Chapter 186: 【The Frozen.... Quartermaster】(5.2k)

Blue Star netizens watched as the small soldier was moved to the side, his chest slowly ceasing its rise and fall despite the medic's attempts at resuscitation, and felt only a profound sense of powerlessness.

Difficult.

Too difficult.

This arduous predicament caused the danmu to become sparse; for a moment, the Blue Star netizens didn't know what to say.

In the livestream's perspective.

Watching the small soldier's breathing stop, the medic could no longer hold it together, tears streaming down their face.

But they quickly regained their composure, suppressed their grief, used hands frozen red and purple to gently close the small soldier's eyes, and turned to say to the group:

"Bury him here."

As soon as the words fell, urgent shouts came from afar:

"Medic!"

"Medic!!!"

Too late to wipe the tears from their face, the medic stood up and ran toward the place where the calls were coming from.

As for Zhao Ming, he and several soldiers carried the small soldier to the side.

After covering him with snow to create a small snow mound, they placed the small soldier's tattered military cap, embedded with a red five-pointed star, on top. They walked until late at night, when the team found a snow cave.

Everyone squeezed into the snow cave, huddling back-to-back for warmth.

Zhao Ming also hid in the snow cave, gnawing on dry rations frozen hard. Not far away, the cooking squad's wild vegetable soup emitted waves of fragrance.

It was called wild vegetable soup, but in reality, it was just boiled snow water with a bit of dried wild vegetables inside.

That tiny bit of dried vegetables added to a large pot of snow water was so thin it had almost no flavor, but in this icy environment, it seemed as tempting as a mountain delicacy.

These Red Army soldiers perhaps had never eaten any mountain delicacies.

But Zhao Ming, as a Blue Star streamer, usually ate food a hundred times better than the dry rations frozen hard now. Yet, smelling the fragrance of that wild vegetable soup.

Zhao Ming felt for the first time what it meant for hunger to be the best seasoning.

Born on Blue Star, Zhao Ming had lived in abundance.

He had never worried about food.

But at this moment, looking at the large pot brought over by the cooking squad, his eyes were filled with longing.

The Red Army soldiers lined up to get soup. When it was Zhao Ming's turn, he held out his tattered enamel bowl and carefully received half a bowl of wild vegetable soup from the cook.

The steam from the wild vegetable soup dissipated rapidly in the -20°C mountain air. Zhao Ming hurriedly took a sip.

There was no salt, nor oil.

Even the taste of the wild vegetables had become incredibly bland due to the large pot of snow water, but as this mouthful of warm soup entered his stomach, Zhao Ming shuddered all over.

His whole body seemed to come back to life.

This mouthful of warm wild vegetable soup had no flavor, yet it tasted better than any soup Zhao Ming had ever drunk in his life.

His throat rolled involuntarily.

In his mind, he shouted over and over: drink slowly, drink slowly!

But he simply couldn't stop his movements.

In the blink of an eye, half a bowl of wild vegetable soup was down his throat.

After finishing.

Putting down the bowl in his hand, Zhao Ming felt as if his whole person had come alive.

His stomach felt warm.

Looking at the surrounding soldiers, huddled together in their clothes, drinking this only warmth.

Zhao Ming looked outside the snow cave.

The howling cold wind was still blowing incessantly.

Yet this pitch-black, cold night, illuminated by the firelight from the cooking squad's stove, didn't seem quite so cold anymore.

But it was all an illusion.

When Zhao Ming was shaken awake from the cold the next day, he stood up with a stiff body and looked around.

Only then did he discover that many of the comrades who had huddled together last night had never woken up.

Those soldiers' faces still held a calm expression, as if they were just sleeping soundly, but their chests, which had no rise or fall, and their faces covered in white frost, all showed that they had already...

Zhao Ming froze in place, his throat feeling dry.

The Blue Star netizens in the livestream were the same.

For them.

Five minutes ago, the scene was still everyone sharing hot wild vegetable soup, talking in low voices, their eyes filled with hope for the future. But after finishing the wild vegetable soup, Zhao Ming sat in the corner to rest.

A moment later.

A button to skip the night appeared.

With just that click, when the scene appeared again.

There were already people in the snow cave who would never get up again.

Zhao Ming stood in place, not knowing what to do, while those who could still move had all risen, looking at the remains of those dozen or so soldiers.

