Terrible New Year's holiday

  Terrible New Year's holiday

  The book review section is so deserted, I've accumulated a lot of excellent posts that can't be sent out this week. Please don't hesitate to give guidance and speak up more often.

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  "Alas, this city is getting increasingly desolate."

  The winter days lacking warmth had just disappeared behind the mountain ridge, and the streets of Aimon Port were already quiet as if it was midnight. Almost all the shops had their doors tightly closed, even nailed with seals. There were few pedestrians on the road, and no vehicles at all. If not for the warm orange-yellow lights shining out from some houses, one would have thought they had walked into a ghost town.

  Seeing the business district in front of him was such a desolate scene, Phil, who had originally planned to bring some takeout food for Lenny, could only shake his head and put the bulging purse back into his pocket, walking towards his own little nest in the Security Command with empty hands.

  As the high-ranking officials continued to bicker and argue, days were being wasted one after another. The leaders' quarrel started from the beginning of the month and lasted until the end, leaving the lower-ranking officers and soldiers with nothing to do but wait until the end of the month. It wasn't that they hadn't received any orders, it was just that they had received too many conflicting ones. General Norm ordered them to build fortifications on the coast; Charlotte told them to withdraw from the city and build a new camp inland; Speaker Zena had the parliament pass a resolution demanding the entire army march towards New Masobrea City; Great Druid only cared about his ill-fated Bear Squad and was dedicated to making their lives even more miserable; while Phil just didn't want to offend anyone, so he simply did nothing. Occasionally, he would interrupt regular training to have some soldiers help him with personal errands.

  Multiple heads commanding is always a taboo for any organization. Having two superiors in one unit is already unfortunate enough, but the Giant Bear Army was even more unfortunate to have such a large number of them, and most of them severely lacked leadership qualities. Faced with this massive command disorder, low-ranking officers and old soldiers eventually adopted a passive and lazy countermeasure, ignoring everyone's orders and taking a long vacation on their own. If it weren't for Rick Torryni taking charge at the critical moment, leading his guards to storm into bars and brothels, and dragging the self-dismissed officers back to the new recruit training camp for unified training, the entire army would have probably collapsed by then.

  However, even so, Rick, who was diligent in his duties, could not turn the 3,000 poorly qualified "semi-regular army" and the 4,000 "irregular army" who had just been converted into soldiers for less than half a month into a first-rate strong army that could attack cities and capture fortresses in a short period of time. As Charlotte put it, "At most, we can only expect them to be slightly better than the goblins on the battlefield." This really couldn't help but make people who were looking forward to the army being able to protect their lives and property feel worried and anxious about their future prospects.

  Although the Norms would require everyone to keep the news of the sprite invasion confidential, with the laughable secrecy awareness of the New Continent Council members, it was already on the headlines of newspapers everywhere by the time they returned to Emon Port, and there were even exclusive interviews with many parties involved. After returning to Emon Port, what the leaders and military personnel did in the following days made everyone's heart cold to the extreme. As a result, starting from mid-December, shops closed one after another, followed by large numbers of citizens returning home or preparing to move, and later even factories and workshops began to shut down or relocate. The city's permanent population suddenly decreased drastically, with less than half remaining by the end of the month. Even those who stayed in the city were greatly affected in their daily lives. Phil Taylor can no longer find a restaurant that is still open for business, and he has to endure not only the terrible food at the command center cafeteria but also his girlfriend's complaints and even physical pain.

  A chill wind pierced through the thick coat, causing Phil to shudder involuntarily. Looking around left and right, the streets were empty and silent, as if all the noise had been absorbed by the snow, or worse, no sound was being made at all. The scene made him think of a horror movie he had seen in his past life, and his heart rate suddenly accelerated irrationally, as if a terrifying monster or chainsaw killer would emerge from the dark corner at any moment, even his breathing became urgent.

  "There won't be any ghosts in this city, there won't be any ghosts in this city." Fili desperately comforted himself while quickening his pace. But the inexplicable fear grew stronger and stronger, until he finally used his elastic boots to jump forward like a catwoman in the movies, advancing through the night sky tens of feet high, and arrived at the only bustling place in Emon Port - the city center square where the military and government institutions such as the Garrison Command, Governor's Office and City Barracks were gathered.

  Today is the last day of 1990 and also the last day of New Year's holiday.

  In this world, the calendar divides a year into 12 months, each with 30 days, and 10 days make up a week. The extra five days are generally used as New Year's holidays. During the holiday period, soldiers who were originally locked in the new recruit training camp all took the opportunity to return to the city, planning to indulge themselves, but were disappointed to find that all commercial and entertainment venues had already closed. Now these guys can only gather in the central square of the city, drinking, playing cards or roasting things to eat, passing the boring time.

  It is said that at this critical juncture when the great enemy is in front of us, there should be no holiday at all. However, on December 29th, General Niu finally yielded to pressure from all sides and agreed to evacuate the entire city, but still insisted that the army must organize resistance in Emon. Some citizens who were lucky enough to see the army still guarding while the enemy was nowhere to be seen did not leave, hoping that this was just a false alarm.

  At this point, it was already too late to set up street barricades. According to Charlotte's plan, the defending forces should have blocked the enemy for two to three days on the coast and in the city after the Elven army landed, and then retreated to the formal defensive line in the suburbs to avoid the enemy's naval advantage and move the battlefield to inland areas more favorable to the defenders.

