Chapter 29 Night Talk

  The two people embracing and kissing each other showed no signs of stopping, Xiao Bingjia not only held Vera tighter but also started to get restless with his hands. His rough large hands were inserted into Vera's smooth back like silk. The two people's breathing became heavy in this strange atmosphere, and Vera was even more unbearable, Xiao Bingjia's big hand touching her back made her whole body feel electrified, and she trembled all over with the touch.

  Just as the two were about to undress and spend the night together, a loud and untimely noise came from outside the door, accompanied by what seemed to be a familiar shout.

  "Comrade Xiao Bing Jia! Comrade Xiao Bing Jia!"

  Vera quickly pushed away her opponent, and her reaction speed was even faster. In the instant she pushed away Xiao Bingjia again, she ran towards the back door of the barracks, and just before leaving the main gate, she still smiled at Xiao Bingjia, who had not yet reacted in the distance. This smile was like a sunflower blooming under the sunrise, so illusory and beautiful that it left Xiao Bingjia stunned for a moment.

  Just as Xiao Bingjia was still coming to, a pair of strong arms wrapped around him from behind. "Hey, Comrade Xiao Bingjia, you're not dead! That's great!" The man holding Xiao Bingjia exclaimed with excitement, his voice trembling slightly, revealing how thrilled he was.

  With great effort, he managed to extricate himself from that person's bear hug and turned around to find Igor with a face full of tears!

  Xiao Bingjia couldn't believe it and stuttered as he pointed at Igor: "Am I dreaming? Is that really you, Igor?"

  "Of course it's me! If not, who else would it be?" Igor looked great, his face rosy and spirited. He said, grabbing Xiao Bingjia's hand and touching his own face: "Look, if I'm dead? Can you still feel me here?"

  Feeling the tactile sensation and warmth transmitted from his hands, Xiao Bingjia gave Igor a bear hug: "Good brother, at that time I really thought you had sacrificed yourself!" When Xiao Bingjia hugged Igor, his eyes became moist without realizing it.

  This is not just a show of camaraderie, but genuine excitement. What does it mean to be comrades who have gone through thick and thin together? During those days of hovering between life and death in the parliament building, Xiao Bing and Igor became each other's spiritual support. The bond between Xiao Bing and Igor cannot be simply summarized as just "brothers".

  They hugged each other for a long time, and then Xiao Bingjia let go of Igor first. He said excitedly to him: "How about this? Let's go out on the street and have a drink first? And by the way, tell me about your adventures in Berlin?"

  "Alright, I also owed you a drink before that, so this one counts as me paying back!" Igor said happily.

  After finishing, Igor pulled Xiaobing Jia's hand towards the gate of the barracks. Before arriving at the entrance of the parking lot, Igor directly said to a young soldier beside him: "Comrade soldier, help me find a car, just say it's borrowed by Igor."

  "Yes, Comrade Lieutenant Colonel!" The little warrior saluted Igor and quickly ran towards the military affairs office.

  Xiao Bingjia seemed to think he had misheard, his eyes wide with wonder as he stared at Igor. And Igor gave a mysterious smile, pointing to the epaulets on his military uniform: "Don't be surprised, now you should call me Captain Igor!"

  "Major! Ruslan, you've been promoted!" Xiao Bingjia was even more surprised than when he had just learned that the other man was still alive. The latter then showed him his shoulder badges with two shiny gold stars and proudly said: "Last time I didn't die on the battlefield, after coming back I was awarded the rank of Major by General Kukov, and became the commander of the airborne assault regiment."

  "That's really congratulations to you ~" Xiao Bing Jia was truly happy for his comrade from the bottom of his heart.

  Before long, the little warrior drove a military jeep over.

  Igor got in first, then opened the passenger door and made a welcoming gesture to Xiao Bing Jia. Xiao Bing Jia was also straightforward and directly jumped into the car. After getting in, Xiao Bing Jia looked around at the interior configuration of the car and said in surprise: "Multi-functional infantry vehicle?"

  "What you said is not wrong, its prototype was indeed the Allied IFV, but after they dismantled the multi-functional launcher on it, it became an ordinary military jeep." Igor explained patiently.

