No Beast Girls on the Western Front

No need to ask, it must be Ruby's.

I wonder if she'll feel ashamed of her jealous behavior once the splitter is over.

As Payne chuckled to himself, he was about to reach out and comfort the haughty little squirrel when he noticed a change in Xiao En's wool; it seemed as if each strand of her hair was standing on end...

“Get down!!”

Before Payne could finish his questioning, a panicked shout rang out, followed by a rocket headbutt that struck him in the waist and knocked him to the side of the road.

If she hadn't been wearing a helmet, Payne suspected she could have poked two holes in herself.

Bai Xiaoen's roar, coupled with what seemed to be a whooshing sound from the horizon, immediately caused a commotion in the ranks, as if they were about to disintegrate at any moment.

However, although several shells did fall from the sky, they exploded on an open ground dozens of meters away.

While the new recruits were still crouching and looking around in surprise, the veterans had already started cursing.

The brothers of B Company were very respectful to Payne, whistling and pretending to look around at the scenery, but Payne still felt embarrassed and insisted on holding Xiao En down so that she wouldn't get up, completely hiding the two of them in the tall grass by the roadside.

Only after the commotion gradually subsided and the group resumed its advance did Payne stand up nonchalantly, but in the end he couldn't help but grimac and rub his back.

He had intended to grab Xiao En by the back of her collar to catch up with the main group, but he couldn't because the sheep was carrying three boxes of grenades...

Although no one blamed Xiao En, not only the soldiers of B Company, but even the other three beasts cast indescribable glances at her.

Xiao En, who was timid and easily embarrassed, blushed immediately and carefully apologized, covering her face with her helmet: "I'm...I'm sorry...I scared...I scared everyone..."

Payne snatched her helmet and slapped it on the horn with a loud "Duang!" "Don't be so jumpy next time something happens."

"Waaaaah, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry..." Xiao En immediately changed to a defensive posture, covering her head and crouching down. "Please... please don't punish me, waaaah..."

Payne hadn't planned anything, and seeing her like this, he couldn't help but laugh. He reached under her armpits to try and lift her up, but because she was carrying three boxes of grenades, he couldn't manage it...

"Grace, get her up."

After instructing the incredibly strong Cowgirl to handle Shawn, Payne once again used his wool-rubbing technique, then comforted her, saying:

"It's okay, it's okay. Everyone starts as a beginner, don't worry about it too much. Just study hard from now on, I won't do anything to you."

Hearing this, Xiao En finally dared to look up at Payne, "Really...really?"

Payne put the helmet back on her head. "Of course it's true, why would I lie to you? And I should thank you for remembering me when you felt danger."

"Ahem... I just hope you can use a safer method next time..."

"Haha... I'm sorry..." A rare smile appeared on Xiao En's face.

This should have been a happy occasion, but as the clanging and clattering sounds resumed, Payne couldn't help but ponder.

We need to figure out how to cut two holes in her helmet.

Chapter 60 LX. Daily Life in the Trench (Part 1)

Two gunshots rang out silently amidst the deafening artillery fire in the front trenches, going unnoticed by anyone.

Inside an ordinary trench, Lacey retrieved the helmet that had been knocked to the ground by bullets and handed it to Payne.

Payne looked at it from head to toe, then put the helmet on Xiao En's head. Her two horns emerged precisely from the two small holes in the helmet.

"Oh~~"

The dogs, cows, and squirrels watching all exclaimed in amazement.

Payne gave himself a smug thumbs-up. "How about that? My marksmanship is pretty good, isn't it?"

He had been thinking all the way to find a simple and effortless way to drill holes in the helmet.

The final idea was to mark the spot where Xiao En's horn touched the helmet with a pen, and then punch holes in it with bullets.

Contrary to common sense, steel helmets, especially those from before World War II, were ineffective against bullets in most cases.

Of course, decades after World War II, humans invented bulletproof helmets, which could indeed stop bullets.

During World War I, the majority of soldier casualties were not caused by bullets, but by shrapnel from grenades and artillery shells; helmets were primarily used to protect against these things.

For a frontline soldier, with beast girls already allowed to use melee weapons and the future likely to allow the use of firearms, accurate marksmanship is one of humanity's few advantages.

Payne placed the drilled helmet on the table, and Grace, holding a dagger, eagerly approached. "Is it my turn to make an appearance now?"

Since there was no crowbar, he had to let her use a dagger to widen the hole. "Okay, it's up to you."

Processing steel helmets is no easy task, especially since he didn't have the right tools. He decided to let the stronger Grace do the work first.

With the aim of exhausting the beast girl's abundant energy, after a while, Payne had Lacey also take a dagger to widen the other side of the hole, so that working together would be faster.

Anyway, Payne had them collect a lot of daggers after the battle, so it wouldn't matter if they used up two.

As for Xiao En, she was particularly attentive to her helmet, holding a water bottle and watching from the side, occasionally pouring water on the metal joints to cool them down.

"Could...could you smooth out the opening a bit? I don't want to scratch my corner..."

Seeing that the three beasts were busy with their own things, Ruby happily lay down on Payne's lap, "No beasts are fighting with me, hehe~~"

But Payne's attention wasn't on her; he was just absentmindedly tugging at her little ears on her head, staring blankly at the log-supported ceiling.

