Translator: _Min_ Editor: Caron_
Just as Jiang Chen and Evelyn worried about the future of Frankberg, it was late in Ukraine on the other side of the globe.
It was already late May, and the air on the outskirts of Dnepropetrovsk began to feel hot.
The old church stood alone in the middle of the shambles. Perhaps it was because the warring parties had intentionally avoided firing at it that it miraculously survived. In the cemetery behind the church, dark smoke slowly floated up. In order to prevent the plague from spreading, the citizens of the suburbs all helped the government forces to drag the dead bodies there and incinerate them.
Two streets away from the church were the front lines.
A ragged old mother limped forward and wandered around the Dnieper River filled with dead bodies. She was numb to the constant cannon shots in the distance. She mechanically touched the faces soaked by water as she muttered: “God”, “Jesus”, “No”.
The mother river that gave birth to the Ukraine people was now filled with countless floating bodies.
Zhang Feng sighed, raised his hand and pressed on a button outside of the helmet.
“A05 district, found a civilian … who’s going to bring her back?”
After he ended the communication, he looked at the time and saw that it was time to change shifts, so he switched to the team channel.
“Okay, guys, pack things up and get ready to change.”
“Roger that.”
Soon, the squad sent by the militants took over defense from Zhang Feng. Several militants wearing worker uniforms placed machine guns behind the bunker, seemingly guarding their posts diligently. However, Zhang Feng knew that except for the captain who led the team, these people all recently joined the military without proper training.
However, he didn’t say anything.
Why did it matter? Anyway, the situation was similar on the other side. The veterans’ luck was exhausted, and it was the rookies’ turn. At least the morale of the militants was high. They fought for freedom.
At least they thought so.
Out of kindness, Zhang Feng patted the shoulders of a soldier when he left, pointing to the ruins on the other side of the river.
“At three o’clock, there will be firepower from the government forces.”
The captain in the gray sweater glanced on the other side of the river and grinned.
“Thank you.”
“Good luck—”
BOOM.
Zhang Feng didn’t finish before the roar of the artillery interrupted his blessing.
The two men bent down to protect their eyes and blocked the rubble from the ceiling. The glass window shattered into pieces, scaring the machine gunner to curse in horror while retreating into the corner.
“Damn, *cough*. What are they doing?”
After inhaling a full nose of dust, the captain straightened his back, dusted off his arm, and quickly walked to the window. He zoomed on the shoal of the river. Suddenly, his eyes widened, and he subconsciously swore. “Fu*k…”
Tanks and armored vehicles formed a steel wave. With the roar of artillery, the enemy launched an attack across the river. Soldiers screamed out and held the rifles on their chests, closely following the steel wave. They stepped across the burning ruins and assaulted the smoke-filled defense.
The machine gunners on both sides directed firepower at each other, and orange trajectories darted wildly over the Dnieper River, tearing the quiet night sky into pieces. On the other side of the river, a dozen transport helicopters were escorted by armed helicopters, penetrating the flank of government forces.
Leaning against the other side of the window, Zhang Feng blankly stared at the street in the distance.
“Sir?” Sergey went to Zhang Feng and looked at him with questions in his eyes.
Just as Zhang Feng was ready to answer “I don’t know”, the signal light in his vision flashed, and the commander’s holographic image appeared. Raising his hand to stop Sergey from speaking, Zhang Feng listened to the commander’s orders, then immediately saluted, following by a shout, “Yes, sir!”
Sergey and Hans looked at each other with confusion then looked at their captain.
After taking a long look at his team members, Zhang Feng took a deep breath.
“Sorry, guys, the activity is temporarily canceled.”
“Ten minutes ago, Celestial Trade Command Center issued the highest attack order and ordered the frontline troops to cooperate with the militants to take Dnepropetrovsk Airport before dawn and pushed our defense line to the city center.”
“It’s time to end the war. Let’s cross the river to finish those idiots.”
“The destination is the airport. You have a minute to check the equipment! Now follow me to the checkpoint and get moving. MOVE! MOVE! MOVE!”
The air filled with chaos blew in their faces and blew away any last remaining drowsiness. Behind the first teams to engage, Celestial Trade soldiers wearing kinetic skeletons rushed out behind cover and advanced through the shoal area at a faster-than-normal speed.
Flare and fire flashed in the sky. Aurora-20s and F18s fought among the clouds. After a while, the parts belonging to the F18 fighters rained down.
The anti-aircraft firepower deployed by the government forces in the eastern part of the city was marked by Celestial Trade Special Forces wearing K2 skeletons and turned into alloys by the tungsten rods descended from heaven. Under the cover of optical invisibility, they walked through the battlefield like ghosts. Even if government forces deployed a large number of infrared sensors on the front lines, they would still be dodged by these experienced veterans.
In just ten minutes, five Aurora-20s obtained air superiority from the government forces. The dropped bombs set off a wave of explosions, sweeping a path for the militant’s First Armored Brigade.
The fierce battle seemed to have brought down the clouds from the sky, and rain began to splatter in the previously-clear night.
Arrow’s armed helicopters appeared in the northern part of the city, trying to flank the militants’ forces. However, they lost their air superiority and were at the mercy of Aurora-20s. Without any need for missiles, the Aurora-20’s machine guns sent the helicopters crashing into buildings.
“Damn! Did they mobilize all of their tanks? These madmen!” Behind their defensive position, venting about the fragile firepower, the government soldiers shouted in horror, “Where are our anti-aircraft guns? Who’s going to take care of those planes—”
Without the opportunity to finish, a bomb landed above them. When the smoke dissipated, his unrecognizable corpse was already hanging on a billboard ten meters away.
Not only did the government forces acting as the main force of combat face immense pressure, but Arrow’s mercenaries were also placed in a difficult position.
Unlike the temporarily armed refugees and European volunteers who fought on the Northern Line, they were sent by Arrow to guard the city. They were all veterans who had engaged in previous wars before. Having participated in two asymmetric wars prior, it was their first time being on the losing side.
The strong people were still resisting in vain, and weak people were crying for God. They even forgot how to resist.
In half an hour, two armored brigades completely lost combat ability, but the militants only paid a price of less than twenty tanks as they pushed forward two kilometers.
Chaos was the tone of the city, and the government forces who could not change the fate of the war, began to desert. The Arrow mercenaries first began to desert. They didn’t have any sense of honor in a war for someone else. Naturally, they didn’t feel guilty when they ran.
Immediately after the soldiers of the government force began to desert. Many of them were forced into the army. When they saw their captain was killed in action, almost everyone chose to take off their uniforms and hide in nearby houses.
Looking at the battlefield through binoculars, a joyful smile emerged on the face of the militant commander.
Anyone could see that there was no more suspense about the outcome of this war.
Victory was only a matter of time.
