No Beast Girls on the Western Front

Page 126

Payne felt utterly exhausted. "Screw you!! Can't you see Lacey and Alpha are coming?! Guns pointed at the ground! Take them off right now! Ella, come here and hold the gun barrel!"

Stephen (dejectedly): "Oh, okay..."

Ella (seriously): "Understood!"

Chapter 198 CXCVII. New Discovery

Ella, her hand on the gun barrel, turned to watch Payne help Lacey and Alpha down into the trench, then began to lead the four beasts to sabotage the Frenchman's guns, wagging her tail thoughtfully.

After a while, she turned back to Stephen and asked, "Are you alright?"

Stephen, who was prying open the small metal box like he was cracking open a crab shell, paused for a moment. "What, is it alright?"

"That means, didn't the master just scold you a couple of times..."

Stephen's eyes darted around, and he forced a smile. "Haha, it's nothing, just a couple of insults. I've been treated much worse before..."

Ella continued, "Master was just thinking about everyone's safety, so he might have been a little rushed. Please don't mind."

Stephen blinked, seemingly surprised that she had guessed his thoughts.

But in the end, she just smiled and continued working, "Yeah, I know, I won't mind."

"I know you can't point a gun at people, I'm just... I've been a little too tired these past two days, so my brain isn't working properly."

"Let's finish this task quickly, then I need to get some rest when I get back..."

"Ugh, this thing is a bit slippery, and it's firmly attached to the gun, it's really hard to pry it open..."

While Stephen was struggling with his bare hands, Payne, while directing the four beasts to cause destruction, checked in with the two dogs and asked, "How's Camerissiere doing?"

Both dogs answered simultaneously: "They're in great condition, there's no major bleeding, and they were barking so loudly that the vet gave them a morphine injection to calm them down."

"Good, well done." Payne stroked one dog's head with one hand. "Keep working."

"Woof~" x2.

The beast girl is indeed powerful. An ordinary person might not be able to completely destroy it even after hitting it two or three times with a rapid-fire weapon, but Lacey and Alpha only need to swing their entrenching tools to knock the little box back to its parts state.

Even the shovel will develop a small dent.

Payne picked up the scattered parts and examined them, finding various gears and connecting rods, and realized that this was not a simple device.

He didn't study mechanical engineering in college (referring to his two lifetimes), so naturally he didn't understand these things.

Let's send it back to the rear and have a professional take a look.

"Ding!"

"Ah! Boss, boss, I opened it!"

A crisp metallic clang rang out, followed by the excited neighing of the white horse.

Payne immediately dropped the parts he was holding and rushed over, taking what Stephen handed him—a small box that had been broken into two square pieces.

"Well, it's basically intact. Thanks. I'll see if I can get you some apples when I get back."

"Hehehe~"

Although both hands were occupied and he couldn't pet the horse, Stephen still happily wagged his tail.

Although Payne didn't understand what the mechanical structure inside did, he could at least see that Stephen had pressed the outer shell inward slightly.

These dents likely damaged some of the internal transmission mechanisms, and in any case, none of the gears were moving.

The beast girl is really strong.

Just as Payne was reflecting on this, the company commander approached him and asked, "Did you figure anything out? Like, what's the source of the power?"

“Look here.” He pointed to a small knob on the case. “It should be similar to a watch, powered by a spring.”

"Oh..." The company commander nodded. "So, all those Frenchmen have to do is come in every morning to load the guns with bullets and wind them up, and the guns can carry out harassment operations on their own?"

"Pretty much. I think it would be best to send this to the rear for further research."

"Then let Stephen go."

As he spoke, the company commander tapped his rifle butt twice on the ground with a worried expression. "Sigh! The French have already developed this kind of automated warfare, and we're still fighting with humans and orcs!..."

Payne reassured him, "Don't worry so much. This little gadget doesn't require much technology. We can copy it in a few days, and mass production will be possible in half a month."

Moreover, from an Earthling's perspective, the various tool beasts and animal-eared girls that Dexter created are truly cutting-edge technology...

After collecting more debris from explosions, bullets, gunstocks, and broken repeating mechanisms, Payne once again asked Stephen to make a trip to the rear command post to send this important intelligence back as soon as possible.

Actually, this matter wasn't that important; he just wanted to find a reason to send the beast girl back to a safer rear area.

However, this battle wasn't particularly dangerous.

He didn't fire a single shot from beginning to end, and the number of times all the soldiers in B Company fired their weapons was also very few.

After entering the French positions, the most they did was clean up the battlefield.

When they reached the second trench, they realized they had misunderstood the first wave of attackers, because the two lines of defense behind them were also equipped with automatic firearms.

They were attacked in the no man's land because the first wave of soldiers didn't have time to clear the guns behind them.

In addition to the standard rifles issued to the French army, they also found some short and crudely made rifles, which appeared to be small experiments conducted by the French army for this operation.

