Life is Like a Journey – Chapter 125
by Little PandaVolume 5: Extra
Peace Dove (1)
Who exactly are you?
July.
Scorching heat.
Meyer City.
Government military recruitment posters were scattered across the narrow streets, shops along the road had long since closed down, heavily armed soldiers patrolled with stern faces, occasionally rats scurried along the walls, and emaciated stray dogs lay motionless on the ground.
Most tall buildings had been destroyed in the last air raid, and a precarious Red Cross flag hung from a two-story civilian house by the road.
This place didn’t treat any military personnel, only accepting civilian casualties of war.
The territorial war in Meyer City had been going on for three months. Since Lu Qingshi arrived here, she woke up to artillery fire every day.
From initially being terrified and sleepless all night, to eventually being so exhausted she’d just put in earplugs and fall asleep, she had grown accustomed to it all.
Although the front line was four kilometers away from the city center, small armed forces still infiltrated the area. While they treated patients’ broken bones upstairs, street fighting with its clanging and banging continued downstairs.
When machine guns started firing, everything else became invisible, and communication was only possible by shouting.
The most dangerous moment was when she opened her eyes one night to find a stray bullet had shattered the glass at her bedside, leaving a bowl-sized scar on the opposite wall as plaster and lime peeled away.
Lu Qingshi jumped down from the bed, brushed the glass shards to the floor, and continued sleeping on the other end.
Though it was international convention not to attack humanitarian aid organizations, and with government troops stationed here, it was relatively safe.
The only thing she couldn’t get used to was the desert heat. After completing surgery, her clothes would be soaked through with sweat.
And the pitiful amount of water for daily tooth-brushing and face-washing, probably less than Hamburger’s bowl, barely enough to dampen a towel for a quick wipe.
There was no choice – in the desert, water was more precious than oil.
“Lu-san, are you up? Yesterday the government troops notified us we must evacuate today,” someone knocked, speaking in broken English mixed with Japanese and Chinese.
If this had been back at Tokyo University, she would have laughed, but now she couldn’t find it funny at all.
Evacuation meant the front line was advancing.
Downstairs, several armored vehicles headed to the front line, kicking up dust and smoke.
Lu Qingshi opened the door, which was just a wooden board. Like the male doctor standing before her, she wore a white coat with no hospital insignia, no nationality, no name tag, no title – only a simple Red Cross armband.
Here, everything had returned to its most primitive state – simply treating illness and saving lives.
They were among the first Doctors Without Borders to arrive in Meyer City. There were several such hospitals throughout the city, treating thousands of civilians injured in the war or air raids daily.
The youngest patients were still in their mothers’ wombs, the oldest approaching their seventies, though these were the minority – after all, the first victims of war were always the weak, women, and children.
This place didn’t require sophisticated techniques, but rather exceptional courage and strong psychological resilience.
After all, they weren’t dealing with intact bodies anymore, but civilians missing arms and legs. These were the better cases – if the injuries weren’t too severe, Lu Qingshi could stitch them up. The worst she’d seen was a child whose head was half-blown off by a mortar, with the eyeball still dangling on the facial skin.
Under the skull was nothing but bloody plasma, and by that point, even those still alive couldn’t feel pain anymore.
At first, there was physical revulsion, but gradually it became commonplace.
Those who could stand here were the world’s top medical elite, their psychological fortitude beyond question.
The person who just called her was Akai Ryo, her colleague from Tokyo University Hospital. She hadn’t expected to meet a familiar face here.
Lu Qingshi found it poignant that former invaders were now serving as Doctors Without Borders in other countries – history’s wheels kept turning in repetition.
Many of the wooden beds that had crowded the corridors days ago had been cleared out, with those able to leave being encouraged to do so.
The remaining critically ill patients who couldn’t move needed trucks for transport. Usually, government troops handled this, but now with the intense fighting, they were retreating step by step while terrorists regrouped, leaving them stretched too thin.
The limited forces that could be mobilized by caring citizens and Doctors Without Borders in the city had begun evacuation last night, but by this morning, over a hundred people still hadn’t been transported out.
A military pickup truck stopped below the residential building, and a tall American officer jumped down. Akai Ryo went forward to shake hands.
“We’re so glad you could come.”
