Codegease: Air and Land Warfare 1946

"Excuse me, do you know of anything unusual that has been seen near the Brandenburg Gate recently?"

"This... I don't know..." The mother was somewhat stunned.

"Oh, well, sorry to bother you." Before the soldier could finish speaking, he turned to leave, but two other people who were with him rushed up to him.

"Locke! This is the first time you've ever seen girls so proactive!"

"Hey! Thinking of taking her there for a bit? Want me to buy you something? Hahaha!"

“Excuse me,” the mother said, ignoring the two thugs’ ramblings, “what happened there? Why are you carrying guns?”

The soldier from before turned around and began to speak in a serious tone.

"That's right. About a month ago, one of our patrols happened to hear a loud noise coming from the Brandenburg Gate, like an explosion mixed with a storm. But when they got there, everything was normal, except for some footprints, bottles and jars and plastic sheets on the ground."

"Fortunately, no blood, flesh, or shell craters were found on the ground, and it was unlikely to be related to a murder or military clashes. So, when the matter was reported to higher authorities, it was eventually dropped after a while."

The soldier paused.

“We initially thought it was just a hoax, but four days ago in the morning, we heard that the voice appeared again, accompanied by a very bright light…”

"Yes! It's dazzling!" the thug next to him started to rave. "Like a fire-breathing performance at a circus late at night!"

"Hey girl, have you ever seen a fire-breathing show? Ah, that fiery feeling, it's just like how I feel looking at you right now!"

Boom! ——Boom! ——

The soldier named Locke suddenly turned around, took the rifle off his shoulder, and, holding the barrel, slammed the butt of the rifle into the crotches of the two American soldiers. The two men instantly collapsed to the ground like trampled reeds.

"Hey! Locke, I'm not done with you yet!"

"Cough, damn it..."

“That’s how it is…” Locke sighed. “The higher-ups were worried something might be wrong, so our company was assigned to stand guard at the Brandenburg Gate. We just finished our shift and were getting ready to go back to our camp on the outskirts of the city to sleep…”

Despite her calm exterior, the mother couldn't hide her inner anxiety. She didn't know whether she should turn around and leave or continue to take her son to see the Brandenburg Gate.

“Alright then, madam.” The soldier turned and pulled a signal flare from the waist of his comrade lying on the ground.

"Anyway, it's no use for those two idiots to come. The road over at the Brandenburg Gate isn't blocked yet. If you want to keep going that way, take this with you. If you see anything unusual, point this thing up into the sky and pull the trigger. I'm sure the brothers over there will see it."

"Ouch!"

The conversation went on for so long that the mother didn't notice that her son had already run fifty or sixty meters toward the Brandenburg Gate. If he hadn't fallen and cried out, he might have gotten lost.

In her haste, the mother blurted out a German "sorry," grabbed the signal pistol from the soldier's hand, and rushed to catch up with her son.

Fortunately, it was just a minor chafing on his pants, but the boy pushed away his mother's arms and continued running forward, starting to ramble a little incoherently.

"Mom, Luca!—"

"Over there!—"

"Mom, I saw him!—"

While her mother was still lost in thought, a blinding light disrupted her thoughts.

The mist has dissipated, has the sun come out? Why is it so bright?

Following the direction his son ran, a tall figure suddenly appeared in the open space in front of the Brandenburg Gate, accompanied by blinding light and a storm behind him!

"Prepare for battle!" The mother vaguely heard the shouts of a large group of American soldiers not far away.

The boy still didn't stop running forward...

"Luca! Luca!—"

Immediately afterwards, a strange machine gun roared – unlike the American Browning machine gun, unlike the Russian DP machine gun, and unlike the German MG42 chainsaw – suddenly boomed in the open space in front of the Brandenburg Gate, and leaped freely into the distant sky without any hindrance along the empty Berlin street!

……

Now, dozens of mangled bodies of American soldiers lie scattered on the muddy ground in front of the Brandenburg Gate, while a Willys Jeep beside them is riddled with bullet holes the size of fists.

