"Wait a moment."
Squad leader Maksim noticed something: "How could he step on a landmine here? Have the enemy engineers already reached this point?"
— Only engineers come equipped with [Anti-Personnel Mines] and [Anti-Tank Mines].
Since they weren't in the same squad, voice communication wasn't possible, so the squad leader sent a text message:
[Maksim]: "Hey, the guy who failed to disarm the mine just now, what's the situation? Did an enemy squad infiltrate?"
[Summer Nation Great Thunder]: "Nah, I was studying how to place landmines more discreetly, and I accidentally stepped on one myself."
[Fire Knife]: "...Looks like your research was very successful."
[Huo Huo Zhen's Husband (Commander)]: "Everyone stay away from teammates who step on mines! Don't try to disarm them! If you don't save them, only one dies; if you try to save them, there's a 50% chance two will die. The expected value is the same!"
[Summer Nation Great Thunder]: "It's not a 50% chance, this depends on skill. If you have steady hands, the success rate should be pretty high."
[Summer Nation Great Thunder]: "Damn it! LANDMINES! LANDMINES! This pinyin input method is going to be the death of me!"
[Huo Huo Zhen's Husband (Commander)]: "We're in the middle of a battle! Can you guys stop doing stand-up comedy?!"
...
Fire Knife chuckled helplessly, averting his gaze from the chat channel.
He happened to see his squad's engineer, burrowed under the upturned half of the tank.
"What are you doing?"
"I was thinking of blowing up these concrete cones, so the tank could move, right? Then it'll be our trophy!"
"Does it count as a capture if it's from our own people?"
"Why wouldn't it?" The guy confidently crawled out, pulling a wire away from the landmine.
"You guys stay back."
Having witnessed the instant demise of the previous tank crew, everyone obediently ran far away.
With a loud boom, the landmine exploded.
The concrete cones shattered.
But not completely.
The angle of the upturned tank decreased slightly, but it was still upturned...
"An anti-personnel mine isn't strong enough. Should I try an anti-tank mine?" the engineer asked.
"Put an anti-tank mine under the tank and detonate it??" the captain retorted, "Do you even know what anti-tank mines are for?"
"Stop messing around, let's go. If we don't get to the front lines soon, the battle will be over."
The engineer reluctantly glanced at the tank again before heading towards the team.
But halfway there, with a "shoo" sound, his head burst open, and he died on the spot.
"Damn it!" Fire Knife and his teammates, caught off guard, quickly ran towards the nearest cover—which was the tank.
"Shoo!"
Another gunshot rang out.
Another unlucky fellow fell.
"Get down! Get down!"
"Where are the bullets coming from??"
"Did anyone see? Point me in the direction!"
The teammates were in chaos, blindly firing in the direction of the gunfire.
But with a "shoo" sound, the third teammate fell.
Everyone finally reached the tank and roughly figured out the enemy's location.
But none of them dared to stick their heads out, huddling behind the tank to discuss a plan:
"What do we do?"
"The enemy is shooting slowly but accurately. Is that a sniper? Did a reconnaissance squad sneak over?"
"I still haven't seen where they are!"
"How are we supposed to fight this?"
"We rush out from both sides at the same time, one side as bait, the other to counterattack?"
"...Are you sure that's not just suicide?" Fire Knife retorted, "We haven't even seen them, how can we counterattack?"
"We can't just wait around! What if they flank us?"
"Damn, is this what it feels like to encounter a sniper on the battlefield?"
"Let's hide in the tank." One guy immediately took action, ceremoniously typing a string of F's in the chat channel.
However, Fire Knife was stunned to see—
That guy just stood up and swaggered around the cover, climbed onto the back of the tank, and tried to get inside.
The enemy sniper probably didn't expect anyone to be so arrogant, and hesitated for a moment before sending him off with a single shot.
The guy's corpse rolled off the tank, his head still spurting blood, staring at his teammates with unseeing eyes.
"Damn it!" the guy cursed loudly in the squad voice channel, "Are you kidding me, Building Dreams! Just because there's an animation for entering the tank, does it have to be the easiest path???"
Fire Knife looked at the tilted tank and finally understood:
This guy must be a PC player.
If he was using a haptic suit or tactile gloves, he could use a "climbing" action to climb directly onto the tank from this side.
But on a PC, pressing F to enter the tank triggers an animation.
The system gave him a feasible route—climbing from the back.
As a result, he was sniped.
"Is it that realistic?" Fire Knife complained.
"Captain, what do we do? Should we run fast and gamble on their aim?"
Captain Maksim chose—
"Commander? Is the commander there?"
"The enemy reconnaissance squad is strong! They have a sharpshooter! They're probably planning to assassinate you!"
"They're in the H6 area! I've marked their approximate location, quickly bomb them to death!"
Fire Knife couldn't hear the commander's voice, but just listening to the captain, he knew what they were doing.
Calling in a wide-area bombardment for a sniper, plus maybe an observer, seemed like a bit of a waste.
But since it was to save him, he didn't have any objections.
But the captain didn't get his wish.
"Bombardment has a 10-minute cooldown... The commander just bombed a wave of forward strongholds, he's used it up."
"?" Fire Knife curiously opened the map and glanced at it, "It's been bombed?"
"Then why haven't we taken the stronghold yet?"
The stronghold in the middle of the map was still being contested.
The squad leader sighed and said, "Because that idiot didn't notice that he only reminded his own squad to retreat, and ended up wiping out both the enemy and friendly forces..."
"The two squad leaders who were bombed are currently passionately arguing with the commander."
Fire Knife opened his mouth, not knowing how to evaluate this commander.
"Should we charge?" he suggested, "I have smoke grenades and a submachine gun. As long as we can see their exact location, maybe we'll get lucky!"
"Okay, I have smoke grenades too, let's throw one on each side."
Fire Knife watched as the squad leader said this, took a grenade from his waist, and skillfully pulled the pin...
He was stunned on the spot.
"Is that a smoke grenade???"
"What?" Maksim, who was raising his arm to throw, paused and looked back at the grenade in his hand.
"?"
"Boom!"
The grenade exploded, and Fire Knife and the captain went to the afterlife together.
He had a mmp to say in his heart, but he held back.
Because Maksim apologized too quickly—
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry! This is all Building Dream's fault!"
"I'm wearing a haptic suit, the grenades and smoke grenades are hanging on my waist, I just grabbed the wrong one in a panic..."
"Even if you grabbed the wrong one, couldn't you have at least thrown it away?!!" Fire Knife couldn't even bother typing, and directly opened his mic in a rage.
"Uh, I'll remember that for next time!!" the captain assured him.
"Will we even be able to get to the front lines today...?"
Fire Knife was already feeling pessimistic...
(1/3) Seeking monthly tickets for the third update.