The officer quickly shook his hand and let go, his camouflaged face showing slight apology: “Sorry, doctor, this is all we can do for you right now.”
A large military pickup truck with a driver and several accompanying soldiers would escort the wounded to a safe camp several kilometers away.
Resources were scarce, but even this was enough to be grateful for.
Japanese etiquette made Akai Ryo bow instinctively: “Thank you!”
The officer stepped back and gave a military salute: “Meyer City won’t fall. Good luck to us!”
“Good luck!” Akai Ryo shouted back.
“Lu-san, the vehicle’s here, let’s go first,” Lu Qingshi was lifting a five or six-year-old child onto the pickup.
Normally, women would receive preferential treatment anywhere, but here in the war zone, there was no distinction between men and women – only doctors and patients.
“Let the children go first, I’m a doctor.”
She never backed down at home, let alone abroad.
As Akai Ryo took the child from her arms, the little girl gently clutched Lu Qingshi’s clothes. Like most Americans, she had natural blue eyes and curly hair, though one eye was tightly wrapped in gauze.
She had lost her parents in the war, as well as her right eye.
“Ma’am, will I see you again?”
The Doctors Without Borders hospital was one of the few shelters exempt from artillery fire. Lu Qingshi patted her head, and Akai Ryo saw her show a gentle smile – the first since arriving here.
She said: “Yes, child. Meyer City won’t fall, and we’ll meet again.”
The sun was high and scorching. Lu Qingshi’s white coat could be wrung out with sweat. Underneath, she wore a short-sleeved shirt and bulletproof vest, which was unbearably stuffy.
She wiped the sweat from her forehead and took a few sips from a mineral water bottle. Water droplets rolled down her neck. After three months in America, her skin had darkened slightly, and the flowing lines of her forearms and protruding collarbones had taken on a hint of wild beauty.
The midday air seemed to stop flowing, the heat unbearable. Lu Qingshi stopped after a few sips and sat resting in the shadow of the gatehouse.
Faint footsteps came from the street corner. The street had long been under martial law, and she instantly became alert, her sharp gaze darting over.
“Who’s there? Come out!”
Several raggedly dressed children looked at her timidly, or more precisely, at the bottle in her hand, licking their cracked lips.
They were afraid to approach, seeing the Red Cross flag behind her and the bulletproof vest she wore.
It was an instinctive fear mixed with a desperate thirst for water.
Lu Qingshi beckoned them over. When the children didn’t dare move, she held out the mineral water bottle and said in English: “Please.”
The leader, a five or six-year-old child, slowly took a step forward. Lu Qingshi kept her hand extended, watching him with gentle, calm eyes.
The child boldly ran over, grabbed the water bottle from her hand, and darted back without saying thank you. They unscrewed the cap and passed it around, taking turns drinking, savoring every sip of ordinary water.
After finishing, they used the empty bottle to play soccer in the street. Children’s happiness was easily fulfilled. Their chattering voices carried far, bringing life to the dead-silent street.
There were many such orphaned and displaced children. Meyer City hadn’t fallen yet – they were still among the lucky ones.
Looking at the doctor’s silent profile, Akai Ryo knew what she was thinking: “Lu-san, we’re just doctors, we can’t do too much.”
Lu Qingshi stood up, squinting against the harsh sunlight: “No, we’ve already done a lot.”
“How many patients still haven’t been evacuated?” The pickup truck returned from afar, kicking up dust. The driver, a young government army private, jumped down and slammed the door.
“Still half,” Akai Ryo ran into the hospital with others, Lu Qingshi following closely behind.
“Oh God, we need to hurry. I just received orders from my superior – we must evacuate before dark. If we can’t make it, we need to get the doctors to a safe camp. We’re launching a general offensive before dawn.”
Akai Ryo shrugged and smiled: “We’re already moving as fast as we can, but what can we do with so many civilian casualties? We Doctors Without Borders should be fine – the anti-government forces won’t harm us.”
Just as he finished speaking, a whistling sound filled the air. A shell, visibly trailing a long tail, streaked across the sky and landed in a nearby block with a deafening explosion.
The world spun. Instinct made Lu Qingshi roll on the ground and steady herself against a pillar. Without earplugs, her head felt like it would explode, her eardrums buzzing.
