Snow Leopard: Building the Strongest Elite Group through Robbery

No matter how great the anger or how deep the hatred, one must live. Only by living can one seek revenge and do what one wants to do.

He hadn't paid much attention to those words before; in his view, he would never make such a choice.

But now, among the several regimental commanders, he is the first to find himself in such a dilemma.

The Third Company, with its eighty-odd brothers, will make their first sacrifice to lure the Japanese army away, and then many more will follow suit.

To paraphrase what the lady once said.

How should one choose between saving one hundred or saving one thousand people?

With a thud, Zhou Biao knelt heavily on the ground, kowtowed three times to the Third Company's position, which was already covered in dust, then clenched his fists and turned around; "Let's go."

Boom boom boom...

Our escape route has been cut off.

After the company commander dispersed the personnel, he made sure everyone could survive as much as possible to buy time.

After blocking two attacks, he now only had three people left with him.

"Company Commander, the Japanese are coming up!" A soldier with a blown-off arm, bleeding profusely, approached his company commander. The pain couldn't mask his hatred for the Japanese. Seeing them advancing again, his eyes blazed with fury as he stared at the approaching Japanese troops.

The company commander had been shot in the abdomen, and another soldier, spitting blood from the corner of his mouth, chuckled twice before leaning against the trench, fiddling with a rifle.

"Have all the brothers settled in?" the third company commander asked.

"They're all ready, right there over there." The soldier's reply made the company commander turn his head to look. None of the eighty-odd brothers were cowards; they lay quietly in the trench in various positions.

He fumbled around in his pocket, pulled out cigarettes, and handed one to each of the two men, saying, "Have a smoke. After you're done, we can set off together. We can't fall behind; maybe we can catch up with the guys ahead."

The ammunition was almost used up, and there were only a few grenades and explosive charges left next to the company commander.

Two soldiers lit cigarettes, and the three of them waited quietly while smoking.

"Let's blow the lights out." The third company commander thought of a problem as he smoked his cigarette. After the battle, the souls of the fallen might still be planning to fight the Japanese to the death. Should he let them rest? From now on, it would be up to the other brothers. He had done his best.

"Okay." The soldier responded, looked around and found the bugler. He took down the bugle and blew it, so that the soldier who had died on the battlefield and the three of them could leave in peace.

"What's going on?" The regimental commander in charge of the attack heard the bugle call coming from inside the position. The sound was long and hoarse.

He didn't understand, but Togo Heiichiro behind him did.

This is the sound of bugles blown by the mountain city army during their rest. The sound means that they are resting, or it can be interpreted from another perspective that they have finished fighting.

"Can we really win this victory?" Togo Heiichiro wondered to himself.

The enemy had only one company of soldiers, yet they managed to withstand two waves of attacks. And this last time, they were telling themselves in a different way that even if they died, they would do something meaningful.

Boom boom boom... Boom boom...

The explosions coming from the direction of the position caused several scouts from the Third Regiment, who were monitoring from a distance, to silently remove their military caps.

The Third Company was wiped out, but their sacrifice was not meaningless. At least the main force of the regiment had withdrawn to their respective positions, and the Japanese pursuit meant they were destined to die a terrible death.

Lights out! The Third Company—aside from the wounded who were evacuated and a few who followed Zhou Biao—all the rest of the soldiers died on the front lines.

After reading the telegram sent by the Third Regiment, Xiao Ya remained silent for a while. Then she said to Wang Yun beside her, "We need to report this matter extensively. We need to let soldiers across the country and some other people see the bravery and fearless spirit of our soldiers in the face of foreign enemies. We also need to use this method to tell the enemy and some people within our ranks that with us soldiers here, they will never be able to defeat us."

"Don't worry, leave this to me."

After giving her instructions, Xiao Ya turned to Tian Jing and said, "Report this matter to the war zone commander and his headquarters."

After reading the report, Commander Li personally wrote a telegram requesting the Chongqing Command to posthumously confer titles on the soldiers and, if possible, to meet with the families of the eighty-odd soldiers.

Perhaps they were just a tiny fraction of people in this battle, but the significance of their lights-out message is far-reaching.

We've fallen; now it's your turn.

A newspaper article titled "Lights Out" quickly appeared on the front page of the Central Daily News. It featured soldiers holding bugles, bravely resisting the Japanese army, and an M35 helmet with a large hole punched in it lying beside them, along with a tattered military flag. It was a report on the Third Company's Lights Out.

The newspaper instantly became a bestseller in many places.

In the mountain city, Zhou Jixian and Xiao stood side by side under the eaves, holding in their hands the report on the Third Company of the Independent Brigade's bloody battle to the very end, until the final bugle call to fire.

“They are all heroes,” Zhou Jixian said, looking at the distant blue sky.

“Yes,” Xiao’s father sighed. “You have a good son, and I have a daughter. They are both our soldiers.”

Zhou Jixian folded the newspaper neatly; "We are old and can no longer go to the front lines to fight the enemy hand in hand with them, but we should do what we should do."

Mr. Xiao hummed twice; "Old friend, what do you plan to do?"

"Although this matter concerns the Independent Brigade, I believe that the people's excitement will surely rise. We should immediately form a delegation to comfort the people and call on them to donate to his mother. I will personally serve as the head of the delegation and transport these supplies to the front line."

After a moment of silence, Xiao's father nodded. "Okay, I think we shouldn't just send people from the Chamber of Commerce. We should also have representatives from all sides go. It shouldn't just be people from the business community or ordinary people. They all have the right to participate in this matter. In fact, we should make these supplies public to prevent anyone from embezzling them."

Embezzlement—who in Shancheng would dare to do that now? Nearly 500 families were executed, and 30 families were dragged out by Little Zhuge and had their entire clans exterminated. A large part of the reason why Shancheng suddenly became deserted was because of the massacre that occurred during the previous purge.

"Now, does anyone still dare to do this?" Zhou Jixian chuckled coldly and then looked at Xiao's father beside him and asked.