Darkstone Code-Chapter 1031 - 1029: Evacuation and Support
"How long until dawn?"
"Eight hours remaining."
"Only eight hours left..."
After advancing two more buildings forward, Ryan’s partner asked him the current time.
Both remained silent for a moment. The command vehicle required them to bring back all the wounded soldiers left behind before seven o’clock.
Because once daylight breaks, they were likely to face artillery attacks again.
The Ministry of Defense had already informed them that the Federation’s artillery was being loaded and would arrive at the front most likely within a week, but how the hell do we hold out for a week?
With flesh and blood?
The enemy has artillery, while they were not prepared at all.
So, by the latest seven-thirty, the entire line would tighten and retreat, withdrawing from the main battlefield in the city.
The idea from the command vehicle was to move the main battlefield from the city, which obviously gave the enemy greater advantage, to the suburbs.
They even instructed some less severely injured soldiers to start digging trenches in the wild, preparing for a defensive battle.
As long as they could stall until supplies and artillery arrived, they could seize the city.
In other words, eight hours later, regardless of whether they could advance to the location of the morning attack, they had to evacuate.
The two took a brief rest, Ryan held a mirror and used its reflection to observe outside.
He found this mirror in the room; compared to the reckless act of sticking one’s head out, using a mirror was more suitable.
His sniper companion was also observing with a mirror.
The flares in the sky were slowly descending, its light dimming, and all plunged back into pitch darkness.
After darkness fell, the two took advantage of the faint night light, ran quickly down the street, and entered the next building.
Once inside, they raised their rifles, beginning to search the rooms. They had already encountered enemies hidden in two or three rooms on the way.
Every move was fast and cautious; this time, they faced another closed door.
It appeared to be a bedroom or something similar, door tightly shut. Ryan was no longer as naive as when he first arrived in Mariluo.
He no longer considered whether there were people inside the room, or if there were, whether they were innocent civilians or armed militants.
At this moment, any stranger appearing around him was unconsciously regarded as the enemy.
Ryan took down a fragmentation grenade from his gear, holding it in his hand, standing by the door while his partner stood on the other side.
They coordinated seamlessly.
His partner gently grabbed the doorknob, twisted it slightly, then nodded, and suddenly pushed the door open.
Ryan promptly threw the fragmentation grenade inside, neither of them had the desire to look inside. About three or four seconds later, a loud blast echoed.
On the wall opposite the door were three depressions caused by bullets, one still chipped with a fragment about the size of a pinky fingernail.
The two entered the room one after the other, their flashlights illuminating the room brightly.
In the corner, an adult male was severely wounded, still struggling in his final moments. Ryan approached, calmly raised his gun, and ended his life.
The man’s body kept trembling, no longer having the strength to support himself, yet he still struggled to shield something.
A few seconds later, a faint sobbing was heard.
Ryan moved the man’s corpse aside and saw a child curled up in the corner.
In the darkness, the child’s eyes bore a silence filled with deathly despair and... immense hatred.
The light of hatred even overshadowed everything else!
"You go out..." said Ryan’s partner, knowing Ryan couldn’t bring himself to do it.
Ryan stood silent for a while, then quietly left the room, followed by the sound of gunshots, two shots in succession.
As per the Federation Army’s practice: one shot to the head, one to the heart.
Moments later, his partner emerged from the room, both acting as if nothing had happened.
They knew very well without the protection of family, that child surviving in this chaos might be worse than dying.
Their actions couldn’t be described as justice, perhaps even very evil, but everyone had their reasons for doing so.
Just like Ryan, whose thoughts now were on bringing back the comrades in need.
The entire house was cleared, no one inside. They moved to the window, watching the glowing hour and second hands on their watches, waiting for daylight to arrive again!
The urban warfare progressed slowly and meticulously; almost every street in the city had countless scouting teams coordinating alternately.
They continued to advance, slowly yet steadily.
Meanwhile, in the command vehicle outside the city, the commanders’ faces hadn’t brightened since the morning.
The speed of the advance is too slow.
From here to the temple is approximately four kilometers in a straight line, considering the city’s layout and construction, the actual distance might be further.
The entire afternoon until now, nearly six or seven hours have passed, and they’ve only advanced slightly more than two kilometers.
