Dual wielding volcanoes, killing through the west

……

Zhang Lvjiu stared intently into his pupils, her gaze sharp as a knife, as if she wanted to use that as the center to "dissect" him from the outside in.

"……fraud."

Clemson's pupils dilated instantly, and he exclaimed, "Wait! I didn't..."

"Click!"

Zhang Lujiu snapped his neck in an instant, giving him no chance to defend himself, then threw the lifeless body aside and slowly got up.

“He’s a liar, he never tells the truth. I can only send him to meet God. Hopefully, he’ll behave himself there.”

As Zhang Lvjiu said this, he turned around and looked at the strategist Mister, who was lying on the ground and had given up resisting. He asked expressionlessly, "You're not lying to me, are you?"

----

"What should we do with these people?" Otto tilted his head, pointing to the blue-clad prisoners of war who were now obedient and organized into a platoon. "Take them back?"

“There are some places in some states where the conditions for development are quite harsh, and they are short of manpower. Break them up and send them to various places for voluntary labor.” Zhang Lujiu tapped Mister with a stick and specifically instructed, “This man is their strategist. Don’t touch him yet. I want to interrogate him personally.”

"Maybe we can get some information out of him."

Having breached the fortress, beheaded the enemy, routed the enemy army, and captured so many guns and ammunition, it should have been a great victory to celebrate.

But Otto's expression remained conflicted.

"When you go back, you'd better be careful. After all, you didn't tell us before you went ahead and did it on your own..."

He patted Zhang Lvjiu on the shoulder and said with some helplessness, "Your older brother is angry."

----

"cough……"

"Cough cough cough—! Cough! Cough cough..."

In the central tent of the Lamon Raiders' temporary camp.

A night breeze blows, and the light and shadow shift.

Despite tonight's resounding victory, there was not a sound of celebration. The atmosphere in the entire camp was deeply oppressive and deathly silent.

Only from the tent closest to the center could one hear a cough every now and then.

The prisoners who were escorted to the camp were even more astonished: after such a great victory, they could still remain so calm, without the slightest hint of arrogance or complacency. Such an opponent was truly terrifying.

……

Having prepared himself mentally, Zhang Lüjiu removed all his armor and weapons, then slowly walked through the camp and stood in front of the tent in the center.

“Brother,” he said in a low voice, “I’m back.”

A somewhat frail figure, yet striving to maintain an air of authority, called out, "Come in."

Lift a corner of the tent flap.

Inside the military tent stood the mid- to high-ranking commanders of the Lamon Raiders. Their unanimous upward gazes, mostly filled with admiration and approval, reflected their determination. After all, on the battlefield, victory was paramount, and Zhang Lujiu had delivered a clean and decisive triumph!

However... due to certain reasons, it's not appropriate to directly express those words of praise.

At the end of the long table sat a young man.

He was tall and thin, with dazzling golden hair that shone like gilded gold. The ends of his hair clung to his forehead like seaweed, looking as if they were soaked in water.

His pupils were pure black, the only thing he shared with his two brothers.

He had a high, straight nose and deep-set eyes, but his face was too thin, with little flesh. In addition, his wet hair, which clung tightly to his forehead, seemed to cast a shadow over his eyes, making it difficult for anyone in the tent to see his expression.

However, everyone in the tent could hear the faint cough he tried to suppress but couldn't.

……

Looking at his younger brother, who stood at the other end of the long table, tall and robust, and who had decisively defeated the enemy that night, Zhang Wusheng's eyebrows furrowed for a moment, but then quickly relaxed.

"I'm sorry, everyone..."

Zhang Wusheng, supporting himself on the table, slowly stood up, his gaze, hidden beneath his wet hair, sweeping over the numerous commanders.

However, even this small movement was enough for him to take a deep breath to steady himself before continuing, "Could we talk alone?"

……

The commanders looked at each other in silence for a moment before getting up and slowly leaving the tent.

