Arc of Fire

Chapter 2

Wang Zhong carefully took a stool and placed it under the crack, then quietly climbed onto it.

This way, he could just barely get his eye close to the gap.

Then he switched to an overhead perspective.

With the overhead view, he could see everyone in the basement staring at him in shock.

Wang Zhong didn't have time to care about others and directly switched to the first floor.

This time, the switch was successful.

Wang Zhong couldn't see anything through the crack with his naked eye, but after switching perspectives, the room on the first floor was fully visible.

The first floor opened into a living room, with stairs leading to the second floor on the left, and two doors connecting to other rooms.

Wang Zhong couldn't see into the other rooms, but everything in this room was in full view, including the enemy making heavy footsteps.

There were two enemies in total, dressed in black uniforms, wearing steel helmets with a spike on top, strikingly similar to German helmets from World War I.

Wang Zhong focused his attention, and sure enough, information about the enemies appeared, though there were no names or affiliated units, only their class-both were riflemen.

The two enemies clearly weren't on guard; one was rummaging through drawers, while the other picked up a piece of bread from the table, took a bite, then frowned and spat it out.

He cursed something, but Wang Zhong couldn't understand it.

Still, Wang Zhong was in a pretty good mood right now; after all, having a cheat ability, no matter how useful it actually was, just felt different-it always made him feel a bit more confident.

Wang Zhong was just about to switch back to tell everyone about the situation upstairs when the enemy who had been eating bread tossed it aside and walked toward a door leading to another room.

He left Wang Zhong's field of vision.

No matter how hard Wang Zhong tried, he couldn't see him.

Wang Zhong heard someone nearby shush him.

He switched back to the overhead view of the basement and saw Private First Class Semyon, who was guarding the door, with a finger to his lips-it must have been him who shushed.

Immediately after, Wang Zhong also heard footsteps, and they weren't coming from upstairs.

The enemy who had just left his vision had come down to the basement via the stairs!

Wang Zhong hurriedly returned to his normal vision and whispered, "Two riflemen-one is upstairs looting, and the other is coming down."

The Sergeant stared at Wang Zhong, his expression clearly showing disbelief.

And understandably so-glancing through such a narrow crack and obtaining so much information, who would believe that?

Besides, Wang Zhong's "predecessor" had just wet his pants in front of everyone; if he put himself in their shoes, he wouldn't trust a guy who wet himself on the battlefield either.

At this moment, the enemy had already reached the door, tried it, found it locked, and started smashing it with the butt of his rifle.

The loud banging on the door made Wang Zhong involuntarily tense up.

He felt that in a situation like this, having a weapon in hand would be better, so he drew his pistol.

No one noticed Wang Zhong drawing his gun, as everyone's attention was on the door.

After a few smashes, the enemy outside stopped, and just as Wang Zhong thought he had given up, an incomprehensible language came from outside.

Lyudmila, hiding in the corner, whispered, "He says the door can only be locked from the inside, he knows we're in here, and he's telling us to come out."

The Sergeant clicked his tongue, "No choice then, we'll have to force our way out."

He lowered his head to check the chamber of his submachine gun.

"Semyon, get away from the door. I'll shoot the enemy through it!"

Wang Zhong thought to himself, how could that work? There's still another enemy upstairs. If you open fire, you'll attract them all.

He stepped forward, pressed down on the Sergeant's gun, and whispered, "No! Use a bayonet! There's still an enemy on the first floor! We'll stick to the wall in the blind spot by the door. Lyudmila, open the door and act scared, find a way to pull the enemy in, and Semyon will stab him from the side."

The Sergeant stared at Wang Zhong, even glancing at his crotch.

Clearly, this guy was hesitating about whether to listen to a coward who wet his pants on the battlefield.

The enemy outside was still shouting questions.

A second later, he gestured to the others to hide.

Seeing this, Lyudmila shouted something in the enemy's language, and the voice outside suddenly quieted down.

