Chapter 36: Autumn Forest After the Rain (2)

  While the left fort was booming and lively, the other fort had no sound coming out at all.

  Wang Lie revealed his ghastly pale face, covered in blood and dust, and looked out towards the outside of the trench. A soldier next to him asked, "Captain, shall we go help?"

  "Don't go! No news means good news."

  Actually, the bunker on the right was still quite lively, but compared to Wang Lie's side, which was booming and intense, that side was gentle and quiet. Each devil had one or two members of the Stormtrooper team calling out to them. The standard equipment of the Stormtroopers, daggers and submachine guns, gently harvested the blood and lives of these beastly soldiers in the midst of the nearby explosions. When Wang Lie's ringing ears recovered a bit of their hearing, this bunker had already returned to calm.

  A member of the Stormtrooper squad walked out of the bunker, waving at Wang Lie and You Fei behind him. Several people quickly ran into the bunker with their waists bent.

  You Fei comforted Lin Yurou beside her as the battle rang out: "Cover your ears! It'll get loud soon... Don't worry, this time we have the advantage of numbers and it's a surprise attack, those little rascals will definitely finish quickly... Wow, this is really loud! ... Almost done. Why hasn't he come out yet? That guy is slacking off again? His movements are so slow?"

  Lin Yuru said, "They're all working hard, how can there be any talk of slacking off?"

  As they spoke, You Fei excitedly shouted: "It's settled! Miss Lin, let's hurry up and go."

  Two people ran out of the Japanese army's command center and rushed to the occupied artillery tower. You Fei heard Lin Yurui say in a low voice, "You can call me by my name, don't call me Miss Lin anymore."

  When Lin Yurui said that, You Fei chuckled and ran into the bunker, but saw Zhang Mingshan's arm limp and walked down from the upper layer of the bunker. "Damn! Are you kid hurt?" You Fei's smile froze.

  "It's nothing! It's just dislocated. That devil wanted to detonate a hand grenade. I pinched his wrist and he couldn't exert any strength. When I freed one hand to stab that devil with a knife, this arm got dislocated. Luckily unscathed, and also found the door's small steel cannon."

  A martial artist from the Qingyun team walked up silently, grabbed Zhang Mingshan's arm and pulled it upwards with a loud crack. Zhang Mingshan's eyes widened in pain: "Ah! You're going to kill me! It's definitely broken now."

  He immediately found his arm was fine and chuckled twice.

  "Bring up the recoilless gun, search for guns and ammunition, and withdraw in one minute!"

  A loud explosion sounded, and the enemy's command post blew open. Wang Lie hastily shouted: "The devils ahead have triggered a landmine, they'll be here soon. Everyone hurry up."

  You Fei pulled up Lin Yurui and ran out of town first. Next were three soldiers carrying Xiao Gang's body, followed by Zhang Mingshan with three rifles on his back.

  You Fei ran while shouting: "I heard that your squad has a hat king, who can shoot the enemy's hat from a distance. After one close combat, his arm was gone. Haha!"

  Several warriors burst out laughing. Zhang Mingshan immediately became anxious: "This time I didn't hit a single hat, I knocked against nine devils' skulls. In close combat, I also spilled that little devil's blood. From now on, whoever says I'm the Hat King again, I'll fight with him."

  "Damn it! How are you more reckless than me?! If you were any slower, that grenade would have blown us to kingdom come. Can you still listen to me now?!"

  "Haha!" The warriors' laughter grew louder. Zhang Mingshan stubbornly raised his chin, turned his head and ignored You Fei.

  "Haha! You're a bit like your old man, I'll promote you as soon as you get back. Bring me some sharpshooters."

  In a few minutes, the people and horses of the Storm Troop all moved to the woods outside the town. Zhang Mingshan, however, went around to the left side of the town. Wang Lie also dispersed with several others.

  Lin Yurui looked at You Fei in confusion, and You Fei said: "The pursuing soldiers are coming soon. We still need to take care of them before we can leave!" After a pause, You Fei whispered: "Yurui, let's rest in the woods for a while! Let's watch the show and then hurry on our way. No rush, slow down!"

  Lin Yurui's face turned red as she said, "Who told you to call me Yurui?! Why did you call me with such... familiarity?!"

  "Oh! Isn't it you? You just said that we can't call her Miss Lin anymore. I won't call her by name, but I can still call her Little Sister Lin, right? I'm not Jia Baoyu!" You Fei said.

  Lin Yuru was exasperated: "You, how can you always look so apathetic! Not at all like a leader. From now on, call me Lin Yuru, don't dare omit a single word."

  "Yes! Lin Yu Rui's sister!"

