Ye Lan

We stayed in the military base in Longxi for nearly a year, during which we were just training, training, endless training.Anqing fell into the hands of the enemy, and we all lost contact with our families.The original government fell, and a military government led by superpowers was established soon. However, all of this has nothing to do with us. We are just imprisoned in a small military base, all feeling bored and panicked, as if Suspended by a thin rope at an altitude of several thousand meters, the surrounding is so monotonous that only the changing clouds remain.The three of us were quickly promoted to grassroots cadres. A certain Zhang and I were responsible for organizing training in two neighboring platoons, and Feng Huhu was transferred to the battalion headquarters. We rarely saw him again.

In mid-October, the enemy turned to a comprehensive strategic defense in the south, but by surprise, they captured the main traffic routes in the north.The military government withdrew from the capital, and Longxi was about to become the front line of the exchange of fire, and the whole base also smelled of an approaching storm.One day, Feng Huo suddenly found me and a certain Zhang—from the epaulets, he had been promoted to captain.We all congratulated him, and he gave a rare, embarrassed smile.

"The regiment sent a reconnaissance mission, and asked me to lead the team by name. I don't think other people can trust such a life-threatening thing..." He hesitated to continue, and I said, "I'll go." Zhang still looked foolish and said, "As for this, whoever is with whom." So the matter was settled.Feng Huhu, a certain Zhang, me, and two other soldiers from Feng Huhu's company temporarily formed a combat investigation unit.Feng Huhu said: "Go back first, keep the secrets strictly, what should you do, the regiment headquarters will come to call you." Zhang and I went back together, immersed in the excitement of seeing old friends.A certain Zhang said: "Good guy, this is the rhythm for him to be promoted again! Let's hurry to help our teammates, take some credit along the way, and share some soup. In the future, there will be military exploits, and Feng Tiger will be on top. Brother Do you know anyone?" He gestured with air.I am also very happy, so happy that I have no time to imagine the danger of the task.

One afternoon a few days later, a phone call came suddenly from the regiment headquarters and told me to go to the suburban airport to gather quickly.I sat in the jeep for several hours and finally arrived at the place on time.The site is surrounded by boundless grasslands, and the north wind scratches his skin.The sky was dark, only the lights of the helicopter fuselage flickered.There were four dark silhouettes standing beside the helicopter, and I heard Feng Huo say, "Come on, let's get on the helicopter." We climbed into the helicopter in the darkness.The engine roared, our feet trembled, we left the ground and rose tens of meters into the air.

The cabin lights were turned on, and Feng Huo took out his tablet and marked a red circle somewhere on the map.It turned out that the enemy had deployed an air defense position at a certain airway hub in the north, and at the same time opened the transmission interference barrier.Since the situation of the position cannot be seen, the superior cannot easily order mechanized conventional troops to seize this position.Our task is to scout this air defense position, and if we find the enemy's armored combat group, we will retreat straight away; if there is no tight defense, we will blow up the interference barrier generator, so that large troops can teleport in and occupy the position.He finished quickly and asked, "Any more questions?" We both said, "No!" He turned off the lights and the tablet, and we were bouncing around in the dark. "If you want to sleep, you can sleep for a while, we still have two hours. I will call you when we arrive." He heard his voice.

I squinted my eyes and dozed off, and after an unknown amount of time, I was patted heavily on the shoulder, the cabin lights turned on, and Feng Huo shouted: "Get ready to land! Prepare to land! Check the folding wings! Check the signal lights! Check the weapons! "I tried my best to wake myself up quickly, the wings were folded, the signal lights, the gun and the driver, the hatch was opened, and the cold north wind was blowing in.A certain one jumped down in front of me, and the green signal light on its back flickered in the darkness.I jumped into the deep black cold, with the whistling wind in my ears, my body lost weight, and I was suspended in the unknown.I found out the feeling, opened the folding wings, and my whole body was suddenly pulled by the flying device, and the force of the fall pushed my body to glide forward.At a certain moment, I felt panic: there was no one around me, only the vast darkness, the cold air, and the distant and faint green signal, I almost lost my own existence and was swallowed by the night.But the feet hit the ground.I staggered forward a few steps and stabilized my figure.A bird call imitated by Feng Huo came from behind my head, and I folded my wings and ran towards the source of the sound.Green signal lights gradually appeared in my field of vision, one, two, three, four.We gathered together, and there was no one missing.

