Chapter: 3124
“No!” The soldier stared blankly at Su Shoudao. He pulled out a crumpled ball of toilet paper from his pocket and tossed it at Su’s feet. “Use this!”
“Seriously?” Su Shoudao frowned. “What am I supposed to do with this? Why is it so gross? Did you use up all the toilet paper? Is this what you have in your pocket?”
“Shut up!” the young soldier snapped, his face turning red with anger. “I just took a piece when I came to change guard. It’s clean! If you don’t want it, just stop talking!”
Su Shoudao bent down, cautiously pinched the edge of the toilet paper, and unfolded it slightly. He sighed in relief when he saw it hadn’t been used, and then he stuffed it into his own pocket. He didn’t care what others thought; he hadn’t had soft toilet paper since he left Syria.
Seeing Su put the paper away, the soldier rolled his eyes. “Whatever. Just go back to your house!”
Su Shoudao was already irritated and turned to leave, but suddenly the loud sound of an air defense alarm blared throughout the base.
Even though Su had never been in a war, he was still alert to the sound of air raid sirens. Yanjing had regular drills, so he turned to the soldier nervously and asked, “What’s going on? Is there an enemy air attack?”
The soldier looked anxious as well. “An air defense alarm doesn’t always mean an attack. Our commander said that if the enemy is spotted…”
“Attention! An air defense alarm will sound within a 30-kilometer radius!”
“Damn it…” Su Shoudao felt a wave of panic wash over him. He lost count of how many curses he had muttered today. He knew that if Hamid’s base was attacked, he would be in serious danger. Bullets and shells don’t discriminate. If a shell landed nearby, who would he blame for losing his life?
Suddenly, the soldier’s walkie-talkie crackled to life. The soldier listened intently for a moment before jumping off the wall and grabbing Su Shoudao by the collar. “We’ve spotted a large number of government troops 30 kilometers south of the base. War is about to start! You need to come with me to the mountain!”
Su Shoudao rubbed his forehead, feeling overwhelmed. “No way! I can’t fight! Why would you want me to go up the mountain? Bullets don’t care who they hit. If I get shot, how will your commander explain that to Charlie Wade?”
The soldier replied quickly, “Who said anything about you fighting? I’m taking you up the mountain to hide in the reverse slope tunnel! The commander just ordered everyone to get to the designated tunnel within 30 minutes. If you want to stay here and risk getting shelled, that’s on you!”
With that, the soldier let go of Su Shoudao and walked away.
Then it hit Su Shoudao — the reverse slope tunnel was a fortification. It was hard for shells to hit it, and even if they did, the tunnels were reinforced with concrete and built into the mountains. If the army really came, hiding in the tunnel was the safest option.
Realizing this, Su Shoudao hurried to catch up with the soldier and said, “Wait for me!”
“Brother, please don’t be mad. Can I come with you?”