Chapter Thirty-Four: Arriving at the Ten Directions for the First Time

  "This plan of yours is too conservative! What's the point of talking reason to those little devils? If you can fight, then fight; if you can bomb, then bomb; use poison, use ambushes - whatever is convenient. Look at you, sneaking around like a thief!"

  "We can't say that, our top priority is to ensure the safety of the people being escorted. We're not going to take any risks this time."

  "Hey! What adventure? It's all familiar roads. We won't do anything too dangerous. Those small paths you chose, they're not even worth the effort."

  "No energy? Wait until we're surrounded by the enemy, then we'll have energy! There are ordinary civilians in our team." Wang Lie insisted on his plan, not giving in at all.

  Lin Yuru listened from a distance as Wang Lie and one of his subordinates, a small soldier, argued. What was strange was that the tone, intonation, and way of speaking of that little soldier were all very similar to those of You Fei. Could it be that she had thought about You Fei too much and was having an illusion? Lin Yuru shook her head, chasing You Fei out of her mind. She secretly ridiculed herself - how could a brigade commander personally participate in a special forces team and run into the enemy's war zone?

  Fortunately, Wang Lie used a firm command to make the little soldier obey him. The people of the Liefeng squad set off in twos and threes. When the four people who were with Lin Yurui started, there were still more than a dozen people chatting idly in the squad, and almost half of them had not taken action yet!

  Walking on the silent and deserted dirt road in the countryside, Lin Yurui could only see these four people around her, but she believed that the other personnel of the fierce wind who came together must be somewhere ahead or behind. This strange and somewhat scattered small team made Lin Yurui feel an unprecedented sense of security.

  In less than an hour, Lin Yurui had already walked to a small outpost of the devils. The devil soldier holding a gun at the outpost shouted from afar: "Hurry up and walk! You pass by, we will withdraw."

  "Huh? You still have acquaintances among the Japanese devils?" Lin Yurui asked curiously.

  "Haha!" The warriors burst out laughing. The one who always followed far behind and spoke in a tone similar to that of a flying insect said, "Isn't that Wang Lie? What a friendly devil soldier!"

  Lin Yuru thought, why didn't he call Wang Duizhang, but instead directly called out Wang Lie's name? This little soldier, wouldn't he be intentionally imitating You Fei?!

  Through the enemy's sentry post, Wang Lie said to everyone: "It's all clean now. Except for a few stray shells, this place is left intact for the devils! We won't make any big noise for now." After finishing speaking, Wang Lie hurried forward again.

  Several soldiers were not interested in visiting the enemy's sentry post, only Lin Yuru walked over and took a few glances, seeing that several wooden abatis and sandbags formed two connected low-lying fortifications, a large pile of barbed wire was thrown open on the side of the road. If there were devils in this sentry post, it would be very difficult to deal with them. How did Wang Lie's team quietly clean up this place? Lin Yuru couldn't help but admire Leng Feng's squad.

  After passing this checkpoint, we officially entered the enemy's war zone where every step was a crisis. The soldiers who were chatting and laughing before all fell silent. Lin Yurui, who had been infected, also became very serious.

  As they marched on, the soldiers would sometimes help to cover up a few more abandoned bodies of devils by the roadside. Lin Yuru didn't know what they were doing at first, but when he walked closer, he saw that it was the corpse of a devil with its yellow skin stripped off in the bushes. The soldiers also went to the devil's sentry post which had been emptied, trying to pick up something, but often ended up with nothing. As they marched on, not a single gunshot was heard. It wasn't until they were about to arrive at Shifangpu Town that they stopped. According to the intelligence transmitted from the front, the only road passed through this small town, and there was a small team of devils stationed in the town, with a strength of around 100 people.

  When Wang Lie appeared and told them about the specific situation of the town, Lin Yurui really didn't know how such a town could pass. Because within two kilometers of the Ten Square Paving, there were still three groups of small forts set up in pairs, each group five hundred meters apart, and they could all see each other.

  "Everyone look, are we literati or warriors?" Wang Lie asked a few soldiers.

  "This town is quite isolated, otherwise we wouldn't have come this way, right? Let's just pass through quietly! Hurry up and keep the noise down, should be no problem."

  "Let's go through with force!" "Agreed, let's leave some memories behind!" The warriors all agreed to use force to get past.

  Wang Lie sighed, "I knew that the higher the skill, the more trouble it would bring. Actually, I'm also afraid of startling Miss Lin. For us, taking down a small group of devils doesn't seem like a risk. It's just that the road ahead is still long, and we need to be doubly careful from now on."

  Lin Yuru said: "Captain Wang, I'm not afraid. With you all here, what am I afraid of? You don't need to consider me."

