Chapter 67: Rescue (Part 1)

  "Bang! Bang!", "Boom! Boom!", the sound of gunfire and explosions filled the air, the devils who were chasing the villagers were caught off guard, suffering heavy casualties. The devils quickly retreated, the ones who ambushed them were from the district's small team, they received intelligence and rushed here. However, they still arrived a bit late, just in time to see the devils chasing the villagers. District leader Old Xu made a quick decision, setting up an ambush and letting the villagers retreat first, they blocked the enemy at the ambush point, covering the villagers' withdrawal.

  When the devils entered the ambush point, the team members fired their guns in unison at Old Xu's command, beating the devils to a pulp and leaving several corpses behind as they fled.

  "Captain, the devils have escaped!" The team members looked at Old Xu, waiting for his next arrangement. "Did those fools bury all the landmines?" Old Xu asked. "Almost done, several small paths on the sunny slope have been buried." Zhu Zi replied as he ran back.

  "We're retreating to where they are, the enemy's main force is about to arrive," Old Xu led everyone to retreat to the back of the mountain slope. The place they were in was located in a mountain valley, and at this moment, they were at the entrance of the valley, which became deeper as they went further in. The sunny side had a gentler slope, with several small paths for walking, but next to them were strange rocks and steep cliffs. The shady side was all cliffs, making it impossible to walk, but this was intentional, for outsiders, not taking the small stone path made it really impossible to climb up, especially for the devils. However, for the villagers, even without taking the small path, they could easily climb to the top of the mountain from the stones on the side. It was precisely this difficult-to-walk stone road that saved the lives of these people. Otherwise, the devils would have caught up with them long ago. The members of District Small Team retreated to the top of the mountain along the bush under the leadership of Old Xu, the district team leader, and the devils were ambushed and stunned, stopping only after they had retreated out of the mountain pass in one breath.

  The mountain team leader was directing the cleanup of the remaining villagers in the village when he heard gunfire and explosions, asking "What's going on? What happened there?" He abandoned the villagers' bodies and led his team to run towards the valley. Originally, he wanted to dispose of the bodies together, but hearing the gunfire seemed like his own troops had encountered the Eighth Route Army. The main force of the devils rushed from the village to the mountain pass, encountering the escaping devils head-on.

  "Report to Lieutenant Colonel! We've discovered the Eighth Route Army in this mountain, our squad was ambushed by them, and they're right here in this mountain!" a Japanese lieutenant reported to Lieutenant Colonel Yamamoto who had rushed over.

  "What? Found the Eighth Route Army? Immediately rush up and wipe them out!" Shan Yuan heard that they had encountered the Eighth Route Army, and he immediately came to life. This devil fantasized about wiping out this small detachment. The Japanese soldiers rushed up the mountain along several rugged paths under his command. They soon arrived at the place where they had exchanged fire earlier. Several Japanese soldiers' bodies were still lying on the ground, but their guns and bullet clips hanging from their belts were gone.

  The devils pointed their guns at the giant rocks and bushes on both sides, guarding against another sneak attack, slowing down their pace, focusing their attention on the surroundings, and moving forward in small steps. However, all around was quiet, without any movement. The devils were also very puzzled, how could the Eighth Route Army have disappeared? They didn't dare to move quickly anymore. The team leader, Shan Yuan, at the back of the queue, was getting impatient: "What's going on with the team in front? Why haven't they found the Eighth Route Army yet?" The road was originally narrow and not very convenient for walking, several roads had devils moving around, but the ones in front were not moving much, most of the devils were blocked behind and couldn't move. The team's movement was very slow.

  "Damn it! Move faster!" Yamamoto urged the troops from behind, and under his urging, coupled with the fact that there were indeed no Eighth Route Army footprints ahead, the Japanese soldiers walking in front also dared to increase their speed.

  "Captain! The devils are coming!", "Don't rush, wait until the devils get closer before attacking." The team members all hid and waited for the devils to approach. "Attack!" Team leader Old Xu shouted loudly, the team members took aim at the devils and continuously fired their guns, some pulled the trigger, hand grenades and landmines kept exploding. The terrain here was narrow, and the team members were all in a high position, very advantageous for attacking. Under the fierce attack, the devils retreated again. This time, more than 20 people were killed or injured, with greater losses than last time.

  "Bastards! Those damned bandits!" Captain Yamamoto cursed in anger, gazing at the situation on the mountain slope through his binoculars from below. He took a look at the terrain here, which was unfavorable for large-scale combat. But he couldn't let these guerrillas go either, and again urged his troops to launch an attack upwards.

  "Rat-a-tat-tat!", the machine gun covered the enemy soldiers, they launched another attack upwards.

  "Captain, the devils are charging again!" a team member exclaimed. "Damn it! The devils' firepower is too strong, we can't even stick our heads out." A team member cursed. The machine gun swept across the mountain slope non-stop, wherever someone dared to show their head and fire, the machine gun would immediately open fire in that direction, making it impossible for the squad members to come out and attack. "Captain, think of a way! If this goes on, the devils will charge up!" The team members fired a shot downwards and then quickly lowered their heads, hiding behind rocks, the devils' machine gun firing at the rocks, causing sparks to fly everywhere, creating countless small pits, and sending rock debris flying in all directions.

  "This won't do! Da Ben, Zhu Zi, you two quickly go and bury the explosives on those few rocky outcrops. We're going to give the devils a big present!" Squad leader Old Xu instructed. The two team members went off to busy themselves with burying the explosives, while the others continued to hold their ground in the high place, occasionally firing a few shots downwards. Although the devils' firepower had suppressed their attacks, making it impossible for them to fire so freely again, the geographical advantage allowed them to hold out there, and the devils were unable to climb up. The narrow path could only allow a few devil soldiers to charge up at a time, while dozens of people above, each firing one shot, was enough to make the devils drink a potful!

  "Concentrate firepower and attack there!" Yamamoto, who was watching clearly from below, immediately summoned the grenadiers to attack the squad members in the small area.

  Several devils pulled a weak tube up the mountain, looking for a place to set up a frame, and the soldiers kept adjusting the direction.

  "Captain! Where are the devils setting up their artillery?" a sharp-eyed soldier shouted.

  "Damn it, these little devils want to set up cannons and blast us! Brothers, all of you be careful and avoid getting hit by the enemy's shells."

  "Captain, those fools haven't finished yet?" "You go take a look, how come they're not done yet? Tell them to speed up." Squad leader Old Xu said while aiming at a Japanese soldier rushing upwards. "Bang," the gun hit that Japanese soldier, but actually didn't kill him. However, the Japanese soldier deceitfully fell to the ground pretending to be dead, and really deceived Old Xu.

  "Boom! Boom!", "Get down quickly!", the devils' weak tube is powerful, shells exploded near the high ground where the team members were hiding, shattering many rocks and blasting away large areas of shrubs.

  "Ptoo! Ptoo!" One of the squad members spat out the mud in his mouth, wiped the dust off his face with his hand, and looked down to see that the Japanese soldiers were no longer charging up.

  "Damn it! The devils' cannon fire hasn't stopped yet!" After cursing, he quickly hid behind the boulder again. He knew that the devils hadn't taken advantage of the situation to launch an attack because they were waiting for the second round of artillery fire. Sure enough, "Boom! Boom!", another intense round of artillery fire came down, killing several comrades and leaving four others seriously injured. The rest also suffered minor injuries.