The sun had just risen, and Chen Ji walked in the thin morning mist.
He stepped closer, then farther, avoiding the bodies strewn on the ground, sometimes even dodging the mixture of blood and mud. Eventually, he stopped trying, as there was simply too much blood—there was no way to avoid it.
The night is gentle; it hides blood and corpses where they can't be seen. Only when daylight comes will you see the brutality of war.
On the dirt road, border army infantry weaved through the corpses. They stacked the bodies—of civilians, border soldiers, and Heavenly Strategy Army soldiers—onto carts and hauled them away.
As the bodies piled high on the carts, limbs dangled lifelessly, heads slumped weakly, devoid of breath, devoid of dignity.
An old border soldier spotted a decent pair of boots, immediately sat down beside the corpse with glee, peeled off the boots neatly, and swiftly put them on.
