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墨書 Inktalez
"Shut up and climb up! If you come any closer, the boat will capsize!" I shouted at Liu Squad Leader.
The Landing Craft was clearly tilting towards my side, and to maintain balance, everyone had to move to the opposite side of the Landing Craft.
Cao Mingzhe and I could only move as far away from the edge of the Landing Craft as the safety harness allowed, shifting our weight towards the middle but leaning toward the other side.
The main task of stabilizing the craft fell to those on the other side, including Liu Squad Leader and A San, who were sitting on that side. Their bodies could even extend out over the edge, making their role in balancing the Landing Craft more significant.
The Landing Craft was already tilted. Just as I finished speaking, Liu Squad Leader stepped on my face.
I couldn't even pull my head back; if he lost his balance and shifted his weight, the Landing Craft could easily flip over. With an overwhelming sense of dread, I used my face to push him up.
This was typical of someone like him.
I felt he was doing it on purpose. After successfully climbing to the opposite wall of the Landing Craft, Liu Squad Leader turned back and gave me a thumbs-up. "Brother Qiang, your face is pretty tough. Stepping down like that and you didn't even break skin."
"Damn!" Other than this exclamation, I couldn't find any words to express how I felt at that moment.
The deep tread of Liu Squad Leader's military boots was like the tires of my Black Mercedes SUV; that step nearly flattened my nose.
But I had no retort for him. Just like his skin hadn't broken, my nose was firmly pressed under his foot without any blood. Wait, did he mean that I had thick skin?
Suddenly, the tilted Landing Craft righted itself a bit. Although it wasn't a large movement, it gave us some space to shift our bodies more freely.
Under the bright lights of the Landing Craft, I saw Cao Mingzhe standing on one side of the boat's edge, one hand gripping a Drogue Chute line while holding a torch in the other hand. He lit up passing Giant Mosquitoes one by one as if he were lighting candles.
It was no joke; at that moment, Cao Mingzhe looked way cooler than Spider-Man.
His actions seemed to enhance the balance of the Landing Craft. However, no one dared to imitate or try what he was doing. It was too professional—only for experts.
I also didn't recklessly unbuckle my safety harness and remained seated at the centerline of the Landing Craft, where the safety line reached its limit. With my torch in hand, I swatted away flying insects attacking from one side of the craft.
Although we were descending fast enough to shake off the Insect Cloud above us, there were still bugs swarming around us from all sides and below; just fewer in number and density.
Moreover, the speed at which the Landing Craft was descending caused significant harm to them. I could hear countless insects colliding with its underside during our fall, making a 'thud' sound much louder than bugs hitting a windshield at high speed. The bottom of the Landing Craft must have been covered in Giant Mosquito carcasses by now.
The Flame Thrower and the signal flares had become somewhat excessive. Without a high-density Swarm of Mosquitoes attacking us, a sufficient number of torches would suffice to eliminate the insects.
However, Liu Squad Leader and another soldier's Flame Thrower had not been extinguished; only the signal flares had gone out. The other soldiers discarded the spent flares and switched to using torches to deal with the few flying insects. Fortunately, there were enough torches to give us a brief respite.
"How much farther down do we have to go? How high is this place?" Liu Squad Leader clumsily wrapped a safety line around one arm and turned to ask me.
I shot him a sideways glance and ignored him.
"Damn it," Liu Squad Leader cursed under his breath. He then asked A San beside him, "Do you know?"
It was then I noticed that A San seemed quite scared. His face was greener than spinach. He waved a torch around aimlessly, his eyes vacant.
As for Liu Squad Leader's question, he looked even more confused, his face drawn: "Who knows?"
I saw Liu Squad Leader shiver. Furious, I shouted, "With that kind of attitude, why are you even here? You haven't seen a ghost yet, but just hearing someone talk makes you want to wet yourself. And you’re practicing your courage in a graveyard? Your courage is as small as a mustard seed. No matter how much you practice, you won't get any braver!"
On other matters, Liu Squad Leader dared to argue with me, even finding reasons to betray me. But on this issue, he had no rebuttal whatsoever.
Seeing Liu Squad Leader's face turn from red to green, I felt even more inclined to berate him. I had no sympathy or goodwill for someone who had betrayed me time and again; if given the chance to kick him while he was down, I would do so without hesitation.
But before I could speak further, we suddenly flew up into the air. We had landed, and the tremendous recoil sent me soaring halfway up. The safety line seemed to have lost its effectiveness.
I cried out in despair, "Are military supplies really bought from Taobao?"
It seemed not. In midair, I saw the Landing Craft below disintegrating. The massive inertia could not be stopped even with the cushioning airbags; the Landing Craft was being smashed into pieces.
Not everyone was thrown into the air; some were left on the Ground by the safety line, but their situation didn't look optimistic either as they directly endured the hard impact. I saw them moving sluggishly on the Ground.
That was already good news; at least they were still alive.
Those who were propelled into the air might fare worse. The cushioning airbags had ruptured after the first collision and deflated instantly. When we fell back down, we would land directly on the hard Ground.
During my ascent, I continuously adjusted my body position. It was difficult; without any leverage points, I could only try my best to avoid landing headfirst. As for whether my butt or feet would hit first, that was left to fate.
I was fortunate that my feet hit the ground first. Attempting a forward roll or anything like that would have been pointless; falling straight down from such a height, inertia slammed me to the ground. My knees and one shoulder crashed against the ground, sending a sharp pain through me, as if I had broken something.
I was still holding onto the torch. The torches of the Hakka People are sturdier than a person; when it hit the ground, it sparked and flared up, but it didn’t extinguish. The burning material wrapped around the torch head remained intact.
Unable to stand up for the moment, I lay on my side, using the torch to illuminate the ground and the people who were still falling toward it.
I considered myself relatively lucky; Jack had landed face down. However, he wasn’t the unluckiest one—he fell onto a landing craft that was wide, large, and made of rubber. I saw a soldier who had landed flat on the ground; his body bounced slightly upon impact, then he showed no further reaction. He probably died on impact.
The most surprising and impressive person was Tang Yumo; she fell vertically, maintaining her body posture perfectly. After landing, she performed a deep squat that completely absorbed the impact of her fall.
‘Buzz’
Before I could adjust to my body and the surrounding environment, my ears were suddenly filled with a loud buzzing sound. Following that, in the dim light of a few weak torches, a swarm of giant mosquitoes appeared.
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