Everyone carefully carried the remains of their sacrificed comrades out.

There was no time for grief, nor the conditions for a proper burial.

They could only find a secluded corner and cover the remains of these comrades with snow.

Everyone looked at those snow mounds, silent for a moment.

A moment later.

The old squad leader's hoarse voice rang out, his hands still holding the small pieces of dry rations from the sacrificed soldiers:

"The dead are here to clear a path for the living."

"When the revolution is won..."

"We will come back to take them home."

The old squad leader's voice was hoarse, and after speaking, he turned and walked forward without hesitation.

The danmu in the livestream completely froze.

No one typed "teary-eyed," no one sent "broken," because any emotion would be a lack of respect for the soldiers.

The heavy snow could take their lives, but it could not extinguish their faith.

All the viewers were like they had been pressed on a pause button, with only the constantly rising number of online viewers proving that this was not a static scene.

The team regrouped, missing a dozen more people than yesterday.

Zhao Ming walked in the middle of the team, every step feeling like he was treading on cotton.

Surrounding companies also appeared one after another on the road to the snow mountain peak, only compared to yesterday, they were all missing some people... forever buried here.

The morning sun rose.

Shining on the vast snow-covered mountains, Zhao Ming couldn't help but look back.

The military cap on the snow mound burying the sacrificed comrade, the red star that should have faded, became exceptionally bright red under the rising morning sun.

The situation on the second day was even worse.

Snowstorms swept through.

The gale carried snow particles, scraping against their faces like knives.

Visibility was less than five meters.

The team was forced to slow down, walking forward while pulling one another; from time to time, someone would fall, someone would climb up, but more often than not, after falling, they never got up again.

Ahead.

There were instructors encouraging everyone, and medics playing clappers to encourage everyone.

If there were a high-altitude perspective at this moment, one would definitely see such a scene.

The Red side's team was continuous, like a scarred giant dragon struggling to crawl through the wind and snow; when someone fell, comrades would prop them up. No one spoke.

There was only the sound of heavy breathing and the sound of snow being trampled solid.

Zhao Ming's brain was blank, just following the team mechanically.

Although various senses were reduced, they couldn't be completely blocked; along with the cold environment, his thinking also became slow.

He didn't know how long had passed.

The team finally stopped, but looking at the sun in the sky.

It was not yet time to rest.

Zhao Ming looked forward.

A hundred meters ahead, the team suddenly stopped, and everyone was gathering there.

Seeing this, the people around all walked over there.

Zhao Ming also quickened his pace and followed, wanting to see what had happened in front.

As soon as he got close, he heard a roar:

"Where is the Quartermaster!"

"Call the Quartermaster to me!"

Zhao Ming approached and looked, only to see an old man leaning against a tree, wearing a single layer of clothing, already frozen into an ice sculpture.

The old man's expression was very peaceful, ice crystals hanging from his eyelashes, a faint smile on the corners of his mouth, as if he were just asleep.

But such a scene left everyone speechless.

Young and strong men, wearing clothes with cotton padding, could barely walk, yet even so, many froze to death.

Yet an old man was wearing only a thin military uniform, without even a bit of cotton padding.

Such a scene.

It was no wonder that the Red Army general was furious, shouting where the Quartermaster was.

"Where is the Quartermaster?!"

"Who is responsible for distributing clothes! Who!!!"

Hearing this, everyone looked at each other.

Zhao Ming's heart also sank; such a situation was truly...:

At this time.

A young soldier suddenly choked out:

"Re... report to the Chief..."

He pointed to the old man frozen under the tree:

"He... he is the Quartermaster."

This sentence exploded like a muffled thunder in the wind and snow; the general's body swayed, and he looked at the old man in disbelief, his lips trembling violently but unable to speak.

Looking at the frozen body, yet still maintaining the posture of distributing cotton clothes.

Zhao Ming and the Blue Star netizens in the livestream felt their hearts tightened by an invisible giant hand.

Quartermaster.

A Quartermaster who froze to death.

This...

At any time, wasn't the person in charge of logistics supposed to be rich?

Even if not.

They would be well-fed and warmly clothed.

But the Quartermaster at this very moment directly refreshed the Blue Star people's cognition.

How could there be such a stupid person...

Distributing all the cotton clothes, not even keeping one for himself?

The team fell into a deathly silence, with only the sound of the wind and snow echoing in their ears.

