Blood-stained, the two figures leaned on each other, navigating the trench. Their military boots squelched through patches of crimson mud, a gruesome concoction of earth and vivid red liquid.
Lin Yu harbored no concerns about the ‘idiot’ failing to play his part convincingly. His uncanny knack for always sustaining injuries had ensured he was genuinely wounded, now a bona fide casualty. Despite receiving a bag of plasma, the absence of red blood cell replenishment left his complexion strikingly pale.
Her true worry, however, lay in her own ability to deceive the Lanforthians. If the attacking soldiers proved to be the elite expeditionary forces from Lanforth itself, any pretense of ‘coming from the colonies’ would instantly be rendered useless.
She fervently hoped her spoken language skills hadn’t deteriorated, praying she could perform at least as well as she had on her very first day in battle.
They traversed the familiar trenches, turning towards a communication…
What should have been the entrance to a communication trench leading to the support trench now presented a vastly altered scene. A colossal pile of loose earth blocked the center, the supporting wooden walls beside it having been completely demolished by explosives, utterly erasing any trace of the passage that once sheltered troop movements.
“It’s been blown apart, and what’s more, it was likely our own people who did it.”
Lin Yu gently removed the hand resting on her shoulder, then knelt before the remnants of the communication trench, unearthing a fuse from the mound of earth.
The Lanforthians would have had no reason to destroy a relatively safe line of advance, nor would an artillery strike have left behind a fuse. This observation trench, it seemed, had been deliberately abandoned by their own forces.
Before retreating, they had booby-trapped it, not only covering their withdrawal but also ensuring that any Lanforthian soldiers who rushed into the communication trench for a frontal assault would be in for a nasty surprise.
The blood-tinged mud served as grim evidence, undoubtedly concealing the scattered remains of several enemy soldiers.
“We’ll have to cross through no-man’s-land,” she declared, shrugging as she gazed up at the trench’s nearly two-meter-high lip.
Under normal circumstances, if anyone dared to suggest such a thing, Lin Yu would have been the first to refuse outright. Stumbling exposed in the open outside a trench was, without question, one of the most foolhardy acts imaginable in this era.
Now, however, she had no alternative.
The rear wall offered neither ladders nor firing positions, making an ascent from that side somewhat challenging.
Yet, this proved no obstacle for the battle-hardened veteran. With a powerful leap, he hooked one hand onto the topmost plank of the trench, then, pushing off the wall with a few strong kicks, he hoisted himself onto the ground above.
Lin Yu remained in the two-meter-deep trench, staring up in a daze at his agile form.
“…Aren’t you coming up?”
“Do I look like I can get up there?” Lin Yu retorted, raising a hand to steady her disc-shaped helmet, which threatened to fall backward. “Considering I patched you up, give me a hand…”
He immediately turned, crouching at the trench’s edge, extending his right hand downwards to firmly grasp Lin Yu’s left arm as she reached up.
“Pull hard; I’ll haul you up.”
Lin Yu barely exerted herself before he yanked her up by her left arm, lifting her as effortlessly as one might a small chicken. “Why are you so light?”
“Doesn’t that just make you look strong?” she retorted, rolling her eyes at him. Lin Yu gave a slight twist of her waist, then gestured for him to resume his act as an injured soldier. “Come here, put your hand on my shoulder, and remember to stumble a bit more.”
Standing on solid ground, the two once again leaned on each other, staggering forward.
In truth, both could walk perfectly well on their own; their current performance was solely for the benefit of the Lanforthians, not from any genuine need. Having an arm constantly draped over her shoulder was beginning to make her lower back ache, but fortunately, they would soon pass through the reserve trench.
According to him, there were no energy fluctuations nearby, which suggested Lieutenant Xia had likely failed to organize any sustained, effective resistance along these two defensive lines.
As the last of three defensive lines, the reserve trench, once breached, would expose the supply areas and a vast expanse of territory behind the defense zone directly to the Lanforthians. The rear of such a ragtag force would offer them an unobstructed path.
Diacla was currently preparing for a full-scale offensive—their fifth assault—but their forces were stretched thin. With their supply areas preemptively destroyed, it was plausible that news of the attack and breakthrough had not yet spread.
In the midst of a full-scale offensive, the sudden appearance of a considerable enemy force from behind would inevitably shift the tide of battle in ways Lin Yu didn’t need to ponder.
“A complete rout, then…”
The dawn of victory had been so close, yet how had it been so abruptly overturned? The Lanforthians were clearly locked in a desperate struggle with Diacla’s reserve legions dozens of kilometers away; where could such a fresh force have been mustered to break through the front lines?
She simply couldn’t comprehend it.
It wasn’t just Lin Yu who was baffled; dozens of kilometers away, the General Staff, having received the same news, were equally perplexed.
