Krichtenberg Berlina, Federation of Oceania. Early morning February 24, 2026

In the northern regions, dawn comes very early. As soon as the bombers withdrew from the city, warm rays of morning light gradually appeared in the east. In the stillness of that early morning, several towering columns of black smoke rose in the Pankortz district, Weissensezft. Above the low clouds, it was difficult to distinguish between the dim morning light and the bright fire shining from a recently destroyed and devastated Krichtenberg Berlin. As the smoke slowly cleared over the ruins, the most bombarded city in Oceania stood there, gloomy and scary. The entire city was black with ash, pockmarked with thousands of gaping holes and dotted with twisted pillars from ruined buildings. The streets are littered with wooden chests and body bags. Blood dyed the sky red.

Entire apartment blocks were wiped out, and in the center of the capital, entire areas were completely wiped out, with nothing left. In that empty land, what were once avenues and streets turned into rough tracks, passing through mountains of rubble filled with rubble and broken glass. Everywhere are roofless, windowless buildings with completely destroyed interiors, standing with their mouths open and looking at the sky. After the raid, a rain of ash fell, covering the ruins, and in the canyons of rubble and steel, only dust could be seen. Dust swirls along the extension of the A1 avenue, the famous trees are now bare, buds withered on the branches.

Only a handful of banks, libraries and luxury shops located on this famous avenue were undamaged. But at the west end of the street, Krichtenberg's most famous symbol, the Branderkow Gate, which is as tall as an eight-story building, still stands on its 12 giant Dorickz pillars, despite being riddled with shrapnel damage. At the massive Reichtower building, where the Parliament was held, on the ruined roof above the six-columned entrance gate, overlooking the sea of ​​rubble that was about to engulf the building, were clear black words: - For the people of Oceania!

Somewhere south of the city, the Bemeroth base, which was considered the command headquarters for the army to organize the counterattack, has now been completely flattened. Train stations transporting soldiers to the battlefield have even turned into desolate, desolate ruins. Tens of thousands of new recruits were wiped out before even seeing the battlefield, and personnel losses were sky-high. The hospital had to withstand shock waves and receive hundreds of intact corpses. The death of refugees is also widespread, to the point where it is impossible to handle it. As soon as reinforcements arrived, they were immediately thrown into the front and died countless times. There's also not much food and ammunition left. It seems like all the despair and death are pouring here.

With the remaining light, I and many other teammates slowly walked out of the bomb shelter after the enemy's shelling passed. All that remains are the ruins of a mighty empire. Dead people were lying on the streets, bleeding profusely. The siren sounded loudly, drowning out the screams for help and the cries of pain and despair. Witnessing this scene that only exists in apocalyptic movies, we rookies could only stand and watch in horror, our faces drained of blood. A few screams began to hiss.

"Oh my God. It looks so miserable…"

"Blood… it's blood!"

Everyone looked frightened, in despair, watching their fellow blood brothers being crushed and sacrificed by bombs and bullets. I stood frozen in place, like a lost soul. It wasn't until a firefighter called from afar that I regained my composure. He looked disgusting with ragged clothes, covered in blood and mud. His skin was even calloused, showing bruises that had long since rotted and turned black. In a hoarse voice, he tried to urge us:

"This! Guys! Come out here and give us a hand. I'm about exhausted. Damn you Eurasians."

A few soldiers and I ran over. It was a 14-year-old refugee child, the boy was crushed by a rock, bleeding profusely. I grabbed the rock tightly and used all my strength to turn it over. My arm muscles hurt so much that they felt like they were about to break. I gritted my teeth and screamed in pain. We had a hard time lifting it off the boy's body, but it was too late. She died before she could be saved. The boy's body gradually became cold, covered in scratches and bruises, with vague flesh and blood. I was in deep shock, sitting there in extreme confusion. Everything was crazy and chaotic. Has the war made this place so desolate and deadly? How scary!

A haggard old officer stood up from the rubble, using all his strength to continue his unfinished propaganda. It seemed that no one was listening to that nonsense anymore. Because we were all fed up with being bombed day and night by the enemy.

