to rush out.

"Don't move!"

The company commander grabbed him, his eyes red as if they were about to bleed.

"We can't let one of our own go to die for what he earned with his life!"

"Then what? Just watch!"

Just then, a shell landed near the pack.

The shockwave from the explosion pushed the blood-and-mud-covered pack forward a short distance, causing it to roll right into the tunnel.

It stopped at Jack's feet.

Jack trembled as he reached out and unbuckled the heavy pack.

He thought it would contain urgently needed ammunition or life-saving medicine.

But there was nothing inside.

No bullets, no bandages, no morphine.

Inside the pack, there were only a few apples, scarred by shrapnel from the journey and smeared with blood and mud. Exactly one.

Jack picked up the single apple; it was cold in his hand.

He saw the dried, dark red fingerprint left by the transporter on its surface.

The system prompt sounded coldly at that moment.

[Special Supplies Delivered: Apple x1.]

[Total Transporters Sacrificed in this Mission: 1785.]

Jack's mind went blank.

He looked at the apple in his hand, then at the shocking number on his panel.

One thousand seven hundred eighty-five lives.

Exchanged for one apple.

With a 'thud,' Jack collapsed to his knees, cradling the apple with both hands, his forehead pressed heavily against the cold ground.

He did not cry.

But in the live stream, hundreds of millions of viewers were already in tears.