A giant steel golem put away its large machine gun, and the light behind it began to dim, revealing a giant gate made of beams of light. A group of soldiers wearing black helmets and holding assault rifles began to rush out of the gate and gather at the feet of the steel giant.

The Iron Man's loudspeaker emitted a terrifying low growl.

"Get ready to raise your hands! We're coming!—"

……

The mother lay on her side in a pool of blood...

His eyes, still open, were fixed on the dilapidated Brandenburg Gate...

The goddess of victory above the city gate had vanished without a trace in the bloodshed months ago...

Section 9, Chapter 4: Spears and Iron Cavalry

The last rays of the setting sun, filtering through the rising smoke of battle, scattered haphazardly across the murky Spree River. Berlin, this ancient city ravaged by war and now a desolate wasteland, seemed to have returned to the days of despair that had filled it six months prior…

At the Brandenburg Gate, Britannian soldiers had already set up tents, water towers, and solar panels, emerging one after another from the mechs or tanks they had just replaced on the front lines. Apart from the drivers of the vehicles who were bouncing around the craters in the ground, everyone seemed to be engrossed in the warm folding beds beneath them, with no one wanting to get up again after such a tiring day.

Outside the camp, the silence wasn't eerily quiet. Occasionally, the streets in all directions would echo with gunshots like hailstones, or an explosion like a gong.

In short, there are plenty of chaotic streets outside the camp, but here, apart from the pile of ammunition next to you, nothing will make you feel like you're still on the battlefield.

Not far north of the Brandenburg Gate lies one of Germany's enduring landmarks—the Reichstag building, the very place where the Soviet red flag was raised on April 30th, inspiring a million Red Army soldiers to cheer. Now, it still stands there peacefully, except that a huge flag of the Britannian Empire hangs from the roof above the row of towering stone pillars outside its gates.

Several steady yet hurried footsteps echoed through the Capitol Building's corridors. A military officer turned a corner and entered a room filled with electronic equipment. Inside, a large electronic display screen was already on, emitting a pale light.

He didn't bother to look for a light switch on the wall or the floor—maybe there weren't any lights at all, or maybe the room wasn't too dark. He went straight to the only large table in the room, threw the briefcase he was holding onto it, pulled a chair out from under the table, and sat down.

After settling down for a short while, and taking a few deep breaths, he pressed a flashing button on the table.

“Lieutenant Colonel…” On the big screen, a conference room full of people began to become clearer.

Seated at the head of the table was Prince Schneizel. Around the entire room, every participant from the meeting a few days ago was seated here, with the lieutenant colonel clearly being the last to arrive.

"You're already five minutes late," Schneizel said, his voice sounding somewhat displeased.

“I’m sorry, Your Highness.” Karonville reached into his jacket pocket. “I was just looking for something…”

With a flick of his wrist, he tossed a small knife, painted a bright yellow and covered in dirt and bits of meat, onto the table like a nouveau riche flaunting his wealth.

“Young man! When did you learn to find ways to curry favor?” Sitting in the most conspicuous spot was still that barbed General Malen.

"I was merely confirming to His Highness the Prince that the portal was working properly and had led us to the correct location. Since Your Excellency makes this assumption, perhaps you often, well, do that?" The lieutenant colonel's tactful reply left the major general with a hint of embarrassment on his face.

"I finally found this knife under the body of an otherworldly soldier near the portal. It looks like he picked it up and cut something, probably something like luncheon meat. Hmm, I also had the medic take a quick look; the appearance and general physiology of these humanoid creatures are quite similar to ours, except..."

"I noticed that the forms and stuff in their folders are all in English, just like ours..."

"What?!--"

The moment the word "English" was uttered, the meeting room in Britannia erupted into chaos.

"Are you kidding me? These otherworldly beings speak the same language as us?" This is a compilation of the latest popular books on Feilu's online rankings, plus a vast collection of Feilu and Hedgehog Cat novels resources, all stored on a massive cloud drive (over 10,000 books).

