Teamwork

An allied airborne formation consisting of 1,131 fighter planes, 1,545 transport planes, and 478 gliders took off from 24 airfields in southern England, heading towards the North Sea along two flight paths. The paratroopers, drenched in sweat, were crammed onto canvas seats, each laden with countless straps, holsters, bullets... The confident allied staff officers were brimming with optimism for victory in the campaign.

On a C-47 transport plane belonging to the British 1st Airborne Division, Shen Yi sat with his eyes closed in his seat. He was dressed in the standard uniform of the British paratroopers, complete with a red beret and an old-fashioned M1 rifle from World War II. All his adventurer gear was stored in the Bloody Emblem's storage space.

Stepping through the portal, he found himself in this situation. Casting a cold glance around, he noted that the transport plane carried twenty-two people in total, each with a Bloody Emblem on their wrist. It seemed all adventurers were grouped together for this mission.

Is this what they call a cooperative attack? Gather everyone and drop them at a specific location to participate in battle? Shen Yi observed the emblem, which displayed the following tasks:

Main Task 1: Successfully land in the town of Arnhem. Reward: 500 Bloody Points. Failure: Deduct 500 Bloody Points. Eradicate those with insufficient points.

Main Task 2: Break out of the German encirclement and head to the Arnhem forest area within 12 hours. Reward: 1000 Bloody Points. Failure: Deduct 1000 Bloody Points. Eradicate those with insufficient points.

Main Task 3: Break out of the German encirclement and head to the Arnhem Bridge within 12 hours. Reward: 1200 Bloody Points. Failure: Deduct 1000 Bloody Points. Eradicate those with insufficient points.

Choose either Main Task 2 or 3.

Optional Task 1: Join forces with the main body of the British 1st Airborne Division and help break the German encirclement. Reward: 2000 Bloody Points.

Optional Task 2: Meet with the 2nd Battalion of the British 1st Airborne Division, capture and hold the Arnhem Bridge for 10 days. Reward: 4000 Bloody Points and 1 skill point.

Choose only one optional task, which begins after completing the main task. It's possible to refuse the optional tasks and return directly. Once accepted, optional tasks cannot be abandoned midway. During the mission, revealing the course of the war or one's identity will result in a deduction of 10,000 Bloody Points and eradication for those with insufficient points.

Clearly, the choice of main task directly determined the completion of the optional task. Thinking this, a slight smile twisted at the corner of Shen Yi's mouth.

Suddenly, a loud explosion rang beside his ear: "Damn it, I don't know how to parachute."

It was a fat man sitting next to Shen Yi, his face a picture of misery, not knowing what to do.

Someone schadenfreude said: "You didn't learn to parachute? It only costs 50 Bloody Points to learn, and no level up is required."

The fat man replied with a bitter face: "I didn't know what Operation Market Garden meant at first. By the time I realized, it was too late to learn, and I thought we would be directly dropped at the designated location."

Everyone looked at the fat man with sympathy. One even said: "You don't even know about the most famous military operation after the Normandy landings in World War II, what do you know?"

Shen Yi patted the fat man's shoulder and said: "Don't be so nervous. Actually, parachuting is not difficult. Just jump out and pull open the parachute, like this one right next to your hand. It's quite simple. Oh no, don't pull it now."

"Are you sure I won't die doing it this way?" the fat man asked pitifully.

Shen Yi laughed: "Honestly, even if you don't open the parachute, the chance of dying wouldn't exceed fifty percent."

Everyone's faces changed at once.

Someone said in a deep voice: "Kid, what do you mean by that?"

Shen Yi smiled and said: "I know most of you have heard of Operation Market Garden. And many might think that since the early stages of the operation were successful, we won't face much difficulty initially, right?"

Everyone looked at each other.

Shen Yi slowly turned his head to look out the window of the transport plane: "Look outside, we are already entering the airspace over the Arnhem area, and the anti-aircraft fire is intensifying."

Outside the transport plane, the sky was ablaze with explosions, the result of German anti-aircraft guns firing fiercely at the vast transport fleet

. In the distance, a large number of German fighters were also approaching, likely to engage in combat with the escorting fighters soon.

Shen Yi's voice floated over like a ghost: "The so-called early success of Operation Market Garden was actually just a self-deceiving illusion. The entire airborne operation focused on capturing three crucial bridges in Eindhoven, Nijmegen, and Arnhem. People only know that the paratroopers successfully captured two bridges but are unaware of the heavy losses they suffered. In fact, the second bridge was not captured by the paratroopers alone but by the ground forces arriving later and attacking in conjunction with the airborne troops. During the entire operation, the Germans suffered only 3,300 casualties, while the Allies lost more than 17,000. Among them, the U.S. 82nd Airborne Division suffered 3,400 casualties, and the 101st Airborne Division 3,800. All airborne troops participating in Operation Market Garden suffered heavy losses, and the British 1st Airborne Division, which we are part of, bore the brunt. The entire British 1st Airborne Division and the Polish Parachute Brigade, totaling 10,000 men, only less than 2,000 survived the battle. The casualties of the paratroopers... didn't start from the ground attack."

