Chapter 102: A Cruel War
Faced with Freddy's injury, Anna, despite her medical skills, could not cure him without supplies. So Emile and his dog ventured into the German camp in search of a cure for Freddy.
There, Lily clearly perceived that deciphering the information was much more difficult than before. Not only did she have to pay attention to German patrols, but she also had to coordinate with her dog. After considerable effort, Lily finally guided Emile to the cure. By then, Baron von Dorf had already fled.
After treating Freddy with the medicine they found, Emile and his team soon set off again. This time, their journey took them to Reims, where German bombardments had left the city in ruins and devastated. The once bustling metropolis was laid waste by Zeppelin airship attacks, leaving countless buildings destroyed. Countless French citizens fled for safety.
Faced with this scene, Freddy, enraged, tried to move forward to investigate, but another projectile fell next to him, forcing him to hide in a nearby cave. The cave entrance was blocked by a huge barrier due to the explosion, separating Emile, Anna, and the others from Freddy.
From another location, Freddy watched the Zeppelin in the distance. Realizing there was no way to reunite with Emile, he pursued it alone. Anna began to rescue the injured, but Emile could not move the barrier alone; they would need five people. So he had to join the dog to rescue the trapped refugees and then ask for their help to move the barrier and reach Freddy.
On Twitch, as she watched the scene unfold, Lily smacked her lips with a thoughtful expression. "Why do I feel like this plot hints at something?" she asked.
"Two bombs in a row, and it was Freddy himself. How unlucky! And with that skin color..."
At that moment, Lily's voice trailed off. Live stream comments would help her continue. After glancing at the lively comments in the live stream, Lily refocused on the game.
While rescuing the civilians of Reims, she noticed a peculiar detail. In the game, whether it was the protagonist Emile or the other NPCs, all the characters lacked eyes. However, the girl trapped in the room had a pair of bright eyes. This contrast was clearly ironic. Well... except for Emile's dog, of course.
After successfully rescuing the refugees, Emile and the dog immediately chased after Freddy. They met Baron von Dorf at the cathedral. This was a two-part boss battle. In the first, Emile and the dog attacked through the organ's pipes, a truly creative move. In the second, she controlled Freddy, who picked up a grenade thrown by Baron von Dorf, who was still in place, and attacked the Zeppelin's propellers.
After destroying both propellers, Baron von Dorf escaped again, and the pilot, now Karl, was visible on board.
Meanwhile, Anna, ignoring Emile and Freddy, drove off alone with her dog towards the crashed airship. It is at this point that the player understands the story of the last character, Anna.
Nine months earlier, Anna was training to be a veterinarian. When she received a letter from her father, the German army was only 32 kilometers from Paris. He assured her that he was in good health and advised her not to return to her home in Belgium until the war was over. But patience was not Anna's strong suit, so she decided to go find him. However, all the taxis in Paris had been requisitioned to transport soldiers to the Battle of the Marne front.
Anna found a seemingly broken-down car on the street, fixed it, and took the wheel. Just like in the previous mini-game, where she rescued Emile and Freddy, this mini-game involved driving to the front. The background music, titled "Cancan," was even more lively than before. The clatter of nearby cars and the shaking of the barrel were perfectly synchronized.
The most astonishing thing was that, upon reaching the middle of the journey and the final stages, two cars suddenly appeared in the middle of the road, trapping Anna's taxi, thus demonstrating what it meant to go left and right.
At that moment, the rhythm changed from the lively "Cancan" to Offenbach's "Barcarolle," as if the player were immersing themselves in the Venetian river at night. But before the player's emotions could be immersed in it, the rhythm instantly changed back to the lively "Cancan" without interruption.
Upon seeing this scene, Lily, in front of the computer, and the audience in the live stream were amused. After all, this scene was so cheerful and full of joy. Anna, who was also in the game, was also very happy.
