Chapter Seventeen: The Mighty Dragon Crosses the River

  A wide river stretches out before everyone, looking as vast as the sea, with the opposite bank hazy and indistinct.

  "Creep up to the shore. Don't cough, don't make a big noise, and I'll kill anyone who exposes our target." You Fei gave a low command. A group of people quietly crept up.

  Just bypassed a devils' outpost, and just in time to see a small gunboat swaggering by on the nearby river. "Take cover! Take cover!" In the blink of an eye, all the soldiers had dived into the bushes and behind rocks.

  Chiang grasped an explosive package and said fiercely: "Damn it, the little devils are too deceitful, I'll give them a gift!"

  "Fart! You're just a piece of junk, you haven't even blown up to others, but first blew yourself up, get out of my sight!"

  The devil's gunboat seemed to have found something, the machine gun mounted on the bow was aimed at the riverbank and there was a burst of sweeping fire. The bullets pattered against the grass above, some bullets flew over the soldiers' scalps, but these ghostly old soldiers did not make a single move.

  Bang! A bullet pierced He Tianhao's shoulder. "Hey! Luckily, my body is thin and the bullet passed through! Such a small hole, just bandage it up. If it stays inside, that would be troublesome. Oh! If I had brought a cannon to blast like this... Haha!"

  He Tianhao slowly bandaged the wound with one hand, still chatting softly. You Fei whispered: "Damn! If we sink, how can we get past?"

  "Can we swim past?" said the old soldiers from Guangdong, many of whom were skilled in water, but it was impossible to find even a duck on land. However, in this summer's rapid river flow and under the enemy's tight blockade, swimming past would be no different from suicide.

  You Fei watched as the ghost's gunboat gradually went into the distance and shouted: "Wang Er Dan!"

  "Here!" Wang Er Dan slid over from the grass like a carp.

  "King Two Eggs! As our squad's only professional scout, I order you to lead a team to capture an enemy gunboat. Any questions?"

  "No big deal. It's just that the more people there are, the smaller the movements and the greater the grasp." Wang Er Dan said anything, looked a bit careless, lightly. He treated life-and-death matters as if they were child's play.

  "Alright! Disguise as a devil and go! It's more convenient."

  The captured Japanese uniforms were gathered together, totaling thirty-one sets. Except for two sets that had been beaten to the point of being useless, there were twenty-nine sets left. Selecting members of the dare-to-die corps to disguise themselves as Japanese soldiers didn't require any evaluation; as long as they were short enough, it was fine. Before long, this fake Japanese squad stood before everyone. You Fei looked at these "Japanese devils" and laughed, muttering to himself: "Hah! They really do look like little devils! I'm tempted to take out two of them just to vent my anger!"

  "You twenty-nine people, remember this: all of you must come back alive. This is an order!"

  "Yes!" The soldiers responded, their faces expressionless.

  "Let's go!" Wang Er Dan said in a low voice, he was very satisfied with this temporarily formed dare-to-die team. The whole team had a kind of cohesive momentum, which came from their fearlessness towards the enemy and their infinite trust in each other.

  The fake devils lay in ambush less than fifty meters from the riverbank, waiting specifically for the devil's gunboat to dock.

  After waiting for a while, Wang Er Dan became somewhat anxious, this way of waiting wasn't going to work. He had to take the initiative to attack.

  "Everyone get down and don't move! I'm going out for a bit! I won't be back, no one is allowed to make any moves." Wang Er Dan said, crouching down and retreating two steps, disappearing behind a mound of earth. In an instant, he appeared on the small dock by the river, firing his gun into the air and wildly shouting and jumping around.

  "La la...... haha yin u...... na wa...... ya ya......"

  "Damn it! Is this Japanese? Your voice is quite loud."

  A strange cry echoed across the vast river, carrying far away.

  "Get lost! Get lost, you turtle egg! Q#%#^&%&%^*……” A patrol boat came over, and the devil officer on it was yelling wildly at this side.

  Wang Er Dan turned around and ran, circling twice among the rocks on the shore before returning to the middle of the dare-to-die corps. "Form ranks! Get in line and head towards the dock! The devils have been lured over here. No one is allowed to speak, be careful not to leak out."

  The devil's gunboat had just docked when a group of "colleagues" walked over.

  "Password? Password!" "Did you catch that cowardly madman from just now?" Four or five devils rushed down from the gunboat, shouting towards this side. But Wang Erda and his men couldn't understand a word. The machine gun at the front of the gunboat was still aimed at Wang Erda and his men.