We landed in a small village close to the front line of the exchange of fire between the two armies.The people in the village had already run away, leaving only some ruins that had been accidentally injured by artillery fire.There is a frontline observation post about [-] kilometers northeast, which is the first destination.We will rest there for a while before heading to the enemy air defense position at dusk.We passed through the village and walked for a long time on the vast Gobi Desert.The ground under his feet was uneven, and he almost fell down several times.Later, when I almost tripped over again, I covered the flashlight and looked at the ground. It turned out that protruding from the ground was a half-weathered corpse of a soldier. His head was lifted and his mouth was opened wide: We are crossing a position we fought for in the past. , with twisted limbs under their feet.So I just looked at the green signal lights on the backs of the four of them, floating slowly and vaguely in the darkness, like paper boats in midstream.The sky in front of us gradually became twilight, and the blood-colored light of the morning sun seeped out from below the horizon, slowly smudged towards the center of the sky.A pile of rubble appeared in front of us.Feng Huo took out his tablet computer, looked at it, and said, "This is it." He knocked on a stone slab, and suddenly a brick was lifted from under the rubble, and a baby soldier with an immature face poked his head out, holding his hand. Pointing the gun, he said: "Buns!" Feng Huo replied: "Cigarettes." The child soldier came out of the hole. "The hole is narrow, put your backpack down first." This is the frontline observation post.One by one we squeezed through the hole and fell like eggs laid by a hen.

Below the hole is a relatively spacious underground facility. The air is very humid and smelly. There are large areas of mold on the wall, but the ground is swept very clean.The large room on the left is the soldiers' dormitory, and several men in military uniforms are playing cards in it.On the right is the kitchen, where a cooking soldier is cleaning up the steamer, and the room is shrouded in white mist.Further inside is the war room.The child soldier shouted inside: "Station Master, someone is coming!" A familiar voice came out: "Okay!" The station master came out.

Assistant Professor Li stood in front of me.

Compared with the last time we parted, he has lost a lot of weight, and his hair is really gray.His military uniform was a bit dirty, and some unknown things were splashed on the sleeves and front.He also froze for a moment, and then enthusiastically invited us to rest in the war room.

"This place smells bad. It's too humid, and the clothes and bedding can't be dried after washing. They're all moldy. The war room is better, it's ventilated."

We go into the war room.I always feel that the layout of this room is still the style of his previous office, except that the bookcase has become a hanging map of the war zone; the workbench where tools and parts were originally placed is now a satellite phone and signal transceiver system.His desk is much tidier, but it looks bare instead, except for a handful of guns thrown in the upper left corner.He noticed my gaze, and said with a smile: "It's really useless. It's okay if this place hasn't been discovered. If it is discovered, a missile blows up, so there's no need to run over to fight melee. Why don't you sleep on the floor first, I'll call you at lunchtime." We were really sleepy, too.He pulled some blankets from the pantry and we fell asleep.Although I got off the helicopter a long time ago, as soon as I lay down, my body seemed to return to a bumpy state, sinking and floating in the cold and darkness.I dreamed that the helicopter was hit by a missile, and Feng Huo yelled for us to jump off the plane and escape.I jumped down but forgot to open the folding wings, and just fell into the countless twisted limbs on the ground. The face of the dead body in front of me was exactly like Assistant Professor Li.I woke up so scared that I was in a cold sweat, but there was no dead body beside me, only my comrades who were sleeping soundly. I lay down with my eyes closed and fell asleep again.