"Poor 1st Airborne Division..." everyone sighed together.

Earning 500 Bloody Points was not easy. Essentially, the adventurers here were still ordinary people. No matter how much they strengthened themselves, they couldn't withstand bullets.

The group of adventurers felt like cursing, but there was nothing they could do under the circumstances.

However, a butcher-like man asked Shen Yi, "Can you tell us more about Operation Market Garden? The city has given us five tasks, to choose three out of two and one out of two. We want to hear about the Arnhem Bridge. It might help everyone's choice later. We have time now, and it's better to clear up the situation. Once we jump out of the plane, we'll probably have to fight on our own. It would be beneficial for everyone if we could unify the breakout direction."

Shen Yi was surprised by the butcher-like man's calm and agile thinking.

Indeed, due to the optional tasks, it was inevitable that adventurers might choose different directions to break out. If everyone could unify the direction of the breakout, it would be much safer.

Shen Yi looked at the sky outside and said, "We have at most three minutes before we need to prepare to parachute. I'll make it short. Operation Market Garden was proposed by Marshal Montgomery and was fraught with overconfidence, underestimation of the Germans, inadequate war preparation, insufficient reconnaissance, and lack of coordination. Due to intelligence errors, Montgomery was unaware that in the areas where the Allies were supposed to land, the German SS 2nd Armored Army had already deployed two armored divisions and part of the 1st Airborne Army Group. The Allied paratroopers, lacking heavy equipment, were dropped right above the German armored forces. Additionally, the Allies performed high-altitude jumps, averaging 366 to 457 meters, much higher than the standard jump height of 244 meters in World War II. With continuous anti-aircraft fire from the Germans, many were killed before reaching the ground. Worse, just two hours after the airborne assault began, the commander of the German 1st Paratrooper Corps, Student, obtained a copy of the Allied operation orders from a downed glider. He took this order to Group B headquarters to meet with Model, planning the German counterattack. Among the German generals, Student knew Holland better than anyone and understood the major weaknesses of airborne troops, such as insufficient ground mobility and lack of heavy weapons. Finally, Model chose Arnhem as the training area for a part of the SS armored forces, which was the ultimate target of the British 1st Airborne Division."

"Damn it!" "Foolish!"

Everyone felt the breath of death in Shen Yi's last words and couldn't help but curse.

"Tell us about the Arnhem Bridge," the butcher-like man continued.

"The drop of the British 1st Airborne Division was not smooth. In fact, due to intense German anti-aircraft fire, they were forced to parachute early, and most of them landed in a small forest far from Arnhem, where they were heavily surrounded by the Germans. A small part managed to break through and get close to the Arnhem Bridge, which was the 2nd Battalion of the 1st Airborne Division. They were the first to enter Arnhem and occupied the northern end of the bridge but were gradually surrounded by SS armored forces, becoming completely isolated. Under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Frost, the battalion engaged in a desperate battle with the Germans until September 20. To avoid unnecessary casualties, Lieutenant Colonel Frost led most of the wounded to surrender to the Germans, who accepted their surrender. However, the remnants of the 2nd Battalion under the command of Major Ralph refused to surrender and continued to fire on the Germans. The German 'Tiger' tanks immediately began bombarding them. On September 21, the 'Tiger' tanks collapsed the last wall held by the remnants of the 2nd Battalion, completely retaking control of the Arnhem Bridge. After that, the Allies never got close to the Arnhem Bridge again until two months later when all trapped troops were finally rescued."

"A completely suicidal mission, Montgomery that idiot," someone grumbled.

"I've always disliked him," another chimed in.

The twenty-two adventurers on this transport plane unanimously began to hate Montgomery.

The fat man next to Shen Yi asked dumbfoundedly, "How do you remember so clearly?"

"I checked the information in the hour of preparation given by the mission."

"But that doesn't mean you can remember it so clearly."

"I have master-level memory," Shen Yi replied coldly.

"Memory can be enhanced too? I've never heard of that."

Someone else knocked on the fat man's head: "Dumb, he's joking with you. People like you get dumber the more they enhance."

Everyone laughed.

The butcher-like strong man said with a wry smile, "No wonder there's a reward of 4000 Bloody Points. Damn, we have to fight against Tiger tanks. What do you say? North or south?"

