Chapter 127: 【Battle of Stalingrad】 Begins (6.7k Combined Chapter)

Watching the clamor of the audience below.

Zhao Ming spoke up to offer a reminder:

"But I'll say this upfront."

"The difficulty of this national war instance, the 【Battle of Stalingrad】, is very high, very high, very high. So, players who want to challenge for the 【Stalingrad Medal】 must be well-prepared."

"As for just how high the difficulty is... it's probably about as high as a few floors of a building."

"Because of the difficulty, for this national war instance, the 【Battle of Stalingrad】, players can form their own teams of top experts, or they can choose to have NPCs fill in as squad members to play the game."

"If players can pull off brilliant maneuvers in such a high-difficulty instance, then surely there will be no shortage of players giving likes, so the rewards obtained will also be very rich."

"The main core of this 【Instance】 is the cruelty of war. You all think previous battles were cruel,"

"then after you experience the 【Battle of Stalingrad】, you will know what true cruelty is."

"Based on the experience of cruelty, triggering... is this time... our..."

Offstage.

Fang Ming, Mo Xiaomo, Yu Feng, and a host of other top streamers from Tian Sha were all holding their equipment, livestreaming the press conference from Zhao Ming above.

Inside Fang Ming's livestream room.

Sitting below, Fang Ming looked at Zhao Ming's warning on stage and said to the livestream room with some skepticism:

"This Old Thief Zhao... Boss, is he for real?"

"Difficulty as high as a few floors? What kind of difficulty is that?"

"It can't be harder than the 【Battle of Moscow】, right?"

Fang Ming thought back to when he was doing the challenge mission for the Battle of Moscow, fighting against Imperial soldiers in the ice and snow, and breaking out.

He was hunted for a full fifteen days.

That level of difficulty could already be considered top-tier, and he had completed it.

The 【Battle of Stalingrad】 shouldn't be harder than that, and looking at the situation, it's still summer in the game. From the perspective of survival and combat,

summer is a bit more comfortable than winter.

At least you don't have to jump into a river to escape while wearing cotton-padded clothes, only to be chased like a dog...

The friends in the livestream room also flooded the screen with comments.

【That's right, we're all veterans, what scenes haven't we seen? Let me see how strong the difficulty is.】

【Intensity? I've even experienced the way of dying by catching a shell with my face, what haven't I seen?】

【What if Old Thief Zhao is deliberately provoking us like this? Don't let him actually drop something big later?】

【No way, is this guy really not planning to act like a human?】

【When has this guy ever acted like a human... Speaking of which, streamer, are the fruits ready? Throw a couple when others throw theirs, and I'll gift you a Starship.】

Seeing the Starship, a smile appeared on Fang Ming's face:

"Easy, easy."

As he spoke, he reached out and took two oranges from the fruit platter placed in front of him.

Yu Feng next to him also took two, and the two of them looked at each other and smiled in unison.

Mo Xiaomo next to them shook her head, then also reached out and took two...

But immediately after, Mo Xiaomo said righteously to the livestream room:

"I'm doing this to vent for you all."

"It might even cost the streamer her future!"

"Send some free little stars~"

"The press conference is about to end, it'll be crowded and messy in a moment, I'll make my move quietly, hehe~"

On stage.

With the announcements of the 【Battle of Midway】 and the 【Battle of Stalingrad】 finished, the press conference for Polar Star also came to an end.

Next was the fan photo session. First, a group of streamers and players were asked to stand on stage for a photo, but what was strange was that these streamers and players

were all holding various fruits in their hands.

Zhao Ming had retreated far to the back, not giving the players any chance to make a move.

At this moment.

Inside Duan Yu's livestream room.

Watching the streamers and players posing for photos on stage, Duan Yu and the friends in the livestream room all had expressions of watching a show. "It's starting, it's starting."

"At this distance, should be able to hit him, right?"

With a 'Click!' in the livestream.

A flash of light went by, and the photo was taken.

The streamers and players on stage turned around in unison, looking at Zhao Ming dozens of meters away, who looked innocent and spread his hands.

Someone shouted, "Smash this guy who digs pits to death!"

The sky full of fruit turned into a fruit waterfall, flying toward where Zhao Ming was. Zhao Ming's expression remained calm and unhurried, and he chuckled and shook his head.

Then...

Various fruits passed through Zhao Ming's body.

In an instant.

The streamers and players on stage, as well as those watching the livestream, were all stunned.

What the hell?

The next second.

Zhao Ming waved his hand with a smile, then his figure became illusory and disappeared. Only then did everyone realize,

this damn thing is a virtual projection?!

