CANNON FIRE ARC

Chapter 860: Chapter 9: The Road Signs of Hometown_2

Yegorov, after hearing the translation, cursed: “Bastard! How could this Rommel ever match up to our Division Commander! Let him think again!”

The Military Bishop stopped Yegorov: “That’s enough, stop giving the kiddo a hard time, I can’t stand to watch this! Let’s go, we’re still ten kilometers away from the new Headquarters! Dilly-dally a bit more and it’ll be dawn, and the Prosen Air Force might come for an airstrike!”

“You’re right.” Yegorov climbed onto the Jeep, suddenly burst into inexplicable laughter, “We’ve thrashed the Prosens so hard that they’ve got to send these greenhorns into battle, we’re damn impressive.”

The others on the Jeep laughed as well.

The Jeep started up and plunged into the night.

————

July 18th, 72 hours since the offensive began.

Henry Scaritz suddenly shouted: “Stop! Stop in front of that road sign ahead!”

Podoliskov, the tank driver, thumped the top of the tank hard: “Stop! Pull up right in front of that road sign!”

Henry faintly heard a “duang” sound, as if a wrench had hit against something heavy, then the tank stopped, but clearly too late, surging past the road sign by seven or eight meters before halting.

Henry jumped off the vehicle, took three steps to the road sign, and looked at the place names written in both Prosenese and Melania Language.

He rubbed his eyes to confirm that the line above the Prosenese was indeed in Melania Language.

A road sign within Ante territory couldn’t possibly be in Melania Language, and it has nothing to do with how long it has been occupied by the Prosens.

At this time, the infantry of the Melania People’s Army, who were marching on foot, also came over; they all looked at the road sign as they passed by Henry.

“Damn, am I seeing Melania Language?”

The Lieutenant who spoke rubbed his eyes hard.

“Holy shit, it really is Melania Language!”

“Could it be that we’ve entered Melania territory?”

“That’s not right, shouldn’t there be a boundary marker or something first?”

“Are you dumb, the Prosens think they’re a thousand-year Empire, that they’ll rule these lands forever, so they took down all the border stones, thinking eventually it will all be one country!”

“For real? So are we in Melania—in our homeland now?”

“Hey, you there, didn’t you say you’ve never been back home? Well, you’re home now!”

There are quite a few Melianian descendants living in Ante within the Melania People’s Army; after all, most of the land of the modern state of Melania was governed by Ante before its independence.

To commemorate the Antean empress who annexed Melania, the Anteans even named their capital after her up to this day: Saint Ye Katerina Fortress.

Henry stood still, staring at the road sign as if to imprint every detail of this unremarkable sign in his memory.

“Henry!” Podoliskov’s voice came from the tank’s direction, “If you don’t get on, we can’t move out, and we’ll block the road!”

Only then did Henry turn around—at that moment, an “explosion” sound rang out.

Henry and the rest of the Melania People’s Army thought they were under attack and threw themselves to the ground, only to realize it was a camera flash—flash bulbs at the time were essentially small explosions, virtually igniting a mini flashbang.

The war correspondent said in Melania Language: “Don’t panic! I’m just capturing the moment, trust me, in a few days this photo will appear on the front page of The Times! It might even become one of the classic images of this war.”

Henry: “Are you Melianian?”

“I’m a special correspondent for the Melania Government in exile, can I take a picture of you guys advancing on the tank?”

Henry: “Of course!”

He got up quickly, clambered onto the tank, and gestured to the reporter to proceed.

Podoliskov was very anxious; straightening his crash helmet and uniform to ensure his medals didn’t obscure each other.

After the flash, the reporter smiled, “Very good, I wish you a smooth operation!”

Podoliskov: “I don’t understand what he said, but I know we’re moving forward, driver, forward!”

The Revenge for the Heroic Brother roared, belching thick smoke as it moved forward.

————

About twenty minutes later, Revenge for the Heroic Brother encountered a small city ahead.

By the city gate, several wagons were destroyed, and the corpses of horses that pulled the carts were piled up on the roadside along with the wreckage. An old lady with a headscarf was squatting next to a body, slashing at it with a knife.

“Stop!” Henry tapped Podoliskov’s shoulder.

This time, the tank stopped promptly, just barely missing the old lady.

When the old woman heard the roar of the tank, she looked up at Henry: “Aren’t you Prosens?”

“We are not, old mother.” Henry replied, “Are there Prosens in the city?”

“Yes, they’ve been talking about making a last stand since yesterday, demanding even us Melianians pick up arms. A few foolish kids wanting to be honored Prosens responded, you watch out for them, don’t be fooled by their faces! Shoot these bastards on sight!”

Henry: “Have they troubled you, old mother?”

“How could they have not, be careful, the anti-tank barricade on the road was built by us women, we skimped on the work, just hit it hard and it’ll smash!”

Henry hummed in response, then pulled a sausage from his pocket: “Take this, old mother, and get away fast, find a place to hide outside, and come back when the firing stops! Walk into the area controlled by the Melania People’s Army, they all understand your language!”

The old lady was startled: “All Melianians? The Prosens said it was the Anteans who would come back to enslave us!”

“We’re from the Secular faction of the Melania People’s Army, we’re not on the side of the Antean nobles, we’ve come back to liberate our own country!”

Source: .com, updated on Novlove.com

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