Chapter 34 - The Game of Life (Part II)

Yangtze River, Wei Hao Region. Local Time: 22:31

“Major Liu, reports of multiple engagements all along the Yangtze River! Orders, sir?” Came the frantic call from behind him, but it was soon drowned out by the other half-dozen such frenzied reports, let alone the roaring of gunfire constantly filling the air all around him.

“Major, Unit 14 reports major troop movements from our eastern flank. They’re asking permission to engage!”

“Advanced scouting post at 224.221 is reporting heavy incoming fire from several directions. They are requesting immediate assistance!”

“Sir, Units 22 and 24 have driven back the enemy towards coordinates 221.223 and are requesting permission to pursue!”

The cacophony of urgent sitreps, calls for reinforcement, requests to engage and re-engage the enemy, and the such were simply too overwhelming. It seemed as though a wall of flesh was stretching dozens of arms towards Major Liu as his complexion grew even paler and small beads of sweat became veritable streams rolling down his face, forcing him to tie a red bandana - decorated with the motif of his Red Tiger Force - around his forehead.

This was not supposed to happen. Initially, he had been ordered by Colonel Zhao to advance the assault elements of the Red Tiger Forces in a covert flanking maneuver that would trap the retreating enemy troops in a rectangle of fire and lead. Immediately and with much enthusiasm, Major Liu had personally led nearly 35,000 men in an all-out advance through what should have been virtually undetectable, and completely undefended wooded terrain, sheltered as it was by the Wei Hao Peaks and the Yangtze River. A rapid march of 2 to 3 hours, then they would lie in wait for the signal to mount an all-out assault upon the already confused and harried enemy. They would be the hammer to the main forces’ Anvil, all the while their artillery ground the enemy to paste.

In the end, Colonel Zhao had bragged about a casualty figure that would ascend to the heavens, 200,000 or more. This would be the beginning of a new legend, the Colonel had harrumphed loudly while giving his subordinates an expectant look, and as always Major Liu had been the very first to quickly catch on. He’d instantly begun to shower praise and admiration over Colonel Zhao’s incredible talent and bravery, somehow insinuating that he would upstage the Ice Emperor, Xiao Ming himself - without quite spelling it out that way, of course. No one wanted to cross that cold, cold bastard. Least of all Liu Chenji.

Major Liu Chenji was, by all outward appearances, a capable enough officer. He followed instructions to the letter, never overextending or forgetting himself. This meant that he had never truly distinguished himself either, but that wasn’t his purpose at all. All he yearned for was to reach a comfortable pension and enough seniority to buy himself a couple trophy wives to live out the rest of his otherwise trivial life in fat, indolent comfort.

Liu Chenji knew he had no outstanding talents in the field of war. Neither was he intellectually gifted. He did not even possess the tiniest hint of a heroic streak in his soul, and he did not feel overly wronged by life or fate by this. In fact, this barely even concerned him. All he wanted was to get by doing as little as possible while earning as much as he could. This very practical attitude, in turn, allowed him to gain an appropriate view of himself and thus further develop the single ability he did possess: bootlicking.

Liu Chenji was a master at fawning over others, especially if it would lead to his own advancement in the wake of someone else’s rising star. Thus, when the then Liutenant Liu had met Colonel Zhao while the latter was still a mere captain, it had been the birth of a new breed of asslicking. By displaying a shameless facility to kiss his superior officer’s ass, he had smoothly risen up the ranks of the military. Though his colleagues had mocked his brown-nosing ways behind his back in the past, they could no longer afford to do so, and instead began to brown-nose Major - and soon to become a Colonel, after this glorious battle - Liu Chenji. Indeed, this battle would usher in a new era of military achievements and subsequent riches for Liu Chenji.

The first sign that something was wrong had been the muted blip from his personal com device conducting its routine perimeter scan and suddenly reporting an unidentified electronic signature. It nearly gave him a heart attack. As soon as he’d seen the blinking light in his com display, he had thought it was an enemy claymore mine ready to vaporise him in a gruesome shower of flesh and blood within the next second. In his long military career, he’d watched plenty of people to whom it had happened. In fact, it was one of his own favorite tactics against an enemy.

As he squeezed his eyes shut and held his breath, seconds passed while the soldiers around him slowly began to share bewildered looks. It hadn’t been a trap. Then, what was it? Surely, something must have triggered the perimeter scan?

