Before rushing into the building, Lynn intentionally made a slight and swift upward movement of his head - sure enough, there was something resembling a transmitter antenna sticking out of the second-floor window. So, he instantly affirmed his idea: regardless of which level of command the enemy belonged to, the first priority was to take control of the entire building!
Just as he slowed down and fired continuously, Lynn transitioned from the front of the team to the middle. By this time, several comrades had already rushed through the entrance, fiercely firing assault rifles and submachine guns inside. Besides the gunfire, there were indistinct shouts echoing around, probably from the surprised Soviet soldiers under sudden attack. Were they calling for reinforcements? Surrendering due to the circumstances? Or shouting revolutionary slogans despite facing certain death?
Lynn paid no attention to these questions. He strode forward with his assault rifle, and in no time, he too charged into the building. Although the ground floor hall was not as grand as the mall opposite, it could have hosted a small dance party without any trouble. Through the thin smoke, one could see debris scattered everywhere. Even under the surprise attack, there were still Soviet soldiers resisting in the corners, firing bursts of dark red bullets that hit a German soldier to Lynn's side - this brave Imperial warrior continued charging forward, but the intense impact, coupled with the excruciating pain, produced an electrifying effect. His hands suddenly spread out, his head arched back at an exaggerated speed, and his body remained almost upright in an extremely obvious and violent tremor... With sharp reflexes honed in harsh combat, Lynn turned, aimed, and fired at the fastest speed possible. Behind the infrared sight, his gaze emitted the ferocity of death: anyone who was an enemy would be mercilessly killed!
Bang, bang, bang... Out of anger from the enemy hitting his comrade, Lynn fired three shots in quick succession. Within a distance of less than twenty meters, all three bullets hit their target without fail. The Soviet soldier seemed to be whipped continuously with bamboo strips within a short time frame. Although he was already pressed against the wall, he continued to tremble violently with each dark red dot disappearing, and the dim light revealed no distinction between thick or thin liquid splattering around.
However, Lynn's rage was not completely vented. He immediately roared, "Attack!"
Under this battle cry, the two German soldiers at the forefront seemed possessed. Despite bullets flying down from above the stairs, they neither retreated nor dodged, bravely returning fire. Unfortunately, bullets had no eyes, and they did not discriminate against the weak. The first German soldier only made it halfway up the stairs before a series of bullets hit him, causing him to fall backward immediately. The second soldier, not only hit by the impact, was immediately struck by two or three bullets, which burst out blood from his shoulder and ribs in a horrifying manner, followed by a helpless wail from his mouth!
Like many comrades, Lynn's initial reaction was to pick up his gun and shoot towards the staircase. Before he remembered to call for grenade attacks, a slender figure had already rushed to a spot less than three meters from the staircase. Several seemingly aimless bullets stirred up debris in front of him, while he smoothly threw a grenade upward with a coherent motion - a quick dodge to the side was all that was needed. However, he panicked and ran sideways, stumbling and tripping over stones, clumsily falling to the ground.
It was this action that immediately confirmed to Lynn that he was the sixteen-year-old Private Tichimel. Slightly dodging the debris and impact of the explosion, Lynn was about to lead the charge up the stairs when someone beside him exclaimed in panic, "Sir, there are Russian tanks outside!"
Lynn was shocked, instinctively bent down and turned his head. It was at this moment that a series of light points, denser than ordinary submachine gun bullets, shot in from the outside wall windows, pierced through the empty hall, and hit the walls, causing a large amount of dust to shake off. The sharp cracking sounds clearly shook Lynn's nerves.
How could this be?
Lynn looked at the street outside with incredulous eyes. Although the light on the street was dim, he could vaguely see those black silhouettes!
There was no dull roar of engines, nor the harsh sound of guiding wheels turning and tracks rubbing against the ground. These tanks obviously did not come to support following the gunfire - they had been there from the beginning!
Lynn would rather believe his eyes were deceiving him than accept this scene as reality, but the leaping tongues of fire on the Soviet tanks clearly displayed in front of him were unmistakable. Even with advanced equipment like infrared night vision goggles and shooting skills bordering on the miraculous, Lynn was helpless against the Soviet soldiers inside the tanks. What's worse, they had already realized that the ground floor of this building had been occupied by the German commando team and were now firing indiscriminately.
The continuous dark red light points were like the fangs of a deadly snake, to be avoided at all costs. Seeing the trajectories of these light points rapidly descending, Lynn quickly slid to the base of the outer wall despite the explosion. As he turned around, although there were no more bullets coming down the stairs, the German soldiers were all pinned down by this sudden lethal bullet rain, making it impossible for them to charge upstairs.
Suddenly, from a state of imminent victory to a desperate situation, Lynn hadn't even figured out where his oversight lay. Did these Soviet tanks just happen to stop in a blind spot that couldn't be observed earlier, or was he too focused on the immediate target, overlooking this extremely deadly threat?
Tracing the root cause of the problem was not the top priority. The tank-mounted machine guns were like drugged-up muscle men at a dance party, displaying their charm with sustained frenzy. Lynn could easily judge that if the situation continued like this, his team would be wiped out in less than half a cigarette's time.
Rush out? Unless you can run faster than bullets, you'll be torn to pieces by the machine gun fire from those Soviet tanks in an instant!
"Grenades out!" Lynn finally let out a hysterical roar. Immediately after, he moved to the side of the door, shouting outside, "Noah! Noah!"
In such a situation, the experienced veteran on the battlefield naturally knew why the officer was calling his name. In a moment, a tremendous explosion sounded outside, sounding very close - just like those Soviet tanks were shelling the building, but Lynn knew that as long as there were Soviet personnel in this command post, those tanks would not use such extreme attack behavior.
Almost at the same time, the suppressed German soldiers in the ground floor hall, especially those near the outer wall windows, each threw grenades outside. Amidst the rumbling explosions, the shock waves, smoke, and countless sand dust rushed into the building, and the visibility suddenly decreased significantly, making it feel like being engulfed in fog. But for Lynn, the only glimmer of hope appeared at this moment!
"Charge upstairs!"
While shouting, Lynn got up using both hands and feet, rushing towards the staircase regardless of everything. In such a crisis, people's nerves often acted like a spring under heavy pressure. Once given the chance to release, they would exhibit extraordinary agility. Seeing a figure resembling Wolfram rush ahead of him to the stairs, Lynn felt relieved and moved, praying that this comrade would not become a corpse in front of him, and even more fervently praying that he could lead this brave group of soldiers out of this desperate situation.
Perhaps hearing the commotion downstairs, even before Wolfram showed his head, the people upstairs had already started shooting - this served as a wake-up call for the German commando soldiers. With his back against the staircase railing, Wolfram quickly pulled out the last grenade hanging from his belt with extremely rapid movements, pulled the ring on the top of the grenade, and turned to throw it.
Lynn slightly bent down, opened his mouth wide to reduce the impact of the explosion on his eardrums, but perhaps the grenade exploded less than five meters away, and the huge sound wave still shook his eardrums painfully. Even so, Lynn's mind remained clear, almost stepping on the sound of the explosion as he climbed the stairs, waiting only for his head and shoulders to reach the second-floor level before turning around and placing the muzzle between the gaps in the second-floor railing, aiming at the bright silhouettes appearing in the infrared sight, and pulling the trigger.