Chapter 897: The Sickly Ghost

"You're quite pleased with yourself tonight."

Zhang Wusheng's face was gloomy. He grabbed the wooden cane that had been leaning against the table, one end of which was engraved with a cicada pattern. He pulled out a chair and limped toward his younger brother.

In Zhang Wusheng's memory, this cane had been with him since he was very young, and it was a very old item in his family.

When he leaned on his cane, his right hand always gripped it tightly with extra force. Over time, the cicada pattern on one end of the cane became blurred and indistinct from wear. But imperceptibly, he had polished it until it was smooth and round, and the cane seemed to have become an extension of his limbs.

Sitting there for so long, Zhang Wusheng's heart had been pounding with tension. But now, seeing his younger brother return unharmed, his anxiety suddenly vanished. In that brief moment of relief, all his strength dissipated. He had just picked up his crutch when he nearly tripped over the uneven ground inside the tent.

Zhang Lvjiu leaned forward slightly, making an instinctive movement to help, but Zhang Wusheng raised his hand to stop him.

When he walks, his right leg is extremely difficult to bend, so with each step, his body sways to the left, using the strength of the remaining limbs to propel his right leg. Because of this walking habit, Zhang Wusheng's back is slightly hunched, and his shoulders are tilted slightly to the left.

In addition, due to his mobility issues, if he were left in a crowd, he would look like an elderly person at first glance.

"Who sent you there?"

Zhang Wusheng finally walked up to him and stood beside Zhang Lüjiu.

He was about half a head taller than his younger brother, and his gaze seemed to grow increasingly cold. "Don't you think you should discuss this with me and the other commanders before doing something like this?"

“No one told me to go, brother. It was my own decision.”

Zhang Lvjiu replied in a deep voice, "The Blue-Clad Army has occupied Glenburg. Relying on this bunker, they can attack from higher ground and recklessly unleash their firepower on us."

"Otto organized three attacks, all of which were repelled. The casualty ratio of the vanguard was already quite severe, with corpses piled up under the walls of Glenburg."

"I can't bear to continue like this..."

"You can't bear it?" Zhang Wusheng interrupted him directly, turning to the side with a face so dark it seemed to drip water, and said bluntly, "Do you believe that one day you will die on this?"

“…” Zhang Lvjiu remained silent.

"From this moment on, you must remember this well: in this camp, all the lives combined are not as important as yours."

Zhang Wusheng gritted his teeth, clenched his fists, tapped his chest, and immediately coughed twice. "Even I am not as important as you!"

“Brother, what makes you say that?” Zhang Lvjiu frowned. “I don’t think so. Life is life, how can it be calculated by addition, subtraction, multiplication and division?”

"Ah……"

Zhang Wusheng, leaning on his cicada-shaped cane, forced out a very complicated laugh. In just a few words, his breathing had become rapid.

He couldn't help but look at his younger brother, imagining how this strong and powerful body leaped into the enemy ranks, slaughtered everyone, and then came out unscathed, enjoying the admiring and amazed gazes of everyone.

Zhang Wusheng narrowed his eyes, remained silent for a moment, then raised his cane again and slammed it hard on the ground, gritting his teeth as he said, "Do you really want me to make things so clear?"

“In the eyes of the world, I am not a person at all. My father only has two sons, namely you and Honglu.”

Zhang Wusheng pointed his right index finger sharply at him and questioned, "Think about it, on a battlefield amidst the flying bullets, is it possible that a bullet without eyes, after experiencing various ricocheting angles, would just happen to pass through your forehead?"

"Brother, I'm wearing armor..."

"I'm just asking you, is there any possibility of that?!"

……

may.

It was a very ambiguous term, and Zhang Lvjiu naturally couldn't deny it, so he nodded.

“Although we weren’t born from the same womb, we are still born of the same father, and you and Honglu call me brother. But, once it becomes like this… I… cough… how… cough cough… how can I face my parents, and how do you expect me to face your own mother!”

