The Mysterious Soldier of the Anti-Japanese War

The sharp screeching of a truck's brakes pierced the dead silence. Through the shattered windowpane, Lei Tao watched as more than twenty Japanese soldiers, armed with Type 38 rifles, filed out of the truck. In the moonlight, the cold gleam of their bayonets shone against the cherry blossom emblems on the soldiers' necks, and the leading officer's saber shone with a faint, cold glow in the night.

Black Dragon suddenly arched his back, his throat rasping with a low warning. Lei Tao quickly switched his HK14 to burst fire. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of a rusty liquid nitrogen dewar tank—frost condensed on its surface, falling off. The valve was wrapped in several layers of faded warning tape. His pupils constricted, recalling the crooked Japanese writing he had seen on the tank during his earlier infiltration: "Special supplies" being secretly transported by Unit 731. Just as several Japanese soldiers, armed with Type 38 rifles, had approached Lei Tao within 20 meters of him,

The midnight moonlight was shredded by clouds. Lei Tao's M24 sniper rifle had already completed its second calibration as the first shot ripped through the stagnant air. The 7.62mm bullet, trailing a dark crimson flame, wedged into the titanium joints at the bottom of the dewar tank like a poisoned fang. The crisp sound of breaking metal, mixed with the shriek of gushing liquid nitrogen, reverberated harshly throughout the air-raid shelter. The tank collapsed with a thud, and the frost on its surface fell in a cascade, like silver scales shed by a giant beast.

Before the Japanese soldier could pull the trigger, the second bullet pierced the tank's valve with pinpoint accuracy. The ultra-cold liquid nitrogen, boiling violently at room temperature, instantly ripped through the air with a piercing whistle. A white mist, like a ravenous python, instantly engulfed an area ten meters in radius. The tank spun wildly under the impact of the airwaves, and the icy spikes shot out like deadly hidden weapons, sending two Japanese soldiers flying. However, the muffled thud of their impact against the wall and the crisp crackle of bones were completely drowned out by the high-frequency whistle and roar of the leaking liquid nitrogen—a sound powerful enough to rupture eardrums, rendering all other sounds a mere whisper. The surface of the Dewar's tank quickly became covered with spiderweb-like cracks, and a cold blue air seeped from the cracks.

"Get down!" Lei Tao roared, his grip like a pincer, dragging Black Dragon into the corner of the wall. The next second, a deafening explosion resounded like thunder, and the liquid nitrogen tank burst completely. The minus-196-degree shockwave, carrying sharp metal fragments, swept across in a fan-shaped pattern. Before a dozen Japanese soldiers could even scream, they were instantly frozen into ice sculptures. The blast wave transformed them into countless ice crystals, reflecting an eerie blue light in the moonlight.

The blast overturned an entire row of shelves, sending wood chips and dust flying everywhere. Lei Tao was knocked to the ground by the blast, coughing violently as he pulled himself up from the rubble. The shockwave hurt his eardrums, and his vision went black. He could only use the hot butt of his HK14 rifle to press against the ground for leverage. He shook his dizzy head and spat out a mouthful of blood-soaked saliva: "Damn it! If I had known this thing was even more dangerous than the Japanese's explosives, I should have just used a grenade!"

The underground passage was filled with the pungent stench of formaldehyde and blood. Lei Tao, using the Black Dragon's infrared vision, locked onto the iron gate marked "Live Experimentation Area." The moment the laser cutter lit up, the Anti-Japanese Allied Forces soldiers in the iron cages raised their heads, their cloudy eyes first wary, then a flicker of hope. A soldier, his wrist bound with a small metal number, struggled to his feet. "Comrade, you are..." His voice was hoarse, as if he hadn't spoken in a long time.

"This dog's eyes..." The older Anti-Japanese Allied Forces soldier stared at Black Dragon's glowing pupils, his Adam's apple twitching. Lei Tao used a laser cutter to open the iron door, and the cold white tactical light illuminated the people in the iron cage—their bodies were covered with whip marks, and the iron numbers on their ankles shone coldly in the light.

