Chapter 42: No Guns, No Cannons? The Enemy Will Build Them for Us!

"So, which timeline does this world actually correspond to? World War I or World War II?"

Andrei could not help but ponder. Based on the trench warfare he encountered at the start, he felt the tactics resembled those of the First World War. Yet, the moment the enemy’s armored battalion appeared, he immediately thought of the German tank battalions of the Second World War.

Good grief, could he be fighting against Operation Barbarossa right now?

Andrei thought for a moment and concluded that he still had too little information to fully understand the tactics and weapon configurations of either side. However, looking at the situation as a whole, he felt the enemy had not yet reached the level of German armored deployment seen in WWII; otherwise, he should have seen armored vehicles everywhere during his escape.

As for the Cambrian Empire...

Andrei felt it was better not to bring that up—it was truly damaging to his self-esteem!

Honestly, to this day, he had not seen a single Cambrian armored vehicle on the battlefield, nor had he seen the Empire field any particularly elite units. Compared to the opposition, the Cambrian Empire’s equipment level felt like it was being completely crushed.

Thinking about it, he found it puzzling. How could the technical gap between the two nations be so vast? Given the scale of the war, he didn't think the Cambrian Empire was a minor power; they reminded him of the Russians, so the discrepancy seemed far too wide. There had to be a reason for it.

Though his confusion grew, Andrei had no time to dwell on it. He quickly found his two crew members and told the players to take it easy while driving. He only had these two armored vehicles at his disposal, and if they were lost to player recklessness, he would be completely out of luck.

Just as Andrei arrived, he noticed a few players tinkering with the armored vehicles using large wrenches. Simultaneously, in the chat channel, he saw the players' excited exchange:

Veteran10086: "666! Turns out repairing in this game isn't like the settings in Battlefield! Clockwise is repair, counter-clockwise is sabotage!"

King Gigi: "Hey, take it easy! These are valuable imperial assets; don't scrap my little tank!"

Cold Crow: "Boss, that's not a tank; it's a multi-legged armored vehicle!"

Andrei was stunned. He hadn't expected the repair skill in the game to function this way, allowing for the arbitrary control of both repair and destruction. He quickly warned the players to be careful, emphasizing that they must prioritize the survival of the vehicles at all costs.

"...Remember, we only captured two armored vehicles in total. Each one is vital for the upcoming war; we don't have much room for error!"

Faced with Andrei’s nagging, King Gigi shrugged, pretending not to hear. Why worry so much while playing a game? The most important thing was to have fun! It was just an armored vehicle, wasn't it? If it broke, it broke—it wasn't as if he couldn't deal with the enemy's armor without it!

However, the other crew member, Cold Crow, chimed in: "Commander, since these two vehicles were stolen anyway, we can just steal a few more!"

"We'll find an opportunity to launch a surprise attack and grab some more when they're off guard. If we have no guns or cannons, the enemy will provide them for us!"

Hearing this, Andrei blinked, amazed at the players' ingenuity. Was stealing enemy armor really that easy? Did they think... Wait, perhaps it really could work!

Andrei realized that these players possessed a wealth of unique skills and, crucially, were unaffected by the cover of night. If they managed to find an opening for a nighttime raid or caught the enemy in a vulnerable moment, the plan to hijack enemy equipment might actually succeed!

With that in mind, he let them do as they pleased and hurried toward a concealed building, intending to use it as a makeshift forward command post. He could vaguely see enemies cresting the distant hills.

The first to cross were a group of about seven or eight hundred infantry, largely on foot with a small motorized contingent.

Judging by their approach, they were an infantry battalion that had been dispersed to the south, and now they had arrived.

However, Andrei soon saw that behind the infantry battalion, armored vehicle after armored vehicle crested the hill. A dense mass of iron cans rolled forward, including a model he had never seen before.

He didn't know what the design philosophy of the Black Eagle Empire was, but all their armored vehicles looked like various types of iron cans. The new model also looked like a four-limbed iron can, but compared to the "Dreadnought"—which stood on two long legs and carried a cannon-mounted bayonet—this one appeared short and stocky.

Andrei noticed that the hands on this iron can were slightly oversized, suggesting some kind of weapon configuration, and on its back, there was actually a giant... harpoon gun?

He wasn't certain if it was a harpoon gun, but it looked remarkably like the tools used for hunting fish, only scaled up to at least three or four meters in length.

Andrei couldn't immediately identify this strange weapon, but recalling the soldiers' reports, he immediately associated it with the "Hunter."

"Soldiers, prepare yourselves, we—"

Andrei had just begun to speak to the soldiers beside him when one of the cannon-wielding Dreadnoughts suddenly opened fire toward the distance.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The thunderous sound of the Dreadnoughts firing interrupted him. Simultaneously, through the player chat logs, Andrei learned that the artillery position, which had a wide view but was also extremely exposed, had already been blown to pieces by the enemy. Their model artillery was now nothing but scrap.

On one of the Dreadnought mechs, which featured a distinct design with a giant black eagle and thirteen black skulls painted on it, a commander popped open the hatch and leaned out to peer through binoculars.

Watching the billowing smoke in the distance and the shattered half of a barrel flying through the air, the commander smiled with contempt.