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"Could it be that someone went there before us?"

"Quiet!" Schneizel shouted. "Lieutenant Colonel, putting aside the issue of the otherworldly beings, we want to know first, how are things going on your side?"

“Oh…” Caronville uttered the word slowly, wiping his mouth vigorously with his right hand, as if he had a lot of bitter things to say.

"Your Highness, the environment here is truly unbearable... no! 'Unbearable' is an understatement; it's torture! The city's power grid is completely down, and we have to build generators and lay cables ourselves..."

"The air is thick with dust, and there's a constant smell of corpses..."

"There is a water source, but that river is really..."

"Our brand-new water purifiers are almost overloaded, it looks like we'll have to forbid showering tonight..."

Dr. Flock, sitting in the back row, listened to this with a mixture of amusement and exasperation—just a few days earlier, he had witnessed Caronville arguing with department officials in the logistics department. The lieutenant colonel, holding a stack of photos and reports, seemingly obtained from Schneizel, was demanding that the officers equip the vanguard with more water purifiers.

"However, Your Highness, I think we are still lucky. At least, the supply pressure from only a few thousand people is not too great. If we had deployed all of District 11's forces, I estimate that half of them would have to escape back for water tonight..."

"Alright, let's not talk about supplies for now." The doctor sounded a little anxious. "The 'Lotus Leaf' system might not be very stable on its first run..."

“'Lotus leaf'?” Guilford, sitting opposite him, was somewhat surprised to hear this unfamiliar term.

“Oh right, right, you were absent the day before yesterday due to a mission, so let me tell you. The ‘Lotus Leaf’ system was also made by the same department that created the Camelot Gate, used to connect our world and the other world. However, it can only transmit radio waves, but it consumes less power and is more durable, so we use this thing to communicate with the warriors over there…”

"Alright, that's enough of the explanation." Schneizel stopped the doctor and Guilford's conversation in time, picked up a report in front of him, and said, "Lieutenant Colonel, it's time to report the combat log."

“Ah, I know,” the lieutenant colonel slowly picked up the tablet. “Our casualty ratio is acceptable. Based on today’s battle, we eliminated nearly two thousand enemies, mostly infantry, along with a few tanks and armored vehicles. We lost 13 mechs, as well as 12 armored vehicles and assault guns, for a total of about seven hundred casualties. The damage to this city is too severe; it’s very unsuitable for mechs to operate…”

“Ah, I see…” one of the officials in the conference room spoke up, “Lieutenant Colonel, have you investigated how these 13 mechs were destroyed?”

"Thank you for your trouble. I have personally investigated the situation: three of them were hit by crude rocket launchers, four were disabled by explosives or traps, and three were destroyed or buried by collapsing building walls while in motion."

The atmosphere in the conference room remained relatively peaceful. After all, in the years of urban combat, it was not uncommon for mechs to be destroyed by infantry with simple explosive and anti-armor weapons.

However, a few people were hiding among the seats, secretly laughing. Perhaps they were amused by those idiots buried under the building, haha.

"So, that means this new enemy doesn't have any mechs, huh?" Maren's face was suddenly filled with a contemptuous smile. Amidst everyone's quiet conversation, he leisurely picked up the teacup in front of him, preparing to put it to his lips.

Only Caronville was still staring down at his tablet, his eyes looking somewhat lost.

“3……7……10……哎！不对啊！”坐在那边的吉尔福特突然打扰了大家的兴致，“这加起来只有10台啊！中校，还有3台是怎么回事？”

Just as everyone was beginning to refocus their attention, the lieutenant colonel reluctantly and slowly raised his head.

"The remaining three... were destroyed by these enemy tanks and armored vehicles. Two were completely destroyed, and one is out of mobility and is currently under repair..."

The conference room erupted in uproar. The major general, who had just put the red tea in his mouth, almost spat it all out.

"Damn it!" He angrily slammed the teacup on the table, the tea inside splashing out like lava from a volcanic eruption.

