Chapter 23: Killing the Ghosts at Beiping

  Lei Zheng's voice was indeed in the Beiping city, where he had done jǐng investigation. He was very familiar with the inside and outside of this Beiping city. Even before the Japanese army arrived, he often asked to change his work location, mainly to get familiar with the terrain of Beiping, in case of unexpected needs later. After all, he was a true member of the Beiping underground party. Unexpectedly, today it really came in handy. He stood still, listened carefully for a while, and then knew the direction of the gunshot. A three-dimensional map of the surrounding area immediately appeared in his mind.

  "Baga, you're dead, dead, dead..." Zhao Zhibang personally took down a Japanese soldier after which he became extremely calm and collected, no longer panicked. He had been practicing martial arts since he was young, so his physical abilities were naturally good. He ran wildly through the alleys, leaving the four Japanese soldiers who were chasing him far behind. Those Japanese soldiers got angrier and angrier as they chased, shouting and firing their guns randomly. The residents of the alley heard the gunshots and had all closed their doors and windows to hide. To say that those Japanese soldiers' marksmanship was quite accurate, the four of them fired over a dozen shots, but somehow didn't hit Zhao Zhibang even once.

  The reason why Zhao Zhibang was able to escape unscathed is that the quality of the Japanese soldiers chasing him was not high, and it can even be said that they were extremely poor. These soldiers who normally held guns and stood guard were newly recruited Japanese immigrants in Northeast China, and they couldn't even compare to the second or third line troops of the Japanese army, let alone a regular police officer. Before enlisting, they were just farmers, and after practicing standing at attention, saluting, and shooting for a few days, they were sent here. They could only intimidate ordinary people, but they also knew their own limitations, so every time they turned a corner, the four of them would look at each other, push and shove for half a day before finally closing their eyes and charging out with gritted teeth. After all, they were afraid of death, because the bodies of their comrades who had just been killed should still be bleeding profusely. So after turning several alleys, Zhao Zhibang had long since disappeared without a trace.

  Zhao Zhibang turned over several alleys and found that the shouting and cursing sounds had stopped for a long time, and the gunfire had also stopped for a long time. He turned over an alley and stopped to hide at the corner of the wall, looking back, but after a while, he didn't see anyone chasing him.

  "Damn it... If only that bastard Ito and Yanagawa were the ones who got killed..." Zhao Zhibang had run for so long that he was getting tired. He sat down on the ground, panting heavily, and glanced back over his shoulder to make sure no one was following him. Then, with a flourish, he raised his bayonet in front of him, wiping off the bloodstains as he cursed under his breath.

  "I don't know if this will alarm them... If so, it'll be even harder for me to take revenge. Ah... I should have been more patient just now...". He thought that just now he was in a hurry to find Takao Masuo and Sugiyama Tsuguo, so he kept circling around the hospital entrance, which caught the attention of the sentry, and his heart began to regret it.

  "Who?" Just as he was still grumbling in his heart, that he might have startled the snake by acting rashly for a moment, suddenly footsteps came from behind him and soon reached his side, and he instinctively shouted.

  "Uncle Lei, .................... how did you find this place?" It turned out that the person who came was indeed Lei Zhengsheng. Originally, he had already followed the sound of the gun to find the direction in which Zhao Zhibang escaped, but just when he was about to get close, the gunfire suddenly stopped, so he could only grope around in the alley, hoping to meet Zhao Zhibang.

  Lei Zhengsheng glanced at Zhao Zhibang without saying a word, and walked straight over to him, stripping off his windbreaker. He then picked up the dagger that had fallen to the ground when he took off his clothes, wrapped it in the windbreaker, looked around, and threw the windbreaker and dagger into the ditch by the wall at the end of the alley: "Hurry up..."

