53: Chapter 53 As long as we live, the Japanese devils will not be able to cross Baoshan.
As the sun dipped below the horizon.
The devils withdrew from Baoshan City.
At night, Battalion Commander Yao Ziqing gathered the remaining Chinese Soldiers.
Battalion Commander Yao Ziqing looked at the group of brothers standing before him and shouted.
"Sound off!"
"1... 2... 3..."
"Two hundred and eighty-nine!"
After this voice fell, no one else called out a number.
In just a few days, they had lost nearly half their men.
Silence filled the surroundings.
Wang Ye's expression was solemn.
Inside the livestream room.
"Sigh, defending a city with only 500 men is just too hard."
"Exactly, the devils have tanks and heavy artillery. Those city walls are like paper; they get blown open in two or three shots."
"At this rate, everyone will be dead in a few days, right?"
"Isn't that obvious? There are at least ten thousand devils outside. How could 500 people possibly win? It's just a matter of how long they can hold out."
"Even if gods came, 500 people couldn't beat ten thousand. After all, even if those ten thousand were pigs, 500 people couldn't slaughter them all in time."
On the open ground, Battalion Commander Yao Ziqing looked at the brothers before him with a serious expression.
"Brothers, we repelled the devils again today. Although we sacrificed many brothers, it was worth it."
"As long as the devils' reinforcements cannot pass Baoshan, our brother units can kill more devils and lose fewer men."
"It is worth it to use our lives to trade for the lives of thousands upon thousands of our comrades."
"The devils are invading our country and killing our relatives. If we let them through, our families and our fellow countrymen will be slaughtered by them!"
"Tell me, can we let them pass?"
Battalion Commander Yao Ziqing's words struck deep into their hearts. Hearing them, a surge of anger rose in Wang Ye's heart.
"No!"
He shouted at the top of his lungs.
Just as his voice fell, the hundreds of Chinese Soldiers nearby all began to shout along.
"No!"
"Right, we can't!" Hearing them, Battalion Commander Yao Ziqing raised his right hand and also shouted.
"As long as we are still alive, the devils shall not cross Baoshan for a single day!"
"Tomorrow's battle will be even more difficult. The devils will surely intensify their offensive."
"Perhaps a large majority of us will die tomorrow."
"But are you afraid?"
"We are not afraid!" the Chinese Soldiers shouted in unison.
When they chose to stay in Baoshan, they had long since put the matter of life and death aside.
The enemies outside the city outnumbered them dozens of times over and were well-equipped.
But even so, they felt no fear and continued to hold the city.
"Very well. Now, dismiss and rest. Those on night watch stay behind; do not let down your guard. We have a hard battle to fight tomorrow." After Battalion Commander Yao Ziqing finished speaking, he gave the order to dismiss.
Wang Ye breathed a sigh of relief. Today's battle had left him exceptionally exhausted.
Inside the livestream room, the Netizens also heard Battalion Commander Yao Ziqing's speech.
"Defending the home and the country—aren't our soldiers exactly like this? It's precisely because they exist that our Huaxia can have peace and stability."
"Soldiers are always the ones rushing to the very front, because behind them are their relatives, friends, and compatriots."
"They say soldiers are the ones most worthy of our respect. I used to be indifferent to that, but thinking about it now, I really feel ashamed of myself. If there were no soldiers to defend the country, how could we live such a stable life?"
"Exactly, I often see on the internet that places outside of Huaxia are at war. Even if they aren't massive wars, those ordinary people are displaced and have nothing to eat. It's heart-wrenching to watch."
"Being backward means getting bullied. Fortunately, our Huaxia is very strong now, and we have so many soldiers protecting the country."
After returning to the barracks, Wang Ye immediately fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.
Time quickly moved to the second day.
In the early morning, Wang Ye woke up.
He was woken up by hunger.
The growling of his stomach was almost earth-shaking.
Moreover, it wasn't just him; everyone else was the same.
There was no food to eat in the morning. They had been besieged by the devils for these past few days.
Nothing could get in from the outside, and those inside couldn't get out.
In just a few days, most of their food supplies had been consumed.
Ammunition was one thing, but food was extremely scarce.
What food they had needed to be prioritized for the wounded.
Starting from yesterday, their food had become very scarce.
The rations each person could be allocated were very small.
Wang Ye stood up and left the room.
In the morning, enduring the hunger, Wang Ye came to the city wall.
He frowned deeply.
He wasn't afraid of death or pain.
But he was afraid of hunger.
After all, as a modern person, he never had to worry about food or drink.
He had never let himself go hungry.
Yet now, he was actually experiencing it in a game.
"Brothers, I'm about to starve to death."
"Do you know what I've been eating these past two days? Soybeans and fried rice, chewed raw and hard."
"And that water—it even has a taste of gunpowder."
"I've seen quite a few people with diarrhea."
"Oh, and that rice was moldy. I've never eaten anything so terrible in my life."
Wang Ye couldn't help but complain to the viewers in the livestream room.
Hearing Wang Ye's complaints, the viewers could only try to comfort him.
After all, they had been watching Wang Ye eat over the past few days.
The food quality was indeed too poor.
Soybeans plus fried moldy rice.
They couldn't even imagine what that tasted like.
"Sigh, just bear with it. They're all eating the same thing."
"Yeah, under these conditions, there's really no other way."
"At least there's still something to eat. If there was nothing left, I really don't know what would happen."
"I still remember my grandmother saying there was a famine like this when she was a child. Times were hard then, with several consecutive years of severe drought, and the crops in the fields yielded almost nothing."
"There were many people back then, but not enough food to eat."
"My grandmother said many people starved to death then. From the sky to the ground, anything that could be eaten was gnawed clean by people."
"My God, I can't even imagine it."
"That's not all; I've heard there was even cannibalism."
The livestream room was very lively.
Seeing the Netizens' comments, Wang Ye also felt a bit creeped out.
Cannibalism?
Isn't that too exaggerated?
He had never really learned about such things.
After all, he had grown up with no worries about food or clothing.
The country provided them with security; even if they did nothing, they wouldn't starve or freeze to death.
Of course, that could only maintain the most basic survival.
If one wanted to live well, they still had to rely on their own hard work.
Wang Ye came to the defensive fortifications by the breach; these works were temporarily constructed.
The result was very simple; they could only be used as cover.
But that was enough.
Just as he walked up, Wang Ye saw a soldier who seemed to be eating something.
He walked over, wanting to see what it was.
When he saw clearly what was in the soldier's hand, his eyes widened instantly.
At the same time, the Netizens in the livestream room were also stunned by this scene.
Because the thing that soldier was holding in his hand was clearly a small section of a leather belt.