Too Much Punch

Russia's anti-tank mine was the TM-62M, and the most common anti-tank mine used by Ukraine was also the TM-62M. As the most mass-produced anti-tank mine in the former Soviet Union and the most widely exported across the globe, it was impossible for Gao Fei not to be familiar with it. Measuring thirty-two centimeters across and 12.8 centimeters thick, it weighed 9.5 kilograms and packed 7.5 kilograms of explosive filler. Its pressure fuse was typically set between two hundred and five hundred kilograms. Even calculating by the most sensitive setting of two hundred kilograms, an infantryman stepping on the fuse would never set it off. And if the fuse was dialed to five hundred kilograms, one could jump up and down on it without anything happening. In other words, only vehicles and tanks running over it would trigger the mine. Tossing it around or giving it a few hard thumps wouldn't do a thing. Knowing that intellectually was one thing, but when Andrey hurled an anti-tank mine straight into the trench with a whoosh, it still made Gao Fei's hair stand on end. Moments later, another anti-tank mine came rolling across the ground and dropped into the trench. There was no need to crawl right under the enemy's nose to scavenge anti-tank mines. The Ukrainians had laid two mine belts along their defensive lines, and that belt now lay behind Gao Fei and his unit. So the location wasn't particularly dangerous. It merely required climbing out of the trench, heading over to the enemy's minefield, and plucking the mines up. It took little effort and wasted very little time. Yet tossing anti-tank mines around like that was something Gao Fei simply could not stomach. A single mine weighed nearly twenty jin, with fifteen jin of high explosive inside. Most people had zero conception of what that kind of weight actually meant. To make a simple comparison, a 152 mm artillery shell held 6.86 kilograms of explosive filler, while a NATO 155 mm M107 shell contained 5.8 kilograms. A single artillery shell detonating on the ground gouged out an enormous crater. Within ten meters was an absolute kill zone—standing, lying prone, in cover or out in the open, anyone within ten meters was dead meat. Shell fragments could lethally shred living targets out to fifty meters. How large was a fifty-meter radius? About half a soccer field, the classic reference people loved to use. Yet this ferociously destructive terror, a bomb that would vaporize a man without leaving a scrap of bone behind, was being flung around by Andrey like a slab of scrap iron. The more Gao Fei knew, the more terrified he felt. Watching two anti-tank mines slam into the trench with resounding thuds, he started to lose his temper. "Andrey!" Gao Fei couldn't resist barking. From outside the trench, Andrey answered, "Here!" As he spoke, yet another anti-tank mine was hurled into the trench. Andrey then crawled over on his belly, poking his head over the trench rim. "What's up?" "Can you—can you show a little respect to the mines? These are landmines, not bowling balls!" By shape, an anti-tank mine looked more like an oversized hockey puck, and by size, more like a curling stone. But right now, the only thing Gao Fei could think of was a bowling ball. Andrey shrugged it off entirely. "Don't worry, it won't blow. I'll grab a few more." Andrey crawled back. He crept on his stomach right up to the mines, crouched only after reaching them, scooped up an anti-tank mine, sprinted back hunched over with the mine in his arms, chucked it violently into the trench, and immediately dropped back to the dirt. This time, the distant rattle of a machine gun echoed across the field. They were far from the frontlines, at least a kilometer away, but moving across flat open ground outside the trench had finally caught the enemy's eye. The enemy responded with a burst from a heavy machine gun just to make a point. It wasn't a major threat, but they had been spotted. "Time to go!" Andrey rolled into the trench. Then, intentionally stepping onto an anti-tank mine, he pressed his boot right onto the fuse and hopped on one foot. "Boss, don't worry. This thing is harmless." "Holy fucking shit!" Gao Fei knew that in theory nothing would happen, but deliberately stepping on a mine to hop up and down—was that something any sane person would do? Gao Fei felt his blood pressure spike instantly. He truly could not fathom how these Russians' brains were wired. "Get off that damn thing! Don't you ever pull that crap again, or I'll—I'll fucking shoot you!" Terrified and thoroughly exasperated, Gao Fei lost his cool. There was no helping it; he still fell firmly into the category of normal human beings. Andrey had no idea why Gao Fei was so worked up, but since the boss had spoken, he obediently complied. That was the duty of a good subordinate. Andrey held open a sack, shoved two mines inside, hoisted the pack onto his back, and grabbed a mine in each hand. Cautiously, he asked, "Head back?" Gao Fei still walked behind with his weapon raised, keeping watch for drones. He noticed Andrey wasn't particularly tall, but the man had tremendous brute strength. Four anti-tank mines came out to roughly forty kilograms, yet the weight seemed to barely faze him. They made the return trek without a word. Back at their position, Andrey took out the few remaining hand grenades and set to work modifying the anti-tank mines. The method was dead simple: just secure a grenade to an anti-tank mine. It didn't even need to be positioned directly over the fuse. Taping the hand grenade firmly onto the mine was more than enough. Gao Fei watched Andrey strap down a grenade, then pick up a mine in each hand ready to head out. He couldn't help asking, "Both mines together?" "Yeah. Saves a grenade." "I mean, aren't two mines going to produce way too big of a blast?" Andrey glanced at the anti-tank mines, tilted his head in thought for a moment, and replied with absolute confidence, "No problem at all." He knew the blast would be massive, but exactly how much force two anti-tank mines stacked together would unleash was something Gao Fei genuinely didn't know. Though skeptical, since Andrey