Arc of Fire

Wang Zhong, a modern military enthusiast, unexpectedly transmigrates into a parallel world resembling early twentieth-century Europe, taking over the body of Count Rokossov, a dissolute young noble of the Ante Empire (modeled on Tsarist Russia and the Soviet Union). At this moment, the Ante Empire has erupted into full-scale war with the industrially and technologically powerful Plusen Empire (modeled on Nazi Germany). The front is collapsing, and Rokossov is pushed onto the battlefield, nearly made a scapegoat. The only "cheat" his transmigration brings is a top-down view like that of a real-time strategy game: he can observe the entire battlefield in his mind and tap into the vision of the troops under his command, spotting enemy movements and dangerous positions in time. And so this young noble, dismissed by his comrades as a fool, begins to "micromanage" the battlefield—shifting a machine-gun nest five centimeters to the left, hiding anti-tank guns in the woods on the right—overturning one desperate, encircled situation after another with modern tactical thinking. The novel rewrites classic battles such as the Minsk encirclement and the defense of the capital, weaving together massive tank charges, positional defense, night marches, and political intrigue, while adding fantastical war technologies such as the "Divine Arrow" guided rockets, "Sound Array" eavesdropping, and "Hymn" long-distance communication. Wang Zhong fights and dies alongside soldiers at the front while maneuvering among court and military factions, growing from a despised wastrel into a marshal commanding great armies. Against the backdrop of a grand war epic and a nation's transformation, the story portrays the fates of ordinary soldiers, officers, and civilians under fire. The book runs about 2.62 million Chinese characters and was completed in January 2025.