To their horror, they discovered that the Lanforthians had symmetrically torn a gaping hole in their own defensive lines, their spearhead now pointing directly at the Plains. The Plains served as the capital of the Mountain-Outside Country (TL Note: Refers to a nation located beyond a mountain range, often implying a foreign or neighboring country), and concurrently, the logistical hub for all Diacla ground forces on the Mountain-Outside front.
The Plains were to the Diacla army what Tuo City was to the Lanforthian forces. The military situation, once almost a straight line, had now devolved into a jagged, interlocking pattern. Diacla had landed a left hook directly at Lanforth’s vital point, but as Lanforth parried, they simultaneously unleashed their own left hook towards Diacla.
As it stood, the Lanforthian’s hook remained unchecked. Diacla would be left reeling from this heavy blow, forced to abandon all strategic deployments and heavy weaponry, retreating to the next defensive zone: the sprawling mountain ranges along the national border.
At that point, Lin Yu’s homeland would be engulfed in the flames of war. Her parents, whom she had striven with all her might to protect and care for, would find themselves on the very front lines, their fates hanging precariously in the balance.
Of course, Lin Yu, whose attention had solely been on the maps of the front lines, remained unaware of this grim development. Her immediate thought was simply to follow the railway, hoping to catch up with their retreating forces.
If she couldn’t find them, she would seize the opportunity to slip away home and become a deserter.
After all, the last person in the army she held dear was now missing, and quite possibly had perished during the retreat. Her sole remaining task was to ensure the person beside her kept quiet, refraining from shouting about her being a deserter.
They returned to the devastated logistics area, where the rooftops of buildings, only destroyed the previous night, now proudly bore the Lanforthian lion flag, symbolizing a change of ownership.
Scattered soldiers in khaki uniforms moved amidst the ruins, swiftly erecting temporary camps, collecting supplies, and tending to the wounded on the spot.
“I never imagined the Lanforthians would be so keen on planting their national and military flags atop ruined buildings,” Lin Yu murmured.
*******
Gazing into the distance at the flags that were decidedly not Diaclan, Lin Yu quietly uttered a remark that only someone from a past life might have understood.
Consequently, the young man she supported merely cast a puzzled glance her way, offering no reply.
Or perhaps, he was simply adhering strictly to Lin Yu’s instruction before they set out: ‘Remain silent.’
The two figures, slowly approaching from the rear, soon caught the attention of the Lanforthians. Before long, military police, their steel helmets emblazoned with ‘MP’, advanced to interrogate them.
“Hey, you two… what’s going on with you two?”
Upon closer inspection, the Lanforthian MP seemed to recognize their Asian features, immediately raising his rifle and aiming it at them both. “You’re not Diaclan, are you?”
“Wait, you haven’t even looked at where they came from! Put your gun down. Have you forgotten there were other units involved in this offensive?”
No sooner had one MP raised his weapon than a second followed, pushing down the barrel aimed at Lin Yu, then turning to ask her, “Are you from the Oryan 36th Regiment?”
Lin Yu knew the word.
The place name the MP uttered was indeed Lanforth’s largest colony in East Asia. The scenario was unfolding exactly as Lin Yu had envisioned: they had naturally assumed the two individuals, clad in Lanforthian uniforms but possessing Asian features, were colonial recruits.
“Yes, sir, we are Oryans. He was wounded in battle and needs treatment. Do you know where the medic is?”
Her strangely accented ‘Lanforthian’ did not arouse suspicion. As second-class citizens of a colony, it was unlikely they would have received any formal education from childhood, making a non-native language spoken with an accent entirely normal.
“Keep going straight; there are signposts ahead. Just follow them…”
“Hey, that’s it? You’re not going to ask anything else? What about their…”
“Where would you find Diaclan people in a place like this? Come on, let’s go. The corporal just confiscated a bottle of Diaclan liquor, and we’re supposed to go taste it.”
The older MP, pulling the other man along, was about to leave, displaying the typical traits of a seasoned old soldier.
However, the younger MP, whose collar was being tugged, stubbornly pointed out his suspicion: “Look at their rifles! They’re Diaclan rifles!”
Huh?
With that exclamation ringing out loudly, even Lin Yu was startled, prompting her to scrutinize the rifle in the young MP’s hand.
Indeed… it was quite different.
She recalled a game she used to play, ‘Field Scuffle 1,’ which featured a notoriously terrible, yet universally recognized, primary weapon—it likely bore a similar appearance.
To put it simply, it was a rifle in the style of a revolver, subtly different from the traditional bolt-action rifle she carried on her back.
In an instant, they found themselves once again staring down the barrel of a gun, and even the older soldier, who had initially wanted no part of it, now cast a suspicious glance in Lin Yu’s direction.