Chapter 36 Just the Machine Gun

A soldier had long passed away, but it wasn't until today that Xiang Weiguo allowed him to truly find release.

Definitely can't just neglect and leave it at that.

But digging a grave would be too laborious, Gao Yuan meant to suggest cremation or just placing him in a room.

However, Xiang Weiguo didn't plan to do it that way.

If the barracks were all similar, then Xiang Weiguo would undoubtedly feel as familiar as if he had returned home; he searched around the camp and easily found a shovel and a pickaxe, then without a word, he began digging a hole in the unhardened ground inside one of the buildings.

In winter, the ground is extremely hard when frozen, but Xiang Weiguo didn't care in the slightest and just kept digging the hole diligently.

The affection an old soldier holds for his comrade-in-arms... all right, no need to say anything else, just help with the digging.

Gao Yuan had already trained quite well by now, but labor and pure training were not quite the same; digging a hole in the dead of winter was still a painful task.

Yet, to Gao Yuan's surprise, Luo Xingyu worked even more fervently than he did.

It was only when Gao Yuan casually asked that he found out Luo Xingyu was digging with a heart full of gratitude for the unnamed soldier, because Luo Xingyu's mother had been buried by a few people who were unknown by name and origin, and those people were very likely soldiers.

The funeral could hardly be described as solemn, and certainly not grand, attended only by a retired colonel who personally dug the hole and laid the soldier to rest within the grave.

Without a coffin, without a gun salute, only a blanket still folded as neatly as tofu blocks wrapped around the soldier as he was interred.

Then Xiang Weiguo took a wooden plank, wrote a few words on it and set it up as a makeshift headstone in front of the soldier's grave.

On the plank was written: The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

The whole affair wasn't too difficult but very time-consuming, and by the time they were done, the afternoon had arrived.

Having encountered zombies, Gao Yuan and the others washed up carefully and finally returned to the front of the armory's door.

The armory had two iron gates; the first gate was a large full piece of iron with embedded locks, and there were two locks, only keyholes visible from the outside.

Standing at the door of the armory, Xiang Weiguo nodded and said in a low voice, "Let's start unlocking, both locks need to be destroyed."

Gao Yuan fetched a long wooden stick, and secured his homemade thermite incendiary to it with wire.

He used a torch lighter to ignite the exposed strip of magnesium; once lit, it burned with an incredibly bright, blinding light that was impossible to look at directly.

As the magnesium strip burned shorter and shorter, the mixture of aluminum powder and iron oxide powder had yet to be ignited, and just as Gao Yuan couldn't help but grow tense, whoosh—a dazzlingly bright light burst forth, followed by dense smoke and sparks.

"It's on! It's on!"

Luo Xingyu was extremely excited, and so was Gao Yuan, though he couldn't clap his hands as Luo Xingyu did.

Positioning the burning thermite against the lock, the iron door quickly turned red hot and then melted into a flow of molten iron.

Before one incendiary had even finished burning, a large hole had appeared in the door; Gao Yuan moved the incendiary to a new position, and soon a new hole appeared, which combined with the first to create an even larger opening.

As the stick also caught fire, the still-burning incendiary fell to the ground, sending sparks flying in all directions; Gao Yuan, startled, quickly ran back, and then, after waiting a bit for the flames on the ground to die out and the molten door to begin cooling, he approached the iron gate again.

He pushed with his hand, and the heavy iron door opened easily.

Gao Yuan turned around, looked at Xiang Weiguo, and said with a trembling voice, "It's open, it's open!"

Xiang Weiguo nodded and whispered, "There's too much smoke inside, let's wait a bit before entering."

The iron door was wide open, and after waiting a few minutes for some of the smoke to disperse, Gao Yuan couldn't wait to start preparing the second incendiary grenade.

There was another iron door inside, one of those with iron bars, and through it, you could already see rows upon rows of gun racks and the rifles on them.

There were still two locks, but the remaining task was simple, just light another incendiary grenade and that should do it.

As soon as the second iron door opened, an overexcited Gao Yuan couldn't contain himself and rushed in before the smoke had cleared.

"Wow..."

"So many guns..."

Gao Yuan and Luo Xingyu both had stars in their eyes, but Xiang Weiguo didn't seem too interested.

"Just the Type 95 Gun Family, let me see if there are any special guns."

After entering, Xiang Weiguo walked along the gun racks. There were twelve rows in total, and after checking each one, he quickly came back and said, "Only the Type 88 Sniper Rifles, mainly Type 95-1 rifles, Type 95 Light Machine Guns, Type 88 Snipers, and then there are pistols."

Gao Yuan exclaimed urgently, "Are there sniper rifles as well? Let me see."

"There are no sniper rifles."

"But didn't you say there are Type 88 Snipers?"

"That thing..."

Xiang Weiguo fell silent for a moment, then he nodded and said, "Well, if you consider it a sniper rifle, that's fine. We'll only take what we can use, no excess allowed. Everyone gets a pistol, a Type 95 Light Machine Gun, and a box of hand grenades. Anything more and we can't carry it. Let's just take that."

Before Gao Yuan could even get a good look at the entire arsenal, he was surprised by Xiang Weiguo's words and said, "Is that all we're taking?"

Xiang Weiguo also looked at Gao Yuan strangely and said, "I agree with emptying this arsenal, but can you carry all that?"

Gao Yuan looked at the items inside and felt a bit pained, so he pointed to a row of Rocket Launchers and asked, "Are we not taking those?"

"Type 80 Rockets, each one weighs four kilograms. How many do you plan to carry? What are you planning to shoot with them? By the way, a Type 95 squad machine gun also weighs four kilograms."

After thinking it over, Gao Yuan realized that using a Rocket Launcher on zombies was not only excessive but also pretty pointless. Having the strength to carry a Rocket Launcher, it seemed better to bring an extra machine gun indeed.

Entering a treasure mountain yet unable to empty it, this feeling really was quite frustrating.

Luo Xingyu carefully picked up a rifle, let out a breath, then said with a face full of regret, "Too bad we can't take photos, huh... it's lighter than I imagined."

Gao Yuan laughed and said, "That's a Type 95 Rifle, oh right, Uncle Xiang, why take machine guns instead of rifles? Can't each of us carry a rifle and a machine gun? And about that Type 88 Sniper, I can carry it for sure, definitely can."

Xiang Weiguo thought for a moment and said, "Hmm, I don't like rifles without a stock, but if I must use a stockless rifle, I'd choose the Type 95 machine gun."

Gao Yuan was somewhat puzzled and frowned, "Wait a second, you mentioned rifles, but then you mentioned machine guns?"

"Why? You wouldn't be able to tell the difference between the two guns anyway, so I won't bother with the specifics. Let's put it this way, the Type 95 Light Machine Gun is slightly longer than the Type 95 Rifle, half a kilogram heavier, but the Light Machine Gun's barrel is longer and more precise, with thicker walls, capable of sustained firing for longer periods. Moreover, the Type 95 Light Machine Gun can use a 75-round drum magazine. If a bunch of zombies are running at you, would you rather use a machine gun or a rifle?"

Without hesitation, Gao Yuan said, "Then it's better to use the machine gun. Alright, I'll take the machine gun and not the rifle. But why not take the Type 88 Sniper? The ammo is the same, and it feels great to have a sniper rifle with a scope!"

Xiang Weiguo furrowed his brow, then with a wry smile, he said, "Hmm, it's true that the ammo is interchangeable, but saying the bullets are the same is incorrect. It's precisely because the bullets are different that I'm telling you to take the machine guns and not the Type 88 Snipers, as they use different types of bullets."