Chapter 1: The Visitor from Afar (Part 2)

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  In the Japanese side, the behavior of the two sergeants attracted the attention of the highest military officer in their reconnaissance squad, a squad leader. "Hachiga, why did you fire!" Nogawa Masao, as a newly appointed squad leader, had reason to scold his soldiers. "Do you want to let the Eighth Route Army know we're here early?" On the surface, that was the reason, but in reality, Nogawa Masao's true thoughts were that he didn't want to follow in the footsteps of his predecessor and end up being sent back to Japan in a coffin. His predecessor, that unlucky guy, Kumanishi Seikichi, who had a distinctive mustache and uneven eyes, had been shot in the chest during a sweep three months ago. From the entry point, it seemed like a non-fatal wound, at most requiring a few days' rest in the hospital - of course, this was the normal consequence of being hit by a 6.5mm Arisaka bullet manufactured by the Tokyo or Mukden arsenals. However, unluckily for him, the bullet that hit him was not from those factories but a reloaded bullet made by the Eighth Route Army's arsenal. Although such bullets had many defects, they had one advantage - as seen in Seikichi's case - which was that after hitting their target, they didn't exit in a straight line but instead zigzagged and drilled into his heart, so he ended up dying.

  Two old Japanese soldiers knew what the newly parachuted military academy graduate officer was thinking in his heart - new comers, don't need to say, they all know that he wants to show off his military dignity and is afraid of not being given face by the old soldiers. However, although they have a kind of contempt unique to old soldiers in their hearts, on the surface they still have to get along, so they stand up straight one by one, and the other party also knows clearly that as long as they can save face, the old soldiers will not "bully" them, of course, as an exchange, the new lieutenant will not follow the imperial tradition to give them a "three-bow salute".

  "Report, we just discovered a bandit!" Yozawa Akihito shouted loudly. As the new squad leader was from an old-fashioned military family, he had always been displeased with some "normal" actions of the Imperial Japanese Army during battles, such as looting, rape, and indiscriminate killing of innocent people, considering them to be against the "Bushido spirit". Therefore, before he changed his own thoughts, it was better to take care of his emotions. Of course, after a period of tempering, Yozawa's views on these actions had undergone significant changes, and he even began to think about participating in some "normal" actions himself, so he also understood the two old soldiers' words: "Be careful not to startle the snake in the grass!"

  "Ahai!" The two Japanese sergeants replied in unison, then picked up the cigarette that had been thrown to the ground earlier and continued smoking.

  Just as the two Japanese soldiers finished smoking and threw away their cigarette butts, our classmate Wei Yuankun retrieved his weapon. At that moment, he was lying down in the same spot where he had been shot earlier, using the scope on his M14 sniper rifle to observe the small group of enemy soldiers at the edge of the village. Following the sniper's rules he had read in a certain military literature, he first took aim at the most valuable target among the enemies - that lieutenant squad leader. In theory, his M14 sniper rifle equipped with a 9x scope could accurately hit human targets within 900 meters, and Wei Yuankun had indeed hit targets over 800 meters away with it before. However, there was no comparison between the two, as the Japanese officer in front of him was indeed slender - at least compared to the brown bear he had hit earlier, he was much too thin. Wei Yuankun also knew his own strength, and although the distance was only around 400 meters, his crosshairs still wavered on the squad leader's head for a moment before directly aiming at his chest.

  It should be said that Nogawa Masao's sixth sense was quite good, when he was aimed at by someone 400 meters away with a rifle, he first felt his forehead cool down, and then felt some suffocation in his chest, but ordinary people generally do not react to instantaneous premonitions, and neither did he. When he started thinking about dodging, Wei Yuankun's gun had already fired, the bullet entered through his chest, and since Wei Yuankun used a hunting hollow-point bullet, when the bullet exited his body, it caused severe consequences.

  His heart was broken. This phrase would be poignant in a love song, but on the battlefield it had no poetic meaning. The two Japanese soldiers around him showed no pity for his death - he's dead, that's all. To be honest, the old soldiers didn't think much of this new officer's chances of survival. For the deceased, his greatest fortune was that he died before completely becoming a beast, rather than as an inhumane Japanese officer. Unfortunately, Wei Yuankun, who fired the shot, was just a mediocre sniper and not a Japanese detective, so he didn't care about the moral character of the person he killed - as long as he was a Japanese devil, that was enough. However, the death of this young Japanese lieutenant brought immense benefits to his comrades. All the Japanese soldiers knew that someone was sniping at them, and since the Eighth Route Army often did such things, all the Japanese soldiers reacted extremely quickly. Each person swiftly ran towards the nearest cover, and a sergeant took over command. The platoon of Japanese soldiers soon retreated behind the village and the reed screens to the left.

  Of course, Wei Yuankun couldn't let them succeed in their detour. Soon, a Japanese soldier's thigh burst into a blood flower. After the left leg bone was shattered by bullets and only a piece of skin remained connected, all the other Japanese soldiers hid motionless, leaving their comrade to wail outside, although this would bring psychological burden for not saving him. However, Wei Yuankun, who understood human nature, soon gave the unfortunate soldier a shot in the chest and apologized for his mistake earlier, which should have been a headshot but hit the thigh instead. The Japanese soldier struggled for a few moments before going to see Amaterasu ōmikami without hesitation, and this was a good ending for both of them - Wei Yuankun got the pleasure of eliminating devils, the shot Japanese soldier escaped the battlefield and army that made him extremely nervous, and his 12 fellow soldiers didn't have to worry about his life or death and feel guilty. Very good, very perfect.