  Since there was no intention to defend the city, the soldiers' task became much easier. All they had to do was destroy the ice layer with pre-set explosives after discovering the fairy fleet, and then fire a few symbolic shots on the beach, so that General Nohm wouldn't have to bear the blame of fleeing without a fight. Political battles where one doesn't care about winning or losing are always the easiest to fight, so the soldiers didn't have any psychological burden at all. For several days in a row, they had bonfires in the square, eating and drinking, making noise and causing trouble, and their annoying clamor could be heard by Phil from two streets away.

  Under the twilight, a group of black things rolled back and forth on the square, making a rumbling sound, from time to time causing bursts of laughter among the surrounding soldiers. This was Grand Druid training his unlucky bear squad. These poor guys had their New Year's holiday brutally cancelled by Deputy Commander Vinnie, who completely didn't understand the concept of work-life balance, and were being trained day and night in Phil's "Rolling Charge Method". This high-difficulty sports technique really exceeded the coordination ability of the bears' limbs, but under Grand Druid's leadership, the unlucky bear squad had to start their hellish rolling training, suffering all sorts of hardships that ordinary people couldn't imagine.

  As the saying goes, human potential is infinite. This sentence seems to be applicable to the bear cubs as well. Within just twenty days, all members of the unlucky bear squad learned a series of practical skills such as swimming, firefighting, digging holes, rock climbing, hemostasis, and bandaging. They also mastered incredible balance and athletic abilities. Although some clumsy bears still occasionally rolled their wooden barrels into the fire pit and burned their fur, or flipped over into the river to swim with fish under the ice layer, or crashed into certain dangerous buildings and buried themselves in rubble, they were finally able to launch a somewhat decent "rolling charge". The momentum of hundreds of bear cubs rolling together was indeed intimidating. Now, soldiers in the army have started placing bets on which bear can roll the farthest, fastest, and some even personally participated, thinking their athletic abilities were superior. However, most ended up with bruised noses, broken heads, vomiting, and being carried out of the barrels by others. It's truly admirable that the Great Druid's personal guard is not ordinary.

  Of course, the cost of tapping into this potential was also enormous. During the training of the Calamity Bears, nearly three hundred dog bears consumed half of the entire legion's medical supplies, all the priests from nearby temples were mobilized to provide emergency treatment on site, and the wooden barrel-shaped armor used for training had to be remade twice, resulting in more than five breweries going bankrupt. The Calamity Bears themselves also suffered a quarter of non-combat casualties...

  But such a huge price is not without its benefits, at least in the future they will be able to retire alive and many circuses will be willing to hire these animals with super strong balance for high salaries. The Imperial Government's rescue team would also be willing to use these powerful retired military bears to replace trained rescue dogs that are difficult to train.

  Just as he was considering the post-war demobilization issue for the still struggling dog bears, Fili had to interrupt his thoughts due to his growling stomach and headed towards the canteen of the command center, meanwhile guessing with a bitter face what kind of pig food would be served today.

  Contrary to his expectations, the canteen was pitch black and deserted, not a single person in sight, and even the doors were locked. Had dinner time already ended, and everyone else had eaten?

  He pulled out his silver pocket watch and, by the light of the fire outside, roughly checked the time. He found that it was still quite early due to the short daylight hours in winter. Just as he was trying to make sense of what was before him, Rennie's voice suddenly sounded from behind.

  "Hey Xiao Fei Li, the cafeteria is closed today, come up quickly."

  He turned around and saw Renny standing on the second floor where the bedroom was, wearing a white apron, with a white headscarf tied up, holding a spoon and waving it at him.

  "What's going on? What's with your outfit?" Philip asked strangely.

  "Because of the food issue, Mr. Vinnie has been beating up the cook for three days in a row and today he finally couldn't take it anymore, so he packed his bags without saying a word and left, so we have to solve dinner ourselves!" The female pastor waved the long-handled spoon in her hand and explained what happened today to Phil.

  So that's how it is, Feili nodded and immediately walked up the stairs. As soon as he entered the door, he suddenly thought of something, "Dear, are you planning to cook dinner yourself with this outfit?"

  "Of course!" Rennie replied casually without turning her head, "We've been together for so long and I haven't even shown you my skills, it's really a pity. Today's meal is a New Year's gift just for you, guaranteed to surprise you!"

  "Well, in that case, I'm looking forward to your New Year's gift even more." Phil smiled and sat down at the table, waiting for the food to arrive while taking a keen interest in Lenny's new outfit.

  Ferris' dormitory had a small kitchen, but it was filled with clutter and dust due to long-term disuse. Even when Ferris was single, he never cleaned it up and always ate out instead.

  But now the place has been swept clean, and the long-unused utensils have been wiped until they shine like new. A fire was lit in the small stove, a pot was placed on it, and a small grill was set up. The female pastor bustled back and forth, moving freely in the small space, and this kitchen attire seemed to suit her quite well.

  Watching Renny busy at the stove, feeling the warmth emanating from the small kitchen, Phil's smile gradually faded. He couldn't help but think of his family in another world, remembering the warmth of dinner time with them in the past. The room he was in seemed to transform into that almost forgotten home, and Renny before him seemed to morph into his mother, bustling around the stove, preparing dinner for the whole family. A sour taste welled up in his throat, his eyes feeling moist, as if tears were about to flow out at any moment.

  Alone and adrift in a strange world, the taste of loneliness and desolation was really hard to express. Many nights after waking up from nightmares, he thought about the past, thought about his family, and couldn't sleep all night. Later, as time passed, this feeling of losing home gradually began to numb, but the suffocating pain of losing his homeland still lingered in his heart. Until he met Lenny...

  "Now I have a home again, and such a good girlfriend." Thinking of this, he finally calmed down, wiping away the bitter tears of homesickness with his hand, and a smile hung on the corner of his mouth once more.

  But he soon regretted his rash idea.