Chapter 834 The Envied Person

At dawn, the first golden sun rose slowly from the horizon. Holding the strap of the Suomi submachine gun in one hand and the backpack in the other, Malashenko was already standing on the dock on the east bank of the Volga River.

The cruel yesterday filled with smoke and blood has completely become a thing of the past, and a new page has officially set sail from now on.

The order Malashenko received was just to lead the team to the east bank of the Volga River to assemble and wait. As for what to do after crossing the river and what actions to take next, Malashenko had no idea and had not received any notification from anyone.

The east bank of the Volga River in the early morning was still a busy scene. Almost everyone within Malashenko's field of vision was busy with their own work.

The workers on the dock were busy unloading the fully loaded trucks that had just arrived. The Red Army soldiers patrolling the docks did not seem to notice Malashenko's arrival. Only the bomb craters left by the German air raids all over the docks reminded Malashenko that this was a battlefield. Otherwise, the scene in front of him would be enough to make Malashenko have the illusion that "the war is over."

The west bank of the river was a hell on earth burned by the raging fire, but on the east bank on the other side was a completely different and almost completely out of sync scene.

Although this does not mean that the war did not burn to the east bank of the Volga River, at least in the eyes of Malashenko, who was still in the hell of Stalingrad yesterday, the scene in front of him could be called heaven.

"This place is completely different from Stalingrad. You must think so, right?"

Malachenko, who doesn't like to be interrupted, is an exception this time. The words from Lavrinenko beside him made Malachenko agree and nodded slightly. Malachenko, who was thinking about what to do next, soon got the answer.

A major who was heading straight for Malachenko came to the two of them in less than ten seconds. After basically confirming that the two people in front of him were the ones he was waiting for, he spoke.

"Captain Malachenko and Deputy Captain Lavrinenko, am I right?"

From the time he ran over to now, he has always been smiling. The major in front of him, who is slightly older than him and should be just over 30 years old, gives Malachenko a very different feeling.

"He doesn't look like a guy rolling in a pile of dead bodies, but more like a scholar from the General Staff who serves the boss."

In his heart, he had a preconceived definition of the smiling tiger-like major in front of him. On the surface, Malashenko, who looked normal, responded with a salute.

"Congratulations, comrade, you found the right person. The people you are looking for are the two of us."

After confirming the result, the major did not respond immediately, but tilted his head to look at the other soldiers who were getting off the ship behind Malashenko. He nodded slightly and the next words came out quickly.

"General Zhukov has arrived and is waiting for you to come over. I came here to meet you with General Zhukov's order."

"You can call me Rostov, Comrade Malashenko. Please assemble the troops as soon as possible. When you are ready, we will set off immediately."

I thought it was no wonder that this guy felt different. It turned out to be a scholar brought by Comrade Lao Zhu from Moscow.

While his mind was more resolute in his judgment a moment ago, Malashenko, who shook hands with the still smiling major in front of him, also smiled.

"Okay, Comrade Rostov, give me three minutes, and we will set off immediately in three minutes."

The tanks and heavy equipment that were difficult to take away were all left in Stalingrad and delivered to the friendly forces. At present, except for some carry-on bags and necessary self-defense light weapons, there was almost no extra burden. The food reserves that should have been inconvenient to carry had been given away by Malashenko.

The only things that the soldiers could eat now, except for cigarettes and water bottles, were half a loaf of bread and biscuits in their pockets.

Commissar Petrov and Malashenko, who were standing not far behind and heard the conversation, exchanged glances and immediately understood each other's meaning and started to act.

Looking at Commissar Petrov waving his hand to urge the soldiers to get off the ship quickly, Lavrinenko, who was still standing with Malashenko, could not help but slowly shook his head and spoke.

"Sometimes I really envy you. Being like you is my ultimate ideal."

Lavrinenko's sincere sigh was a bit inexplicable. Malashenko, who was confused for a while, immediately responded.

"What are you talking about? What do you mean?"

Compared to Malashenko's face full of question marks, Lavrinenko, who was serious and had no hint of joking, answered without any hesitation.

"If it were someone else, they would probably be asking for directions right after getting off the boat, or borrowing a phone or radio to get in touch with their superiors."

"Look at you, you have a special envoy from your superiors waiting to pick you up right after you get off the boat, and you will meet General Zhukov, Comrade Stalin's fireman and Soviet hero, and report your work in person and receive instructions directly. You are only a lieutenant colonel."

"How many people envy you as a role model, but you act like nothing happened, as if these are just ordinary things like eating and drinking."

"To be honest, even I envy you, I'm serious."

Is what Lavrinenko said true? Of course.

Is Malashenko really enjoying these privileges that others can't envy, just like eating and drinking?

Well, it seems to be true.

As the saying goes, those who are involved are confused, while those who are on the sidelines are clear. As a direct beneficiary of various privileges, Malashenko often doesn't think of these things, or he thought of them at the time, but didn't take them seriously for a while, and then simply forgot about them because of busyness.

With Lavrinenko's half-joking reminder, Malashenko, who thought about it carefully, suddenly felt that it seemed to be true.

"Well, you are right, it is indeed enviable. If it were me, I would envy myself, too. It's true."

Lavrinenko, who spoke to Malashenko's heart, showed a very immoral smirk and patted his old classmate on the shoulder. It can be seen that our deputy head of the regiment is in a very good mood now.

"I have a hunch, Malashenko, General Zhukov must have brought you some reward, maybe a medal, don't you want to guess what it is?"