Zhang Wusheng's thoughts are always particularly pessimistic, which is also related to his physical constitution.

Forget Superman, he can't even keep up with the level of an ordinary person.

"This time... it's just that the enemy you encountered was a little weaker, so you can crush them with force. But what about next time, and the time after that?"

"We've put in so much effort, cough cough cough... to train soldiers and reorganize the army, just so that you'll wear a full suit of armor and fight to the death every time you encounter even the slightest difficulty during an attack?"

"You...you are the future and hope of this family. What if...something happens to you? Wouldn't I be...cough cough..."

"..."

He suddenly felt his blood rushing to his head, his head spinning, and he could no longer support himself with his cane, so he fell to the side.

"Brother!"

Zhang Lvjiu rushed forward and caught him before he fell, asking with concern, "Are you alright?"

----

The world is spinning.

As darkness gradually fell, amidst a jumble of golden stars, Zhang Wusheng saw Zhang Lüjiu's face up close. Surprisingly, the first emotion that welled up in his heart was not relief, but a feeling of unease that surprised even himself.

"It's nothing, it's nothing, it's just my old problem acting up again..."

Zhang Wusheng tried his best to calm his breathing, and tried to push away Zhang Lüjiu's hand, pointing tremblingly to a gourd on the table.

"Medicine...medicine."

What poured out of the gourd was a small pill. Zhang Wusheng practically snatched the gourd and poured it into his mouth like he was eating fried beans.

People who take medication regularly do not need to drink water.

He tilted his head back and swallowed the pills. Afterward, his asthma symptoms subsided, and the rise and fall of his chest was not as intense as before.

After all that commotion, Zhang Wusheng was completely exhausted. He leaned back on the desk, his forehead covered in a fine layer of sweat.

The light from the electric lamp flickered in his eyes.

The pitch-black vision that had been rushing in like a tide was reluctantly pushed back by the lights.

"Ugh……"

Zhang Wusheng sighed and said quietly, "Please excuse my poor performance."

“Brother, I remember when you used to have an attack, just one or two pills were enough to suppress it.” Zhang Lüjiu frowned, puzzled. “Why do you need to take them now?”

"……hehe……"

Zhang Wusheng tilted his head, plugged the gourd lid back in, tossed it aside, and said self-deprecatingly, "I wish it were heavier, so I could just close my eyes and be done with it. That way I wouldn't be hanging on like this, neither here nor there. They're suffering, and so am I."

"Such a large family business, supported by you and the Honglu brothers..."

"Why should I, a sickly old man, have to worry about this?"

Chapter 898: MyechoMyshadowAndme

“Brother, you’re just saying that out of anger,” Zhang Lüjiu said in a deep voice. “You’ve always been a member of this family.”

……

……

……

Zhang Wusheng looked at his younger brother with a melancholy expression and remained silent for a long time.

His eyes were incredibly complex, as if he had a lot to say, but in the end, he swallowed it all back and just sighed softly.

"You won't understand."

Zhang Wusheng subconsciously picked up his cane and said with a wry smile, "At the age when you guys are starting to practice horse stance, I couldn't even walk properly and could only crawl on the ground like a fish."

"You know, my right leg..."

He tapped his right leg twice with his cane, producing a strange, muffled thud, as if striking a stone.

"For some reason, it's much heavier than my left leg. Dad even comforted me by saying it was a 'natural phenomenon.' Hah..." His laughter was somewhat cold. "A cripple is a cripple, what's with the 'natural phenomenon'? This kind of bullshit phenomenon, even if it were given to someone for free, they wouldn't want it."

"After finally managing to stand up, dragging a broken leg, I hadn't run more than a few steps before my vision went black again and I was panting heavily. Haha, you were too young to remember back then. Suddenly, a huge crowd surrounded me, forming an impenetrable barrier. It was a complete mess, incredibly lively."

Unfortunately, I passed out soon after and didn't get to see what happened next.