In the end, they’d found a tiny proximity alert scanner buried under a nondescript bush not ten feet away from them. At first, he had been ready to order the imbecile who had deployed the scanner to explain why the hell he would plant such a device when engaged in a rapid advance through neutral territory, when it had hit him. Why would he, indeed? Such devices were almost outdated, since their usage had seen a steep decline upon the advent of more technologically superior tools.

Upon closer inspection, the device hadn’t been one of theirs. Instantly, Major Liu had passed down orders for all troops to be alert and ready for enemy scouts. They absolutely had to catch them before their enemy caught wind of their presence. Thankfully, the radiation storm overhead would prevent such scouts from relaying the information back to the enemy command. All troops had resumed their march with renewed urgency, as it was essential that they remain undetected.

Instead, and much to their dismay and bewilderment, they’d found more and more of the proximity alert scanners, dotted here and there throughout the forest. Just as they stumbled across one more such, the sounds of gunfire had erased all trace of Major Liu’s constant confusion, and instead replaced it with a strange combination of fear and excitement.

Enemy contact!

Liu Chenji had instantly been able to recognize the fact that it didn’t seem like a whole division. Rather, it seemed like a couple thousand men at most. Perhaps an advanced scouting detachment sent to prepare an alternate escape route? In any case, Major Liu had cooly gestured to one of his subordinates, and orders had quickly been relegated for two units to detach from their force and suppress the enemy while the rest continued to move on with their main mission. Now that stealth seemed impossible, they would have to rely on speed!

Nearly 5,000 men had swiftly moved out to deal with the enemy. Even if they could not eliminate the threat, they would be able to suppress the scouting force’s movements while Major Liu pounced upon the enemy’s main army from its flanks.

That had been the beginning of the most nightmarish succession of events in Liu Chenji’s life. Enemy units would appear and disappear like ghosts, attacking from one position, then the next. As soon as he detached units to deal with a perceived threat, they received word of an enemy ambush, or yet another deadly encounter with this ghost army.

Even when they managed to pursue an enemy contingent, they would simply lose all contact with their units and subsequently arrive at the scene to find their men dead to a man in a grisly scene of death and mayhem. This was cold blooded slaughter at its best.

Let alone flanking the enemy within the next 2 hours, Major Liu realized after a mere half-hour, that the situation was critical. Somehow, the enemy had managed to quietly infiltrate over 40,000 troops into a region his own scouts and forward elements had booby trapped and warded off against just such an incursion. No, it could even be as high as 50,000 troops.

“Intelligence reports be damned,” he growled miserably to himself, cradling his throbbing temples between his shaking fingers, “I have more and more of the ghostly bastards crawling from under every single tree and rock in his god forsaken forest.”

As if to further accentuate his point, a new savage barrage of gunfire erupted from the woods to his left. He fancied that he could even see the flashes of light through the thick undergrowth. That was just too close for comfort!

“Eh, Captain Han, we will withdraw towards the other side of the Yangtze River and fortify our positions. Meanwhile, send urgent word via aerial couriers both to Colonel Zhao and Colonel Hong Fei that the enemy has positioned over 60,000 men within these woods and we have the opportunity to annihilate them here and now. Our troops will engage in a holding action while they lead their forces to slaughter the enemy here!”

Mechanized aerial couriers had the limitation of range and were reserved for emergency situations when normal routes of communication were severed, such as this case. Although they posed a great danger of being intercepted by the enemy, by this point Liu Chenji figured that both sides had practically revealed their whole hand to one another.

It was not the time for timidity. Instead, it was the time to ruthlessly crush the enemy resistance!

Colonel Zhao still had over 40,000 men lying in wait back across the Yangtze River. As for Colonel Hong Fei, he should still be pursuing the remnant of the enemy’s main army, all the way from the Wei Hao Peaks down to the Glass Plateau. That meant there were over 70,000 men a mere hour or two from this location on the other side of this forest under Colonel Hong’s command.

“Try to kill off Major Liu Chenji of the Red Tiger Forces with just 70,000 men, will you?” Major Liu growled furiously, then flinched miserably and ducked as a stray bullet ricocheted not twenty feet from where he stood. “Damn you, Federation dogs! You may have forced me back a step for now, but I will return and crush you utterly. Utterly!”

