I originally thought that snatching the jeep of the head of the security regiment would bring me trouble, such as being imprisoned or something, but in fact the only punishment I received for this was a scolding from Pugaqiaofu: "What a mess. "
If you want to dig deeper into the matter of robbing the jeep, I violated several military regulations at the same time. It made me uneasy to escape such a simple incident.
After learning that the head of the security regiment had died in an early morning air raid, this uneasiness became more intense. I always felt that I had killed the regiment commander.
Pugaqiaofu was very keenly aware of my thoughts. Although this military lieutenant general has a body as strong as a bear and a rough appearance like a bandit, he has an unexpectedly sensitive and delicate side.
"Don't blame yourself too much. It was an emergency at that time. Besides, if you didn't grab the car, you might not be able to reach the factory in time. In that case, your life might be involved, comrade pilot." Pugaqiaofu said. He said, walking up to me standing in front of the huge glass window that opened to the interior of the factory in his office, and patted me heavily on the shoulder.
I knew what Pugachov said was true, because the moment before I drove the jeep into the tunnel leading to the underground factory, I saw a black smoke column rising from the west of the institute compound, and I immediately realized that it was It was a benchmark landmark indicating the bombing route for enemy planes. Apparently, the capture operation last night missed many lurking separatists.
The bombing lasted for a full hour. Even we who were hiding in the underground factory could feel the earthquake from the ground. The communication between the entire underground factory and the ground was completely interrupted. Thanks to the complete power system of the factory itself, we were able to I wouldn't want to spend this long hour in the dark.
After the bombing, the soldiers sent by Pugachov on the ground quickly reported back: All the ground buildings of the institute were only rubble. They searched for more than ten minutes and found only dead people and people who were about to die.
While I was thinking about the situation, I turned to Eva. I saw her sitting on the sofa in the corner of Pugabhov's office, staring seriously at the large hard shell spread out on her knees. folder, I vaguely saw my photo posted on the inside page of the folder.
That is my life data. This is one of the privileges that goblins have: we pilots have no right to interfere with the goblins' past, but they can check our entire lives before the contract.
Because the contract between me and Eva was a complete coincidence, this information was only delivered to her after the air raid ended this morning.
Eva's extraordinarily focused look made me feel a little uncomfortable, and at the same time, a slight worry broke into my mind.
What will she think after seeing my past? Will she regret her contract with me?
Aksinya voluntarily partnered with me after knowing about my past "misdeeds". And Eva, who made a contract with me without knowing anything about it, will she regret her rashness? Too late?
Just when I was feeling uneasy, a clear and powerful voice sounded outside the door of Pugachov's office: "Report!"
"Come in!"
Following the lieutenant general's response, a capable young army man pushed the door open and entered.
"Comrade Lieutenant General, Comrade Pilot, we found this in the ruins of the Garrison Regiment Headquarters!"
He took out my flight jacket and Eva's military top from behind, which were the things we left in the temporary dormitory assigned to us this morning. I glanced at Eva, who was still paying attention, and took a step forward. He took the two pieces of clothing and said "thank you" to the private.
After the private left, I placed Eva's uniform on Pugabov's desk and started checking my flight jacket.
Suddenly, my eyes fell on the stitching line on the right side of the jacket, where I saw a row of fine, brand-new stitches. This row of stitches stopped my thoughts for a moment. I never remembered sewing this recently. The flight jacket, not to mention the dense stitches made with thin threads and small needles, is not at all in line with the style of our westerly tundra people. Something soft invaded my heart, and subconsciously emerged in my mind. The figure of Aksinya, she is sitting in the house in Murmansk, holding a needle and thread in her hand, sewing the flight jacket in her hand meticulously. Of course I did not see this scene with my own eyes, but in the fantasy in my mind So real and delicate, it seemed that the next moment she would raise her head and show me a vibrant smile...
I touched the stitching on my jacket and felt a slight heat in my eyes. I actually killed such a girl, and not only that, I left her alone in the cold ice.
