Chapter 737: Strange Atmosphere

Rat-tat! The Tiger tank’s hull machine gun spat out its last two bullets. The only remaining Soviet soldier on the position, who was fleeing to the rear, pitched forward with the sound of the gunfire. This poor fellow was shot through the body and collapsed headfirst onto the ground, leaving this wonderful world behind.

Bruce rubbed his chilly neck, swallowed, and looked past Andre to Rein on the other side of the turret. Ever since he had blabbed about Alice and Rein’s conversation to Markus, Alice’s mood had been consistently foul. And the direct consequence of this bad mood was something Bruce found a little hard to bear.

The most direct consequence was that Alice’s pent-up anger and shame had turned into a motivation for killing. Every time they went into battle, the unlucky ones were always those pitiful Soviet soldiers. But watching Alice’s state as she dismounted the tank, her silver teeth clenched, Bruce was constantly worried that she would lose her mind, pull out her pistol, and finish him off.

In the past, poor Bruce had had a relatively solid pillar of support: he could ask Rein to plead his case and get Queen Alice to forgive his transgressions. But now, unfortunately, that pillar of support had become another dangerous powder keg.

When Rein had gone to the division headquarters for a meeting and had been clapped on the shoulder by more than 200 tank commanders who all laughed and teased him about getting married, even the most good-tempered person would have had the urge to kill Bruce. And Rein’s temper? Clearly not good.

And so, in the last battle, after the tank had charged into the Red Army’s position, Rein had suddenly ripped off his communication gear, thrown open his hatch, grabbed the assault rifle he hadn’t used in a long time, and jumped out of the tank. Under Bruce’s terrified gaze and Andre’s bewilderment, the commander of the entire tank company had just thrown the command to Markus and had willfully jumped out of his solid fortress.

What followed was a true and genuine disaster for the Soviet soldiers on that position. After jumping out of the tank with his gun, Rein had raised his hand and fired three consecutive bursts, taking out three Soviet soldiers who had been trying to get close and take advantage. Then, after jumping into a trench, he had rampaged like a demon. By the time the grenadier company commander behind the tank had led his men into the trench, he had witnessed a despairing scene.

Along the way, a dozen or so bodies of Soviet soldiers lay scattered. Rein had just pulled his bayonet out of a corpse and thrown it at a fleeing Soviet in the distance, easily hitting the target. The entire bayonet was buried in the man’s back, without a hint of hesitation.

Before the grenadier company commander, who was too stunned to speak, could even swallow, Rein had already changed the magazine of his assault rifle, then pulled a hand grenade from a corpse and crouched by a T-junction at the end of the trench. His movements were so practiced it was shocking, so experienced that it made one not want to be his enemy.

Rein, wearing a white winter uniform but a black SS cap, turned his head and, while twisting the safety on the Soviet hand grenade, looked at the grenadiers at this end of the trench with a cold expression. He didn’t speak, but anyone who saw that look would probably never forget it, nor would they want to remember it.

This Soviet-equipped RGD-33 hand grenade was a design from the First World War and was quite troublesome to arm. But in the hands of this cold demon, it seemed to have been given a new life. In just a split second, it was ready. It seemed this was not the first time he had used the enemy’s equipment.

Rein threw the grenade to the left of the T-junction, then raised his gun and charged to the right. In the eyes of the grenadier company commander, a cloud of smoke from the explosion rose from the left side of the T-junction, while on the right, muzzle flashes flickered and the sound of gunfire came continuously. All of this was completed in a few seconds. By the time he remembered that he should follow and see what was happening, the vicinity had already returned to silence.

By the time these grenadiers, holding their weapons, had rushed down the trench to the T-junction, they saw that one side of the trench was emitting a light smoke, and three lifeless Soviet soldiers were lying there. On the other side, three were lying on the ground, and two were kneeling, with Rein holding a gun to their heads.

“If you were a grenadier, I’d rather be your subordinate,” the grenadier company commander said with admiration as he walked up to Rein and took charge of the two prisoners, who were babbling in Russian in their terror.

“Shut up!” Rein said in Russian, silencing the two poor souls. As he shouted, he also gave one of them a sharp blow with his rifle butt. The two immediately and wisely shut their mouths. But at that moment, the main gun of the Tiger tank above them roared.

