Actually this review is quite selfish. As written this is the most heartbreaking tragedy story for me. If you want to read it, you have to be prepared with r*pe and love separated by death. I'm writing this review so that there are no victims who want to read a sweet story but get lost in this story Trust me this is not suitable for fans of sweet stories. I'll probably imagine this story for the next few days

In My Opinion,

More a 4.5 for me, but the ratings system isn’t that detailed so it’s 4. As the other reviewer said, not a short or remotely sweet story with angst, it’s just suffering and pain all the way down the spiral. It’s a bad story, a real bad one. Not badly written, but bad in the sense it instills a sense of dread, lingering anguish and a sad confusion as to the horror human beings can inflict on one another and themselves. I did write a lengthy analysis... more>> and plot summary with quotations and thematic delves, but because the NU gods decided this truth was too good for the world, my page refreshed and I lost my entire review, so.

I don’t like having to repeat stuff, so no matter how much I may adore this story, I’m going to keep it relatively short compared to my other reviews.

Complaining aside, genuinely good. The author Gong Zi Heng is said to have stopped writing, which is a pity as I would have loved to read his other works. Goes to show some of the best BL can be written by straight men, just that we as a society are too scared of this potential power so we shun it in cowardice. Thematically speaking, there’s strong symbolism, detailed juxtaposition, very intriguing recurring scenes and prose used— eg. The oasis scenes, where Dalei sees the mirage of a fantastically impossible oasis, compared with the start of the story and the end, when he finally finds the forested oasis— and most of all, the nauseating, horrifyingly strong stench of violent blood. As yet another reviewer said, there will be double meanings to the term oasis. Oasis of the blazing desert, oasis of the muddied, grimy battlefield, oasis of the warped love between one another, one can only hope the oasis they pray for can be reached one day, to drink from its pure clear waters, mirage or not.

Special Unit 833 is known for its horrendous survival rate. A platoon seen as full of expendables, those who lose limbs or are disabled by the cost of war are thrown out, with no thought for their survival. The only escape is through death, or the desert that lies just behind the camp. It is lucky for a soldier here to survive 3 years, let alone 10– but 10 is what Jiang Dalei has endured through, a veteran among veterans, stoic, level-headed, skilled and experienced— and that decade of service, willing or not falls away in the face of a rookie’s presence. That rookie is Leng Shan. Conscripted by the army at 17, he is a mere teenager, yet Jiang Dalei sees the ghost of his past self in him, and Leng Shan entrances him so, he falls completely in love. Head over heels, although Leng Shan may not return his affections, Dalei devotes himself completely to Leng Shan’s sake, becoming “mushy”, emotional, driven, so sacrificial and selfless in his love to Leng Shan that even a close friend, Xiao Wu, has his own emotions of disdain and caution turn to pity. Why pity? For this is the army. Heinous s*xual violence, assault, r*pe, abuse and such turn upon these two men, who have done nothing wrong but fall in love. Using Leng Shan as a weak point, many abuse Dalei in the blackmail of harming Leng Shan, and violence runs rampant all the more. One day, an emergency assembly is called. War has suddenly broken out. This leads to a cataclysmic turn of events, and soon after, Leng Shan with Jiang Dalei steals an old military Jeep and flees into the desert. As they travel, their resources dwindle, Leng Shan’s sight worsens to the point of blindness, and Jiang Dalei soldiers through, even as the brackish blood flower on his chest blooms, extending pistils of oozing pus and bruise purple roots.

This is where our story begins. Right in the middle of the desert, as the burning sun clutches the marred blue of the cloudless sky, plumes of smoke and fiery explosions still marking the world, and their memories, a constant reminder of what they run from.

This is a story of relationships. The duo’s relationship with violence, institutional and personal. A relationship of love. Sacrifice and selflessness in the depravity of the human hell. A relationship of innocence. Ugly, warped beauty from the ashes of gunpowder and people. Of desire, of hope; of a wondrous oasis packed with birds, hippopotamus and rhinoceros, where the chirping of the birds are deathly loud in the silence of the blank desert horizon; of the scintillating glow of fireflies in a field at night, so tranquil night; of surgery for Leng Shan’s blindness and crystal water to bathe in, steaming cooked food in a safe meal beneath the silver glow of the moon.

