Chapter 38: Hu Biao’s Preparation List

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...They say that whenever humans start to think, God laughs.
For a very long time, I had no idea what kind of entity could cause me to periodically transmigrate to the anti-Japanese battlefield. However, that did not stop my partners and me from constantly exploring its bottom lines and rules.
This process led to many ridiculous mishaps, but also forced us to pay a heavy price.
Fortunately, such exploration and sacrifice allowed us to gradually grasp some of its patterns...
...Excerpt from the diary collection "Hu Shuo" (Nonsense) by Hu Biao...
As for Hu Biao’s inexplicable intuition that he was about to transmigrate to the anti-Japanese battlefield again, the details were as follows:
Around 3:30 PM, he was still fast asleep in his narrow, damp rented room.
Because he had already told the "foodie group" he formed with a bunch of regulars that all the paperwork would be ready in three days and they could open for business then, he wasn't worried about oversleeping.
But just as he was sleeping soundly, a sudden, intense feeling of palpitation gripped his heart.
This irrational sense of foreboding startled Hu Biao wide awake.
He sat up on the bed, feeling uneasy and suspicious, wondering if his body, specifically his heart, had developed a problem. If that were the case, it would truly be a classic case of bad luck striking the most vulnerable—misfortune always finds the miserable.
Fortunately, the reality was not so grim, as a sudden realization dawned on him: he was going to transmigrate again.
He would be sent back over eighty years to the War of Resistance, to the most difficult and humiliating moment for the nation.
The specific time of the jump would be twelve hours later—at 3:36:36 AM. Damn it! Who scheduled this? Why on earth was the time so precise?
Although the intuition that suddenly flooded his mind didn't make a lick of sense when analyzed, Hu Biao instinctively believed it to be true.
Once he accepted this, his mood became quite complex.
With a "click," he pressed his disposable lighter and lit a cigarette.
The main reason for his distress was that this recurring transmigration made him feel as though an invisible, mysterious hand was manipulating and arranging everything.
And then came the critical question: What on earth was this mysterious entity trying to achieve?
After all, the last time they were dragged to the No. 7 position for a death-defying battle, the final outcome of the Luodian and Songhu Battles had not changed in the slightest due to their desperate efforts.
Most importantly, Hu Biao had a suspicion.
If he had initially thought that the deaths of Dr. Zhou Kun and Gao Yi—who left no remains—were just a coincidence of the intense battlefield, he now felt otherwise.
After careful reflection, he realized it was definitely not a coincidence.
Because those two had written down advanced technological treatments and predictions about the future and historical trends, intending to hand them over to the Party, but not a single scrap of paper remained.
Could this outcome have been intentionally arranged by that mysterious presence? Was the reason for doing so that they, as modern people, were simply not allowed to change history in the slightest?
Based on this, even though Hu Biao knew this upcoming jump was unavoidable,

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He was uncertain whether he should continue to fight to the death as they had at the No. 7 position.
After all, he now had a decent trade to make a living, and his future held more hope.
If he could change history and make up for the regrets of those years, he would accept dying in battle. But if he couldn't change anything, wouldn't dying be too unjust?
Feeling agitated, Hu Biao picked up his phone, planning to search for answers on a Q&A site—the kind where you wait for live responses.
Just as he opened the app, he saw a newly pushed link from a news source.
The content was eye-catching: "Warmly celebrate the breakthrough in 'room-temperature superconducting materials' by Dr. Zhou Kun, a researcher at our country's XXX Institute."
Seeing the words "returned from abroad," "Zhou Kun," and "room-temperature superconducting materials," Hu Biao was electrified and immediately clicked on the news.
Thanks to the popular science videos of many bloggers, Hu Biao knew a thing or two about the importance of room-temperature superconductors.
He knew this material meant that the massive energy waste in the transmission of electricity and other clean energy could be avoided, holding great significance for the energy crisis and climate change.
The birth of this material could even trigger an unprecedented technological explosion.
But what Hu Biao cared about more was whether this Dr. Zhou Kun was the same guy who had transmigrated to the Songhu battlefield with him.
Could he have been resurrected by that mysterious entity and sent back?
After clicking in, Hu Biao was pleasantly surprised to see that the Zhou Kun in the news photos was exactly the same ZB-26 light machine gunner from the No. 7 position.
What surprised him even more was the interview content:
Zhou Kun claimed that the reason he achieved this success was due to a flash of inspiration about a month ago, right after he decided to return from Uncle Sam’s country and booked his flight.
He felt he must have been blessed by the Motherland, which allowed him to achieve this result, and it was the best gift he could offer to her.
After reading it several times, Hu Biao finally closed his phone and swore:
"Zhou Kun, that kid is talking nonsense. What blessing? It was all bought with the lives of us guys at the No. 7 position."
But curse as he might, there was no longer any confusion on Hu Biao's face about the meaninglessness of the upcoming transmigration due to the inability to change history.
It was just that after reading the news, knowing that his fallen comrades had all been "resurrected" in a sense, and that they—a bunch of unreliable guys—had actually accomplished something so reliable, felt incredibly good.
Even if no one would ever know, and even if he told people, they would just think he was bragging, it didn't matter.
Hu Biao’s resolve had hardened...
******
Immediately after solidifying his resolve, Hu Biao pulled out a small notebook he used for daily accounting and began to scribble.
The reason was that he figured there were still over 11 hours before the next jump.

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During this time, he could prepare some things to see if they could be brought along. If he could bring them, life after this jump would be much easier than the last time.
If planned properly, he might even be able to do something for the ancestors of that era.
So, the items Hu Biao was writing in his notebook were all supplies that needed to be urgently purchased and prepared.
With his years of experience reading online novels combined with the practical difficulties he encountered during the last jump, he listed and vetted items one by one:
Medicine? Definitely. Especially modern antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, and hemostatic drugs.
Don't underestimate these; in that era, where the Chinese people had almost zero drug resistance, a small bottle of penicillin might save many lives.
If he brought newer antibiotics like cephalosporins, the effect would be even more astonishing.
Therefore, medicine was a top priority.
Food? Of course. High-energy food, like those cans filled with white, fatty grease when opened, or chocolate so sweet it made your throat ache.
There was no help for it! In his last jump, the memory of having no fat in his belly for a long time, while constantly marching, doing heavy labor, and fighting, leaving him weak and seeing stars, was too profound.
Based on this, he should probably bring a few energy drinks, too—when you're tired, just crack one open.
Cigarettes couldn't be left out either, but since there was so much to carry, two packs would suffice.
Weapons? He wanted to bring a bunch of modern weapons, preferably something like an RPG-7 anti-armor launcher, to take out Japanese tanks one by one.
But with his current social standing in the country, he couldn't buy such equipment at all.
So, he would just bring his M1900 pistol and buy a sturdy, reliable tactical knife.
Money? He definitely had to bring things that were cheap in the modern world but highly valuable during the War of Resistance to exchange for currency. No matter the era, money solved most problems.
Regarding this, the various medicines he planned to bring were actually a perfect category.
However, based on the idea of not putting all his eggs in one basket, after a quick search online, he also chose synthetic diamonds and cultured pearls.
Finally, he needed to buy a set of sharp, wear-resistant, combat-ready gear, a bulletproof vest, and a large backpack to hold all these supplies.
This part was relatively simple—just find a military surplus store and buy a set of genuine, authentic gear...