claimed it was fine, Gao Fei figured it should be fine. Glaski watched from a distance and asked in a low voice, "Ready?" "Ready." Blowing the enemy's communication trench required the cooperation of the entire 1st Squad to provide covering fire. Andrey slung the pack containing the two mines onto his back, casually grabbed an entrenching shovel, and declared confidently, "All set." Gao Fei naturally had to accompany him to provide cover—not only against enemy soldiers who might already be stationed in the communication trench, but also against drones. Gao Fei gave Glaski a hand signal. Glaski whispered, "Everyone heads up. Cover them." One soldier took point, Gao Fei followed slightly behind, and Andrey brought up the rear. The three moved cautiously down the communication trench, stopping after the first bend and raising their weapons toward the next straight section. "Is here good?" The first bend was only a dozen or so meters from their home position. Gao Fei felt it was too close; after a moment's thought, he decided the distance wasn't safe enough. "Let's blow it at the next turn. This is too close." This time Gao Fei took the lead. Rounding the second bend, he peeked around the corner first. After confirming there were no enemies, he urged Andrey, "Right here. Make it quick." Andrey dropped the pack and began digging into the dirt with his entrenching shovel. He excavated a cavity into the side near the trench floor, carving out a horizontal niche. Shoving the anti-tank mines inside before detonating them would guarantee that the trench walls collapsed. Digging a hole wasn't difficult, but it took longer than Gao Fei anticipated. When five minutes passed, Gao Fei couldn't help pressing, "Not done yet?" "Gotta dig deeper." Earthwork wasn't as simple as Gao Fei imagined. A hole that didn't look very deep actually required a substantial amount of labor. After ten minutes, Andrey inspected the niche he had carved out and said with satisfaction, "This should do it." He tossed one anti-tank mine inside, then stacked the other on top. Satisfied with the depth, Andrey murmured, "Alright, you guys pull back first. I'll set it off." There was actually a cord available, but Andrey didn't seem inclined to use it. Gao Fei couldn't resist interjecting, "You're not using the cord? Won't two mines be way too powerful? Use the cord!" "No need. I've seen others do it, it's fine." Gao Fei still felt uneasy, but seeing Andrey's absolute confidence, he decided to trust the man's expertise. He tried to recall the fuse delay on an RGO hand grenade—around three to four seconds, right? In three seconds, running at full tilt, one could surely cover at least ten meters. Wait, ten meters? That distance was nowhere near safe! Gao Fei could no longer trust Andrey's expertise; he trusted his own. "No way. You're using the cord to pull the grenade pin. That's an order." Andrey only skipped the cord because he found it a hassle. But since Gao Fei was being cautious, he could only obey. A cardinal rule of being a good subordinate was never to cross the boss. Andrey tied the cord to the grenade's pull ring, adjusted the angle to ensure it would yank the pin cleanly, and turned to Gao Fei. "You guys fall back first." Gao Fei retreated ahead of him back to the first bend. The moment he saw Andrey yank the cord and sprint, Gao Fei spun on his heel and bolted as well. Three seconds was indeed enough to cover good ground, but the weight of full combat gear dragged down his pace, and accelerating took time. Before Gao Fei could even cover ten meters, an enormous tremor ripped through the ground beneath his feet, a muffled, colossal roar slammed into his ears, and his body tumbled forward entirely out of his control. The world spun wildly. Gao Fei crashed into the trench floor, watching the entire communication trench get swallowed instantly by a wall of dust until nothing remained visible. It felt as if heaven and earth had shattered. His head buzzed incessantly. Dazed, Gao Fei looked back, but could see nothing through the billowing dust—forget Andrey, he couldn't even spot the soldier who had been right beside him. Gao Fei opened his mouth and said something, but couldn't hear his own voice. He wasn't particularly frightened, just utterly disoriented. The soldier who had joined them to provide cover suddenly materialized out of the dust, mouth moving as he spoke to Gao Fei, but Gao Fei could only watch the man's lips open and close without catching a single sound. Could Andrey have blown himself to pieces? Gao Fei waited for what felt like an eternity before Andrey finally emerged from the rapidly settling dust. His footing was unsteady and he looked dazed, but he appeared to be in one piece. Spotting Gao Fei, Andrey opened his mouth and said something. Gao Fei roared, "What the bleeping fuck are you saying, you idiot! Didn't you say it'd be fine? What the bleep are you babbling about?" In a mix of rage and terror, Gao Fei could only swear in his native tongue. Andrey couldn't hear him anyway, so what he said hardly mattered. Andrey simply shouted at the top of his lungs, "Shouldn't have used two! Good thing you made me use the cord!" It turned out that not hearing was simply a matter of volume. Just as Gao Fei was unleashing every profanity he knew at Andrey, the ground shook once more, and another massive boom echoed nearby. This time it wasn't a landmine. It was an artillery shell—the enemy's retaliatory barrage had arrived. Gao Fei grabbed Andrey by the collar and spun around to run. Shells began detonating in rapid succession. Gao Fei didn't even feel afraid now; whatever exploded next couldn't possibly be more terrifying than the blast Andrey had just created. Before they even made it back to their main position, Gao Fei saw a soot-covered Samir. Seeing both of them intact, Samir wasted no time and grabbed Gao Fei, dragging him along in a sprint. Once back, Samir shoved Gao Fei straight into the artillery shelter. Without even bothering to take cover himself, he turned on Andrey and unleashed a furious tirade. It was impossible to hear, but from the shape of his mouth, the f-bombs never stopped rolling.