novelaction Chapter 1029 Run!
Chapter 1029 Run!
The cold wind, like countless invisible files, tirelessly scraped across Li Shouren's shattered body.
It swirled up the snow, black ash, and some finer, indescribable particles from the ground, creating a desperate vortex among the ruins, emitting a continuous, mournful howl.
Li Shouren knelt upright on the muddy ground mixed with broken bricks and frozen soil, like a stone statue whose soul had been taken away.
Before him lay the two stiff bodies of Mr. Chen and the old butler, covered with a thin layer of frost.
Li Shouren's pupils were empty, devoid of any light, unable to even reflect the death so close at hand, as if his consciousness had detached from this ravaged body and drifted into some void where pain was imperceptible.
Only the extremely faint rise and fall of his chest proved that he was still alive.
Widow Sun and the other children Li Shouren had rescued—all pale, thin, and ragged—knelt trembling behind him.
The children buried their faces in Widow Sun's tattered cotton-padded coat, or clung tightly to Li Shouren's clothes, their small bodies trembling violently from fear and cold, emitting suppressed, animal-like whimpers.
"Clang! Clang! Crash!"
In the refugee camp, the doors of the remaining shacks, barely covered by broken planks and tattered mats, were violently kicked open from the outside with tremendous force!
The door panels shattered, and twisting sounds rose and fell, like popping beans!
"Come out! All of you, get out here! Baka! Hurry! Hurry!"
"Those who resist shall die! Kill them without mercy!"
"Kneel down! Everyone kneel down!"
Large contingents of Japanese military police, like a surging, earthen-yellow torrent, poured into this crowded, dilapidated refugee settlement from several main street intersections and gaps in the ruins.
They wore steel helmets, carried Type 38 rifles with gleaming bayonets, and had grenades and ammunition pouches hanging from their belts, revealing pairs of cold, numb, and malevolent eyes.
Their movements were swift, brutal, and well-trained; they instantly took control of all exits and high points.
In terms of combat capability, military police may be somewhat inferior to ordinary army soldiers, but when it comes to arresting people, military police are certainly experienced.
Several Type 95 sidecar motorcycles screeched and violently blocked the narrow passage. The dark muzzles of the Type 11 light machine guns on the truck beds slowly scanned the panicked crowd below, who looked like lambs to the slaughter.
Military trucks followed closely behind, their side panels suddenly slammed down, and more fully armed Japanese soldiers jumped out like dumplings being dropped into a pot, quickly spreading out to form an impenetrable, menacing encirclement!
The gleam of the bayonets, against the gloomy sky, formed a chilling halo.
Panic, like cold water poured into boiling oil, or like the most contagious plague, exploded instantly among the refugees and spread at an alarming speed!
"Ah! The Japanese devils are coming!"
"Run!"
"Mother! I'm scared!"
"Don't kill me! Please, don't kill me!"
Cries, screams, desperate pleas, painful groans from being pushed and trampled, mixed with the Japanese soldiers' harsh shouts, rough shoving, and the dull thuds of rifle butts hitting flesh, all intertwined to create a suffocating symphony of hell!
Li Shouren numbly raised his head, his empty eyes sweeping blankly over the sudden chaos and violence.
He watched as the military police rushed into every corner where people could hide, dragging out emaciated and terrified refugees like dead dogs.
Anyone who is even slightly slow will immediately be met with a violent slam of the rifle butt or a brutal kick from a leather boot!
People were forced to kneel in rows on the cold, icy ground, a dark mass of people shivering in the wind like reeds, their heads bowed low, not daring to meet those cold gazes.
He saw an elderly man whose movements were slow due to mobility issues. A young Japanese soldier, with an extremely impatient expression, kicked the old man hard in the lower back!
The old man let out a painful groan, staggered, and fell to the ground. He struggled to get up, but another soldier stepped forward and used his heavy leather military boots to firmly stomp on his hunched back, as if he were trampling on an ant.
The old man struggled in vain, his face pressed against the cold mud, emitting muffled, painful whimpers.
He then saw a young mother tightly holding an infant in her arms, kneeling on the ground, kowtowing desperately, her forehead hitting the ground with a "thud," pleading in a tearful voice: "Sir... please have mercy... the child... the child is still so young..."
A Japanese soldier wearing the rank of sergeant ignored her pleas, stepped forward, and used the gleaming tip of his bayonet to roughly tear open the tattered swaddling clothes covering the baby. The cold tip of the bayonet almost touched the baby's delicate skin. The baby was frightened and let out a heart-wrenching cry, which sounded particularly shrill and desperate in the chaos.
The atrocities were unfolding right before Li Shouren's eyes, naked and without any concealment.
Every scene challenges the bottom line of human conscience.
However, Li Shouren's heart felt as if it were immersed in eternal ice, unable to feel the burning anger or the piercing pain of sorrow, only a deathly silence, utter coldness and numbness.
Mr. Chen's death and Xiao Juan's serious injury seemed to have exhausted all his conscience and drained the last bit of his vibrant emotions.
He watched this human tragedy unfold like a bystander, indifferently, as if it had nothing to do with him.
"Yesterday, you all watched my little Juan get trampled on like this, didn't you... Hehehe..." Li Shouren muttered to himself.
Those thugs who participated in yesterday's robbery, beat Li Shouren, and ultimately caused Xiao Juan's serious injury clearly sensed something unusual when they saw Li Shouren arrive with the military police.
These military police officers acted with clear objectives and ruthless methods, unlike their usual aimless searches and intimidation.
The fear of guilt, like a venomous snake, gnawed at their hearts, overwhelming their remaining reason.
"Run!"
"Fight them!"
Three or four figures suddenly sprang up from the kneeling crowd, like trapped beasts or cats whose tails had been stepped on!
Taking advantage of their extreme familiarity with the terrain of the ruins, they recklessly rushed into the depths of the complex ruins, filled with broken walls and piles of rubble, using both hands and feet!
The passage there is narrow and full of obstacles, making it the best route to escape pursuers!
One of them, tall and thin, moved with a frantic yet ruthless air. He was none other than Wang, the steward's trusted henchman who had led the robbery yesterday and was the most arrogant of them all!