Every step taken is very slow, to ensure security, they must confirm that there are no enemies in the searched houses.
This led to an obvious shortage of soldiers, so the speed could only become slower.
In other words, if the situation is very favorable, like in the first half where there isn’t much resistance or exchange of fire, they might have the chance to bring back the comrades stranded in and around the temple.
But this is clearly unrealistic.
The further they go, the harder it is to advance, the speed of the advance might decrease from a hundred meters to ten meters, or even five meters!
The sudden ringing of the telegraph startled everyone, in the middle of the night, why would someone send a telegram?
Maybe it’s news from the Ministry of Defense, soon the telegraph operator deciphered the code, which was somewhat incomprehensible to them—Clear a five-hundred-meter straight runway as soon as possible, and increase illumination on both sides to indicate width and angle!
It ended with urgency, with the Ministry of Defense’s code, this was indeed information sent from home.
The commanders knew little, but they had already speculated that it might be related to airplanes.
The remaining personnel organized themselves and selected a site to start working, when more people work on one task at the same time, difficult things seem to become simpler.
At around half-past three in the morning, the runway was completely cleared, although there were still uneven places, but everyone did not rest, continuing to reshape.
The sky gradually brightened, the eastern sky streaked with white, driving away the black of night, the stars retreated, a sign of the arrival of the sun, the king of all stars.
The gunshots in the city became denser, possibly the front line accelerated their advance, they also engaged more enemies.
Urban warfare is very intense, the intensity lies in not knowing whether the person who flashed past the window of the opposite house ten seconds ago remains hiding in that room or has moved elsewhere.
Not knowing requires careful probing, every meter of advancement is extremely difficult for everyone.
The sky grew brighter, Ryan’s heart kept sinking, here from the temple...
He looked toward the distant direction of the temple, probably seven or eight hundred meters away, yet with such a short seven or eight hundred meters, he hardly had the chance to go forward.
It was already six in the morning, about an hour left until evacuation time, at the current speed, there was no way to push through, not to mention bring those people and quickly leave.
The sky kept getting brighter, although winter mornings lightened up a bit later, at this time after a night’s fight, people no longer needed flares to see things around them vaguely.
With continual flashes of gunfire and moving figures, Ryan at this moment realized how bold, yet troublesome they were!
Almost all right across are enemies, the gunfire was more intense than an hour ago, it was only now that he realized, the enemy may have rested all night, their spirits refreshed as they joined the battle.
Ryan was also very tired, very sleepy, but he never thought about sleeping, couldn’t sleep!
In this place where bullets could fly toward him anytime, anywhere, he had not a wisp of sleepiness.
His body, his instincts also told him, never sleep, once asleep, it could be forever.
But those across, they slept without any burden!
Who are we fighting against?
The burst of gunfire made Ryan lower his head, bullet holes appeared on the wall behind him, now let alone advancing a hundred meters, even crossing this street was improbable!
A kind of sadness, a kind of despair seemed to start seeping, and it was at this moment that Ryan suddenly froze.
A sharp whistle sounded from outside, somewhat piercing, weighing heavily on the heart.
The next second Ryan urgently pressed his still-dazed partner to the ground, the following second, a silent explosion blasted open on the street, only then did the sound of the explosion reach his ears!
Artillery strike!
Ryan recognized that sound, during his time in the Navy, he often heard that sound.
The fleet’s Navy laughed off that sound as "Death God’s whistle," to describe its frightfulness!
It was artillery strike!
The earth trembled, the whole world seemed to be collapsing, the apocalypse arrived!
Never did he feel during artillery strikes how terrifying artillery was, only when becoming the target, did he understand the insignificance of people in front of war!
Just as the first round of bombardment concluded, a sudden voice from the communication platoon’s operator echoed around him—
"Command request immediate retreat, repeating, command request immediate retreat!"
"Enemy artillery time earlier than expected, lacking firepower cover we can’t advance, we must evacuate here!"
Ryan, at this moment, was plunged into a state of confusion.
Wasted an entire night’s effort, did many things against his will, the result ... just this?
And just at this time, an unfamiliar sound arrived.
Buzz buzz buzz...
Like mosquitoes flying around his ears?