  Lei Zhengsheng dragged Zhao Zhibang away without a word after finishing all this. Thanks to the live map in Lei Zhengsheng's mind, they quickly got rid of the Japanese soldiers who had been chasing them, these people were not comparable to the few Japanese immigrants who carried guns at the hospital entrance just now, if it was any later Zhao Zhibang might never come back again.

  "Zhao Zhibang, how can you be so muddled and reckless?" Lei Zhengsheng didn't dare to linger, and in one breath, he ran far away before hastily pulling Zhao Zhibang onto a public bus. After transferring several times, they finally returned to their home. Along the way, Lei Zhengsheng didn't say a word, only carefully observing the surroundings. Once they arrived home, he let out a sigh of relief and began scolding Zhao Zhibang.

  "Uncle Lei, I know who killed my dad!"

  "What's the point of that? Are you going to run to the Army General Hospital by yourself to take revenge?" Lei Zhengsheng was visibly worried and angry about Zhao Zhibang's reckless behavior.

  "I"

  "Zhibang, I understand your heart, but you can't just act rashly. If your parents were alive, they wouldn't want to see you throw away your life like this either. At present, the Chinese nation is facing a great calamity of extinction, even if you avenge your personal grudge, what's the point? Moreover, with just one person, it's impossible anyway. What value would your death have?" Lei Zhengsheng interrupted Zhao Zhibang's words and said.

  "National hatred and family feud, you are not only Zhao Chuanfu's son, but also the son of the entire Chinese nation. As a young man, what you should do is to bury your family's hatred in your heart and go out to do what you should be doing. Your enemy, Zhao Zhibang, is not just the person who killed your father, mother, and whole family, but... ... At this moment, such a thing has happened, that person will definitely launch a city-wide manhunt, you must leave the city immediately, otherwise... ..." Lei Zhengsheng said, suddenly getting up in a hurry and walking out of the bedroom.

  "Hurry up and put on these clothes, I'll send you out of the city right away, quickly... You... Quickly change into them!" Lei Zhengsheng handed over a set of clothes from the room to Zhao Zhibang, but after taking a glance at the clothes he handed over, Zhao Zhibang didn't reach out to take them.

  "I won't leave..."

  "Zhibang, if you still want to call me Uncle Lei, listen to me and quickly change your clothes. Otherwise, get out of here immediately! I'm too lazy to care about you anymore!" Lei Zhengsheng angrily threw the clothes at Zhao Zhibang and said.

  "If you die like this, how are you going to avenge your parents? You're really a scoundrel..." Seeing Lei Zhengsheng's anxious appearance, Zhao Zhibang also calmed down. He had just killed Ri Benren himself, and Ri Benren would definitely not let him off. For now, it was better to get out and hide for the time being, and come back after the storm had passed: "I won't kill Inoue Masao and Yanagawa Tsuguo, those two beasts! I, Zhao Zhibang, swear to that!" Zhao Zhibang picked up his uniform and went outside. Lei Zhengsheng was about the same height as him, but much fatter, so even though he was wearing a uniform, it still looked a bit too big for him.

  Lei Zhengsheng himself also changed into a military uniform and then handed him some more money, before pulling him straight to the city gate. Perhaps because of the effect of the skin they were wearing, or perhaps Ri Ben himself did not take Ri Ben's warning seriously, they didn't encounter any trouble and easily left the city. Lei Zhengsheng accompanied Zhao Zhibang all the way to the outskirts and said: "Zhibang, that's all I can do for you, you're not a three-year-old child anymore, I hope you'll think carefully about what I've said... Hurry up and go..."

  Zhao Zhibang looked at Lei Zhengsheng, his eyes filled with tears as he bowed deeply towards the northern city of Beiping and Lei Zhengsheng. He then took off his military uniform and left along a small path, carrying with him resentment and hatred, leaving behind the city where he had lived for many years. He didn't even have time to visit his parents' graves to pay his respects.

  "Father, mother, Yitian, Xingzi, and Ping, wait for me, I will definitely avenge you all."

  ;?...??