### Chapter 1 [ ] Turmoil on the Road Home
April rain in Jiangcheng seemed never-ending. I knelt before the fifth tombstone in the third row of the Martyrs' Cemetery. Rainwater ran down the collar of my camouflage uniform, cold as a knife slicing into my flesh. Five names were carved into the stone, and I had buried every one of them with my own hands. Old Five, Zhao Lei, was buried at the far right. Marks on the face of his headstone showed that some of the carving had been redone. Someone had scratched away part of the originally neat lettering with a blunt tool. Who did this? I reached out to touch the gouges. My fingertips could feel the rough grit. This wasn't damage caused by natural weathering. Someone had done it deliberately