It was nearly one o'clock in the afternoon when I was woken up by Assistant Professor Li.Through the narrow gaps in the ventilation holes of the war room, we can see the bright sunshine of the Gobi at noon.We huddled in the kitchen and grabbed buns with the recruits at the outpost. Assistant Professor Li was wearing an apron and scrambled eggs, looking at us with a smile, his face full of smoke and vicissitudes—he seemed to be no longer the person he remembered.I didn't think too much about it, because the steamed stuffed bun was really delicious, I wonder if it was because I was too hungry.The recruits went back to play cards after filling their stomachs. Only Assistant Professor Li and us were left in the kitchen. "There was a war here last month, and we cooperated with the attacking troops to snatch the supply truck on the opposite side. Their ketchup tasted okay." He said and squeezed ketchup on the scrambled eggs in our bowl, asking us to eat more, Good afternoon to have the strength to scout.We noticed that he had been promoted to the rank of major and congratulated him, although we knew in our hearts that stationing here would be tantamount to exile.He smiled and chatted with us about the latest battle situation. He said that the enemy was blindly bombing cloud bombs outside in the middle of the night, and they almost suffocated in the outpost; he also said that a helicopter was shot down. Pretend to be an electrocution chair and scare the shit out of that guy.He was good at gesticulating the embarrassment of foreign pilots, we were all amused, and even felt that this place was not as embarrassing as it was when we first came here.After chatting for a while, he said: "We usually have nothing to do here, and we will sing in the afternoon. Why don't you come too?" We went to the soldiers' dormitory with him.

We played cards in pairs, and the losing side sang.The room was very crowded. I sat on the lower bunk next to the table. The mattress was damp and a little sticky, and a pair of stinky recruits’ feet from the upper bunk hung above my head.Assistant Professor Li has to switch sides every game because he is very good at poker and it is almost impossible to lose.We sang many songs in the afternoon.Later, a certain Zhang and I finally thought of a way to cheat secretly and won a game against him. He said: "I saw it all, you guys are cheating." We booed: "We finally won a game, why are you still cheating?" Skin? Tell me, do you want him to sing?" Feng Huhu and the recruits shouted, "Sing! Sing!" He laughed, lowered his head and sang "Farewell Song" in a low voice.

The casing of the drive is tempered

It's a man who is strong and iron, rather than bent

The rotor of the drive is spinning a thousand times

It's a man who is tender and affectionate

……

His voice is very nice.At first people sang along to him, and then we all sang along.And the tempo of the song finally got faster and faster.

Missing the stars scattered into the night sky,

Comrades teleport to the other side of the mountain

The rotor is overloaded and the circuit is melted

The shell is broken, the clothes are torn

Moths have to jump to the flames of war

Saying goodbye to my friends, I go to the front line

Broken drive sitting on your desk

say goodbye we'll never see each other again

We all applaud.Assistant Professor Li shook his head and said, "This song is too depressing. It's not good at singing. It's not good at singing. I should sing something fun." We laughed out loud about the old lady seducing and molesting the enemy soldiers, and he said: "I heard it from the folks here." But I think he still sings the best first song.After a while, Feng Huo said: "Okay, it's almost time for us to start." We checked our equipment, and then got out of the outpost one by one.

We left the orange sunset behind.The gust of wind kicked up the fine sand, and there was an earthy smell in the mouth.Feng Huo turned his head: "Going forward, we won't know the enemy's defenses. Stay in alert formation and cheer up!" I walked with my gun in my arms and looked towards the east. Except for a few lonely rocks on the horizon, there was nothing nothing.After walking for more than two hours, when the sun was about to completely sink into the horizon, a certain Zhang suddenly said: "The reading of my drive detector has changed. The transmission interference area is ahead." We all became alert.The effective range of the transmission jamming device generally does not exceed four kilometers, which means that we will immediately contact the edge of the air defense position.We bent our backs and moved forward slowly under the cover of the rock pile.A low building complex appeared on the horizon.Feng Huhu clicked his tongue.He raised the binoculars, observed through the gaps in the rocks for tens of seconds, and said, "These idiots are too nervous to build a tin house on the Gobi Desert." He handed the binoculars to me.There are dozens of simple prefabricated houses in sight, and three trucks parked there.Outside the prefab house is the empty Gobi Desert, but there is no one there.A certain card calculated again, and the center of the transmission interference area was inside the building complex.Feng Huo said: "This place may be where they are stationed, but there is no missile launch pad. What do you think?"

"It is too close to the transmission jammer, and the radar work will also be affected. I guess they live here during shift changes, and the missile launcher and radar vehicle are patrolling a few kilometers nearby." I said.

