“I promise you no glory, no triumph, no honor, no fortune, and no future. All I can offer is more sweat, tears, blood, and death. None who will stand for this revolution is assured that he will see it to its conclusion, neither me nor you. But I call you to join, and I know you will, for even the illusion of honor and liberty is wholesome enough of a dream to fight for, no matter how doomed it is.”

  - General Lian Su, speech during the Proclamation of the Hebeian Republic.

  +++

  North Hebei

  Ginzhu Metropolitan Area

  907th Garrison Regiment

  February 9, 2026

  Corporal Jin Hua felt his stomach rumble as he sat, his back pressed on the intact wall behind him. His fingers and nose had already turned numb, and he could feel the cold breeze of winter from the damaged sections of the building, where air could freely seep in.

  He slowly turned to his left. There weren't any beds for the seven injured soldiers he was assigned to watch. All of them lay on the cold floor, blood, piss, and shit emanating from them. He could hear them shiver, mumble in pain, and everything else in between. He strained a bit to look at one of them, a private, who had his legs blown up.

  Cut and amputated, all he had holding his bleeding was a shoddy tourniquet and bandages. His eyes were already glazed and empty, sitting upright right beside his rifle, his breathing already shallow. The private continued staring at the floor, and Jin Hua watched.

  As his stomach rumbled again, his throat dry and sore that he couldn’t even taste his saliva properly anymore, Jin Hua looked away for a brief second. When he managed to look back at the injured private, the soldier had already stopped breathing.

  He stood up.

  “Sarge,” he called in the hallway outside. “Someone’s dying over here.”

  His voice was weak, and he couldn’t exactly shout anymore. Still, he tried to raise his voice a bit to be heard.

  “Sarge—”

  “Cease it, Hua,” his sergeant appeared from the darkness, the man’s thick clothing dirty, a cold stream of air coming from his nostrils. “Our medic’s dead.”

  “What?”

  There was no answer from the sergeant, as the man walked past him, going inside the room where their injured comrades were kept to take a brief look. He shook his head briefly, before turning to Jin Hua.

  “Get your rifle,” the sergeant ordered. “Orders are in. We’re leaving.”

  “But what about them?”

  “Just grab your rifle, Hua,” the sergeant took his gun and handed it to him with force. “And join the guys outside. I’ll take care of this.”

  “Take care?”

  “Stop asking questions,” outside, the sounds of artillery resumed again. Buildings, and establishments, all trembled at the force that struck the city. The sergeant paused a bit, before pushing the rifle further into Jin Hua’s hands. “Just go.”

  “Affirm,” Jin Hua gave him a grim nod, before turning around. Walking through the hallways, he felt his legs hardly abiding by his commands. Running and retreating in combat for days without rest had already taken its toll, they were sore and aching. It didn’t help that the last thing he ate two days ago was expired rations.

  No supplies were coming in for them, a third-rate garrison unit. The supply that managed to get in was not enough anymore to sustain all units in the city, and Jin Hua’s unit was at the furthest end of the supply prioritization. If they even received food, water, and medical supplies anymore, it would be a miracle.

  As he stepped outside, feeling the full strength of winter, he suddenly heard pistol shots emanating from inside the building. He looked back at the dark hallways, until the sergeant emerged from it, placing another magazine on his pistol before stowing it away to his holster.

  “Get yourselves ready,” the sergeant ordered at him and the last three surviving men of their squad. “We’re going to try to retreat to the hospital nearby. That’s where the new defense line is set up.”

  “But sarge,” one of the privates beside him spoke up. “Aren’t we waiting for a pickup instead? The streets ahead of us might have been taken by the enemy.”

  “They have no vehicles left for us,” he said. “I’ve radioed the captain of the nearby unit at the hospital. They can’t offer anything. That means we’ll sneak our way there.”

  “Damned…”

  “So get moving,” he continued. “At least, the enemy hasn't discovered that we took refuge here yet.”

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  Jin Hua made no comments. He was unable to speak properly anyway, all he could do was follow his buddies as they walked out of the building they used as a temporary hideout. Within minutes, they were traveling on foot on the ruins of the city, using obscure lanes and passages as best as they could.

  Jin Hua hoped that the darkness of the night masked them, and he kept his head as low as he could on the rubble and buildings that dotted the landscape around him. Bodies were strewn nearly everywhere they went, most of them were his comrades from the 907th Regiment.

  He wondered if there was anything left of his regiment. They had been mauled and reduced to nothing for days. In fact, his team was probably one of the last survivors of his battalion, which had been decimated hours ago.

  They briefly found an area where a small pile of bodies from their regiment was kept. The other soldiers with him looked at him with disapproval as Jin Hua stopped, searching the pile of rotten bodies.

  “I have no mags left,” Jin Hua justified to his sergeant, who only grunted briefly.