At this time, a white and slender hand stretched out from the side and gently held my hand that was still stroking the suture line. A faint warmth came from the palm close to the back of my hand. .
I raised my head and met Eva's gentle and sad eyes.
She held the folder containing my resume to her chest, with the same smile on her face as when I first met her yesterday. The difference was that this time, I saw her lowered eyebrows and slightly curved corners of her mouth. I read a slight worry - she was worried about me.
In order to appease her, I forced a smile, pretended to be calm, simply folded my jacket, and placed it on the table in front of me, next to her military jacket.
Just when I wanted to say something, she unexpectedly grabbed my right hand and walked towards the office door without any explanation.
"Bring weapons and be careful of lurking saboteurs!" Pugaqiaofu's warning was far behind us.
Under the command of Eva, I drove the jeep I snatched from the garrison headquarters through the streets that had been plowed by bombs from enemy planes, and arrived at a corner of the city of Kiev. Our destination was a flower shop. , due to its location far away from key areas of the city, the entire street where the flower shop is located was not greatly damaged by the bombing. Even the militiamen patrolling the streets looked much calmer - at least on the surface. so.
As soon as the lady who was looking at the store saw Eva, she came out of the store with a smile on her face, but her smile disappeared the moment she saw me, and there was a layer of haze in her eyes when she looked at me. The series of expression changes made me curious.
Eva jumped out of the car and gestured to her aunt with both hands. She seemed to be very obsessed with playing a dumb goblin in front of others. I couldn't understand this for a long time.
Maybe she wants to strengthen the bond between her and her partner through this approach?
The lady who was looking after the store must have known Eva for a while. When Eva's meaningless gesture in my opinion was over, she slowly but firmly shook her head at the girl and replied: "No more, we are here." There is not a single pansy flower left in it. Starting tomorrow, we will switch to making bread. Who is buying flowers at this time?"
The aunt's words made Eva's face show obvious disappointment, and I couldn't help but have the idea of helping her.
"But I smell the fragrance of pansy flowers. You can't deceive the nose of the hunter on the westerly tundra, aunt!" Of course, this is pure nonsense.
But the aunt's expression told me that I was right this time. She let out a long sigh, and looked at me with a sense of regret for some reason. She turned around and returned to the store without saying a word. Then he held out a small bouquet of pale purple pansy flowers.
"This is the last pot, there will be no more."
Eva took the bouquet from the aunt's hand with a look of joy, and ran to me who was still sitting in the jeep in three steps. She broke off the smallest pansy flower from the bouquet and carefully pinned it through the car door. In the process of fixing the flowers on the lapel of my military uniform, the pleasant fragrance mixed with the fragrance of the pansy flowers and the hair of the girl in front of me penetrated my nostrils, and Eva's fingertips touched her from time to time. Touching my exposed neck, it left a smooth touch and a gentle body temperature.
"She is a good girl." The aunt who came to the side of the jeep at some point said this. Her words caused a charming blush to appear on Eva's fair face, "So no matter what happens, please don't Hate her, please, young man."
To be honest, I didn’t quite understand the meaning of the aunt’s last words. But after the aunt said this, she turned around and went back to the store, so I didn’t get the chance to ask questions….
As we drove down the street again, I asked Eva: "Why did you suddenly think of giving me another flower?"
"Because you are my partner."
"So this is a substitute for the ginkgo leaf badge?" I turned the steering wheel to avoid the jeep from a carriage transporting the wounded, and looked at Eva, who was only wearing a military shirt on her upper body, "But why is it a purple pansy flower? There is something special about it. What does it mean?"
"Because I like it." While giving a concise answer, she turned her head and smiled at me.
That was the first time I saw her smile without any sentimentality. That smile was like the breeze in early spring. Although it was soft and weak, it could still dispel the tail left by the cold winter and make people feel warm.
"Hey, Grisha," Eva pressed her long hair that was blown up by the wind with her hand, and continued to say to me with this smile on her face, "I won't die easily, so please try your best not to die."
Her words still sounded so soft, but they gave people a powerful feeling for no reason.
