He almost shouted, "Hold on, everyone! I'll go out and check the situation."
But he didn't. Steel-nerved, he decided it was just a toilet, and who cared who used it? Was he not a good man if he was scared by a toilet bowl?
In the corner, there was an ashtray and a smoke cleaner, indicating that soldiers in Jiang Ye's army were allowed to smoke in the restroom.
On the wall next to the squat toilet was a metal bar that could be folded down or up. Yu Xiangyang stared at it for a long time before realizing it was likely a grab bar for assistance when standing up after squatting, perhaps for elderly officers or the injured.
Accustomed to squatting, Yu Xiangyang used the grab bar for support, finished his business, and then pulled paper from the wall to wipe.
The moment the paper touched his hand, he was astonished. It felt so smooth, so soft!
It felt like silk, the most luxurious toilet paper he had ever encountered. Compared to this, the toilet paper in Yu Xiangyang's own unit felt like sandpaper used for polishing iron blocks.
After wiping, he pulled up his pants and stood.
Yu Xiangyang turned back and his face suddenly changed.
Where was the flush button?
He searched in confusion. Squat toilets usually had one of two flushing mechanisms: a pedal on the floor that flushed when stepped on, or a button on the wall that flushed when pressed. However, this golden squat toilet had no flushing button on either the floor or the wall.
He glanced at the adjacent toilet, which also lacked a flush button.
Yu Xiangyang panicked. What was going on?
He even suspected a hidden mechanism in the wall and tapped it with his hands for a while, but nothing happened. He then suspected the squat toilet was sensor-activated, as many high-end toilets flushed automatically based on weight changes. So, Yu Xiangyang repeatedly stepped on the edge of the squat toilet, but there was no response.
Could it be voice-activated?
"Flush," Yu Xiangyang said, bending down towards the squat toilet.
The squat toilet remained unresponsive.
"Please flush," Yu Xiangyang tried, adopting a more polite tone. "Please, flush!"
The squat toilet still showed no reaction.
Suddenly, the sound of flushing water echoed from the adjacent stall.
Yu Xiangyang's eyes lit up, as if he had found a savior. He opened the door, intending to ask his subordinate how to flush.
The moment he opened the door, the squat toilet roared with flushing water, cleaning itself thoroughly.
Yu Xiangyang suddenly understood. The toilet flushed when the door was opened, which prevented people from being splashed by water spray while standing next to it!
Elegant, it was incredibly elegant!
Yu Xiangyang's family was considered well-off in the local community of Wheeler Star, with an income that surpassed ninety-nine percent of the locals. He had visited high-end establishments before. However, standing in the restroom of Jiang Ye's warship, Yu Xiangyang felt a sense of backwardness, like a shepherd boy entering a big city for the first time.
Exiting the restroom, they lined up again and followed Old Zhao to the dining hall.
The dining hall was quite spacious, with long tables, round tables, and single tables. Each table was equipped with a screen for selecting dishes.
Some tables were already occupied by diners, soldiers from the Leiliu army and the Jiang Ye army. The difference was stark and immediately apparent.
The soldiers from the Leiliu army who were eating were covered in mud and bloodstains, wearing coats with scorched bullet holes, their faces as dirty as coal miners. They ate ravenously, with various large portions of meat and game laid out before them, gnawing like beasts and spitting out bones, which piled up like small mountains on the table.
To put it bluntly, Yu Xiangyang felt these comrades looked like savages. However, his own soldiers weren't much better, all looking disheveled. After all, they had just come from the battlefield, enduring a night of incessant artillery fire; it would have been a miracle if they were clean.
The soldiers from the Jiang Ye army were in brand-new, crisp uniforms, with rosy complexions. Some even wore bathrobes and slippers to dine, appearing as relaxed as tourists on vacation. Most male soldiers had a five-millimeter buzz cut, and female soldiers had ear-length bobs. However, there were exceptions; a few female soldiers had flowing, smooth long hair, and their demeanor and bearing suggested they were officers, and of no small rank.