Turning around like a dog with his tail whipped, Major Liu Chenji hunched his shoulders inward while leading his men back towards the fords of the Yangtze River they’d just crossed.

Glass Plateau, Wei Hao Region. Local Time: 23:06

“General, our EM fields have reached critical levels. The generator is no longer able to..” a young officer cried out desperately, waving his hands as though he would somehow bodily urge me into action if only he could.

I must ignore this idiot, I thought to myself. Even if he’s too stupid to obey orders and stay put, even if he’s just a fragment of soul energy insistently trying to wriggle itself under my skin like the crabs on a cheap hooker, I can stay calm, remain focused, keep cool. Yeah, I’m better than this. I don’t need to resolve my every itch through acts of premeditated murder.

Just as I found my fingers unconsciously reaching towards the gun holstered by my hip, just as naturally as scratching an itch, the constant barrage of explosions outside our EM field abruptly stopped.

The captain stopped in mid-sentence as he stared in confusion at the spiraling tendrils of blue-white energy crackling through the energy barrier, then slowly dissipating as a disturbing silence fell upon the ridge we stood upon.

“What the feck is this now?” came a muffled voice from somewhere in the ranks, voicing the same question running through everyone’s mind - except mine.

“Well done, Stahl,” I grinned, as I turned around and began to issue orders one after the other. In short order, our whole camp came to life as men scuttled back and forth under my steely gaze.

“Now, you just need to hold.”

Upper Wei Hao Peaks, Wei Hao Region. Local Time: 23:06

“What the hell is that idiot doing?” Colonel Zhao screamed in rage as he smashed yet another display screen under his furious fist. “How could he have stumbled across a hidden enemy contingent of 60,000 men? Why there, of all places?”

He shifted his gaze to another screen, glaring at the map displayed before him in complete fury. He had gone against orders to commit almost half his forces to this assault force. Should they be inefficient, or even worse, meet defeat while maneuvering in blatant disregard to his instructions, he could end up losing his commission. Or even worse, even his life would be threatened!

All these painstaking years of taking mad, desperate gambles to achieve the heights an ordinary commoner, little more than a street urchin, could never even hope to aspire, and it would all be brought down by an incompetent fool blubbering in panic before a force that would likely only number 40,000 at most. He knew that coward Liu Chenji’s true colors, and while he knew the enemy numbers in that accursed forest were well under 50,000, let alone 60,000, he was also well aware that his entire bloody military career, and his glorious future hung upon a thread from the hands of this clown.

I should have kicked him out on the street the first time I saw his sniveling, brown-nosing face

Should Colonel Zhao take the rest of his forces to save that fool from the deathtrap he’d dug for himself, what justification could possibly be rendered unto the Ice Emperor’s unforgiving gaze? Surely, the order to run down the enemy would come down any second now, as soon as the radiation storm passed its course.

Although at first Colonel Zhao had raged and fumed at the green-tinted clouds above, wondering how the heavens could be so willing to curse his endeavors that they’d deny him the opportunity to receive the command to finally rush into battle and finish off all his opponents, it now became a life-saving grace which shielded him from having to answer to General Ming’s summons.

Still, the storm could not last forever, and even if it did, he knew well that one way or another the Ice Emperor would find a way to notify him when the time came. Earlier, he had been impatiently pacing back and forth while fuming, but now cold sweat rolled down his neck as he stared at the map, wondering how he could save this impossible situation from the disaster it was headed to.

Then, suddenly, inspiration struck!

“Quick, zoom out of sector Z-4, rotate to vector 23,” he called out, a hint of hope in his voice.

As the rugged terrain of the Wei Hao forests and the Yangtze River gradually shrunk in size and his perspective shifted to the northeast, he saw a series of blue squares nestled within a tiny valley between the holds of one of the lower Wei Hao Peaks.

“Identify that unit,” Colonel Zhao ordered agitatedly, not daring to believe his good fortune!

“Sir, instruments show they’re the 11th auxiliary artillery unit, 12 166mm Howitzers and their supporting-”

Zhao raised a hand to cut off any further chatter, and instead immersed himself in his own thoughts. It seemed the heavens had not truly forsaken him! They had left him a way, surely it was a way out of this mess!

