Dragon Raja: Lu Mingfei's War Journey

Chapter 86 Refusal to Fire, Burying the Corpses

Christmas Eve passed, and the peace was over. The soldiers returned to their trenches, gripped their guns tightly once more, and lay prone in their trenches, aiming at the enemy who had been drinking, singing, and dancing with them not long ago.

However, everyone was still immersed in the wonderful time of last night, and their vigilance was not so strong. They didn't even raise their guns as high.

"Stay vigilant! The enemy is still the enemy!" Lu Mingfei shouted sternly as he patrolled the trenches. He did not want his soldiers to let their guard down because of temporary peace.

"Platoon leader, are they really going to attack right away?" a young soldier couldn't help but ask in a low voice, he was reluctant to shoot the man he had been drinking with the day before.

Lu Mingfei stopped and walked to his side, looking at him seriously. He said, "Remember, this is a battlefield. Forget about last night. Now focus on your crosshairs and every movement in the trench on the other side."

Last night's illusion of peace, like a sweet poison, numbed everyone's fighting instincts, which is often the best time for a surprise attack and a strong assault.

He still couldn't forget the half-breed who was holding a strange potion and on the verge of a breakdown last night. That was a much more dangerous variable than ordinary French soldiers. He wondered if that guy would take advantage of the time when everyone was least vigilant at dawn to launch a reckless attack.

The soldier nodded vigorously, then hesitated before asking, "So, should I fire now?"

Lu Mingfei was taken aback and looked out of the trench. He saw a French soldier squatting in the deserted area outside, digging something with a shovel.

"Damn it! They're planning to dig a tunnel there and then plant bombs to blow us to bits!" Otto exclaimed in horror, pulling back the bolt of his gun.

"The French really don't follow the rules?!" Upon hearing Otto's words, the soldiers nearby also pulled the bolts, preparing to fire.

"Wait a minute—" But Caesar reached out to stop them. He closed his eyes and began to listen to the sounds from the French trenches. He could hear many people in the French trenches calling for the soldier to go back.

Lu Mingfei leaned against the trench, holding a revolver, ready to fire at any moment. He realized that the soldier wasn't digging a hole to plant a bomb, but rather to bury the body next to him.

He hesitated, wondering whether to fire now. The agreed time had passed, and it was wartime. Now was the best time to kill an enemy soldier, but for some reason, he couldn't bring himself to do it.

He'd already killed hundreds of French soldiers, a truly ruthless killer, so why was he hesitant to finish them off? Was it because he now knew the opposing soldiers were just ordinary people, and he felt a pang of sympathy?

Even though the blood on his hands could stain a river red, and the number of people he'd killed could fill a trench, why couldn't he bring himself to do it?

Just as Lu Mingfei was pointing his gun at the French soldier, hesitating whether or not to pull the trigger.

The French company commander, Bernard, carrying a white flag, climbed out of the French trench, came to the French soldier, kicked him several times, and shouted at him.

The French soldier reluctantly crawled back into the French trench, and Lu Mingfei breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing this.

He could kill enemies who attacked him as monsters or demons, but when he learned that the other person was just an ordinary farmer's child, and that the other person's parents were waiting for him to come home, he simply couldn't bring himself to fire the first shot.

To his surprise, the French company commander named Bernard was still standing there with the white flag raised, showing no intention of returning to the trench. Could it be that the other side was planning to surrender after spending Christmas with them?

Lu Mingfei hesitated for a moment before climbing out of the trench and approaching Bernard, asking, "Captain Bernard, what else do you want to do? The ceasefire agreement has ended, and any activity exposed in the no-man's-land could be considered a hostile act and would be subject to firing."

"I know, so I came out alone with a white flag raised, requesting another meeting with your superiors to discuss the burial of the soldiers' bodies," Bernard said.

"Sergeant Hans, they are dead. They should not continue to lie there, buried by the wind and snow, and gnawed by rats. They should be laid to rest."

"Among them are our people and yours, some have been lying there for weeks, and today is Christmas—I think perhaps we can do this one last thing for them."

Lu Mingfei remained silent. He recalled the scene of Sakurai Akira throwing himself on Antoine's body, and the deep-seated resistance in his heart to firing the first shot.

