The intricate plan to ignite a sympathetic detonation by striking the artillery shell with a wrench ultimately faltered.
It wasn’t that the shell was so volatile it would detonate with a single tap, nor was it so robust that no amount of striking could trigger its fuse; rather, the wrench had halted its descent, suspended a mere ten centimeters from the shell’s outer casing.
“Fortuitously, I mastered a seemingly useless spell.”
Beside a Lanforthian officer, impeccably clad in their uniform, a luminous magic array blossomed. Instead of drawing a weapon, they had conjured an utterly astonishing spell.
From thin air, delicate pink chains materialized, coiling tightly around the right wrist that gripped the wrench. The black-haired youth thrashed with all their might, yet found themselves utterly unable to break free.
“Tell me… who exactly are you? And why do you seek to sabotage our military’s invaluable ammunition supplies?”
Lin Yu perceived an immense surge of magical energy gushing forth from a nearby source. Upon turning her head to investigate, she was seized by a sensation akin to the very heavens collapsing around her.
The Lanforthian was undeniably a mage, and the “chains” that had thwarted the sympathetic detonation plan were a direct manifestation of their sorcery.
While mages remain oblivious to the fluctuations of magic tools activating, they are exquisitely attuned to the fundamental essence of magic itself: mana. Waves of this potent energy surged from the Lanforthian, their sheer magnitude dwarfing the meager three and a half healing spells Lin Yu had accumulated within her own body.
In essence, Lin Yu and her companion had inadvertently stumbled upon a masterfully trained mage.
“Ah…” The officer scrutinized the ‘idiot’s’ countenance, arriving at an accurate conclusion: “You are a spy dispatched by the Diaclan people to commit sabotage, are you not?”
As an idiotic royalist and a Private First Class in the assault division, he possessed no comprehension of the Lanforthian tongue. Nevertheless, he could shrewdly gauge the gravity of the situation by the sheer number of muzzles now trained upon him. Though he remained silent, an unsettling abnormality had begun to creep across his features.
In truth, his presence and actions were not born of any directive to commit sabotage; rather, they sprang solely from his unadulterated loyalty to the emperor and a profound sense of patriotism – a sentiment that, if expressed to the Lanforthians, whose nation was a republic, would undoubtedly be met with nothing but disdain and rolled eyes.
What utterance, then, could possibly extricate that ‘idiot’ from the spell’s relentless embrace? Or had the circumstances truly deteriorated to a point where mere words were utterly incapable of resolving the predicament?
Every Lanforthian soldier nearby shifted their gaze to the officer, and, heeding his command, meticulously pivoted their rifle muzzles toward the figure now ensnared by the chains. The clandestine scheme to detonate the Lanforthian artillery ammunition had unequivocally failed, extinguishing any hope of further attempts.
He would be apprehended, subjected to a grueling interrogation, and subsequently led out to face a firing squad. Should she fail to extricate herself immediately, she, too, would inevitably be discovered by these Lanforthian devils (TL Note: A derogatory term, similar to ‘gooks’ or ‘huns,’ used to dehumanize enemy soldiers.), subjected to a similarly brutal interrogation, and ultimately suffer the same fate before a firing squad.
Conceivably, even more egregious acts might precede his execution. As a “spy infiltrating to sabotage an enemy nation,” Lin Yu harbored not a sliver of hope that the Lanforthians would extend any measure of leniency.
Her only recourse was to turn and flee, before her presence was detected. After all, this mad scheme had been his brainchild; since he had failed to execute it, he ought to perish alongside it.
While she had indeed steeled herself for death, being tormented to death and being instantly vaporized constituted two utterly disparate forms of demise. She had merely come to terms with the concept of death itself, not with the agonizing suffering that might precede it.
The payload of the suicide drone that had struck her in her previous life had been insufficient to dispatch her instantaneously. She had thrashed in agony for approximately half a minute before her final breath escaped, that agonizing thirty seconds a memory she fervently wished to erase from both her past and current existences.
Given the current predicament, destroying the Lanforthian supplies was an impossibility. Even if she were to aid him, she could not, in the presence of a mage, accomplish the heroic feat of detonating the ammunition, sacrificing herself to save the entire army. It was far more prudent to escape now.
Lin Yu had mentally braced herself to bolt, and through a swift glance, conveyed her urgent intentions to the ‘idiot’.
Yet, within his eyes…
For the very first time, Lin Yu discerned… a profound sadness… emanating from those deep, dark eyes that typically held nothing but unwavering devotion to His Imperial Majesty.
The moment their gazes locked, her legs felt as if they had been inextricably nailed to the earth, rendering her utterly incapable of moving even a single step. Against her will, her mind began to frantically search for any conceivable method to rescue him.
No, it wasn’t about saving him; he was already beyond salvation.
Instead, it was to see his final strategy to fruition, to let her own life blossom alongside his on the lands beyond the mountains, to cripple the Lanforthian offensive, and to grant those unseen comrades, those who had not yet managed to retreat, ample time to fall back.
Let me consider; what means exist to ignite that ammunition?
The most immediate trigger was undeniably the wrench clutched in his hand. The second most proximate method… would likely be the weaponry held by the Lanforthian soldiers themselves.