  “Just make it quick.”

  Jin Hua rummaged through the bodies of his fallen brothers, trying to ignore the hideous smell of their corpses. Most of the bodies had absolutely nothing to offer with them, just like the bodies they passed through earlier. It made sense, their regiment ran out of ammunition supply a week ago.

  Since then, they simply took every supply they could recover from the dead, foe and friend alike. He dug through the pile as quickly as he could, patting their pouches and vests with his trembling hands, until he managed to find someone who had something.

  He took four magazines from the corpse’s vest, before heading out. When he walked out of the pile of bodies, his comrades were all walking away already. He sped up his pace to catch up to them before their figures disappeared in the night.

  He panted a bit when he managed to do so, following his sergeant closely.

  “We’re getting close,” his sergeant reassured. “Just keep up.”

  “Aye,” Jin Hua replied, attempting to sound like he was fine.

  Within a few minutes, rounding into a calm highway, they managed to reach the hospital. It didn’t take them long before they reached a shoddily set up checkpoint, manned only by two soldiers behind a sandbag barrier.

  “We’re with you!” shouted Jin Hua’s sergeant. “We’re friendlies!”

  “Come in!” replied one of the soldiers who poked his head out of the sandbag barrier. “Get in quick, the captain is waiting for you all!”

  +++

  Hours after they arrived at this position, the situation continued to deteriorate. While they were informally inducted into their unit, they quickly found that this place was just as bad as the previous positions they fought in.

  Minute by minute, bombardment tore through their ranks. They were spread across multiple apartments and buildings, but it seemed that the enemy was intent on simply destroying all of them. Jin Hua hid beside his comrades in one of the stores, sitting right beside the stalls that must have once contained consumer items.

  “Here, have this,” a soldier distributing packs of biscuits said as he threw two packs at Jin Hua. He caught it rather quickly. “You look like you’re starving badly.”

  “Everyone is,” Jin Hua replied as he opened it rather quickly.

  “Some are worse,” the soldier replied.

  The soldier turned away as he continued distributing food, while Jin Hua sniffed it briefly, before taking desperate bites at it. It was hard, way too hard for his teeth, but he chipped through it as best as he could. As time went pass, the sounds of bombardment outside slowly waned.

  When he was done with his portion, satisfying his severe hunger for a bit, Jin Hua took out his canteen to take a drink. The water was cold inside, almost as cold as the air around him, but he forced it, trying to wash away the biscuits he had eaten. He looked to his side, as he heard a commotion growing outside.

  “Sarge,” Jin Hua turned to his side. “The hell’s happening outside?”

  The man calmly lit up a cigarette roll in his hands.

  “They’re preparing for an assault,” his sergeant replied. “Don’t worry, we ain’t a part of it.”

  “An assault?”

  “The guys up top obviously want to delay the enemy further and catch them off-balance. They’re maybe also hoping to repulse the enemy from the blocks they captured from our regiments,” the sergeant laughed emptily. “We’ll see how it goes.”

  Jin Hua sighed, looking up at the ceiling as he rested his head on the wall behind him.

  “...Fucking goddess.”

  “Been the first time I’ve heard you utter her,” the sergeant laughed. “Hmm…been a while since I’ve last heard it from anyone else, even.”

  “Fuck her.”

  “I share those sentiments.”

  Jin Hua frowned.

  “I hope if I die I’ll go to hell or something,” Jin Hua cursed under his breath. “I don’t want to see that creature even if she exists.”

  “It is glory when she throws her sons into the grinder, they say,” the sergeant muttered. “She’s definitely batshit insane.”

  The commotion outside only continued to grow, and Jin Hua could finally hear clearly what the shouting was all about. “No bullets!” one shouted. “We’re starving!” another followed. “Cowards!” an officer chastised. Soon, the sound of a pistol being fired in the air reverberated.

  That took Jin Hua’s attention. He stood up, leaving his brothers who rested at the store, and rushing outside. Tension was high, the groups of officers were shouting at the enlisted, and the enlisted were barking back at them with whatever strength they had left. The officer who had his pistol aimed at the sky was suddenly tackled by one angry soldier.

  Then, chaos broke out. Fists and kicks flew as the enlisted tried to overpower the group of officers. Then the first shots streaked through the night. Within moments, the blood of one of the enlisted was spilled on the white snow, stopping everyone for a second.

  Then, rage descended. Automatic gunfire rang out in the streets. Jin Hua scurried back inside the store, hiding as bullets began to hit them by mistake. He tried his best to cover his ears, keeping himself out of sight, until the sounds of chaos ended outside.

  Then, someone shouted.

  “We’re free! We’re free at last!”

  And on and on they continued to cheer at the deaths of their officers who audaciously wanted to send them to death. Jin Hua knew better though. They weren’t free.

  They only made things worse.

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