Currently, Anxian remains a spectator, selling weapons and supplies to both the Union of Soviet Republics and the Southern United Front while casually eating melon seeds and cheering them on.
Although the Soviet front lines are relatively firm, they are still breached by the Germanania Empire from time to time, allowing the enemy to gradually push deep into their interior. On the Southern United Front's side, the Germanania forces are not even the main army, yet they still manage to drive the United Front back step by step.
At present, the Germanania Empire enjoys a robust economy and formidable industrial capacity, boasting a terrifying combat loss ratio. Their air and ground forces are cutting through opposition like a hot knife through butter, and while their navy frequently takes a beating, it still manages to inflict massive losses on both other factions.
(Situation map. Black: Germanania Empire. Red: Union of Soviet Republics. Blue: Southern United Front. Green: Anxian United Kingdom. All grey shaded areas are combat zones. The red shaded area represents territory lost by the Soviets. The blue shaded area represents territory lost by the Southern United Front.)
Furthermore, judging by available intelligence, Germanania's technological level is roughly at the mid-to-late Second World War era, the Soviets are at the mid-Second World War level, while the United Front and the Anxian United Kingdom remain stuck in the mid-First World War.
This massive military-technological gap nearly makes Zhurong swear out loud.
"There is definitely another transmigrator here, damn it!"
"Just looking at the country names is already suspicious, hey!"
The technological gap between the United Front and Germanania has reached an absurd degree. To give a few examples:
The United Front happily rolls out their newly researched large water-tanks, preparing to break through the Germanania lines in one fell swoop, only to be wiped out by Germanania Air Force dive bombers before they even reach the battlefield.
The United Front's battleship fleet sets sail to bombard Germanania's coastal industrial zone, only to be spotted by a Germanania battleship halfway there. A single Germanania battleship takes on four of theirs, leaving the enemy battleship only damaged while sinking two of their own. Under the technological suppression of early naval and fire-control radar, the United Front's surface forces are utterly helpless, leaving them to rely entirely on massive numbers of submarines to blockade the Germanania coastline.
That was precisely how the battleship that was ambushed earlier met its end.
Right now, the intelligence in Zhurong's hands remains severely incomplete, consisting only of data from that sunken battleship and some fragmentary reports from Leidenschaftlich.
"The intelligence is still far too scarce."
Just as Zhurong is pondering where to gather the next piece of intelligence, an alarm suddenly blares inside the cockpit.
"Beep! Beep! Beep—! Beep! Beep—! Beep!..."
"Radar warning! Two o'clock direction! Two radar signals!" Violet shouts while operating the controls.
She has already taken the co-pilot's seat, disengaging the autopilot, with flare and chaff dispensers ready to deploy at a moment's notice.
The radar warning receiver displays two signals: one continuous tracking signal, and another intermittent, sweeping pulse.
*Hard right, face the radar source!*
The aircraft banks sharply to the right, quickly aligning with the source of the radar emission.
The nose-mounted maritime AESA radar immediately locks onto three targets forty kilometers away.
Switching to the IRST, Zhurong spots one battleship and two slightly smaller heavy cruisers.
"These are... Germanania warships? What are they doing here?"
Suddenly, the main guns of the battleship flash with fire!
Zhurong instantly realizes these must be shells similar to Type 3 anti-aircraft rounds.
*Oh no! Anti-aircraft shells! Full throttle, climb with everything we've got!*
Violet immediately pushes the throttle to maximum and pulls back on the control stick to send the aircraft climbing.
*Deploy chaff!*
"Clack clack clack clack..."
A massive cloud of radar-jamming chaff fills the air.
Zhurong wastes no time either, immediately disengaging the weapon safeties and adjusting the warhead guidance mode.
*AGM-109, passive radar guidance mode, pylons one, launch!*
A massive missile detaches from beneath the left wing. Two seconds later, its rocket booster ignites, the wings unfold, the turbofan engine roars to life, and the seeker head locks onto the radar emission source.