  A distance of fifty meters was soon reached, and Wang Er Gou roared a sentence: "Ba Ga! Eight duck stews!" Maybe this is the password!

  The devils on the gunboat and those who landed on the ground were stunned for a moment, then burst out laughing! "Q#%#^&%&%^*……Q#%#^&%&%^*……" (Translation: These people! They're crazy! Don't they know our gunboat officer is a lieutenant? Even a small Cao Zhang dares to scold people.)

  The lieutenant commander with a disdainful expression walked down the gunboat, and asked seriously: "Password! If you don't answer the password, I'll arrest all of you!"

  Wang Er Dan raised his hand as if to salute, but suddenly dropped it and shouted "Charge!" before rushing into the enemy's position. The fake devils behind him also rushed forward, and the armed guards on the gunboat deck were knocked down by a single shot, with several people jumping up.

  The machine gunner crouched at the bow, now wanting to fire but unable to do so, as people in the same military uniform were mixed together, who could he shoot? He rotated the muzzle, futilely aiming, when a dagger slid across his neck, he gurgled and tried to cry out, but could only struggle futilely for a few moments before becoming still.

  Wang Er Dan, entwined with the devils, slid a dagger from his sleeve into his hand and instantly spilled blood on two of them. The Japanese lieutenant let out a loud wail and drew a long knife, pouncing over.

  There were fourteen devils on the gunboat, and Wang Er's men outnumbered them by more than double. After a few minutes of melee, the only one still jumping around was that devil lieutenant.

  The lieutenant's long knife chopped down with a whooshing sound, Wang Er Dan dodged and weaved, barely avoiding the blade each time. The dagger blocked from the side, and the long knife chopped off course. Several soldiers exchanged glances, simultaneously picking up the Japanese rifle and attaching bayonets. "Kill!" A shout went out, like one person's voice. The several bayonets that stabbed out at different angles instantly pierced the lieutenant and lifted him into the air.

  "Sweep the battlefield! Quick!" King Two Eggs ordered.

  "Report to the company commander! The gunboat has been captured. Our side suffered two deaths and one injury. The captured gunboat can hold thirty people at a time."

  "First row and dare-to-die troops, board the boat, cross the river first. Others stay hidden in place." You Fei said.

  Wang Er Dan stood still and said somewhat awkwardly: "But none of us know how to drive this thing!"

  "What?"

  Wū fēi shǎ yǎn le.

  Translation:

  Wu Fei was stunned.

  He Tianhao stepped forward: "I... I won't either... But I can drive, and find a few people who know how to row a boat. Everyone can discuss it together, maybe there's some use in that."

  "Stop bullshitting! Hurry up and find someone to fix it! If you can get it done, I'll give you a big reward."

  He Tianhao and a few people got on the boat and played for a while. The engine roared, and the small motorboat swayed to the left and right as it headed out onto the river. After shaking back and forth for a while, it finally turned around smoothly and came back. A group of disguised "ghost" daredevil squad members didn't say a word and got on the boat. The machine gunner and cannoneer wearing "ghost" military uniforms very consciously stayed in their corresponding positions. In the cabin were ordinary soldiers without "ghost" military uniforms, slowly...

  The sound of the engine gradually faded away, and You Fei suddenly picked up his gun and aimed at a distance, but couldn't fire. In the distance, another patrol boat chased after He Tianhao's patrol boat. Ah! Having been hiding here for half a day, how could they not attract the attention of other devils?!

  You Fei had an idea and rushed to the pursuing gunboat. The others on the shore also had an idea, but they were anxious and couldn't do anything.

  "Let's fight!" Jiang Zhuangxiong stood up again with a loud shout.

  "Let's play a ball! Get down for me!" You Fei let out a low growl without being polite. "Look first and then talk."

  He Tianhao's gunboat slowed down, wanting to open up and escape, but unfortunately the load was too heavy, and it couldn't outrun the pursuing soldiers. Wang Er Dan stood at the front of the gunboat in his lieutenant uniform, coldly staring at the approaching enemy ship. When the two ships were almost parallel, they could see each other's noses and eyes clearly. He Tianhao suddenly accelerated, and the two ships opened up a distance again. "Baga! Eight duck eggs! Baga!" Wang Er Dan shouted, first to his own driver, then to the pursuing gunboat. Who knew that the hull under his feet stopped for a moment before accelerating violently, causing Lieutenant Wang Er Dan to stumble and almost fall over, while the surrounding fake devils burst out laughing. "Baga... duck eggs..." Wang Er Dan's voice was no longer as loud as before.