"I'll take you home." Lei Tao flicked on his tactical flashlight, its cold white glow illuminating the whip marks and frostbite on everyone's bodies. As the young soldier picked up his MP35 submachine gun from the ground, Black Dragon suddenly lowered himself and growled. Lei Tao's vision immediately captured three rapidly moving heat sources around the corner, along with the flickering light from Sato Wuye's saber.

"Back off!" Lei Tao slammed the magazine into his HK14, and Black Dragon leaped out like an arrow from a bow. The narrow corridor became a battlefield, a crisscross of bullets and canine teeth. Black Dragon bit a Japanese soldier's wrist and dragged him backward, while his prosthetic eye precisely marked the escape route through the ventilation duct. As the roar of Zero fighters rose overhead, Lei Tao unleashed the drone module of the F-35B, and the jamming net spun a silver-blue light shield in the air. He dragged Black Dragon into the duct, the blue light from his prosthetic eye piercing the darkness, illuminating the rusted steel frame ahead and revealing the muscles bulging under Black Dragon's fur from the impact.

As they rushed out of the snowy valley, the snowmobile's tracks crushed the ice, stirring up a mist of snow streaked with ice crystals, refracting tiny, cold glints in the moonlight. The black dragon rested its front paws on the open car window, a low, trembling howl emanating from its chest, the blue light of its artificial eye flickering with each breath. Sato Wuye's face, distorted by the explosion, now flashed like a data stream on the synchronized interface of Lei Tao's retina.

The young Anti-Japanese Allied Forces fighter clutched a captured MP35 submachine gun, his fingertips still stained with gunpowder from the battle. He tentatively reached for Black Dragon's head. The military dog ​​instantly pricked up its ears, whimpering in warning, its fur on its neck rippling in alarm.

"Relax." Lei Tao pressed down on Black Dragon's tense back, his fingertips stroking the blood-stained fur at the base of its ears. "Remember the wolves of the Xing'an Mountains? You were much more ferocious than you are now." This startled Black Dragon, and the data flow from his artificial eye became temporarily disrupted. Lei Tao took the opportunity to bury his face in its fur, which smelled of gunpowder, and whispered, "These are our people."

The dog's tense back finally relaxed, its metal tail tip rhythmically tapping against the inner wall of the carriage, making a soft sound. Lei Tao half-knelt on the ground, his tactical dagger picking apart the blood-crusted hair on Black Dragon's flank. Beneath the clotted blood, three deep wounds, visible to the bone, shone purple under the cold white tactical light. "It's called Black Dragon." His thumb unconsciously stroked the canine-shaped tactical watch, and his voice suddenly became very soft. "Three years ago in Siberia, twenty hungry wolves took advantage of a snowstorm to raid our camp."

Outside the carriage, the wind and snow howled, reminiscent of the scene back then. Lei Tao's pupils narrowed slightly. "I saw it bite through the rope with my own eyes, the grenade still hanging from the leash around its neck, and charge into the wolf pack with its tail held high—that was its most arrogant pre-war appearance." His fingertips brushed over the old scar behind Black Dragon's ear, where a patch of hair was forever missing. "In the snow waves kicked up by the explosion, it was covered in wolf fangs, but it clung to its unconscious comrade. Even when the veterinarian was removing the shrapnel from its body, it was still growling in its throat to protect its cubs."

The black dragon suddenly looked up, the blue light of its artificial eye flickering in the darkness, as if responding to its master's memories. The older warrior clenched the corncake in his hand, his Adam's apple rolling. "What a...good dog!" Lei Tao smiled and pressed a piece of sterile cotton to the wound. The smell of blood mixed with the scent of snow filled the air. "It understands 'not abandoning' better than some people."

Lei Tao gazed at the still-burning Japanese base in the distance. The flames cast a crimson glow over Black Dragon's artificial eye. The military dog ​​suddenly turned and looked at him, its eyes no longer wary, replaced only by the fatigue and trust of battle. The wind blew snowflakes across the night sky of Changbai Mountain, carrying the scent of gunpowder but also the breath of freedom.