Arc of Fire

Chapter 21

However, the first problem Wang Zhong had to face was an increasingly heavy drowsiness.

Perhaps because he was pressed close to Su Fang, Wang Zhong started to sweat in the middle of the night, and the breath he exhaled was alarmingly hot.

While his body heated up, his brain's thinking speed also slowed down as if filled with lead.

In a daze, Wang Zhong wondered if he had a fever.

He remembered the wound on his shoulder.

He vaguely recalled that when his wound was being bandaged, someone had said it was in bad condition and that he would likely develop a fever soon.

Who had said that?

His mind was in such a poor state that Wang Zhong couldn't remember.

His consciousness gradually blurred, and he eventually fell into a complete slumber.

When he opened his eyes again, the street scenes flashing by outside the window indicated that the convoy was passing through a small town.

In his haze, Wang Zhong heard Prossenian being spoken, and he snapped awake with a start-though his head still felt heavy and muddled.

His first instinct was to draw his gun, but a slender hand pressed down on his weapon: "Don't worry, that just meant 'the area ahead is enemy-occupied, be careful.'"

Due to his poor physical condition, it took Wang Zhong half a beat to realize that the enemy-occupied area mentioned by the Prossenian devils was actually the area controlled by our forces.

He glanced at his watch, taking a full second to comprehend the time: it was 3 a.m.

It was only 3 a.m., yet the eastern sky already showed a faint white glow; this southern potato had truly never seen the sky brighten so early.

Wang Zhong stared at the east for a few seconds before remembering to switch to his Overhead Perspective to check the surroundings.

Before he could switch, Su Fang beside him said: "You have a fever, probably because of the wound, right? The field hospital is right behind us, and they didn't even give you penicillin."

Wang Zhong: "They didn't have the chance; they've mostly been running from the enemy."

As he spoke, the breath Wang Zhong exhaled was scorching hot.

He hadn't noticed it when he wasn't speaking, but as soon as he did, Wang Zhong felt thirsty and reached for his water bottle, only to find the strap had snapped.

Then, an opened water bottle was handed to him.

Su Fang: "Drink more. Sorry, I... didn't think you might be dehydrated."

"Thanks." Wang Zhong took the water bottle and gulped down a large mouthful. Perhaps due to his fevered state, he felt like his body was a sponge, absorbing every drop of water the moment it entered his mouth.

After drinking heavily, Wang Zhong felt much better. He switched to his Overhead Perspective and confirmed there were no enemies ahead.

At that moment, Su Fang said: "You should get to the rear to recover as soon as possible. Your face looks very pale."

Wang Zhong: "That'll have to wait until we escape this danger."

After saying that, Wang Zhong, in his Overhead Perspective, spotted four tanks parked on the slope ahead.

He instinctively shouted: "Stop!"

The jolt from the brakes nearly made Wang Zhong vomit; he was already feeling terrible, and this shook him so badly it felt like his brain was being scrambled.

The good news was that the tanks on the slope weren't enemies.

The tanks of the Prossen Empire were all painted gray, much like the German army from another timeline, while the tanks on the slope were all khaki-colored.

Did the countries in this timeline not yet have the concept of camouflage?

These khaki-colored tanks looked much larger than those of the Prossen Empire. Besides the main turret with a short, thick cannon, there were two smaller turrets at the front, making it look like the vehicle had a pair of something sticking out.

Wang Zhong found this design somewhat familiar.

The Soviet T28 multi-turret tank?

Wang Zhong had driven that thing in *War Thunder*; it was notably thin-skinned with a large target area, its only advantage being the decent penetration and damage of its 45mm cannon.

Placing this thing on a hilltop-

Suddenly, Wang Zhong thought of something more important: they were currently riding in a German truck!

Wang Zhong: "Turn off the lights, quickly turn off the lights! Pass the order to the vehicles behind to turn off their lights too!"

Friendly fire was all too common on the battlefield, especially when using captured equipment.

In the autobiography *Tigers in the Mud* by German ace tank commander Otto Carius, it was mentioned that armored units unanimously agreed the T34 tank was incredibly useful, so they unhesitatingly used captured ones themselves.

As a result, even though they painted huge iron crosses on the tanks, they were still taken out by their own side. From then on, old man Otto Carius gave up the idea of driving a T34 himself.

Wang Zhong didn't want to die at the hands of his own people.