  The elaborately arranged farce, which had little attraction for the audience, was interrupted by a gunboat that suddenly changed direction. The commander shook his head and said: "They must be an unlucky group who didn't do their job well. Who would want to provoke them? Besides, there's also a stupid lieutenant there whose rank is just a bit higher than mine! Life is really helpless!"

  He narrowly escaped the conflict, and Wang Er Gai, clever as a crystal, had already understood that the Japanese sentence was an insult. Moreover, he felt a little proud of being able to fluently use the only two sentences of Japanese he knew.

  The first batch of people who crossed the river arrived safely, disembarking at a blind spot guarded by devils. The gunboat took Wang Erdao and several dare-to-die corps members back to navigation. Of course, He Tianhao, who drove the speedboat, also returned.

  On the way back, these soldiers learned to be smarter and didn't walk in a straight line. Instead, they imitated the enemy's patrol boats and walked in segments of zigzags, finally returning along the riverbank to their original location. When they saw the enemy's small boat, they hid far away. The return process was quite smooth.

  The second batch of crossing the river, the oil-soaked sailors were even more courageous and didn't make any mistakes.

  The third batch, also the last one, had four more people, and it was impossible to squeeze them in. To come again or throw away the four people, neither of which is feasible. You Fei then came up with a long rope, chose a few water-resistant ones tied to the side of the boat, and turned the gunboat into a "tow ship".

  Almost back to the last landing point, a small boat of the devils was found nearby, constantly turning around. He Tianhao didn't dare to drive the ship over rashly and also turned around in the vicinity, unexpectedly the devil's small boat came over. Wah lah wah lah! Wang Er Gai repeated his old trick, standing at the bow "Ba Ga! Ba Ga!" shouting a string of words.

  The devil's ship didn't leave, but instead approached cautiously as if facing a great enemy. One of the devil officers on board loudly asked questions, unfortunately Wang Er Dan could only understand two sentences and could only say two sentences.

  "This is terrible! It's going to rip!"

  The devils are getting closer and closer, what should we do?

  Suddenly, a devil child fell into the river with a splash, wailed twice, floated up, and lay still with his face down, apparently dead.

  "Oh! There's a water ghost! The devil is getting his retribution." You Fei thought.

  Splash! Another devil standing at the edge of the boat fell down. The devils on the boat immediately panicked, and many devils fired randomly into the water. However, after shooting for half a day, there was no movement in the water.

  Seizing the opportunity, You Fei commanded: "Charge forward, land!"

  The small boat started, the devils' ship was entangled by the water ghost and couldn't catch up. All that could be heard was a "ah!" of miserable cry, another careless devil had become food for the turtle!

  Only four people who were tied up at the back are missing. Everyone suddenly understood what was going on with the water ghost. "Dare to die team! Get closer and fire a few shots. Sink the damn thing. After rescuing our brothers, land 500 meters downstream, just behind that small hill. Others move there now. All, act fast!" Yu Fei gave the order.

  At the time of landing, You Fei was observing. If the landing point was not safe, he would transfer to another place first. He found that the downstream enemy's defense was a bit loose. After observing that place well, it is now used as the gathering point for brothers on the rescue boat and the gunboat. A big commotion broke out here, and I believe it will soon be filled with enemy soldiers.

  Two gunboats approached again, and the ace gunner He Tianhao found in Xiaofeng Village operated the small cannon on the boat, hitting all three shots at close range. They rescued four water ghosts from the wreckage of the enemy ship and turned the bow to head downstream.

  500 meters downstream, the troops converged smoothly on the riverbank. The Flying Tigers didn't dare to stay for a second and hurriedly continued to infiltrate northward. He Tianhao had run the small gunboat aground and reluctantly said, "This gunboat isn't bad! I'm a bit reluctant to leave it for the devils!"

  "Don't worry! I'll leave them a surprise!" Wang Er Dan said, moving some of the enemy's hand grenades and explosives together, covering them with cloth. He tied several hand grenades to different positions and pulled the strings, hiding them in inconspicuous places.

  He Tianhao's shoulder was oozing with blood, and the continuous driving of the gunboat had been pulling on his wound without giving it any time to heal. Wang Er Dan helped He Tianhao up, took two quick steps, and caught up with the team.

  About two miles away from the exit, a loud explosion sounded behind! That was when the devils found the cannon boat parked behind the mountain bag.