Moreover, Bernard's request touched on the most vulnerable and least desirable part of everyone's heart on the battlefield. No one wanted to lie on the battlefield, rotting and stinking after death, and eventually be eaten by rats.

"I need to consult my company commander," Lu Mingfei finally said, as he could not make the decision on his own.

"I'll wait here." Bernard nodded.

Lu Mingfei quickly returned to the trench, told Otto and Caesar to remain on guard, and then strode toward the company headquarters.

After listening to Lu Mingfei's report, Captain Henrik remained silent for a long time before finally saying, "Ah, burying a body on the day of Jesus' birth, what a fine time."

He and Lu Mingfei then returned to the front lines and stood before their friend once more.

"Our soldiers can help you bury the bodies, but let's extend our peace for another half a year, as a Christmas gift to each other," Captain Henrik said, somewhat reluctant to part with the peaceful days of the previous night when there was no gunfire.

Standing behind Henrik, Lu Mingfei could sense that this usually timid captain had shown his greatest courage. Even Lu Mingfei himself dared not suggest a ceasefire for another half a day.

"Let peace last for another half a day." Captain Bernard paused for a moment, then revealed a complex expression.

He was silent for a few seconds, then solemnly raised his right hand and gave Henrik a standard military salute.

"Thank you, old friend."

This time, no one felt the title was inappropriate.

The news quickly spread through the two trenches, and the soldiers silently put down their guns, took out shovels, stretchers, and burlap sacks, as if they were going to complete a mission that was far too late.

The no-man's-land was once again filled with people.

The soil made a dull sound when it was shoveled. The frozen soil was hard, and it often took several people to take turns digging a pit deep enough to barely be called a pit. Each time the shovel was used, dark red clods of soil would be turned up, the color of which had been repeatedly soaked in blood.

Lu Mingfei and Caesar approached Sakurai Akira with entrenching tools. Sakurai Akira was digging a hole with a shovel, intending to bury Antoine's body.

"Let peace last for another half day, and let's bury these dead together," Lu Mingfei said, holding up his entrenching tool.

Sakurai Akira raised his head, glanced at the entrenching tool in Lu Mingfei's hand, then at Caesar, and finally looked down at Antoine Barbier's already stiff corpse, nodding slightly.

"good----"

The three of them didn't say anything more and took turns digging. The frozen soil was as hard as stone, and each dig required all their strength, making their arms numb from the vibration of the shovel blade.

Sakurai Akira dug the hardest, with a kind of venting stubbornness, as if he wanted to throw all the words he hadn't had time to say into this soil.

The three eventually dug a deep enough pit to place Antoine's body inside. Sakurai Akira placed a notebook on the body; it was his novel, his most precious possession.

After all the bodies were buried, the Prussian field chaplains began to pray for the dead. In the Prussian army, field chaplains were officers, but they did not have command authority.

France did not have military chaplains due to domestic political and religious conflicts. However, as the French army suffered heavy casualties, some chaplains joined the army as volunteers to provide comfort to the soldiers.

After the prayers were finished, there were still a few hours before the appointed time. During this time, the soldiers gathered together again to share food, and some of the younger soldiers even organized a ball game.

"Want some?" Lu Mingfei handed a sausage to Sakurai Akira next to him. He and Caesar stayed by Sakurai Akira's side, eating lunch while watching the game. They were still worried about Sakurai Akira.

Sakurai Akira silently took the sausage and took a bite. Just then, the orange cat Laifu popped out from the side and squatted in front of Lu Mingfei and the others.

"Laifu, what are you doing here?"

"Nyanko-sensei, what are you doing here?"

Lu Mingfei and Sakurai Akira said in unison, then both of them were stunned.

However, the orange cat didn't care about them. It first went up to Sakurai Akira and unceremoniously snatched the sausage from his hand, finished it in two or three bites, and then came to Lu Mingfei's feet, rubbed its head against Lu Mingfei's feet, and meowed twice, but its eyes were always on the other sausage in Lu Mingfei's hand.

"Well, you fat cat, no wonder you've gotten so fat. I thought it was because you worked hard and ate mice, but I never expected you to be a two-sex slave, eating food from two different people."

