LRAB Page 43
Page 43
You need me...
Whether it was these words that finally awakened Xiao En or not, she stretched out her body, gripped the grenade, and lay prone on the sloping side of the crater.
“Very good, Shawn! That’s it!” Payne continued, “Listen! We’re moving forward! So we need your cover fire!”
You need me...
Xiao En silently repeated the sentence to herself, straightened up slightly, and stared blankly ahead, as if trying to see the enemy's position through the barbed wire.
"Good! Very good! I knew you could do it!" Pine continued to encourage, "That's it! Suppressive fire! Drop bombs!! Bomb those Frenchmen hard! We're advancing! Drop bombs!!"
The pressure of dropping bombs in the relatively safe trenches is completely different from the pressure of dropping bombs right under the enemy's nose.
But Xiao En had no thoughts in his mind now—there were no falling shells, no flying bullets, no wounded or fallen soldiers, and even his own safety was no longer a concern.
Right now, all she could think about was grenades and the idea of throwing them into enemy territory.
She felt she was no longer an orc, but had become some kind of machine, her hands precisely and calmly carrying out the training Pain had given her a few days ago:
Remove the protective cover, pull the cord, swing your arm, and throw the grenade—without any mistakes.
A distinct explosion came from not far away, but Xiao En remained unmoved, simply continuing to remove the protective cap from the next grenade.
"Excellent! Well done! This is the perfect position and distance! Keep up the pressure!"
Payne shouted as he pushed Lacey and Ruby out of the crater, "You two go first! Keep the suppressive fire! We'll follow!"
He then picked up his gun and emptied the magazine towards the enemy position. Only after watching the two beasts plunge into the next shell crater did he pat Xiao En on the shoulder. "You did a great job! Now it's just us left! Hurry up and go!"
But after he changed the magazine, he found Xiao En still sitting there, motionless. "What's wrong with you now?!"
Xiao En stopped trembling, but showed an embarrassed expression, "I... can't use my limbs..."
Was it because you were too nervous just now that you're exhausted? ...
Damn it, what a troublesome fellow!
Payne cursed inwardly and reached out to grab Xiao En's shirt by the shoulder, trying to pull him up. "Get up!"
But because Xiao En was also carrying two whole boxes of grenades, weighing at least 30 kilograms, plus all the other miscellaneous equipment on both of them, Payne couldn't lift her at first...
"Grace! Drag Xiao En away!"
"understand!"
Even though the branching device was causing her a lot of discomfort, for a bovine beast girl with immense strength, dragging away a sheep was still a piece of cake.
Then Payne saw Grace grab Shawn's wrist with one hand, bend over and move forward, and with almost no resistance, she smoothly dragged Shawn away along with the beast and the ammunition box.
As for Xiao En, she was like some kind of mollusk, completely limp and letting Grace drag her along, her whole body covered in mud...
While it's a little hard to treat a sheep that has just overcome its timidity and helped suppress enemy fire, now is not the time to think about such things.
Anyway, at least she's finally useful. I'll reward her properly after the battle.
Thinking this, Payne emptied the second magazine, made sure Grace had dragged Shawn safely into the pit, and Lacey started throwing grenades again. Only then did he flip over and jump out of the pit, finally making his way through the gap in the barbed wire.
There are at least two more barbed wire fences to deal with after that, but with Xiao En's help and everyone becoming more skilled, they should be able to get through faster.
But as he leaped into the crater in front of the second barbed wire fence, he was suddenly surprised to see a semi-circular object protruding from the soil at the edge of the crater.
"Holy crap, it looks like a landmine!"
Chapter 65 LXV. Paw Patrol Finds Landmines
Because the crater was too close to the barbed wire, it would be dangerous to deal with it by explosives, and Ruby couldn't think of an alternative method at the moment.
Fortunately, the incredibly strong Haier climbed over with wire cutters and quickly cut through a section of barbed wire, allowing Company B to continue its advance.
But just as everyone was about to rush forward, they heard Payne shout in a hoarse voice, "Don't move!! There are landmines!!!"
Upon hearing this, the soldiers' expressions changed instantly, and they retreated as if the music had been turned upside down, lying back down on the ground.
In trench warfare like World War I, landmines were not common, because the defending side had a clear advantage over the attacking side and there was little need to use them.
However, when the enemy's attack is repelled and one's own side intends to press the attack, the landmines planted at one's own doorstep can become a stumbling block.
There are only two situations in which the enemy will plant landmines—
Either they had no intention of attacking along this front, or they lacked confidence in holding it.
But in either case, once a landmine is laid, it's not good news for the soldiers.
Payne carefully pulled the disc-shaped landmine, which had one corner sticking out, from the edge of the crater. He looked at the basin-sized lump of iron in his hand for a moment, then handed it to Lacey next to him.
"You, throw it on the Frenchman's head."
The dog instinctively took it, but then froze, as if frozen in place, and asked tremblingly, "No...it won't explode in my hands, will it?..."
"Don't touch the fuse in the center of the disc, just throw it horizontally, and there won't be any problems," Payne said, unconsciously leaning back against the edge of the crater.
Are these Frenchmen crazy? They haven't even built a tank yet, what are they trying to do by making anti-personnel mines as big as anti-tank mines?
If this thing really explodes, none of the people and animals in the crater will survive.
Seeing Payne take a small step back, Lacey was genuinely startled. She flung her hand hard, like throwing a frisbee, and the metal lump really did fly out spinning like a flying saucer.