  "Alright!" Wang Lie still came and went in a hurry, responded with a quick "yes" and walked away quickly.

  Such a wonderful action, Zhang Mingshan, the King of Hats, must not be absent. As soon as the battle began, he started doing his old business again - blocking and attracting the enemy out of their lair.

  Zhang Mingshan deeply resented the title of "Hat King" and was determined to prove himself with actual strength and numbers. For this, he had been building up his energy since early morning, just waiting for an opportunity to explode. As a result, the two Japanese devils in the front bunker would definitely be the first to suffer.

  "Bang!" A shot came from afar, producing two consecutive sounds. A devil fell face down. "Bang!" Another shot came from the same place, and another devil was finished off. The machine gun in the bunker immediately opened fire.

  Bang! Bang!

  The place where the cold gun was placed has been quiet again.

  Two devils had their brains blown out, the devil's machine gun fired randomly at the small hill where Zhang Mingshan was hiding, but to no avail. How could the devils afford to suffer such a great loss! After the machine gun finally scared away a pheasant with a long tail from the grass, six devils rushed out of two bunkers, divided into three groups, carrying rifles with shiny bayonets and flanked Zhang Mingshan's hiding place from three directions.

  At this moment, Zhang Mingshan has already moved to the side and is ready to watch the excitement quietly.

  The devils rushed to the designated location, only to see a person curled up and crawling on the ground. The devil soldier used his bayonet to poke at it, but what? Why was there an empty clothes bundle stuffed with weeds? Where's the person? The devil got angry and tossed the clothes bundle aside. But wait, why did he feel like something was slightly off? Something wasn't right...

  This "smart" devil who had guessed the correct answer hadn't even had time to react when, with a loud "boom", he and three other devils next to him were all blown away. Four of them were knocked down, and only one struggled back up, trembling. This hand grenade used as a landmine achieved excellent results, killing three and wounding one.

  The remaining three devils crouched down and carefully retreated backwards, unable to find the person who had ambushed them and not daring to search forward again, they decided to return by their original route.

  "Bang!" Another shot came from the side, and another one was accurately settled. After the gunshot, a figure jumped out of the bushes, sprinted back several yards, and hid behind several large trees.

  Rat-a-tat! Rat-a-tat! The machine gun on the bunker fired at those few trees for a good while, leaves were blown off and fluttered in the air like snowflakes. Finally, two large trees with thick trunks couldn't withstand the barrage, and with a loud crash, they fell down together, only then did the machine gun stop.

  "Bang!" Another crisp gunshot, the only intact head of the devil was blown up again, leaving only the devil who was trembling all over with injuries all over his face and head. The machine gun on the bunker fired at the few trees that had just been knocked down two zhangs to the left, and Zhang Ming-shan's new blocking position "tutu" fired another burst of bullets. However, they seemed to have understood that Zhang Ming-shan was no longer there, and only symbolically fired a few shots before stopping.

  The surroundings returned to their quiet state, leaving only the stooping wounded Japanese soldier on the hillside, shivering violently. He scanned the surrounding bushes and every tree, as if the bullet that would blow his head off might emerge from these dark corners at any moment... with just one shot...

  "Mother!" The wounded Japanese soldier finally couldn't bear the pressure brought by the silence, let out a loud cry, threw the gun in his hand into the air, and hopped on one leg, jumping and running towards the rear bunker.

  "Thud!" The wounded Japanese soldier ran too fast and fell, rolling down the slope with his injured leg. "Crack!" A large rock enthusiastically greeted his head wearing a tattered hat. Immediately, the whole world became quiet again.

  Lin Yuru and the four warriors watched from a nearby hiding place, although the battle was intense, she wasn't very scared, on the contrary, she was a bit excited. At this time, she heard the warrior with a flying tone say: "Zhang Mingshan, good job! Four bullets and one grenade took out seven devils and scared another to death. I think we should give this kid a big cannon, he can take care of all the devils here."

  Lin Yuru was shocked and asked, "You're not serious, are you? Let Zhang Mingshan fight alone, no one to help him, relying on him alone, can he take down this Tifang Town?"

  "Hehehe" Several warriors chuckled quietly.

  In Zhifang Town, at this time, a team of more than 30 devils rushed out, stepping in unison, and walked out from the three confronting pillboxes.

  Lin Yuru couldn't help but exclaim: "This is terrible! So many devils, how can Zhang Mingshan fight them? You guys quickly go and help him!"

  "Haha!" A warrior not only didn't move, but also laughed happily. Lin Yurui was furious and said: "How can you be like this? Your comrade is fighting alone in the front line, and you can still laugh?"

