Arc of Fire

Wang Zhong stepped out of the church and just happened to see Tank No. 67 rumbling down the village road.

He gave a thumbs-up to the tank operators, watching as they passed by in front of him.

Ludmila stood behind Wang Zhong, muttering, “Just one tank… Can it really hold off the enemy?”

Wang Zhong said, “Don’t underestimate this one tank. It’s a heavy tank, weighs a full fifty tons in battle, while the enemy’s Panzer III is only around ten tons. It’ll give the enemy a tough time!”

Ludmila looked at Wang Zhong’s profile and hesitated for a moment before asking, “Are you… very familiar with this tank?”

Wang Zhong replied, “Of course!”

Ludmila blinked and asked, “When did you become familiar with it?”

Only then did Wang Zhong realize his slip of the tongue. In this timeline, Aleksei was a debauchee with zero military skills!

He could only say with feigned confidence, “I just got familiar with it! Tank Commander Xie Liaosha has briefed me on the tank’s capabilities!”

Shoot, he had forgotten the Russians’ complicated naming conventions. In situations like this, where a superior addresses a subordinate, it’s safer and more polite to use the person’s patronymic—something like ‘whichever-evich’.

Xie Liaosha was a name reserved for those who were very close.

The problem was, Wang Zhong didn’t know his patronymic, and the man had not introduced himself. He had addressed him as “Lieutenant” the whole time, and it was only a slip of the tongue that made him blurt out “Xie Liaosha,” a name he had heard from the driver in Tank No. 67’s crew.

It was also because the situation on the battlefield was so urgent that he hadn’t thought to ask for a name.

Suddenly, Wang Zhong thought of the gunner from Tank No. 422.

—I really should ask for their names. If they sacrifice themselves, at least I’ll know whose name I should write in the eulogy.

Though he didn’t believe the enemy had weapons capable of penetrating the KV’s front and side armor, just in case, he should still ask.

Wang Zhong whistled loudly—a muscle memory inherited from the original Aleksei—and Bucephalus came galloping toward him, halting abruptly in front of him.

He swung himself onto the horse and raced down the road.

Ludmila, left behind, got a mouthful of dust.

Su Fang carefully examined her profile, “Are you alright?”

Ludmila murmured, “In the past, he would definitely have taken advantage of a situation like that. Now, it seems like he cares more about tanks.”

Su Fang replied, “Maybe he’s tired of it.”

————

Wang Zhong galloped all the way to the village entrance, learned the names of Tank No. 67’s crew, then oversaw the infantry camouflaging the tank.

With everything in order, he saw there was still half an hour until dawn.

He decided to take a quick nap.

After all, he had been feverish the day before and hadn’t fully recovered, and they might be engaging in intense battle all day today. As the commander, he couldn’t afford to be the weak link.

But he woke up less than an hour later, feeling exceptionally spirited, not at all like someone who had been gravely ill the day before.

He stood up and noticed that Ludmila and Su Fang were sleeping not far from him.

Ludmila was sprawled across the table, her face resting on her hands, drooling all over the table.

Su Fang, meanwhile, was seated on a bench, leaning against the armrest, having fallen asleep there.

He had managed to get a good amount of sleep the day before, but these two girls had been busy with the mass and hadn’t shut their eyes at all.

He took the towel blanket covering himself and draped it over Ludmila.

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

Damn, relying on the allies’ field of view isn’t showing much of the enemy movement; I’d better climb the tower myself.

Wang Zhong put on his shoes as quickly as possible and strode out of the room.

The guard at the door, just like the previous day, snapped to attention the moment he saw him come out.

The sound of the guard’s heels clicking together woke Su Fang. Rubbing her eyes, the girl asked, “My lord, the count?”

Ludmila also got up and asked, “Alyosha?”

Then they both realized the room was empty and could only look at each other in confusion.

"Ah,” Ludmila suddenly said, “the towel blanket!”

She sniffed it and said, “Hmm, this is Alyosha’s.”

Su Fang got up and looked out the window. “Why is he climbing the water tower as soon as he wakes up?”

With that, the girl snatched up a hat, straightened her clothes that had become disheveled from sleeping in them, and ran out the door.

Ludmila quickly got up, but the edge of the table scraped harshly against her chest, causing her such pain that she sat back down again.

————

Wang Zhong climbed the water tower, his gaze sweeping across the horizon.

At this moment, the sun showed just a hint of its edge in the east, while the morning fog had not yet fully dispersed, enveloping the field of view. A flock of pigeons flew across the sky, leaving behind the buzzing of their cooing.

If not for the war, Wang Zhong would have surely thought of the classic scene from ‘Laputa: Castle in the Sky’ where Pazu blows his trumpet to greet the sunrise.

Alas, war ruins everything.

In his field of vision, the wreckage of enemy armored vehicles was like pus-filled sores on the skin.

Wang Zhong remembered a song: One day, / the smoke of cooking fires will return to the village / that faint scent of late-harvest rice…

One day

Angel sleeps peacefully

Gently swaying in mother’s embrace…

There’s no time for sentiment, ascertaining the enemy’s situation is crucial.

