"Do you have any idea?! Because of you alone, we nearly died here!"
A man's furious voice rang out from the trench.
Someone tried to reason with him. "Mo Nan's just a rookie. We all went through this when we started. Give him a break, sir."
"I got chewed out by my commanding officer back then, too. Why don't you mention that?"
The moment he said that, the solemn atmosphere vanished.
Yin Chao entered the trench and saw a group of soldiers crouching inside, their faces indistinct.
A soldier with a slightly smaller build stepped forward and lowered his head. "Sorry, sir. I'll be more careful next time."
That must be Mo Nan, Yin Chao thought.
"More careful? Next time you see them, shoot to kill! Is that clear?"
Mo Nan seemed hesitant and did not answer right away.
The officer repeated himself. "Is that clear, Private Mo Nan?! Answer me loud and clear!"
"Yes, sir! Understood!"
The scene quickly shifted. This time, Mo Nan and the others soon faced a test.
They came across a village.
A village populated entirely by the old, the weak, the sick, and the disabled.
"Sir, that little girl... my daughter's the same age..."
Someone spoke up.
The man leading them said nothing. He quietly crouched down and wiped the dirt off the little girl's face.
After a long while, he sighed. "Turn around! We'll go around!"
On the road, Mo Nan ran up beside the officer, carrying a backpack even bigger than his body.
"Sir, you..."
Before he could finish, the heavily bearded officer threw an arm around him.
He handed Mo Nan a piece of chocolate in a crumpled wrapper. "Kid, some questions are better left unasked."
At those words, the other soldiers behind them began teasing him.
"The commander wouldn't even