The howling night wind swirled through the mountains, mirroring the desperate movements of figures engaged in pursuit and slaughter. The darkness and rugged terrain caused a pursuing man to fall, tumbling down the grassy slope. He quickly rose, shouting, and continued the chase. Soon, the two were wrestling, rolling into a stream that cut through the hillside.

The chaotic struggle was a reflex, honed over time. The pursuing soldier lost his steel knife, yet still swung his fists. The bent figure of the excrement collector held a similarly fierce gaze, as if transported back to the North. This was the counterattack he had fantasized about countless times upon being discovered by the enemy. He grabbed a wooden plank from the stream and swung it, striking the soldier's shoulder, then his head and face, until the young man lay bleeding and unconscious by the stream.

Already wounded by several knife cuts, Tang Minjie stood in the moonlit stream, panting heavily.

On level ground, he would have been no match for the soldier. A few slashes would likely have ended his life. But during the frenzied escape, he had the advantage of knowing the terrain, leading to this outcome.

The cold night wind blew. He looked down the mountain, recalling the image of two Chinese Army soldiers being flung high into the air by the methane explosion... he had killed his own men...

In that moment, he felt a wave of confusion, not knowing why he had run uphill. He gazed down at the farm and village, where torches were lit and people were gathering...

He stood there, dazed for a moment.

He checked on the fallen soldier by the stream, then retrieved a rope and tied the man's hands. He picked up the steel knife and dragged the soldier forward.

...

Down the mountain, at the 223 Agricultural Research Institute, the few security personnel had gathered, along with other staff members armed with knives, spears, and rakes, converging near the fertilizer composting area.

A middle-aged military officer, his eyes bloodshot, examined his comrades. One was killed instantly by the explosion, the other was barely alive – in fact, in a near death state. The institute's resident medic, with limited medical knowledge, did his best.

Chen Cirang came to assess the situation and the officer gave his name: Fang Lu, the head of the workgroup dispatched from Wenpu County. His rank in the military was quite high, far beyond Chen Cirang's own position.

Upon learning that Tang Minjie, the man who had concealed the landlord and now fled, was the cause, Chen Cirang felt the situation was not so simple and attempted to defend him, suggesting there might be a misunderstanding. Fang Lu erupted, pointing at his dead comrade, "This is a misunderstanding?! You call this a misunderstanding!? You say this is a misunderstanding!?"

Chen Cirang knew Tang Minjie's past was complex, but of course he dared not argue further. He could only accept Fang Lu's orders: "You are locals. Gather everyone you can find and guard all escape routes. We must capture him. I will interrogate him myself."

The villagers had also gathered.

Fang Lu approached his other comrade, and "Lame" also approached. "Xiao Yu chased after him immediately but we haven't heard from him. He might have fallen into a trap. Also... so many outsiders are here. Will this reach the ears of the central government?"

"Those who come back from the intelligence front are hard to deal with, which we anticipated. But why didn't he run towards populated areas? Why didn't he shout for help?" Fang Lu, his eyes red, was also confused. He looked around, pondered for a moment, and said, "Too many people, so be it. Let everyone search together. We'll go together. Do everything possible... kill him on the spot."

The crowd nodded, gripping their weapons, and headed up the mountain.

...

The mountain range behind Xiaoye Village was not small. Tang Minjie dragged the Chinese Army soldier, moving further into the mountains. After a while, the soldier shook his head and gradually regained consciousness. Tang Minjie then used the steel knife to force him deeper into the mountain.

The young soldier's head was covered in blood, his mind still unclear, as was Tang Minjie's. This sudden event had shattered the dreamlike state of the past six months. He wasn't even sure what he was supposed to do next, how to do it, or even why he was doing it...

He shouldn't have gotten involved in this again.

The previous night, the accusations made by Old Master Qiu, hiding in the manure bucket with his injuries, had piqued his curiosity. The man was badly wounded and lacked solid evidence, but he said things that Tang Minjie didn't know whether to believe, so he subconsciously made some arrangements, waiting for the man to walk into the trap.