Could rifle fire truly cause the artillery shells to explode? That remained uncertain. The most dependable approach still involved external force triggering the fuse; she needed to devise a method to ensure that wrench struck down with decisive impact.
Hmm…
—The young woman pondered—
Following a period of contemplation that felt immeasurably long, though in reality it likely spanned only three or four seconds, Lin Yu finally uncovered the resolution to their seemingly intractable predicament.
What, fundamentally, is magic? It is the “miracles” wrought by mages – the miracles of healing, of slaying – but ultimately, at its core, it is always an act performed by a “person.”
Magic tools, however, are an exception.
The enchantment currently binding the ‘idiot’ was, without a shred of doubt, the handiwork of the officer standing directly before him.
Therefore, should that officer perish, the magic would dissipate, allowing him to strike the shell’s fuse with a wrench, thereby unleashing a mushroom cloud-like explosion that would obliterate these thousands of artillery rounds in a single, cataclysmic burst.
To vanquish a mage in a direct magical confrontation was utterly beyond Lin Yu’s abilities. Her current repertoire consisted solely of “Healing Spell,” a benevolent art possessing no offensive properties, rendering her incapable of harming anyone.
However, the simple act of killing a mage was remarkably straightforward; it was no different from dispatching an ordinary person—one merely needed to pull the trigger.
Concealed within a crucial blind spot, Lin Yu slowly brought her rifle to bear, aligning the target precisely within her crosshairs.
Not a single soul observed her raising the weapon, just as none had perceived that she, too, was an integral part of the “spies.”
The trigger was squeezed, and the firing mechanism engaged. A piece of metal, intricately etched with arcane patterns, made contact with the magic stone embedded at the bullet’s base within the gun barrel, instantly activating the enchanted device.
The intricate patterns proliferated along the inner walls of the barrel, ultimately blossoming at the muzzle into resplendent blue tracery, delineating a complex magic array.
Propelled within the conduit forged by the magic array, the bullet accelerated with breathtaking speed, instantly rocketing from the barrel, instantaneously shattering the sound barrier, and plunging, in the very next instant, into the officer’s chest.
The sensation of firing a gun for the first time was profoundly unsettling, as was the act of extinguishing another’s life. Yet, had she refrained, that ‘idiot’ would have perished pointlessly on the Lanforthian execution grounds, and she herself might well have been ensnared in the same grim fate.
To imbue both her sacrifice and his with profound meaning, and to guarantee that her parents would receive the martyr’s pension, Lin Yu steeled her resolve and fired the shot, striking the target squarely in the chest.
A ripple of energy expanded, and crimson spray erupted. Only after the shot found its mark did the surrounding Lanforthian soldiers register that someone had fired from behind, promptly swiveling their muzzles to point directly at Lin Yu.
From the blind spot… no, beneath the officer’s resentful, dying gaze, the powerful right wrist tore free from the dissipating chains, and with a savage force, brought the wrench crashing down upon the shell’s apex.
“Look, these are the artillery shells destined to devastate the Lanforthian encampment.”
“Wow… there are so many… Under normal circumstances, do we launch tens of thousands of these in a single day?”
“More than that, actually. The front line beyond the mountains expends forty thousand rounds daily, a quantity ample enough to blanket this entire expanse of open ground surrounding us.”
A long time ago, as Nangong and Lin Yu ambled around the encampment, their path led them past their own artillery positions.
Diaclan artillerymen lounged idly beside six formidable heavy cannons. Their shells lay meticulously stacked in wooden crates mere meters away, while on the opposite side, cylindrical magic stones—each over ten centimeters in diameter—awaited deployment for launching the ordnance.
She yearned to peer closer, but Nangong swiftly tugged at her sleeve. “Be cautious,” Nangong warned, “these shells are impact-detonated. Once the safety mechanism is disengaged, the alchemical compounds within are said to be even more volatile than a woman’s heart.”
“Disengage the safety?”
“Simply grasp the top like so, and give it a gentle twist… Wait, you’re not actually contemplating trying it, are you?”
“Never!”
She was merely a humble medic; what nefarious intentions could a medic possibly harbor?
****
Much later, a pair of hands deftly disengaged the fuse, then savagely brought a wrench crashing down upon the shell’s apex.
The ensuing explosion engulfed every single soul present.
…Huh? Why didn’t it detonate?
The wrench connected squarely with the shell’s fuse, and a sharp, metallic clang reverberated through the air. A cataclysmic explosion should have ripped through this very spot, reducing the entire ammunition depot, along with several ammunition transport trucks, to scorched earth.
Yet, no explosion materialized; only the shot officer emitted a ragged, gurgling gasp, punctuated by a faint, leaking sound.
“Delayed fuse! Run!”
Such specialized vocabulary would assuredly not have been covered in the CET-4/6 (TL Note: College English Test, a standardized English proficiency test in mainland China.) exams of her previous life, leaving Lin Yu utterly bewildered by the first half of his frantic cry.
She distinctly caught only the latter half of his utterance: R, U, N.
Without a moment to spare for further thought, Lin Yu mustered every ounce of her strength, launching into a desperate sprint forward, dragging the dumbfounded ‘idiot’ along with her.
The ensuing explosion erupted directly behind them, its concussive force nearly sending both fleeing figures sprawling.