Chapter 133: Summer 1942, [Stalingrad], the Critical Turning Point (6.1k combined)

At this moment.

Stalingrad, south of the Central Railway 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 were gathering 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, complaining to his stream: This book first appeared on Tian Tian Kan Xiao Shuo -> 𝒕𝒕𝒌𝒔. 𝒕𝒘, providing you with an error-free and non-disordered reading experience.

"In this game until now, I haven't even seen what the enemy looks like."

"It's ridiculously rare."

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

Only the veteran fans knew it was indeed the case.

After all, he was a total novice; the first few times he was on the battlefield, he'd blacked out before even seeing a person, and only then was he assigned to the Tractor Factory.

He had called his dad over, and only then did he become popular.

Every time after that, he died from bombing.

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

A player nearby, hearing Theodore's complaint, chuckled:

"You'll see them in a moment."

Theodore was full of question marks, and the people in the stream also wanted to watch the fun, so they didn't speak.

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, providing covering fire.

Theodore was lucky enough to be in the middle of the squad.

He had now hidden behind cover.

Theodore panted, calming his pounding heart, and said to the stream:

"It's too terrifying."

At this time, the stream was also full of mirth.

Netizens from the Antarctic Federation found such a noob's operation quite interesting.

Theodore calmed down for a while, then quietly poked his head out.

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

Although Theodore's perspective couldn't see the Imperial soldiers.

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 hit the wall Theodore was leaning against, sparking a shower of sparks, and the blood that had penetrated the skull splattered onto Theodore's face.

Theodore was so scared he immediately shrank back, his nervous heart beating violently.

Theodore turned his head to look around.

Many corpses were already lying on the ground, and their objective was the building ahead, which had been bombed so badly it was unrecognizable,

revealing its steel reinforcement.

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

So many people died just to fight over a dilapidated ruin?

Theodore took a few deep breaths, constantly building himself up mentally, preparing to rush out and fight.

The friends from the Antarctic Federation in the stream watched and, while amused, cheered him on.

However.

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

In the sky.

The screech of the Stuka's "Death Whistle" rang out.

*Boom, boom, boom, boom*—!!!

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

The screen went dark.

Antarctic Federation, Yuan Star streaming platform.

In Theodore's stream, looking at the main interface, Theodore had an incredulous expression.

He had been all prepared to fight, and then he was gone.

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

"Alright, I can only restart."

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

Saying this, he clicked the start button.

The screen flashed.

Then...

"Quick, quick, quick! Follow up!"

Theodore was bewildered:

"What the hell?!"

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

Looking at the Central Station in the distance, had 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?!

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, a look of collapse faintly appearing on his face, then he opened the Polar Star official website:

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

"I must report it to customer service."

"Can't they fix such a big loophole?"

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

Theodore went to the official website to complain, and at this time, in the player forum of the Polar Star official website, many players also discovered something wrong.

The main thing was that starting from August 1st.

It would no longer randomize to the Tractor Factory; except for a portion that would randomize to the entire front line, most of the time, most would randomize to the Central Station.

And they often wouldn't live for more than a few minutes before being killed in the process of exchanging fire with the Empire under the officer's attack order.

And it wasn't just the Federation faction players; the Empire faction players were the same.

The main respawn point had become the Central Station.

Both sides began to fight 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 level offensive and defensive battle.

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

this was only the initial battle for the Central Station; by the time the full version of the Central Station battle arrived in October, they would be able to experience a plot that even the Great Xia Federation's Northern Land 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 quickly go there to die.

Instead, the leaders were discussing something.

Theodore wandered in the squad nonchalantly, leaning in. As he listened to the few discussing and exchanging, his eyes gradually widened, and the stream boiled over.

