On the hillside outside No. 1 Station.
Marcelo, who had proclaimed himself a general, cautiously poked half his head out and peered through binoculars at the people behind the ice wall below.
"General Marcelo, they've reached their limit. Let's use our secret weapon to crush their morale completely!" A subordinate with only one ear huddled beside Marcelo like a rat.
"You don't need to tell me."
Expressionless, Marcelo pulled an automatic rifle, warmed by his body heat, from inside his coat and loaded the magazine. Then he took several steps back to make sure his head would not show above the hillside when he stood up, and gathered all his idle subordinates.
He had over a hundred subordinates. Some took turns climbing the hillside to throw stones at those below, while the rest relied on tents or snowmobiles to keep warm in the snow.
Their equipment was nowhere near as good as Marcelo's.
Most held stones, or else sticks dismantled from who knew where. Even those carrying kitchen knives counted as elites.
"My brothers!"
Marcelo raised his rifle high and addressed everyone.
"We followed the unseen guidance of the gods and rode an ark out of the world-destroying disaster to this sacred continent.
"As early as a year ago, a god gave me a revelation. He said this was the home granted to us. Down there is electricity, down there is light, down there is heating, down there is food. Down there is our land!
"Now we will take everything back and drive out everyone occupying our home!"
"Take back our home!"
"Drive everyone out! Antarctica belongs to South America!"
In the bitter wind, Marcelo's words were like a fire, whipping everyone into a frenzy.
Wearing a thick hat, Marcelo exposed half his body above the hillside, aimed at the people behind the ice wall below, and pulled the trigger.
Muzzle flashes flickered over the ice and snow, and the reverberating report carried far.
Someone behind the ice wall fell at the sound, clutching his wound and groaning in pain.
Station chief Liu Chunshi watched it happen and shouted, "They have guns!"
"Then what do we do?"
"We can't stay here and be targets!"
Everyone panicked at once, moving quickly about, afraid to hold their ground.
But while the people of No. 1 Station still had no idea how to respond, Marcelo was already calmly aiming at his next target from the hillside.
Another
gunshot rang out.
This time, he missed.
But it threw the position below the hillside into even greater chaos.
Marcelo smiled smugly. How could stones possibly hold off an automatic rifle?
If he had not been short on ammunition, he would have taken this position long ago.
He had been a bodyguard for high-ranking officials, after all, and had come out of the special forces.
Marcelo considered his remaining ammunition and decided he had better stop firing for now. There was no replenishing bullets in Antarctica. Every round fired was one less left.
He stood up and faced No. 1 Station below.
Raising the automatic rifle in his hands high, he shouted in English:
"As long as you surrender, follow the guidance of the gods, and leave our home immediately, we can spare you!"
From the position below, Liu Chunshi cursed furiously, "Get lost, you son of a bitch! This is our land! Let's see how many bullets you've got left!"
His words were followed by a great volley of stones.
Marcelo frowned. He did not understand Chinese, but the tone and expression of someone cursing were universal.
Besides, more stones were being thrown up at them again.
That, he understood.
Marcelo dropped down again and lined up his sights on Liu Chunshi below.
The man was still cursing!
His next shot would reap this man's life.
Marcelo grabbed a handful of snow, intending to test the current wind speed.
The winds in Antarctica were always strong, and their strength changed frequently.
His last shot had missed because of the wind.
He released the snow in his hand bit by bit, letting it dance on the wind.
As Marcelo watched, he suddenly felt that something about the sound of the wind was wrong.
Amid the continuous rushing wind was a completely different, very rhythmic "whup-whup" sound. It sounded more like something...
Man-made!
Memories from Marcelo's bodyguard career swiftly awakened, and he quickly recalled what the sound was.
"A helicopter!"
Marcelo looked up.
Sure enough, he spotted a helicopter on the horizon flying rapidly toward them.
The helicopter was painted in camouflage, which stood out starkly against the snowy plain.
"Why is there a helicopter? Has the North America Gang made its move?"
Before Marcelo could think it through, he saw the helicopter change direction and suddenly hover in the distance.
Then its cabin door opened, and a machine gun was pushed out!
Its muzzle pointed straight at them
!
Marcelo's heart instantly went cold.
"Run! We're getting out of-"
Before Marcelo could finish, the machine gun aboard the helicopter opened fire. A bullet as thick as a finger struck his head precisely, turning it into a shattered watermelon.
Now it was Marcelo's subordinates who panicked.
No one dared pick up Marcelo's automatic rifle, spattered with brain matter.
Whoever picked that thing up now would die!
The situation had changed too quickly.
This helicopter had opened fire the moment it arrived, without even bothering to talk things out!
Marcelo's subordinates all rushed onto the snowmobiles and drove away at speed. Most of those left behind, unable to squeeze aboard, took to their heels as well.
"What's going on with that helicopter up there?"
"Is it here to help us?"
Liu Chunshi gazed upward, mouth open. Suddenly, he spotted a conspicuous flag on the side of the helicopter. His whole body shook violently as though an electric current had passed through him, and he pointed at the helicopter and shouted to the people around him:
"Look! It's our military flag! It's our helicopter!"
Only then did the others seem to wake from a dream. Without realizing it, they crowded beneath the helicopter, waving excitedly at its crew.
Up above, Zhang Tianyuan did not know whether to laugh or cry. Several times, he gestured for the people below to clear the snow off the helipad so they could land.
Unfortunately, those below were already delirious with joy. Like a flock of sheep, they only knew to run after the helicopter and completely failed to grasp Zhang Tianyuan's meaning. Instead, they thought he was waving at them, and each grew so excited that they started shouting slogans.
Only after the pilot lowered the helicopter several times did Liu Chunshi get the message. He hurriedly organized people to clear the helipad, finally allowing Zhang Tianyuan and the others to land.
The cabin door opened, and before the rotor blades overhead had stopped spinning, Liu Chunshi ran over regardless of the danger, watching eagerly as Zhang Tianyuan and the others got out:
"Comrade, you..."
"You came from back home, didn't you?"
Zhang Tianyuan nodded without thinking.
They had come from their homeland in a parallel spacetime. That counted as back home too, surely.
Hearing this, Liu Chunshi's legs actually went weak, and he could no longer stand.
Zhang Tianyuan hurriedly caught him.
Yet all the strength in Liu Chunshi's body seemed to have gone into his wailing:
"The organization hasn't forgotten us!!"
The others began sobbing too, forcefully releasing the emotions they had bottled up for over a year...