After extensive repairs and maintenance, Goliath was ready to go once again.

For some strange reason, though, I felt compelled to go back to Malinovka.

Don't ask me why.

All I know is that some strange force was calling me back there.

When I got there, I encountered a team driving a variety of tanks: M4 Shermans, Panzer IIIs, AMX-40s, T-34s, etc…

Nothing I hadn't seen before.

These guys weren't even part of a company.

Just some unwashed masses with no aim except to blow up whosoever should cross them.

Considering how tough the last battle was, I needed some easy pickings.

However, I knew that these guys were more dangerous than the Farmers' Brigade, so rather than taking them head-on, I chose to go up the hill and flank them.

Unfortunately, Goliath's speed was greatly reduced uphill, and I was afraid that if I pushed it any harder, then its engine would blow up.

Still, it was faster than my MS-1 would've gone.

Going uphill, I discovered that a T-34 had the same idea as me.

Naturally, I took aim and…

BOOM!

He was history.

Going downhill, I had the advantage of heavy weight, so while I was waiting for the gun to be reloaded, I used Goliath's weight to smash an M4 Sherman.

While I was flanking, I noticed that in the field, a few other tanks had come to join the battle.

Like my current foes, they too had no company affiliations, or if they did, then I couldn't tell by their tanks or their tank operating skill.

For the most part, it appeared that my opponents had chosen to focus on the main battlefield.

Another exception to this was a Panzer III.

He fired, but only did minimal damage.

I, on the other hand, did critical damage, putting another tank out of commission.

Rather than try to take on my opponents after flanking them, I decided to hide in the foliage, waiting as their ranks thinned out.

When their numbers began to lessen, I opened fire & took out another tank.

The strain of coping with two different foes took its toll on this team, and naturally, they were defeated.

I drove over to inspect my kills, when I noticed something:

In a destroyed house on their side of the field, there was a container of some sort.

When I got out of my tank for a closer look, it turned out to be a safe.

It wasn't a big safe, but it was just large enough for what I needed it for.

Unfortunately, despite the fact that I had increased strength from wearing armor all the time, and despite the fact that I could lift it over my head, I couldn't fit it in the turret, so I ended up just tying it down on the back of Goliath.

Just as I was about to leave, a T-34-85 from the other team showed up.

The tank stopped and the commander got out.

"Hey comrade, that was some nice work you did there!" he said.

"Thanks," I responded.

"How would you like to join us? We could do some great things together!"

"I'd love to, but I really must be moving on."

"Well, that's unfortunate, but if you insist, then I understand."

The commander was about to get back into his tank when I stopped him…

"Wait! Before you go, I want you to have something!"

"Yes?"

"Here, take my card!"

I handed him a playing card with the Ace of Diamonds on it.

Don't ask where I got it; even I've forgotten why I've been carrying it around.

The commander must've had a sense of humor, because he laughed at it and told me, "Very nice, comrade!"

I replied, "I'm glad you enjoy it. See you later, and I hope you won't forget me!"

"It's no problem! It was nice to fight alongside you!"

With that, we parted ways.

Back at my hideout, I unloaded the safe and tried to open it.

I tried a random combination:

"8…13…10…"

CLUNK!

The safe wouldn't open.

I knew that a simple safe such as this couldn't have more than three numbers in its combination, so I settled on trying combinations of that length.

For the next few days, instead of going out into the battlefield, I stayed home and attempted to crack the safe.

And for the next few days, I had to contend with many wrong combinations.

Luckily, I wrote down every combination that I tried in case I didn't hit a correct combination.

That way, I could review which ones I had already tried.

It was frustrating, but I kept going.

"4…12…11…"

CLINK!

The safe opened!

There wasn't much inside it, just 100,000 rubles and a large black diamond.

I would've been enthusiastic to receive such a gift back in the old days, but in this world, money was practically worthless.

Still, I was intrigued by the black diamond.

I didn't feel like investigating it at this moment because I'd spent so much time trying to crack this safe and I was pretty fatigued.

Instead, I just took my custom tank handbook and placed it underneath the money.

I also placed the letter from "W.G." in there.

At the moment, the book and letter was more valuable, but you could probably have guessed that already.

Satisfied, I closed the safe and went to bed.

Criticism is gold. Negativity and nitpicking are pyrite.