A group of prisoners arrived at the fast-food restaurant, lined up to collect their meals, then settled obediently into the section reserved for them at the back and began to eat.
After a grueling morning of labor, they fell upon their food like wolves.
"These Longcheng people are something else — simple ingredients, and yet they make food this delicious."
"I could eat this every single day and never get tired of it."
"Right? It's wonderful. If only I didn't have to work, I'd be happy to live here forever — oh, and it would be even better if I had my own private room."
"Dream on! You're a prisoner now, not the gentleman you used to be!"
And gentlemen they had been, every one of them — each accustomed to having at least a few natives waiting on him hand and foot. Even in harder times, a word to the right local official would get an Englishman a respectable job with decent pay. In short, being English here had always meant being a cut above — above the natives, at any rate.
"Hey, what did your woman bring you? Let me see. Well, I'll be — meat chops! Give me a piece, come on, give me a piece. It's been days since I've had any meat; I've nearly forgotten what it tastes like."
"Easy! There's barely enough for me as it is!"
"Good Lord, what is my woman doing? Why hasn't she come to bring food again today? Must be because I didn't hit her enough before."
"Didn't hit her enough? Ha! Can you even lay a hand on her now? Heh heh, maybe it's precisely because you used to hit her too hard that she's already gone off with someone else."
"Shut your damn mouth! Fuck! Shut it, or I'll beat you senseless!"
"Ha, hit a nerve, did I? I think there's a very good chance it's true!"
"Fuck! I'll beat you to death!"
"Hey! Hey! Hey! Sit down! Sit down! Everyone behave while you're eating — if you don't want to eat, put the spoon down!"
The guard was eating his own meal nearby. Hearing the commotion, he barked a few words, and the two men settled down at once.
The guard quickly shoveled down the rest of his food, then stepped out to the fruit stall next door and spent three yuan to carry back two large watermelons.
"Here — everyone have some watermelon, cool yourselves down. As long as you don't cause me trouble, I'll buy you watermelon every... well, every few days! But if you cause trouble and I get docked pay, there'll be hell to pay for all of you!"
"Watermelons are so cheap here. Truly a rich land."
It wasn't that watermelons were especially cheap — it was that he was earning more now. In the old days, he could never have afforded to buy watermelon for others; he could barely afford it for himself.
The group was happily eating their watermelon when gunshots erupted suddenly from outside the town. Everyone was stunned. From the sound, it was definitely not one or two guns — possibly hundreds or thousands. Was this war?
"What's happening? What's going on?"
"This is bad — a force is attacking!"
"Quick — back to the prison!"
The town sat in relatively secure rear territory, garrisoned by a Song Army regiment of fewer than three thousand men. The Wolf Soldiers had only one company of a little over a hundred here, tasked ordinarily with keeping order inside the town.
The direction of the gunfire was exactly where the regiment was stationed. Someone was truly attacking.
The hundred-odd Wolf Soldiers quickly geared up, assembled, and took position at the town's entrance. With only their numbers, charging out to reinforce would have been foolish — they might all have died in the open before ever reaching the fight. Here, with cover, they could mount a real defense against far superior numbers.
Throughout the town and the surrounding area, nearly ten thousand prisoners sprinted for the prison. Inside, over a thousand guards had already taken up arms and were holding every position.
"Who has the nerve to come stirring up trouble on Longcheng's ground?"
"Not sure — from the look of their uniforms, they appear to be regular military. Could it be the Americans?"
"Find out!"
The prison warden from Longcheng opened his computer and sent word by email that they were under attack. The reply came quickly: reinforcements were on their way, but they needed at least two hours to arrive. They had to hold for at least two hours.
Shortly after, someone pushed open the door and came in. "Warden, the enemy numbers appear to be over ten thousand! Possibly a full combat division!"
"The Song Army only has just over two thousand men over there. Who knows how long they can hold!"
The warden was still working through the problem when another man burst in. "Warden, more trouble — two more columns are moving in. One is flanking the Song troops, and the other is heading straight for the town!"
"Each column is roughly ten thousand strong. That's about thirty thousand in total!"
"They're getting very close to the town. What do we do, Warden?"
"Those rotten sons of bitches!"
"Don't we have five thousand rifles? Hand them out to the prisoners with good conduct records. Let's give them a fight!"
"Warden, if the prisoners get guns, what if they turn on us?"
"Do we have a choice right now? Without the guns, we're all finished. With the guns, at least we have a chance!"
"Yes, sir!"
When word spread that weapons were being distributed, the prisoners buzzed with excitement — they couldn't quite say why, only that the mention of guns stirred something in them.
The warden's voice came over the loudspeakers.
"The enemy is upon us. Let us take up arms and defend our home! Whether or not you receive a weapon, any man who dares to go out and fight the enemy will have his sentence commuted — every last day of it!"
"Our reinforcements are already on their way. We only need to hold for two hours. Two hours!"
"Arm yourselves. In five minutes, we charge out and defend this town!"
Five minutes later, the prison gates swung open and a mass of men came pouring out, clutching rifles as they ran.
The hundred-odd Wolf Soldiers were pinned behind their cover, struggling desperately against an assault by over ten thousand men. They were vastly outnumbered, and enemy vehicles were leading the advance — the attackers were drawing closer with every passing moment.
Then the prison gates flew open not far away, and a tide of prisoners came charging out with guns in their hands.
"Charge! Kill them!"
"I love guns! Let's go — hit them hard!"
And their bullets flew toward the enemy.