Arc of Fire

Chapter 15

The battle ended before Wang Zhong could even react.

Yegorov stepped forward, stepping on the fake inquisitor's hand, and bent down to check the neck.

"Dead." After saying this, Yegorov spat on the enemy's back, "You were the ones who tore up the non-aggression pact and launched a sneak attack, and now you're playing these dirty tricks!"

Wang Zhong: "Search their bodies, see if they have any valuable documents on them."

"No way, they're spies, here to sabotage. They've definitely got forged IDs and documents on them!" Though he grumbled, Yegorov still nodded to his subordinate sergeant, signaling them to start the search.

Wang Zhong turned to Su Fang: "You are... a hymn monk?"

Since Wang Zhong had genuinely never heard of the term hymn monk, he subconsciously confirmed it again.

Su Fang snapped to attention with a salute: "Reporting, yes!"

Wang Zhong waved his hand: "Don't be so formal, at ease. Can you contact, uh..."

Originally, Wang Zhong wanted to mention a place name, but he forgot that long name-this was one of the downsides of transmigrating to a Western-style world; the personal names were long, and the place names even longer.

And since this was a setting similar to Russia, the names were doubly long.

When Wang Zhong got stuck on the place name, he quickly switched to an overhead perspective, zoomed out to the furthest view, and was pleased to see a large place name in the distance called Agsukov, which seemed to be a city.

He deduced that it must be the location of the Ant Army Regional Headquarters, and the name sounded vaguely familiar, so he decisively said: "Can you contact the hymn choir in Agsukov?"

Su Fang: "Not right now."

Wang Zhong: "But you can in the future?"

Perhaps everyone in this timeline knew what hymn monks were, so everyone in the room looked at Wang Zhong with surprise.

But Wang Zhong couldn't care less about that; he had to figure out the situation, right? Fortunately, the Count he had replaced seemed to be a useless fool, likely lacking military knowledge, so he could probably bluff his way through.

Su Fang: "As long as we prepare a simple altar and tools, and give me time to perform a mass, I can send out a call. But it's not guaranteed to be heard; it needs repeated attempts."

Wang Zhong: "But you don't need to do anything to hear calls from others, right?"

"I need to focus," Su Fang said, "so please try to give me a stable environment. Just now, I heard a call while I was taking a short rest."

Wang Zhong: "Got it."

He summed it up: hymn monks were like human radios, needing time to set up to receive messages, and sending messages was even more troublesome, requiring a stable rear position.

In other words, this hymn monk was temporarily useless for now.

Su Fang looked at Wang Zhong: "Sir... do you need me to do anything?"

Wang Zhong: "Besides hymns, what else can you do?"

"I can shoot," Su Fang said confidently, "My father was a hunter, and he taught me to hunt roe deer when I was young."

Wang Zhong turned to Yegorov and said: "Give her a gun; she can be of some use."

His order was carried out immediately.

Wang Zhong: "Yegorov, how's the situation with the troops?"

"They're resting and resupplying. I've also sent scouts to reconnoiter along the road; we should wait for their return."

Upon hearing about the scouts, Wang Zhong immediately switched to the overhead perspective-then he thought standing there in a daze didn't look good, so he switched back, walked to the map, struck a pose as if studying it, and then switched back again.

This way, to outsiders, it looked like he was just staring at the map-in a daze.

But no one else knew he was actually zoning out, right?

Wang Zhong confirmed the field of vision he currently had. In his overhead perspective, it really felt like playing a real-time strategy game.

Areas without vision were shrouded in a fog of war, where only gray buildings and terrain could be seen, as if covered by a dark veil.

Areas with vision were colorful and much brighter.

Wang Zhong quickly noticed a few independent vision zones around the main force of his troops. Zooming in, he confirmed they were indeed the scouts Yegorov had sent out.

So, the mechanism of this cheat ability is that as long as I can talk to the leader of a subordinate unit, I gain vision over the entire unit?

Not far east from the main force of the Third Rear Amur Regiment, the main road split into a smaller path, flanked on both sides by birch forests-though Wang Zhong couldn't actually recognize them as birch trees. He had only seen bare birch trees in winter in a music video by Pu Shu; he'd never seen such lush ones in person.

But his cheat ability came with a description; above the forest floated a few large words: Birch Forest.

He just didn't know why this cheat insisted on telling him they were birch trees. Was it because, in this world too, two lovers had carved their names into a birch tree?

Wang Zhong brushed aside irrelevant thoughts and observed the scouts advancing along the small path. He noticed they had somehow gotten hold of horses and were galloping wildly without encountering any Prossenians.

On the eastern highway, the scouts hadn't gone far before they stumbled upon a Prossenian supply depot. Perhaps the enemy was also in a rush, as the depot was guarded by only a few soldiers.

There was a machine gun set up at the intersection, but the two gunners were standing beside it, drinking coffee.

Clearly, the enemy hadn't anticipated an attack on this supply depot.

A group of enemy soldiers weren't even carrying weapons, busy building guard posts and barriers for stopping vehicles.

And inside the depot, there were a large number of trucks!

Wang Zhong: "Yegorov, assemble the troops."

Yegorov's voice sounded surprised: "Right now? We still need to wait for the scouts to return and report..."

Wang Zhong: "We're heading east, to..."

As he spoke, he switched back to his own perspective, only to realize the supply depot wasn't marked on the map in front of him.

Damn, how do I explain how I know the supply depot is there?

The next moment, Wang Zhong had an idea. Looking at Yegorov, he said: "The Prossenians fight in a very rigid manner. They must have built a supply depot in the rear. I'm guessing it's right here!"

He picked up the compass next to the map and stabbed it directly into the spot where he had seen the supply depot.

Wang Zhong: "The enemy must think our target is their Army Group Headquarters. The supply depot is likely poorly defended."

Chief of Staff Pavlov frowned: "Is this just your guess?"

No, it's because I'm cheating.

Wang Zhong kept a straight face: "Yes. On the battlefield, you have to make snap decisions. There's no time to argue with you. Yegorov, assemble the troops!"

Yegorov saluted and left.

Pavlov still looked puzzled: "Why attack a supply depot?"

Wang Zhong: "To steal vehicles. Relying on foot to outrun the enemy is a pipe dream. We need to use the enemy's trucks to escape. Their frontline troops might not have many trucks, but their supply depots-those definitely have trucks for transporting supplies! Blow up the supplies, and the trucks can carry troops!"

Pavlov shook his head repeatedly: "No, no, this goes against military common sense! A battle plan like this would get a zero!"

Wang Zhong's face hardened: "This is a battlefield, not an exam."

Su Fang: "He's right!"

Wang Zhong looked at Su Fang suspiciously: "Why are you still here?"

Su Fang: "Hymn monks are supposed to stay with the highest-ranking commander on-site. It's written in the manual."

Wang Zhong pursed his lips, subconsciously glancing at Su Fang's chest, and then thought of Lyudmila's fullness.

A question popped into his mind, so he asked: "Are most monks... female?"

Su Fang: "About half and half, though there are indeed more women than in the army. Why?"

Wang Zhong was about to respond when Yegorov came in: "The troops have set out. Let's go too."

"Leave a liaison officer to tell the field hospital and logistics units following behind where we've gone," Wang Zhong said.

Yegorov: "I've already arranged it."

(End of Chapter)