# Chapter 36: War and Civilians
The Northern Army's tanks advanced forward, occasionally spitting out shells, with infantry following orderly behind the tanks.
Bullets whistled as they flew, striking the tank's exterior with a clanging sound. The bullets whizzing past could be heard with a whooshing noise. From time to time, a tank would be destroyed by an enemy artillery shell.
Su Xiao followed behind a tank. After taking just a few steps, an artillery shell landed nearby.
Su Xiao didn't care about that shell, and the Northern Army soldiers near him didn't care either. They all calmly looked at the shell, determined its distance, and then continued moving forward, letting the shell explode.
New soldiers fear artillery, veterans fear machine guns — this saying wasn't without reason.
As long as it wasn't too close, the danger from artillery shells wasn't that great. Lying prone could avoid most shrapnel, unless one was very unlucky to be hit by fragments.
On the battlefield, bullets flew everywhere, rumbling sounds continued endlessly, and flames from explosions appeared from time to time. The technological level of the Steel Alchemy World was somewhat similar to that of World War II.
The Northern Army's tanks rolled forward, and the Central Army immediately returned fire.
The weapons of both sides were similar, with the Central Army being slightly more advanced. Even so, the Central Army was beaten down, unable to lift their heads in their trenches.
This wasn't a gap in weapons — the combat proficiency of both sides wasn't on the same level.
The Central Army was stationed in the center of Amei Country, far from the chaos of war. In contrast, the Northern Army was surrounded by powerful enemies, fighting small battles every three days and major battles every month. Every soldier had been baptized by war.
A whistling sound came from the sky — the Central Army's fighter jets had arrived.
This was a weakness of the Northern Army: they had no air power. They were guarding the border, not invading surrounding areas, and the Central City wouldn't provide the Northern Army with air power. Fortunately, the Northern Army had anti-air capabilities.
At the technological level of the Steel Alchemy World, fighter jets could at most drop bombs or strafe with heavy machine guns. Although troublesome, it wasn't impossible to counter.
Over a hundred anti-air cannons were set up, but the effectiveness wasn't very obvious.
The war gradually became brutal. Continuous explosions could be heard from far away, and the residents of nearby towns trembled in fear.
The Northern Army's thousand-plus tanks were a thousand-plus small combat units. Each tank had several soldiers inside, each performing their own duties.
Inside one tank, the commander, Black Face, observed the surrounding situation through a telescope at the hatch.
During war, every soldier had a nickname. This made it convenient to address each other and also reduced the risk of retaliation from enemies.
Black Face searched for enemies hiding in the surrounding area through his telescope. The battlefield was a large plain, and the Central Army wasn't entirely concentrated in the trenches opposite. There were many pits on the plain, with soldiers hiding inside.
These pits posed a great threat — there might be anti-tank guns or heavy machine guns inside.
Ding, ding, ding.
Bullets hit the tank's exterior, making sharp crisp sounds. Black Face quickly withdrew back into the tank.
"Five o'clock direction pit has a heavy machine gun. Wolf Dog, deal with it!"
Black Face shouted loudly. The tank's gunner, Wolf Dog, immediately adjusted the cannon barrel direction.
"Sage, switch to high-explosive shells. That pit is a bit deep."
Sage was the loader. After more than ten seconds, the tank fired.
Boom. One shell landed, sending mud flying. Unfortunately, it missed the target.
Rat-a-tat-tat. The tank's machine gunner went to work, blowing apart a Central Army soldier who had poked his head out of a pit.
Boom!
Another shell landed, this time hitting the pit directly. Wolf Dog saw a flying mangled corpse through the main gun scope and burst out laughing.
"One down..."
Ding, weng~
An artillery shell came from afar, not hitting Black Face's tank but grazing past the Iron Bone tank beside it, sending up a shower of sparks.
The commander of Iron Bone was so scared he shrank his neck.
"Just a drizzle."
The commander of Iron Bone laughed loudly, not caring about that anti-tank gun.
"Bullshit! That was an 88mm caliber gun. You can tell from the sound."
Black Face roared angrily. They had to deal with that anti-tank gun, or several nearby tanks would be stuck here.
...
The war intensified. An hour later, the Northern Army's thousand-plus tanks advanced to within a hundred meters of the Central Army's trenches.
"All guns fire!"
All the machine gunners inside the tanks became active. At this distance, the heavy machine guns mounted on the tanks were life harvesters.
Rat-a-tat-tat...
Mud splashed in front of the trenches. Now the Central Army couldn't even lift their heads.
A thousand tanks concentrated fire on the trenches, bombarding wildly for ten minutes before stopping.
"Infantry, prepare!"
Olivia shouted loudly. All the tanks stopped advancing, and the infantry behind them used the tanks as cover to pour out firepower.
