Gromov felt something pecking at his face. As pain surged through his body, he opened his eyes to see a crow startled by his movement, flapping away.
Beyond the fleeing bird, more crows circled over corpses clad in khaki-colored uniforms, scattered among ruins and charred vehicles.
The occasional sound of engines and gunfire in his ears told him that this place was not safe.
He opened his eyes with difficulty, seeing that a bunch of guys wearing WW2 German army uniforms were shooting at the corpse in front of him, tracks from a tank ran over them, creating a path of blood.
Only with it, he fainted again.
He didn't know how much time had passed. Gromov opened his eyes again, this time, with a more sober consciousness.
"Fuck, where am I? This doesn't look like the 21st century," he muttered, bile rising in his throat as he fought the urge to vomit at his first encounter with death's raw stench.
If he wasn't mistaken, his vehicle had taken a direct hit from a shell, and he should be dead. Three months of training do not make him survive longer from the artillery fire. The crackle of distant gunfire reminded him he was still trapped on a battlefield.
"Reincarnation, like some shitty novel protagonist? The dead soldiers' uniforms look like the Red Army's ones, and the Germans'. Fuck, so I have reincarnated to the Great Patriotic War?"
"Goddamn it, how do I survive in this hell? Wait, where's my cheat? It should come with a one, right?"
Suddenly, his vision lurched upward, as though he were hovering high above the ground.
"What the hell ?"
In the RTS-like view, the entire street is displayed. Following with some good news and some bad news.
Good news, there are no enemies nearby, within a range of 400 meters.
Bad news, there are hundreds of enemies outside the range of 400 meters.
For a moment, his throat tightened. It was the last thing a soldier should have on the battlefield, fear.
"Man, what can I do?" Looking at those densely red dots in his RTS view, Gromov grumbled.
He paid attention to those red dots. They have more details, showing the soldiers' role and their range from him.
However, it only displayed the view within a 1-kilometre radius. It remains dark that is outside the range.
Gromov snaps back to his normal vision, and dizziness washes over him.
"Limitations of the cheats? Gotta adapt to it as fast as possible."
Now, there is a more important question: where is he currently? What's happening?
Gromov first searches for everything he has on his body and gets an ID card from his pocket.
"'Konstantin Vladimirovich Gromov', same name, same face. Captain of the 9th Company from the 3rd Assault Battalion, the 532 Regiment, 146th Motorised Rifle Division 'Ternopil'."
He then put his ID card back into his pocket.
Gromov remained on the ground and raised his head slightly, scanning the battlefield with his normal and RTS view, a bunch of buildings destroyed to ruins, smoke plumes, and the distant rumble of tanks. Where exactly is he now? He is in the middle of the street.
He wanted to stand up and run away, but he forcefully suppressed the thought.
A soldier cannot allow himself to lose control, whether he has died once or ten times.
The instructor at the training ground has said more than once that one should not expose oneself rashly if one doesn't know the enemy's position.
So Gromov decided to crawl slowly to the nearest building.
"Shhh! Stop moving."
He hadn't climbed far when a female voice suddenly came into his ear. A 'dead body' suddenly moved. He looked over and saw a girl who was camouflaged. She seems to be a sniper.
"Enemy watching us? Where are they?" Gromov immediately stops moving, switches to his RTS view.
"The building at the southwest, there is an enemy machine gun position over there."
Gromov then paid attention to the building that the girl mentioned. Three men, highlighted in red, are a typical German machine gun group.
While a green dot just appeared beside him, which did not show just now, indicating as friendly.
Well, it won't show up until you get in touch with it, what a typical of RTS game mechanics.
"My hand is injured, which means I am no longer able to aim. So there are two options: first, we wait until nightfall, and then we sneak out quietly. Or, kill them all, if you are good enough with your shooting."
Finished speaking, the girl pulled out his Mosin-Nagant rifle that was installed with a scope and passed it to Gromov.
Gromov takes over the rifle and looks at the distance shown on his RTS view. The enemies are approximately 400 meters away, which is not too far or too short.
Looking at the sky, it does not seem like night will come soon, and more Germans might be reaching their position during this period.
Before joining the military, Gromov was also a military fan who always went to the shooting range. Among various types of guns, there are three that are used the most: AK, SVD and Mosin-Nagant.
400 meters for a rifle, in theory, should not be too difficult for it to hit on target. In action, as long as the users are calm enough and with enough skill, it can be done.
"I will kill them all." Gromov then starts moving again, finding a perfect spot for him to shoot.
A wall that was bombed to the point where only a small section remained. Gromov finds there are many holes even in this small section; perhaps it was caused by some autocannon and machine guns.
He set up his rifle in a hole that is big enough for him to aim and also hid the gun barrel.
"You sure about that? Never mind, just do it if you are confident enough. Just to let you know, if you fail to do it, most likely neither of us will make it for today."
After giving him the rifle, the girl picked up a PPSH-41 submachine gun from somewhere.
Gromov glanced. It seemed like he was in 1942 or maybe later. The PPSH-41 was only mass-produced after that year.
"Please don't be in Stalingrad." Gromov prayed in his heart.
Gromov pays back his attention to the enemies. In the scope, only one enemy showed half of his head behind the cover, observing the street.
But from the RTS views, the other two were sitting behind the cover. They appeared to be chatting casually. From the RTS view, he knows that they are each the commander, the gunner and the reloader.
"Patience. The gunshot may attract more Germans here. You can wait for the artillery to fire before you fire. The explosion will mask the sound of our gunfire."
Why does this way sound familiar? Gromov has a moment of confusion.
