Chapter 12: Almost Made Things Worse with Good Intentions

But right now, he had no time to worry about his own injuries. Yang Ergou scrambled up from the ground and ran toward Jiang Yu in a panic.

“Girl, are you okay?!”

Was she okay?

Absolutely not!

The shell had almost landed directly on her head!

Wiping the mud off her face—mud that was now mixed with bits of flesh and blood—Jiang Yu had never been this terrified before.

But right after fear came rage!

Those damned little Japanese devils! So what if they had artillery? Blowing her up—did they think they were the only ones with firepower?!

“Boom—!”

Furious, Jiang Yu waved her hand—and in an instant, a tank dropped out of thin air from her spatial space.

Dust exploded in all directions!

But before she could do anything more, the massive commotion had already alerted everyone around them.

People all turned to look behind them, where a Japanese tank had suddenly appeared—and their faces instantly drained of all color.

A sharp cry of alarm pierced the air.

“Enemy attack—!”

“Everyone, back-to-back! Hurry—”

“Damn it, how did a Japanese tank climb all the way up the hill?!”

“We’re finished! Our base—!”

“To hell with it! I’m taking them down with me if it’s the last thing I do—!”

…

“Wait! Friendly! Friendly—don’t shoot!!”

Covered head to toe in the dust kicked up by the tank’s impact, Yang Ergou was stunned too.

But then he saw several rifles already aimed in the direction of the tank.

Terrified, he quickly jumped up and shouted at the top of his lungs, and along with Linzi and the others who had just recovered from their shock, rushed to stand in front of the tank.

“We’re friendlies! Friendlies!!”

“We brought weapons and ammunition—really!”

“Look at all this gear! Hurry, get it to the brothers in the trenches!”

“Cao Datou, it’s me! Yang Ergou from 2nd Battalion, 7th Company! Don’t shoot—we’re on the same side!”

“Yang Ergou?! It really is you!”

“It’s me! Quick, tell your men to lower their guns and help move the weapons!”

Seeing a familiar face at last, Yang Ergou nearly burst into tears. Behind him wasn’t just Jiang Yu, but piles and piles of weapons and ammo!

If one stray shot triggered an explosion, they wouldn’t even need the Japanese to do anything—the entire mountain would be obliterated.

“Weapons?”

“Yes! We’re here to deliver weapons…” Though, admittedly, the method of delivery was a bit… dramatic.

“This…”

Captain Cao Datou of 4th Battalion, 2nd Company finally noticed all the guns and ammunition scattered around the tank.

His pupils shrank in shock as he quickly shouted for everyone to lower their weapons:

“This… Where the hell did you get this beast? No—how did you even get it up the mountain?!”

“It’s a long story. Just get your men to help move the supplies into the trenches. The Japanese are coming!”

That little delay had already slowed their counterattack, giving the Japanese a chance to regroup.

Yang Ergou was so anxious he could jump out of his skin—they were here to help, not mess everything up!

“Alright! We can talk later!”

Cao Datou had also noticed the dire situation on the battlefield. Though he knew the earlier chaos was only a small part of the problem.

The real issue was that after the intense round of combat earlier, the soldiers barely had any bullets left.

If they didn’t get reinforcements soon, they’d be buried along with the trenches today.

So!

As curious as he was about the massive tank—and all the weapons—he didn’t dwell on it. After just a brief hesitation, he quickly called over all the nearby soldiers who weren’t actively fighting to help move the supplies.

Thankfully, if there was one thing the hilltop had plenty of, it was manpower. They might not have had weapons or even tools—digging trenches by hand—but there were lots of them.

Very quickly!

Under the two men’s orders, guns and ammunition were being distributed to every soldier.

The defense line finally stabilized, and they even managed to push the Japanese back, slowly reclaiming the ground that had been lost.

“Damn it! These damn Shina pigs are too cunning—they were luring us in all along!”

Akita Oni, the officer in charge of the attack, watched helplessly as soldier after soldier fell. His heart bled.

These were precious warriors of the Yamato race!

Every loss was irreplaceable.

Not like the Shina pigs, whose population was like wild weeds across a plain.

Cut down one batch, another grows. It felt endless.

Unacceptable!

He had to make sure that every last one of those Shina pigs up on that hill was buried with his fallen men!

“Colonel, what now? Our casualties are heavy!”

The sergeant beside him watched the battlefield nervously while anxiously asking Akita for instructions.

“Pull the troops back first. Bombard their position again before we do anything else.”

“But our artillery shells are already running low…”

“Then have Yamada-kun send them over immediately.”

“But… for some reason, we’ve been unable to reach Lord Yamada. We can’t get through at all…”

“Then…”

“The gunfire—something’s wrong with the gunfire, Colonel! Listen carefully!”

