Sherlock Holmes

From the basic design point of view, the special trains in the war zone are no different from most steam trains in the empire. They are all vehicles that use steam and turbines to drive a huge front locomotive and pull multiple carriages behind it on the rails.

It's just that the outer layer is wrapped with extremely hard armor plates and insulation layers, and on the Antarctic continent, there is no need to go around urban areas or building groups. The construction of the rails is extremely simple and crude, just from the starting point. Draw a straight line towards the end, and there is no stopping place between the war zones. As long as you start driving, you will accelerate all the way, and you will never stop until the end.

In the empire, white has always been a symbol of holiness. Most of the accessories and clothing of the high-ranking Vatican saints are white. The special glazed carriage also needs a pure white horse to pull it. Most of the buildings in the holy city of Jerusalem are made of white and Gold is used to decorate. But on the front line, white is so heart-stopping. Looking through the window at the endless white sea of ​​snow outside, for a long time, it will even make people feel an inexplicable fear.

In particular, some soldiers who lost contact on the battlefield were exposed to this paleness and suffered in extremely low temperatures until their bodies became hypothermic and their hands and feet gradually became necrotic from the ends. If they were lucky enough to encounter rescue soldiers and survive, then For the rest of my life, whenever I saw white, I would be so frightened that my whole body would convulse on the spot.

Along the way, Sherlock just sat in front of a window, looking at scenery that he had never seen in the past thirty years. Occasionally, he came across some huge war weapons in an extremely distant direction, being carried by a transport train at the other end. Crossing paths with oneself, this journey is not difficult for a curious person.

On the contrary, the rest of the people in the carriage seemed a little silent.

On the frontline battlefield, the sun's path does not rise in the east or set in the west for several months every year, so it always makes people feel that time has not passed at all. It was not until the train started delivering lunch that Sherlock suddenly realized It turns out that I have been sitting in front of the window like this, staring blankly for five or six hours.

A piece of food wrapped in a carton was handed to Sherlock. It included air-dried meat, high-sugar milk, and wheat bread. Although it was simple, it was nutritious enough. Because of the natural temperature in the battlefield, many foods could be stored for a long time. Therefore, although the soldiers of the empire do not often eat fresh fruits, they certainly will not go hungry.

The person who handed Sherlock lunch was none other than Detective Victor. Sherlock took the meal, glanced at the man's slightly calm face, and suddenly asked:

"What's bothering you?"

In fact, he had already noticed that after boarding the train, everyone's mood had changed significantly compared to yesterday.

When Victor was asked this question, he thought about it and stopped hiding it. He sat directly opposite Sherlock and respectfully handed the piece of heated beef full of fat from his lunch to Sherlock. In front of Locke, he asked tentatively:

"Have you ever heard of [Major General Ulysses]?"

Sherlock shook his head.

Victor swallowed and seemed to understand why Sherlock could still enjoy the scenery outside the window.

"There are a total of five fully equipped assault battalions under General Patton. You should have heard about it yesterday. The strength of each battalion is enough to annihilate a small demonic wave.

When Lieutenant Milsam said this at that time, he still had some fighting spirit. After all, the front line sent us 15 wild demon controllers. Although the winning rate is not high, there is always the possibility of taking a gamble. In case we When we raided the outpost, we were able to avoid the demon swarm. It didn't mean there was no chance of winning anyway.

But before we got off the bus this morning, we received an internal notification that the reorganized battalion we were competing with was the battalion of Major General Ulysses.

this means

We can't win? "

After thinking about it again and again, Victor finally said the word 'can't win'.

Of course he also knew that Sherlock would be doubtful about his words, so he immediately explained:

“If the people in those reorganized camps are all monsters, then Ulysses is the monster among monsters.

He is the kind of person who loves war from the bottom of his heart.

The assault battalion he belongs to has a total of 50 people and has never been expanded. However, in more than 20 years of fighting on the front line, there has never been any reduction in personnel.

Yes, in 20 years, no one in their camp has ever died.

The average age is 42 years old. Some people have already reached the age of retirement, but they insist on not leaving the front line. Everyone has participated in more than 100 annihilation battles, and they only perform annihilation missions. To put it bluntly, they only kill demons.

You should also have noticed something wrong.

Ulysses was already a major general, but he still only commanded this battalion.

Not only that, he also personally participated in all frontline tasks. The military wanted to call him back from the frontline more than once, but he always refused and made it clear that he would not leave the frontline.

In fact, if we only look at military merit, the youngest person in his battalion should have the rank of major, a rank purely derived from the corpses of demons.

Do you know what this means?

This means that all the people in our carriage, including the 15 wild demon controllers who have not met, together, can't kill as many demons as the operator in charge of logistics in their camp. "

When he said this, Victor's mood had been very low, and he seemed to have no hope for the victory of this mission. At an accidental moment, he seemed to suddenly think of the man named Sherlock in front of him. , possessing individual combat capabilities comparable to Baskerville.

How terrifying Baskerville's combat power is has always been an undisputed legend among the frontline troops. This momentary thought made Victor's eyes light up.

But suddenly, I thought about that terrible assault battalion with the highest level of fire support on the entire front line, long-range directional thermal bombs, deflagration mortars, the most sophisticated weapons and equipment, the latest war armor developed by the Imperial Mechanical Institute, and even A major general and a dozen colonels can mobilize expensive military airships to carry out large-scale air-to-ground bombing.

Baskerville is very strong, very strong, but no matter how strong he is, he can only fight alone. He can rely on his strong personal lethality to penetrate into dangerous areas and carry out rescue and area clearing missions, but it is impossible for one person to kill demons once. tide.