"That's right. But no matter how nervous they are, it's impossible to have no defense. There may be landmines around the house, and there may be secret whistles inside the house..." Feng Huo paused and said, "Look at the ground directly south of the house, other The place is full of rocks, only one place where the stones are broken and flat, just forming a road. That is the passage for their vehicles to come and go. But we go from there, if there are secret whistles in the windows on the second floor of the house, we must suffer. Get closer and see how their sentries are doing. Ideally, we can knock them out before the sentry reacts, rush in and blow up the generator, and then quickly withdraw. It won't be fun if it drags on into a positional battle."

We put on our insulated camouflage cloaks and sneaked a little closer.There are windows on the north and south sides of the house, and it is not clear whether there is anyone inside, but one insists that he has seen a red light from a scope in the south window. "Pull you down," Feng Huo said in a low voice, "their scopes don't reflect light, and besides, the sun has gone down." "That means they are smoking." "Don't be cowardly." I joked.A certain piece stopped talking.

I recalled this scene over and over again in the years after the war, and regretted saying it.I have always stubbornly believed that this unintentional statement is the initiator of everything.

We took advantage of the night to creep close to the distance of about 300 meters from the southwest corner of the house, but still could not observe any movement in the window.The sky is getting darker, and I gradually become anxious. Their anti-aircraft missile convoy may return to the station at any time, and it will be difficult to start at that time.Maybe Feng Huo was also anxious, he said: "Let's try to see if we can get closer, measure the exact coordinates of the generator, and then blast a magic spell through the wall to get rid of it." After a few seconds of silence Suddenly, there was a loud "boom" from the left, and a heart-piercing scream.A soft thing hit me on the face with a "snap", and the sticky stream flowed down (I later learned that a soldier from Feng Huo's company on the left wing of the formation was hit by a mine and was killed on the spot; the other one who was close to him was killed The shrapnel chipped off a piece of the skull, and he died after a while).Feng Huo shouted in a deep voice on the walkie-talkie: "We are exposed, attack from the south gate!" A certain Zhang jumped up and rushed towards the south gate. I followed behind him, holding a gun to suppress possible firepower, and then Behind is Feng Hu.

For a few seconds, there was silence in the board room, so that I suspected that there was no one in the station.But then everything was played in slow motion, a fire flashed in the south window of a house behind, and there was a muffled "chirp", and a certain card fell straight down while maintaining a charging posture.

Reflexively firing a long burst at that window, I reflexively ducked behind the truck and dodged a second shot from the adjoining window.Then my reflexes ended, and I yelled: "Zhang Cheng!" A certain Zhang was lying on the ground without moving.Feng Huo gritted his teeth and whispered: "What is it called! Determine their coordinates! Boom magic! Quick!" I took out the drive, as if living in a dream, my mind went blank.I don't know who's finger is pressing the button, and the target elements are solved, the first-level guidance, the second-level guidance, the third-level guidance, and the deflagration launch.The reality fell and the dream was destroyed. I heard the wailing behind the window and the inexplicable Western dialect, and saw the raging flames licking out from every crack.Feng Huhu roared loudly: "Rush in! Blow up the generator!" We yelled and rushed in, like crazy wild boars.We found a glowing blue glowing generator in a room with an open door, and threw a bomb into it.The prefabricated house exploded behind us.it's all over.

Feng Huo got through the satellite phone and said loudly: "We have destroyed the transmission jamming generator, repeat, we have destroyed the generator. Three casualties, are being evacuated, the coordinates are 48, [-]. Request assistance!" There was a cry in his voice.I ran to Zhang, who was lying on the ground with his eyes open and a black bullet hole in his forehead.I think he's probably dead, or maybe he's not dead, just painted a black dot on his forehead to scare us out of his usual bad taste.We'll have to wait for the activation teleporter at HQ, and until then, whether he's dead or not, I'll just have to pretend to be tricked by his prank.I hugged his body, and I said: "Zhang Cheng, this is a battlefield, have you fucking pretended enough?" He still didn't move.Feng Huo pressed my shoulder and said: "Let him lie down for a while, you pick up the gun. I don't think they are all dead."