Wang Zhong switched to a bird’s-eye view, looking over the hillside in front of him.

The enemy had encamped in the open field, with over a hundred tents pitched neatly and tanks lined up, as well as maintenance vehicles doing repairs.

An armored command vehicle bearing the eagle flag was parked near the top of the hill, alongside a command tank marked with an eagle emblem. Next to the tank was a table where Cyclops and an officer Wang Zhong had not seen before were sitting across from each other, drinking coffee.

Drinking coffee!

Suddenly, Wang Zhong was overcome with anger. If he had a cannon in his hands, he would have loved to fire at the enemy, flipping their table and scattering their pastries!

Cry elegance now!

You’re elegant my ass! What right do invaders have to be elegant? Invaders should lie in the mud like dogs eating shit!

Though burning with rage, Wang Zhong still carefully checked for any new heavy weaponry in the enemy camp, like the 88 mm anti-aircraft guns.

Luckily, although a night had passed, it seemed the enemy hadn’t been reinforced much. The artillery he saw was still the same 75 mm infantry guns from yesterday, and he didn’t even spot any 47 mm anti-tank guns.

Today looks like a good day to give Cyclops a little surprise.

Thinking this, Wang Zhong couldn’t help but reveal a fierce grin.

It would be even better if he could kill Cyclops with one shot.

Unfortunately, the enemy would only observe from the hill, two kilometers away from the village. Even if tank No. 67 moved forward out of the smoke, it would still be more than one and a half kilometers away from the hilltop. According to Xie Liaosha, at that distance their 76 mm gun’s accuracy was poor, almost impossible to hit the target.

It was a pity that there were too many enemy infantry. Rashly charging forward might leave them vulnerable to anti-tank grenades from the infantry. Furthermore, because of the heavy tanks’ poor maneuverability and unreliable mechanics, Wang Zhong had to abandon the idea of letting Xie Liaosha and his crew go for a thrill ride.

If it were a T34, it would certainly give Cyclops a run for his money.

While Wang Zhong was observing, he heard footsteps behind him and switched back to normal vision. As he turned, he saw Sofang climbing the water tower.

"You go rest, we won’t need you during the day,” he said.

Sofang clenched her fist: “I can operate the machine gun!”

Wang Zhong: “There’s no machine gun to operate today.”

Sofang: “Then… I…”

Her eyes darted around as if looking for something she could do.

At that moment, Ludmila came up clutching her chest: “Alyosha, you…”

Wang Zhong: “I remember Monk Yeca Neiko still has one Divine Arrow left, right?”

"Uh, yes… the last one.”

Wang Zhong: “Then you should return to your post and get some rest.”

"Eh?” Ludmila froze, her hand still on her chest.

Wang Zhong then looked at Sofang: “Like this, if you really must find something to do, go to the hospital. There will probably be quite a few casualties today.”

In truth, if the KV1 went berserk, there probably wouldn’t be many casualties. But… just in case?

And mostly, Wang Zhong wanted the two girls to get some rest.

"Go on, hurry!” he urged, “If anything goes wrong, we’re still relying on you to contact the higher-ups!”

"Oh.” Sofang shrank her neck, turned to glance at Ludmila, “Let’s go, Captain Vasilyevna.”

Ludmila looked at Wang Zhong, on the verge of saying something, but in the end, she turned around—

Just then, the roar of engines came from the sky.

Someone below shouted: “Air raid!”

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

Wang Zhong hit the ground hard and was about to protest when he saw a camouflaged airplane flying in from the east.

Recognizing the shape of the plane, Wang Zhong laughed out loud because he recognized it as an Il-2 Sturmovik attack aircraft, and a two-seater at that!

The plane flew over Upper Peniye Village, then like a cheetah spotting its prey, charged towards the Prussian Army to the west.

The Prussian Army, completely unprepared for an air raid, was caught off guard.

The rockets fired from the plane hit a truck, and the Prussians stared at the rising fireball in shock, only scattering in a panic when the plane started strafing.

The Il-2 dumped all its remaining rockets on the Prussians’ heads, igniting a great fire in the enemy camp.

Then the plane circled back and began strafing the ground with its 23 mm cannons and machine guns.

In just three minutes, the enemy camp was littered with dozens of bodies, seven or eight trucks were burning, and the injured were wailing everywhere.

Through the bird’s-eye view, Wang Zhong could clearly see even Cyclops on the ground, clutching his head.

Hahaha, how elegant are you now?

The Il-2, having completed its attack, flew over Upper Peniye Village again.

Wang Zhong pushed the two girls off him and stood up, cheering at the plane: “Ura!”

While the people on the ground didn’t have bird’s-eye view, they could see the black smoke rising from the enemy’s side and joined in the chant: “Ura!”

The Ant Air Force was not destroyed!

Just this fact alone was enough to boost morale!

Along with the soldiers, Wang Zhong turned their joy into a continuous cheer: “Ura!”