My soldiers are all Fourth Calamities!

02. Rise again, my players!

"I've never heard of this company before... When was this game given away for free?"

Guo Ruhe looked at the game that had appeared in his game library at some point. He didn't recall buying this game, and it wasn't in his home library.

Are free games automatically added to the library?

"The game description is quite exquisite. The appearance, sound, smell, taste, touch, and even time are all the same as the real world... except for the twelve-hour time difference."

Guo Ruhe glanced at the content and had to admit that it was a dieselpunk-style game like Iron Harvest, with corruption and demons... Was it inspired by Trench Crusade and Warhammer?

Judging from the background, it's set in Soviet Russia, but it seems the name was changed to pass censorship... understandable.

"Wow, is this graphics quality really for a free game? Or is it a free game included with the purchase of a virtual gaming pod?"

As Guo Ruhe thought about it, his interest grew. There were very few related topics on the market, let alone a first-person, battlefield-themed one.

The only one I remember is the Russian Battlefield game I played before – From the Army.

Guo Ruhe thought to himself, "Let's give it a try." He looked at the normal game settings, which included some miscellaneous items. However, what dissatisfied him was that the character customization section only had a few presets, and only minor adjustments could be made. But Guo Ruhe could barely understand it.

He doesn't even dare to imagine what kind of characters players would create if games with this kind of background allowed for character customization.

Guo Ruhe entered his game ID—【Does the period of enlightenment count as postpartum depression?】—followed by his character name, which, according to the design, had to be a Russian-style name.

But Guo Ruhe still hopes to feel a sense of identification with it, as he has always had some aversion to the cumbersome Russian-style names.

But coincidentally, Guo Ruhe's own name is actually a Russian name, given to him by his grandfather—Кожух (Guo Ruhe).

Sure enough, after filling it in, it met the requirements.

Then comes the choice of career.

He glanced at it and found that there was only one career option available: a regular "Redvet Alliance" soldier.

Is it a blank start, similar to a card-raising game mode? That's acceptable. Guo Ruhe created a character according to the normal game process. Virtual game pods have been popular for a long time, and he has played most design games. For an old player like him, it shouldn't be too difficult to get started.

In addition, the game's graphics are frighteningly exquisite; any screenshot would likely be mistaken for CG, a movie, or even a real-world scene.

As the scene flashed by, the hydraulic rods of the game's virtual pod pressed down.

Guo Ruhe then entered the game.

Beside him were two smaller teams, each with five members, making a total of ten people.

Guo Ruhe looked at the cat-ear cave, then at the Mosin-Nagant in his hand. When he looked at the serious, motionless man in front of him with a square on his left sleeve, a light blue panel popped up in front of him—the quest log.

[Important Main Mission: Protect your platoon leader, Commander Rochester, and obey his orders without question.]

Rochester was startled when he saw the ten players suddenly appear in front of him; it felt like he was being ripped off.

A panel also appeared in front of Rochester.

You have successfully posted your first task.

Unlocking the intelligence system will better assist you in mission deployment and battlefield planning.

[Current Location: Zhytomyr Front]

[Zhytomyr: A strategically important transportation hub where the "Redvet Alliance" and the "Vistula Federation" are fiercely vying for control.]

[The Vistula Federation: A parliamentary republic reborn from the ashes on the Central European plain, a staunch defender of the new order, and also harboring the grand vision of building an "inter-sea federation."]

[The "Red Winter Alliance": A newly emerging regime rising on the frozen soil of Eastern Europe, sweeping across the former empire's territory with a red tide.]

It really is...

These weren't Rochester's biggest concerns; what he cared about most was another panel—a small map.

The minimap is right next to his panel. Judging from its size, it's a circle with a diameter of fifty meters. Enemies are shown as red dots, the can is marked with a triangle, and friendly forces are marked with blue dots. The blue dots are disappearing at a visible speed.

The can was already thirty meters away.

Time is tight and tasks are heavy.

Facing the players before him, Rochester had no time to develop his character or provide tutorials. He immediately pointed to the canned goods that were slowly approaching from outside the trench.