Immediately after, the enemy responded in a much softer tone.

Lyudmila said, "I'm going to open the door."

The Sergeant pulled Wang Zhong to hide in the blind spot beside the door.

Semyon, closest to the door, tightly gripped his rifle with the bayonet attached.

Wang Zhong pressed himself against the wall, trying hard to keep his breathing quiet.

Truth be told, Wang Zhong was very nervous; his palms were sweaty, and he could barely hold the pistol. He had to switch it to his left hand, wipe the sweat off his palm on his clothes, and switch it back.

Damn it, he didn't even know if this cheat ability of his boosted personal combat skills. If it didn't, then he was just a "blank slate"-facing an enemy would mean certain death.

Lyudmila adjusted her uniform; perhaps because she was of European descent, she was genuinely curvaceous, with a delicate face yet an incredibly striking figure.

While responding to the enemy, she walked to the door, gripped the bolt, and gave the Sergeant one last look.

This glance wasn't directed at Wang Zhong, the nominal commander, which showed that Lyudmila still considered the Sergeant the one in charge.

The Sergeant nodded, and Lyudmila immediately opened the door without even considering Wang Zhong's opinion.

From Wang Zhong's current perspective, he couldn't see the enemy, but with his overhead view, switching to it would let him see the enemy's eyes widen in surprise.

After all, Lyudmila was genuinely beautiful.

Lyudmila reached out directly, grabbed the enemy's rifle, and pulled him into the room.

The enemy came in without any resistance.

Semyon acted decisively, thrusting his bayonet toward the enemy's side.

The enemy let out a scream of "Ah!"

Lyudmila, quick to react, covered the enemy's mouth with her hand.

But it was too late; from the first floor, the other enemy shouted, "Vasros??"

Thinking fast, Wang Zhong said to Lyudmila, "Scream! You scream!"

Lyudmila immediately started screaming, as if she were being assaulted.

Wang Zhong saw the enemy was stunned, because he hadn't done anything-he was even a body's length away from Lyudmila, with a rifle still between them.

Semyon stabbed several more times, and the fiercely resisting enemy finally stopped moving.

Wang Zhong immediately said to Lyudmila, "Lie on the table, hold this dead guy, keep screaming, and lure the second enemy down."

Lyudmila did as instructed.

Wang Zhong was about to give Semyon an order, but saw that Semyon had already hidden by the door again.

This overhead perspective was pretty convenient-literally allowing him to keep an eye on everything.

The second enemy appeared at the doorway, saw Lyudmila, and laughed, "Whoa, beat him up, Asgudaafa!"

The lustful enemy didn't even notice the bloodstains on his comrade and just walked into the room.

Semyon roared and thrust his bayonet forward.

But this enemy reacted quickly, dodging the strike with a sidestep and smashing his helmet down on Semyon, who couldn't recover his stance.

Semyon screamed, likely hit by the spike on the enemy's helmet.

Damn, that spike could actually be useful?

The enemy shouted and drew a dagger, stabbing Semyon with it.

From his overhead view, Wang Zhong clearly saw Semyon stop moving. Focusing on him showed no information.

Private Second Class Ivan charged forward with his bayonet, piercing the enemy's heart.

The enemy stared at Ivan, opened his mouth, but said nothing.

Perhaps because Wang Zhong had watched all of this through the overhead view, it didn't feel real. Only when he switched back to normal vision did he smell the strong stench of blood.

Lyudmila asked, "Are there any more enemies?"

Wang Zhong replied, "With all this commotion and no one asking, there probably aren't any."

As he spoke, Wang Zhong went to the doorway, looked outside, and realized it was another basement room, not the corridor he had assumed. Against the wall, there was a staircase leading to the surface.

Wang Zhong said, "Let's go to the rooftop first to check the surroundings."

With his cheat ability, he needed a good view. From the rooftop, with a clear line of sight, he should be able to "light up" the surrounding area.

He turned to look at the people in the room and found everyone staring at him.