When did this guy switch it?

No!

MD! This guy couldn't have been hosting with a virtual projection from the very beginning, right?!

Damn!!!

Inside Duan Yu's livestream room.

The dumbfounded Duan Yu and his friends watched as, after Zhao Ming disappeared, a dozen more projections of Zhao Ming appeared all over the stage, only they were in fixed poses.

Only then did they react. After a long while, Duan Yu finally said:

"Awesome."

Hosting a press conference with a virtual projection, this guy seems to have some self-awareness about his own actions. Then, looking at those dozen or so Zhao Mings in fixed poses, Duan Yu's expression was strange:

"It really is a 'photo' session."

"There are all kinds of photo poses, players just need to crowd over."

"Too 6."

Just as he was speaking.

A prompt for a non-downtime update popped up in the game interface.

"Huh?"

"It's starting to update already?"

Duan Yu immediately clicked the update button.

Meanwhile, the streamers and players at the press conference.

After being stunned and finding they could do nothing to Zhao Ming, the spearhead quickly turned to the dozen or so Zhao Ming projections in fixed photo poses.

Soon, all kinds of spoof photos appeared online.

The trending searches on the Federation Headline also exploded.

#Top-tier consciousness, virtual projection hosting press conference#

#Shameless Old Thief Zhao! #

#Never seen such a shameless person...! #

To this, Zhao Ming could only say, you have to let the players vent a little, right?

With the end of the press conference.

The Polar Star app was also launched on major application platforms, and the Polar Star platform, which integrates games, forums, and shopping, was also promoted.

The 'Earth' IP series products were listed on the Polar Star Mall, and 'China Series' restaurants opened across the Daxia Federation.

A few days later.

With the update of the 【Battle of Midway】, players had already been fighting for a few days.

Many players chose to skip the plot and go directly to this time node of the 【Battle of Midway】 in June, then participate in the 【Battle of Midway】.

Only a small number of streamers like Duan Yu and Huang Hao still maintained the normal progress, and the rest were some new players starting from scratch, not in a hurry to participate in the 【Battle of Midway】.

And this instance, the 【Battle of Midway】.

Because it only lasted three days, players basically finished it on the first day, and the constant start was to experience the novel naval and air battles.

The rest was mostly discussing the current war situation in the game.

The Axis forces, which had a very strong offensive momentum in the first half of the year, had now encountered their first setback.

The 【Battle of Midway】 broke the myth of the invincibility of the Japanese Navy and also directly thwarted Japan's offensive momentum.

Inside Fang Ming's livestream room.

Fang Ming, who had just finished a 【Battle of Midway】, stretched and let out a long sigh of relief:

"Although this naval battle is fun."

"But it's mainly for the novelty, still a bit unaccustomed."

D

As he spoke, Fang Ming checked the chat group. It wasn't the agreed-upon time yet, but nearly half of the people were ready.

"Let's play 【Multiplayer Co-op Mode】 next."

"I've formed a team with Yu Feng and the others, all top experts in FPS games. Of course, in other games..."

"... there's no such thing as an expert in this game."

"You might die at any moment."

"After that, we'll start teaming up every day to train our coordination."

"Mainly because there's only half a month left until the 【Battle of Stalingrad】 goes live."

"When the time comes, we'll challenge for the 【Stalingrad Medal】 and see if it's as difficult as Old Thief Zhao said."

As for the title of Old Thief Zhao, ever since they were dazzled by Zhao Ming's operation at the press conference, all the major streamers had gotten used to calling him that. He's too cunning...

Who would have thought that this guy had been using a virtual projection to host for several hours.

Subsequently.

Fang Ming opened the 'Real-time Map' on the Polar Star official website, and then opened the player forum on the Polar Star platform, the 【War Situation Analysis】 section.

There were quite a few Blue Star players discussing the current war situation on 'Earth'.

Currently, the hottest topic was still the 【Battle of Midway】.

The angles of the players' discussions were also inconsistent. Some thought that even if it was a temporary failure, the strength of the Axis powers was still visible to the naked eye, while others thought that the Allies had already begun to counterattack, and soon the Axis powers would not be able to hold on.

Fang Ming flipped through the exchanges on the forum, and really... looking at every post, it felt reasonable.

But soon he also discovered some novel viewpoints. Fang Ming said to the friends in the livestream room:

"This viewpoint makes some sense. This post analyzes that,"

"Japan is a small country after all, with limited industrial potential. The American Freedom Federation, through its powerful industrial capability, repaired the aircraft carrier that was heavily damaged in the 【Battle of the Coral Sea】,"

"in just three days, and it was able to participate in the current 【Battle of Midway】, which is a testament to that."