If Old Master Qiu had been forthright, everything would have proceeded fairly. Someone would have come to find him, to question him officially – he believed that was how it should have gone.

All his reactions were subconscious. Too practiced.

So much so that when the soldiers came to kill him, Tang Minjie was somewhat at a loss.

The scene of the methane explosion killing two men was like a hammer blow to his head. What was the point of all this? Why had things suddenly come to this?

At one point, he heard the soldier ahead coughing violently, spitting out blood, then cursing through clenched teeth: "... Why? Why... Why are you doing this for a bastard?... You have the guts to kill me! Kill me!"

Tang Minjie remained silent, then said, "I'm sorry..."

"You won't live." The soldier said, "You know you won't live... You know they are all heroes, my brothers, they all fought the Jin dogs in bloody battles. What are you? You're a coward! You were sent here to collect manure because you knelt before the enemy! You coward! I'm telling you, you won't live—"

Tang Minjie pushed him forward with the knife. He agreed with part of what the soldier said.

"But you... why are you doing this kind of thing..."

"We... we're doing this for the good of the Chinese Army..."

"No." Tang Minjie shook his head. "You force people to sign land deeds, then kill their whole families. When the land reform is complete, you use the deeds to get money, and there are other transactions in between..."

"Slander! You have no proof—"

"It can't be hidden. It's easy to find out if you investigate. The temporary land deeds have to be filed and falsified, which means you have friends in the government. But many locals know which land belonged to the Qiu family before. You can fool outsiders, but if there's a direction to the investigation, it will be easy to expose you..."

"..."

"Also... you coming to kill me is like admitting guilt. What happened to you all..."

"... " The night wind blew across the mountain ridge, rustling the leaves in the woods. The soldier was silent for a moment. "... What right do you have to say that, you who betrayed your comrades?"

"I don't mind you killing people, even if it's a bit extreme, it doesn't matter. I didn't want to interfere originally," Tang Minjie said. "But the Chinese Army can't become like this, enriching themselves with public funds..."

"Enriching ourselves with public funds?" The young soldier smiled and tilted his head. "We won this world."

Tang Minjie looked at him.

"My brothers won it!" The soldier said. "Won it, risked their lives. Do you know how many brothers died early, how many were crippled, how many left behind large families? You coward, do you know? Today's Chengdu, a world of flowers, belongs to others? Do you know how many of my brothers' families can't afford to see a doctor when they're sick, can't afford good medicine? Do you know when we go to Chengdu, our annual stipend isn't enough to touch a girl's hand?"

Tang Minjie said nothing.

"Isn't that crude? Coward? But what did we fight for, risking our lives? To live well, shouldn't we? Risking our lives, wanting our families to walk into big cities with their heads held high, shouldn't we? I joined the army at ten-plus years old, risked my life, was injured, went hungry. I want a beautiful girl, shouldn't I? Especially for those brothers who have already died, their families, their children, should have a future that's no worse than anyone else's, shouldn't they? Why do people join the army? In the past, wasn't it to exchange their lives for money and a future? Only the Chinese Army... we are the strongest army in history! But we don't have the best things!"

"... The army has already arranged doctors and recuperation for injured soldiers. I know the higher-ups have made arrangements for widows and children. Don't talk nonsense."

"There are arrangements, but just ordinary arrangements. Ordinary housing, ordinary schooling. But have you been to Chengdu? Look at those people, they have all the good things, all kinds of new gadgets, fine clothes and good food. Do you know when we take our comrades' children to the city, and see those good things, the feeling that we can't afford them? Do you know the feeling when we can't afford it and our comrade beside us is crippled?"

"So you have to be greedy?"

"We, our boss... is raising nineteen children left behind by our comrades. We give them the best things. We spend the money here with a clear conscience!"

"So..." Tang Minjie paused. "It's not just this land reform. You took money before... How did you take it?"

