Arc of Fire

Chapter 48

Wang Zhong stepped out of the church just in time to see Vehicle 67 rolling down the village road.

He gave a thumbs-up to the tank crew, watching them pass by in front of him.

Lyudmila, standing behind Wang Zhong, muttered: "Just this one tank... Can it really hold off the enemy?"

Wang Zhong: "Don't underestimate this tank. It's a heavy tank, weighing around fifty tons in combat. The enemy's Type III is only a dozen or so tons. It'll give them a run for their money!"

Lyudmila glanced at Wang Zhong's profile, hesitating for a moment before asking: "You... are very familiar with this tank?"

Wang Zhong: "Of course!"

Lyudmila blinked: "Since when did you become so familiar with it?"

Wang Zhong then realized he'd let something slip. In this timeline, Duke Alexei was supposed to be a frivolous playboy with zero military skills!

He could only grit his teeth and say: "I just got familiar with it! Seryozha, the tank commander, explained the tank's performance to me!"

"Seryozha," Lyudmila repeated, "you're already close enough to call each other by nicknames?"

Damn it, he'd forgotten the complex naming rules of the Russians. In situations like this, where a superior addresses a subordinate, the safer and more polite way is to use their patronymic, that whole "something-vich" string.

Calling someone by "Seryozha" is reserved for people who are very close.

The problem was, Wang Zhong didn't know the other's patronymic. The man hadn't introduced himself with it, and Wang Zhong had been addressing him as "Lieutenant" the whole time. He'd only blurted out "Seryozha" by accident just now, a name he'd picked up from the driver of Vehicle 67.

It was also because the battlefield situation was too urgent; he hadn't even thought to ask for names.

Suddenly, Wang Zhong thought of the gunner from Vehicle 422.

--I should've asked for their names. That way, if they sacrifice themselves, I'd at least know who to write the eulogy for.

Although he didn't think the enemy had weapons capable of penetrating the KV's front or side armor, it was still better to ask, just in case.

Wang Zhong directly blew a horse whistle--one of the muscle memories inherited from the original Duke Alexei--and Bucephalus came galloping over, making an emergency stop right in front of him.

He swung himself onto the horse and sped off down the road.

Lyudmila, left behind in his wake, ate a mouthful of dust.

Su Fang cautiously glanced at her profile: "Are you okay?"

Lyudmila murmured: "In the past, in a situation like just now, he'd definitely try to take advantage of me. Now, it seems he's more concerned about the tank."

Su Fang: "Maybe he's gotten tired of it."

----

Wang Zhong rode all the way to the village entrance, asked for the names of Vehicle 67's crew, and then supervised the infantry nearby as they covered Vehicle 67 with camouflage.

Once everything was settled, he checked the time and saw there was still half an hour until dawn.

He decided to go back and take a quick nap.

After all, he'd been running a fever just yesterday, his body hadn't fully recovered, and today might involve a full day of intense combat. As the commander, he couldn't afford to drop the ball.

As a result, he woke up on his own after less than an hour of sleep, feeling incredibly energetic, not at all like someone who'd been seriously ill the day before.

He stood up, only to find Lyudmila and Su Fang sleeping not far from him.

Lyudmila was slumped over a table, sleeping on her side, drool pooling on the surface.

Su Fang, on the other hand, was sitting on a long bench, leaning against the armrest as she slept.

He'd managed to catch quite a bit of sleep yesterday, but these two girls had been attending mass the whole time without closing their eyes.

He picked up the towel blanket he'd been using and draped it over Lyudmila.

Then he switched to an overhead perspective to check on the enemy's situation, as if covering her with the towel blanket had exhausted all his tenderness.

Damn, even with the allied forces' visibility, I can't see much of the enemy's situation. I'll have to climb the tower myself to take a look.

Wang Zhong quickly put on his leather shoes and strode out of the room with purpose.

The entrance guards, just like yesterday, snapped to attention and saluted energetically the moment they saw him come out.

The sound of the guards clicking their heels woke Su Fang, who rubbed her eyes and asked: "Count, sir?"

Lyudmila also got up: "Alyosha?"

Then they both realized the room was empty and could only exchange puzzled looks.

"Ah," Lyudmila suddenly said, "the towel blanket!"

She sniffed it: "Hmm, it's Alyosha's."

Su Fang stood up and looked out the window: "How come he's climbing the water tower as soon as he wakes up?"

Saying this, the girl grabbed her hat, straightened her clothes which had become disheveled from sleeping in them, and hurried out the door.

Lyudmila quickly stood up, only to painfully scrape her chest against the edge of the table, forcing her to sit back down in pain.

----

Wang Zhong climbed up the water tower, gazing into the distance.

At this moment, the sun was just peeking over the eastern horizon, the area within his visibility still shrouded in morning mist that hadn't fully dissipated. A flock of pigeons, coming from who-knows-where, flew across the sky, leaving behind the humming sound of their whistles.

If it weren't for the war, facing this scene, Wang Zhong would definitely think of the classic scene from *Castle in the Sky* where Pazu plays the trumpet to greet the sunrise.

Unfortunately, war had ruined everything.

In his field of view, the wreckage of enemy armored vehicles looked like festering sores on the skin.

Wang Zhong recalled a song: Someday / the cooking smoke will return to the village / faintly carrying the late fragrance of rice...

