Chapter 32: Driver, Damn It, Step on It!

"Prepare for combat, prepare for combat!"

"Get off the vehicles quickly, stop dragging your feet!"

As Andrei poked his head out and shouted to the troops behind him, he blew his whistle. The soldiers, who had been worn out by the long march, forced themselves to perk up and quickly assumed combat readiness.

Meanwhile, because Andrei’s squad had entered combat status, the players' "skip" feature concluded. Andrei didn't know how long the skip had taken from the players' perspective; it seemed that to them, the previous rest and march had transpired in the blink of an eye.

A group of players leaped off the vehicles with incredible speed. Simultaneously, the chat channel, which had been quiet for some time, suddenly became lively again.

Brother Haonan: [I have to say, this game is incredibly detailed. The march was quite realistic, just a bit tedious! Thank goodness for the skip option, otherwise, marching the whole way would have been boring as hell!]

King Jiji: [Hahaha, this armored vehicle is mine now!]

Cold Crow: [Wait, tell me, what’s up with you? How come you’re inside a mecha the moment you log in?]

...

King Jiji was just as confused; he was wondering himself why he had spawned directly into an armored vehicle.

He didn't know that Andrei, for the sake of caution and convenience, had assigned these players to the vehicles he discovered because they seemed relatively reliable and hadn't been running around causing trouble. During the march, Andrei had essentially "plugged" these players into the vehicles.

To the players, this state felt like skipping a cutscene, but to Andrei, they were like AI bots on auto-pilot. While their movements were stiff and they lacked the ability to speak, they followed his orders precisely. Unfortunately, Andrei had studied them and found them to be extremely dim-witted; they could only understand the most direct commands. If he told them to go somewhere, they would only walk in a straight line. Andrei even had to specifically order them to follow the road to ensure they marched properly. If not for that, Andrei might have considered kicking them out just to keep them in auto-pilot mode permanently.

King Jiji didn't know he was there because of Andrei; he was simply surprised and delighted to have a mecha to pilot. But it didn't matter—why overthink it?

Since he had managed to get his hands on such a fun toy, there was no way he would be brain-dead enough to give the opportunity to someone else.

However, just then, King Jiji glanced at the pilot sitting below him, and his expression crumbled.

"Cold Crow, what’s up with you?"

"You're in the same mecha as me, so why are you acting up in the chat?"

Cold Crow shrugged, indicating he was just having fun. The chat channel was meant for banter; what was the point otherwise? Fiddling with the control stick and utilizing the unique traits of a player, Cold Crow quickly grasped the operation of the armored vehicle. He couldn't claim to be an expert, but he could at least operate it normally.

After messing around for a bit, he realized he could only control the direction of the vehicle. He looked up and asked, "By the way, where is the fire control system? Is it on your side?"

King Jiji nodded. He looked at the firing button, remembered Andrei’s orders, and recalled how another player had been banned for 24 hours for firing randomly and nearly injuring an important NPC. He finally suppressed the urge.

"That's right, I handle the attack section. I have a 75mm long-barrel cannon and a 7.92mm machine gun. The firepower is decent, I suppose!"

After tinkering a bit more, he discovered something interesting.

"Come to think of it, the mecha’s design looks quite human-like, and there’s actually a large bayonet mounted on the cannon!"

"If we coordinate well, we could totally pull off a bayonet charge!"

Hearing this, Cold Crow’s eyes lit up, and he couldn't help but laugh.

"A mecha bayonet charge? That’s interesting! Even if the person who designed this mecha was a bit off their rocker, this function seems like a blast!"

After further discussion, the two decided that King Jiji, who controlled the artillery, would act as the vehicle commander to direct the mecha's movements. There was no other choice; although Cold Crow was the driver, his view from the window was poor. Compared to King Jiji, who seemed to have access to some "black technology"—a lens that provided a full 360-degree view around the mecha—Cold Crow’s standard window only offered a narrow slit of the outside world.

"Armored elites, forward! Win the battle, and medals shall be yours in abundance!"

Just then, the tone of King Jiji’s command changed. Even though he was speaking Chinese, Cold Crow couldn't help but feel that his voice had a strange, "Germanic" flavor to it!

What kind of "German-style" Chinese was this?

"Commander, what are you doing? Are you possessed by some historical dictator?"

As soon as he finished speaking, King Jiji smacked his helmet and pointed forward, shouting:

"Driver! Move your ass! They’re already fighting up ahead, and you’re still dawdling here!"

Damn! Cold Crow immediately realized that the guy behind him must have watched too many videos of the *Canon in D* remix on Bilibili and was now role-playing!

Whatever, he decided to play along.

It was rare to get to pilot a mecha, and both of them felt inexplicably pumped. They stomped forward with the mecha's long metallic legs.

Meanwhile, in front of the concrete bridge at Cold Water Town, a fierce battle was underway.

Rat-tat-tat! Rat-tat-tat!

Inside a sturdy small building, a machine gun was spitting fire, suppressing the Black Eagle soldiers advancing across the bridge and preventing them from lifting their heads.

"Infantry gun! Bring up our infantry gun! Where is our artillery?"

On the bridge, a sergeant leading an assault shouted at the soldiers around him, feeling that his life as an NCO was truly miserable. Officers could stay in the back to command, but NCOs like him had to lead the charge into the hail of bullets.

Perhaps his shouting worked, or perhaps the Black Eagle army in the rear had been prepared all along. Six 75mm infantry guns, positioned on a slope in the distance, unleashed a barrage of fire at the small building.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Several explosions rang out, and the building was instantly engulfed in smoke and dust.

But just as the Black Eagle soldiers on the bridge rose to charge again, a tongue of fire erupted from the smoke, cutting down two unsuspecting Black Eagle soldiers in an instant.