Chapter 130: Summer 1942, [Stalingrad], the Critical Turning Point (6.1k combined)

At this moment.

Stalingrad, south of the Central Station.

The Empire’s offensive here had never ceased. The Central Station, which could barely be held at the beginning, now had its southern side occupied by the Empire.

Both sides were locked in a tug-of-war just south of the Central Station.

The squad Theodore was in rushed toward the Central Station without a moment’s rest. Dark clouds gathered in the sky, looking as if it were about to rain.

As the buildings of the Central Station drew closer, the sound of intense gunfire reached them.

Theodore felt a bit anxious and complained to his stream:

"In this game so far, I haven't even seen what the enemies look like."

"It’s ridiculously rare."

A flurry of question marks appeared in Theodore’s stream.

Only the veteran fans knew this was true.

After all, he was a novice. The first few times he hit the battlefield, his screen went black before he even saw a person, and then he was assigned to the Tractor Factory.

He had to call in his "old man" to finally get popular.

Every time after that, he died to bombing.

He really hadn't seen what the enemies looked like.

A player nearby heard Theodore’s complaint and chuckled:

"You’ll see them in a bit."

Theodore looked confused, and the people in the stream also wanted to see the fun, so they stayed silent.

A bewildered Theodore followed the squad as they charged toward the Central Station.

Just as they entered the station, they were ordered to head to the square south of the station.

*Rat-tat-tat-tat*—bullets swept in from somewhere unknown.

The entire front row of soldiers was mowed down. The surrounding Blue Star players and Soviet Federation NPCs, unfazed, immediately began to counterattack, laying down suppressive fire.

Theodore was lucky; he was in the middle of the squad.

He had already ducked behind cover.

Theodore panted heavily, trying to calm his pounding heart, and said to the stream:

"This is too scary."

The stream was full of amusement.

The netizens of the Antarctic Star Federation found such "noob" operations quite interesting.

Theodore caught his breath for a moment, then quietly poked his head out.

He saw the Soviet soldiers and Blue Star players ahead also hiding behind cover, only poking their heads out to trade fire with the Imperial soldiers, whose locations were unknown.

Although Theodore couldn't see the Imperial soldiers from his angle.

But...

*Bang!!!*

A Blue Star player’s head was blown off just ten meters away from him.

The bullet passed through the back of the head and struck the wall Theodore was leaning against, sparking a shower of debris, while the blood from the penetrated skull splattered onto Theodore’s face.

Theodore shrank back in terror, his heart pounding violently.

Theodore turned his head to look around.

Many bodies were already lying on the ground, and their objective was that building ahead, which had been bombed beyond recognition,

exposing its steel rebar.

It was said to be the South Station of the Central Station...

So many people dying to fight over a dilapidated ruin?

Theodore took a few deep breaths, constantly building his mental resolve, preparing to rush out and fight.

The friends in the Antarctic Star Federation stream watched, laughing while cheering him on.

However.

Just as Theodore hesitated for half a minute and finally prepared to rush out.

In the sky.

The screeching "death whistle" of a Stuka sounded.

*BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM—!!!*

Explosions rose continuously not far away. Theodore’s hair stood on end, but it was too late to dodge, as he was right in the flight path of the falling bombs.

The screen went black.

Antarctic Star Federation, Source Star Streaming Platform.

In Theodore’s stream, looking at the main interface, Theodore looked incredulous.

He had finally prepared himself to fight, and then—gone.

Theodore looked at the comments in the stream and could only say helplessly:

"Alright, I guess I have to restart."

"Hope I can get to the Tractor Factory this time."

Saying this, he clicked the start button.

The screen flashed.

Then...

"Quick, quick, quick! Keep up!"

Theodore looked bewildered:

"What the hell?!"

"How is it... did it bug out again?"

Looking at the Central Station in the distance, hadn't he just experienced this scene?

But upon hearing the fading "death whistle," Theodore realized it wasn't a bug... he really had started here again.

What the hell is this?!

He could only passively follow the squad forward, charging toward the Central Station.

Half a day later.

"What kind of broken game is this?!"

"It’s made me go to my death for four hours!"

"I’ve died over 40 times!"

Theodore grabbed his hair, his face showing signs of a breakdown, and then he opened the Polar Star official website:

"No, no, this game has a problem."

"I have to report this to customer service."

"Why not fix such a huge bug?"

"How can you let players die so many times?"

Theodore went to the official website to complain, and at this time, on the Polar Star official player forum, many players had also discovered something strange.

The main thing was that starting from August 1st.

It wouldn't randomly assign you to the Tractor Factory anymore; except for a few who were randomly assigned to the entire front line, most were assigned to the Central Station.

And they often wouldn't live for more than a few minutes before being killed in the process of engaging the Empire under the commander’s orders.