"My fellow soldiers, the barbarians of the Eastern Eurasian Nation are preparing to launch a new attack on the city. Currently, all supply lines have been cut off, with less than 50,000 men left to fight while the enemy has more than 200,000 soldiers. Despite the huge difference, I hope each of us will do our best to hold on to this place. We need to kick them out of this place and win a decisive victory!"

After saying that, he slowly walked with his haggard appearance to a street corner and used the pistol in his pocket to blow his own skull, freeing himself from this hell. A gunshot rang out, ending a short life. Two guards quickly carried his body to burn it and walked towards me. They were very violent and vicious, directly grabbing me by the neck and throwing me straight into the marching army like an inanimate object. They even cursed and cursed me terribly.

Get out of my sight! You little snotty brat! Get the hell out of here!"

"Get in line if you want to live! You're in unit 92, right? Oh, I forgot, they're all dead. Well, go back to company 96, kid!"

I was pushed into a soldier and both of us fell flat on the ground. Mud and dirt stuck to both of our clothes. Seeing that, I panicked and ran over to help the other person up, a little confused as I asked:

"Excuse me! Are you okay? Let me help you up. Sorry for bumping into you."

I looked at the badge pinned to her chest. It turned out that she was a female marksman. She was quite short compared to us, only about 1m69. That girl had platinum hair, neatly tied behind her head. Her face was elegant, with deep blue eyes that seemed to contain an entire ocean, beautiful and mysterious, making me unconsciously drawn into those eyes.

The strange girl stood still, looking at me without taking her eyes off me, as if she recognized something. I also found her very familiar, as if we had met before. How strange. It seemed that after regaining her composure, the girl replied to me:

"It's okay, I can take care of myself. Who are you? I just saw those policemen beating you up, it looked so brutal." - She smiled and asked me.

I lowered my voice:

"I'm Klaus Polskarov, a member of the 92nd platoon of the 7th Guards Corps. But they all died, I'm the only survivor left. Nice to meet you."

"Ilaina Ilytasivich Kilova. Nice to meet you."

Ilaina simply introduced herself and asked me:

"Are you also Eurasian?"

"Half. My father is Eurasian and my mother is Oceanian."

After a while of talking, Ilaina and I found that we had a lot in common and felt very familiar with each other like old friends. I learned that she was a Eurasian sniper who had defected to Oceania because she realized the futility of this war. While I was busy getting to know my new friend, a high-ranking officer, who seemed to be a platoon leader, suddenly came over and asked:

"What are you two doing? Hurry up, those Eurasian bastards have crossed the outskirts, why are you still standing there!"- After saying that, he looked at us meaningfully, the corners of his mouth curved up a little – "You're the new recruits, right? Welcome to hell on earth."

I helped Ilaina up and together we caught up with the new platoon. We passed by house number 73 Neistalyat Street, a beautiful little palace that used to be the official residence of the former Oceanian prime ministers, completely burned down inside. This palace was once described as a mini paradise. But now, the exquisite architecture, the beautiful decorations, and the sea goddess statues of the splendid fountain in the front yard had been violently destroyed, falling into ruins, the only thing that seemed to be saved were the two twin statues of the Rhinert Virgins placed on the roof, which was full of holes and tilted towards the rubble-filled courtyard, their heads missing.

A block away, building number 77 was not much damaged, only slightly chipped. Bricks were piled up around this three-story U-shaped building. The brownish-yellow paint on the outside was peeling in many places, and the shining golden eagles with crosses on their claws placed on the gates were scratched and chipped miserably, seemingly making it lose its original majestic appearance.

The majestic balcony jutting out above, where a crazy speech had once been delivered to the world. The Reichskanz, the office building of the Prime Minister of Oceania, still stood there. Above Kurfurst, the Fifth Avenue of Krichtenberg, the deformed skeletons of the once splendid Memorial Church lay scattered.

On the march to the death zone of the trenches that surrounded the capital, everyone's face was filled with undisguised anxiety. The desolate landscape gradually appeared with each step we took. The vast, watery land under the long, gloomy scene of dawn. On the rough road full of stagnant puddles, funnel-shaped depressions rippled in the early morning wind. The trails that the footsteps of the soldiers and the night convoy had just carved out, in the fields now bare, full of hidden bomb craters containing stagnant water, shone like steel rails in the pale light.