The crowd waited for a long time, but there was no explosion. Instead, they heard a muffled "bang," which was quite noticeable even on the battlefield amidst the raging gunfire.
Generally speaking, landmines from World War I were of relatively poor quality and were easily detonated by various vibrations.
But considering that Payne dug the mine out from the edge of the crater and that Lacey threw it without it exploding, the French-made mines were of exceptionally high quality and not easily detonated by other methods.
If artillery shells can't clear these landmines, then hand grenades alone certainly won't do the trick...
Payne was anxiously pondering a solution when he saw the company commander crawling towards him in the shadows. He quickly grabbed the man and said:
"Tell me quickly, are our engineers still alive!"
B Company had been tied down inside the barbed wire for far too long. Although the beast girls helped suppress the enemy's sniping fire, the machine gun positions stubbornly kept coming back to life. Bullets clattered and pounded the ground, the wooden stakes, and the bodies of their comrades. And their grenades would eventually run out.
They were now only 30 meters away from the enemy's first trench. Even with the beast girls' almost unlimited firepower, the enemy would still throw out grenades from time to time, posing a huge threat to B Company.
One can imagine that when the beast girls run out of ammunition, an almost inexhaustible supply of grenades will rain down on them.
Time is not on their side.
Everyone's nerves were stretched to the limit. Now, they had no other idea than to break out, even if it meant wading through a minefield.
Company Commander Belyink clearly felt that they couldn't wait any longer. He immediately waved behind him, and a thin soldier ran over, his body swaying inside his large military uniform.
Payne had no recollection of this person and wasn't even sure if he was from B Company—was he a newcomer?
"You have to clear a path for us, and we'll cover you," the company commander said.
The gaunt soldier didn't say much; he simply nodded and then climbed through a gap in the barbed wire. Immediately, two bullets struck the ground beside him.
Several soldiers began to risk getting up to provide cover fire, and Payne also had the four beasts increase the frequency of grenade throwing—Ruby also joined the suppressive fire effort.
Although everything was proceeding according to plan, Payne felt uneasy.
The rain these past two days has washed away all traces of the buried mines. How is that guy supposed to find them now?
Looking at the thin soldier crawling aimlessly on the ground with some concern, he seemed to have thought of something, grabbed Lacey and asked, "Did you memorize the smell of the landmine?"
"Huh? Ah, it does have a peculiar rusty smell." Lacey said, casually tossing out another grenade.
"Okay, then stop throwing grenades for now and go ahead to scout ahead for the engineers."
Finally, Payne added, "I'll be right behind you."
In that instant, Lacey's tail and ears tensed up simultaneously.
But she didn't complain at all. She just nodded, crawled out on all fours, and soon came up behind the sapper.
Payne had loaded his rifle and was about to climb out of the shell crater when he felt a small hand tug at the hem of his clothes.
He turned around and saw Ruby, the little squirrel, looking up at him expectantly and whispering, "How about... how about I switch? I'm small and won't attract attention..."
Payne refused without hesitation: "No need. Aren't you still using the splitter? If you're not feeling well, don't do these dangerous things."
"Well... okay." Ruby shrank back a little dejectedly. "Then be careful."
“I know.” Payne nodded and followed Lacey out.
Actually, he didn't want Ruby to do this, not only because she was currently in the splitter, but also because he had a bad feeling about it.
It's been almost two weeks since Ruby's splitter was released, and it's almost over.
The last time, Xiao Ma died right after entering the Divergent Vessel.
Soldiers on the battlefield tend to be more superstitious—he didn't want Ruby to be in danger under these circumstances.
By this time, Lacey and the sapper had crawled several meters away. He followed the tracks left by the man and the animal, and came up behind the dog sniffing around on the ground. He patted her ankle and asked:
"how is the situation?"
Lacey turned to look at Payne, then at the sapper lying beside her, reaching his hand into the pit to clear the mines, and said, "It's alright. There were quite a few mines, but I smelled them all and dug out the pit for him to deal with."
Payne broke out in a cold sweat upon hearing this. "Then you'd better dig slowly. These landmines are usually not buried too deep."
"Don't worry, Master, I remember everything." The dog wagged its tail happily and smacked Payne's head repeatedly.
With Lacey's diligent sniffing, she quickly dug several more holes in the ground, then slid with Payne to the bottom of the next crater, until they reached the last barbed wire fence.
We are now less than 10 meters from the enemy's first line of defense.
Chapter 66 LXVI. Break-in
Since the attack began, Payne felt that time was passing unusually slowly, as if they had been lying in the open no man's land for hours and still hadn't crossed it.
But when Payne wiped his face with his muddy hands and looked at his watch, he realized that less than ten minutes had passed.
For a moment, he even wondered if he was dreaming—only in dreams would the concept of time be so confused.
But as soon as a shout of "Watch out!!" came, he immediately felt himself being slammed hard into the mud by Lacey. A small explosion rang in his ears, and muddy water splashed and splattered onto his helmet.
After the beast girls had been throwing grenades for so long, they were now close enough that the Frenchmen finally had a chance to vent their anger.
The explosion finally snapped Payne out of his daze. He immediately pushed Lacey off him and, holding onto his helmet, peeked out to check the situation.
From this position, he could hardly even see the bodies of the German soldiers from the first wave of attack; all that remained on the ground were shell craters of varying sizes.
These unfortunate kids were all killed before they even saw the enemy.