Chapter 43 Authentic
Chapter 43 Authentic
into the night.
Under the leadership of Corporal Arthur, the newly arrived death row privates began to walk out of the trenches to check and repair the barbed wire. They did it all in the dark without any light.
"When you light your first cigarette, the sniper on the other side will find you."
"When you light up your second cigarette, they'll aim for your head."
"No chance for a third cigarette, boys."
"Hurry up, check it once and then go to the tunnel to wait for the soil to be transported."
At the same time, under the leadership of the company sergeant Tommy, several people opened the wooden door embedded diagonally in the trench wall, followed the ladder into the tunnel, and the oil lamps in their hands illuminated the darkness.
The tunnel was hot and humid. Due to the rain, water droplets kept seeping out of the walls. The mud was above the ankles and made the soil softer. The wooden frame seemed to be shaking, and upon closer inspection, there were signs of cracks and erosion.
"Ji, there is no guarantee at all." Jiang He secretly complained that landslides could happen at any time.
After walking straight for a few dozen meters, two forks appeared in the tunnel.
Behind Tommy followed a bald man and an Irishman, who were his vanguard team.
"Which side do you choose?"
Tommy's tone was a little solemn. Since yesterday, the warning feedback from Supernatural had been tormenting his perception. After entering the tunnel, this phenomenon became more serious.
"Something might happen tonight."
Charles and the death row prisoner remained silent. The Prussians were also digging tunnels. Once the tunnels were connected, it would be a life-and-death struggle. Pressure and fear gradually grew.
Jiang He steadied his helmet and said, "Let's go dig the fastest one."
“That’s right.”
Tommy led his men towards the left passage. The progress on the left was slow because the Somme River had been an ancient battlefield since ancient times, and there were many mass graves buried underground. They had unfortunately encountered one before. Relatively speaking, the progress on the right was fast, but the soil layer was more strangely soft, and there was a high probability of encountering enemy tunnel soldiers.
Jiang He led the team forward. The tunnel became narrower and narrower, and in the end it was only wide enough for one person to pass through.
According to the instructions given in advance, he hung the oil lamp high up and picked up the engineering shovel to dig the soil.
The soil beneath the Somme River is chalky and soft, and it wasn't long before dust began to fall from overhead.
Charlie handed over the wooden board. Jiang He built a simple frame to stabilize the tunnel and hammered the nails into the connection.
"You are simply a natural blacksmith!" Charlie exclaimed. Blacksmiths have a skill to make a living and belong to a technical branch of the military, which in his opinion is equal to great strength.
"I just ate too much." Jiang He told the truth, without stopping his hands.
It took the death row prisoners more than ten minutes to carry the soil in the basket out. The tunnel was narrow and rifles could not be used. NCOs usually chose revolvers for self-defense, and privates all carried bayonets.
After five rounds, the work team advanced one meter.
Jiang He wiped the sweat from his forehead. The heat, humidity and lack of oxygen made this indeed not a job for a human being. His shirt was soaked and his monocle was covered in mist.
"Is there any water?"
Charlie scratched his head. "When we came down, the sergeant only gave us three bottles of rum. He said it was difficult to store fresh water in the front-line trenches. Rum could help suppress fear."
"Rum would be fine."
Jiang He didn't have time to be pretentious. He took it and bit off the bottle cap and took a few sips. The alcohol content was not very high, and it smelled like a gasoline barrel. This kind of wine was originally the standard for pirates. Charlie also drank the wine and immediately frowned. "I didn't taste any spice juice or anything in it. Those quartermasters should be shot. In Birmingham, anyone who dares to sell such inferior products will be dead on the street tomorrow."
Ten minutes later, the death row prisoner came back with a basket and saw Charlie resting. He snorted coldly.
"What are you humming about?" Charlie said with a straight face.
The death row prisoner was not afraid of him and snorted again.
Charlie broke through the defense, stood up and was about to pounce.
Jiang He suddenly shouted in a low voice: "Don't move!"
Charlie and the death row prisoner looked at each other, their pupils shrank slightly. There was an extremely subtle sound of wooden nails, and there was also a faint conversation, the sound coming from the front.
The Prussians were digging in the direction opposite to theirs.
Jiang He let out a breath. The distance was so narrow that he couldn't dodge with a big move. If the enemy concentrated their fire, he might be shot in the head before he could collect enough helmets.
Without bothering to explain or procrastinate, Jiang He casually grabbed a silver-white spear. The end of the spear was engraved with a dragon pattern full of hatred, and the hatred would last forever.
Charlie's eyes widened and he reached out to grab it, but unfortunately he found nothing.
The death row prisoner trembled as he turned off the oil lamp. In the darkness, every second seemed like an eternity for the three of them. After an unknown amount of time, a piece of dirt fell from the wall of the tunnel in front of them. The person on the other side seemed a little surprised and then stopped moving.
Charlie's breathing became more and more disordered, and sweat was oozing out of his hand holding the bayonet, but he was completely unaware of it.
Finally, the sound of engineers shoveling the earth was heard again. After just a few shovels, a big hole suddenly collapsed in the tunnel wall.
The Prussian soldier was stunned at first, then he roared to alert his colleagues. He threw the engineer shovel in his hand and then rushed out bravely.
Jiang He dodged the shovel by turning his head, and thrust out the Changhen Spear in his hand. The heavy end of the spear pressed against the enemy's chest. Without any sense of stagnation, the three thousand jin spear easily penetrated from front to back, destroying the spine and flesh in an instant.
Charles stood up with a grim face and ran towards the big hole, where he collided with a Prussian soldier and the two men fell to the ground in a tangle.
The death row prisoner stepped forward and raised his bayonet to stab, but the next second a gunshot was heard in the tunnel.
The leader of the Prussian task force frantically pulled the trigger of his revolver. Bullets flew out of the muzzle, and blood burst out of the death row prisoner's abdomen. His eyes were bulging, and he covered his wound and was unable to move. Then the second shot pierced his neck, and blood spurted out. The third shot shattered his nose and took his life directly.
Jiang He thrust his gun downwards, the barrel of the gun spanning the large hole in the tunnel wall and accurately hitting the Prussian leader's forehead. Liquid, blood and broken bones were squeezed out, and the tunnel was shattered into pieces, leaving only a blood-stained white spine.
"Ahhh!"
Charlie gripped the bayonet that fell to the ground after the death row prisoner fell, and while shouting, he stabbed the enemy's neck to vent his fear, until the wound was eroded, and then he completely lost strength and collapsed, staring blankly at the death row prisoner. He still didn't know the other's name.
"Don't rest, go and call the sergeant over here. The tunnel is dozens of meters deep, so they may not be able to hear us."
Jiang He picked up Charlie and kicked him towards the exit.
Although Charlie was dazed, he knew the situation was urgent and ran into the darkness in a flash.
Jiang He took the helmets from the four corpses and put them all into the equipment column of the authorized player. Only then did he feel a little safer. Counting the original dragon scale armor, he was now wearing an ultra-modern bulletproof vest and a multi-layer bulletproof helmet. He would basically not die easily in a hail of bullets.
The Prussian leader's revolver was also picked up and put away. There were six groups of thirty-six bullets, enough for daily use.
(End of this chapter)