"Moreover, in the 【Battle of Midway】, under the bomb attack of the Japanese army, with the deck blown through,"

"fighting while repairing, this is also something Japan cannot compare with."

"Unless Japan can wipe out the American Freedom Federation in one fell swoop, otherwise, even if the 【Battle of Midway】 doesn't fail, it will sooner or later be consumed to death."

"This is unsolvable."

"And the Empire is facing the same predicament. There are too many soldiers in the Soviet Federation."

"Japan's offensive in the Pacific led to the constant withdrawal of troops from the Soviet Far East, who were defending against Japan, to the front of Moscow. Even though it's already summer, the Empire still hasn't recovered."

"The Empire's advance is very difficult."

"If Japan hadn't failed in the 【Battle of Midway】, it could have occupied Hawaii and directly threatened the territory of the American Freedom Federation."

"It could have forced the American Freedom Federation while freeing up its hands to attack from the Eastern Front and join the Empire in encircling and suppressing the Soviet Federation."

"But now it has failed and is trapped in the Southeast Asia region by the American Freedom Federation."

"The Empire is being consumed by the Soviets, Japan is being consumed by the American Freedom Federation and the unopened 【Asian Battlefield】, plus the British Federation is causing trouble everywhere, the Axis powers are bound to fail."

Fang Ming read this post and nodded unconsciously:

"Feels very reasonable."

As he spoke, he opened the 'Real-time Map', and it was just as the post said.

But because of the failure of the 【Battle of Midway】, it is now trapped in the Southeast Asia region, its naval combat capability is half-wasted, and it has lost four aircraft carriers.

Added to the one aircraft carrier lost in the 【Battle of the Coral Sea】, that's a total of five aircraft carriers, which is an absolutely fatal blow to an island nation that already has limited resources.

However, Fang Ming couldn't be sure about the next war situation, he was just chatting with the livestream room.

After all, there is about to be a new battle, the 【Battle of Stalingrad】, which is called the 'WWII Meat Grinder' in the medal introduction.

A battle in which the Empire and the Soviet Federation suffered a total of more than 2.7 million casualties.

It's not yet known who will win or lose, we can only know after participating in it.

Fang Ming looked for a while, checked the time, it was almost noon, and the agreed time was one o'clock, so he directly opened the Polar Star app:

"Brothers."

"Let's eat first, I recently discovered a shop."

"【Huaxia Delicacies】, this is a shop of the Polar Star company, there are many dishes inside."

"The taste is also very good."

A series of question marks appeared in the livestream room.

【???? Calling him Old Thief Zhao one second, and giving him a GG the next?】

【Little Ming, be honest, how much money did you take to pretend to say it so casually?】

【Exactly, we're all buddies, just be honest, we won't tell anyone.】

Fang Ming looked at the comments, unable to laugh or cry, and said:

"It's really not."

Then he showed the interface of the Polar Star app to the friends in the livestream room:

"This 'China Series' restaurant has nearly ten thousand types of dishes, currently only open in the major main cities of the Daxia Federation, and it is said that they are all prepared with the highest-grade synthetic ingredients."

"It is said to perfectly replicate the delicacies of various dynasties in the 'Huaxia History Series' game."

"However, I haven't played the 'Huaxia History Series' either, mainly because it hasn't been launched yet, but the food these past few days has felt pretty good."

"Let me see what to order today."

As he spoke, Fang Ming started flipping through the menu, his fingers constantly tapping on the Polar Star app:

"Let's have a 'Taiji Bear Paw', 'Flying Dragon White Mushroom Soup', 'Mandarin Duck Shark Fin'... Not bad, although they are all high-grade synthetic ingredients, they are not expensive."

"Done, wait for it to be delivered, and after eating, we'll start training."

"Let's practice coordination first, I want to see what kind of difficulty this 【Battle of Stalingrad】 is."

Half a month later.

As the novelty of the 【Battle of Midway】 passed, players also began to look forward to the upcoming 【Battle of Stalingrad】.

There were a few minutes left until the update.

Fang Ming's livestream room had already formed a team, and as soon as the update button popped up, they could click update and then immediately enter the game.

And at this time, in the game section of Tian Sha livestream, other livestream rooms,

many livestream rooms were titled 【Challenging the Hall of Fame, 【Stalingrad】 Medal】, and quite a few streamers were those who had obtained the 【Moscow Defense Medal】 last time.

After all, that is a lifetime GG, which is attractive enough.

However, there were also many streamers like Mo Xiaomo, some formed teams, some didn't.