  "What? Not even one word more!"

  "Oh!"

  They were still arguing over what to call it when another series of explosions boomed in. When the smoke and dust cleared, more than 20 Japanese soldiers appeared, chasing them out of town.

  "Oh! How little there is! And it's still shaking. There's nothing to see now." You Fei said with some disappointment.

  Snipers lurking on all sides opened sporadic fire. As soon as the shots rang out, the snipers rolled to the ground and left their shooting positions. The devils' retaliatory firing also began aimlessly.

  The devils were very careful, but still couldn't avoid having one of them fall down with a blooming head. After firing several shots, the devils crawled on the ground and retreated backwards.

  As the devils were about to retreat back into town, You Fei picked up a Type 38 rifle, loaded it with bullets, pulled the bolt, and aimed at the last devil soldier's butt. The butt was a relatively large target, moving around on the ground, making it an easy shot, and You Fei confidently pulled the trigger.

  "Bang!" A hat was blown off by the inertia of a bullet. The frightened devil let out a mournful cry and jumped into the back of a house in the town.

  "Quick retreat!" The people of Lie Feng came running over, rustling through the small forest filled with fallen leaves, and arrived at a big road. The town behind them was no longer visible due to the forest blocking their view.

  Zhang Mingshan was very lively and hastily rushed forward. As he passed by You Fei, he didn't forget to say: "Just in time to hit the hat."

  He flew away with a smug look on his face and said, "This is what I call progress."

  Lin Yuru was holding a water bottle and drinking, almost laughing out loud. However, she knew that these people treated killing ghosts as if it were a casual hunt, but in reality, they were all doing extremely dangerous things. In an environment surrounded by strong enemies, being able to laugh like this was what made a true man.

  ……

  As we walked further ahead, there were no longer any large towns along the way. We had chosen this remote route in the first place for safety reasons. But now the situation had changed. Less than half an hour later, the scouts up front reported that they had encountered a group of Japanese devils, numbering over eighty men.

  Wang Lie didn't think much, and quickly ordered the troops to hide. The good hands of Lie Feng were not mentioned, but Lin Yu Rui and You Fei did not make people feel at ease. He let these two avoid far away first.

  As they watched the devils retreat to Shifangpu Town, the fierce winds finally emerged and sent a soldier into the forest to call out Lin Yuru and You Fei.

  Continue on the road, in less than ten minutes, another group of thirty or so devils were spotted heading this way.

  "Hey! Don't shoot!" Wang Lie said, "The devils that just passed by are too close."

  Looking at Lin Yurui who was panting and trying to get away, running back and forth in a hurry for about two or three miles, You Fei said: "Captain Wang, let's just go over and mix it up! If we're discovered, we'll settle the score with him."

  "Hmm!"

  Wang Lie simply responded with a sound, and then let a team of fierce winds line up, tidying up the ghostly military uniforms on their bodies. They sandwiched You Fei and Lin Yu Rui in the middle. The rest of the people rushed to the front edge of the road to set up an ambush, and preparations for passing through and taking action were all made.

  The fake devils marched forward in unison, their footsteps steady and rhythmic.

  Meet.

  "Password!"

  "Long live the martial arts!"

  "One generation for all eternity!"

  "Hey! You guys are working hard! Where are you going?" The ghost-faced man opposite, and Wang Lie were of the same rank, both wearing sergeant uniforms.

  "We are going to the county town on a mission, are you going to Shifangpu?" Wang Lie asked.

  "Yes! The road to the west is being blocked. The main force has asked the nearby troops to support Tifangpu, you have a special task, just wait for it to be completed and then look at the arrangement! However, there seems to be a group of Japanese people who want to pass through Tifangpu. You must be careful. The check on the password should be stricter. Don't let anyone with an unusual accent go."

  "Ahai!" Wang Lie bowed his head in gratitude to the Japanese sergeant, secretly feeling lucky. The words of command he had been studying and practicing seemed to have become standard Osaka dialect now. This "ahai" also sounded crisp and clear. Looks like I passed!

  As expected, the devils marched forward in an orderly manner under the command of the military officer.

  Yu flew out of line and asked: "You've been chatting with the devils for half a day, what did you say? I'm getting impatient!"

  Wang Lie thought for a moment and said, "We can't go west. We need to change our route."

  "What's wrong?"

  "If we spread out and make a big move, the devils will definitely guess that someone wants to pass through the more desolate area in the west of the war zone. This way our tracks will also be exposed. Now we need to adjust our route in time. We'll head to the county town instead. Think of a way to quietly get through the county town. The devils won't be able to find our route, and the road behind us will be easier to walk."

