Arc of Fire

“`

Wang Zhong was stunned for a moment; he didn’t expect that the enemy’s shell had hit its mark.

Was this luck?

If it wasn’t luck, then it was terrifying, operating the tank gun and accurately completing an emergency stop firing with one arm disabled. What kind of ace gunner was this?

Are all Prosen tank operators monsters?

But there were still two enemy tanks circumventing from the south, and now was not the time to dwell on these thoughts.

He grabbed the nearest “idler”: “Sufang! Get in the tank, I need a new loader!”

After saying this, he struggled to climb out of the tank, vacating the hatch.

In fact, Wang Zhong wasn’t very familiar with the tanks in this world and didn’t know where the loader was supposed to get in, so he could only vacate the tank commander’s hatch.

Sufang was relatively skinny and slipped into the turret more smoothly than Wang Zhong—the T28 wasn’t a particularly spacious tank.

Once inside the turret, Sufang immediately saw that the gunner’s left shoulder was covered in blood, his arm hanging limply, clearly broken.

Her first reaction was to tell Count Rocossov, but the gunner, with his still-functional right hand, grabbed her instead.

The gunner turned off the microphone and mouthed, “There are no more living gunners; I have to do it.”

Sufang was stunned; then, Count Rocossov climbed in, his rear end right next to Sufang’s face.

The Count’s voice came from outside the hatch: “Load quickly, there are still enemies!”

The gunner pointed with his right hand to the rack holding the armor-piercing shells.

Because the body of the original loader hadn’t been moved out, the space was extremely cramped, and only someone of Sufang’s size could maneuver.

She picked up the shell, stuffed it into the tank gun, and then didn’t know how to close the breech.

The gunner demonstrated with his right hand. Since he was sitting on the right side of the turret combat room, he had to turn around to be able to reach it, blood pouring down from his left hand all the while.

Nevertheless, he completed the loading action.

Sufang nodded: “Got it.”

After finishing, she worriedly looked at the gunner’s left arm.

Gunner: “There’s a first aid kit over there; tie this up for me, tight, very tight.”

Sufang dug out the first aid kit, took out the bandage, and began to wrap it. For some reason, she couldn’t help the tears flowing continuously, blurring her vision.

———-

Wang Zhong was now considering how to repel the enemy. He had switched to an overhead view mode, so he had no idea that the gunner was injured.

The two remaining enemy tanks, tactical numbers 153 and 154, were now rounding a larger arc, planning to come from the south and destroy tank 422.

Seeing the distance was now close to one kilometer, the enemy’s training would have an even greater advantage.

The most critical issue was that the enemy had two tanks. If they both came around and stopped abruptly to fire, tank 422 could only deal with one.

Wang Zhong quickly glanced at the village and found that the tanks entering the village were firmly blocking the entrance; he couldn’t retreat into the village.

The only plan was to use smoke for cover and then retreat east.

But that would continue to increase the distance from the enemy, and the enemy’s advantages in aiming devices and training would become even greater.

At that moment, adrenaline flooded Wang Zhong’s system, the death of the loader making him acutely aware that he was dancing on a knife’s edge, skirting the gates of hell.

Perhaps the rush of adrenaline enhanced his thinking ability, for Wang Zhong actually came up with an idea.

He turned and shouted to the infantry beside him: “Hurry, use straw or anything to hide the remains of that half-track!”

The engineers’ half-track had exploded gloriously when it was hit, perhaps too thoroughly, as it didn’t catch fire after the blast and instead lay there as a charred hulk.

Piled with straw, it looked very much like a tank laying there.

The enemy had increased the distance, which certainly made it hard to discern the deception!

Luckily there were still some infantry nearby, not all caught up in the meat grinder battle on the streets.

The sergeant who had just ordered to throw the smoke grenades immediately organized everyone to move straw.

The enemy’s wider maneuver actually gave Wang Zhong time to prepare.

Wang Zhong: “Driver! Are you okay?”

"I’m fine.”

Wang Zhong: “Reverse, back into the yard behind us!”

The recent explosion of the half-track had knocked down the eastern yard wall of the alley, allowing the tank to back into it.

Wang Zhong planned to use the remnants of the low wall on the southern side of the yard as cover by hiding the tank and using the wreckage to absorb the first round of enemy fire.