And this wasn't just the case for Federation faction players; it was the same for Empire faction players.

The main respawn point had become the Central Station.

Both sides began fighting over the Central Station, not even stopping at night.

It directly refreshed the Blue Star players' concept of combat difficulty; now, many people called the Central Station a hell-difficulty siege battle.

However... what the Blue Star players didn't know was,

This was only the initial Central Station battle. By the time the full version of the Central Station siege arrived in October, they would experience a plotline that even the Great Xia Federation’s Northern Army couldn't handle.

After finishing the complaint.

Theodore couldn't wait for an immediate reply from Polar Star, so he started another round.

He entered the game.

The destination was still the Central Station, but this time the squad didn't rush over to die.

Instead, the leaders were discussing something.

Theodore wandered in the squad nonchalantly, leaning closer. As he listened to their discussion and exchange, his eyes gradually widened, and the stream boiled over.

[These look like army soldiers, right?]

[That’s right, they’re using some tactical terminology; they should be soldiers from an armored division.]

[How do you know so much, upstairs?]

[A ten-year veteran, get a clue? If I’m not mistaken, this must be from one of our Antarctic Star Federation units, right?]

[Official units not streaming, playing secretly?]

[Who knows, aren't the other Federations not streaming either?]

[This is exciting, Theodore, get closer, see what they’re saying?!]

Then, gifts in the stream started "whooshing" by.

Theodore thanked them in the stream, but he didn't dare get too close for fear of being discovered, so he could only pretend to be behind them, not paying attention, while straining his ears to listen.

He was also curious why the major Federations weren't streaming, but the soldiers were playing on their own.

However, he didn't hear anything useful.

This squad of Antarctic Star Federation armored division soldiers was mainly researching how to capture the station.

After discussing tactics for a while.

They ordered the Soviet soldier NPCs and players under their command to set off and head to the Central Station.

Theodore silently streamed it.

At this moment, the soldiers from several squads of an Antarctic Star Federation armored brigade had no idea they were already being streamed to the internet.

Theodore followed behind the squad, watching the Antarctic Star Federation soldiers lead the attack on the southern part of the Central Station.

Army soldiers fighting were indeed fiercer than ordinary players.

Theodore, who had died countless times just moments ago, found that under the command of the army soldiers, they were actually temporarily suppressing the Imperial soldiers on the other side.

This instantly ignited the stream.

Gifts kept flying.

And those Antarctic Star Federation netizens were throwing links everywhere, showing off how powerful their own soldiers' combat effectiveness was.

It even hit the trending searches on other Federations' software.

At this time.

Great Xia Federation, Songor Icefield.

Inside the 7th Special Operations Brigade.

Shen Yan had just finished leading a team training for the single-player [Xiajin Campaign] when he saw Qu Guang sitting in the training ground, watching some stream, so he walked over:

"What are you watching?"

Qu Guang projected the stream from his phone:

"Over at the Antarctic Star Federation, some new recruits are leading an attack on the Central Station."

What was playing was exactly Theodore’s stream.

Shen Yan was a bit surprised:

"Just them?"

Liu Feng, Fang Hui, and others nearby also gathered around, took one look, and lost interest. Shen Yan shook his head:

"What’s there to watch?"

"I thought it was something else; it’s just the early-stage station."

The late-stage station was something even they hadn't managed to take down, so hearing that Antarctic Star Federation people were attacking the Central Station made them feel surprised.

But upon seeing it was just the beginning of the fight, with most of the station’s architecture still intact.

What difficulty was there in that?

Qu Guang smiled and said:

"The stream itself isn't much."

"It’s just that these Antarctic Star Federation netizens are stirring up trouble everywhere."

Everyone followed his gaze to the comments.

Sure enough.

At this moment, various boastful remarks were floating by in the comments, and they even declared the Antarctic Star Federation soldiers invincible just based on these few squads.

There were even troublemakers directly tagging the official accounts of other Federations.

Shen Yan, Liu Feng, and the others were left speechless:

"When the Federation starts streaming later, won't their faces get slapped swollen?"

They didn't know about other Federations.

But the Great Xia Federation side was practicing the late-stage [Central Station Battle], which was completely different from this early-stage instance.

Qu Guang smiled and said:

"Who knows."

"Anyway, we’ll wait for orders from above; we’ll stream when they tell us to."

"I suspect other Federations are practicing in secret too."

"Otherwise, why is no one streaming? The Antarctic Star Federation side just happened to be bumped into by a streamer, and once it was streamed, it spread across the whole internet."

"Look at them now, they’re already struggling."

"They’ve only occupied the station for five minutes; I estimate they’ll be driven out immediately."

As the words fell.

Sure enough, within two minutes, Imperial reinforcements arrived, bombarding the Antarctic Star Federation group.

In the streaming perspective, one could only hear a few curses.