Inside Mo Xiaomo's livestream room.

While waiting for the game update, Mo Xiaomo clicked on the Polar Star official website.

To see if there were any updates.

Checking the 【Huaxia History Series】 data section on the Polar Star official website during this time had become a habit for players.

Because new data would be uploaded every few days, making many players addicted to it.

Mo Xiaomo flipped through the 【Huaxia History Series】 data on the Polar Star official website. At this time, the data section of the 【Huaxia History Series】 had already been divided into multiple dynasties.

【Spring and Autumn Warring States】【Seven Kingdoms Hegemony】【Unification of the World】【Chu-Han Contention】... 【Republic】

From the 【Spring and Autumn Warring States】 all the way to the modern 【Republic】, according to different dynasties, non-fixed data was updated in each section, including emperors, famous ministers, and those passed down through the ages...

There was inexplicably a feeling of opening a blind box. Mo Xiaomo flipped through each section one by one:

"Huh? The data for the 【Great Tang Empire】 was updated today?"

"Let me see..."

What caught Mo Xiaomo's eyes was a picture, a high-altitude bird's-eye view, below which were countless soldiers holding long knives and killing each other, looking like a meat grinder.

Below the picture was written 【Battle of Xiangji Temple】, and further down was a brief introduction.

【Battle of Xiangji Temple】

【This is the decisive turning point in the An Lushan Rebellion, known as one of the most tragic battles in the history of ancient Chinese cold weapon warfare. Its record of beheadings and casualty efficiency is unprecedented, and it is hailed as the "Cold Weapon Meat Grinder".】

【The Tang army and the An Lushan rebel army deployed a total of 250,000 troops on the narrow battlefield north of Xiangji Temple, all of whom were the most elite frontier troops in Asia at that time.】

【The tragedy of the battle is unparalleled in the history of ancient world warfare.】

【The battle lasted only 8 hours, with 130,000 casualties on both sides, an average of 16,000 soldiers killed per hour, and the survival rate of the soldiers was less than 50%.】

【Note: Survive for 8 hours, behead 20, can unlock hidden general: Li Siye (can substitute body)】

【Conditions for completion: 0/8 (hours) survival, 0/20 (beheadings)】

【Hidden General: Li Siye】

【Origin: Gaoling, Jingzhao, from the Anxi Army, famous in the Western Regions for his bravery in battle.】

【Early battle record: During the Tianbao era, he followed Gao Xianzhi to conquer Little Bolu and the Stone Kingdom, repeatedly breaking the enemy with the Mo Dao vanguard, and was known in the Anxi Army as "Those who face Siye's blade, both man and horse are shattered".】

【Peak battle record: In the Battle of Xiangji Temple, he led the army to shake the rebel elite cavalry (Yeluhe) with the Mo Dao formation,】

【winning time for the Tang army to reorganize its formation, and cooperated with the cavalry to attack the flank, laying the foundation for victory.】

【Later influence: His Mo Dao tactics became the model for Tang infantry to counter cavalry, but after the An Lushan Rebellion, the Mo Dao technique was lost, and his tactics gradually became a lost art.】

【Note: Those who face Siye's blade, both man and horse are shattered! Unlocking the template allows players to be selected for the "Famous Generals of the Great Tang" series.】

"Hiss—" "Although I don't understand it, it feels very powerful?!"

"This famous general."

The friends in the livestream room were all stunned.

【No? Is this for real? Shaking the rebel elite cavalry with a Mo Dao formation, is this written wrong??】

【?】

【Infantry against cavalry, am I crazy or is the Huaxia in this crazy?】

【Elite, and elite cavalry at that, is this really not something made up by the photon supercomputer?】

【Fake, absolutely fake, infantry fighting cavalry, are you kidding me?】

Mo Xiaomo was also a bit confused, not knowing why the friends' reactions were so big, but looking at the reactions, she still took a look and said:

"This is... official history, right?"

"I see it marked below, all the above content is official history of the Huaxia History Series."

"Maybe Polar Star also thinks it's outrageous?"

"So they gave such a note?"

"But is it very difficult for infantry to fight cavalry?"

"Why do you have this reaction?"

After a silence in the livestream room, a comment slowly drifted by:

【Infantry against cavalry... how should I put it?】

【You also played 《World War II: Rise of the Empire》, you should know about horses charging tanks, right?】

【Cavalry is that tank.】

Mo Xiaomo widened her eyes:

"So I'm the one riding the horse?"

"Hiss—" "Then the gap is a bit big."

This was simple and easy to understand, Mo Xiaomo understood.

