Munitions Empire

In the not-so-dense forest, a soldier from Battalion 2 was conducting a search and reconnaissance. His squad had not yet been fully armed, so they could only follow behind the main force, clearing the woodland near the landing site.

Their purpose in searching was to find the local indigenous people and scattered soldiers from Shenguo, capturing these prisoners to prevent them from posing a threat to the landing troops.

"Why are we so unlucky?" griping a pistol, the soldier pushed aside the leaves in front of him and complained to his comrade, "Others go straight to building their careers, but look at us, rummaging through the woods looking for rabbits..."

"Tell me about it!" The soldier walking beside him used the dagger in his hand to chop through obstructing branches, his face showing equal disdain.

There was no helping it, as they were all well-trained elite soldiers. Not going to the battlefield to face the enemies head-on, but rather searching for people in this scarcely-trodden place, was simply a disgrace.

"Those deep mountains and dense forests... how long have we been walking since we left that ruined village?" the soldier with the pistol continued moving forward as he asked.

The one wielding the dagger glanced at his watch and, while continuing forward, replied, "Over 20 minutes, I guess... Not too far..."

As he spoke, the ground gave way beneath him, startling him into a quick grab for something nearby. Unfortunately, the branch he seized couldn’t bear his weight and snapped off as well.

As a result, he tumbled into a deep pit, completely disoriented.

This corpse had been lying here for a long time, covered in maggots, with flesh already decayed, exposing stark white bones, inducing an uncontrollable urge to vomit.

As he tried to get up, his hand pressed into the fully decayed flesh, the sticky and slimy sensation combined with the stench that invaded his nostrils almost suffocated him right there.

Numerous flies, due to the sudden disturbance, buzzed into flight, their droning like that of bombers passing by, seemingly bringing the whole world to life.

Enduring the repugnant touch, the soldier braced himself on the bones to push his body up, then struggled into a somewhat cleaner corner.

Only then did he muster the strength to observe his surroundings, the sights making his hair stand on end and involuntarily letting out a cry.

In the huge pit before him lay at least a hundred rotting and stinking corpses, many gnawed into skeletons by wild animals.

The white ribcages with flesh attached were broken in places, and some bodies were relatively intact, merely as rotten and stinking as zombies.

Everywhere he looked, there were corpses: men, women, children, and elderly.

The tangled hair, accompanied by flying flies, swayed in the wind, driving the soldier from Great Tang Group who’d fallen into the pit to utter despair.

There wasn’t much in his stomach, but it convulsed violently nonetheless, and in the end, he couldn’t restrain his body’s reaction—he vomited out the water and cookies mixed with gastric juice onto an arm mangled by animals.

"Vomit..." He couldn’t stop retching, when quite unexpectedly a hand reached out and landed on his shoulder from behind.

In an instant, his hair stood on end, and his muscles tensed up. Without thinking about the vomit, he spun around and let out a piercing, hysterical scream, "Ah! What is that!"

His comrade, who narrowly avoided being sliced by the dagger in his hand, hastily took a step back and promptly identified himself, "It’s me! It’s me!"

He had just seen his comrade fall into the large pit, and from above, he could also see the piled-up corpses and swarming flies below.

To save him, he descended into the large pit, only to find the stench at the bottom was truly unbearable, almost worse than death itself.

Seeing the bodies at the bottom of the pit from above was one thing, but experiencing the mountain of corpses and sea of blood up close was quite another; that’s why he regretted coming down almost as soon as he did.

"We need to get out of here," the Soldier who came down after, said while covering his nose and mouth, squinting as he spoke and waving away the gathering flies with the arm that held his pistol.

"Who are these people... why would they die here," asked the Soldier holding a dagger, not minding the disgusting fluids on his body as he stared at the densely packed corpses before him.

"I don’t know! But, I think... we’d better report this to the camp commander... or perhaps the regiment commander," the Soldier with the pistol brushed away the flies and said, his voice muffled by his hand covering his nose.

His training allowed him to, even amidst the chaos in his brain, quickly report problems he couldn’t handle to his superior officers.

"You’re right... we... need to get out of here," agreed the Soldier with the dagger, looking at the bodies under their feet.

He, too, wanted to leave this place as quickly as possible, never to return in this lifetime if he could help it—this place made his skin crawl, his expression tense, and his entire being uncomfortable.

Even the sight of the soft, decomposing flesh made him fear that some monstrous creature might burst out at any moment to kill him...

So, without looking back, he fled, along with his comrade, retracing their original path until they quickly reached their point of departure.

The ruins of the village discovered by the commander of the first battalion had now become the second battalion’s headquarters; a field hospital had also been established there, with previously injured Sailors and other casualties being settled in.

"Where’s the commander?" As soon as they returned to the ruins, the two men asked the sentry on guard, who, startled by their state, immediately led them to the headquarters.

Upon seeing the commander of the second battalion, the two Soldiers tasked with reconnaissance reported what they had seen and heard. Shortly after, an eerie atmosphere descended over the entire second battalion.

The commander of the second battalion immediately reported the matter to the regiment headquarters. The commander of the first regiment, realizing the gravity of the situation, promptly proceeded to the site of the discovered bodies with a Guard, a squad from the second battalion, military medics, and nurses.

There’s a difference between hearing about a horde of corpses and actually seeing them. When the first regiment’s commander saw the rotting bodies, he too couldn’t help but run off to the side and vomit for a while.

Everyone who saw this scene felt their stomachs churn, and even a few young Soldiers turned away immediately, not wishing to look any longer.

"Most of them seem to be civilians by their clothing... There are also some in military uniforms, Soldiers from Zheng Country," the medic, wearing a mask, returned to the first regiment’s commander and reported his preliminary observations.

"How... did they die?" the first regiment’s commander spoke and, smelling that nauseating scent again, felt the urge to vomit once more.

"It’s hard to say... It requires a careful investigation... With so many bodies, some of which have been ravaged by wild animals, it’s difficult to say what we can find out," the doctor remarked, as though discussing a routine task.

"I’ll wait here for the results!" the first regiment’s commander felt he had begun to acclimate to the smell and the scene before him: "Get me the results as quickly as you can!"

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I’m not feeling well today, resulting in fewer words. Sorry. When writing certain paragraphs, I couldn’t help but be influenced by some events, and my mood was quite low.

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