BOOM! The huge blast of air kicked up the surrounding dust, making one involuntarily squint. After the dust and smoke had cleared, the two Soviet prisoners kneeling on the ground didn’t dare to move, as if even the courage to resist had been completely extinguished.

“The main reason I didn’t join the grenadiers is that an armored car is not as comfortable as a tank. Also, you guys were pinned down just now and were a little slow to follow up, so I had to jump out and take care of things here,” Rein said, taking the grenadier company commander’s compliment at face value. After his casual reply, he shouldered his rifle, jumped onto the trench, and then climbed onto his tank.

After this battle was over, Bruce secretly went to talk with those grenadiers. Afterwards, he felt that the way Rein looked at him was like a predator eyeing its prey. Even though he had done the work of several men when moving the shells, he still felt a chill on his neck when he went to sleep at night.

“Ah! Rein! I can’t take it anymore! I… if you’re really that angry at me, just beat me up! I can’t stand you holding it in like this!” By the time the Soviet soldiers on the position had raised their hands in surrender and the entire defense line had collapsed once more, Bruce finally couldn’t hold it in any longer and wailed.

Alice sat on the hull of the tank, looking at Bruce, her face flushed red. Rein, on the other hand, looked at Bruce with a bewildered expression, as if he didn’t understand what was going on. He asked casually, “What’s wrong? Have I done something recently that’s bothering you so much? Tell me about it.”

“Don’t play games with me, Commander! I was wrong! If I ever run my mouth again, I’ll just get the hell out of here myself!” Bruce said, covering his face as if he had already despaired for his own future. His voice was muffled through his hands.

“I really don’t know what you’re talking about. If you’re simply regretting spreading rumors about me and Alice, you can formally apologize to both of us,” Rein said, looking at Bruce.

“Hahahaha!” Alice, on the side, finally couldn’t hold it in any longer and burst out laughing, clutching her stomach. The atmosphere was suddenly not as strange as before. Andre poked his head out of the gunner’s hatch, watching this good show, while Baumann, having finished checking the exhaust pipe, also watched what was happening with great interest.

“Uh… you guys, you… you’re not angry because I went and blabbed to Markus?” This time it was Bruce’s turn to be surprised. He scratched his head and asked, somewhat confused.

“Of course, we were angry. You owe us an apology!” Alice said loudly, her smile gone.

“I’m sorry!” Bruce was a straightforward person. But after he said it, his interest turned to another matter. “Rein, since you’re not that angry, why have you and Alice been so…”

“Oh! The other day we made a private decision, which was to see if we were really suitable for each other,” Rein said, as if talking about something that had nothing to do with him. But Alice, on the side, still blushed at his words.

Rein didn’t see the shy Alice and continued to explain to Bruce, “So she wanted to prove that she could be a more capable woman, to surpass me. And I, well, I had to show her from time to time just how much of a gap there still was between us.”

Everything seemed to be crystal clear. Poor Bruce had been set up by Rein and Alice from the very beginning. The two of them had been putting on a show of bravery and ferocity just to scare him. And now it seemed that this simple method had really fooled this tall and strong man.

Coupled with Bruce’s own guilty conscience, which had weakened his resolve from the start, this simple joke was only seen through by him when it was revealed. This poor troublemaker still couldn’t quite believe that the crisis in his heart had passed so easily. “So all these days… all these days I’ve felt that the way you look at me is not right. What’s that all about?”

“Oh! That…” Rein thought for a moment, and a very serious thought at that, before replying, “Maybe it was to adjust my mindset, to prepare to kill people with my own hands, so my aura also changed.”

“Hahahaha.” Hearing this, Baumann and Andre both burst out laughing. They hadn’t been separated from Rein either and had been together all along. They naturally knew that the murderous aura Rein had been putting out was definitely to deliberately mess with Bruce, but seeing Rein deliberately say this, they still laughed along.

Poor Bruce finally realized he had been played. But he had no intention of seeking an explanation from Rein and Alice. One was a reincarnated devil, the other a reborn queen. One did not dare to provoke them lightly. The knocked-out front tooth, he could only swallow his bitterness—who told him to run his mouth and provoke these two in the first place?

Thinking back on these past few days, with Rein and Alice staring at him grimly, watching him move the shells that were originally supposed to be shared by three people, he felt that he had been deeply hurt. “Damn it! I’m never getting mixed up with that guy Markus again!”

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