Nijia.
A cold wind blew past, and a crystal-clear snowflake landed on a police officer's nose.
The blood-soaked officer, gripping an assault rifle, felt that fleeting chill. He touched his nose, then looked up in astonishment.
In the sky, pure white snowflakes were slowly drifting down.
Viewed from above,
to the officer's left stood a wall covered in graffiti.
The graffiti depicted a little girl, only a few years old, kneeling on the grass with a dandelion cupped in her hands. She blew gently, watching the dandelion seeds fly into the sky, a radiant smile on her face and her bright eyes filled with longing for a beautiful future.
But just then.
"Whoosh-boom!"
A mortar shell landed, instantly destroying the wall. The bricks bearing the little girl's eyes were hurled high into the sky before crashing heavily into the rubble and pools of blood.
The combat zone.
"Charge! Get up there!"
A militant with black cloth wrapped around his head hid behind cover, waving his weapon as he shouted over and over, his expression vicious.
Yet when the other militants heard his orders and charged forward through the hail of bullets,
not only did he fail to charge with them, but when a stray bullet struck his cover, he even retreated a few steps and moved to a safer position.
Similar scenes
were playing out in every corner of the combat zone.
The occupied zone.
"Aah-"
Piercing screams of agony echoed above the city.
"Bang-"
Cold gunshots rang out from time to time, keeping the screams from fading for long.
The nauseating stench of blood permeated every street corner in the occupied zone, growing thicker and thicker!
Beside the ruins destroyed by the fighting
lay one mangled corpse after another!
Strangely, however, bodies in black police uniforms made up only a small portion. Most of the rest were civilians dressed in all sorts of everyday clothes!
Several of the bodies were completely naked.
A closer look revealed that these filthy bodies, subjected to every kind of humiliation, were all women.
Several militants in camouflage leaned against the nearby ruins, leisurely smoking. The slowly rising cigarette smoke mingled with the billowing smoke of battle, blotting out the entire sky.
The sun had clearly risen, yet darkness was still devouring the earth!
"Is this... snow!?"
A doctor in a white coat already soaked with blood stood at a window, looking up at the sky outside in astonishment.
In the Republic of Burkina, one usually had to wait until late December, or even mid-January, when temperatures reached their lowest, to barely catch sight of a few falling snowflakes.
Yet now... it was only early December, and heavy snow was already swirling through the air!
"Is heaven weeping for us?"
The doctor murmured to himself.
Just as the doctor was immersed in sorrow, a nurse's urgent call jolted him out of it.
"Doctor, what are you still standing there for? Hurry over! Several more critically wounded patients have come in from the front line. They're in very serious condition and need surgery right away. The other doctors already have their hands full. You're the only one who can just about manage it now!"
"Huh? All right, I'm coming!"
The view shifted outside.
The hospital where the doctor worked could be seen: Nijia Public Hospital, located in the city's central district.
It was the only proper large hospital in all of Nijia!
Police headquarters.
"Wee-woo, wee-woo-"
The shrill police sirens made such a racket that even the rats in the sewers could find no peace.
A policewoman carrying a document splashed through a puddle and hurried into the police station. Two fully armed SWAT officers stood at the entrance she had just passed through.
The moment she entered the station, voices reached her from every direction.
"Hello? Can you hear me? This is police headquarters!"
"What? What did you say? Please repeat that!?"
"Second SWAT Squadron, your assignment is to reinforce the southern defensive line. Understood?"
"What? You want to report a crime? Someone stole your things? Fuck you! Do you have any idea what's happening right now? We really don't have time for this. Figure it out yourself!"
"Chief Klein, you must hold your position. Reinforcements are already on the way!"
The policewoman paid these people no attention, running straight toward the commissioner's office instead. In her haste, she even collided with another policewoman carrying a stack of documents.
"Sorry!"
The policewoman did not stop to help pick up the documents scattered across the floor, leaving only an apology behind.
The commissioner's office.
The old policeman stood by the window, gazing at the city engulfed in war and listening to the ever-closer gunfire and shelling, his eyes filled with despair.
"Creak-"
The policewoman pushed open the door and hurried inside, her face panicked as she said:
"Commissioner, we have a serious problem! Street 213 has fallen. Our northern defensive line may not hold!"
After her words fell,
"..."
the entire room seemed to fall silent for several seconds.
"Commissioner?"
The policewoman called softly, somewhat puzzled and worried.
The old policeman turned around. For some reason, the despair in his eyes had vanished without a trace. All the policewoman could see in them now was resolve.
"What are you panicking for? It's only one street. How could the entire northern defense collapse over that? Relay my orders: send the Third SWAT Squadron from the reserves to the northern defensive line."
The old policeman's voice was utterly calm, without even the slightest trace of panic.
"Yes, Commissioner!"
Perhaps affected by the old policeman's composure, the policewoman, who had been so panicked and frightened, actually calmed down as well. She saluted him, then turned and left.
Yet barely had the policewoman left
when the old policeman's sigh sounded in the office.
"Haah-"
The old policeman shook his head helplessly.
He looked as though he had aged several years in those few moments.
It seemed the news that Street 213 had fallen had struck him harder than his outward composure suggested.
"Street 213 has fallen. I thought the east, as the main battlefield, would give way first, but now... if I'd known, I wouldn't have deployed so many people in the east!"
The old policeman muttered to himself, full of regret.
Just then,
"Ring, ring, ring-"
the telephone on his desk rang.
"?"
The old policeman frowned. Who would be calling him at a time like this?
He left the window, walked over to the telephone on his desk, picked it up, and asked:
"Hello?"
The next second, a voice very familiar to the old policeman came over the phone:
"Old William, it's me!"
Old William froze at the voice, then said in disbelief:
"Mayor Jerk? Why haven't you left yet!?"