Xie Ling, twenty-three years old, was an officer in the Security Department of the 103rd Division Logistics Field Hospital.
When the Time-variants raided the rear, he was injured while covering the retreat of doctors and nurses.
Fortunately, his injuries were not severe, and he recovered quickly after waking up.
Chu You had been asking around to get a general understanding of her identity and what had happened before this.
Simply put, this defensive battle was not like what she had previously understood—it had not started with a front line opening up in just a few short days.
Long before the East Asian Time-variant populations were monitored for large-scale activity, small groups of Aberrants near the coast showed abnormal movement patterns.
They began consciously moving toward the main transportation routes between Langhai and the provincial capital.
Upon discovering this phenomenon, the 103rd Division’s reconnaissance units promptly reported it to Division Headquarters.
Division Commander Su Xiji and Political Commissar Lu Sanshan hardly hesitated.
They immediately dispatched one regiment deep into the wilderness to clear out those abnormally behaving Time-variants.
In other words, before this large-scale defensive battle broke out, small-scale skirmishes had already been ongoing between the 103rd Division and the Time-variants.
Initially, the situation on the battlefield was favorable.
A single regiment’s strength was enough to force the Time-variants back into their previous activity zones.
However, just as the 103rd Division Headquarters was preparing to recall this elite regiment, an urgent telegram arrived from Military Command—the East Asian Time-variant population was exhibiting massive, abnormal movements.
Based on their trajectory, their target was very likely the southeastern border of the capital.
After receiving the telegram, Commander Su Xiji immediately ordered a meeting.
After some discussion, the participants almost unanimously agreed that Langhai, as a southeastern border city, would definitely be hit by the Time-variants.
Therefore, the regiment that had finished its combat mission and was preparing to return to base received new orders before they could even set out.
They were to deploy across positions according to the defense map and remain ready to engage the enemy at any moment.
This was how the Line 01 defense was established.
After that, which was five days ago, the 103rd Division moved out in full force.
Relying on the terrain, they established three arc-shaped defense lines between the coast and the provincial capital.
At that time, no one thought they would lose.
But the number and level of the Time-variants this time exceeded everyone’s expectations.
They even possessed a certain degree of… war intelligence!
Line 01 suffered heavy losses on the first day of the defensive battle.
By the second day, the 103rd Division was forced to abandon Line 01 and withdraw the battered remains of the units stationed there.
Shortly after this order was issued, something happened that instantly changed the state of the battlefield.
The Division Combat Staff suddenly lost contact with the Frontline Command.
No one knew if Commander Su Xiji and Political Commissar Lu Sanshan were alive or dead.
Upon discovering this, the Staff organized several reconnaissance squads and rescue teams to investigate the Frontline Command.
Without exception, every team sent out lost contact near the command center.
Before the Staff and the various unit commanders could deliberate on a proper solution, intelligence suddenly arrived from Line 03. Multiple outposts reported Time-variant infiltrations, and these entities penetrating Line 03 were almost all middle-to-high-level special Time-variants.
Even more terrifying was that these Aberrants, which were originally supposed to be unrelated or even hostile to each other, suddenly displayed strong discipline and execution.
At this point, the situation for the 103rd Division went from bad to worse.
By yesterday, the Time-variants that the Staff had assessed as “small-scale harassment and infiltration” appeared like a flood surging from a crack in hell.
They appeared without warning in the relatively weak rear of the 103rd Division’s defense system.
Their numbers and scale completely overturned all of the Staff’s previous optimistic judgments and simulations.
Forced into a hasty engagement, the units responsible for rear security and logistics fought desperately.
However, in the face of the tidal wave of coordinated middle-to-high-level Time-variants, they still suffered heavy losses.
The originally safe logistics supply points and temporary field hospitals were instantly exposed to the enemy’s spearhead, forcing an emergency evacuation amidst the chaos.
The backbone of the entire 103rd Division felt as if it had been struck by a heavy blow at that moment.
And then, in the midst of this chaos and the torrent of defeat, Chu You had arrived at this temporary field hospital filled with an atmosphere of oppression and despair.
After listening to the pale, legless officer on the hospital bed finish his intermittent account, Chu You slowly stood up from the low stool by the bed.
She frowned slightly, her clear eyes reflecting the flickering, dim lamplight and the reality that was as heavy as iron.
Information flowed and pieced itself together rapidly in her mind—the collapse of the front line, the interruption of command, and the precise, lethal raid on the rear… none of this was an accident.
After thinking for a moment, she looked back at the officer, who seemed to have had all his energy drained away.
She bowed her head slightly, her voice carrying sincere respect and gratitude.
“Thank you for being willing to tell me so much, Chief.”
Hearing this, the officer only lifted his hand weakly, giving a hollow wave in the air.
He forced his lips into a strained arc that looked worse than crying, his voice dry.
“Don’t… don’t mention it.”
“Actually, I just… it was stifling my heart, making me miserable. I just needed an excuse to pour it all out…”
At this point, he slowly lowered his hand.
Those eyes, which might have once been sharp but were now bloodshot and exhausted, stared straight at the ceiling, which was yellowed by smoke.
Deep in his gaze, regret, unwillingess, and grief swirled and collided like dark clouds before a storm.
A sigh, so heavy it seemed to carry the weight of all the fallen, echoed softly in the ward permeated with the smell of disinfectant and blood, breaking the brief silence.
Next came the officer’s voice, filled with endless helplessness and gloom, as if speaking to Chu You, or perhaps just to this cruel world and the soldiers who would never return.
“They were all such good men…”
“None of them are coming back… none of them…”
His voice grew lower and lower, eventually fading into a dead silence.
Only his hand, gripping the rough bedsheet until his knuckles turned white, continued to silently speak of that unventable pain.
Chu You was affected by the officer’s grief.
Even after walking out of the ward, she couldn’t calm her heart for a long time.
Standing in the dilapidated courtyard, Chu You took a deep breath.
The complex emotions in her eyes quickly receded, replaced by a faint sense of determination.
‘I can’t just sit here and wait; I have to take the initiative!’
The rear was in chaos, and they had nearly lost contact with the frontline combat units.
Under such dire battlefield conditions, continuing to wait for Lin Mo to return for her was basically the equivalent of a gambler going all-in hoping for a turnaround.
Thinking of this, Chu You pulled a crumpled map from her pocket—it had been given to her by an officer in a previous ward.
Having received systematic military training, Chu You stared at the map and studied it for a few minutes.
She quickly clarified the general positions of the three defense lines, the original rear area, and their current location.
A theoretically feasible reconnaissance route rapidly formed in her mind.
Chu You carefully folded the map and put it back in her pocket.
Then, she slowly shifted her gaze toward Dr. Chen, who was running down the hallway.
Right now, he was the most important person.
If she wanted to be discharged smoothly, or even report to her superiors to apply for reconnaissance equipment, she couldn’t do it without Dr. Chen’s approval.
“Sigh…”
Chu You sighed softly.
Although she didn’t know much about him, Dr. Chen was clearly a difficult person to deal with.
‘I have to come up with a reason that’s logical enough to convince Dr. Chen 100%.’
Chu You lowered her head and began to contemplate.
Soon, an idea took shape in her mind.
“Let’s do it!”
Chu You slapped her hands together.
Spotting the ward Dr. Chen had just entered, she walked over with quick steps.
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