[On September 7, 1914, the taxi galloped all night, and Anna felt proud and happy to have been able to help the soldiers reach the front.]
But the next second, the game's atmosphere completely changed.
[Until Anna reached the front and witnessed the brutal reality firsthand.]
Anna in the game, Lily, who was playing in person, and the audience watching the live stream fell silent. The battlefield was completely silent, littered with corpses. The bodies of fallen soldiers and horses were piled up like mountains. Despite the hand-drawn 2D art style, the heaviness of the scene was palpable through the screen. The contrast was particularly stark with the previously cheerful scenes.
Driven by compassion, Anna remained at the front to tend to the wounded. Every life saved was a small victory in this war. She sawed off the necrotic arm of the wounded man. The bodies under the bridge were so numerous that they were thrown away like garbage.
Then, from the rubble, a cry for help was heard. A surviving enemy soldier, impartial, Anna, helped extract the bullet, saving him. While tending to the wounded, Anna overheard a nearby French officer talking about Belgium, where the Germans were testing a new type of poison gas weapon near Ypres, her hometown.
Fearing for her father's safety, Anna decided to return to Ypres. The governess, rescued from her house, informed her that her father had been captured by Baron von Dorf, who wanted to use advanced weaponry in the war. Anna embarked on a quest to find him.
This led her to the moment Anna narrowly saved Emile and Freddy. Emile, Freddy, and Anna, three people from different countries, ethnicities, and backgrounds, shared a common goal.
At that moment, the game's timeline went back to an earlier time. Anna, chasing the airship, arrived at her destination, but she did not find her father. Instead, she saw Karl, seriously wounded and trapped. After helping him to free himself, he revealed that Baron von Dorf had taken her father using the airship's emergency plane before the crash.
Karl was subsequently taken to a prisoner-of-war camp, while Emile was tried for desertion in a military court. However, thanks to his actions in Reims, Emile was released. However, his release was for... the front, in a place everyone knows: Verdun.
Upon arriving at the front, Emile and his fellow soldiers fought for three months, as autumn gave way to winter. Like all soldiers, Emile endured the ravages of war and the harsh winter. The greatest comfort for soldiers on the battlefield was letters from home. Emile also received a letter from his daughter.
But there was no good news. Food was scarce, diseases were rampant, and the death toll continued to rise. Amidst this despair, there was only one ray of hope: a photo of his grandson, Victor, learning to walk.
Meanwhile, the Germans launched another offensive, but Emile, once again, survived the battle. He received a medal along with Freddy for his outstanding contributions. Meanwhile, Anna brought good news: Karl, seriously wounded, was almost fully recovered.
However, the war only intensified, with the death toll constantly rising. With 70,000 monthly casualties, Verdun became a meat factory.
As the war intensified, Emile and Freddy were assigned the mission to retake Fort Doumond, where they met their old nemesis, Baron von Dorf. Freddy and his dog held down Baron von Dorf, while Emile detonated the explosives inside Fort Doumond.
Although the fortress was eventually detonated, the Germans held their ground. The mission had failed. Gazing at the fortress in the distance, Emile felt a wave of despair.
"Marie, my dear. The war has taken the life of a dear friend of mine, a man who was like a brother to me. His loss has caused me unimaginable pain."
"Luckily, Karl has recovered and is in good health. I will visit him on my next leave. How are you? Are you well?"
Unbeknownst to Emile, Karl had also received a letter from Marie. The letter announced that his son, Victor, was seriously ill. This made Karl yearn to see his wife and son, but he knew the war would not end, so he made a decision: to escape from the prisoner-of-war camp.
As the game's plot unfolded, Lily sat in front of her computer with a weight of despair. She had fully experienced the cruelty of war.
"No way? Freddy is dead? The dog is dead? And Karl is trying to escape from the prisoner-of-war camp. Isn't that going to happen?"
Although the game had switched to Karl, Lily didn't start right away. Instead, she was completely absorbed in the information she had just received.
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