Someday

Angels will rest in peaceful dreams

Gently swaying in their mother's embrace...

No time for sentimentality; confirming the enemy's situation is the priority.

Wang Zhong switched to an overhead perspective, looking behind the hillside in front of him.

The enemy had set up camp in the open field, with over a hundred tents pitched, tanks lined up neatly, and repair vehicles working on maintenance.

An armored command vehicle bearing the eagle flag was parked near the hilltop, alongside a command tank with the eagle emblem. Next to the tank was a table where the one-eyed man and an unfamiliar officer sat across from each other, drinking coffee.

Drinking coffee!

Wang Zhong suddenly felt a surge of anger. If he had a cannon at hand, he'd definitely fire a shot at the enemy, flipping their table and all the pastries on it!

Call that elegance!

Elegance, my foot! What right do invaders have to be elegant? Invaders should be lying face-down in the mud, eating dirt!

Though burning with rage, Wang Zhong still carefully checked if there were any new heavy weapons in the enemy camp, like an 88mm anti-aircraft gun.

Fortunately, though a night had passed, the enemy didn't seem to have received much reinforcement. The artillery he saw was still the same 75mm infantry guns from yesterday; he didn't even spot any 47mm anti-tank cannons.

It looks like today he could give that one-eyed man a little shock.

Thinking of this, Wang Zhong couldn't help but let out a ferocious grin.

It'd be even better if he could take out that one-eyed man with a single shot.

Unfortunately, the enemy would only observe the battle from the hilltop, two kilometers away from the village. Even if Vehicle 67 moved forward beyond the smoke, it'd still be over one and a half kilometers from the hilltop. According to Seryozha, at that distance, their 76mm cannon's accuracy was poor, making it nearly impossible to hit the target.

Unfortunately, the enemy infantry numbers were too high. Rushing forward recklessly might allow their infantry to exploit gaps with anti-tank grenades. Plus, with the heavy tank's poor mobility and questionable mechanical reliability, Wang Zhong had to abandon the idea of letting Seryozha and his crew race forward.

If this were a T34, he'd definitely give that one-eyed man a real surprise.

While Wang Zhong was observing, he heard footsteps behind him. Switching back to normal vision, he turned around just in time to see Su Fang climbing up the water tower.

"Go rest. We won't need you during the day," he said.

Su Fang clenched her fists: "I can operate a machine gun!"

Wang Zhong: "There's no machine gun to operate today."

Su Fang: "Then... I..."

Her eyes darted around, as if trying to find something she could do.

At that moment, Lyudmila came up, clutching her chest: "Alyosha, you..."

Wang Zhong: "I remember Brother Yatsemenko still has one Divine Arrow left, right?"

"Uh, yes... it's the last one."

Wang Zhong: "Then you should return to your post and take the chance to rest."

"Huh?" Lyudmila, still holding her chest, froze in place.

Wang Zhong glanced at Su Fang again: "Look, if you insist on finding something to do, go to the hospital. There'll likely be plenty of wounded soldiers today."

In reality, if the KV1 went on a rampage, there probably wouldn't be too many wounded. But... just in case?

Besides, Wang Zhong mainly wanted the two girls to get some rest.

"Hurry up, go on!" he urged, "If something goes wrong, we'll be counting on you to contact the higher-ups!"

"Oh." Su Fang shrank her neck, turned to look at Lyudmila, and said, "Let's go, Captain Vasilyevna."

Lyudmila looked at Wang Zhong, seeming to want to say something but holding back. Finally, she turned around--

Just then, the roar of engines echoed through the sky.

Someone below shouted: "Air raid!"

The two girls exchanged a glance and rushed toward Wang Zhong, one on each side, tackling him to the ground.

Wang Zhong took a hard fall and was about to protest when he saw a camouflage-painted plane approaching from the east.

Upon seeing the plane's silhouette, Wang Zhong burst into laughter because he recognized it as an Il-2 attack aircraft, and a twin-seat version at that!

The plane soared over Upper Peniye Village, diving toward the Prossenian forces in the west like a cheetah spotting its prey.

The Prossenian forces hadn't expected an air raid at all and were completely unprepared.

The plane's rockets struck a truck, and the Prossenians stared in shock at the rising fireball. Only when the plane began strafing did they snap out of it and scatter in panic.

The Il-2 unloaded all its remaining rockets on the Prossenians, setting their camp ablaze.

Then the plane circled back for another pass, strafing the ground with its 23mm cannons and machine guns.

In just three minutes, dozens of bodies littered the enemy camp, seven or eight trucks were burning, and everywhere, wounded soldiers were wailing in agony.

Wang Zhong, through his Overhead Perspective, clearly saw that even the one-eyed man drinking coffee was lying on the ground, covering his head.

Hahaha, still elegant now?

The Il-2 attack aircraft, having completed its assault, flew over Upper Peniye Village once more.

Wang Zhong pushed the two girls off him, stood up, and cheered at the plane: "Ura!"

Although the people on the ground didn't have an Overhead Perspective, they could see the black smoke rising from the enemy's side and shouted together: "Ura!"

The Ant Air Force had not been wiped out!

This fact alone was enough to boost morale!

Wang Zhong, along with the soldiers, turned their joy into continuous cheers: "Ura!"

(End of Chapter)