The Luleu region, East City of Cold Flow.
Artillery fire, air raids, and tank charges had lasted for ten hours. Rockets, glowing like fireflies with orange light, streaked across the dark rain clouds, a large swarm descending every few minutes. Anti-aircraft fire roared from nearby streets, its fiery barrage tearing through the clouds and blowing up small, black-bird-like aircraft mid-air, scattering metal fragments over the entire area.
When it had rained last night, East City was still a place of skyscrapers. Now, the rain hadn't stopped, but few tall buildings remained. All that was left were ruins spewing smoke, rubble of shattered bricks, steel bars, and glass strewn across the streets, washed by the rain like a disaster zone after a tsunami.
Yu Xiangyang stood in the rain, clad in a black raincoat, a gas mask covering his face, and an assault rifle slung over his back.
A long trench had been dug in front of him, where many of his comrades were busy pushing bound enemy prisoners into the ditch.
A total of forty prisoners, all wearing the gray uniforms of the Gante army, were covered in mud, resembling toads that had crawled out of a pond.
Half the prisoners were dark-skinned, and half were white-skinned, a typical characteristic of Gante army assaults. They would send troops of two different skin colors to attack a target, competing to see which skin color would advance first. Gante was called a "chess player" largely due to this habit.
But the Gante army's attack had failed. Yu Xiangyang's troops had defended the two streets nearby last night, annihilating two enemy regiments with bomb dogs, hydrogen cyanide gas shells, and mortars, leaving only these prisoners.
"Kneel properly! Don't fidget! You don't want to suffer twice!" Yu Xiangyang shouted.
Some prisoners remained motionless, like dead stones. Others trembled, but after hearing the shout, they tried their best to stop shaking.
Yu Xiangyang raised his hand, and a group of comrades immediately raised their rifles.
Yu Xiangyang dropped his hand, and a volley of gunfire erupted. The prisoners' chests were riddled with bullets, and they collapsed into the accumulated water at the bottom of the pit. Soldiers who had fired did not linger. They jumped into the pit, kicked the corpses, and then quickly climbed out, their hurried footsteps disappearing into the surrounding ruins. The Gante army was still conducting air raids, and they couldn't stay clustered in one place, as it made them easy targets.
The short-haired female reporter remained by the edge of the trench, her face pale. She raised her camera, pointing it at the pile of dead bodies in the ditch.
"Hey, don't take pictures," Yu Xiangyang walked over and said coldly. "Delete the photos, and don't report this."
"Why?" the reporter asked, stunned.
"The order from above is not to kill surrendering enemies. Prisoners are to be temporarily guarded," Yu Xiangyang said. "The higher-ups suspect that Jiang Ye doesn't like too much killing, and we urgently need to defect to Jiang Ye. We can't let him know about this. Even if you transmit the photos back, your superior won't dare to publish them, because such reports of killing surrendering enemies could lead to the city falling within 48 hours if Jiang Ye refuses to provide us with mechanical soldier reinforcements. Your superior would lose his head!"
"Since the order is not to kill surrendering enemies, why did you give the order to kill?" the reporter asked.
"Who has the manpower to guard the prisoners? Do you have it? When dawn breaks, the Gante army will launch a major offensive. If Jiang Ye's reinforcements don't arrive by then, my soldiers and I will all die here! If these prisoners aren't killed, in a few hours the Gante army will give them guns, and they'll continue advancing towards the city center!" Yu Xiangyang's tone was weary and angry. "You've taken enough photos. I advise you to leave quickly and retreat to the military headquarters building, which is the safest place. If fighting breaks out again, we won't be able to protect you!"
"Take care, then I'll be going." The reporter nodded, tucked her camera into her raincoat, and hugged it to her chest.
Yu Xiangyang turned and disappeared into the ruins, descending the steps into the underground garage.
The garage had been converted into a bomb shelter, with crates of weapons and ammunition piled high. Two rows of fallen comrades' bodies were covered with blood-stained cloths in a corner. A makeshift operating table was set up next to a ventilation shaft, where a doctor was using a saw to amputate a soldier's left leg. The soldier was unconscious on the operating table, having been given anesthesia. Next to the operating table were large, dark green plastic bags, with some arms and legs sticking out. There were also over a hundred lightly wounded soldiers, sitting on the ground in groups, smoking and eating canned food, their eyes dim, their faces like the undead resurrected from graves.
Yu Xiangyang glanced at the wounded soldiers and headed straight for the equipment room with his rifle on his back.
Data cables covered the floor, and screens lit up the walls, displaying dancing lights and data of various colors. Dozens of signal soldiers were working, sweating profusely.
The signal soldiers' work, in addition to receiving and sending orders, involved reconnaissance of enemy signals in several nearby blocks, attempting to disable enemy drones and networked artillery shells, detonating cunningly approaching bomb dogs one by one, attacking the signal systems of enemy armored vehicles, and constructing an invisible electronic barrier.
This room controlled over a thousand signal emitters, each a metal barrel as tall as a person, planted in the ruins of several nearby blocks. When the Gante army attacked, they would destroy some signal emitters, and Yu Xiangyang would have to lead his troops in fierce assaults, losing men and then deploying new emitters.
More than half of the fighting last night was for the signal emitters. Yu Xiangyang's soldiers had suffered over a hundred casualties, most of them blown to pieces beyond recognition. The bodies of the few who were killed by bullets could still be retrieved. Despite the heavy casualties for the signal emitters, they had to be protected. If most of the signal emitters were destroyed by the Gante army, the swarming drones and bomb dogs would quickly level the area, reducing all defenders to minced meat.
"What's the situation nearby?" Yu Xiangyang asked.
"Half of the signal emitters at the 106th Company's position have been lost. The air raid density on their side has increased tenfold in the past half hour. The neighboring 107th and 105th Companies are heading over with spare signal emitters to reinforce them. They encountered Gante army snipers on the way and lost over fifty men. The signal emitters haven't been delivered yet," a signal soldier said.
"The positions of the 97th, 98th, and 99th Companies have been breached. We can't contact them now; they're either all dead or still fighting in the alleys," another signal soldier said. "We just accessed a satellite signal. A large number of Gante army armored vehicles have gathered outside the 98th Company's position. They are likely preparing to concentrate their forces for a breakthrough. If these armored vehicles charge at full speed, they should reach us in about half an hour."
"Satellite signal?" Yu Xiangyang was startled. "Where did it come from?"
"The signal was received from above. We don't know where it's from," the signal soldier hesitated. "The satellite's performance is quite good. Our planet might not have such a good satellite. Perhaps it's from Jiang Ye's side."
Yu Xiangyang's expression immediately became excited. "Ask the higher-ups if the satellite is provided by Jiang Ye's army. When will the mechanical soldier reinforcements arrive?"
"We asked when we first accessed the signal, but the higher-ups haven't responded," the signal soldier explained.
"Ask again!" Yu Xiangyang's expression was tense. "Damn it, don't just give us a satellite signal! Jiang Ye has to send troops for us to hold on! If he doesn't send reinforcements, we'll all die!"