  "Oh..."

  It must be said that the Red Army's post-war handling was quite good. Although the city center of Warsaw did not suffer much damage in the last battle, the various discarded objects scattered on the streets still became the biggest obstacle for passing vehicles. However, the Red Army soldiers relied on their strong mobilization efforts to persuade Warsaw citizens to clear the streets day and night, despite the citizens' grievances, they worked under the threat of machine gun bullets and cleared all the debris from the streets within a month.

  So, as Xiao Bingjia sped down the road, he couldn't help but admire the high efficiency of the Red Army's surface work as he gazed out at the clear road.

  At the same time, Igor's driving skills were also very good. On the way to a bar called "Moscow Spring", what was originally supposed to be a 20-minute drive was driven by Igor in just 10 minutes. If not for the buildings on both sides of the street flying backwards at high speed, Xiao Bingjia would have thought he was on an airplane.

  They arrived at the bar, and Igor and Xiao Bing Jia generously asked the boss to bring up 10 bottles of various brands of vodka. Because this bar was opened by Russians, there were many wines and dishes that fit the Russian taste inside. They casually found a table to sit down, and with the vodka and a few small dishes, Igor and Xiao Bing Jia started bragging to each other.

  In the midst of bragging, Igor told Xiao Bing that he was able to escape by hiding in a corner when the stones fell, and one of the stones from the ceiling happened to cover his head, creating a dead angle. This allowed him to avoid further injury and evade the Allied search party later on. However, despite this, he still suffered greatly as his waist was buried under mud during the stone fall, rendering him unable to move. Fortunately, his friendly forces arrived in time to rescue him from the rubble, otherwise, even if he hadn't starved to death in the ruins, he would have been left paralyzed for life due to prolonged compression of his body.

  Xiao Bing Jia gulped down a mouthful of strong liquor, unable to help but envy Igor's good fortune. As for himself, although he hadn't been crushed by the boulder, Xiao Bing Jia couldn't say anything about the adventures they had on that road...

  Taking advantage of Igor's drunkenness, he fooled him into thinking he was escaping with his own abilities and left the bar under the pretext of going to the bathroom.

  He walked out of the bar, it was already late at night, the cool evening breeze made Xiao Bing Jia's dizzy head clear up a bit, he patted his still painful head, then looked at his watch again.

  "Is it 8:30 already?..." he muttered to himself in a low voice. "It's time to go see Kukov." In fact, Xiao Bingjia was not drunk at all, and didn't even feel the slightest bit tipsy. Back in middle school, he had been nicknamed "Cup-in-the-Wind" by his classmates for being able to drink an entire table of people under the table. How could a few small bottles of vodka possibly knock him down? Moreover, sometimes he would secretly taste the high-proof Molotov cocktails in his backpack as a kind of "stimulant" before going into battle. On the other hand, Igor, although a true Russian, had been raised by his Orthodox Christian father to lead a strict and simple life, and therefore rarely came into contact with vodka. This time's drinking binge was just a momentary whim of his.

  He casually tossed a few hundred rubles to the bartender, asking him to help Igor, who was already completely drunk and lying on the table talking nonsense, into the back seat of the car. Then he quickly got into the driver's seat himself, started the engine with the key, and drove away in a big hurry (drunk driving, oh no...).

  Relying on the memory of the daytime, after seven turns and eight bends, they finally arrived at the Red Army base. The Red Army guards standing at the gate ordered their subordinates to move the roadblock and let this suspicious Red Army vehicle (because Xiao Bingjia's driving skills were poor, making the entire journey look like a zigzag) enter after seeing Xiao Bingjia take out his officer ID and pass.

  Have the little warrior from before settle down Igor, who has fallen into a deep sleep, and Xiao Bing Jia hurriedly ran towards the command room located at the center of the base.

  "What a person! Password!" Before reaching the entrance of the command room, all the way, there were Red Army patrols holding flashlights and carrying submachine guns with their muzzles pointing at themselves, cautiously performing their duty to guard the commander.

  "Xiao Bing Jia, Red Star and Axe." Xiao Bing Jia kept saying this all the way.