The Red Cross flag hanging at the entrance was blown over by the heat wave. Small pebbles rolled across the ground as thunderous sounds began.
The American private shouted at the top of his lungs: “But the terrorists will!!!”
Gunfire erupted.
“Prepare for battle!”
Unable to tell who was firing, Lu Qingshi felt as if she was trapped in a huge glass dome, with debris and sand painfully pelting her head and exposed arms.
She gritted her teeth and pulled earplugs from her white coat pocket. Just then, a shell landed in the middle of the courtyard. The freshly hung white sheets instantly turned to ash, and a nurse running with a child was blown in half. Dust and blood mist sprayed everywhere, with dismembered limbs landing before her.
Akai Ryo got up from the ground, covered in dirt: “F*ck! This is a Doctors Without Borders hospital, we’re a neutral organization! Who the hell is attacking us!”
The private pulled the bolt, ejecting an empty magazine: “It’s the extremist organization! They don’t care if you’re neutral or not! Doctors, run! I’ll cover you!”
The gunfire drew closer, and government troops from nearby stations began converging on their position. Lu Qingshi rolled up from the ground: “Akai-san, you go to Ward One, I’ll evacuate Ward Two! Meet at the back door!”
“Hurry! Run this way!” Each ward was just a corridor with several rooms. Ward Two housed injured children. Several doctors and nurses helped her escort these people to safety, carrying those who couldn’t run in their arms as they rushed downstairs.
“Doctor… doctor…” As Lu Qingshi finished searching the last room on the third floor and was about to rush out, she heard a fragile call from the furthest bed.
She gritted her teeth and turned back. The plump but agile Black female nurse behind her slapped her thigh: “Oh my God! Dr. Lu!”
Neither too late nor too soon, a shell hit the building opposite them. The entire structure collapsed with a thunderous roar, the shock wave rippling through. The floor beneath them shook violently, and glass shattered with a crash.
Lu Qingshi grabbed the child and rolled under the bed, waiting for the explosion’s aftershocks to pass.
The nurse, with her robust figure, extended her hand: “Are you alright, Dr. Lu?”
Lu Qingshi passed the child to her just as the whistling sound of shells mixed with machine gun fire filled the air. She slid out from under the bed.
“Go go go!”
The nurse, holding the child, watched her back: “What?! Wait for me!”
Halfway through their escape, Akai Ryo came to help: “Is everyone evacuated?”
Lu Qingshi handed over the child: “This is the last one.”
The military pickup was already waiting at the back door, with about a squad of soldiers gathered. Akai Ryo first lifted the child onto the truck, climbed up himself, then reached out his hand to her.
Lu Qingshi grasped his wrist and was pulled up. The nurse scrambled up using both hands and feet. The truck was packed like a herring can.
There wasn’t even space to put her feet. Lu Qingshi stood up, surveying the surroundings. The main battlefield between government forces and anti-government forces was in the northeast, with rolling smoke and occasional mushroom clouds rising.
Though both sides tacitly avoided firing shells into the city center.
The terrorists were different – smoke rose throughout the city, and gunfire hadn’t ceased since it began. Shortly after their truck departed, the residential building behind them was razed to the ground.
As for the critical patients who couldn’t be evacuated from the hospital in time…
Lu Qingshi lowered her eyes, but before she could feel sorrow, a shell whistled overhead, and a nearby soldier pushed her down.
“Get down! Watch out!!!”
The vehicle, which had been weaving through the city, came to a complete stop. The windshield shattered, the driver slumped over the steering wheel, foot still firmly on the brake, with a deep crater in the ground ahead.
The American soldier in the passenger seat’s eyes instantly reddened as he gripped his weapon: “F*ck! F*cking N*zis!”
He pushed his comrade’s body from the driver’s seat, grabbed the blood-stained steering wheel himself, and prepared to power through the crater.
They could only go straight to leave the city, with heavy artillery fire on both sides. The terrorists’ gunfire drew closer, bullets pinging against the vehicle’s body.
The soldier slammed on the brakes, and several soldiers on the truck roof jumped down with their guns, exchanging fire with the opposition, resulting in carnage.
This was her first time experiencing such close-range combat between government forces and terrorists. Few soldiers remained to escort them, and the truck was full of vulnerable civilians with no ability to fight back. She couldn’t even raise her head under the gunfire, only hearing the interweaving “bang bang bang” and “rat-tat-tat” sounds.
