paranoianovel Chapter 1366: Pride
Chapter 1366: Pride
A sharp pain in the neck, a blackout in front of his eyes; Xie Kui looked at the protective shield that automatically sprang up around him and knew he had been defeated. Yet the intense pain in his head continued...
The feeling of dying was so real. Pain! Pain! Pain!
Xie Kui stared, glaring hard at the short, skinny but agile and ruthless girl. What was her name again?
Xie Kui gritted his teeth; he vowed revenge!
He swore he would get his revenge.
Then...
It seemed the girl had guessed his thoughts. She suddenly stepped forward, came to his protective shield, stared at it, and slightly smiled at the corner of her mouth, saying: "Stop looking. Now that you’re dead, what are you looking at?"
Xie Kui: "..."
Perhaps fearing he couldn’t hear her inside the shield, she kindly mouthed: "Rest easy; I’ll remember your contribution."
Xie Kui looked up, staring at the sky: "..."
He hated it.
Meanwhile—
Charles Commander Base, the enemy surged in like an unstoppable force, sweeping through; the defending troops stationed at the base couldn’t resist and were eliminated one by one. The lights of protective shields flashed at the Battle Center, making people worry.
Clang!
Bang!
Boom!
...
The scene was extremely chaotic. The fifth battalion almost completely overwhelmed the sixth battalion’s defensive troops. At that moment, even the squad leader and others who oversaw the entire base were helpless and desperate, not knowing whether to rescue teammates on the left or right. Or rather, they didn’t even need to think about whom to save anymore because danger had already descended upon them.
In the noisy environment, a cold arrow whistled in; the squad leader leaped up to avoid it, but upon turning, he suddenly felt cold on his back, followed by intense pain. He discovered that the enemy had appeared behind him, and someone gently withdrew a folding knife.
The squad leader turned to face a frightening face full of bloodstains — it was the girl. She smiled at him, curling her lips: "Hello, goodbye."
The squad leader moved his lips: "..."
The short girl withdrew the knife, and just as the squad leader was about to pass, he heard a boy’s loud roar from behind: "Hey! Hey! Commander, have some martial virtue, don’t steal my kill!"
"Steal my kill?"
This is a match! A match! Such a solemn event using ’steal my kill,’ such an irreverent term?
Do the enemy really look down on us?
The squad leader tilted his head, suddenly feeling a sweet taste in his throat.
Soon after, a gust of wind came.
The next second, the light of the protective shield flashed.
Ji You withdrew her hand, muttering: "Alas! Can’t even die neatly."
The squad leader glared: "!!!"
He really hated it.
Off the screen—
Watching this scene, Xia Bingbing, He Zhen, Song Ping, Yu Cheng... all those who had died at Ji You’s hands before, or because of her, were silent.
Tragic.
Truly tragic.
Inexpressibly tragic.
They couldn’t find a word other than ’tragic’ to describe it. Aside from the tragedy, although this camp battle hadn’t ended, the outcome was already destined.
Silence.
More silence.
The endless silence extended inside and outside the screen.
After a while.
Still, no one spoke; everyone focused intently on the match on the screen.
After the last defender at Charles Commander Base fell, the surroundings were left in ruins. Amid the smoke and rubble, Ji You stood beside the shattered city walls, looking at the still dark sky, standing with her arms folded behind her back, her thin and fragile silhouette appearing remarkably tall among the crowd.
He Nu, Liu Jia, He Yu... were all standing behind Ji You, their faces marked with scars, their clothes mostly torn, the cold wind whooshing... Yet everyone’s face bore a smile, their eyes shining brightly.
"It’s over." He Nu, who had been taciturn, suddenly remarked with great emotion, "It’s finally over."
Gu Peiyuan scoffed, "Where is it over? The array flag hasn’t been seized yet, the enemy commander hasn’t been cut down, how is it over?"
Liu Jia chuckled, "Sooner or later it will be."
He Yu, standing behind Ji You, couldn’t help but ask, "Commander, should we seize the array flag now?" With no enemies defending it, the array flag was like taking candy from a baby, effortless.
Standing at the forefront, Ji You wasn’t pretending to be profound; she was truly exhausted, her spiritual power and physical strength heavily depleted. The reason she could still stand firmly was that collapsing to the ground to regain strength would tarnish her commanding heroic image, which was why she held on.
Upon hearing He Yu’s question, Ji You softly asked, "Has our loss been tallied?"
He Nu was responsible for this; he stepped forward and said, "Report, the tally is complete. We sacrificed 25 people, and eliminated 203 of the enemy."
Ji You’s heart sank, "25 people?"
He Nu’s tone was slightly heavy, "Yes. Twenty-five in total." Towards the end of the battle, the sixth battalion people also unleashed their valor, suddenly exploding with powerful combat strength, fearlessly ripping a breach in the fifth battalion’s formation and breaking out with a few people. However, the few that escaped were eventually annihilated.
Hearing this, Ji You said nothing.
Behind Ji You, there came a series of exclamations:
"Major victory!"
"Only 25 sacrificed!"
"If this isn’t a major victory, what is it?"
"Previously, when we ambushed Louise Carter’s army, we only sacrificed a dozen people and took them all out!"
"Haha!"
"Amazing!"
...
Ji You listened to the exclamations and cheers from behind, her face almost entirely scoured by wind and snow, looking quite unsightly yet feeling very calm.
After a while.
Ji You sighed, "I understand."
Then, Ji You turned around, looking at the crowd behind her, suddenly raised her voice, "When you consider this a match, don’t forget the brutal truth behind it — it’s a war, a war of life and death. When the comrade stands before you one moment and falls before you the next, can you still laugh?"
The last sentence was light, yet it made everyone’s expression change.
Ji You said, "Only 25 dead, not many, right?"
Silence.
Dead silence.
Ji You said, "Should it be 250 dead to consider many?"
Still silence.
No one spoke.
The joy, excitement, mixed with a bit of pride and arrogance in everyone’s hearts was instantly extinguished at that moment.
The night continued, but the temperature was gradually rising, signaling the quiet onset of another cycle of day and night. Ji You said no more; she looked at her teammates who had fought all night and softly said, "Our battle continues, and next time, I hope not to see anyone leave."
"Everyone, follow my command—"