The Second Interviewee: Maluo Justin, 22 years old, Company Commander of the City Defense Army
Maluo Justin: My faith has collapsed. I firmly believed that the Exile Planet was invincible, that our army could advance into the universe, but within two hours of the war, our air defense capabilities were completely destroyed. I firmly believed that the brothers in the air force were brave and loyal, but many tried to defect by piloting their aircraft, only to be shot down one after another.
I firmly believed that our City Defense Army was righteous. The air-raid shelter north of the city was hit, trapping thousands of people inside. I called for troops to rescue them, but the soldiers did not rescue the wounded who crawled out; instead, they went to snatch gold bracelets and earrings from the corpses, and searched for wallets one by one. I kicked those soldiers, calling them beasts, and they became angry, saying that these wounded were all going to die anyway, the hospital was already a sea of fire, and sending these wounded to the hospital was just sending them to the crematorium.
I firmly believed that the populace supported us, but we were attacked by civilian gunfire. The people at the military factory, when faced with our orders and the Yellow Turban Army's orders, did not hesitate to collectively choose to pledge allegiance to the Yellow Turban Army. They set up heavy machine guns in the windows of residential areas. I watched helplessly as my comrades were pierced by bullets, falling one row after another. Our neighboring company unhesitatingly fired artillery shells into the residential areas. The exchange of fire ignited fires, and I saw many people jump from the buildings and die.
I couldn't sleep for two days in the POW camp. Is there no justice in the world? Are those slogans, morals, and beliefs all fake? Why are we killing each other?
The Third Interviewee: Mizuno Tani Shun, 40 years old, Officer of an attacking unit on Birong Star
Mizuno Tani Shun: Looking down from space, the Exile Planet is a giant black glass ball, its surface shimmering. That is the cities of the Exile Planet. After we dropped our bombs, we could clearly see cities extinguishing one by one. They thought that by turning off their lights, they could avoid bombing; their warfare thinking was still stuck in ancient times.
When I was about ten years old, I sat at my desk every night to study. The desk faced a window, a dark, large window. As I wrote, I would stop and look up at the stars in the night sky outside the window, imagining how large the planets around each star were, and whether they were inhabited by humans or monstrous alien species. I imagined that on those planets, there was a child just like me, also sitting at a desk, staring blankly at the starry sky, our gazes crossing hundreds of light-years of the universe, yet we were completely unaware of each other.
As we flew over many cities on the Exile Planet, I knew clearly that countless people were looking up at me through their windows. In the night sky, my spaceship should have been a meteor-like trajectory, leaving a light, sheer white trail expanding in the air, like the hem of a goddess's skirt. As I pressed the launch button, I thought, is there a middle-aged person on this planet of similar age to me? Twenty years ago, our gazes crossed. Now I am piloting a warship to raid this planet, and he can only look up. Perhaps this is fate. When people get older, they believe in fate.
The Fourth Interviewee: Delia Heloise, 30 years old, Acting Mayor of Tomato City, Exile Planet
Delia Heloise: I knew this day would come. This planet is completely pathological. I had no choice but to follow orders from above. That old tyrant, Zhi Cun, is bloodthirsty; he has no compassion for people, no reverence for life.
To him, the people on this planet, with their flesh and blood, were merely pieces on a chessboard, or figurines in a game, to be created and eliminated at will with a flick of his fingers. The tragic cries of the populace were nothing more than temporary noise to Zhi Cun, and the blood spilled by his army was merely some paint on his canvas.
In the past five years, I saved over three thousand people in Tomato City who were to be evaporated. I reported to my superiors that these people were executed in the suburbs according to regulations, but in reality, I had them transported to the mountains and released. These people formed the Yellow Turban Army, and they regularly requested intelligence and reported their situations to me. I believe these Yellow Turban soldiers will become a force that will subvert the entire planet, like a spark falling onto dry grass in autumn; one day, the flames will illuminate a new era. I just never expected to see this day in my lifetime. An hour before Zhi Cun gave his speech, I was still worrying about my work. After the war started, I suddenly felt a sense of relief, like a student who was worried about homework suddenly hearing that the teacher had resigned.
The Fifth Interviewee: Chi Gui 10030, Private, Mechanical Soldier Corps, Jiang Ye Star
Chi Gui 10030: I was part of the first wave of airborne troops. As soon as I disembarked from the spacecraft, I saw a string of fire shooting up from the ground. The explosion smoke appeared like dense clouds suddenly emerging in the night sky. Fortunately, the anti-aircraft fire lasted for only half a minute before being eliminated, and we landed without incident.
Have you ever seen a burning city? Those magnificent buildings spewed flames, smoke covered the high sky, and people with burning clothes jumped out of the windows one after another. Fires raged indiscriminately at different heights, like an underground lava world. The entire world was filled with contrast between light and shadow, with light and shadow constantly changing. All the wind was warm. This experience is more powerful than any work of art. Once you experience it, you will understand Nero.
We killed many people. The people on this planet all looked the same. In a crowd of people who looked identical, if even one opened fire on us, we had to kill all those who looked the same. My teammates were very quick. As soon as they saw someone, they would prone forward, raise their assault rifles, and sweep. Bullets hit their targets instantly, and those running were knocked to the ground. If anyone was still moving, we would fire a few bursts. Human reaction speeds are far slower than ours, the mechanical soldiers. In the instant they were still in shock, we had already completed the kill.
The City Defense Army deployed large artillery and rockets. After the fierce battle, the streets were full of shell craters, and the asphalt roads, scorched by fire, were about to melt. Some corpses were curled up into very small bundles. When we entered the City Defense Army headquarters, the blood in the corridors was as abundant as if a water pipe had burst. With every step, there was a gurgling sound. The entire building seemed to be built on a red tide.
Some City Defense soldiers knelt on the ground and surrendered to us, so scared that they wet their pants. To please us, they sang a song praising robots, their voices breaking and off-key due to excessive fear. We identified their faces. If anyone with the same face had previously opened fire on us, we would fire a burst at those faces. The rest were escorted to the POW camp.
There were still some mechanical soldiers walking back and forth in the POW camp, checking for suspicious individuals with identical faces. I saw a City Defense soldier with a full beard who couldn't hold it any longer. He used a mineral water bottle to collect his urine, filling several bottles. The urine was the color of iced black tea, possibly mixed with blood. Many prisoners asked to make phone calls to contact their families, but we did not provide mobile phones, fearing they would contact other units.
The Sixth Interviewee: Bu Peng Hai, 28 years old, Division Commander of an attacking unit on Jiang Ye Star