*AGM-109, semi-active search mode, pylon four, launch!*
Another massive missile drops from the right wing pylon, quickly igniting its booster and engine, unfolding its wings, and activating its seeker to search for and engage the target.
*AGM-109, semi-active search mode, pylon two, launch!*
*AGM-109, semi-active search mode, pylon three, launch!*
As the final two air-launched Tomahawks separate from the airframe, a total of four missiles, carrying 350-kilogram semi-armor-piercing warheads, prepare to deliver a *little surprise* to this fleet.
*Hard left! Evasive action, now!*
Just as the aircraft begins to turn, a violent explosion erupts a hundred meters below and behind them!
"Boom! Boom! Boom-boom!"
Four delayed-action high-explosive fragmentation incendiary shells detonate mid-air! A massive storm of shrapnel flies in all directions!
(HEFI - High-Explosive Fragmentation Incendiary: A high-explosive shell enhanced with a pre-fragmented casing and a large amount of white phosphorus packed into the explosive charge to ignite targets.)
"Crackling crunch!!"
In a split second, the fuselage of the BV-238 is struck by a hail of shrapnel!
"Engine number two has failed! Engine number five is on fire! Fuel tank number four is leaking!" Violet watches the warnings on the status display, cold sweat slowly trickling down her temple.
Zhurong immediately activates the engine fire extinguishers, cuts off the fuel supply to the second and fifth engines, and shuts down the fuel line for the fourth tank.
"My name might be Zhurong, but I certainly don't want to catch fire!"
Fortunately, the fire in the fifth engine is successfully extinguished, and the fuel tank is successfully sealed. Next, they just have to wait a moment to see if any fuel continues to leak.
The radar warning shows that the continuous emission source has vanished, replaced now by three intermittent emission sources.
This proves that the fire-control radar on the Germanania ships has lost its target, and currently only the search radars on the three vessels are scouring for them.
*The enemy's radar must be blinded by the chaff. Let's accelerate and get out of here, dropping two bundles of chaff every second.*
Two of their six engines are now gone, and the fuselage bears multiple wounds. Although the critical components remain relatively intact, how much longer they can fly is a serious question.
"Our fuel level is still dropping rapidly!"
Hearing Violet say this, Zhurong immediately realizes that somewhere a fuel line must have ruptured.
Fuel tank number four has leaked empty, and the aircraft is still shedding fuel at a rate of 0.2% per second.
At this rate, let alone reaching their destination, whether they can even make it to the coastline is up for debate.
*The nearest coastline should still be about fifty kilometers away. At our current rate of fuel depletion, it will only sustain us for another eight minutes.*
Zhurong pulls out a scratchpad, starting to calculate how they can reach the coastline by gliding.
Their current flight altitude is 5,500 meters, and given the aircraft's damaged state, level flight at 360 kilometers per hour is likely its absolute limit.
The remaining fuel theoretically can sustain the aircraft for another 48 kilometers—conservatively estimated at 40 kilometers—leaving the remaining dozen kilometers to be covered by gliding.
Wind direction is 340 north, wind speed 14 knots.
*Maintain altitude, set engine throttle to maximum. We can make it to the coastline for an emergency landing.*
Although damaged, the aircraft still flies relatively smoothly.
Taking advantage of the remaining few minutes of downtime, Zhurong opens the system interface that has just popped up with a notification.
"First time destroying a World War II battleship.
Reward points, Water Drop 20-minute trial pass X1."
"First time destroying a World War II heavy cruiser.
Reward points, PHL-03 multiple launch rocket system X1."
"Water Drop? What kind of garbage is this..."
Zhurong mutters inwardly.
"First time killing a junior alchemist.
Reward: Magic aptitude +10%, Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Junior Alchemy X1."
Just as Zhurong finishes claiming the magic aptitude and the alchemy encyclopedia, the plane runs out of fuel...
*Bad news, all engines have shut down. Good news, we are only 3 kilometers away from the coastline. Beginning descent and turn, prepare for landing.*
Zhurong controls the aircraft in a shallow dive while banking to the left, shedding altitude and turning at the same time.