【Are these soldiers from the army?】

【That's right, some of the terms are tactical terms; they should be soldiers from an armored division.】

【How does the guy above know so much?】

【Ever heard of a veteran who retired ten years ago? If nothing goes wrong, this should be from one of our Antarctic Federation units, right?】

【The official ones aren't streaming, playing secretly?】

【Who knows, didn't the other Federations not start streaming either?】

【A bit exciting, Theodore, get closer, see what they're saying?!】

Then the gifts in the stream flew "whoosh."

Theodore thanked them in the stream, but didn't dare to get too close for fear of being discovered, so he could only pretend to be indifferent in the back, listening intently.

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

However, he didn't hear anything useful.

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

After discussing the tactics.

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

Theodore silently streamed.

At this time, several squads of soldiers from a certain armored brigade of the Antarctic Federation had no idea they were already being streamed online.

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

The army soldiers were indeed fiercer than ordinary players.

Theodore, who had died countless times, found that under the command of the army soldiers, they were actually able to temporarily suppress the Imperial soldiers on the opposite side.

This instantly ignited the stream.

Gifts flew non-stop.

And those Antarctic Federation netizens were throwing links everywhere, showing off how powerful their own soldiers were.

The hot search even hit the software of other Federations.

At this time.

Great Xia Federation, Songor Icefield.

Inside the Seventh Special Operations Brigade.

Shen Yan had just finished leading the team in training for the single-player 【Xia Jin Campaign】 and saw Staff Qu Guang sitting in the training ground, watching some stream, so he walked over:

"What are you watching?"

Staff Qu Guang used a projection to play the stream from his phone:

"Over at the Antarctic Federation, some new recruits are leading a team to attack the Central Station."

What was playing was exactly Theodore's stream.

Shen Yan was a bit surprised:

"Just them?"

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

"What's there to watch?"

"I thought it was something else; it's just the initial station."

The later station was something even they hadn't taken down, so hearing that people from the Antarctic Federation were attacking the Central Station made them feel surprised.

As a result, they saw it was just the beginning of the fight, and most of the station's buildings were still intact.

What difficulty was there in this?

Staff Qu Guang smiled and said:

"The stream itself is nothing."

"It's just that these Antarctic Federation netizens are provoking fights everywhere."

Everyone followed to look at the comments.

Sure enough.

At this time, all kinds of bragging comments were floating by on the screen, and they even declared the Antarctic Federation soldiers invincible based on just these few squads.

There were even troublemakers 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?"

He didn't know about other Federations.

But the Great Xia Federation was practicing the real late-stage 【Central Station Battle】; this initial stage was not the same dungeon at all.

Staff Qu Guang smiled and said:

"Who knows."

"Anyway, wait for the news from above; start streaming when told to."

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

"Otherwise, why hasn't anyone started streaming? The Antarctic Federation just happened to be bumped into by a streamer, and as a result, it spread across the whole network."

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

"They've only occupied the station for five minutes; I reckon it will be taken back immediately."

As the words fell.

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

In the stream's perspective, only a few cursing words were heard.

Then the screen went dark.

It seemed they were saying something like this game was too ridiculous.

The stream started again.

But this time, they didn't randomize together with those Antarctic Federation army soldiers.

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

However, the videos about this battle had already spread, and the popularity remained high.

It was all pushed up by the Antarctic Federation players.

With the spread of the videos, the posts complaining about the difficulty in the game forum decreased; instead, players who were unconvinced began to organize.

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.

Players and expert streamers from other Federations, including the Great Xia Alliance, all began to challenge it, seeing 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 enter the field.

With the fermentation of public opinion.

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

They selected a large batch of elites to enter the game, once again occupying the headlines of major Federations.

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 stream they watched became the 【Central Station】 battle stream.

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】 battle has a very good response; we must seize the opportunity."

Zhao Ming looked at the various comments online and said:

"It has already been arranged."

"【Huaxia Series】 restaurants are all opening projections for streaming, as well as 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 Federation took the lead, and the response from netizens of major Federations was very good; many tagged official accounts asking the army to enter the game quickly."

"The matter of Federation military exercises being conducted in our game is basically stable."