Lifting his head with a new glow of hope alighting upon his face, he called out, “Captain Yan, you are to immediately send an aerial courier both to General Xiao and Colonel Hong Fei. Scouting units from the Red Tiger Forces have detected a major enemy incursion headed through the Wei Hao Forest in the direction of the auxiliary artillery unit. In order to save these key assets, I, Colonel Zhao Luqing shall engage in an emergency interception maneuver. Requesting urgent aid immediately, over 80,000 enemy troops reported on the move.”

Grinning fiercely at his own ingenuity, Colonel Zhao turned around to issue the orders for his troops to move immediately. After all, if that bitch of a storm overhead happened to disperse before he arrived at the forest, there would be hell to pay.

He would arrive at the Wei Hao Forest and rendezvous with Colonel Hong Fei’s forces, as well as the rest of his own Red Tiger Forces. They would then crush the enemy forces within the forest, then strike in an all out attack against the exposed flank of the enemy’s retreating main army.

Afterwards, Zhao Luqing would bask in all the glory from the innumerable casualties he would inflict upon the enemy, while throwing the grossly incompetent and insubordinate Major Liu Chenji at the Ice Emperor’s feet to placate his anger.

Yes, the heavens were righteous. Truly righteous!

Yangtze River, Wei Hao Region. Local Time: 23:06

“8th, 9th and 11th Companies are at 35% strength. 1st and 3rd Companies at 55% strength. 4th, 6th and 12th companies are at 70%. The rest of the companies are at over 90% operational strength."

Loses are within optimal parameters.

Stahl’s mind rapidly absorbed the information as he compared it with his own mental inventory of his own forces, brutally running a tally in his head of those who had been killed or wounded and were unable to continue fighting. Even those who might otherwise have been able to survive were left behind as his forces swiftly transitioned from one site to the next with lightning precision and timing.

Enemy troops acting within expected moves. Spring is born anew, and a new Game of Life parts its delicate petals to taste fresh blood.

“Sir, the last of the straggling companies, 14th company has rejoined the force and taken up position as ordered,” came Captain Worthy’s hoarse voice, barely more than a whisper. The man looked far worse than he sounded, however, as his eyes were bloodshot and his face was completely bloodless.

“Well done, Captain. Now, order all units to stand by. Fire on my orders, concentrated salvoes on each priority target,” Stahl called out dispassionately. His gaze remained distant, his hand constantly flicking the small stone held within his hand.

Captain James Worthy found himself incapable of believing what he had been through in the past hour alone. All their units had left their orderly positions within the grid and engaged in a series of bizarre maneuvers, sometimes attacking, sometimes defending. A company would withdraw towards one direction, only to suddenly reverse its course at twice the speed the next movement. Two companies would fight side by side, only to split apart and circle in opposite directions, only to meet once more at the end of their respective loops.

If it had been speeding vehicles, Captain Worthy would have expected frantic horns blaring in panic and the screeching of tires accompanied by the heartfelt curses of dozens of irate drivers. Instead, he’d watched in stupefaction and wonder as each company in their division smoothly transitioned from one place to the next as though gliding over rails, never colliding, and often even assisting one another in the most unexpected and incredible of fashions.

For instance, 5th company had come under sustained enemy fire only to find itself relieved by the 8th and 9th companies engaging their attackers from their rear. Then all three companies had dissolved into the trees around them, leading on another force of attackers hot on their trail straight into an ambush by 2nd company. Meanwhile, 5th company had pushed forward and arrived just in time to assist 11th company in wiping out the remnants of an enemy unit that had been pursuing 1st company. In the meantime, 8th company had engaged yet another enemy unit, leading them towards another ambush site where 3rd and 6th company were already mopping up the last remnants of a enemy unit.

It was madness, but there was a method to this madness. Although it escaped the limited tactical grasp and intellectual acuity possessed by Captain James himself, at the very least he could recognize certain patterns and elements which stood firmly rooted in the midst of the all-consuming chaos.

It may even have been beautiful, had it not been so thoroughly soaked in blood.

“Yes sir,” Captain Worthy saluted, then left to issue the orders.

Yangtze River, Wei Hao Region. Local Time: 23:14

Looking back over his shoulder at the straggling line of confused soldiers, Major Liu once again cursed under his breath.

