Chapter 137 Berlin's Rats

Walking less than 500 meters along a dark alley to the east, a relatively spacious street appeared in front of Lynn.

Because of the encounter of Eric's team the night before, and because there were already Soviet assault teams in the area, he stopped and didn't intend to use the lucky rearview mirror to search for Soviet snipers lurking in a building or a corner of the ruins.

Even with infrared night vision goggles, it was not enough to eliminate the danger.

Seeing Lynn raise his right arm vertically, the 13 soldiers of Berlin's 11th Night Combat Special Task Force dispersed silently. Three sets of night vision equipment were carried by Flens, Brühl, and the soldier Gute Strenk, who had previously belonged to Eric's night combat team. They had no experience training together before, but they still occupied the three outer corners relatively tacitly, conducting vigilant patrols with a high degree of concentration.

Jonas had already left the team, so Lynn consulted Brühl, "You left the sewer last night nearby, right?"

"That's right!" Brühl replied.

Lynn asked again, "Why didn't you continue along the sewer last night?"

"It was blocked!" Brühl replied without hesitation, "The Soviets were closing in, and the guard troops blew up the sewer entrance ahead!"

So that was it, Lynn nodded slightly, "The guard troops should only have planted explosives at the key sewer intersections, right?"

"I don't know!" Brühl answered without any excuses.

In that case, Lynn ordered, "Everyone, look for nearby manhole covers!"

Soon, someone quietly reported, "There's one here!"

Lynn didn't say much, "Down!"

The conditions in the sewer were still as harsh as ever, but as soldiers in wartime, this bit of hardship was nothing at all. Continuing eastward along the slippery, narrow, and low sewer branches, they entered a secondary mainline after a quarter of an hour, where soldiers could at least stand up straight to walk. However, they soon arrived at a complex junction, with four secondary mainlines and eight branches divided into upper and lower levels converging here. What's more, before Lynn could make a judgment at the junction, a series of dark red dots along with noticeably amplified gunfire suddenly came at them - in a situation where their mental preparation was not fully adequate, the elite special forces, who had experienced life and death on the battlefield many times, just managed to dodge awkwardly. Fortunately, the shooter obviously didn't have night vision equipment and simply inferred the target's position based on the footsteps. The bullets hit about ten centimeters away from Lynn's head, splashing debris from the hard sewer wall onto his face, causing a sharp, needle-like pain!

Unable to see the shooter in the night vision scope, Lynn immediately raised his gun forward and turned on the switch of the infrared flashlight. However, he couldn't see the shooter's figure at all in the night vision scope.

The opponent was hiding in the dark, and Lynn was unwilling to go back the way they came. He shouted decisively, "Waffen-SS!"

Fortunately, the response from the other side was in German too.

"What unit?"

Lynn didn't relax his vigilance. As he gestured for the soldiers behind him to move forward, he replied, "Berlin Garrison Command's 11th Night Combat Special Task Force! Your unit?"

"221st Volkssturm Battalion, under the 8th Defensive Area Garrison Command!" The other party not only reported their unit but also cautiously made a request, "State the name of the current Garrison Commander?"

One soldier after another passed by, with Wolf Room quietly circling clockwise along the junction, Brühl walking counterclockwise from the right side, and trying hard to find the lurking gunman by sound.

Lynn was worried that this was the enemy's way of extracting information, so he said, "I'll say the first name, you say the last name! Laurentz!"

At this moment, the voice suddenly increased in volume, roaring fiercely, "Wrong!"

Before this guy could lean out and fire at them, Wolf Room pounced into one of the sewer branches like a tracking wolf, followed by soldiers from behind, Brühl and others who went around from the other side. "Hands up" and "Don't shoot" cries mixed together.

Without hearing the gunshots again, Lynn estimated that the other party was indeed friendly forces. As he walked through the junction, he saw Wolf Room helping a limping guy out, "Boss, this guy was the one shooting at us!"

Lynn took out the flashlight he carried with him and shone it on the guy's face and body. Indeed, he was wearing a dirty gray uniform without any unit insignia, looking depressed and aggrieved, like a primary school student just bullied by older classmates.

"You're from the Volkssturm? What's your name?" Despite almost being shot by this guy earlier, Lynn spoke to him in a more gentle tone.

This guy completely lost the confidence he had in the previous dialogue, stammering, "Hans... Hans Krüger! 221st Volkssturm Battalion!"

"Boss, this is his weapon!" Brühl, who came later, held a similarly dirty submachine gun in his hand. It seemed to be an early model mp38.

Lynn glanced at the gun and said, "Did you get separated from your unit?"

"Uh, yeah, been here for a day, is there any food?" This guy asked pitifully.

Lynn took out a piece of bread from his bag and threw it to him, then turned to his subordinates and said, "Stay alert!"

No one spoke, no one moved casually. The underground space seemed to be filled only with the sound of rushing sewage, but when they really calmed down, they could easily hear gunshots and explosions.

After waiting for a minute and taking a minute to rest, Lynn guessed that this guy had finished eating the bread. He kindly took out a water bottle and gave it to him, then asked, "Your comrades blew up the sewer, so you had no way out, and you didn't dare to go out alone, is that it?"

After drinking several mouthfuls of water, this thin and weak guy, who looked almost fifty years old, reluctantly admitted it.

Lynn carefully put away the water bottle, still speaking in a gentle tone, "So you should know which sewer leads to the Soviet-controlled area to the east!"

"Huh? Are you guys going to the Soviet-controlled area?" This deserter from the Volkssturm suddenly reacted very strongly, as if it wasn't just an area controlled by the enemy, but there were also terrifying monsters.

"Our mission is to clear out the Soviet soldiers who infiltrated the 8th Defensive Area!" Lynn said firmly.

"Oh my God, are you... are you insane!" This guy suddenly seemed to be possessed by some modern-day commentator.

"Do you also want to go?" Lynn asked disdainfully and coldly.

The poor militiaman from the Volkssturm seemed to finally realize that these people in front of him wouldn't take him back to the rear. He turned around and pointed to a sewer, then begged before Lynn's group set off, "Can you give me some more food?"

"Are you planning to stay here until the war ends?" Lynn asked coldly, taking out a second piece of bread, almost as big as his palm, and giving it to him. Meanwhile, Brühl took out the magazine from the mp38, checked that there were still bullets inside, put it back, and threw the gun back to him. He said in a mocking tone, "Be a lucky long-lived rat, goodbye!"

Walking in the dark and damp sewer, Lynn suddenly felt that his situation was indeed not much different from that of a rat.

After walking along the narrow sewer branch for a long time, hearing intense gunfire and deafening explosions that also happened in the sewer, and hearing the piercing sound of tracked vehicles passing overhead, Lynn and his soldiers were not moved at all - as long as the path ahead was not a collapsed dead end, they could bravely move forward. However, there were two occasions when the path was blocked, so they had to turn around at the previous double or triple junction and try a new route, then open the flashlight in a relatively safe place to identify and adjust the direction with the military compass they carried with them. In this way, feeling like spending a very long time in the dark world originally belonging to rodents, they finally saw a staircase leading to the surface at a three-way junction.

"Guys!"

Before going up the stairs, Lynn turned around and said to the soldiers following him, "It's an honor to fight alongside you. If we can survive this adventure together, we should cherish the brotherhood and take care of each other in this life!"

Such words might sound a bit formal and insincere at a sociable gathering, but on the battlefield where life could disappear at any moment, it could easily touch people's hearts and instantly shorten the psychological distance between comrades.

"May heaven bless us!" Lynn finally made the sign of the cross on his forehead and chest, praying devoutly, then resolutely led the way up the stairs.