  "Good!"

  The troop of fierce wind turned north at an intersection. Forty miles north is a county town occupied by the devils.

  As they walked, a dense gunfire sound came from the direction of Shipai Square.

  Using Kizuna's command system, I modified the Tenfūbu Ryūgūji Kizuna's orders, and it seems to have taken effect.

  Earlier, a group of over eighty bandits who had been supporting them arrived at the town entrance. One of them gave the password: "Wu Yun Ji Chang!" The response was: "Nu Tao Xiong Yang"

  This is not right! Both sides immediately opened fire and started fighting. The devils outside the town were more vigilant, firing first, and the devils who responded to the password were shot into sieves. But then the devils in the town gained the upper hand. On top of the remaining fort, a heavy machine gun was set up, and with a burst of fire, the devils outside the town were reduced by half.

  The devils outside the town hastily retreated for a distance. These small teams of devils were all equipped with grenade launchers and small mortars, and immediately set up a barrage of fire, forcing the devils in the town to retreat to the fortifications in front of the town. This group of six fortifications, coordinated with hidden bunkers, would not be easy to attack from any direction.

  Moreover, this group of blockhouses were all well-equipped and had not suffered any losses. There were also several small cannons, when the devils outside the town came to pursue, they suffered a bit more, and both sides confronted each other.

  Just as they were having a great time fighting, the second batch of reinforcements from the west of Zhenzi arrived.

  The devils and soldiers in the west of Zhenxi were fighting desperately. There were less than 40 devils in the bunker, and they couldn't hold on for long.

  Hiss——hiss——the sound suddenly came, and the devils of the town immediately understood that it was the sound of releasing poisonous gas.

  "Damn it! The defenders here are too incompetent, they even lost the poisonous gas weapons to the Japanese army." The leader of the reinforcements was very dissatisfied. He withdrew the troops that were attacking and quietly waited outside the town for the poison gas to dissipate.

  At this time, someone in the second batch of reinforcements suggested that when the poisonous gas blocked the line of sight, they would send people to blow up the fortifications. Because they happened to carry several gas masks.

  Several voluntary fortifications of devils were left halfway by bullets. The devil's head was angry and organized a daredevil squad, all of whom took off their shirts, bare-chested, wearing masks, carrying a large package of explosives, and rushed up in a swarm.

  The bunker was destroyed one by one. The last few defending devils were desperate. Waving a white flag, they walked out of the bunker and shouted wildly in Japanese: "Stop fighting! We surrender!"

  The leader of the devils' reinforcements only felt that something was off at this moment, these people were disguised too well.

  Bring the "prisoners" over, and after questioning them thoroughly, this devil officer slapped several of the "prisoners" hard with his big mouth, shouting loudly. In the end, exhausted, he wanted to commit hara-kiri, but was firmly stopped by his subordinates. They still want their superior to take the blame!

  A devil then reminded him: "You should report to the county town about the movements of these cunning Chinese. You should also keep your useful body and serve the empire."

  The devils' leader, upon hearing this, hastily reported to the headquarters in the county town, "There are many Chinese troops everywhere. Our casualties are heavy. But they have withdrawn. The hateful thing is that they disguised themselves as Huang's army. Please headquarters be sure to take note." and so on.

  You Fei and the others, after listening to a lively play, changed direction and went to the county town. However, until evening, they only stayed near the county town. Entering the city today would undoubtedly be dangerous, so they had to wait until the next day and think of another way. The Japanese uniform was no longer usable.

  After scouting out the surrounding terrain, they decided to camp for the night in a relatively broad forest.

  The warriors settled down in the forest, taking out dry rations and water to eat. The evening sunlight shone on the layered fog around the forest, reflecting a bright color. "The forest shows its clear color, the city increases its dusk coldness." Lin Yurui looked at the scene in front of her and quietly recited a poem by some ancient person.

  You Fei emerged from behind her, "Lin, Yu Rui," he deliberately separated the two names' pronunciation, still sounding too intimate with the two words 'Yu Rui', "What do you mean by 'clearing color'?"

  Lin Yurui said slowly: "Xī sè, refers to the color of sunlight on the edge of the forest. It should be this beautiful color in front of us! Bright and shining, what a pity..."

  What a pity! You Fei wanted to ask, but endured. The next line of the poem is "The city adds cold at dusk", which must be very desolate. Just like in front of us, the mountains and rivers are vast and beautiful, but they have been ravaged by the Japanese pirates. Sometimes, the mood of scholars and rough men can be the same!

  You Fei put down a blanket and said, "Get some rest! Tomorrow morning, we'll still be partners!"