Chapter 23: The Village Has Fallen to the Enemy

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After discovering this, Andrei hurriedly finished using the latrine and ran back. He then took the flag from Boris’s shoulder.

Now, he was unwilling to let the flag stray too far from him.

What did a respawn point mean?

It meant that even when the battle reached its fiercest and players were falling one after another, a steady stream of new players could still appear right beside him!

That was tremendously important, because it meant there would always be someone nearby to protect him!

At first, Andrei had carried the regimental flag on his shoulder merely to raise morale—a kind of performance, in a sense. But now, he genuinely could not bear to let go of it!

It was practically a protective talisman—a divine artifact for summoning players!

Seeing the enthusiasm written across Andrei’s face, Boris had no idea what he was so happy about. He felt that Andrei seemed to have developed some special attachment to the flag.

With that thought, he shrugged and decided not to dwell on such a complicated matter.

Compared with the beginning of the war, Andrei seemed to have matured considerably after being subjected to that bombardment.

At first, Andrei had struck him as nothing more than a gilded young aristocratic officer. But now, Boris had acknowledged Andrei’s abilities and recognized his leadership.

Of course, Boris still thought the most extraordinary members of this unit were the recruits. He had no idea how these replacements had been trained, but their combat ability was astonishingly abnormal—and they were equipped with such fine gear as well!

Considering Andrei’s identity, Boris could not help wondering whether these elite soldiers had secretly been sent by Andrei’s family to protect him.

Taking advantage of the march, Andrei counted the men in his company.

When they had set out, his company had numbered sixty-six men. Now it had seventy—somehow, the more they fought, the larger their numbers became.

But Andrei was not naïve enough to believe that his own men had truly increased through battle. If he had not added another twenty players afterward, his unit would have been reduced to just fifty men!

By that calculation, his company had lost a full sixteen men in the recent chaos.

“Damn this wretched war!”

Andrei could not help cursing. After that charge, another third of the living men in his company had died!

He could not help wondering what kind of superhuman beings those veterans were who managed to survive several battles, or even a dozen.

Their luck was practically divine!

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Aside from the men remaining in Andrei’s company, roughly three hundred others had charged out alongside them. After that, there was no sign of them.

Thinking about how many soldiers had originally been stationed on the front line, and then considering the casualty rate now, Andrei felt a deep sense of desolation. This transmigration business really was no way for a human being to live!

At the same time, some of the players who had just been summoned were puzzled as to why they had appeared in the middle of a marching sequence.

They soon began discussing it with the veteran players, however.

Cold Crow: “By the way, are we currently in a cutscene? It looks like we can fast-forward through it.”

Blue Cat, White Belly, Big Wild Boar: “It should be a transitional story sequence. There’s nothing interesting about it—it’s just marching. The game doesn’t seem to let you skip this kind of scene, but apparently you can set it to fast-forward at five hundred times normal speed. Just skip past it.”

King Su Su: “Terrible review. Why can’t this game let us take off our pants again? When will us nudists finally rise to power?”

…

Reading this exchange, Andrei was speechless.

What was wrong with these people? Why did every one of them come in wanting to take off their pants?

It was only then that he learned players actually had a fast-forward function for story sequences.

But come to think of it, the game certainly had to make adjustments. It could not synchronize every moment with reality on Andrei’s side.

Otherwise, how would it account for the soldiers’ sleeping hours and the time they spent marching normally?

In most armies, ninety percent of the time spent in war was used simply to travel. Unless they encountered an unusual battle situation, it was rare for an army to remain in one place and fight continuously.

But players obviously could not be expected to spend several hours of game time merely watching a group of people walk for ages—or sleeping inside the game.

So this fast-forward function seemed to solve a great many problems.

Thinking of this, Andrei mentally gave the system a thumbs-up. He had not expected the thing to be so considerate in its operation!

He had no idea how long his unit had been marching. If they had been taking a break roughly once every hour, then the group had already rested three times.

Even during those breaks, Andrei forbade anyone from lighting a fire to cook, fearing that they might accidentally reveal their position and draw enemy artillery fire.

Fortunately, although the soldiers were exhausted, they still obeyed these orders without complaint. They understood the priorities of the situation.

“We’re almost there. We’ll reach the village ahead very soon!”

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Just then, Andrei finished checking the minimap and excitedly whispered to the soldiers around him. He had already spotted the fence along the edge of the village on the map.

The soldiers had only just emerged from the forest. Some of them had noticed the lights in the distance as well, but they could not be certain that this was the small village they were making for.

“Captain Vorontsov, how do you know that’s the village ahead? Could it not simply be the enemy lighting a fire for some purpose?”

Major Yuri had approached at some point and now asked in confusion.

Andrei casually invented an explanation.

“I’m guessing, but I think I’m probably right.”

“I remember seeing it on the map earlier. The village is located at the edge of the forest, so once we came out of the woods, we should have been close.”

“And look at those trucks. Black Eagle soldiers would never simply park several trucks side by side along the road for no reason. They’ve probably already occupied the village and established a garrison there!”

Following the direction Andrei indicated, Major Yuri narrowed his eyes and indeed spotted the silhouettes of several trucks.

He could not help marveling at Andrei’s eyesight. To be able to see so clearly at night was truly impressive!

What he did not know was that Andrei could make out the trucks in the distance only because he had first seen them on the system’s minimap, allowing him to identify them afterward.

Unfortunately, this was not good news. The village where they had planned to spend the night had been occupied by the enemy, and judging by appearances, it seemed to have been converted into a military supply station.

Andrei immediately signaled the soldiers beside him to halt. The others quickly relayed the order, one by one, to the men behind them.

Before long, the entire unit had stopped at the edge of the forest, silently watching the distant village.

“Everyone, I need several agile warriors to sneak over there and eliminate their sentries!”

“Be careful. Do not make the slightest sound. If we have to storm a village occupied by the enemy, we have no idea how many men we’ll lose!”

As he whispered to the players beside him, Andrei issued a new side quest through the system.

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