Arc of Fire

The battle ended before Wang Zhong even had time to react.

Yegorov stepped forward, stepping on the fake Judge’s hand and bent down to feel his neck.

"Dead,” Yegorov spat on the enemy’s back after declaring, “You initiated this sneak attack after tearing up the non-aggression treaty, and then you play these dirty tricks!”

Wang Zhong: “Search their bodies, see if there are any valuable documents on them.”

"How could there be? They are spies sent here to sabotage, so their documents and IDs are definitely forged!” Despite his grumbling, Yegorov still nodded to the non-commissioned officers below him, signaling them to start searching the bodies.

Wang Zhong then turned to Sofya: “You are…a Hymn Monk?”

Since Wang Zhong had never heard of the term Hymn Monk, he subconsciously asked again for confirmation.

Sofya snapped to attention: “Reporting, yes, sir!”

Wang Zhong waved his hand: “Don’t be so stiff, at ease. Can you contact uh…”

Originally, Wang Zhong wanted to mention the place name, but he had forgotten the long name—that was the trouble with being transported to a Western-style world. The people’s names and place names were all long.

This was especially true in a setting reminiscent of Russia, which doubled the length.

While Wang Zhong was blocked by the place name, he made a quick decision to switch to a bird’s-eye view, zooming out to the farthest point, and then satisfyingly noticed a very large place name in the distance called Argesukov, which seemed to be a city.

He assumed that must be where the Ante Military Region Command was located, and he seemed to have some recollection of the name, so he decisively said, “Can you get in touch with the Hymn Choir in Argesukov?”

Sofya: “Not now.”

Wang Zhong: “How about later?”

Perhaps the people of this time and space all knew what Hymn Monks were, so everyone in the room surprisingly looked at Wang Zhong.

But Wang Zhong had no time to worry about that. He needed to understand the situation, right? Replacing the count who seemed to be useless, probably lacking in military knowledge, he should be able to bluff his way through.

Sofya: “As long as I have a simple altar and the necessary utensils, and time to conduct mass, I can make calls. But they may not always be heard, so I need to repeatedly call out.”

Wang Zhong: “But you don’t need to do anything to hear others’ calls, correct?”

"I need to concentrate,” said Sofya. “So it’s best to have a peaceful environment. I heard the call while I was resting just now.”

Wang Zhong: “Understood.”

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

Meaning, they couldn’t make use of the Hymn Monk for the time being.

Sofya looked at Wang Zhong: “Do you…need me to do anything?”

Wang Zhong: “Besides chanting hymns, what else can you do?”

"I can shoot,” said Sofya confidently. “My father was a hunter. He taught me to shoot roe deer when I was young.”

Wang Zhong turned to Yegorov: “Give her a gun, she might be somewhat useful.”

His order was executed immediately.

Wang Zhong: “Yegorov, what’s the situation with the troops?”

"Restocking and resting. Also, I’ve dispatched scouts along the road to conduct reconnaissance. We should wait for their return.”

Upon hearing about the scouts, Wang Zhong immediately switched to a bird’s-eye view—then thinking it wouldn’t look right to just stand there spacing out, he switched back, walked to the map, put on a show of examining it, then switched back again.

This way, to outsiders, he was intensely studying the map—spacing out.

But no one knew that he was actually spacing out, right?

Wang Zhong confirmed what he could see in his current field of vision. From his bird’s-eye view, it really felt like playing a real-time strategy game.

The area outside his vision was covered in a layer of “fog of war,” only dim buildings and terrain visible, shrouded in a veil of grey.

The areas within his field of vision were colored and much brighter.

Wang Zhong quickly discovered several independent vision areas around the main force, and upon closer inspection, indeed they belonged to the reconnaissance troops dispatched by Yegorov.

In other words, the mechanism of my “cheat” allows me to gain the vision of the entire unit as long as I can speak with the leaders of the subordinate units.

Not far from the main force of the Third Amur Group, heading eastward, a small path diverged from the main road, flanked on both sides by birch forests—though Wang Zhong couldn’t recognize the birches. He had only ever seen them bare of leaves in winter in a music video, never this lush and verdant type.

But Golden Finger came with a guide that floated the words “Birch Forest” above the trees.

Why does Golden Finger insist on telling Wang Zhong these are birch trees? Perhaps because in this world, two lovers also carved their names in a birch forest?

Wang Zhong brushed aside these irrelevant thoughts and observed the advancing scouts, who had somehow acquired horses and were now galloping along the pathway without encountering any Prussians.

Meanwhile, on the eastern highway, the scouts hadn’t gone far before they came upon a Prussian supply station, which seemed hastily guarded, with only a few guards present.

Machine guns were mounted at the checkpoint, but the two gunners stood by their weapons drinking coffee.

Clearly, the enemy had not anticipated an attack on this supply station.

A group of enemy soldiers, even without weapons, were busy constructing sentry posts and vehicle barriers.

Inside the supply station, there were plenty of trucks!

Wang Zhong: “Yegorov, assemble the troops.”

The voice of Yegorov sounded surprised: “Now? We should wait for the scouts to return with their report…”

Wang Zhong: “We’re moving east to…”

As he spoke, he switched back to his own perspective, then realized that the map in front of him still hadn’t marked the supply station.

Damn it, how do I explain to people how I knew the supply station was there?

The next moment, Wang Zhong had an idea, and he said to Yegorov, “The Prussians are very rigid in warfare. They must have constructed supply stations at the rear. I guess it should be here!”

He picked up the compass beside the map and stuck its point where he had seen the supply station.

Wang Zhong: “The enemy certainly thinks our target is their Army Group Command, so the supply station is likely to be poorly defended.”

Staff Officer Pavlov frowned: “Is this your conjecture?”

No, I saw it with my ‘cheat.’

Wang Zhong, with a stern face: “Yes. In battle, you must make decisions on the fly. There’s no time to argue with you. Yegorov, gather the troops!”

Yegorov saluted and went out.

Pavlov still looked puzzled: “What’s the point of attacking a supply station?”

Wang Zhong: “To commandeer vehicles. Dreaming of outrunning the enemy on foot is foolish; we need to escape using the enemy’s trucks. The front-line enemy units might not have that many trucks, but their supply stations—definitely for transporting supplies! Blow up the supplies, and the trucks can transport troops.”

Pavlov kept shaking his head: “No, no, this goes against all military common sense! Such a ridiculous combat plan would score a zero!”

Wang Zhong sternly replied: “This is a battlefield, not a test.”

Sufang: “He’s right!”

Wang Zhong looked at Sufang quizzically: “Why are you still here?”

Sufang: “The Hymn Monk should be with the highest-ranking commander on site, that’s what the manual says.”

Wang Zhong curled his lip and glanced subconsciously at Sufang’s chest, then he remembered Ludmila’s fullness.

He had a question and asked: “Monk… are most of them women?”

Sufang: “About half and half, but compared to the military, there are indeed more women. Why do you ask?”

Before Wang Zhong could answer, Yegorov came in: “The troops are on the move; we should go too.”

"Leave a liaison officer to tell the field hospital and logistics units following us where we are going,” Wang Zhong said.

Yegorov: “I have already arranged it.”