The Sergeant said, "No, we leave now. Going to the rooftop is just asking to be spotted by the enemy."

Lyudmila pushed the dead body off her and stood up, "We lured the enemies down for an ambush and still lost one. If the Sergeant had just opened fire earlier, we'd probably all be dead by now!"

The Sergeant shook his head, "This was just a fluke. Someone who wets their pants on the battlefield won't get lucky every time! We should leave now while the enemy hasn't found us! Vasilyevna, come with us. We'll ensure you get to friendly forces and rejoin your unit!"

Wang Zhong was stunned for a moment before realizing that Vasilyevna was Lyudmila's patronymic. Russians address people they're not close to or who are of higher status by their patronymic; calling someone by their first name directly is impolite.

Well, these might not be Russians, since this isn't Earth, but clearly, the people here follow Russian customs.

Lyudmila hesitated for a moment, then said, "No, I support the Lieutenant Colonel."

The Sergeant shook his head, "Then there's no helping it. We're leaving!"

With that, he pushed past Wang Zhong at the doorway and headed toward the stairs to the first floor, submachine gun in hand.

The two Private Second Class soldiers followed him.

In the blink of an eye, only Wang Zhong, Lyudmila, and three dead bodies remained in the room.

Lyudmila's expression clearly showed regret.

Wang Zhong said, "You can still catch up to them."

Lyudmila bit her lip and looked at Wang Zhong, "No, I think in the current situation, the chances of survival are low no matter which side I follow."

Wang Zhong replied, "You're right."

He took a deep breath and turned toward the several corpses.

He picked up Semyon's gun and handed it to Lyudmila: "You've got to carry some gear. Do you know how to shoot?"

Lyudmila took the gun, skillfully checked the chamber, and looked up at Wang Zhong: "My shooting scores are better than yours, Lieutenant Colonel. Have you forgotten?"

"Huh, is that so?" Wang Zhong muttered to himself, wondering what kind of purebred loser he had replaced.

After scavenging a rifle, a few grenades, and some ammunition from the other two corpses, Wang Zhong decided to move out.

He crept up the stairs to the ground level, immediately switching to an overhead perspective.

At that moment, he noticed that besides his own, there was an additional soldier tag in the upper right corner of his view. Focusing on the new tag, it displayed: "Captain Lyudmila Vasilyevna Melekhovna, Prayer Hand."

So, does that mean anyone who follows my orders gets added to the soldier tags?

And what exactly is a Prayer Hand?

Wang Zhong switched floors and suddenly realized he could see the basement's view.

Could it be that, like in real-time strategy games, this cheat ability lets me gain the vision of the units I command?

That's convenient. As long as I gain command over more troops, I can expand my field of vision.

Anyway, for now, I've got one soldier.

And she's quite a good-looking girl, too.

Wang Zhong cautiously made his way to the second floor, only to find that it had taken a direct hit, with a large hole in the wall facing the street.

Lyudmila: "We were originally on the second floor, but before we could destroy the enemy tank, we got hit first. I'm the only one left from the entire Divine Arrow squad."

What's the Divine Arrow squad?

Lyudmila: "Sergeant Zakayev's infantry battalion was supposed to cover us nearby. Both our squad and the infantry battalion were under your command, Lieutenant Colonel! But you got so scared by that shell that you wet your pants and scrambled down to the basement to hide!"

So that's why Sergeant Zakayev didn't want to be under my command-Wang Zhong thought, and it's understandable.

Wang Zhong looked at Lyudmila: "Trust me, I'm... I'm no longer the person I was before!"

Indeed, I'm not.

I reckon that cowardly wimp probably got scared to death, while I drank myself to death in another world-probably-and then I took over this coward's body.

That's not important. What matters is what comes next.

After calming Lyudmila's emotions, Wang Zhong was about to turn around to assess the situation when he suddenly thought of something very important and continued asking Lyudmila: "We... uh..."