After being here so long, she could barely distinguish between single shots and automatic fire. The government forces were constantly suppressed by enemy fire.
Akai sat beside her, sweating profusely, gripping the gun an American soldier had just given him.
A stray bullet grazed her helmet and struck a woman nearby, leaving a bright hole in her forehead before she fell backward. A little girl threw herself forward, crying out “Mama!” in Arabic.
Lu Qingshi’s heart jumped, horrified by such inhumanity. She instinctively reached for her pocket and broke into a cold sweat.
Where was her keychain?!
She searched the other pocket but found nothing. She’d already removed her white coat, remembering she’d put it in her pocket when taking it off. It must have fallen somewhere, but where?
She recalled the places she’d just been and suddenly stood up: “Akai, you go ahead, I need to go back.”
Akai Ryo tried to stop her: “Are you crazy?! That area might already be occupied by extremists, and even the government forces are overwhelmed – no one can save us!”
Lu Qingshi shook her head, taking advantage of the firefight ahead to climb down before the truck could move: “It’s something very important. Losing it would be worse than death.”
“Hey!” Akai stood up, but she had already disappeared into the alley.
Perhaps because most of the firepower was drawn elsewhere, the alley was eerily quiet. The ground was pockmarked with craters from shells, making Lu Qingshi’s running unsteady.
The path she had just taken was now unrecognizable, with both sides of the street reduced to ruins.
Following her memory to the intersection, Lu Qingshi spotted a corner of red fabric barely visible under the rubble nearby.
She sprinted over, searching through the debris with bare hands for the small keychain. Her hands were cut and bleeding from the rebar, large beads of sweat rolling down her temples.
The air seemed to stop moving, and the artillery fire quieted down. As she searched, she couldn’t help but remember her face.
Since coming here, she had tried calling her several times, but each time she spoke, the other person would hang up, eventually refusing to answer any unknown calls.
She must hate her deeply.
But that’s exactly why Lu Qingshi couldn’t lose this small piece of precious memory.
This tiny keychain carried all her longing for Gu Yanzhi.
Finally, her bloodied hands felt the familiar object in the crevice. Lu Qingshi wept with joy, but just as she was about to retrieve it, a cigarette butt landed on her head.
She slowly looked up to find several burly men with American features and beards surrounding her. They wore no uniforms or insignia, held guns, and their expressions were cold and malicious.
Like venomous snakes with their dark gaze fixed on their prey.
The men whispered to each other in Arabic, leering at her with lecherous grins.
Lu Qingshi’s skin broke out in goosebumps.
The extremist organization!
She clutched the keychain tightly and ran!
The terrorists were stunned, seemingly surprised that she dared to run even when alone. The “bang bang bang” of gunfire erupted.
Lu Qingshi ran blindly, falling from the ruins, then getting up while clutching her arm. The men behind her pursued unhurriedly, shooting at the places she ran past like hunting a mouse.
She instantly understood – these men didn’t want to kill her, they wanted to capture her alive, either for entertainment or to negotiate with the United Nations.
She had personally seen a female journalist who was rescued after three days in captivity and brought to their hospital – covered in wounds, especially in her private areas, burned with cigarettes, whipped, violated with bamboo poles, mutilated, forced to service over twenty men…
How could Lu Qingshi not be terrified?
She trembled with fear, her teeth chattering.
She heard the “click click click” sound of fear coming from her own mouth.
Her limbs had gone weak, without an ounce of strength, but she couldn’t fall. She had to run with all her might, run, run… until her last breath.
Behind her, the footsteps of these devils followed like shadows.
The gunfire grew more intense, with a couple of stray bullets hitting near her feet. The group seemed to be losing patience.
Someone shouted in American English, firing into the air, signaling her to surrender.
Lu Qingshi fell to the ground, her knees in excruciating pain. She clutched the keychain and crawled forward inch by inch.
Even if she died… she couldn’t let these scum violate her.
Suddenly the light darkened, and her face turned ashen.
A tall wall blocked her path.
The street had reached its end, with nowhere left to run.
The leader, a huge man, lifted her like a chicken, while the others laughed raucously, shooting into the air in victory.