  After passing through the last layer of strict screening, Xiao Bingjia finally met General Kukov, with whom he had a brief encounter that morning.

  Tonight, Kukov was still wearing that black military uniform, with both hands resting on the table in the classic pose of a commander, quietly sitting in his chair. His eyes were tightly closed as if he was dozing off, but from the seemingly closed corners of his eyes, what flowed out was a seriousness that made one unable to look away.

  Xiao Bingjia originally wanted to wait for the Soviet highest marshal to wake up, but was frightened by Kukov's next sentence.

  "You're late by 3 minutes and 28 seconds... Major Shiao Bingjia..." Kukov's voice was dry and husky, completely devoid of the excitement and emotion that should have been there in the morning.

  Xiao Bingjia thought he had misheard and quietly reminded him: "It's Lieutenant Colonel, not Major. Comrade Commander-in-Chief."

  "I say you're a lieutenant colonel, and that's what you are! Don't tell me you won't accept it!" Although the tone was still the same as before, there was an unmistakable air of finality to it. "Now, I've made up my mind. Your rank has been promoted to lieutenant colonel."

  “。。。。。。”

  Seeing Xiao Bing's low-headed silence, Kukov smiled with satisfaction: "You must be thinking why I'm so biased towards you? In Wanat, you were almost executed as a traitor, and then it was me who personally cleared your name and promoted you to the position of hero. Now, why do I want to promote you to lieutenant colonel?"

  "Please, Commander Comrade, explain..." Xiao Bingjia buried his head very deeply, making it impossible for anyone to see his face.

  "I thought you were a valuable piece." Kukov explained, without regard for the other's feelings. "A piece that can counter Cherdanko's puppet."

  "A puppet of Chadanko... against... a chess piece?" Xiao Bing Jia pondered the connotation of each word.

  "Merkulov, you know? The major general who ordered your 313th Airborne Regiment to attack the Parliament Building."

  "It is known that he is the great hero who 'liberated' Berlin, the greatest contributor to this battle." Xiao Bing said the introductory words on stage.

  "No, no, no! You're all wrong!" Kukov shook his finger and said three "no"s. "He's just Chaldenko's little wooden puppet, just like Oleg!"

  Marshal Comrade sneered at Xiao Bingjia and said, "Does that Zhadanko think that by inserting more trusted people into the army he can pin me down to death? He's wrong! Wrong to the extreme! Besides, if he can insert his pawns into the army, can't I?"

  "For his own leadership, he can turn many meritorious soldiers in the army into traitors, and then insert his trusted followers into the army, thinking that this way he can rest easy? He is terribly wrong!"

  "Could it be that I was previously listed as a traitor just because..." Xiao Bing Jia muttered.

  "That's right! It was Chudienko who ordered his subordinates to manipulate him. He made Merkulov, who played a nominal commanding role in this battle, a puppet, and he himself operated from behind the scenes, and it was only with his own strength that Merkulov won the victory! Otherwise, do you think Valery (Merkulov's name) would have been qualified to use battlefield support? Even Oleg wouldn't be able to!"

  “。。。。。。”

  "So, I now need a chess piece that is capable and glorious enough to block that Melkurov for me! And that chess piece... is you, Xiao Bing Jia!"

  "Why should you believe me?" asked Xiao Bingjia, raising his head. His expression seemed ordinary, but his palms were clenched tightly, with even the veins bulging out. It was clear that Xiao Bingjia was furious at this moment.

  The feeling of being humiliated in front of others due to insufficient strength made Xiao Bingjia extremely angry!

  Anger! Anger! Anger!

  However, Xiao Bing's high-quality acting has very well covered it up.

  Seeing the appearance of Xiao Bingjia, Kukov was very satisfied. Just as he was about to explain the reason, a loud noise suddenly came from the parking lot on the west side of the command room.

  BOOM!!!!!

  Dazzling red flames came out from there. And which direction seemed to be... the parking lot!!!!!

  Igor is still there!!

  Thinking of this, Xiao Bing directly ignored the obstruction and rushed out of the command room, leaving behind a pale-faced Kukov.

  Xia Zhang Tan Ya takes the stage!!