"I told you, I'm very tough." As I said that, I glanced at the folder that Eva had left on the back seat of the jeep.
Did she deliberately say this because she knew about my past? Did she drag me out just to appease my sentimentality? This girl was clearly confused by grief more than ten hours ago, but now she is I did all this - this made me clearly realize that if this girl dies next to me in the future like my previous partners, my river of memories will definitely be filled with a lot of sadness.
For a moment, I wanted to give up, and the idea of flying a piston engine for the rest of my life came up in my mind again, but the teachings from my father suddenly kicked it out of sight.
——The only thing we can't escape is.
To put it bluntly, if such a weak girl vows to declare that she will "not die", how could I, a man from Xifeng Dong, back down?
Unconsciously, a smile crept up the corner of my mouth.
"Compared to me, are you more worth worrying about? Look at your figure, a small stone can knock you over!"
I just naturally started joking to Eva.
"That's too much for you to say, Grisha! I just look a little thinner!"
With Eva's protest, the gloomy atmosphere that had been surrounding the two of us since yesterday gradually disappeared without a trace.
At this moment, if I face the row of stitches on the flight jacket again, I should be able to withstand the sadness and calmly say words of thanks to Aksinya who is no longer in this world?
With this thought in mind, I drove the jeep through the last intersection, and the only remaining gate of the institute compound came into my sight.
At this moment, the muffled thunder-like sound from the distance invaded my ears again.
I slowed down the car and looked in the direction from which the rolling "thunder" came.
"It came from the same direction as this morning."
"Is it our counterattack?" Eva asked as she stood up holding the backrest of the seat with her left hand and placed her right hand on the outer frame of the windshield. Like me, she looked towards the direction of the thunder.
"It's not like there are heavy artillery. Most of the heavy equipment of the Kiev Front has been lost..." I deliberately lowered my voice and replied, "And the distance is closer than it was this morning. In the morning I could only hear K5 train guns and the like. The sound of legion-level heavy artillery fire, and now even the 150-meter artillery pieces of the infantry division are coming."
As I said that, an ominous premonition surged up again. I raised my right hand, roughly pushed Eva back into the seat, and then stepped on the accelerator hard.
When we returned to the institute, the entire underground factory was in chaos. People in white coats running back and forth along the passage bumped into Eva and me several times. We finally passed through the factory building filled with busy people and came to Puga. In front of the bridgeman's office, many soldiers were busy taking out stacks of materials and documents and throwing them into large oil drums with orange flames dancing in the corridor...
"We are about to retreat." Pugachov's voice suddenly came from behind me, startling both Eva and I. The bald military lieutenant general had already taken off the white coat covering his military uniform. A brand new armed belt was also tied around the thick bear waist.
Pugashov raised his right hand holding the pistol, shook it at us, and continued: "Emergency order. Those Nazis who just arrived have broken through our defense line. The Central Command of the Kiev Army Group believes that they will attack us in three days." Complete the siege within.”
As he spoke, the lieutenant general lowered his head, inserted his pistol into the holster on his armed belt, and muttered in a tone that was half self-deprecating and half helpless: "I'm really not used to carrying this thing..."
I glanced at Pugaqiaofu, then at the extremely busy factory building outside the glass window on one side of the corridor, and then asked the question I was most concerned about at the moment: "What should we do?"
"Of course you're following us." After closing the cover of the holster, Mr. Pugashi turned his head and shouted behind him, "Bring that." A moment later, a soldier brought over two things that looked like military officers' ID cards. Gabhoff put the two things into my and Eva's hands respectively. "This is the Cheka's identity certificate. Don't ask me how I got it. I participated in the Finnish Campaign and I know that retreat is always very difficult." It is easy to cause trouble. It will be much more convenient for you to carry this thing. But remember, if there is a possibility of being captured by the enemy, you must destroy it immediately. The Nazis have a bad attitude towards Cheka personnel... Well, their attitude towards Cheka personnel is not very good. friendly."