Then the screen went black.

It seemed they were saying something about how the game was too ridiculous.

The stream started a new round again.

However, this time he wasn't randomly assigned with those Antarctic Star Federation soldiers.

The popularity of Theodore’s stream dropped quite a bit.

But at this time, the video regarding this siege battle had already spread, and its popularity remained high.

It was all pushed up by Antarctic Star Federation players.

With the spread of the video, the posts complaining about the difficulty on the game forum decreased, and instead, players who weren't convinced began to organize themselves.

They researched the terrain and situation around the [Central Station], turning the [Central Station] into a target for strategy.

Instead, no one cared about the difficulty anymore.

Including the Great Xia Federation and other Federation players, expert streamers all began to challenge it to see who could occupy the Central Station for the longest time.

At the same time, they were tagging their own official accounts, asking when they would join the fray.

With the fermentation of public opinion.

The Antarctic Star Federation was pressured by netizens and had no choice but to start streaming.

They selected a large group of elites to enter the game, which occupied the headlines of all major Federations for a time.

Other Federations had originally wanted to wait and see.

But they found the effect was surprisingly good; this kind of game competition had become comparable to sports events, and many citizens went out to eat and drink.

The streams they watched became the [Central Station] siege battle streams.

And Zhao Ming also noticed this situation.

Inside the Polar Star company.

Shen Qinghan was in the office, communicating with Zhao Ming:

"The craze for this [Central Station] siege battle has had a very good response; we must seize the opportunity."

Zhao Ming looked at the various comments on the internet and said:

"It’s already been arranged."

"[Huaxia Series] restaurants are all opening projections for streaming, and there are viewing packages, etc."

"How is it?"

Shen Qinghan nodded:

"No problem."

"But the focus is on the craze triggered this time."

"The Federation itself has the intention to move military exercises into the game; this not only saves time and effort but also allows for arbitrary environment settings."

"However, they were worried it wouldn't be accepted, so they were always considering it."

"But this time, the Antarctic Star Federation took the lead, and the netizens of all major Federations responded very well, with many tagging official accounts asking the troops to join the game quickly."

"The Federation military exercises taking place in our game is basically settled."

"We must seize this opportunity and make good use of this matter."

"Just treat it as a precursor for the Federation military exercises."

Zhao Ming nodded and said:

"That’s what I was thinking too."

"I’ll have to issue an announcement in a while to notify everyone."

"The mechanics in the game also need to be changed; we need to create one exclusive to Federation troops."

"But it’s so popular this time."

"It’s also thanks to those Antarctic Star Federation players, trash-talking everyone."

If it weren't for those Antarctic Star Federation netizens stirring up hatred, it might not have turned out like this.

With the release of the video of the Antarctic Star Federation capturing the Central Station, Antarctic Star Federation netizens went crazy, tagging other Federation official accounts everywhere.

The official accounts didn't join in, but the ordinary players couldn't stand it.

The original posts complaining about the difficulty gradually turned into various strategies, discussing and researching how to capture the Central Station to slap the faces of those Antarctic Star Federation people.

Originally, the major Federations were worried that moving military exercises into the game would be scolded as child's play.

But now...

Their own netizens were scrambling to watch and shouting for them to enter the game.

The worries about Federation military exercises vanished instantly.

And for Polar Star, as long as they seize the opportunity and handle this PK competition well, then by the time the Stalingrad battle in the game is about finished.

They can seamlessly transition to the Federation military exercises; it couldn't be smoother.

Zhao Ming looked at Shen Qinghan and asked:

"When are the Federation military exercises usually held?"

Shen Qinghan thought for a moment and said:

"Usually in October."

Zhao Ming leaned back in his boss chair and thought:

"October..."

Then he said:

"That’s about right."

"With nearly three months, we can slow down the time flow in the game a bit."

"Currently, it’s August in the game, and the focus is on the [Central Station] southern siege."

"In September, the focus is on the [Mamayev Kurgan] siege; from here on, we will separate ordinary players and Federation troops."

Zhao Ming actually knew why the major Federation troops weren't streaming.

It was because of the game's allocation problem; at the beginning, they didn't intend to stream, so they played their own games, and due to the number of players.

The number of people per match was limited, and because of the timing, they weren't assigned to the same match.

But after that, deaths and restarts would all be in that one game.

So no matter how many times Mo Xiaomo, Fang Ming, Theodore, and others started, they would meet in the same match.

But for Federation troops...

That company was in the 975th [Stalingrad Battle], this company was in the 1073rd [Stalingrad Battle]; they couldn't even assemble a complete unit.

Where would they stream?

He had also seen the "elites" sent by the Antarctic Star Federation after being pressured by public opinion; their strength was indeed very strong, but they had no previous game records.

