Chapter 21 Bringing Back Food
Lu Mingfei carried a backpack full of food and started running in the direction he came from. The shelling on the front line still did not stop. At this time, the sky was already a little light, and a dark blue light shone through the sky, forming a strange contrast with the fire that kept exploding on the ground.
He had to get back before dawn, otherwise the French would see a Prussian running on the battlefield and would surely focus their fire on that person, making it even more impossible for him to get back.
Lu Mingfei activated the Word Spirit·Sickle Weasel, feeling the movement of every breath of wind in the air, and heard the reverberation of wind and explosions. He began to run into the hell of artillery shells, with thunder-like explosions and flying soil everywhere, and the pungent smell of gunpowder in the air.
The wind-formed spirits kept shuttling across the battlefield, transmitting all the information on the battlefield into his mind, constructing a three-dimensional map in his mind. It felt like playing StarCraft with a map hack enabled.
Suddenly, the kamaitachi keenly noticed a cannonball flying towards him, and he immediately twisted his body to jump to the side, but this time he did not escape danger like he had done in the previous times.
Every time before, he was able to jump out of the explosion range before the shells arrived, and at most he was only scratched by some tiny shrapnel.
But this time, the explosion of the shell threw him more than a meter away. The backpack with food on it seriously affected his movements, and he had to adapt to the sudden increase in weight and recalculate how much more force he needed to use to jump out of the explosion range.
Lu Mingfei struggled to get up from the ground and felt that his arms and knees were injured in the explosion. Blood flowed down his tattered clothes.
He clenched his teeth and secretly encouraged himself in his heart. He must not stop here. If he stopped here, he would really die.
He continued to run forward, but this time, due to the injuries on his body, his speed was significantly reduced, and his running pace began to stagger. Every step was like stepping on the edge of a knife, and every breath was like inhaling fire.
For a moment, he thought about throwing away his backpack full of food. If he threw away the backpack, his chances of survival might be greater.
But this thought only lasted for a moment before he immediately threw it out of his mind. If he threw away his backpack, what was the point of risking his life this time? He would eat his fill but bring back a belly full of rice for his comrades?
As the saying goes, good fortune never comes alone, and misfortune never comes singly. Lu Mingfei's sickle-weasel was about to collapse at this time.
The various explosions on the battlefield almost filled his brain. Maintaining the Word Spirit for a long time was a huge burden on him, and he felt that his consciousness was beginning to become a little fuzzy.
Finally, the Word Spirit·Kamaitachi automatically shut down, but Lu Mingfei did not stop moving forward. He relied on his belief that he must return alive to avoid falling here. Every time he lifted his leg and took a step forward, it seemed as if he had used up all his strength.
Lu Mingfei continued to stagger forward. A shell landed beside him and exploded, knocking him to the ground. His legs could no longer support his body, so he began to crawl towards the trench with his hands. The soil passed through his fingers, bringing a cold and real touch.
It was not known whether it was because he was crawling on the ground or because of fate, the rest of the shells fell in other places. The dawn in the sky gradually became brighter, heralding the arrival of a new day, but for the soldiers on the battlefield, it was the beginning of another nightmare.
He continued to crawl forward until he saw the outline of the trench. It was only one step away from him, but his strength was completely gone.
At daybreak, the French launched an even larger-scale artillery bombardment. Lu Mingfei could hear the hissing sound of countless shells cutting through the air, and he didn't know which one would take his life.
"Am I really going to die here? Maybe I was hit by a car and died a long time ago, but I survived by occupying someone else's body? Am I William Hans or Lu Mingfei? Is Lu Mingfei a dream of William Hans, or is William Hans a dream of Lu Mingfei? Can I go back?" Lu Mingfei thought desperately while lying on the ground. Just before his consciousness completely dissipated and he fell into a coma, he seemed to see several people crawling out of the trench. It seemed to be Kaczynski and Paul and the others?
"Quick! Quick! Pull him back!" Lu Mingfei seemed to hear Kaczynski's roar vaguely, and then he felt his body being lifted up.
From time to time in the trench, Kaczynski used the Spirit of Words to check if Lu Mingfei had returned. When he felt a heartbeat on the desolate battlefield, he knew that Lu Mingfei had returned.
However, when he felt that the heartbeat had been staying in one place, he knew something was wrong and immediately brought people out to rescue Lu Mingfei. They arrived just in time. If they were a little later, Lu Mingfei would probably have been torn to pieces by the shells.
When Lu Mingfei regained consciousness, he found himself back in the bunker, with everyone around him looking at him.
"Kid, you did a great job." Kaczynski patted Lu Mingfei on the shoulder and said.
The other people around him looked at Lu Mingfei as if he were a hero. Lu Mingfei looked at the familiar faces around him, and his tense body finally relaxed.
He really thought that he was going to be killed by the shell just now. He had previously thought that being killed directly by the bomb was actually not bad, but when death was really about to come, he realized how afraid he was of death.
Lu Mingfei brought back a backpack of food and three kettles filled with broth. The backpack had several large holes in it, and several pieces of shrapnel were embedded in the black bread in the backpack. Two of the kettles were also punctured by shells, and the broth inside had long since flowed out. If it weren't for these things blocking the shrapnel, Lu Mingfei might have died long ago.
These things seemed like a lot, but they were still not enough for them to eat for a long time. They did not let everyone have a big meal, but Kaczynski distributed small amounts. The French artillery fire continued, and it was unknown when it would stop, so they had to eat sparingly.
"Damn it, where did those French guys get so many cannons! Are our artillerymen just there to do nothing?! Why don't they fight back!" Paul really couldn't stand the endless bombardment outside, and his spirit was almost at the critical point.
Not only him, but the others' spirits had also reached a critical point. As soon as they fell asleep, they would be awakened by the deafening explosion, their eyes were full of bloodshot, and they were exhausted.
"I heard from others that the French artillery fire hit our artillery positions and paralyzed them." Kropp was holding a book and reading. He should be the calmest person here. It was really hard for him to concentrate on reading in such an environment. No wonder he always ranked first in the grade in every exam.
"There's no food left. When will the bombardment stop?" Kemmerich said in a depressed tone. He took the last piece of bread and ate the soft part first, then put the hard crust back into his backpack. He chewed ten times more than usual, just hoping to eat as slowly as possible.
They shared out the last of their food yesterday and are once again facing a food crisis.
"If I had known, I wouldn't have thrown away the part that was bitten by rats." Someone was so hungry that he regretted throwing away the part that was bitten by rats on the first day.
Sorry, the updates in the past two days have been quite slow
(End of this chapter)