"'Lieutenant Colonel,' do you think we're idiots or children? Tanks, those pieces of junk that were proven to be discardable by the old trash of Area 11, haven't been able to destroy a KMF in ages! And yet here we are, getting a good start from a bunch of even lower-class otherworldly beings? I'd like to ask you, shouldn't your pilots go back to school for a damn good time?"

The conference room suddenly seemed to have turned into a bar filled with drunkards. Some people were arguing with each other, while others were cursing at the screen. Clearly, the lieutenant colonel's description had crossed everyone's psychological threshold.

"Silence!" Schneizel, who had been listening to all this, could no longer bear it. "Lieutenant Colonel, we have always believed that you are not a person who talks nonsense. So answer my question, can you take your description just now as true?"

On the other side of the screen, Caronville, slumped in his chair, still had his eyes glued to his computer...

……

“Your Highness, what I just said led to this scene in the conference room, which was within my expectations.”

“Due to this expedition, we may encounter weapons we’ve never seen before.” The lieutenant colonel paused. “I had a special team bring a batch of portable battlefield cameras to my troops, and then distributed them to many squadrons, including the squad that just witnessed the mechs being destroyed by enemy tanks.”

"Everyone here, I request that this battlefield footage be sent to you. If, after watching it, you feel that I or the soldiers I trained have failed in their duties... I will immediately request Your Highness to appoint someone else to replace me as commander of the vanguard..."

"This..." The people in the conference room looked at each other, except for Maren, who smiled casually, wiped the tea that had splashed on his hands, and picked up his teacup again.

Schneizel seemed quite decisive, gesturing for Caronville to continue.

On the screen, snowflakes filled the entire picture. Soon, accompanied by a few hissing sounds of electricity, the other side of the portal, the city reduced to ruins and a dilapidated street, appeared before everyone's eyes.

……

"Alright, alright! We have the image!" a soldier's voice came from the video.

The camera suddenly panned to the left, focusing on a soldier holding a tablet computer. It appeared that the camera was mounted on top of the soldier's helmet.

"See, that makes sense now. I told you it was a problem with the camera."

"Alright, no problem. I'll turn off the diffuser antenna." The soldier with the camera raised his left hand, pressed down a small antenna on his forearm, wrapped it with a strap, and picked up his rifle again.

"You bunch of damn infantry, can't you hurry up!" Gloucester, carrying a spear, turned around at the front of the column, speaking as he reversed towards the fork in the road ahead. "If this wretched city weren't rife with ambushes, would I be crawling along with you guys?"

The infantrymen didn't say much; after all, they had spent half the day fiddling with the camera, and it was indeed their mistake. Now they were like a group of children who had made a mistake, silent and just staring at the distant, dense ruins and dilapidated buildings.

“Calm down, Your Excellency,” said Sunderland, a soldier armed with a machine gun and fitted with several armor plates, standing at the back of the column. “Even if we spend a few more minutes eliminating our threat, it’s better than being wiped out, isn’t it?”

"Ha! Total annihilation?" A cold laugh erupted from Gloucester. "Back when I was a force to be reckoned with in Cuban, you were still..."

Suddenly, like a bolt of lightning striking from a clear sky, a white streak shot out from the street corner and struck Gloucester's steel body directly. Accompanied by sparks and thick smoke, the mech flipped over in mid-air like an infantryman shot down by a sniper rifle, and crashed heavily onto the street.

"Oh my God!" Everyone was quite startled by this sudden scene and quickly ducked and backed away.

"Your Excellency Baron! Please respond if you hear me!"

Sunderland's pilots kept calling out over the radio, but the Gloucester remained silent except for the sounds of flames burning and electricity crackling.

"Sergeant! There are enemies over there on the street corner!" Before the words were even finished, a barrage of bullets came flying like a bucket of dirty water, pounding on the street and scratching at the walls of the houses. The soldiers who had just stood up were instantly thrown into a deep sleep from which they could never wake up.

"Team A! Take cover in the house behind Gloucester! Teams B and C! Assemble on either side of me!" Sunderland's pilot shouted the order.