"Gentlemen, the enemy from the Vistula Federation is approaching us. That can is among them. Once it gets close to our trenches, we will completely lose the defense of this area. Our platoon is responsible for destroying that can."

A qualified player has the ability to chat while listening to the quest. While Rochester was seriously assigning the quest, the players started chatting in front of him.

"Holy crap, this texture... the production team is definitely going astray!"

"How can pants be worn like that? How did this pass the review? How did it not even need to have a 'little switch' turned on?"

"So, is this the target we're supposed to protect? What happens if the mission fails?"

"It's just a tutorial character, probably just a minor role."

Rochester looked at the laughing crowd, having anticipated this; for most players, it was normal.

However, if players lose control, very bad things can happen.

Rochester's expression grew even more serious.

[Warning: Please listen to Rochester's instructions and shift your view to Rochester.]

Soon, the quest prompt appeared above all the players' eyes, and their bodies were immediately controlled. A powerful, uncontrollable force drew their gazes toward Rochester.

The players were shocked that the NPC could act like this in front of them.

Undoubtedly, the initial show of force was very effective and successfully intimidated the players.

Guo Ruhe was the first to react, "Alright, let's see what that canned food is."

As he spoke, Guo Ruhe climbed to the edge of the trench to look around. The more he looked, the more excited he became, clearly unlike the other players who were surprised. "This kind of canned food is what war should be like!"

At that moment, a series of steel helmets suddenly appeared behind the can, within a range of four or five meters.

"Da! Da! Da! Da! Da!"

The machine guns clattered and the rifles banged.

Although the barbed wire was broken, it still served as a barrier.

The enemy's advancing troops were closing in step by step.

Rochester could clearly see the distorted faces and the flattened helmets; they had rushed to the broken barbed wire and suffered obvious heavy losses.

Despite the oppressive feeling of the canned food, it couldn't cover every area, and so, under the machine gun fire, they fell one by one.

But due to the obstacle of loading the machine gun, they continued to get closer and closer.

Rochester saw one of them run into the barbed wire.

His face was upturned, his body was slumped over, and his hands hung down as if in prayer.

Then his body went completely limp, leaving only his severed hand and broken arm hanging from the barbed wire.

Faced with this scene, almost all the players exclaimed, "Wow, the development team's skill level is really impressive."

"Damn it, production team, I'm begging you, please don't go astray."

"Hey, you scoundrel, stop thinking about your dirty little bit of trash."

"Holy crap, these effects, these kills, is this really a free game? This game is so hardcore!"

Even Guo Ruhe, who had played many battle royale games, was taken aback. To be honest, he had played many games, but few had graphics of this quality. Most of them only had a sense of battlefield atmosphere and were fun to play.

However, the game's graphics are a bit too realistic.

At this point, the canned food was only twenty meters away from them, a position they could definitely reach in four or five seconds by running.

Rochester assured him that if that canned food stood on the trench, the entire trench would be doomed.

Guo Ruhe nudged Rochester on the shoulder and asked, "Commander, do you have any way to take down that can?!"

Rochester: You're asking me?!

Rochester summoned players precisely because he couldn't solve the problem.

"Ahem..." Rochester pointed to several explosive charges on the other side of the trench. "That can can be blown up with explosives, but most soldiers can't even get close. As soon as they peek out, they'll be riddled with bullets from the can. Even if they're lucky enough to escape, they'll be killed by the soldiers following behind the can."

Guo Ruhe pondered for a moment. He had played Iron Harvest before, and its combat system heavily emphasized flanking and back attacks.

"Generally speaking, the front armor of this type of can is usually the thickest, while the back armor is thin and often has ventilation openings as its weak point. As long as we can get behind it..."

"Good, soldier, excellent suggestion!" Rochester patted Guo Ruhe on the shoulder. "Just what I was thinking, but how did we get to the other side?"

...a moment of silence.

"I'll draw fire!" The player known as "Wrong Path Bro" darted out from one side and scrambled towards the side of the trench. It has to be said that the player was fast. He quickly rushed towards a section of the breastwork on the left side of the trench that had been destroyed by artillery fire.

The machine gun fired "rat-a-tat-tat," making the soil in front of him churn like boiling porridge. Bullets wove an iron curtain above his head, and wood chips and frozen clods of earth cascaded down his head like a waterfall.