He quickly realises this is not the time for confusion. Gromov then starts to think about how to kill these three men in a short time, even if one man is alive and operating the machine gun, he could barely leave this street.
"Screw it! "
Gromov aims at the one who shows half of his head, placing his head on the crosshair, and waiting for the sound of an explosion.
Does not know how long it has passed. There was a whistling sound as a shell flew overhead.
"Now!"
Bang!
Gromov can see the helmet flying into the air. While reloading, he quickly switches to his RTS view to see the other two statuses.
One of them seemed to be a veteran, and by looking at the holes on the commander's head caused by the bullet, he quickly realised where it came from.
He then gets to the machine gun and starts firing, trying to suppress it. The other, who was the reloader, went to get some more ammo.
The way proves to be effective, Gromov lowers his head for a moment, and getting killed by blindly shooting fire is low, but not zero.
But he quickly adjusted himself, putting the machine gunner back to the crosshairs, taking a deep breath and firing.
However, this time, the shot didn't hit. After all, shooting in the range is different on the battlefield. There is no risk of getting killed by enemies in the range.
"Calm down, he does not know your exact position. Take a deep breath, you have one more chance before he spots you."
Of course, Gromov knows this is what he should do, but this is also what is difficult to do; his heart is beating rapidly, bullets are flying past above his head, and a few of them even hit his cover.
After another 10 seconds, only he adjusted himself and fired.
The machine gunner was down.
10 seconds could change many things. The reloader gets more ammo, and at the same time, he calls for reinforcement. A group of 5 German infantrymen is coming out, with the machine gun, it is a standardised German squad.
Unlike Gromov's thought, the reloader did not take over the machine gunner position but remained on the cover.
"Fuck!" He said. If he can't kill him, there is no chance for them to escape when he gets to the machine gun. No one could escape under the suppressive fire of a machine gun.
"What happened?" The girl asked.
"There is one more guy, I can't kill him, he is hiding behind the cover."
The girl takes a moment to think.
"I will run out and attract his attention; you must hold the chance to kill him."
"You may die because of this. Is there no better solution?"
"Maybe there is, but I could only think of this for now. We are running out of time. Take your chance. I will rush to that building. If you kill him, meet me there."
Speaking, she did as she said and rushed to the nearest building. Gromov also put back his attention on the machine gun position.
The reloader who sees it and gets to the machine gun. He holds the trigger, but not too long.
Bang!
Another round of shots, but Gromov hit it.
Yet, there are still many bullets that were shot on the route that the girl was running.
After seeing the target is down, without any hesitation, he quickly gets to the building where the girl is, just a moment before the squad of German infantry reaches the street.
Now, without the machine gun group's guidance, they have no idea where they are. It will take some time for them to search.
When Gromov gets in, he sees the girl bandaging her legs; she gets shots by the MG.
A sense of regret welled up from Gromov's heart; if he had been more experienced and more accurate, maybe she would not have been injured.
"You... you're injured. I'm sorry, maybe I should listen to your advice and wait till the night comes."
Surprisingly, the girl walks to him and hugs him tightly.
"Gromov, I thought I lost you." She said, her voice trembling with tears.
"You are not a professional sniper, but it is excellent for doing this. At least we are still alive now. I saw a shell explode just beside you half an hour ago. I was surprised that you were not dead. "
Oh, we knew each other?
The owner of this body is already dead. He is just a newcomer.
Gromov wants to know more information from this girl, but he does not know what should call her, he quickly realises there a general terms in this era.
"I have forgotten many things after getting screw by them. May I know your name again? Comrade? We need to move now. They may be here anytime. Can you still move?"
The girl was stunned for a moment, but quickly wiped away her tears and was serious again.
"I am Elena Sokolova, your... fiance. I can still move, but not run. I know a way to return to our friendly position... if it hasn't been lost yet. Followed me!"
Fiance? Confusion came out of Gromov's head, but it was not the time. They need to leave now.
Under the lead of Elena, Gromov walks through a few intricate alleys. He swears to god that if there is no one from the local, the Germans won't be able to find the correct way through these alleys.
But for safety, Gromov still keeps switching to his RTS view to make sure the front is safe. The direct result of doing this is he feels like his brain is getting hammered, dizzy and in pain.
"Here, this is an administration building before the war, and it was converted to one of the command posts of the Red Army. As you can hear, there is a mix of German and our gunshot coming from inside. We need to slide in secretly and take down some of the Germans to join with our men."
"Come with me, I know a road to it."
Gromov follows Elena and enters the building without getting spotted by anyone.
"Shhh!"
Listening to all the footsteps outside speaking German, Elena shows a sign.
"There is almost like a whole company of Germans in this building. How are we going to take them down and join with our men? " Gromov has a little panic; even with the help of friendly forces, it does not seem like they can survive.
"We can look for their commander. Once their commander is dead, they will lose their organisation for a short time. Go get yourselves a submachine gun; it gets you advantages in the building."
Gromov followed and grabbed an MP40 from a dead German soldier. Both start moving out of their room and meet their enemy.
On the 1st floor of the building are wounded soldiers, who were carried down by their mates and were treated by medics, with very little garrison.
A few guys in the middle were discussing something; they are the commanders and officers of these German troops. They are surprised by their appearance.
"Fire!" Elena fires towards these men, under the excellent fire rate of the PPsh-41, most of them do not even get the time to raise their weapons and fight back. A group of wounded and medics die under Elena's fire.
"Gromov, I did not hear the gunshot from you. What happened!"
Gromov did not fire, because he thought it was not right to do this.
"They are wounded and medic, we should not fire on them, this is a war crime."