He guessed they were some secret special forces, forced to come out and fill in because they had no other choice.

But Zhao Ming was too lazy to change it now... after all, they weren't Great Xia Federation troops.

The key was that if you asked them for a list of army soldiers to adjust them, they would have to be willing to count it.

Why would a game company want a list of Federation troops?

Entering the Federation troops' exclusive battlefield yourself and a game company asking them for a list of soldiers were two different things.

It was better to wait until next month’s [Mamayev Kurgan] siege to directly distinguish between the two battlefields for players and army soldiers.

Zhao Ming continued:

"October is the full version of the [Central Station] siege."

"November is the [Pavlov’s House] defense battle."

"A total of 4 months, 4 areas with different focuses, doing it as half a month in reality, one month in the game."

"4 months can allow players to watch the Federations compete against each other for two months in reality."

"Once these are about done."

"Leave one month for the Federation military exercises as a buffer to relieve player fatigue, and by the time the Federation military exercises start."

"Players will have a greatly increased interest because they haven't watched for a month."

"And the [Stalingrad Battle] is also a key node of World War II on 'Earth'."

"We must find a way to deepen the players' impression."

"When players look back on the entire 'WWII' history in the future, they will find that everything that happened in Stalingrad in the summer of 1942."

"Concerned the entire world's war situation."

"Everything they did was very meaningful."

"Although it’s just a game, when chatting with other players in the future, they can also say, 'How was I at the [Central Station] back then?'"

"So that even if it’s a game, they can have the ability to brag."

Shen Qinghan became interested and said:

"Then do we need to give it a title?"

"For example?"

"Something like 'Turning Point'?"

Zhao Ming nodded:

"Of course, but that has to wait until 'WWII' is over."

"Revealing it now would undoubtedly be telling the players that the Empire has lost."

"After the Stalingrad battle, there are many other classic battles."

"[Battle of Kharkov], [Battle of Kursk]."

"[Normandy Landings]"

"[Operation Market Garden], [Battle of the Bulge], etc..."

"These battles have Empire victories and Federation victories; only by constantly reversing and having mutual wins and losses can players be curious; knowing the ending would be boring."

Up to the Stalingrad battle here.

The Soviet Federation has been getting beaten, only Moscow was defended; if we say Stalingrad is the turning point now, wouldn't it be obvious that the Empire will lose in the future?"

Who would play a game where they know the ending?

Only by having the Empire and the Federation constantly win repeatedly can we attract players.

Shen Qinghan had no objections; anyway, Zhao Ming could handle the game matters.

The two continued to chat about the development for the second half of the year; Shen Qinghan planned to connect with the Federation to see if the military exercises could be put on the agenda, while Zhao Ming began editing the announcement.

Soon.

An update announcement was posted on the Polar Star official website.

Great Xia Federation.

Sky Shark streaming platform, Mo Xiaomo’s stream.

The bombing in the game was still continuing.

Mo Xiaomo, who was used to being bombed and well-trained, crawled under some steel equipment; such hard equipment shouldn't be... destroyed by bombing, right?

At this time, Mo Xiaomo also knew that restarting wouldn't put her back in the Tractor Factory, so she didn't dare to be reckless.

After all, people here were one less for every one that died.

If you died, you had to go outside to be cannon fodder; compared to being cannon fodder, being a worker was better.

Mo Xiaomo opened the "Real-time Map" to see the situation, but suddenly discovered that the announcement on the Polar Star official website had been updated.

"Huh?"

"Another update?"

Mo Xiaomo clicked to look, her eyes gradually widening:

2

"Due to the current confusion between ordinary players and army players in the game... an update will be carried out on the last day of August in the game timeline."

"The focus of the September battlefield will be moved to [Mamayev Kurgan]."

"Players can enter the instance normally, while army players can enter the exclusive battlefield instance through certified invitations."

"Note: The battlefield timeline is consistent."

"And the subsequent October battlefield focus [Central Station], and November’s [Pavlov’s House] will be the same." Mo Xiaomo understood:

"So the reason I don't restart to the Tractor Factory is because the focus this month isn't here? Is it the Central Station? But October is still the Central Station; I don't get it."

"But Polar Star’s actions are so fast."

"The Antarctic Star Federation just streamed, and they’ve already arranged the separation."

"In that case."

"Will we be able to see our Great Xia Federation soldiers streaming soon?"

"The focus for September is [Mamayev Kurgan]; let me see where that is?"

Mo Xiaomo was on the official website, directly opening the "Real-time Map" and searching three or four times without finding it.

It wasn't until a friend in the stream reminded her where it was that Mo Xiaomo finally found it. Looking at this small hill that couldn't be seen unless zoomed in to the maximum, Mo Xiaomo doubted life:

"This small hill, it’s not even two square kilometers, right?"

"Is this a key battlefield?"