The danmu in the livestream suddenly disappeared.

After a long while.

A danmu slowly drifted by:

【He clearly could have survived....】

Yes.

He clearly could have survived....

Next door.

It was almost the same scene.

The streamer who joined the cooking squad, squatting in front of a wet pile of straw, tried every fire-starting technique on Blue Star, friction, tinder, and even photon supercomputer searches for ways to ignite it.

But that pile of straw stubbornly emitted green smoke, refusing to ignite a flame.

The streamer had no choice but to follow other soldiers to pick up firewood nearby.

When they returned.

They saw that the pile of wet straw had already ignited a raging fire, and the water in the iron pot was steaming.

This made many Blue Star netizens marvel, feeling that this old squad leader had some special ability.

After all, the limitations of this era meant there couldn't possibly be anything beyond physical knowledge.

The wet straw that couldn't be ignited using various modern Blue Star methods was ignited by the cooking squad's old squad leader after only leaving for a moment.

If this wasn't a special ability, what was it?

Many people wanted the streamer to sneak a peek at what magic the old squad leader was performing.

However.

When the cooking squad's old squad leader ignited the firewood for the last meal, all the Blue Star netizens in the livestream fell silent.

The wet straw that couldn't be ignited no matter what in the streamer's hands was just like that ignited by the old squad leader.

But it wasn't magic, nor did he have superhuman abilities.

Even less was there any existence beyond physical knowledge.

The reason for igniting that pile of wet straw was simply that the old squad leader pulled out the cotton padding from inside his thin clothes, roasting the fire pile bit by bit, one wisp, two wisps, three wisps...:

Those cotton paddings that should have kept him warm were now gently stuffed under the wet straw by him, and then ignited with a match.

The moment the cotton padding burned, the firelight illuminated his sunken cheeks.

The cooking squad's old squad leader's clothes became thinner and thinner, but the fire under the iron pot became more and more vigorous.

The danmu in the livestream also froze.

No magic.

No superpowers.

Only the old squad leader's hunched back, and that piece of cotton clothing that became thinner and thinner, finally almost transparent.

The fire finally became vigorous.

The old squad leader sat by the fire, looking at the iron pot gradually steaming, and under the reflection of the firelight, a smile appeared on his aged face.

Time seemed to freeze here.

But when a soldier rushed into the camp carrying newly picked firewood, what he saw from the front was the old squad leader quietly leaning by the fire, a smile on his lips, as if he were asleep.

The firewood in that soldier's hand smashed onto the snow.

A heart-wrenching cry pierced the ice and snow, and also woke up the streamer:

"Squad leader—"

The streamer suddenly came back to his senses and also rushed over.

Looking in disbelief.

The firelight shone on his exposed arms, which were covered in frostbite, but would never feel pain again. At this moment, the old squad leader was clearly leaning against the fire.

Yet he had frozen to death...

Still in the snow-climbing livestream.

As the streamer at the front of the main force, he discovered a special corpse at this moment.

This corpse was a scout who had cleared the way for the main force.

This soldier's corpse had already turned into a frozen ice sculpture, arms stretched forward, fingers deeply inserted into the cotton clothing on his chest, as if at the last moment of his life, he was still desperately trying to pull something out.

Several soldiers with red eyes stepped forward, wanting to lift him from the snow for burial.

But when their hands touched his frozen body, a hard object slipped from the scout's chest.

A Party membership card stained with ice shards, and a silver dollar pressed by the Party card.

The danmu suddenly went still.

The handwriting on the Party card had been blurred by snow water, but the words "Party Member" were still clearly distinguishable, and the surface of the Party card, which had been smoothed by touch, could also show how much the owner of this body loved it.

Often taking it out to stroke repeatedly.

In a trance.

The Blue Star netizens seemed to see in their minds, in the snowstorm of that pitch-black night.

The scout, whose life was coming to an end, used his last bit of strength to reach into his chest, just wanting to stroke once more, that thing more important than life...

In another livestream.

In the snowstorm.

Six men covered in icicles took turns carrying the unconscious seriously wounded, their leg wraps already soaked through with blood.

The stretcher team climbing the snow mountain took turns carrying their seriously ill comrades, some soldiers who were already coughing up blood still insisted on moving forward...

Next door.

In the livestream of the propaganda team member.

The sound of clappers pierced the wind and snow.