Since the plane's initial altitude is not very high and all engines are dead, the descent takes only a few minutes.
Speed 110 knots, flaps set to 10 degrees.
The belly of the aircraft gently grazes the water's surface.
*Open aerodynamic airbrakes and water brakes.*
Violet sequentially operates the dozen or so airbrakes on the aircraft, rapidly bleeding off the plane's airspeed.
Waves lash against the hull.
This behemoth finally comes to a halt after skidding nearly a kilometer across the water.
"Thump! Splash!"
Violet kicks open the jammed cabin hatch, pokes her head out, and scans her surroundings.
"Shall we go ashore now?"
Violet looks up at the high-hanging sun, feeling a vague sense of unease.
*We go ashore right now. Don't worry, this area is a deserted zone with plenty of farmland.*
*We need to head to the nearest city to get our bearings, and our only usable vehicle for now is a bicycle.*
Though the PHL-03 is also a vehicle and can be driven, its fuel consumption and engine-hour maintenance give Zhurong a headache.
Violet nods.
The two step into a life raft retrieved from the battleship and pack the BV-238 back into the system inventory.
"BV-238 Kai (61%)
Recycle price..."
"Hiss! That really hurts."
The life raft engine sputters to life, trailing faint black smoke as it heads toward the coast a few hundred meters away.
...
In a city called Grafburg, Violet is pushing a bicycle, curiously gazing at everything around her.
Trams, private cars, shops, banks, and even street lamps catch her eye as she stops to inspect them twice.
Wherever Violet goes, everyone notices the young girl and stares at her for a moment.
Some malicious gazes make Violet feel uncomfortable, yet she cannot simply eliminate people just because they cast a few looks.
Why does she attract so much attention, you ask?
On one hand, Violet is no longer the grimy, dirt-caked figure she appeared to be at the very beginning of the original story.
Present-day Violet sports a head of golden hair that cascades down to her waist. Her delicate face is almost spotless, and her fair, tender skin looks as though it could be broken by a mere breath (implying a single punch could dent 30 millimeters of armor steel).
(In the original work, Violet could swing a nearly half-ton battleaxe across the battlefield and even cleave early-stage tanks, possessing terrifying combat prowess.)
This alone is already an extreme eye-catcher.
On the other hand, Violet wears the inner lining of a Leidenschaftlich military uniform on her upper body and a pair of suit trousers hemmed shorter by Zhurong on her lower half, creating a very peculiar aesthetic.
It is the kind of look where:
First glance: How strange! Let me look again.
Second glance: Wow! What a gorgeous little beauty!
Combined, these two factors result in Violet turning heads nearly 100% of the time.
*Uh... should we go buy a few sets of clothes first? Your outfit feels completely out of place.*
Several tens of minutes later...
Dressed in a black Gothic long dress, Violet walks leisurely down the street, holding a black lace-trimmed parasol.
*I've been wanting to ask since earlier, why Gothic attire?* Zhurong asks, looking at Violet with curiosity.
"Because you mentioned Gothic Lolita earlier, and I was curious, so I wanted to try it out."
"I... see."
"But this dress is so bothersome, and moving around in it is inconvenient..."
Violet tugs at the hem of her skirt, feeling that it constantly gets in the way.
*Let's find an inn first. We'll probably be staying in this city for a few days.*
The two chat back and forth.
To an outsider, it looks like a beautiful Gothic-style young girl talking to thin air.
The scene turns thoroughly bizarre.
This incident quickly becomes after-dinner gossip for most onlookers, spreading across half the city in just half a day.
The rumors grow more and more exaggerated, spawning several different versions.
For instance:
Some victimized noble's daughter has turned into a revenant seeking revenge.
The daughter of a great archmage is visiting the city for a vacation.
Those are still the tamer versions.
Even more absurd ones claim: The princess of the Germanania Empire is here to observe the enemy, and because she is a great archmage, she doesn't care about anything, and so forth.