"Now!" Guo Ruhe shouted, grabbing another player by the back of the collar. "You, come with me! The explosives!"

The two men frantically dragged two rectangular explosive packages wrapped in burlap from the ammunition box.

Guo Ruhe peeked out, and in order to suppress the misguided brother, the canned food turned halfway to the right, exposing the knee joint of its left hind leg—there was no frontal armor protection on the sloping side, only a layer of riveted thin steel plate and a transmission rod as thick as a human arm.

Guo Ruhe did not think.

He leaped out of the trench, was shot several times, but was still able to keep running.

This left Rochester stunned.

Players are incredibly resilient. Even after taking four or five bullets, as long as their health bar remains, they're still alive and kicking.

After a shout of "Banzai!" came a loud "Bang!"

"Buzz—"

Guo Ruhe felt as if his internal organs were being gripped by a giant hand and then released.

Soil, gravel, and some kind of scorching metal fragments poured down like a torrential rain.

All that remained in his ears was a sharp, buzzing sound, as if it came from another world.

He was just feeling a little unwell, but otherwise he was fine. Under the watchful eyes of both sides' soldiers, Guo Ruhe took a few breaths as if nothing had happened, and then slid back into the trench.

Holy crap, a Slavic superman.

Rochester patted Guo Ruhe on the shoulder excitedly, "Well done! Well done!"

Rochester examined the can and realized it wasn't as sturdy as he'd imagined.

This bombing successfully demoralized the enemy soldiers. Although it was a defective product from Britannia and not as advanced as their superior goods, it still dealt a heavy blow to the enemy on the battlefield.

How did it suddenly get blown up?

And who the hell is that guy who survived four or five shots?!

Rochester, seizing the opportunity, shouted to everyone, "Comrades, we've opened that can! Return fire! Return fire!"

As a commander, he had to boost morale, so he quickly encouraged the soldiers around him. Although they had a lot of new recruits, the enemy's morale was low, and if they pursued them, the enemy would definitely escape.

The other soldiers also praised them.

Anton ran over excitedly and asked Rochester, "Are these all our comrades?"

Well, to be honest, Rochester hadn't noticed yet. The situation on the battlefield was chaotic, and it wouldn't be noticeable if one or two people were added or removed. But in normal times, without any mechanism, it would be strange if one or two people suddenly appeared, and Rochester would need to assign them an identity.

Several players then joined the main force of the charge and rushed forward.

"Hurrah!"

As they ran, their messages appeared in the chat area.

"The machine guns in this game do really high damage, but the rifles are a bit weak. I almost got taken out by the enemy machine gun just now."

This made Rochester even more excited. Players are indeed different. Even if a player's skills are a bit lacking, just this one breath of health recovery is enough for them to go toe-to-toe with the enemy's elite troops.

Rochester glanced at his reputation points, which had changed from "100" to "200". One can of food gives 100 reputation points.

It looks like quite a lot.

In addition, there was another message on the panel.

[KPzW-19 successfully defeated, some intelligence obtained.]

[This was a substandard aircraft imported by the Vistula Federal Army from Britannia in 1919. Originally designed for use in Britannia to suppress colonial uprisings, it was phased out due to unstable power output and a defective cooling system. The Vistula Federal Army purchased the blueprints and production line at a very low price and carried out simplified assembly in factories in Krakow and Lviv.]

This function is available?

Before Rochester could react...

The supervising officer reappeared, shouting from behind, "Spread out! Spread out! Don't gather so close, watch out for the enemy's magic units!"

Magic?!

This word feels both strange and familiar here.

With the appearance of this word, the intelligence system began to work, and some of the original owner's memories began to flood into his mind, and his understanding of this world began to become clearer.

While the players and soldiers charged, Rochester was finally able to calm down and analyze the situation.

Currently, this appears to be an alternate world at the end of World War I, featuring dieselpunk-style machinery, magical technology, and, judging from fragmented memories, some strange knowledge...

What does it mean that feudalism still exists?

What do you mean by the church in the "Vistula Federation" being able to stand up, and that the church was built by a man named Martin Luther?!

ha? !