Lu Mingfei rubbed Laifu's head hard a few times. He vaguely remembered that this orange cat was skin and bones when it came, but in a month it had grown two or three times its original size.

"You call him Nyanko-sensei, did you watch Natsume's Book of Friends before?" Lu Mingfei asked Sakurai Akira next to him after finishing petting the cat.

"Yeah, I used to love watching it—" Sakurai Akira nodded. Before coming to this world, his greatest entertainment was watching the old television set in his room. The television was his only way of knowing about the outside world.

"Natsume's Book of Friends? What's that?" Caesar listened blankly from the side, completely unable to understand what the two were saying.

"Haven't you ever watched anime?" Lu Mingfei asked.

"I only watched a few episodes of Doraemon and Astro Boy. Later, my family said that nobles shouldn't watch these kinds of shows, so I never watched them again," Caesar said after a moment of contemplation. But he soon noticed that Lu Mingfei and Sakurai Akira were looking at him with pitiful eyes.

"Hey, hey, hey, what kind of looks are those?" As soon as Caesar finished speaking, Lu Mingfei couldn't help but sigh.

"Caesar, do you know? A life without the healing and companionship of anime, games, and light novels is incomplete, lacking color and flexibility. A very important part of your childhood and youth is missing!" He said earnestly, patting Caesar on the shoulder.

"Sorry, this is the first time I've ever heard of such a theory." Caesar's lips twitched slightly.

"In *Natsume's Book of Friends*, Nyanko-sensei is the link between humans and yokai; it appears lazy..."

"He's gluttonous and unreliable, but he'll always be there for you when it really matters," Sakurai Akira said softly, looking down at Raifuku.

At this moment, the orange cat was comfortably squatting between him and Lu Mingfei, licking its paws, with a calm expression that said, "I'm full, you can continue."

Caesar glanced at the cat, then at Lu Mingfei and Sakurai Akira. A hint of confusion flashed in his icy blue eyes, which quickly turned into understanding. This was the mark of their era, that peaceful world, on them.

"That sounds interesting—we could take some time to look if we could go back," Caesar said.

Although they were still on opposing sides, the tense hostility between them began to dissipate amidst the gluttonous orange cat and a few casual remarks about anime, and the atmosphere became unusually relaxed.

Scattered cheers drifted from the distant ball game. Someone fell down and was helped up by soldiers from the opposing camp. The two looked at each other and actually laughed. Someone cursed in French and was cursed back in full French by Prussian soldiers. In the end, it turned into a competition to see who could curse the most rudely.

The appointed time is almost here.

Sakurai Akira stuffed the sausage that Lu Mingfei handed him back into his mouth, chewed it vigorously, and after he finished eating, he patted the food crumbs off his hands, stood up and said.

"Time is almost up."

Lu Mingfei and Caesar also stood up. The orange cat, Laifu, nimbly jumped to the side, shook its fur, looked at Sakurai Akira, then at Lu Mingfei, and finally, as if it had made a decision, trotted over to Lu Mingfei's leg.

"Looks like it chose you," Sakurai Akira said casually, glancing at the cat.

Lu Mingfei bent down and picked up the orange cat. It was much heavier than when it first arrived, with very thick fur, and it purred contentedly in his arms.

"It just thinks the food here is better," Lu Mingfei said.

Sakurai Akira didn't say anything more. He took one last look at Antoine's inconspicuous new grave, and then gave Lu Mingfei and Caesar a deep look.

"Next time we meet, we'll still be enemies." Although he no longer harbored as much resentment towards the two, they were still on opposing sides.

Without waiting for a response, he turned around, strode towards the French trenches.

"We should go back too," Caesar said.

The two men, carrying the cat, walked back to their own positions. The soldiers had already begun packing up; the game was over, and the laughter was gradually replaced by a tense silence, a sense of impending doom.

Everyone knew that game time was over.

Captain Henrik stood on the edge of the trench, looking across at the other side with a complicated expression. When he saw Lu Mingfei and the others return, he nodded without asking any questions.

Finally, everyone crawled into the trench and picked up their rifles.