The impression that Pugabhov gave me was completely different from the impression I had of technicians in the past. He was very adaptable and his grasp of the situation was far more accurate than other technicians. He gave me and Eva this Two copies of Cheka identity certificates have helped us more than once.
As I stuffed the small notebook into the pocket of my military uniform, the harsh sound of electric bells rang throughout the factory.
I vaguely heard someone shouting commands in the factory outside the corridor, followed by the sound of some huge machinery running and the noise of heavy objects sliding on the rails.
These noises made me very curious about what was happening in the factory, so I followed Eva who threw away my arms and ran. I came to the end of the corridor to the stairs leading to the factory below, and lay down on the handrail made of steel pipes. Look down.
The underground factory building of the 601 Research Institute is long in shape. At the end far away from where we are, a heavy steel door is sliding to the left, revealing a dark tunnel behind the door.
Only then did I notice that there was a railway on the ground in the center of the factory that ran across the entire factory. I clearly remembered that I had not seen this railway in the factory before - the place where the railway was now was not there until we went to the flower shop just now. It was crowded with all kinds of machinery and equipment. I patted the shoulder of the young soldier standing next to the operation desk and asked him about the railway. He told me that the railway is usually hidden under the steel frame that supports the machinery and equipment. The steel frame has now been removed.
Does this mean that the possibility of emergency relocation was considered at the beginning of the design of this factory? The high level of attention paid to Valkyrie 1 by the Confederacy's top leaders is indeed extraordinary.
The steel door at the other end of the factory building gradually stopped sliding, and the tunnel outside the door was completely exposed.
A faint light could be seen in the dark tunnel. The light was just a little bit at first, but it continued to expand with an increasingly louder roar. Then the sharp whistle broke through the darkness of the tunnel and struck my eardrums. .
The sharp sound of brakes that followed the whistle gave me goosebumps on my back.
When all the noise gradually subsided, the behemoth painted in prairie camouflage slowly slid into the factory along the rails. The moment the huge body stopped sliding, a large amount of steam spurted out from its body with a harsh whistle. , the entire floor of the factory building was submerged in one fell swoop...
This was the first time I saw a real armored train. The masculine beauty of the car body filled with gun barrels made me smack my lips subconsciously.
"Thunder." In a voice that only I could hear, Eva read out the words written on the car body in the middle of the train that was equipped with three quadruple anti-aircraft gun turrets.
The disassembly and loading of the Valkyrie continued until early the next morning. Since other equipment in the factory could not be taken away, Pugabov decided to blow them up together with the factory itself.
When directing the soldiers to install bombs, Pugabhov seemed quite reluctant to part with these "iron guys". According to him, without these equipment, the remaining repair work of Valkyrie 1 would have to drag on for at least a month.
Regardless of whether Pugachev is being alarmist or not, for me personally, there is no harm in having a little more time to run in with my new partner - in theory, the more time I have to run in, the less likely I am to make the same mistake again and kill my partner. The smaller.
After all the loading work was completed, the Honglei set off immediately according to Pugaqiaofu's order.
Perhaps because of the heavy armor, the train started very slowly.
The remaining soldiers of the institute's security regiment lined up in four columns beside the railway track, watching the train slowly leave the underground factory. I stood on the anti-aircraft gun emplacement in the fourth carriage of the train, half leaning against the four-unit machine gun. Looking at the front fender, I looked at the line of soldiers from the security regiment who were gradually retreating to the rear. Young faces appeared and disappeared in my field of vision one after another. There were all kinds of things hidden in their eyes when they looked at me. They are affectionate, but their faces are as hard and cold as stone.
Finally, the carriage I was in entered the tunnel, and the bright lights in the factory were immediately replaced by the dim light of the wall lamps in the tunnel. After a while, even the light of the wall lamps receded, and darkness fell quietly.
I still stayed at the gun position, maintaining the posture with my back to the cannon.
