Chapter 15: The Uninvited Guest's Visit at Midnight

  "Little sister, why are you alone here? Where's your mom?" Wild Coral, walking at the front of the group, saw the little girl and immediately raised her right hand to stop the team behind her. She personally picked up the little girl and asked, it seems that her innate maternal instincts made her feel a bit of tenderness towards this little girl, which was quite inconsistent with her past, that ruthless killer Wild Coral. It's unknown whether this was due to the influence of Murong Wuji or if she had always been this kind of person.

  "What are you going to do?" Just then, a middle-aged woman rushed out and snatched the little girl from Ye Zhen's arms. She held the child tightly in her embrace, as if protecting her from harm, and asked with a questioning tone. It seemed that she couldn't understand why these soldiers were holding the child in their arms, or perhaps the terrifying thought of them taking away her child was growing rapidly in her mind like a wildfire.

  "It's okay, it's okay, big sister, we don't have any other intentions. We just saw this little girl standing on the road with no one taking care of her, so..." Wild Coral tried to explain their actions as clearly as possible, but the fearful gaze from the other party never disappeared from start to finish. It was clear that in recent years, due to the constant presence of bandits and soldiers, the local people had become afraid of those carrying guns. As a result, no matter how she explained, no one gave her a good look, so she could only give up on continuing to explain and ordered her comrades to continue advancing.

  The team arrived at a broken temple in the town, and Murong Wudi ordered the team to stop and instructed several soldiers to follow him inside for a while. Everyone naturally didn't know what Murong Wudi was doing, but Zhao Changyou, Ye Shanhua, and Hu Pai followed Murong Wudi into the temple.

  Although this is a broken temple, the incense inside is still quite good, which can be seen from the ash that falls from time to time. Perhaps because these thousands of people and horses passed by here, scaring away the worshipers who came to burn incense, so at this moment it became empty, with only a few scattered monks listlessly reciting the endless scriptures.

  "May I ask what brings the several donors here?" An elderly monk who looked like a Fangzhang came to Muyong Wudi's front and asked, with an unwelcome expression on his face, but he didn't express it clearly due to the Buddhist way of receiving guests.

  "Master Fangzhang, we are the Yunyang Mountain Resistance Regiment. We have just fought a battle against the Japanese devils at the front line and our troops are exhausted. We would like to borrow a place in the empty land behind your temple to rest for a while. Would you be willing to allow us to do so?"

  "It's not that I'm unwilling, but the military is a brutal instrument. This place is a sacred site for Buddhist good deeds. If you allow people filled with killing intentions to be stationed here, I fear the Buddha will hold me accountable!" The old monk spoke in a refined and ancient tone, as if he had crawled out of an ancient tomb after traversing thousands of years. Although it was a bit hard to follow, Murong Wuji roughly understood the old monk's meaning, knowing that he wasn't too keen on them stationing troops here. Just as he was about to say something, Ye Zhanhua beat him to it and spoke up first.

  "Isn't it just about stationing troops on the back mountain? Do we need to ask this old monk about that? As soon as you give the order, I'll immediately have the brothers of the new first brigade ascend the mountain. I don't believe those few monks can do anything to us!" It was probably Wild Chrysanthemum who heard the conversation between Murong Wude and the old monk, knowing that Murong Wude planned to use the empty land on the back mountain of the temple as a military base, but this old monk refused. So she brought out the usual gangster tactics. Anyway, whatever she thought, she would say it, and if anyone dared to stop her from fighting the devils, she would make sure they regretted it.

  "You've forgotten what I told you and your brothers before we entered the city, haven't you? I repeatedly emphasized that we must not disturb the civilians. Your current way of thinking is a violation of our discipline!" Mu Rong Wujie immediately rebuked upon hearing Ye Zhanhua's words. On this matter, he had to stand firm on his principles. After all, if they wanted to deal with the Japanese devils here, they didn't have strong backing and could only rely on the support of the common people. Therefore, discipline was too important for them.

  "But this old monk..." Wild Coral felt indignant, she just wanted to quickly find a place for her brothers to settle down, and although she was a bit excessive in her words, she hadn't bullied the common people or robbed them of their property. Murong Wuji said she had violated discipline, but she really felt that she was more wronged than Dou E.

  "Alright, you go back and write a self-criticism for me, and make a deep self-examination in front of all the brothers!" Murong Wudei ordered, then turned to face the old Fangzhang and said, "Sorry, my military discipline is not strict enough, which led to this kind of thing happening. But I can guarantee that this kind of thing will absolutely not happen again, sorry for the trouble!"

  Murong Wudi said, leading the people he had brought in out, then standing at the front of the troops, facing everyone and saying: "Brothers, if we go further forward, we will enter the no-man's land. Now we must find a place to rest, nurture our energy and prepare for tomorrow's journey. However, now we have to stay here overnight, but everyone can only camp on the streets, not making any noise, not privately entering the homes of ordinary people to disturb their lives. Otherwise, according to military rules, you will be shot!

  "...". All the seven brothers didn't say much, they all felt that they had to listen to Murong Wude's orders, as soldiers obeying their superiors was the most basic professional discipline. However, those who had just been subdued from Tian Tang Zhai had some complaints in their hearts, and even blamed Murong Wude for giving Tian Tang Zhai to the devils and making them sleep on the streets. But since Ye Zhan didn't say anything, they naturally didn't dare to say much either, and could only try to restrain their subordinates and plan to camp on the streets overnight according to orders.

  "Disperse now!" Mu Rong Wudi saw that none of his brothers expressed any objection, so he immediately ordered everyone to disperse and prepare for the night. That night, Mu Rong Wudi led by example and slept on the streets with the soldiers, which slightly alleviated the resentment in the hearts of the brothers from Tian Tang Fort.

  At night, a group of people slowly approached this side and were discovered by Hu Pai, who was on duty at the moment, and several old brothers from Qiuli, and brought all these people to Mu Rong Wudi's face.

  Murong Wudi carefully sized up these so-called ghostly uninvited guests, and saw that among them was a woman with a beauty mark, wearing a short gun at her waist. Although the gun had probably been taken away by Hu Pai's men by this time, the woman's beauty and calmness were enough to make Murong Wudi realize that she was the leader of these people. He asked her: "Who are you? Why have you come to our military camp in the middle of the night?"

  "This is a joke, isn't it? This is the main street of Chui Jia Ji, when did it become your garrison? Who gave you permission to station troops here?" She raised the corners of her mouth slightly and argued with Murong Wu Di, as if she was about to give him a lecture.