Finally, they had made it back to the Yangzte River. Though its waters spanned a wide stretch across the forest, in this one particular spot the sand and rocks beneath had formed a natural bridge that allowed a man to cross to the other side by foot. The deepest part of the river barely reached up to the waist, and though it would make for slow progress through the nearly 300 feet that the gigantic river spanned, the natural bridge was wide enough that it allowed for hundreds of soldiers to cross at the same time shoulder by shoulder. It was for this reason that this route had been chosen to expediently move the troops across the Yangtze River and to the Wei Hao Forest beyond.

Little had Major Liu imagined that just over an hour after they’d left its banks, they’d be back while licking their wounds and watching over their shoulders for pursuit. Fortunately, they had evaded encirclement thanks to Major Liu’s decisive leadership in unilaterally withdrawing in one direction. God knows how many units they’d lost in the first few minutes of engagements as enemy forces had appeared out of thin air and vanished just as quickly, though not before mercilessly executing all of his men of course.

60,000 men? Hell, more like 100,000 men! Or even more! They were simply everywhere!

They simply had to retreat as quickly as possible, and the fact that they’d encountered no enemy opposition for the past quarter hour meant they had finally left their pursuers behind. That was all well and good. He would be back with his own reinforcements, and then they’d settle accounts!

“Captain, tell those lazy ingrates to hurry up or I’ll leave them for the Federation dogs to chew over and spit out into the Yangtze,” Major Liu snarled furiously, while looking ahead at the other side of the river crossing, where far in the darkness he could distinguish the gloomy outline of the treeline promising relief from pursuit and safety at long last.

“Yes sir!” The man saluted and turned around to transmit the order when a nova of dazzling brilliance suddenly burst into life in the air above Major Liu’s miserable line of troops slowly trudging across the Yangtze River. Thousands of eyes followed the slow, steady descent of the flare that had illuminated the entire river, bring abrupt and brutal clarity into the night.

“Fire!” a cool, steely voice called out into the stunned silence.

“All companies, FIRE!” echoed another voice, and thunder answered his call.

A deafening series of booms echoed across the Yangze River as its waters were stained a deep, crimson shade. This natural crossing where the river ran shallow enough that it only reached to the height of a man’s waist lay completely bogged down by the shattered remains of human bodies convulsing in one final, futile bid to leave the deathtrap.

Thousands of voices cried out as one as some reached for their firearms, while others crouched behind the fragile shelter of another man’s shadow, but most simply scrambled and desperately dug their way through the mass of broken bodies in a mad frenzy as a final, pitiful attempt to get away from the scene of this wholesale slaughter as the combined fire of 12,000 rifles spewing forth a deadly storm of bullets at a rate of 950 a minute roared into life.

There was nowhere to run for cover, for the Yangtze River spanned a wide swath of land that only happened to widen even further as it ran shallow through this one section of its course. The trees beyond offered only doom and perdition, as those quiet woods that had seemed to offer shelter only moments before now spit forth a hail of thunder and bullets that scythed down rank upon rank of soldiers.

***

6 minutes 54 seconds and over 6,000,000 hybrid polymer casings later, a handful few fortunate survivors managed to lose themselves between the trees and the darkness.

Moments later, the flare finally set down upon the mangled corpse of one particular man. By the blood-splattered ruins of the uniform his body bore the man had been a high officer, likely a major. Though only half his face remained, utter shock and disbelief could be plainly seen in what was left of it. Incongruously, a bandana with a tiger motif printed across it lay relatively unblemished around his forehead.

“Captain, order all units to immediately set out to the northeast. We have a long night ahead of us,” called out a cool, emotionless voice.

There was only silence in the air as the flare finally began to flicker before dying and plunging the river into sweet, merciful darkness once more.

“Come, Captain. Watered by our enemies’ blood, Spring is under full bloom and the blazing of Summer is yet to come,” Stahl noted once more, a tone of grim satisfaction in his voice. “The Game of Life awaits. It has barely even begun.”

“God help us all,” answered Captain James Worthy, and every single soldier under his command instantly and wholeheartedly agreed.

Author's Notes:

I apologize in advance for any errors in this chapter. It's been a hectic week and I just now finished writing this. Kindly do point out any errors and I will do my best to fix them post haste.

Thanks for reading.