In the firelight of the house, a person came out vaguely, like a scene from a bad horror movie.I took a lot of shots at him with my gun and somehow missed all of them. "Electromagnetic deflection, we met our colleagues!" Feng Huo suddenly shouted. At that moment, the figure suddenly teleported a short distance, leaving only an afterimage in the firelight, and then there was a "bang", Feng Huo was hit hard, and fell backwards. Bounced a few meters away.The next moment, both of them started teleportation, and their figures intertwined behind my back.The electric spark "hissed" came out, and Feng Huo yelled and directly switched the polarity of the barrier. The other side seemed to have not expected this sudden action, and terminated the driving ability. I seized the opportunity and guided the plasma black hole.I think we've won, the man is wrapped in hot plasma.However, when I compressed the black hole, the concentration of effectors suddenly increased sharply, and the driver in my hand was forced to overload-after a soft "poof", the driver fused.At the last moment of surviving consciousness, I saw Feng Huo holding the driver, and the firelight reflected his incredible expression.

My consciousness was interrupted for a moment, and then I found myself lying on the warm rubble of the Gobi.I saw the man still standing by, holding the drive.Where his line of sight was facing, Feng Huo's body was floating in the air.I wanted to yell, but it seemed like I was dumb, and I couldn't make a sound at all.I watched the man's fingers caressing the driver, and then Feng Huo's body slowly twisted and deformed in the air.The skin swelled, and the contents gushed out of it, but remained suspended in the air.His body slowly dissolved like this, turning into a viscous liquid.

It's like ketchup for lunch.

The ketchup finally hit the floor and broke into a puddle.I stared at the puddle of liquid.That is Feng Huo, my friend and my current superior.Had lunch with me, played cards, and now it's ketchup.I kind of want to laugh.The man turned around and walked towards me.In the firelight, I finally saw his face, pale and thin, as if he had just recovered from a serious illness.In addition, his facial features are clearly native.

I thought I was going to die - he held the driver up at me and at that moment the air screamed and the yellow decaying light of the mid-range teleportation field flashed and I felt the teleporter almost without looking breath.

"It will take a while for the teleporter in the headquarters to warm up," Assistant Professor Li said without any emotion in his voice, "Let me take a look first."

After a few seconds of silence, the man opposite said in a gloomy and hoarse tone:

"Ye Lan."

"You still don't know my name?" Assistant Professor Li replied leisurely.

"It does not matter."

"It seems that you are not doing well abroad. Did Cong Yan help you?"

"In the whole class, she only cares about you a little bit. Of course, she is still a bitch in general."

"I'm sorry, I don't think so. Although she didn't help me either."

"It does not matter."

As agreed in advance, the two took out the drive.Their speed was too fast to be observed. In the blink of an eye, the two of them had already been teleported tens of meters away.My forehead was bleeding, my vision was throbbing in my eye sockets, but I still struggled to get up, like a dying moth lured by the most beautiful flame.

I can't see clearly the desperate struggle in the darkness.I only saw the electric current jumping, the blue ion flame spreading like a torrent; the hot red beam went straight into the deep starry sky, splitting the undercurrent, and then the beam went straight down, but was ejected by the blue-purple arched barrier and diverged A crimson halo.Then the night sky dissipated, and the ion supercharged transition produced blazing visible light, surrounding the field of their duel, illuminating everything as if it were day.I couldn't see their figures, only the air trembling with the heat.The huge plasma black hole collapsed, and the house melted away like a burning candle, leaving only dark red embers.In a split second I finally saw Assistant Professor Li, who stopped holding the driver.In front of him was a black barrier—before I realized that it was a transmission track formed by ultra-high-density effectors that absorbed all electromagnetic energy, the light at the moment of a nuclear explosion broke through the barrier and moved towards him. The direction is overwhelming.

This is the torrent of light, covering all surrounding existence.I only saw Assistant Professor Li's black back that covered the light: thin and tall, as if he could be blown down by a gust of wind, but stubbornly controlled the momentum of the torrent.The tense muscles on his back seemed to contain endless power, roaring and pouring out.His hair stood on end like a lion in battle.I've never seen Assistant Professor Li like this, but somehow I'm convinced that this is the attitude that Assistant Professor Li should have.

Then the torrent cleared, and the night wind blew, and the ashes flew in darkness and fire.Assistant Professor Li walked towards me slowly.

This time, he hugged me.

The portal opened again, and tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, and heavy cavalry mechs poured out in an endless stream.The soldiers were running, hurriedly, and there was a lot of voices.And we still hug each other tightly.