Well, even if we can really annihilate a demonic tide, it will only be possible to carry out small-scale personal annihilation again and again under the premise of fighting and retreating, constantly fighting and shifting fronts, because no matter how powerful a person is, he will eventually Human beings are always tired, and they always have to eat, sleep, and rest. Blood splashed on the face will affect the vision if it solidifies. The flesh sticks to the body, which will also affect the movement. No one can really compare with the army, except for that man. An old man who has reached the fourth level.

Moreover, this mission is not about who can kill more, but about speed and efficiency.

So when he thought of this, Detective Victor smiled helplessly, and then left his high-sugar milk for Sherlock. He took a piece of bread alone, chewed it dryly, and walked to the back of the car. I don’t know if he is apologizing for the prejudice against me in the past few days, or if he simply has no desire to eat.

Defeat before fighting is the biggest taboo in the frontline army, but no one stood up to cheer for everyone along the way, which is enough to show that the name of [Major General Ulysses] and his battalion , what kind of despair it gave these people.

Time passed by, and after eight hours of traveling south, the speed of the train gradually slowed down.

It’s hard to describe what the position of the sun feels like in this extreme area of ​​Antarctica. It’s still daytime on the back line, and after a whole day’s journey, Sherlock arrived at a place where he spent 15 days. area at dusk.

After getting off the train, under the brilliant dividing line reflected in the golden color on the top of the snow-capped mountains, you can see a continuous ring of defense zones, like endless golden waves, with countless heavy artillery protected by huge steel armor. Wrapped, the dark muzzles are slanting upward toward the sky, densely clustered together, and looking from a distance can even give people some kind of dense fear.

On the vast snowfield below, the camp is clearly divided into various areas. The huge strategic command platform more than ten stories high is like the mythical God of War made of steel. A huge number of power armors walk between the camps, just like in the steel jungle. The huge anthill. At this time, Sherlock and his party were on a high ground, stepping onto the heavy steam elevator. During the roaring descent, they could still see the base of the giant mortar in the distance starting to spray flames, and the terrifying driving force spread across such a distance. Even at such a distance, people can still feel the tremor of the earth, and then the scarlet fire light almost breaks through the clouds, exploding into a cloud of bright red and white snow at the end of the sight.

Smoke, heat waves, roars, iron blood, this is just a marginal war zone on the front line, not the main battlefield where demons are most concentrated, but it is already such a majestic scale, so even a person with a rich imagination like Sherlock can There is no way to imagine what the most intense war zone on the front line looks like. There is never flat ground or white snow there.

Unlike the rear line of defense, many leaders and generals in the frontline theater had actually known about this mission for a long time.

Using a small-scale on-the-ground battle to bring new and old strategic ideas into a solid collision, this simple and satisfying thing will certainly attract the attention of many people.

So in the past few days, under the golden sunset that never sets, batches of military dignitaries have come to this war zone one after another.

This is actually all imaginable.

But what is unexpected is that when the elevator slowly descended and a large group of soldiers officially entered the military camp, several theater command staff and several commanders from a certain theater were already waiting for the elevator. In front of the stage, one of them, as if acting as a representative, enthusiastically walked over a few steps and held Sherlock's hand with great concern.

"Mr. Holmes, it's been a hard journey."

"."

Let's not talk about the state of the group of people who came over with the commander on the opposite side. The group of people behind Sherlock stood in place one by one.

Although they should indeed stand at attention and salute when they saw the commander, at this moment, they were stunned on the spot, watching the commander pat Sherlock on the shoulder with his strong palm, acting very cheerful and gentle. He kept saying words of encouragement and encouragement.

Sherlock tried his best to display the respect and smile he deserved, but he was thinking in his heart, was this a bit too blatant?

Although everyone in the military who was qualified to know the news about the old man leaving the town must have known about it, and his appearance in the Blood Prison was definitely not a secret in some circles.

But it's a bit unreasonable for a commander of yours to come over so openly to receive a civilian from Lower London.

But there was nothing he could do. They were already here, and he couldn't push the other person away with a look of displeasure and let him stay where he could to cool off, so he could only helplessly thank the other person for his concern and try not to think about the situation behind him at this moment. There was surprise and confusion in the eyes of those pairs of people looking at themselves.

Fortunately, the commander was quite restrained, so he spoke of this private condolence as if he had high hopes for the victory of Sherlock's battalion. After that, several civilian staff led the group there in silence and with great respect. Tonight's address, according to normal procedures, they can only stay here for one night. Tomorrow, they will embark on this mission.

After all, only 48 hours have passed from the time the airship landed to this moment. Sherlock actually has to go on a mission as a civilian with a group of imperial frontline soldiers. This kind of efficiency is really a bit too fast. Some.

And just when they came to the resting camp

Suddenly, Sherlock stopped when he heard the footsteps behind him. Looking back, he found that almost everyone was looking at a barracks not far away that was facing here.

In front of the barracks, a bearded man about 50 years old with frostbite on his face was looking coldly.

The man was wearing an old military jacket that was thick but very old at first glance. However, on his shoulders, there were neatly sealed rows of bright epaulettes, which looked extremely awkward. At this moment, he was He was holding a big gun that was as tall as a person. It seemed that there was something wrong with one of his legs, so he could only put his whole body weight on the gun, as if he was using it as a crutch.

Although the two sides were at least 50 meters apart, Sherlock could still see clearly. The other person's eyes seemed to be covered with a layer of fog. This should be due to retinal degeneration caused by long-term exposure to too dazzling light.

And just such an old veteran with disheveled clothes, a simple and old gun, and a pair of cloudy eyes, facing more than 40 young and strong military elites from a distance, almost overwhelmed these people. Can't lift my head up.