Asking Lyudmila which country I belong to right now doesn't seem appropriate. I might lose the tiny bit of trust I've just earned and end up losing my only subordinate.

Forget it, survival comes first.

Wait a minute, if it's about survival, isn't surrendering also an option?

After all, I'm Chinese. There's no need for me to fight to the death for a country whose name I don't even know.

Perhaps Wang Zhong's expression betrayed his thoughts, because at that moment, Lyudmila said: "If you're thinking of surrendering to the Prossenians, I'll shoot you first!"

Alright, that path is blocked.

Wang Zhong thought to himself that he'd just take it one step at a time.

He crawled to the edge of the large hole and peered out while switching to the overhead perspective.

Good grief, the entire fan-shaped area ahead was fully "lit up" in his view.

Of course, some buildings taller than the second floor still blocked his vision, leaving patches of shadow.

Within the area Wang Zhong could see, the enemies were all displayed. He even spotted Zakayev's squad.

They were advancing along an alley, with enemies right ahead of them.

Then Wang Zhong watched as they encountered the enemy, without even having time to think about how to react.

The enemy had a half-track armored vehicle, and the machine gun mounted on it immediately opened fire. The first burst of shots took down the Sergeant leading the way, who didn't even get a chance to fire back.

The two Private Second Class soldiers following the Sergeant tried to run, but the machine gun's tracer rounds caught up to them, mowing them down. The squad was completely wiped out.

At that moment, Wang Zhong heard Lyudmila's tense voice: "The gunfire is very close. What's happening?"

Wang Zhong: "Sergeant Zakayev is dead. They're all dead. They ran right into an enemy half-track armored vehicle."

Lyudmila was silent for a few seconds before asking: "So, what do we do now?"

She didn't even question how Wang Zhong knew all this.

Wang Zhong observed the east through the overhead perspective. Since Sergeant Zakayev had headed east, he probably thought friendly forces were in that direction.

About three blocks away, Wang Zhong spotted friendly troops engaged in combat.

From the overhead perspective, he couldn't see very far. The problem was the sheer number of enemies on the way, along with at least ten tanks and armored vehicles.

Wang Zhong observed for a long time and realized that although there were many enemies, the numerous buildings fragmented their line of sight. As long as he maintained the overhead perspective, he could sneak through.

The key lay in two things: first, whether he could control his own movement in the overhead perspective.

After all, this system didn't come with a mouse. It wasn't like playing a real-time strategy game where you could click and move units with a mouse.

Wang Zhong focused his attention on himself, thinking about making the little figure lying on the ground move.

Unexpectedly, as soon as the thought crossed his mind, he actually moved, even feeling the sensation of his body rubbing against the floor.

Experiencing this in the overhead perspective felt pretty weird, and Wang Zhong felt a strong wave of dizziness-probably because his brain wasn't used to this situation, with the sensory input from his body clashing with the visual perspective.

It's similar to how some people get motion sickness from 3D games.

Wang Zhong moved again, but the dizziness became unbearable.

He had to give up on moving himself in the overhead perspective.

Then, could he move Lyudmila instead?

He focused on Lyudmila, trying to command her with his thoughts, but it was completely useless.

Suddenly, Wang Zhong realized he'd done something stupid: Damn it, why bother with thoughts? Just give a direct order!

"Lyudmila," he said, "do you see the window to your right? Go over there and look outside, but be careful."

Lyudmila exclaimed: "How did you see what's behind you?"

"I had a vague impression just now. Go!"

Lyudmila moved to the window, and as a result, Wang Zhong gained visibility of the area behind the room.

It works!

Then later, I'll have Lyudmila take the lead to scout ahead while I follow behind!

Wait a second, is it too ungentlemanly to let a girl take the lead like this?

After a brief moment of hesitation, Wang Zhong shamelessly chose the option that maximized his chances of survival.

He said: "Lyudmila, I roughly know the way. Your shooting skills are good, so you take the lead. Let's move out."

(End of Chapter)