I had never taken a train before joining the army. For me at a young age, dog sledding was the most affordable and comfortable means of transportation. This impression came to me when I boarded the train bound for the headquarters of the Siberian Military District. It was completely overturned. During the three-day journey, I, like other young men in the tundra, was so excited that I could hardly sleep. During the day, I always pressed my face against the window of the carriage, greedily looking at the things passing by outside the window. After nightfall, I put my ears against the wall of the carriage and listened to the sound of the train's wheels colliding with the rails. When I got off the train at the military station, I felt very reluctant to let go of the huge thing lying on the rails. , I looked forward to my next train journey almost as a matter of course. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the opportunity to ride it for the next four years.
The second time I took the train was to go to the Confederate Air Force Headquarters. At that time, I had just been selected into the fourth batch of rune aircraft pilots of the Confederate Air Force with the first place in the Siberian Military District Air Force. According to the order, I would be at the Air Force Headquarters with my future meet her partner - that is, Natalia.
The third time I took the train was when I was on my way to the Dongfanghong flagship team with Natalia. Natalia, who had never left the goblin reserve, was as excited as a six-year-old girl. She was like the first When I left the West Wind Tundra for the first time, I would lie on the train window all day long. Not only that, she would go for a walk every time she arrived at a station. Even if it was already late at night, she would take me He woke me up from a deep sleep and dragged me off the train.
The memories of Natalia flowing through my mind made my chest tighten. It was strange. This was not the first time I took a train after Natalia left. Why didn’t I think of this when I headed to Murmansk? Woolen cloth?
I shook my head to myself, took out a small piece of mint candy from the pocket of my military trousers and stuffed it into my mouth, hoping that it could wash away the bitterness that gradually emerged in my mouth...
When the candy bar was about to melt, other sounds were mixed in with the regular metal collision caused by the train's movement - someone was climbing up to the gun emplacement.
"Grisha..."
Someone called my name softly in the dark, it was Eva.
I reached out and pulled her up to the gun position.
"coffee."
I took the enamel cup handed to me by Eva, put it to my mouth and took a sip. The sweet aroma slid across my mouthpiece, and then warmth spread throughout my chest. Eva’s cup The coffee came just in time, which made me wonder whether my new partner had somehow noticed the bitterness and sadness that passed through my heart just now. I turned my head and looked at the man who was leaning next to me in the same way. The girl on the guardrail, but the light in the tunnel was too weak at this time, and I couldn’t see Eva’s face clearly.
She just drank the coffee in her hand without saying a word.
For the next ten minutes or so, we stayed at the gun emplacement, sipping coffee, leaning against the shield of the quadruple anti-aircraft gun, shoulder to shoulder.
The Thunderbolt drove underground for more than 20 minutes. When we finally saw the rising sun, our location was already on the outskirts of Kiev.
In the wind that carries the morning breath, one can vaguely hear the sound of cannons coming from the distance.
"Closer than yesterday." I drank up the coffee in my hand and said to Eva while looking back at the urban area of Kiev, which was still surrounded by morning light and silence. I always felt that it was almost empty. A vast invisible haze hung over the houses and chimneys that filled half the horizon.
"Well." Eva also turned her head and looked with me at the city behind the train that was moving away. "I wonder if the Nazis will let Mrs. Pietro continue to sell flowers?"
I reflexively looked at the purple pansy pinned to my collar. The faint fragrance prompted me to wish good luck to those who remained in this city from the bottom of my heart.
——There was a little firelight far away on the other side of the river, and the last sunset glow receded from the sky.
I raised my head in surprise and looked in the direction where the singing came from - there I saw Eva's silver-gray hair flying in the wind.
What flowed out of Eva's mouth was a military song that I was very familiar with, but Eva deliberately slowed down the beat, so that the melody that was originally full of tragic atmosphere became more solemn.
I immediately understood Eva’s intention. She was saying goodbye in advance to the heroes who were about to die in this city. In this way, she was doing her part to help the Confederacy leave this city that was about to become a bloody battlefield in advance. The duty of a warrior.
Her voice sounded so good, but I was not in the mood to appreciate it at all. I couldn't help but follow her, slowly singing the tragic lyrics.