“`

Tank 422 backed into the yard, hiding behind a low wall, with only half its turret and one tank gun protruding.

Wang Zhong: “Give me some straw too, block in front, but don’t cover the sight!”

The infantry immediately tossed two bundles of straw onto the tank, and then a private climbed up and propped the straw on both sides of the gun barrel, just revealing the sight.

Just as Wang Zhong thought to duck down, another bundle of straw was placed on top of the tank turret, covering him and the hatch by a good half.

Using his elevated perspective, Wang Zhong looked from afar to confirm that the camouflage was passable; seen up close, it was full of flaws, but it would be hard to spot from a kilometer away, and even with binoculars, it wouldn’t draw attention easily.

The wreckage had also been “camouflaged” well; the infantry had piled up straw and even moved parts of a wooden house previously blown up by the Prosen combat engineers, making it look particularly suspicious.

Wang Zhong: “Infantry, stay away to avoid accidental injury from our explosion.”

Despite the tense situation, some of the infantry couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

They thought the Count was displaying his generosity and sense of humor.

The distant enemy was about to circle into position. Switching to the naked eye, Wang Zhong raised his binoculars to watch the edge of the smoke.

Tank 153 charged into view.

Wang Zhong: “See it? Tank 153! Range 980 meters! Aim! The enemy will surely come to a sudden stop this time, don’t rush!”

As soon as he finished speaking, Tank 153 stopped, and the tank commander poking his head out of the turret was also observing this area.

Wang Zhong suddenly realized that he was facing the sun and that the binoculars might flash, so he hastily put them down and switched to an overhead perspective.

He continued to command: “Hold steady! Let the enemy fire first!”

Tank 154 was in position now as well; both Prosen tanks on the open field were aiming this way.

Then, Tank 153 fired! The target was the straw-covered wreckage!

Wang Zhong: “Hold steady! Wait for Tank 154 to fire!”

This time he didn’t have to wait long, as the muzzle of Tank 154 emitted smoke and flash.

Without waiting to confirm where the enemy shell landed, Wang Zhong shouted: “Fire!”

The blast from the gun barrel blew away all the straw, leaving Wang Zhong’s own vehicle wide open, with Tank 422’s tactical number directly exposed in the sunset light!

From the overhead view, Wang Zhong clearly saw two enemies on Tank 153 get killed and one wounded. This time they didn’t hold out and abandoned the tank instead!

Sofya’s voice crept into Wang Zhong’s ears: “Armor-Piercing Shell, good!”

Wang Zhong: “Target Tank 154! Turn the turret quickly!”

For some reason, the turret turned a beat slower this time, resulting in Tank 154 firing again.

Wang Zhong thought it was over.

In a flash, he saw a streak of light hit the low wall in front of the tank—the enemy shot too low!

Immediately after, the shell that penetrated the wall hit the tank.

The hit happened so fast that Wang Zhong didn’t see what happened, only to hear the window glass in the room behind him shattering with a crash.

Then, he saw the tow cable fixed on the tank’s outer shell spring up high, whipping like a lash on a nearby wooden house, splintering the wood, and embedding into the house.

Wang Zhong couldn’t worry about that now, yelling: “Fire, shoot!”

Before he finished speaking, flames shot out of the gun barrel.

He rushed to look at the enemy tank.

It was over, from the overhead view not a single enemy was dead!

He didn’t know if the shot went astray or failed to penetrate!

Just when Wang Zhong thought it was his end, the enemy abandoned the tank!

Upon closer inspection, there were hit marks on the enemy’s mantlet; it was likely their gun breech had jammed!

In the game, a jammed gun breech only needed a tap on “F”, and after a dozen seconds, one would be back in action. But that wasn’t the case in reality; a broken breech meant abandoning the tank, waiting to be towed to a repair shop for fixing!

Wang Zhong was overjoyed; he had won! Although only two enemies were killed in total, a win was still a win!

He laughed heartily, then remembered there were still tanks and enemy infantry in the village.

The battle would continue!

For some reason, the melody of “The Battle Will Still Continue” echoed in Wang Zhong’s heart.

The battle will still continue!

Passionate and soaring high!

Young…

At that moment, the Gunner said, “I… think I’m not going to make it.”