Just as Akita Oni was hesitating whether to call for air support, another sergeant suddenly shouted in alarm.

“Baka… Wait! That gunfire… What’s going on? Why are our guns being fired from the enemy’s side?!”

“Sir—” With that reminder, everyone finally noticed the anomaly in the gunfire.

One by one, their expressions changed dramatically as they turned to look at Akita Oni.

“Request air support! We can’t waste our soldiers’ lives in a head-on clash with those Shina pigs. Our warriors are the Empire’s most precious asset!”

“Yes, sir—!”

…

Meanwhile, behind the tank, Jiang Yu watched as the enemy was finally pushed back. The misunderstanding had finally been cleared up, and she let out a long, heavy breath.

She really hadn’t meant for any of that to happen. All she wanted was to bring over some supplies and help fight the Japanese devils.

But because she had pulled out a tank on impulse…

No—more accurately, because she’d acted out of fear, lacked proper knowledge, didn’t think things through, and failed to control her emotions—

She had nearly turned good intentions into a disaster that could have harmed everyone.

Now that the danger had passed, she couldn’t help but feel shaken and begin reflecting on herself.

On a front line where bullets and shells rained from the sky, people died every minute and every second.

This wasn’t a place someone raised in a peaceful era could just adapt to overnight.

Especially not someone like her, whose brain never worked all that well and who was prone to impulsive decisions.

From now on, she’d better stick to the original plan: sneak into Japanese camps and quietly kill off Japanese soldiers.

And maybe loot their warehouses while she was at it.

As for everything else… she’d wait until she was truly used to this cruel world.

No need to drag others down with her…

“Girl?”

“Jiang Yu…”

“Master Jiang—”

What happened to Jiang Yu? With all those guns pointed at her earlier, could she have fainted or something…?

After overseeing the distribution of weapons, ammunition, and food, Yang Ergou ignored Cao Datou’s calls and quickly circled behind the tank, hoping to talk to Jiang Yu properly.

Her ability was simply heaven-defying—a single person worth more than countless laborers.

She could even provide an endless supply of weapons, ammo, food, and who knows what else.

If… if they could convince her to join the 66th Army, or even just form a cooperative relationship…

Wait a second!

Where’d she go?!

When Yang Ergou got to the back of the tank, he realized Jiang Yu was nowhere to be seen.

His face instantly turned pale. “Crap…”

“What do you mean ‘crap’? Are we out of weapons?”

Still sitting awkwardly atop the tank, Jiang Yu watched Yang Ergou panicking and spinning in circles. She held back her laughter before finally speaking.

“Ah! Girl? You’re still here? That’s great! Uh… where were you? I didn’t see you at all!”

“I was right behind you.”

“Behind…”

He turned around and saw Jiang Yu slowly revealing herself from thin air—his jaw dropped wide open.

“Wh-what is this… some kind of divine technique?!”

“Just an invisibility spell, that’s all. Oh right, why didn’t you have someone operate the tank earlier?”

Even though the whole tank incident had turned into a major misunderstanding, Jiang Yu still hadn’t forgotten her main goal: bombing Japanese devils!

After all, tank shells were much more powerful than hand-thrown mortar bombs—and had longer range, too.

But seeing no one was using it made her anxious.

“Operate the tank? Up here on the mountain? How?!”

There were friendly troops in front and a cliff behind them. Where was the tank even supposed to go?

Already reeling from Jiang Yu’s many surprises, Yang Ergou nearly got knocked out by this question.

“Just sit inside the tank and fire the cannon downhill at the Japanese. Simple.”

“Huh? That’s so wasteful… but you’re right! I’ll go get someone right away!”

With enough ammo on hand, using the tank as a stationary artillery piece actually made perfect sense.

Snapping out of his daze, Yang Ergou became visibly excited and rushed off to fetch someone.

“Wait! Could you also tell everyone—fire at will. I’ve still got plenty of guns and ammo. If they run out, just come find me.”

Jiang Yu figured everyone must be used to conserving supplies. Even after she’d dumped so many weapons and munitions on them, the gunfire on the mountaintop had only gotten slightly more intense.

Mortar and machine gun fire still sounded sparse.

She had to give them a reminder.

“Got it! Haha! With you backing us up, we’ll finally let those Japanese bastards feel the power of real firepower suppression!”

Yang Ergou had suspected Jiang Yu still had more weapons up her sleeve.

But he hadn’t expected her to be this generous.

Firing without restraint would burn through ammunition like crazy…

After the initial shock, all he felt was excitement—and gratitude.

Maybe… just maybe… they really could hold Jùróng this time.