And of bloody knives. Of delusions of cannibalism. Of how Leng Shan still retains his past— the military knife all soldiers carry on their persons is unfamiliar to him, as it rightfully should be, threatening and sharpened even while Dalei promises safety— and so Leng Shan takes that knife from Dalei, and stabs it into him. Stabs it into his intimate area, the place where they make their love, Leng Shan stabs the sharp blade of the knife into Dalei’s anus, twists it and pushes it in further, as he cries and attempts to make love, bloody as Dalei faints onto the ground, and Leng Shan wails why? If you didn’t plan to eat me, I would not do this to you. Yet it is mere delusion.

In spite of what they inflict upon one another and themselves, to me, it never felt like hatred. A review mentioned it felt like the two hated each other at times, but to me it never felt that way. Resentment, yes. Betrayal, yes. Anger. Grief, anguish, sorrow. But never hate. If they hated, than it would be the world, the place that made them this way, the people who would burn them alive for a moment of pleasurable indulgence, the bombs and guns and the never ending war and the bloody, bloody violence.

If you can’t tell, this story is pretty anti-war. Apathy and profit from suffering. An expectation to throw away your life for something that might as well be nonexistent, since they have already forsaken you for a profit motive or personal grudge or any number of reasons that don’t exactly matter, because they do not care for you even if you die for them.

And perhaps that is what Leng Shan and Jiang Dalei are. They are wholly and fully human. Disgusting, gross, broken, but they are people. People who love. People who live. Who suffer in violence and subject violence in return. That’s what really makes this story for me. Past the detailed examination of values or deliberation of rules and principle, this is still a story of two people, two military deserters, making their way across the desert in escape of what lies behind them and in hope of what oasis may lay beyond.

The open ending is appropriate, in my opinion. It may not be satisfying, or make me happy in any sense (I literally spent time after reading this story just staring at the ceilings and wall blankly..), but it definitely is fitting, which is much in the style of this story.

I would have written more, but well. If you’re planning to read the story, do read the extras. Just do it.

Anyways, my brain is tired. Conclusion, great story for nightmares. But also I’m just drenched in pusillanimity so maybe not. Just read it, it’s amazing, my review won’t ever do it justice. If you want to analyse this story or talk about its themes and characters or diction, hit me up. Legitimately. This story is great. I want to talk about it more, it’s cool.

Fantastic translation, grammar and vocab generally impeccable, translator’s notes are nice. Thank you very much. Big thanks for the author although he’s never gonna see it. Gratitude, appreciation. All the good things. Hopefully author 先生 is doing good now. And I hope this review helped you, reader. <<less

The premise is simple, but the execution of the bulk of this story is... wow.

Let's talk about the title. It is a brilliant title for this story because we come to know that there are more ways than one to define the word oasis. You know that they have over one reason for deserting and those reasons are eye popping, jaw dropping and, well, sadistic.

Over time, I couldn't decipher if they really loved each other. It seemed like it, and at others, it felt as if they hated... more>> each other deeply. I couldn't get a head's up on my feelings throughout because I couldn't figure out how they truly felt.

Overall, a dark story of survival?

Yeah, we'll go with that. <<less

Its a very very sweet story, it made me cry QQ

admittedly it is very, uhm, harsh for lack of a better word. The love shared between the two is very sweet, and many things make more sense when reading the extras. Some things I still wonder, like how the car was driven, but apart from that it feels very well thought out and brutal.

do not read if you have a soft heart, it is sweet but very harsh.

I expect it to be short sweet with angst story. But not at all. It's disturbing and nauseating. I can't even feel sad about it.

I want to give 2 stars, but additional 1 star for the extra. The extra make it a bit better.