77: Chapter 77 This battle is fought for future generations.

"Young man, do you know what's going on up north?"

The old man opened his eyes slightly, his wrinkled face rarely showing any expression.

"Up north? The fighting up north is very fierce." Wang Ye didn't know how to put it.

The fighting up north was too fierce.

To say nothing of anything else, just the number of people who had died was significant.

A single Battle of Shanghai had claimed the lives of nearly three hundred thousand Chinese men.

Wang Ye knew very well that he couldn't change anything at all.

In the face of a war of this scale, he was no superhero.

He couldn't save others, nor could he save himself.

Even if he were a superhero, faced with such a situation, he couldn't change anything.

"Very fierce? Did many people die?" The old man's hearing was still good; he had heard Wang Ye clearly.

A look of worry appeared on his face.

"A lot, yes. I also came down from there. Look at my hand; it was blown off." Wang Ye said with a bitter smile.

The old man had long since seen the hand hanging at Wang Ye's chest, but he hadn't asked.

Now that Wang Ye had brought it up himself, the old man became curious.

"Then why did you come to our side? Is the war over?"

"It probably isn't yet," Wang Ye replied.

If the war were over, the game should have ended for him.

Instead of still standing here.

This battle was different from the previous ones; the game would only end once death reached five times.

If, by some stroke of luck, one never died and finished this battle, the game would end automatically.

His current situation was that he was left at a rear hospital to recover from his injuries.

The original unit was resting because the casualties were too high.

Less than one in ten of the remaining unit personnel survived.

If there were no new recruits to supplement, nor supplies of weapons and materials.

Their organization was basically in name only.

"I don't know when this war will end." The old man sighed.

"Old man, how many years has it been since the first person from your village went off to be a soldier?" Wang Ye asked.

"Many years, four or five years, I suppose."

"They haven't returned. Have any letters been sent back?"

"Letters? What letters? There hasn't even been a message. We don't even know where they went." The old man shook his head.

Seeing the old man shake his head and sigh, Wang Ye dared not imagine what kind of situation could cause so many people from the village to leave the village they had lived in for years, and run off to be soldiers and fight in a war.

"Old man, does your family have anyone who went out as well?"

"Yes, I have three sons, two of them went together, and the youngest son went to be a soldier this year too." The old man said, a flash of pride appearing in his eyes.

But it also carried a hint of loneliness.

Because of the war, they couldn't be reunited.

There was even the risk of dying in a foreign land.

"They all went to protect the country."

The old man remembered what his son said when he left.

"This war is fought for future generations."

Wang Ye looked at the children playing around.

The children were a bit shy when they saw a stranger.

They only dared to look from afar, not daring to come forward.

"They are all my grandchildren." The old man noticed Wang Ye looking at the children and immediately introduced them.

"They're quite cute." Wang Ye smiled and complimented them.

Even though it was the time they most needed their parents' company, their fathers had to leave them.

Wang Ye even saw a child who seemed to be only two or three years old.

Such a young child, and his father had already left him.

If the father never returned.

After he grew up, it was very likely he wouldn't even remember his father's face.

"This scene is truly heartbreaking."

"Yes, their fathers have all gone to the battlefield, and these children are still so young."

"This village is empty, leaving only the elderly, children, and Li Yans Mother."

"If this continues, will it be time for even Li Yans Mother to go to the battlefield?"

In the livestream room, the audience felt a bit heartbroken seeing this scene.

"Their fathers chose to go to the battlefield to resist the invaders, to save the country, leaving behind their small families to choose the nation."

"Li Yan is still considered lucky; Brother Wang fulfilled his last wish for him, but there are even more people who, even if they die, their families don't know."

"That's right, if that's the case, how long will their loved ones wait? Will it be a lifetime?"

At this moment, in the livestream room, Netizens were all expressing their feelings.

At this moment, they truly understood what war brought.

It was the separation of loved ones, dying in a foreign land, sacrifice, and compromise.

"So, what are they doing it for?"

"It's probably so their families won't be disturbed by the war."

"Not just that, but also not to be bullied by other countries, and not to be conquered and exterminated."

"Since ancient times, although our China has had dynastic changes, we have always managed to survive. But when foreign races invade, at best it's slaughter, at worst it's the destruction of the nation and extermination of our people; these are all historical lessons."

"Those who are not of our race must have different hearts; our ancestors have said this for thousands of years."

Wang Ye was chatting with the old man.

Time had unknowingly slipped by until noon.

Wang Ye's stomach began to rumble.

Hearing this, the old man smiled and said, "Young man, you must be hungry. Come to my house for lunch?"

"Old man, how could I be so bold?" Wang Ye scratched his head, saying a bit embarrassedly.

"It's nothing, just a meal. As long as you don't mind that the food at my house isn't good." The old man waved his hand.

Afterwards, he greeted the children and called them home.

Wang Ye followed behind them.

He didn't have a penny on him right now; if he were hungry, he really wouldn't know what to do.

Although he had some dry rations, this stuff wouldn't last two days.

If he could mooch a meal, that would be even better.

Arriving at the old man's house, Wang Ye felt for the first time what it meant to have nothing but bare walls.

The house was an earthen house; he had never seen such a house before.

Although he had seen many such houses along the way, he didn't know what the situation was like inside.

Now that he saw it, besides a simple table, it was almost completely empty inside.

The floor was dirt, and because people had walked on it so much, the soft soil had been packed solid.

A wooden table was covered in a patina, looking like it had quite a history.

The old man brought the children back home.

At home, lunch was already prepared.

"Who is this?" A young Li Yans Mother saw Wang Ye and looked at the old man with some confusion.

"He is a hero who returned from fighting up north." The old man answered with a smile.

Hearing this, Wang Ye hurriedly waved his hand, "Ah, I can't be considered a hero, just an ordinary soldier."

However, the young Li Yans Mother didn't care; hearing that Wang Ye was a soldier, a smile appeared on her face.

"Oh, please sit down quickly. My husband also went to fight up north. Do you know my husband?"

"This, I probably don't know him." Wang Ye had to answer truthfully upon hearing the young Li Yans Mother ask this.

"That's true, he only just went out this year. I was just anxious. He hasn't sent any message for so long, and we at home are worried." The Li Yans Mother sighed.

Sitting at the table, Wang Ye looked at the plain tea and simple rice in the bowl.

It was hard to imagine that this was what ordinary families in this village ate.

It looked much worse than what they ate as soldiers.