Two female soldiers with braided hair were encouraging the team's morale at the edge of the team.

The tall female soldier's cotton clothing was currently covering the wounded on the stretcher, but this sound of encouraging morale became weaker and weaker.

Finally, she fell into the ice and snow....

The scenes of climbing the snow mountain were quickly edited.

Posted to the official Jixing forum, and quickly spread.

The post's click count exceeded 100 million in just a few hours, and quickly topped the Federation headline list.

It was clearly only one day of plot, but the impact it brought was unimaginable.

The Quartermaster who managed logistics but froze to death.

The cooking squad leader who managed food but died by the iron pot.

The scout who cleared the way for the main force, at the last moment of his life, only wanted to stroke that thing more important than life.

Stretcher bearers, female propaganda team members....

Scene after scene impacted the souls of Blue Star netizens.

Irrelevant to anything else.

Just the spiritual impact brought by these plots had already shocked the vast majority of Blue Star people.

The discussion brought by the 【Long March】 lasted for a long time.

And because of the spirit of dedication and sacrifice in the plot, some Blue Star people thought it was too outrageous and voiced doubts: how could anyone have such a spirit of dedication?

Especially the scene where the Quartermaster froze to death but still maintained the posture of distributing cotton clothes.

Made many Blue Star people think it was too fake, that such a thing was impossible, and no one could have such a spirit of dedication.

On Blue Star, where such things had never happened, many people remained skeptical about this spirit of the Red Army, while those netizens who had entered the game and experienced the hardships of this team naturally disagreed.

For a time.

Both sides argued, neither giving way.

A few days later.

Another post was topped to the headlines of the Jixing official forum.

【"Immortal Soldiers" — The Shock from the Foot of Mount Jiajin】

The video in the post was not a scene of climbing the snow mountain.

But a player who, because of insufficient preparation, did not join the Red Army team before climbing the snow mountain, was preparing to leave the foot of Mount Jiajin.

The perspective swept across the small town at the foot of Mount Jiajin.

But unexpectedly heard several local old people wrapped in thick cotton-padded jackets sitting at their door discussing, "Did they really cross it?"

"That is the Immortal Mountain... in previous years at this time, even those picking herbs wouldn't dare to go up; once they go up, they... so many of them just crossed it like that?"

"Immortal soldiers, truly immortal soldiers..."

The camera turned.

That player was already walking toward the outside of the town, and when they walked to the Earth Temple at the entrance of the town, several old people were burning paper.

But when the perspective focused.

It saw that what was written on the yellow paper was not the names of ancestors, but the crooked "Red Army Peace."

An old man with a gray beard who was burning paper put the paper money in his hand into the fire, and suddenly sighed:

"I have lived for 60 years, and I have never seen such soldiers."

With trembling hands, he took out something wrapped in clean cloth from his chest, and after opening it, half a piece of hardened steamed bun was revealed inside:

"A few days ago, that Red Army girl, even though she was so hungry she couldn't walk, still stuffed this to me."

"That girl also had clappers tucked in her waist, looking happy at everyone..."

The player here couldn't bear it and quickened their pace to leave.

And the Blue Star netizens watching the video were also silent for a while.

Red Army female soldier, clappers....

The girl the old man spoke of who looked happy at everyone, the sound of clappers that encouraged comrades to persist to the end, had already fallen on the snow mountain.

The player with the perspective quickened their pace to leave.

But one could imagine.

In this small town, the Red Army's feat would be a talking point for the next few decades.

Not only because they crossed that impossible snow mountain.

But also because they had never seen such soldiers.

A week later.

In the 【Awakening Era】 partition forum.

The aftermath of climbing the snow mountain was still continuing.

And someone had already triggered a new plot, but this plot, the opening scene, directly shocked the netizens on the Blue Star side. The group was a post in the Jixing forum.

The video in the post was from a player's perspective.

The player at the beginning of the video introduced that after climbing the snow mountain, after resting, the Red Army was now preparing to cross the grasslands.

At this time.

The Red side's troops were facing unprecedented challenges.

The vast grasslands, seemingly calm, were actually hiding murderous intent.

Swamps, poisonous insects, harsh weather, and extremely scarce food supplies, every step was like walking on the tip of a knife.

The player in the video hadn't entered the grasslands yet, but the mud in some places had already submerged their ankles; it was already like this before they even started? ===== CHAPTER 187 =====