He asked Su Fang: "There are tanks from our forces on the slope ahead. Can you contact them?"

Su Fang looked ahead with confusion. Although the eastern sunlight was growing brighter, visibility on the ground was still less than 500 meters. She couldn't see any tanks at all; the distant hill was just an outline, with no sign of any tanks.

Su Fang: "Are you delirious from the fever?"

Wang Zhong: "Can you contact them or not!"

He was sick and feeling terrible, so his temper was a bit short.

Su Fang shrank back a little and replied: "I'd need time to perform a mass, and it depends on whether they have hymn monks on their side."

Wang Zhong clicked his tongue; it seemed he'd have to find another way.

"The tanks should have radios. We have captured radios too. Let's try to see if we can call them," he said.

Sergei: "We don't know the communication frequency of the tank unit, nor do we know their agreed-upon codes or radio call signs. Given the current battlefield situation, they won't trust us."

Wang Zhong held his forehead; he felt a splitting headache-but this was likely not due to the problem at hand, but because of his fever.

In this state, Wang Zhong made a decision he would never have made under normal circumstances.

He said: "Tie a white flag and a military banner to our vehicle. Everyone else, get out of the car. You too, Su Fang. Once it's daylight, we'll drive forward. If we successfully make contact with the tank unit, we'll fire a signal flare."

Sergei's face turned pale: "This... do we really have to go? Can't someone else do it? Isn't contacting the tank unit something others can handle too?"

Wang Zhong didn't even hear Sergei's words; with his fever, he felt like his brain might start boiling at any moment.

Sergei waited a few seconds for a response but got none. Sighing, he said with a tearful tone: "Alright, alright."

Su Fang: "Um, how do I get out? Do I climb over you two? Sorry, this is a bit..."

Wang Zhong opened the door, but when he tried to get out, his legs gave way, and he nearly fell headfirst.

Fortunately, someone caught him just in time.

In his daze, he saw familiar silver hair.

Lyudmila supported his shoulder, asking with concern: "Alyosha, you... your face looks terrible!"

It took Wang Zhong half a beat to remember that Alyosha was a nickname for his name, Alexei. This girl really was quite familiar with him.

Thinking this, Wang Zhong let go of all his strength and leaned on the girl.

Lyudmila stepped back slightly to support the weight of a grown man.

She hesitated for a moment before asking: "Brother Yatsemenko sent me to ask why we stopped. What happened?"

Wang Zhong: "There's a tank unit from our forces ahead. We stopped to avoid friendly fire."

Lyudmila looked ahead, her voice tinged with doubt: "Ahead?"

At that moment, Su Fang poked her head out of the vehicle, looking awkward-she had just been blocked from getting out by Wang Zhong.

Seeing this, Lyudmila pulled Wang Zhong back a few steps.

Su Fang got out of the vehicle, awkwardly adjusting her disheveled clothes, and said: "Uh, I'm a hymn monk. According to regulations, I have to stay by the highest-ranking commander's side."

"Oh." Lyudmila nodded, "You've worked hard."

At this time, Yegorov came over to report: "The military banner and white flag have been tied on."

"Got it." Wang Zhong replied, reluctantly stepping away from Lyudmila to climb back into the driver's cabin.

At this point, his limbs still lacked strength, especially his injured right hand, which hung limply; even holding binoculars was a struggle.

In his current state, there was no way he could get into the vehicle on his own. Seeing this, the two girls hurried over and together pushed him up.

Lyudmila asked worriedly: "What are you doing?"

Wang Zhong: "Making contact with the tank unit to avoid friendly fire."

Yegorov: "How about I go instead...?"

Wang Zhong: "No, this is my job. Your soldiers trust you, not me. If I stay behind, I won't be able to command them."

In truth, Wang Zhong's ability to think was severely limited at the moment; otherwise, he would have realized the most logical approach was to send two volunteers.

Unfortunately, in his current state, he couldn't think clearly, and those around him, after a full day of fighting and retreating, had grown accustomed to following his orders.

Sergei, with a mournful expression, said: "How about you take my place, Yegorov?"

Wang Zhong slammed the door shut and waved his hand: "Drive."

Though Sergei looked utterly spineless on the surface, he still started the vehicle.

And so, the vehicle, bearing a white flag and the Ant Army banner, drove eastward into the morning light.

(End of chapter)