Piles of mud, here and there stuck out a few broken stakes, broken X-shaped supports, bundles of twisted wire, twisted into bushes, mudflats and puddles that made the ground look like a cloth, some above ground, some below. It wasn't raining, but everything was wet, dripping, as if drenched, and even the pale light seemed to be flowing away.

"So slimy and sticky…" – Ilaina furrowed her pretty eyebrows, her face filled with disgust and fear.

That's right, she was a girl after all, I held out my hand to her and said:

"Come on, Ilaina, let me help you down."

I slowly jumped down into the trench and then gently helped Ilaina down. Damn it! As soon as I saw the scene below, my stomach churned, suppressing the feeling of nausea, I took a step forward. The stinking mud stuck to our leather boots, making it difficult to walk. In addition to the stench of corpses and blood, here we also witnessed the most bloody and deadly clashes today. I gritted my teeth, trying to slap away the remaining water in my boots but it was useless, I had no choice but to let it soak into my skin.

Ilaina said to me:

"Thank you. This place is really bad, just like what people say."

Taking out her sniper rifle, Ilaina skillfully placed it on the gun rack, pointing straight ahead. I didn't have time either, quickly took out the Mark 18 to check it again. The others were the same, some of them even took the opportunity to get to know each other since the original members were all dead, we were just a bunch of people thrown in for show.

"Ilaina, have you killed any Eurasian soldiers since you joined the army?"

"No. This is my first time in real combat. Normally, I just stand far away and learn how to fire support rifles, not shoot at close range like this. What about you?"

"We're the same. I haven't even finished learning the theory. All my skills come from games." – I shrugged and replied.

Ilaina's eyes stopped on me for a few seconds as if considering the truth of my words, then turned back to her half-prepared gun, she asked me:

"Then why did they push you out to this place of death? Doesn't everyone who goes to war have to be trained thoroughly?"

"No, actually we just finished learning how to use guns, we haven't made much progress. All the elites are dead, now we're just burning the reserve volunteers-"

Before I could finish my sentence, the sound of a fighter jet engine suddenly echoed from afar. Just a few seconds later, a Su-27 Flanker with a red star painted on its fuselage flew over our heads. It was so huge, it seemed to block my vision, the plane disappeared at the speed of sound. I saw the enemy fighters flying over our heads at breakneck speed, they suddenly dropped tens of thousands of tons of deadly bombs. In just a moment of shock, the vehicle carrying reinforcements behind us suddenly exploded into hundreds of pieces. I panicked, didn't have time to think much, and hurriedly hugged Ilaina and lay down on the ground, avoiding being hit by the bomb fragments.

The rocks and dirt fell like rain, even blood was on them. A huge fire broke out, followed by a cloud of black smoke. I held Ilaina tightly and lay motionless, the enemy's bombs and bullets swept over our heads like a hurricane, drowning out the painful screams, cries, and groans of our comrades. They were hit by the hot bullets, their bodies blown away or hit by large broken rocks. In the chaos, someone shouted:

"EVERYONE TAKE COVER! IT'S A FIGHTER PLANE!"

Then another series of bombs exploded. The air seemed to be sucked clean, the smell of smoke and blood rushed straight into my nose. Ilaina beside me coughed continuously, and had to sit up to catch her breath. At that moment, countless phosphorus bombs fell. She stood there, stunned, unable to react to the impending disaster. My heart stopped beating, my pupils contracted:

"ILAINA! GET OUT OF THERE!!"