The soldier paused slightly, then smiled after a moment. "The comrades in the work group were right. Redemption is not the solution. If we leave these landlords alive, they will eventually dig at our roots with resentment. Only killing them is a permanent solution, and we will sell their land to the higher-ups at the lowest price, anyway, they won't need it when they're dead. If we do this, everyone will have a good life, no one will be hurt. You coward, don't you understand? If the land is divided equally, and there are no dissenting voices left, our Chinese Army will spend the least money, and all the heroes' families will have a good life. That's the best result, that's the best result—"

As he spoke, his voice suppressed, almost a low roar. Tang Minjie closed his eyes, his sigh almost a groan.

The two walked for a while, stopping at a cave-like indentation in the mountain. They sat down. Tang Minjie was drowsy, as was the soldier. After a moment of silence, the soldier's bloodied eyes looked over.

"You killed my brother, so you can't live..."

He said this, and then after a moment, said, "Do you know, we didn't originally plan to kill you. We wanted to talk, we originally wanted... never mind cooperating with you. But it turned out like this..."

After another moment: "Where did you hide Qiu Zishu?"

Tang Minjie sat there in a daze, sighing. "... Not at 223."

"Still at the manure station?"

"..." Tang Minjie looked at him, admiring or pitying his persistence, but finally showing a sarcastic smile: "He was too badly injured. He hid in the manure bucket, and halfway through his words, he died."

"..." The young soldier opened his mouth. "You deliberately..."

"Yeah..." A sigh. "I thought there would be a good result. I thought... it was certain..."

"Heh... heh..." The soldier laughed sarcastically, then said: "You killed my brother, so you can't live..."

The night wind outside the cave was blowing, and faint sounds were coming up from the bottom of the mountain. The two rested for a long time. Tang Minjie didn't move, but the young soldier didn't give up. After a while, he said, "Why don't you run?"

After a while, he said again: "What did you do outside, what kind of trouble did you get into?"

Tang Minjie ignored him, only when he mentioned "you killed my brother" again, cursing, he slowly opened his mouth: "It should be called 'comrade'."

The young soldier seemed to be slightly stunned, but then said, word by word: "... You're worthy?"

Tang Minjie stopped talking.

Time passed by in the wind, bit by bit. The search at the bottom of the mountain gradually spread. Tang Minjie leaned against the wall of the cave, but no longer planned to leave. The thoughts in his head were a mess, recalling the peace of the past six months, but just a slight movement of evil thoughts ended up killing two more people. He knew the young soldier inside the cave was lightly grinding the rope on his hands against the stone wall. Tang Minjie knew he should stop him, but was just too lazy to open his mouth.

He even dozed off slightly.

He didn't know what time of night it was. There was movement close by outside. Tang Minjie opened his eyes, looked at the soldier opposite, then raised his long knife: "Don't speak." But the soldier stood up, the ropes behind him still untied, and shouted: "Here—"

The shout tore through the night sky. This was a small cave formed by an indentation in the stone wall. The two were not far apart. Tang Minjie swayed his hand, and the knife was already pressed against the soldier's neck. But the young man laughed: "Come on, here—you dare to do it! Have the guts to kill me—"

Tang Minjie didn't do it.

In the darkness not far away, the middle-aged military officer arrived, running. There were no firearms here, he was holding a bow in his hand. Tang Minjie held the young soldier in front of him with the knife, but the soldier struggled violently: "I'm not afraid of death! Do it! Coward! Do it—Commander Lu, Qiu Zishu is dead, he was double-crossed and killed by him. This coward doesn't dare to do it, kill him, kill him—"

Fang Lu drew his bow, his eyes red, and looked over here: "Two of my brothers died... Who are you?"

"Kill him, Commander Lu, before those people come..."

The young soldier struggled fearlessly. Tang Minjie sighed and let him go. He held the knife, looked at Fang Lu opposite, and shook his head: "Why do you have to do this kind of thing?"

The sky above was clear with the moon and stars, but he thought, it didn't matter anymore. He decided to stop here.

The peace of the past six months flashed through his mind, but quickly became distant. What was more present was the howling, bloody wind and snow from the North, the endless pain that had been缠绕ing him since his sister's death. Death, to him, was a moment that should have come long ago.

Lu Mingfang. I've waited too long, wasted time meaninglessly...