  "Damn it!" cursed Sergeant Cho Tae-mun, the actual commander of the reconnaissance platoon. Indeed, in less than a minute, the entire platoon of over 50 people was thrown into chaos by a single bandit, with two men already killed. However, through analysis of the gunshot sounds and the entry wounds on the fallen soldiers, Sergeant Cho had already reached a conclusion: the sniper was hiding somewhere near the small mound up ahead.

  Overall, Wei Yuankun's opening was not bad, eliminating two enemies with only three shots fired. Given his marksmanship and usual performance, this was already a superlative display. However, at this moment, he didn't feel the joy of success in his heart, but rather puzzlement. Logically speaking, after hearing the gunshots, these guys should have come to support him with tanks, so why hadn't he heard the sound of engines yet? As soon as he thought of this, a very ominous idea suddenly popped into his mind - that these guys had already abandoned him like trash. Although he didn't want to believe it, this was entirely possible.

  Assuming this is true - Wei Yuankun was starting to believe it might be real now. If so, he thought that continuing to stay here would no longer make sense. According to the sniper manual on the ground stall, a sniper cannot fire three shots in the same position, and he had already fired three shots, so he should also change positions - unfortunately, this change brought trouble.

  Wei Yuankun was a mediocre sniper, and his first choice of sniping position was problematic. Although it was convenient to hide and not easily discovered, it was not conducive to retreat. His retreating movement was also slightly larger than usual. If Shota Minami's vision was normal, he would definitely notice that there was a green object slowly crawling in the direction of the earth slope.

  In fact, Shota Minami's eyes were not as good as those Japanese aviators who could see stars during the day, but they could still see clearly the wind blowing and grass moving on the earth slope 400 meters away. At that time, he made a gesture to the Japanese soldier under his hand, then pulled open the bolt of the Type 38 rifle in his hand, took out a row of tracer bullets from the ammunition box on his back, loaded them, aimed roughly at Wei Yuankun's hiding position, and pulled the trigger.

  The old devil was indeed an old devil. Although he had only roughly aimed, the bullet still brushed past Wei Yuankun's helmet, scaring him into a cold sweat. But what was even more frightening was yet to come. Soon, the strong firepower of three Type 96 light machine guns all fired in his direction, and bullets fell around Wei Yuankun, kicking up dust.

  Wei Yuankun felt that despite his crawling speed being three times faster than before, it was still not enough. It would be better to stand up and run away as fast as possible. This could be said to be a very serious mistake he made - standing up and running away under the enemy's dense firepower was not a good idea.

  When he stood up and ran two steps, a whistling sound of artillery shells came over, and before he could lie down, a 50mm Type 89 grenade launcher shell exploded behind him. Although its power was not great - at least compared to the 155mm howitzer shell - the blast wave still sent him flying.

  When Wei Yuankun got up, dazed and confused, there was only one thought left in his mind: run! And fast! Despite Wei Yuankun running very quickly, and taking an S-shaped route during the process, his thigh was still hit by a bullet. Fortunately, he had already reached the side of the canvas tent, and Wei Yuankun hastily hopped on one leg for several steps before doing a forward roll to dive inside.

  It hurts, it really hurts! Wei Yuankun took a deep breath, and the pain that he hadn't felt while running earlier now hit him all at once. He looked down at his thigh and saw a small hole made by a 7.62mm bullet, with blood flowing out of it. Fortunately, it didn't hit any bones or arteries. Wei Yuankun knew this wasn't the time to cry over his wound, and his brain was still clear-headed. He knew he couldn't escape now, as the bloodstains on the ground would give away his direction to the Japanese soldiers. The only option was to resist where he was, and maybe hold out until reinforcements arrived. Of course, it was more likely that... "Killing one is not enough, killing two is a bonus!" Wei Yuankun gritted his teeth and took off the AKS74 from his back. A group of Japanese soldiers had already approached within 150 meters of him, with many obstacles in between. At this distance, he wouldn't be able to fire more than two shots with the M21 before being suppressed, so using an automatic weapon became his best choice.

  At 120 meters, Wei Yuankun loaded a grenade into the GP-25 launcher and adjusted the sight. He was still confident in his accuracy at this distance. When the Japanese were still 100 meters away, he fired the grenade. The Japanese soldiers who were advancing heard the sound of the grenade breaking through the air and all fell to the ground, except for one who was hit by shrapnel and fell down screaming while covering his face.

  Immediately afterwards, the Japanese tasted the power of AK-74 short bursts again. Two machine gun teams were pinned down on the ground, not daring to lift their heads. What excited Wei Yuankun at this moment was that he was no longer alone in shooting at the enemy. Just tens of meters away, there seemed to be another person.

  When Wei Yuankun discovered that he had not been abandoned, his usual humor returned to him. He was seen firing while shouting loudly "For the sake of the party and country, pull your brother one shot!" Soon, the other side responded "Is it Wei Yuankun? Is it Wei Yuankun?"