My body reflexively hugged Ilaina in fear, using two or three large steps to quickly bring the two of us to hide in a corner of the trench. Then the ground was immediately plowed up with a roar, as if it wanted to tear the sky apart. The heat of death blew through me, it seemed like something had brushed past my arm, causing it to ache as if it were crippled, but it did nothing but hold onto Ilaina's small body, using my own body to shield her, preventing her from dying. I felt Ilaina's hand gripping my shirt tightly, she was also opening her mouth to breathe out with difficulty. The sound of bombs and artillery outside continued to ring, my body was as tense as a guitar string, drops of sweat ran down my face, I closed my eyes tightly. The arms that hugged Ilaina became even stronger, I was very worried about her, I myself didn't know why, I realized that my feelings for Ilaina were very strange, but in this situation I didn't have the mood to think about it, so I threw this problem to the back of my mind. I prayed to God above to keep us safe and sound. The two of us just hugged each other like that during the entire time of the enemy's bombardment. After the series of earth-shattering noises ended, the silence returned. After experiencing those near-death moments, I was exhausted and lay on the ground. I was panting, my breath was rapid, a little dazed from the recent event. Fear enveloped me, noticing that Ilaina was not moving. I gritted my teeth, trying to use some strength to shake her awake.

"Ilaina. Are you okay? Are you hurt?!"

Ilaina's lifeless eyes gradually condensed and looked at my face, those blue pupils seemed to flash with a flash of panic, as if regaining her spirit, she said to me:

"Klaus! You look so miserable, your skin is all burned. Come on, let's get out of here. It's so chaotic."

I covered one of my arms with my hand, mumbling in response while blood continued to ooze out. She led me through the meters of trench that had been torn up by artillery shells. Others were busy filling in the giant hole in the front line filled with stagnant water. At that moment, the siren suddenly sounded to signal a new artillery barrage.

"Hide! Enemy 155mm artillery."

A shell suddenly fell into the trench, exploding right before Ilaina and me. It sent everything around us flying, including our comrades, flying high into the sky, tearing their bodies into hundreds of pieces, a few drops of blood splashed onto my face but I didn't have the heart to wipe them away. We could only watch as their flesh and skin were covered in dust without being able to do anything, truly a death without a whole body.

Knowing that the battlefield was so fierce and terrifying, I still couldn't suppress the feeling of nausea in my stomach, my face turned pale and green, I just wanted to get used to this situation quickly, otherwise I would die on the battlefield not from being shot or exploded, but from being shocked or disgusted by these kinds of scenes.

As soon as the dust cleared, on the ground where the two of us stood, there was a hole with flesh and blood splattered everywhere, leaving behind a muddy ground full of mixed flesh and blood that people could no longer recognize that it was a human being before. And the only thing left to distinguish them from the dirt and rocks was the hat they were wearing and their tattered uniforms.

When we reached a section of the trench, Ilaina gently let me sit down to rest. She brushed her sweaty platinum hair back, I felt Ilaina's gaze soften like a calm blue lake with a gentle breeze, she looked at me and said:

"You stay here and rest for a bit, I'll go get the first aid kit for you."

Suddenly I felt like I was a burden to Ilaina:

"You don't need to care about me like that, just leave me here."

She looked at me with disapproval, and replied:

"No, I can't let you die here. Just wait."

Watching Ilaina turn around and leave me with a back that was getting farther and farther away, I could only helplessly sit there, holding tightly onto my arm that was bleeding profusely in pain. Everyone in the trenches was busy taking turns walking back and forth, carrying ammunition boxes to the 12.7mm machine gun nests along the battlefield.

Soon after, Ilaina returned with a bunch of different medical supplies. She approached me, hurriedly wrapped the burn with gauze and applied ice to it. When she was done, Ilaina took out some painkillers and gave me a temporary injection. After a moment, my hand started to hurt a little less. Ilaina sat down next to me:

"Klaus, that's it, I've finished treating the wound, you'll need to rest a bit for it to heal."- Saying that, she took out a bun from her pocket- "Hey! I brought some food. Want to try it?"

She held out the bun in front of me, it looked quite fresh but seeing that there was only one, I refused. How could I accept food from a petite girl like her when we were both equally hungry. Not manly at all.

"Well, you just eat. I'm not that hungry. People like you need it."

"Never mind, you give me half, I give you half."

Even though I said that, Ilaina still smiled and gave me half of her bun. Looking at the five slender white fingers that had just brought the food, I silently took half of the bun. The bun had a soft white skin, and inside there were some meat noodles that I hadn't eaten for a long time. Not forcing myself anymore, I devoured the bun, finishing it in just half a minute.