  "Heh heh heh" The warrior continued laughing, "Miss Lin, have you forgotten that there are still many people like Lie Feng up ahead?"

  "Hmph! Anyway, you didn't go and are still here laughing." Lin Yurui said.

  "Oh? Then I'll go join in the fun too! Will that kid Wang Lie agree with me?"

  Lin Yuru listened to him speaking more and more unpleasantly! So she turned her head to carefully examine him. Looking at his medium build, bright eyes, but how come he speaks so awkwardly and wildly? Lin Yuru somewhat despised this person. Suddenly, memories of You Fei swarmed in, appearance, voice, temperament... all matching the man in front of her.

  "Ah! Aren't you... aren't you You Fei?" Lin Yurui asked in surprise.

  "I didn't say I wasn't!" You Fei chuckled again, his eyes fixed on the front. It was strange, Lin Yurui's contempt for this person instantly dissipated.

  The battle ahead is about to sound again. More than 30 devils passed by the bunker and scattered around. They held their guns horizontally, searching forward while occasionally firing a few shots at the nearby bushes and woods. The devils gradually approached like this.

  Lin Yurui wanted to say something, but You Fei had already pressed her head down, and he himself was also very low. Lin Yurui suddenly remembered the scene when she first met You Fei, when she was pressed into the mud by him and saved her life, and at that time she was still very angry.

  The devils continue to approach...

  Suddenly, more than 20 firing points near and far began to shoot at the same time, and the sound of "bang bang bang" became extremely dense. The devils fell to the ground in unison as they advanced. After each member of the Storm Troop fired two shots, they immediately retreated, and when the devils cautiously raised their bodies and moved forward again, it was as if nothing had happened, and all the Storm Troopers who had fired had withdrawn without a trace.

  The leading Japanese sergeant was about to continue searching forward, but suddenly found that almost half of his soldiers had fallen down and never got up again. The sergeant growled a sentence "Bah" and changed his mind, letting the remaining people immediately withdraw back.

  The devils retreated a few steps, and then there were several crisp gunshots. The devil sergeant had only five devil soldiers left. These five devils all crawled down, under the sergeant's urgent orders, they changed to an extremely ungraceful posture of crawling and twisting to retreat to the bunker. Compared to the usual posture of advancing on their bellies, they stuck even closer to the ground, and only the fierce winds could train the devil soldiers to such a high level of posture.

  The devils were extremely cautious, but this situation was like a challenge to the limit, which excited the fierce winds. Several figures flashed out. The sound of intermittent gunfire rang out, with several shots fired in vain. However, the devils' crawling speed was really slow, and they tried again and again with slow and relaxed bursts of fire, trying to aim more accurately. Finally, another devil was killed.

  Machine guns on the pillbox went wild, sweeping across the mountainside, but just as they paused for a moment, rifle shots rang out again. The Japanese sergeant had only three men left, but the nearby pillbox group seemed still impossibly far away.

  The firing of the two machine guns stopped at the same time after one of them was hit by a bullet and went out. At this time, only one living devil, the devil sergeant, was left outside the bunker. He looked around at the fields and mountains, stood up, raised his hands, and shouted loudly for a few sentences. The machine gun in the bunker suddenly opened fire, shooting him like a sieve. This time, the machine gun hit very accurately.

  You Feng said discontentedly: "Not even letting others finish speaking, and then beating them to death. I haven't even made out what's going on!"

  Wang Lie crawled over and said, "He shouted: 'That's the ghost army, we can't win. They can't be killed at all, we're going to lose.' Hehe! This remark belongs to undermining the morale of the troops, so he was beaten to death."

  Yufei said: "Oni Corps? Interesting. You and Tofu Oniko's Japanese is quite fluent, huh! You can even understand this."

  "Heh heh! I'm still pretty clever after all. Besides, if my progress is slow, then I won't give Doufu rice to eat, and he'll be even more diligent in teaching me."

  You Fei laughed: "Haha! That's great. Now the devils should be calling for reinforcements, we can take a short rest."

  "Hmm! I'll go take a look at how the preparations are going." Wang Lie said as he vanished.

  Lin Yuru asked in a low voice: "The devils' reinforcements are coming, why are we still resting? Won't it be more troublesome when they arrive?"

  "You wait till they arrive, the real show is about to begin. In a moment, we must act quickly. You get ready, and when it's time to leave, the faster the better. I'll be right behind you."

  "Oh!" Lin Yurui didn't understand what to do for a while. You Fei, on the other hand, had an expression of waiting to see a good show, which made Lin Yurui feel much more at ease. However, she still felt strange about the enemy's machine gun in her heart, such fierce sweeping fire, how could it not hit even a single hair of the Liefengs? She must ask when she has time!