North meant capturing the Arnhem Bridge, and south meant rescuing the main force of the 1st Airborne Division. Obviously, this was a life-and-death choice.

"I choose north," Shen Yi said. "You decide for yourselves."

"This kid really has guts," someone muttered.

"I've seen this kid before, a newbie. I heard his completion rate in the rookie mission is not low, and he seems to have killed the vampire Dracula," someone suddenly interjected.

The others looked at each other in disbelief: "How is that possible?"

The crowd murmured among themselves, but Shen Yi simply chuckled and casually took out the equipment he had prepared earlier from his Bloody Emblem.

"My God, a spirit fire gun, an infinite ammunition box, a bulletproof jade amulet, and a Kevlar bulletproof vest. This guy is really loaded," someone exclaimed in surprise. They began to believe that Shen Yi must have completed a high-level task; otherwise, he couldn't afford these items. The group eyed his equipment enviously, knowing that if this weren't a cooperative attack scenario, someone might have already tried to harm Shen Yi, although whether they would succeed was another matter.

The butcher-like giant asked Shen Yi again, "Can I ask why you chose to go north? I don't believe you're just after the high reward."

Shen Yi looked at the giant and smiled, "My name is Shen Yi. What's yours?"

"Names don't mean much here. You can call me Jin Gang; that's what everyone calls me."

Shen Yi nodded, finding the name fitting for the giant. "If you pay attention to the hints on the emblem, you'll notice that the first optional task is to assist the 1st Airborne Division in breaking out of the encirclement. Do you know when the 1st Airborne Division broke out?"

"Not two months later, right?" Diamond immediately caught the implication in Shen Yi's words.

Shen Yi nodded, "The forest area has the main forces of the 1st Airborne Division, so the German encirclement there is the strongest. The situation of the 2nd Battalion is dangerous, but in fact, since the battalion and the division's troops were isolated, the Germans did not need many troops to deal with them. Their main attack focus was still on the 1st Airborne Division's main forces. If we choose the 1st Airborne Division task, it's certain that we won't be able to do much against the powerful German artillery and onslaught with our current enhancements. But if we go to Arnhem Bridge, even if we're weak, our advanced weapons can greatly assist the 2nd Battalion, changing the balance of power more than with the 1st Airborne Division. In other words, going to Arnhem Bridge, our impact is much greater."

The group suddenly understood. Someone immediately said, "So, going to the Arnhem Bridge has a higher chance of survival than going to rescue the 1st Airborne Division?"

Shen Yi shook his head, "No, the survival rate of rescuing the 1st Airborne Division is still higher. Don't forget, historically, 2,000 people from the 1st Airborne Division eventually escaped, while the 2nd Battalion was almost completely wiped out."

"So, if we choose to rescue the 1st Airborne Division, the task will definitely be completed, regardless. The difference is whether we can survive. But if we go to the bridge, the outcome is uncertain. Arnhem Bridge might be captured, or we might only hold it for a few more days, right?"

"Right."

"If that's the case, I'd rather go south."

Shen Yi sneered, "How many days' worth of food did you bring? Enough for two months? Do you know how the 1st Airborne Division survived those two months of being surrounded? They lived on grass roots and tree bark! Many died of hunger or untreated injuries. How many of you have guns with infinite ammo? What will you eat and use towards the end?"

The crowd was stunned.

Shen Yi continued, "Before everyone came in, no one knew what the task was. I don't think many prepared for prolonged combat. Those who want to hold out for two months and then break out, go ahead. I won't. I brought food for ten days; I'm only going to Arnhem Bridge. Just a reminder, this is a cooperative attack scenario. The more people, the higher the success rate. In my opinion, the difficulty of the Arnhem Bridge is half due to not many adventurers choosing it. Once this issue is resolved, the task is half completed."

Jin Gang laughed, "No wonder you're so keen to tell us all this."

Shen Yi immediately replied, "Yes, I need your strength. I believe those who don't have the courage to face death won't be confident enough to complete the optional tasks. After all, the airborne division suffered heavy losses, losing three-quarters of their soldiers. No one can guarantee survival after choosing the first optional task. But by choosing to break through north, we can share the risk and make the breakthrough much easier. After completing the main task, those who don't want to risk can return. Those willing to take the risk can stay and continue. Isn't that better for everyone?"

After hearing this, the adventurers looked at each other.

Finally, Jin Gang was the first to nod, "Smart kid, not only brave but also smart. Alright, let's do that. After we parachute, we'll break through north together. After completing the main task, those who are afraid can return, and those who aren't can continue. How about it?"

"That's settled then!"