It had been a long time since I had eaten such a delicious meal. Most of us had to fight in a state of near starvation. The food was all expired food, moldy bread, and river water, some units even had to use sewage and animal corpses as food. I let out a satisfied sigh, Ilaina saw this and pinched my ear, her eyes like two sapphires narrowed, smiling and saying:

"Now who says they're not hungry? Do you want to eat more so I can steal it."

"What did you say? This is stolen goods. You are really good. It is not easy to steal here, if you get caught, you are finished."- I was quite surprised by this, a little admiring and a little worried.

Ilaina smiled:

"That's too much praise, I do this all the time at home."

Suddenly, an earth-shaking sound rang out, immediately after that, a series of bunkers we had built suddenly exploded, bursting into flames. Then, tens of thousands of 30mm bullets rushed in, causing flash floods.

Thack! Thack! Bang!

The sound of rifles and cannons immediately echoed. Above our heads, everywhere bullets exploded or loudly in long bursts or single shots. That dark and fiery storm never stopped, never stopped. People were buried at the bottom of an eternal battlefield. But just like the ticking of the clocks hanging in our houses in the past, in the almost legendary past, here people only heard gunshots when they paid attention.

Before they could recover from their shock, on the vast steppe, two Eurasian T-72-72 main battle tanks suddenly appeared, entered the battlefield, and fired an armor-piercing shell into our bunker. Everything happened in the blink of an eye. After the tank guns blew out hellish hot smoke, the whole sky was in chaos, the trenches were filled with smoke and dust.

Ilaina and I quickly returned to our defensive positions. Holding the dirty Mark-18 automatic rifle with blood stains on it, I shakily pointed it forward, where the Eurasian army was rampaging. I couldn't help but curse when I saw the approaching soldiers clearly.

"Damn it! It's the famous 82nd Shock Corps… Are you ready? Ilaina."

She replied to me with a calm expression mixed with a hint of mischief, raising her voice a little at the end of the syllable:

"It's done, it's finally time to fight, heh~"

Hundreds, thousands of Eurasian soldiers wearing armor, holding AK-74 rifles with long bayonets, rushed forward like flying arrows. They shouted, brandishing the weapons in their hands, just like gods preparing to purge all of humanity. The heavy footsteps made the ground shake.

Looking at the crowd of people aggressively advancing towards me, I couldn't keep calm, my nerves tensed up and I reflexively pulled the trigger along with my brothers. One gunshot, then two, three, then a hundred gunshots rang out at the same time. The Eurasian assault soldiers were hit by bullets one after another, falling to the ground one after another. The machine guns behind them also started firing wildly. The enemy fell like straw. But it seemed that wasn't enough, despite our rain of bullets, the Eurasian troops with fierce determination still charged forward, determined to fight to the end. With the roar of a well-trained army, they broke through our defenses.

An enemy soldier jumped onto a sandbag and used his melee weapon, the Cossack sword, to slash down, hitting dozens of people in the face in an instant. The sound of the sword was heard, followed by the miserable screams of the Oceanian soldiers, he pulled out an assault rifle, fired and killed countless people on the Oceanian side. I tried to stay calm, loaded a new magazine, pulled the pin, and turned around to shoot him dead before his eyes and the barrel of the gun could sweep over me. When the other guy fell to the ground with a hole in his head, I suddenly heard the sound of wind tearing right behind me, I turned around and saw the ferocious face of a certain Eurasian guy using a knife with a bloody groove that was about to pierce my brain. It was really over. Suddenly, a gunshot rang out for only a moment, causing the guy's head to explode, blood splattered everywhere. That red substance seemed to cover most of my face, the strong fishy smell rushed into my nose, making me regain my composure after that heart-stopping incident.

I reached out to wipe away the blood on my face, but it seemed that action only made my face dirtier. At that moment, a towel was brought in front of me, I raised my eyes and met Ilaina's curved peach blossom eyes, a slight smile hung on her lips as she opened her mouth:

"How is it? Is my shooting technique okay?"

I took Ilaina's handkerchief. Thinking back to the scene just now made me shiver a little.

"Nice shot!"

Her smile grew deeper, happily saying:

"You owe me a life."