——They galloped forward on horseback in the quiet night, galloping on the vast grassland for a long time. Suddenly, far away from the river, the light of their bayonets flashed, and it turned out that this was the enemy's defense line.
Eva, who had been looking in the direction of Kiev, tilted her head slightly and glanced at me, but she said nothing or made any expression, and just continued to hum the next melody.
Suddenly, the melodious sound of the accordion came from the direction behind us, joining Eva and I in our "duet". The accordion player deliberately matched Eva's beat. He played so slowly and so lowly, embellishing this tragic melody. It has to be even more tear-jerking.
——The team rushed towards the enemy with unstoppable momentum, and fought a bloody battle with the invading army. One of the cavalrymen was suddenly seriously injured, and the young soldier fell to the ground.
More and more heads appeared at various gun positions of the train. Even the hatches of the main gun turrets installed at the front and rear of the train opened upward, revealing the steel helmets of the railway troops.
Voices, either deep or high, joined Eva and I in our chorus one after another. The tragic singing even overshadowed the roar of the advancing train...
——Falling to the ground, he slowly closed his eyes and warned his iron-green horse: "My horse, my comrade, tell my relatives that I sacrificed my life for the great motherland."
——The fire on the other side of the river no longer shines. The night has passed and dawn has broken in the sky. A lot of blood flows out of the young man's chest, and the blood dyes the green weeds red.
I repeated the last chorus of the song, and everyone sang the last melody over and over again just like me.
While we were humming this tragic melody, there happened to be a troop marching toward Kiev on the dirt road next to the railway. They were marching neatly and firmly, and the bayonets on their rifles were shining brightly. I raised my head almost subconsciously. He raised his right hand and offered a military salute to the neat forest of spears next to the train.
In this way, we passed by the glorious Chapayev Division. This heroic unit during the Confederate War of Independence fought against the fascists for 34 days and nights in Kiev. In the end, only the wounded were left in this division. These wounded The soldiers gathered at the Red Flag Square in the center of Kiev and launched a final charge against the fascist army with rifles that had no bullets. In the end, they all died.
Gradually, the city of Kiev disappeared from sight, and the troops approaching the railway also disappeared from the end of the field of vision. At this time, the singing that had been ringing in the sky gradually returned to calm.
Just when I was carrying Eva, whose hands and feet were a little unruly from standing at the gun position for too long, into the carriage, someone spoke to me with an unfamiliar voice.
"Good singing voice. Although I'm a little reluctant, but... I really have to admit that your voice is indeed a little better than mine."
Looking through the sound, a petite girl with a figure that rivals Eva's but is slightly different in height is blocking the passage of the train with her arms akimbo. The girl is wearing a black uniform of a railway soldier, with bright and dazzling hair. Her bright blond hair, which could challenge Pugachov's bald head, was tied into twin ponytails and hung down on both sides of her head. The light escaping from her blond hair made her lieutenant's epaulettes look dull.
Behind the girl stood a railway captain who was about the same age as me, with a simple accordion hanging on his chest.
According to Confederate military regulations, when dealing with other branches of the military, you should first greet the highest-ranking officer. But before I could say anything, I kept squinting and looking at Iraq, who struggled to crawl out of my arms and stand on the floor of the carriage. The young girl suddenly spoke to herself again. Listening to her tone, it seemed as if a big stone had just been put down in her heart: "What, you are a goblin. I thought I was overpowered by human singing..."
When she said this, I discovered that she had a ginkgo leaf badge pinned to the collar of her military uniform just like Eva.
"Wait a minute, are you...pilots?" After I nodded, the fair cheeks of the petite elf girl immediately turned red. She cleared her throat in a serious manner, and tugged at the hem of her military uniform top. Then he clicked his heels together, raised his right hand above his eyebrows, and gave me a military salute, "I am Tonya, the rune operator of the 351st crew of the armored train "Thunder" accompanying the walking armored detachment. Our crew was ordered to carry out the mission during the journey. Protect your safety, Comrade Major."