She saw a man in his twenties with a baby, five or six months old, impaled on his bayonet, blood running down his arm.
These people were savage, crazy, brutal, bloodthirsty…
They didn’t deserve to be called human!
Lu Qingshi’s eyes instantly reddened, her survival instinct making her frantically beat at the man’s arm. Her futile struggles seemed to amuse the group.
The man slammed her to the ground, her back hitting hard against the solid wall. Lu Qingshi’s vision went dark.
The terrorist lifted her chin with his black gun barrel, examining her face with its distinctly East Asian features.
In the West where beautiful women were common, this face was still memorable enough. Cold sweat ran down her delicate features, and even in captivity, her expression remained unyielding.
The man asked in broken English: “Chinese.”
Lu Qingshi panted heavily, staring intently at him, trying to find any weakness: “Yes, China has always been a neutral country, not involved in any territorial disputes. If you kill me, the Chinese military won’t let this go!”
The man laughed, pressing the black gun barrel against her forehead: “Lady, this is the Middle East.”
Lu Qingshi’s heart instantly went cold. She breathed heavily, watching as the man held the trigger, warning her not to move.
The men behind began removing their clothes, impatiently unzipping their pants.
“Let’s see how Eastern women compare to Americans.”
She understood this Arabic phrase.
Lu Qingshi’s eyes slowly released two streams of tears.
The bulletproof vest was violently torn off and thrown aside. Someone pulled open her collar and reached inside. Lu Qingshi closed her eyes in humiliation and bit her tongue.
Before she could bite down hard, a gunshot rang out beside her ear, and the man on top of her fell onto her chest with a grunt.
Small stones rolled onto her head. She looked up to see a soldier in desert camouflage standing on the two-meter-high wall.
From this angle, she could only see the soldier’s strong jawline, everything else hidden behind a bulletproof mask.
For some unknown reason, Lu Qingshi suddenly felt an overwhelmingly familiar sensation that brought tears to her eyes.
The “rat-tat-tat” of machine gun fire was deafening. Lu Qingshi covered her ears as amber-colored shell casings rained down from above.
The attackers instantly exploded into a mist of blood. The soldier leapt down from the wall, their large silhouette casting a protective shadow over her.
A feeling of security.
She suddenly relaxed.
She pondered the glimpse of short hair visible beneath the soldier’s helmet.
Tank treads rumbled at the alley entrance, crushing everything in their path. The pincer attack eliminated the small group of extremists in the alley.
As the smoke cleared, the Gatling gun barrels glowed red. Bodies lay everywhere, the heavy stench of blood nauseating.
One terrorist raised his head near Lu Qingshi’s feet. The soldier pressed the hot gun barrel down, emptying a full magazine with a “rat-tat-tat,” leaving the head completely destroyed.
Lu Qingshi swallowed hard, her trouser legs splattered with blood. These people were as ruthless as the terrorists. She quickly pulled her legs back, her heart in her throat.
The tank hatch opened, and another soldier in desert camouflage jumped down. Their uniforms bore no nationality or unit insignia, unlike government forces or rebels, and their method of killing terrorists suggested they weren’t extremists either.
The soldier spoke in Arabic, and her rescuer nodded, preparing to leave.
She glanced back slightly without turning her head. Lu Qingshi noticed her gaze on her hands.
She clutched the keychain tightly: “Who… who are you?”
“Boss, she’s a civilian. Should we take her back to camp?”
This was in English, which she understood.
The military uniform, bulletproof vest, and ammunition belt made the soldier’s shoulders appear broad. She couldn’t immediately tell their gender, so she stared intently at the back of their head.
The backlight had obscured it earlier, but now she could see the short hair beneath the helmet had a chestnut-colored sheen.
Lu Qingshi’s heart tightened: “Who are you?! Why did you save me!”
The soldier ignored her and strode away in combat boots, their fellow soldiers quickly following.
Lu Qingshi stood up and stumbled after them, trying to grab their arm but sliding down to their wrist. The soldier shook her off, causing their half-finger tactical glove to loosen.
A flash of light from their pinky finger caught her eye, but before she could see clearly, a cold gun barrel pressed against her throat.
She stepped back, her eyes red as she stared at them, detecting a hint of tender emotion.
“Who exactly are you? Do you dare remove your mask and let me see…”
0 Comments