Moreover, the food consumed by Jiang Ye's soldiers was very simple. Most were eating steamed buns, vegetable soup, home-style stir-fries, and fruits, with only an occasional plate of meat visible. Each soldier ate slowly and deliberately, conversing in low tones with animated expressions, exuding an air of aristocratic dining.
Savages and aristocrats, a stark and clear contrast.
Yu Xiangyang sat with Old Zhao, as close as brothers who hadn't seen each other for years.
"You pick first," Old Zhao said, opening the menu. "I've already eaten; I'm so full I feel like I'm going to burst from my stomach to my throat."
Yu Xiangyang was stunned by the menu. There were over eighty types of desserts alone, more than forty types of beverages, and over a thousand hot and cold dishes!
The dazzling array of dish photos made his eyes blur. He had only heard of many of the dishes, and many more he hadn't even heard of.
The most crucial thing was that the price listed next to each dish was consistently "0.00."
"Is eating here free?" Yu Xiangyang asked, dumbfounded. "It's one thing for steamed buns and rice to be free, but lobster, lamb chops, and tuna are also free?"
"Everything is free," Old Zhao nodded. "I asked a few of Jiang Ye's brothers, and they said all the food they've had since enlisting has been free. Many people overeat, consuming beef, lamb, lobster, and king crab. After a while, they get tired of it, and just seeing meat makes them feel nauseous. That's why the veterans eat very light, home-style dishes."
"They're tired of it, but I'm not," Yu Xiangyang mumbled, and began ordering.
Soon, a food cart was brought over, laden with large portions of sizzling, oily fish and meat.
Yu Xiangyang and his subordinate soldiers also entered a "savage mode," devouring everything they could, ordering whatever was expensive, whatever was rare.
"Damn, comparing people makes you want to die," Yu Xiangyang said as he ate.
"Don't be sad. We'll live like this every day from now on," Old Zhao said.
"Live like this every day? What do you mean?"
"Our unit has been incorporated by Jiang Ye. From now on, our highest commander will be Jiang Ye." Old Zhao's expression was complicated. "It's said that our meal standards will soon align with Jiang Ye's army, and we'll live a life where lobster and lamb chops are readily available."
Yu Xiangyang was taken aback. "I haven't agreed to that yet."
"Neither have I. What use are the opinions of us minor officers? The highest authorities have simply packaged us and sold us to Jiang Ye. All the troops in the entire Leiliu region, the entire! All of them! From head to toe! They will soon be integrated under Jiang Ye's command." Old Zhao smiled wryly. "You can think of us as employees of a company that was on the verge of bankruptcy and was completely acquired by another mega-corporation."
"Has the boss made a move?"
"The boss hasn't moved. Our entire unit will remain unchanged for now, but the boss will be taking orders from the greater boss, Jiang." Old Zhao said, "I've heard rumors that Jiang Ye plans to implement a 'tropical cage' tactic, building some military strongholds to completely seal off the Gante army within their existing territory, and then slowly erode them. Our next battle might be defending these military strongholds."
Yu Xiangyang remained silent, picking abalone from his soup with chopsticks and eating over a dozen pieces of food. The amount of information was overwhelming, and he couldn't quite process it all at once.
Just last night, he and his comrades were fighting desperately for the survival of the Leiliu region, giving their all.
This morning, the entire Leiliu region had changed hands, not falling to the enemy, but surrendering to Jiang Ye's army, which was not a faction of Wheeler Star.
Yu Xiangyang didn't know how to feel. It seemed like a lot had changed, yet nothing had changed. It seemed like almost nothing had changed, yet everything had changed. His past beliefs suddenly felt like sandcastles on the beach, collapsing under the waves. He even felt a sense of confusion about the meaning of his life: what was he fighting for? What did his fallen comrades die for?
Old Zhao patted his shoulder and said something that instantly reassured Yu Xiangyang.