The most brutal phase of the war — the exchange of fire — began. The purpose of infantry was demonstrated here.
Although infantry weren't as powerful offensively as tanks, they were flexible and numerous.
Behind one tank, Su Xiao held the Spider Empress. The optical infrared detection scope 8x (active) had long been activated. He had already lost count of how many machine gunners and artillery operators he had taken out.
He ejected the magazine. Five rounds left.
Each bullet cost 50 Paradise Coins. Except when necessary, Su Xiao wouldn't fire.
Fifty thousand Northern Army soldiers against over twenty thousand Central Army soldiers was a complete crushing. Less than an hour into the war, the Central Army had already suffered one-fifth casualties.
Through the scope, Su Xiao found an enemy commander-level figure — a colonel, positioned high up in the town church, observing the battle through a window. At the range of the Steel Alchemy World's firearms, this distance was absolutely safe.
He pulled the trigger. The Spider Empress's gunshot was very low, but the bullet's kinetic energy was abnormally powerful.
A cloud of blood mist exploded at the church window. The colonel was shot in the head.
Bang, bang!
Two more shots in quick succession. The colonel's adjutant and a lieutenant colonel were both shot in the head.
Shell casings hit the ground. Su Xiao's gunshots were unremarkable in the midst of war, but he had killed the enemy's commanders.
The planes in the sky completed a round of bombing and left. The Northern Army had over a thousand casualties.
War wasn't like what was shown in movies. Although the Central Army was somewhat incompetent, the Northern Army still lost people.
Both sides were shooting at each other with guns. The only difference was the number and frequency of casualties. The situation of killing tens of thousands of enemies while losing only dozens of one's own would only occur when there was a weapon crushing advantage.
...
Five hours later, the gunfire gradually subsided. The Central Army in the trenches was scattered, leaving behind more than half their dead.
The war temporarily ended. The Northern Army pressed forward in force, the soldiers' faces covered in mud.
"Ah!!"
"Save me! Don't abandon me!"
"Where's my arm? Who saw my arm?"
The wailing of the wounded and the moans of the dying filled the battlefield. Such scenes were rare in modern times.
No one could avoid being affected in war. If there was one, it would be our Bubu Wang.
Bubu Wang was undertaking a feat — it was chewing on a tank!
Several tank soldiers looked helpless. Everyone knew this dog belonged to Su Xiao, so they could only pretend not to see it. Besides, it was an enemy tank.
Bubu Wang's home-wrecking skill had been upgraded. Now, wrecking homes couldn't satisfy it anymore. Wrecking tanks was the romance of dog-kind.
Su Xiao walked toward Olivia, who was tallying the number of casualties.
"How many dead?"
"Over four thousand."
Olivia's voice was low. These were all her subordinates.
Killing over ten thousand enemies while losing four thousand of one's own was already a great victory.
Four thousand people was just a number. If one witnessed the scene in person, they would know that the phrase "corpses littering the fields" was not an exaggeration.
Flames from artillery shells burned the corpses. The smell of blood, mud, gunpowder smoke, and the burnt odor of corpses mixed together — this was the smell of war.
Seeing this scene, Su Xiao's heart didn't stir much. Compared to gunpowder weapon war, cold weapon war was even more brutal. He had not only seen it but had also been on such battlefields.
Traveling through Reincarnation Paradise had allowed Su Xiao, a modern person, to witness all kinds of scenes: modern war, cold weapon war, medieval war, and so on.
The war wasn't over yet. The Northern Army used tanks as vanguard, slowly advancing toward Cano Town.
A corpse was hanging at the town entrance, with a sign attached that read:
'This is the consequence of resistance.'
This corpse was the mayor of Cano Town. He had disagreed with having the war in front of the town, so the Central Army had executed him directly.
"Don't shoot! I'm not a soldier."
A priest held a wooden stick with a white cloth tied to it.
"Hands up!"
A soldier shouted loudly, aiming his rifle at the priest.
"Are there still Central Army soldiers in the town?"
Su Xiao walked forward.
"Yes, in the town's..."
Bang. A gunshot came from within the town. The priest was shot in the head.
"There's a sniper! Take cover!"
The infantry quickly hid behind the tanks. Several dozen tanks took the lead, advancing into the town.
There were remnants of the Central Army in the town. In their eyes, the Northern Army was a rebel force. But they didn't know that the high-ranking military officials of Central City had cooperated with the Homunculus in the Flask for immortality and didn't care about their lives. They were just sacrifices.
Those high-ranking military officials also didn't know that they wouldn't achieve immortality. At most, they would become offerings. The Homunculus in the Flask wouldn't cooperate with humans — it would only use them.
Capturing the town and gaining control of the train station — this was the primary problem the Northern Army had to solve. Without trains, advancing to Central City would be too difficult.