It was already evening, and the German artillery had been firing all day.

Although the French did retaliate, they were quickly suppressed and their efforts were ineffective. They soon slunk away and gave up.

Although the shells weren't aimed directly at my head, so the psychological pressure wasn't that great, the constant roar of artillery fire from behind the position and explosions from in front still made me feel a bit irritable.

Ruby stared at Payne's stubble-covered chin for a moment, then reached out and hooked her arm around his neck. "Thinking about something?"

"Hmm... I wouldn't say I'm thinking about anything," Payne said slowly. "I'm just wondering why, usually the higher-ups are so eager to send me new beasts. This time, with the attack imminent, there's still no news of new beasts... "

The little squirrel with the splitter couldn't stand such words. She flipped over and pushed Payne onto the bed. "Then it's better if you don't come. Sending a new beast over at this time is tantamount to murder."

Payne knew exactly what she was thinking, but since what she said made a lot of sense, he didn't argue and slid his fingers along her petite back.

Because of the booming cannons, it was difficult to talk, and neither the man nor the animal could think of anything to talk about, so they remained in the position of the man lying flat and the squirrel perched on the man's chest.

Their shelters were located in the second line of defense, so even if the enemy launched a preemptive attack, they would have plenty of time to react, and there was nothing to worry about.

Ruby poked Payne's nose and played with it, while Payne pinched Ruby's tail and played with it, the swishing sound of metal scraping echoing inside the trench.

"Ha..." Ruby gently blew a breath on Payne's face.

"what happened?"

"Nothing much, just a bit bored."

"How about... I continue teaching you to read? And math too."

"No, the sound of the cannons is annoying and makes it hard to concentrate on studying."

"Then...how about playing cards?"

"Well... not impossible."

"Why is it okay to play cards but not to study?"

"Ugh, why are you acting like a teacher? No wonder you humans say teachers are annoying creatures..."

"Ha, if Paul and his teachers hadn't encouraged them to join the army, I actually quite liked teachers like that... at least they were more amiable than the French."

As Payne spoke, he scratched his lower back. "Damn, I have a lump... I've only just arrived at the front lines and I'm already being gnawed on by lice again?"

Hearing this, Ruby had a sudden inspiration. She turned around and sat on Payne's stomach, then smeared Payne's face with her big tail. "Perfect, let's catch some lice."

If there's only one louse on your body, you definitely won't find it.

But in a trench environment that's comparable to a sewer, you'd definitely have more than one lice on your body—dozens or even hundreds are possible.

Not to mention that animal girls, with their abundant hair, are practically a magnet for lice.

Before Payne could even touch it, he felt small particles from the tail fall onto his face...

Even after more than 500 days of fighting on the front lines, this sensation still gave him goosebumps.

I wish I could be assigned a beast girl of the monkey family someday...

Thinking this, Payne patted Ruby's little bottom, "Lift your tail up a little. Ruby, Ruby, do you hear me? Lift your tail up, mmm..."

To everyone's surprise, the little squirrel not only disobeyed the command, but also lowered its tail further, causing Payne to get a mouthful of fur.

He immediately shoved his tail in an annoyed tone, "Are you asking for a beating? You wait, just wait and see how I deal with you tonight."

But Ruby didn't seem flustered at all, and simply said, "Let's have a lice-finding contest."

Payne was immediately spurred on by his male competitive spirit: "Fine, you have more lice in your big tail than I do all over, how could I possibly lose?"

As he said this, Payne casually picked out a hard little granule from Ruby's tail, pinched it hard with his nail, and with a "snap," a small red spot appeared on his fingertip.

It looks like this louse has eaten its fill.

But soon, he sensed the little squirrel's sinister intentions—her little hands were flailing around everywhere!

"Isn't that cheating? Don't move around, I'm not interested right now."

But Ruby ignored Payne's objections, swishing her big tail across his face twice, while continuing to search for lice in the grass with her hands, occasionally touching them restlessly.

"How can this be considered cheating? You've been so kind to me on the splitter, I just wanted to repay you properly~~"

"...I couldn't refute it."

Soon enough, Payne lost interest in catching lice.

Chapter 61 LXI. Daily Life in the Trench (Part 2)

With not much to do, time flowed abnormally slowly in the trenches, like mud.

During this time, Payne finished writing the letter that had been interrupted by the spy and sent it out;

While the shelling wasn't so intense, he continued to give the four beast girls elementary school lessons, teaching them to read and do math.

Every now and then, whenever he remembered something, he would tell Grace and Shawn about things to keep in mind when charging;

The rest of the time, they either played cards and chatted, or the dogs, cows, and sheep processed steel helmets, while humans and squirrels did their business.

It felt like an eternity, but it wasn't actually that long. After finishing his business once again, Payne lay in bed staring at the ceiling, only then realizing it was already the evening of the third day.

The little squirrel beside him was still restlessly nibbling on his shoulder. He casually patted her head and asked, "How are you feeling today?"

Ruby rolled her eyes. "I'm having such a horrible time with this splitter. I haven't had a single day of comfort."