There was nothing to sympathize with when it came to the desperadoes of the penal battalion, but it was best not to offend them either.
There were four of them. The oldest looked to be in his forties or fifties, his beard already grizzled; the youngest was probably only in his twenties. The age gap was enormous.
But one thing was certain: all four were serious criminals. At the very least, they were the kind who had been sentenced to more than ten years.
The one who asked for water was the youngest. He wore a helmet, half his face covered in blood, his neck soaked with it as well, though it was impossible to tell where he had been wounded.
Sholokhov handed over his own canteen. The young man took it but did not drink straight from it. Instead, he pulled the canteen at his waist free, unscrewed the cap, and poured half a canteen of water into his own.
Gao Fei thought that if they were looking for water, there had to be some in the canteens on the corpses in the trench.
After returning the canteen to Sholokhov, the young man who had asked for water gave no reaction at all. He did not say thank you.
If he didn’t say it, then he didn’t say it. They were nothing but a bunch of scum and hardened criminals anyway; there was no point lowering oneself to their level.
The atmosphere was rather heavy, but that was only natural. No one could feel relaxed around men from a penal battalion.
“Got any smokes?”
The oldest man suddenly asked for cigarettes, but this time Sholokhov shook his head and said, “No. Been out for days.”
Even if he had some, he wouldn’t give them. Gao Fei didn’t know whether Sholokhov was reluctant to part with them or simply didn’t want to hand any over.
The oldest wounded soldier chuckled without saying anything. Then he shifted his posture and said, “You people have bad luck.”
Sholokhov froze for a moment. “What?”
“I said, you people have bad luck. The front can’t be taken.”
Sholokhov’s expression grew even graver. After a moment of silence, he said, “What’s the situation up ahead?”
The old scumbag stopped talking. He merely looked at Sholokhov with a grin.
Without the slightest hesitation, Sholokhov pulled cigarettes from his pocket. He took one out and handed it to the old scumbag. After the old scumbag accepted it and lit it, however, he still did not speak.
With a dark expression, Sholokhov gave each of the four men a cigarette.
Only then did the old scumbag finally say, “The artillery isn’t doing much. The trench system up ahead is extremely well developed. No matter how long the artillery preparation lasts, in the end, people still have to go into the trenches and clear them section by section.”
Sholokhov exhaled and muttered, “Suka blyat.”
The two of them had been speaking Russian the whole time. Gao Fei could not understand what they were saying after that, but from Sholokhov’s expression, he knew things were not looking good.
He just didn’t know what had happened.
The old scumbag continued with a smile, “The other side are mercenaries too. They speak English, their equipment is good, and their combat strength is high. Our casualties are close to one-third. Do you know what that means?”
Sholokhov’s brows were tightly furrowed.
The old scumbag took a deep drag on his cigarette and said with a profound expression, “And the few of us are the luckiest. We won’t die, but we don’t have to take part in the rest of the fighting either.”
There was no special meaning to it. He was simply showing off.
Sholokhov understood what these men were thinking. Expressionless, he said, “That’s right. You’re quite lucky. How many times have you been in combat?”
The old scumbag grinned. “This is my second term of service.”
A second term meant that this old scumbag had either already spent more than half a year in the penal battalion, completed his contract, and received proof of exoneration,
or he had rendered major military merit twice and completed his contract ahead of schedule.
Whichever it was, the old scumbag was impressive. But judging by the timing, it was probably the second case.
And the second case was even more impressive.
Sholokhov let out a breath and said, “Do you have any suggestions?”
The old scumbag licked his lips and said, “No suggestions. I just wanted to say that if we can’t take the enemy’s main position, then you people will have to go up. So all the stuff you’re carrying will have to be thrown away. If the fighting up ahead goes badly, then the enemy will push over here, and you’ll still have to throw all that stuff away. Since that’s the case, why don’t you just take it out and give it to us now?”
After saying that, the old scumbag nodded and said, “I don’t want food, but I smell alcohol. Take out the liquor.”
“We finished it.”
Sholokhov refused the old scumbag without hesitation, but he did not treat the old scumbag’s words as if they were nothing.
“Sort out your equipment. Dump any excess weight. Carry more grenades. You can carry fewer bullets, as long as it doesn’t affect your mobility. There’s a good chance we’ll be thrown into the offensive.”
Sholokhov was in a bad mood, and his expression was bad as well. It was difficult for him to tell whether the old scumbag’s words were true or false, but there was definitely nothing wrong with preparing in advance.
Once an assault on a fortified position turned into a war of attrition, a war of attrition meant people had to die—many people.
And once a war of attrition reached a certain point, the number of cannon fodder would no longer be enough. The fighting that should have been filled with cannon fodder could only be left to the elites.
There was no helping it if elites had to be wasted in large-scale attacks that did not require much combat skill.
Hearing Sholokhov’s orders, Gao Fei hesitated.
Two guns. He could only carry one now. It was broad daylight, so the rifle with the thermal sight could not be used.
So the only option was to throw away the rifle he had been issued and switch to the modified AK-74 he had captured. Then he would remove the thermal sight and put it in his pack, ensuring that he would still have combat capability at night.
If he left the gun in the trench, there was no way he would ever find it again.
Although guns were not in short supply, the fact that he had to throw away his own gun still made Gao Fei feel extremely disgusted and depressed.
He clearly had too many bullets as well. Dozens of jin of weight would seriously affect his agility, and to be honest, he would not need that many bullets during an attack.
In trench warfare, grenades were more useful than rifles.
In other words, the tiny bit of assets Gao Fei had just managed to accumulate after coming here had to be thrown away.
Just then, Sholokhov’s radio sounded.
Russian crackled through it, and Sholokhov could not help but say, “Fuck!”
“What happened?”
“We’re to assemble and enter combat by squads and platoons.”
Sholokhov spoke almost one word at a time. He glanced at the old scumbag and said, “Sort your equipment quickly. Make it convenient for fighting in the trenches. Throw away anything useless!”
It was a pity, but staying alive mattered more.
Just then, Grasky suddenly said, “Good thing we drank all the liquor. I’ll use a rifle.”
“Yeah, good thing we drank it all. You use the rifle, then.”
The old scumbag waved his hand and said, “No, no. The enemy’s body armor works extremely well, much better than ours. A 5.45 rifle doesn’t have enough power. You’d better take the machine gun.”
Sholokhov and Grasky exchanged a look, and both sighed helplessly once more.
Throw away what had to be thrown away. The orders had already come down. This time, there really was no other way.
After completing their change in loadout, they prepared to move along the trench toward the assembly point. Just as Gao Fei and the others were about to set off, the young man who had asked for water stood up.
Sholokhov asked in confusion, “What are you doing?”
The young man said coldly, “I’m going back to take part in the fighting.”
Sholokhov froze for a moment. “Can you?”
“I’m only going the same way as you. I’m not asking for your opinion. Move.”
The young man had no intention of paying any attention to Sholokhov at all. He snatched up his rifle and, with an arrogant expression, walked at the very front.
Sholokhov was somewhat angry, but the old scumbag beside him laughed and said, “Young people hope to render military merit and go home as quickly as possible. Don’t provoke him. He’s very fierce. Goodbye, Andrei. Good luck.”
I caught a cold. A serious one. Yesterday it was only a bit of coughing, but today it feels like there’s a ball of fire in my lungs, and I’ve got a fever too.
I don’t dare stop updating during the new book period, so the word count will just be a little lower.