At this time, a comment drifted by leisurely:

【No... you are the horse that gets directly hit and killed by the tank.】

Mo Xiaomo widened her eyes:

"Ah?!"

"You...?! Hey! The game updated."

Mo Xiaomo's attention returned to the game.

She clicked the update button, and a few seconds later the game installation update was finished. Looking at the 【Battle of Stalingrad】 that appeared, Mo Xiaomo clicked start directly.

Anyway, she didn't need to challenge for the 【Stalingrad Medal】, so she started alone.

The screen flashed.

Like other national war instances, a CG screen slowly emerged.

Dark gray tones began to appear on the screen.

What came into view was a city swallowed by artillery fire, with ruined buildings blackened by smoke everywhere. A few buildings still standing could be recognized as Stalingrad.

The perspective pulled out, overlooking the entire city.

Emptiness, silence, death...

A few large characters slowly emerged: 【This is the most tragic battle in the history of World War II.】

【Here, the average survival time of each soldier is only 24 hours.】

The screen switched, showing the Imperial soldiers in the initial CG standing by, then the Soviet soldiers covered in flames rushing out, charging toward the Imperial soldiers regardless of their own lives.

Characters slowly emerged: 【From the moment you step onto the banks of the Volga River, 'your' life is only about one day left, and this day will be your 'entire' life from now on.】

The screen switched to a building where soldiers rushed out, but were instantly shot into sieves.

Characters slowly emerged: 【Here, every house, every water tower, and even every broken wall you want to use as cover, could be 'your' burial place.】

The screen pulled up to the high altitude. Under the bloody sunset of the evening, the ruined city filled with thick black smoke seemed like hell appearing in reality, and then a few large characters emerged.

【Battle of Stalingrad】

The screen ended, and the player entered the game.

After Mo Xiaomo entered the game, what came into view was a broken house, with glass shards all over the floor. Through the scenery outside the window, it could be seen that this was at least four or five floors up.

Only there was no sound in the room, it was quiet and terrifying.

Mo Xiaomo looked down at the rifle in her hand, her heart relaxed, and the rifle in her hand was slowly loaded.

"Click"!

As soon as it was loaded, there was a sound downstairs, but listening carefully, there was no movement. Mo Xiaomo swallowed her saliva, looked at the stairwell, quietly hid behind the sofa, peeking at the stairwell, and said to the livestream room:

"This CG is so oppressive."

"And this game won't have ghosts, right?"

"You all heard the sound just now, right?!"

"It's gone now?!"

"Too scary!!!"

On the other side.

Fang Ming, Yu Feng, and others, the team they formed also entered the game.

A total of fifty people, all online at this time, but not online in the game, but each person's small livestream screen was in other livestream rooms.

So looking at the bottom right corner, you could see fifty small split screens including yourself.

The screen flashed, and these fifty people entered the game.

The first moment they entered the game.

Fang Ming analyzed the current location.

The scenery outside was the first floor, the location was the kitchen, there were footsteps in the living room, don't know if it's friend or foe, the team formed was not together, but should be close.

Because a quick scan of the fifty small split screens in the livestream room showed that the scenery outside was the same, but the floors were different.

Fang Ming looked down at the weapon in his hand, a submachine gun.

Not loaded, don't know if the footsteps outside are friend or foe, loading would expose himself, so Fang Ming didn't load immediately, but quietly moved toward the living room.

One step, two steps, all the way to the kitchen door.

Stuck his head out to look.

In an instant, a head wearing a steel helmet also stuck out from the side to look over.

Fang Ming looked at the steel helmet on the opposite side, the opposite soldier looked at the red star on Fang Ming's hat... Fang Ming quickly raised his gun, the opposite side was startled and dodged subconsciously.

But only heard the sound of "Click Click" loading,

Gun not loaded?

When this Imperial soldier suddenly reacted and stopped his body, it was already too late.

Rat-tat-tat!!!

The bullets from the submachine gun in Fang Ming's hand instantly swept across the Imperial soldier's body, killing him on the spot.

And just as the sound of gunfire rang out.

Chaotic gunfire also rang out all over the building, the fifty small split screens in the bottom right corner of the livestream room instantly went black by one-fifth, and Fang Ming's whole body felt cold.

Damn it?!

How many Imperial soldiers are in this building?!

Just as this thought flashed through his mind.

Rumble!

A grenade rolled out from behind the stairs and landed at Fang Ming's feet.

"Damn?!!!"

Fang Ming's pupils shrank, he took a deep breath, turned his body and rushed into the kitchen.

Boom!!! ===== CHAPTER 128 =====