Darkness is Coming

   Zou Li, who took off his military uniform, was walking on the street and found that the street lights didn't seem so bright tonight.

   There is no problem with the street light itself, but the background has changed. It was clearly late at night when it was time to turn off the lights and rest, but all the lights in every household were on, and the entire southern capital was as bright as day. In contrast, the street lights did not look as bright as usual.

   Another sleepless night.

   It’s just too quiet, and the hustle and bustle of nightlife can’t be heard in the residential building, and even the sound of conversation is rarely heard. With traffic passing by from time to time on the street, the drivers tried their best to restrain the urge to honk their horns, as if they were worried that the unnecessary noise would disturb the heroic spirits of the martyrs.

  If people really have souls, the spirits of their comrades in the sky will definitely feel relieved, Zou Li thought so, and walked into the inpatient department of Nandu First People's Hospital.

Zou Li was the second platoon leader of the 23rd Battalion Reinforcement of the 258th Division. In the Great Battle of Yuanjiang, to cover the retreat of the people in the settlements, he fought **** battles to the end, and even the formation was defeated. Less than ten people returned to Xinyuanjiang and walked out alive. There are less than five people in Yuanjiang. Now, there are only two people left in the original chain, one is Zou Li himself, and the other is now lying on the bed in the inpatient department of the first hospital.

   Before returning to Shangjing with the team, Zou Li had to do one thing. He had to go and see the soldier under his command.

Asking along the aisle, Zou Li quickly found the place. It would not be easy to find out the location of the patient, but Zou Li carried his military officer card with him. If he encounters difficulties, he only needs to show his military officer card. Can be solved.

   Now in Nandu, soldiers are very respected.

  Zou Li pushed open the door of the ward, and the smell of alcohol rushed to his face, making Zou Li wrinkle his nose.

  Who would drink in the ward? outrageous! The people's hospital is still not as good as the army hospital. I really don't know why the soldier under his command is so stubborn and refuses to go to the army hospital for recuperation. He has to go here to suffer.

   After pushing the door and entering the house, Zou Li first took a look at the layout inside. There are a total of six beds in this ward, three by the left wall and three by the right wall, but only three beds have people lying on them, and the other three beds have traces of quilts being turned over, but there are no patients.

   On the hospital bed closest to the door, a young man was lying half-lying looking at the tablet computer, with headphones on his head, his right hand was in a plaster cast, and his left hand was scratching on the tablet from time to time.

One bed ahead, there is a middle-aged man of the same age as Zou Li, surrounded by two cute little girls and a gentle woman, the little girl is telling him stories, and the woman is peeling fruit for him , peeled and cut into pieces, put on a plate to make a fruit plate.

Finally, there was a man in his thirties lying on the bed next to the bed. There was no other emotion on his face, only indifference and despair. He stared blankly at the ceiling. The snow-white sheets covered his lower body, like a coffin. cloth.

   The other two faces were a little familiar, but Zou Li couldn't remember where they had met them for a while. Before he recalled them, the young man closest to Zou Li first noticed him.

   "Platoon Commander Zou?" The young soldier slapped the earphones off his head and said in surprise, "Why are you here?"

   In fact, he was already company commander Zou, but Zou Li did not correct him.

"Tomorrow, I will go back to Beijing with the troops. I heard that you are here. Come and see you. Yes, Xiao Ding, I didn't give us a series of shame!" Zou Li walked to the hospital bed with a smile and pulled a round stool to sit down. , The reason for the smile on his face is that he does not want to let the heavy heart infect others. The wounded need a good mood to recover faster.

   "Come, eat fruit." The woman on the hospital bed next to her came over with a plate and smiled at Zou Li. Zou Li could see that she was in a really good mood.

   This is really strange, her man is lying on the hospital bed, why is she happy?

"Thank you, Mrs. Qiao." Xiao Ding took the fruit plate unceremoniously, picked up a piece of apple with a toothpick and put it in his mouth, chewing while introducing Zou Li, "The platoon leader, this is Mrs. Qiao, and there is Qiao San. Father and his daughter."

   Third Master Qiao, it sounds a little familiar. Zou Li nodded and talked to Xiao Ding in a low voice.

  Xiao Ding was very happy to find someone to talk to. He couldn't close his mouth once he opened his mouth, so he told Zou Li everything he knew.

   After listening for a while, Zou Li understood. It turned out that the middle-aged man named Qiao Shan next to him was also injured in the defense of Nandu. Both his legs were amputated. Even so, Qiao Shan's wife is still very happy, happy from the bottom of her heart, because it means that Qiao Shan will not return to the battlefield.

   Hearing this, Zou Li really didn't know what to say. After thinking about it, he could only change the subject: "Where's the person on the bed by the window?"

"You don't remember the platoon leader? He's Cheng Xu. We were at the evacuation point outside Xinyuanjiang, and we evacuated Xinyuanjiang together with his Rising Sun team. He..." Xiao Ding suddenly sighed, "I heard All the guys who were born and died with him died, and he was the only one left. His mental state was not stable and he didn't care about people. He just kept drinking. The doctor wouldn't let him drink it. Come over and give him a drink. He was in worse condition before, but his family came over this afternoon, and it's better now."

   Probably this tragic experience resonated with Xiao Ding, and Xiao Ding's expression suddenly turned gloomy.

"It turned out to be him." Zou Li remembered, no wonder he looked familiar to him. When the sea of ​​corpses was besieging the city, he retreated to the evacuation point with the last few remnants of the company, and happened to meet Cheng Xu's corpse hunter team, still evacuating. Dot fought mutants and traitors.

Unexpectedly, fate arranged another reunion here. Zou Li felt emotional and wanted to comfort Cheng Xu, but he couldn't think of what he could say. A person's feelings, so he knows that nothing will help.

   If you can't speak the words, you put them all in the wine glass.

  Zou Li got up and walked to Cheng Xu's side, and said solemnly, "I'm Zou Li, we met at the evacuation point, remember?"

  Cheng Xu's eyes moved, and his eyes turned to Zou Li's face.

   "Drink two glasses?" Zou Li asked.

  Cheng Xu didn't answer, Zou Li turned around and left, ten minutes later, Zou Li returned to the ward with two bottles of liquor and a bag of glasses.

"Let's drink together." Zou Li said, opened the bottle, poured wine into the glass, one glass after another, handed one to Xiaoding, one to Qiao San, one to Cheng Xu, and another to himself , Finally, poured three more glasses and put them on the bedside table.

  Qiao Shan's wife frowned and said, "Children don't drink."

   "Those three glasses of wine are not for you and your child." Zou Li waved his hand, took out a lighter, and lit all three glasses of wine.

   "One cup, to my sacrificed comrades, one cup, to the Rising Sun team, one cup, to Qiao Sanye's comrades in arms, I'm done." After Zou Li finished speaking, he raised his head and poured a full glass of white wine into his stomach.

  Cheng Xu, Qiao Shan and Xiao Ding held the cups and stared at the three dancing flames.