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

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

Zhao Ming nodded and said:

"That's what I thought too."

"I'll have to issue an announcement in a moment to notify everyone."

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

"But it's so popular this time."

"It's also thanks to these Antarctic Federation players, trash-talking the whole field."

If it weren't for these Antarctic Federation netizens provoking hatred, it might not have turned out like this.

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

The official accounts didn't enter the field, but the ordinary players couldn't stand it.

The posts that originally complained about the difficulty gradually turned into various strategies, discussing and researching how to conquer the Central Station, fiercely slapping the faces of those Antarctic Federation people.

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

As a result, now...

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

The worries about Federation military exercises disappeared instantly.

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

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

Zhao Ming looked at Shen Qinghan and asked:

"When are 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 of time, we can slow down the time flow in the game."

"Currently, it's August in the game, and the focus is on the battle for the south of the 【Central Station】."

"In September, the focus is on the 【Mamayev Kurgan】 battle; starting from here, we will separate ordinary players from Federation troops."

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

It was because of the game's own distribution 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 in each match was limited, and because of the timing, they weren't assigned to the same match.

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

So, no matter how many times Mo Xiaomo, Fang Ming, Theodore, and the others open a match, they will always run into each other within the same game.

But for Federation troops...:

That company is in the 975th 【Stalingrad Battle】, that company is in the 1073rd 【Stalingrad Battle】; they couldn't even gather a complete unit.

Where would they stream?

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

He guessed they were some secret troops, 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 the Great Xia Federation's.

The key was that if you asked them for a list of army soldiers to pull them out, they had to be willing to count.

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

Entering the exclusive battlefield of Federation troops is one thing, but a game company asking for a list of soldiers is another.

It's better to wait until next month's 【Mamayev Kurgan】 battle to directly separate the two battlefields for players and army soldiers.

Zhao Ming continued:

"October is the full version of the 【Central Station】 battle."

"November is the 【Pavlov's House】 defense battle."

"A total of 4 months, 4 areas with different focuses; we'll do it according to half a month in reality, one month in the game."

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

"When these are about done."

"Leave one month for Federation military exercises as a buffer to relieve player fatigue; 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 WWII on 'Earth'."

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

"When players recall the entire history of 'WWII' 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?'"

"Letting even a game have the ability to brag."

Shen Qinghan became interested and said:

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

"For example?"

"Something like a turning point?"

Zhao Ming nodded:

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

"Revealing it now is undoubtedly 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 Imperial victories and Federation victories; only by constantly reversing and having mutual wins and losses can players be curious; knowing the ending is meaningless."

Up to the Stalingrad battle here.

The Soviet Federation has been taking a beating, only Moscow was defended; if we say Stalingrad is a turning point now, isn't it obvious that the Empire will fail 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 of them then chatted for a bit about the development for the second half of the year. Shen Qinghan intended to coordinate with the Federation to see if the military exercise could be put on the schedule, while Zhao Ming began editing the announcement.

Soon.

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

Great Xia Federation.

Inside Mo Xiaomo's stream on the Tian Sha streaming platform.

The bombing in the game was still continuing.

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

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

After all, there was one less person here for every death.

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

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

"Hey?"

"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...: so an update will be carried out on the last day of August in the game timeline."

"The focus of the battlefield in September will be moved to 【Mamayev Kurgan】."

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

"Note: The battlefield timeline is consistent."

"And the subsequent October battlefield focus 【Central Station】, November's 【Pavlov's House】 will be the same." Mo Xiaomo realized:

"So the reason it doesn'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 Federation just started streaming, and they've already arranged for separation."

"In that case."

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

"The focus in September is 【Mamayev Kurgan】; let me see where that is?"

Mo Xiaomo was on the official website, directly opening the "Real-time Map" and looking for it 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 hillside that couldn't be seen unless zoomed in to the maximum, Mo Xiaomo doubted her life:

"This small hillside, it's not even two square kilometers, right?"

"Is this a key battlefield?"