Chapter Eighteen: Codename Tiger

  Liaoyang County is still bustling, but behind this prosperity lies an unprecedented desolation. The streets are crowded with people passing by. On both sides of the city gate, the devils have set up several heavy machine guns, vigilantly defending against passersby. Dozens of devil soldiers guard the two sides of the city gate, and several devil soldiers carefully inspect the passing pedestrians.

  "Halt! What are you doing?" the Japanese soldier asked gruffly in Chinese, questioning the passing civilians. Next to him, a traitorous collaborator was helping to intimidate the crowd, shouting at the passing people. Whenever they encountered a Japanese soldier carrying a rifle with a bayonet, he would use it to pry open baskets and bags to see what was inside. When young women passed by the city gate, the Japanese soldiers would take advantage of the opportunity to grope them, causing the sound of women's shrill cries to echo through the area from time to time. The women were touched inappropriately by the Japanese soldiers and ran away screaming, followed by the lewd laughter of the soldiers, which was so piercing to the ears. However, none of the passing pedestrians paid attention to these incidents, everyone just hurriedly passed the checkpoint and quickly left, no one dared to come forward to stop the Japanese soldiers' violent behavior. Everyone walked numbly on the bustling streets, Liao County's streets had a long history, with a strong historical atmosphere, surrounded by old buildings from the Ming and Qing dynasties, various shops were visible everywhere. Japanese patrol teams would occasionally pass through the roads.

  It's just such a prosperous and peaceful small town, but at this moment it has fallen under the iron hooves of devils. Behind its prosperity lies intense crisis and heavy oppression.

  "Bang! Bang!", two gunshots disrupted the tranquility of the small town, followed by a woman's scream and countless gunfire, many pedestrians on the street scattered in all directions.

  A teahouse in Tonghuo Alley was on fire at this moment, and many customers rushed out of the teahouse. Just as people were rushing out, a middle-aged man dressed as a farmer jumped down from the second floor, possibly due to the urgent situation and lost control, fell heavily on the stone path. Immediately afterwards, several puppet soldiers stuck their heads out of the window on the second floor and shot at the man on the ground non-stop.

  "Bang! Bang!" Several more gunshots rang out, and two men, also dressed as ordinary civilians, rushed out of the teahouse door. They occasionally turned back to counterattack inside. The people inside charged out, and both sides exchanged fire in front of the teahouse door again. The man who jumped down from the building first was hit by multiple shots from the people upstairs and was killed on the spot.

  "Honk honk!", just as the gunshot sounded, the devil's alarm sounded, and countless devils rushed towards here. The two people who had just run out were surrounded by the devils in the alley before they could even get out of the alley.

  "Damn it! It seems we'll have to settle the score here today. We're surrounded and can't let those devils get away with it, let's fight them!" one of them said while firing back.

  "Let's fight them!" he shouted, raising his gun and charging at the devils. He knocked down one of the devils with a single shot, but at the same time, he was also hit by the devils' attack. In an instant, he was struck by multiple bullets and fell to the ground, dead. Another person tried to rush back, but was shot in the back by the puppet soldiers who came out of the teahouse. At this moment, a man wearing a puppet military uniform rushed out from inside, covering his left shoulder with his hand.

  The man looked at the fallen man, "You're from the Eighth Route Army to assassinate me! Who sent you? And who else?", The man glared with anger, as if he wanted to devour this person. The fallen man slowly raised the gun in his hand to shoot at this puppet army officer, but was preempted by the puppet army officer, who fired first at the fallen man. The puppet army officer cursed and shot, "Come on! Come and kill me! Aren't you going to kill me?"

  The pseudo-military officer's cerebral blood vessels bulged, his face twisted in a grimace. This phenomenon usually occurs when people are extremely frightened or enraged. At this moment, it is unclear whether the pseudo-military officer was terrified or enraged; perhaps only he himself knew.

  The atmosphere in the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army was tense at this moment, with a strong smell of smoke in the room, and occasionally a ring of smoke would emerge from the cigarette held by the leader.

  "What's to be done? Several actions have failed! Our losses are great now!", the commander said slowly.

  "Yes! If this king is not eliminated, he will be a great harm to us! Now several contact points have been betrayed by him, and we have lost many people!" The Chief of Staff said slowly after taking a puff of smoke.

  "We must get rid of this person as soon as possible, he is very familiar with our situation and is extremely unfavorable to our base, if we delay any further it will likely cause us huge losses!" Another staff officer said.

  "Several assassination attempts have failed, now the enemy will certainly strengthen their guard, and it's likely that making another move will be even more difficult. Now he himself is probably also afraid to show his face in public."

  "No matter how difficult it is, we must resolutely eliminate this person!", the leader said with great certainty.

  "Ah, Commander! I've thought of someone!", "Who?" The staff officer's words instantly drew the attention of everyone in the room, several commanders looked at him, waiting for his answer.

  "Do you think the Third Battalion can handle this task?", "Are you referring to Li Xinmin of the Third Battalion?"

  "That's right! It's him!", "Mmm... I think he can do it!", "Should be okay!". Several staff members nodded in agreement with this view.

  "Then bring him over! Let him try! ", actually, the leader had thought of letting Li Xinmin get rid of this person, but the leader knew that Liaoyang County was a den of dragons and tigers, and if he wasn't careful, he would lose his life. The leader cherished Li Xinmin, this tiger general, and didn't want him to take risks, but now the situation is urgent, this matter is crucial, if they can't get rid of this person as soon as possible, it will have a huge impact on the entire base area.

  "Director, you're looking for me?" Li Xinmin quickly arrived at the headquarters, seeing that everyone's mood wasn't good, Li Xinmin knew something big must have happened, today's atmosphere was very heavy.

  "It's like this! A traitor has appeared in our Eighth Route Army, it's that Zhang Shaodong from the previous report." The deputy chief of staff briefed Li Xinmin.

  "Is that the traitorous battalion commander Zhang Shaodong?", Li Xinmin was familiar with this person, and some time ago headquarters had urgently informed the lower-level troops to be on high alert.

  "Not bad! This man is extremely dangerous! He's very familiar with our situation, and we've already suffered a lot of losses. If we don't eliminate him now, the consequences will be even more severe!"

  "It seems that this person is indeed extremely dangerous! Does the chief mean for our battalion to carry out this task?", Li Xinmin inquired.

  "Not bad! The several waves of people we sent out before all failed, he must be even more vigilant now, and the difficulty of assassination is even greater."

  "Hmm! Now his surroundings must be full of vigilance, and it's unlikely that he can be approached easily." Li Xinmin said.

  The leader saw Li Xinmin and asked after understanding the situation. "How is it? Is there any confidence to complete this task?"

  "Don't worry, sir! I'll definitely complete this task!", Li Xinmin guaranteed.

  "This time you must get rid of this traitor for me! If you succeed, I will reward you; if you fail, you will be dealt with by military law!", the commander said sternly.

  "Don't worry, sir! I guarantee that I will complete the task!" Li Xinmin stood up straight and saluted the leader, answering seriously.

  The chief of staff walked over and said to Li Xinmin, "At the same time, you must also pay attention to safety! In the previous actions, we have lost several batches of people. This time, strive to minimize losses."