Preparations for Battle

The sun rose as usual.

Only this time, something seemed different.

"Is this what hope feels like?"

"Even the sky seems brighter than before..."

Colonel Bai looked up at the sky and sighed from the heart.

The night their defenses were breached, countless comrades had died covering the civilians' evacuation. Everything had seemed so bleak that he had lost all hope for the future.

People were suffering all over the world. Where could they possibly run?

They would only stop somewhere for a while, then keep fleeing...

On the road, he had wanted to end his life more times than he could count. But his duty as a soldier had kept him going. He was glad it had, because now he could see this hope.

"Colonel, we're more or less ready."

A middle-aged technician covered in grime appeared beside Colonel Bai's jeep and patted the door.

Colonel Bai stood on the jeep's roof, overseeing his unit's preparations for battle. He was an officer with some talent for command, but he certainly wasn't going to meddle in every department's detailed arrangements.

"I don't want more or less! I want completely!"

It sounded like a scolding, but Colonel Bai's excited expression made it clear he wasn't angry.

"Yes, yes... We're fully ready!"

The technician smiled helplessly and rephrased his report.

The long march had battered their unit. They had borrowed combat equipment from other units and dug some old hardware out of storage before they finally scraped together a workable force.

Watching the soldiers bustle around him, Colonel Bai grew wistful.

He had evacuated with an entire brigade. Now he had barely enough for a tank company.

The others were in much the same shape.

General Luo had not reorganized the units at the last minute. After years of fighting and flight,