Come to think of it, if the goal is simply to hold off the enemy with automatic rifles, there's no need to use ordinary rifles. Just produce some defective ones to make do, since they'll be gone after one charge from the enemy anyway.

However, the French also had some ambitions, as the soldiers later discovered a machine gun equipped with a repeating fire mechanism in the third trench.

The machine gun was equipped with a very long, specially made ammunition belt, which provided excellent firepower and endurance. The automatic firing mechanism was not damaged by the continuous vibration.

I never expected such a small box to be so complicated.

However, these overt weapons did not pose a significant threat; the most insidious threat came from the French, who left behind numerous poison gas canisters on the battlefield.

Payne even suspected that there was no poison gas in the bottles, but seeing the large skull and crossbones symbol printed on the bottles, no one dared to gamble and could only send more people to deal with these poison gas bottles.

This action is like laying landmines on the ground; it won't cause any damage, but it can slow down the enemy's advance.

Although B Company lost fewer than ten men in total during this "battle," and none of them were seriously injured, the team remained tense because they kept seeing new challenges from the French along the way.

So, as evening approached, after B Company arranged for the sentries to be on guard, the men who had been on edge all day decided to rest.

Their mission was simply to cover the main force as they occupied the trench; the work of going deeper would be done by other units.

However, strictly speaking, the battle is still ongoing, so Tomato Head has a good reason not to come to the front line and let them send people back to get their own food.

So Payne had no choice but to have the beast girls temporarily suspend their work of inspecting the bunkers, intending to address their hunger issues first.

But what he didn't expect was that some beast would actually try to solve its belly problem on its own—

Upon hearing his command, Ella and Lacey emerged from the trench, chatting and laughing. Ella was holding a long, thin object in her hand.

—The worst part is that after tearing open the packaging, she put it straight into her mouth!

Chapter 199 CXCVIII. An Excellent Trainer

At that moment, Pine was like a chemistry teacher who saw a student about to throw sodium into water; almost instantly, he started burning impure hydrogen gas (referring to the sharp popping sound) and grabbed Ella's wrist.

"You big idiot!! What do you think you're doing?!"

Ella, who had just opened her mouth, immediately looked terrified and looked Payne up and down with a pitiful expression. "Can't I...can't I even eat something?..."

"Can't you use your brain for once?!"

Payne nearly choked, snatched the things from Ella's hands and threw them on the ground. "Under normal circumstances, I wouldn't have reacted this strongly."

"But have you ever considered that since the French essentially abandoned this defensive line on their own initiative, is it possible that they deliberately left this food behind just to give a little poison shock to a dimwit like you?"

Ella blinked twice, then suddenly exclaimed, "French...are the French really this bad?!"

Payne: "..."

This guy's loyalty and reaction speed are beyond question, but he's really lacking in common sense...

...No, actually, that's not quite right.

What she really lacks is time to teach common sense and battlefield survival skills.

Even Payne had never encountered a beast girl as ignorant as her.

Thinking about these questions with some regret, and then looking at her silly and adorable appearance, Payne's anger subsided by half. He pressed her head and said:

"When people turn bad, they're all the same, regardless of whether they're French or German."

"In short, in the future, in unfamiliar environments, you must think more before doing anything, and if you are unsure about anything, ask me first. Do you understand?"

"Oh, by the way, haven't you done any food refusal training?"

“…Refusal to eat training?” Ella tilted her head. “What’s that?”

"It's training that they're not allowed to eat anything without my permission."

Ella thought for a moment, then shook her head. "No. The food the training base gives us isn't enough; we have to find our own food."

"For example, catching bugs in the ground, taking bird eggs from trees, or looking for leftover food in places like the cafeteria in the middle of the night..."

Hearing her say that, Payne felt bad too, and the remaining half of his anger quickly dissipated. He rubbed the dog's head and said, "Alright, alright, let's not talk about these things anymore. Let's go eat right away."

"I believe you didn't do it on purpose. It's just that your past experiences have made you develop the habit of eating food as soon as you find it."

"However, we will definitely have to do food refusal training in the future."

Ella nodded immediately, "Yes, I'll do whatever Master says."

"What a poor child, sigh..."

Payne sighed, then glared at Lacey. "Why didn't you say anything to stop her?!"

Perhaps still feeling the effects of her heat, Lacey glared back defiantly: "How could I have imagined she'd pick it up and eat it!"

"You shouldn't have let her pick it up in the first place!"

"It was so dark in the trench, how could they not see us!"

"I asked you to look after Ella, and this is the result of your efforts?!... Never mind, let's not talk about this anymore, let's go eat..."

Payne waved his hand wearily, then turned and climbed the ladder.

He didn't hear it, but Ella, who was standing next to Lacey, heard it clearly. Lacey stood there for a few seconds and then let out a pitiful whimper.