Chapter 39: The Trap is Set

  "Director Chen, we didn't have many weapons to begin with. If we lose them like this... " Liu the Crooked One looked disapproving. Firearms were currently the most important thing for them, and if they were discarded, it would be hard to get them back. As someone who had been a bandit before, Liu the Crooked One understood this point very well. He really couldn't understand why Chen Shaokai was doing this.

  "Yes, most of the weapons in our hands have no ammunition left. If we discard them, it means that more than half of our brothers are unarmed. Foolish big guy, don't you think about it again?" Xue Yumei also felt that this was not appropriate, after all, their survival depended on these weapons. Without them, if they encountered the little devils again, they would be left with nothing but to wait for death."

  "A weapon without ammunition is just a club, no matter how many we have. As long as we keep our people safe, we will definitely get more weapons in the future!" Chen Shaoqin said patiently, then continued very seriously, "We are all members of the War Eagles, and you know that obeying orders is what we must do. I don't want to repeat this principle again!"

  Everyone heard Chen Shaoqin's words and voluntarily handed over the empty guns and ammunition belts in their hands, uniformly handing them over to Xiaoshi and A4 to handle according to Chen Shaoqin's instructions. The remaining team followed Chen Shaoqin to retreat towards the left forest.

  Nomura led Suzuki and all the devils to pursue, but none of them could catch up with Chen Shaoqin's footsteps. At this time, the devils had already chased into the forest where Chen Shaoqin let Xiaoshi release smoke. Due to the dense smoke around, their vision was limited by the thick smoke, and they couldn't see the surrounding environment clearly. Many devil soldiers were even choked out of tears by the thick smoke.

  "What the...! Are you saying that the Chinese troops escaped right under our noses?!" Suzuki gripped his Type 14 Nambu pistol, wore a command knife at his waist, and stood at the forefront of the troop, facing wave after wave of thick smoke rolling in towards them, at a loss for what to do.

  "No, these Chinese troops retreated in too much of a hurry and didn't even have time to bring their weapons and ammunition!" Nomura seemed not to have given up, slightly crouching down, picking up a gun that was placed on the ground, then said to Suzuki very affirmatively, "I believe they are just ahead of us, not far away, it's just these damn smokescreens that served as cover for them, that's why we didn't discover them!"

  "Nomura, you're analyzing that it's too stupid!" Suzuki said with shame for his earlier confusion, standing straight in front of Nomura and then turning around to wave his right hand, "The team will continue to advance and search for the Chinese person!"

  As the command went down, the vanguard squad of the devils first rushed into the smoke, starting to stir the ground with long guns loaded with bayonets, and trying their best to expand the search range so that they could better discover the Chinese. However, they never thought that as they stirred the ground with their bayonets, they pulled the fuse line of a landmine. A hand grenade quickly detonated, and with a loud "boom", several devils' vanguard soldiers around were blown up and fell heavily to the ground. In an instant, a whole squad lost five or six men.

  "Baka! Chīna-jin!" Nomura heard the explosion and immediately looked frantically towards the forest, when he saw several wounded soldiers coming to him with each other's support, he suddenly became furious. He never thought that Chen Shaogu and others would set up a trap for them while they were hastily retreating. "You few, quickly say, what exactly happened inside?"

  "Report to Lieutenant, the Chinese have set up landmines inside, we accidentally triggered them and an entire squad of Imperial soldiers... only we are left!" The soldier reported in front of Noyama, trying his best to recount their experience inside without holding back.

  "Mr. Suzuki, the more landmines the Chinese set up, the more it proves they are ahead of us!" Nomura waved his hand as the wounded soldier went to rest in the back, then he turned around and walked up to Suzuki, saying "We must increase our efforts and quickly eliminate these remnants!"

  "Engineers, get up!" Suzuki gritted his teeth and stared into the smoke. Because of the thick smoke, they couldn't see the situation around them at all. After hearing Nomura's words, he knew that Nomura had to cross this minefield in front of him, so he could only speed up the attack and ordered the engineers to hurry up and clear the mines.

  The sappers, carrying their instruments, ran into the smoky area, slowly and carefully searching for Chen Shaobin's landmines with their instruments. However, as they walked a certain distance, their feet touched the strings on the ground, and the hand grenades hanging from the tree branches exploded, instantly killing the four Japanese sappers who had entered the smoky area. The smoke, which originally only smelled of dry firewood, now mixed with a pungent smell of gunpowder.

  "Eight trigrams, ya road! Chen Shaoqin, you turtle, don't always hide like a mouse! Come out and duel with me, come out and duel with me!" Nomura was thoroughly enraged by Chen Shaoqin's two hand grenades, gripping the pistol in his hand tightly, firing several shots into the smoke, pausing only when the bullets were all used up.

  "Nomura, I'll take a platoon of infantry and charge in to clear the way for the Imperial Army. You bring the Imperial Army into the smoke screen and break through the Chinese line in one go, completely taking control of the Chinese riflemen!" Suzuki couldn't just stand by and watch anymore, so he volunteered in front of Nomura, asking to be sent inside once, no matter the cost, to help Nomura capture the person.

  "Alright!" Nomura saw that there was no other way out, so he decided to let Suzuki lead the team into the smoky area, to help him open up a path and continue chasing Chen Shaobin's group. "But you have to be careful, or come back!"

  "Ha!" Suzuki immediately responded, then led the oni squad into the burning forest. The forest was already shrouded in smoke, making it impossible for them to see what was going on, but they still used their bodies to trample the landmines, without any delay.

  But strangely, there was no further explosion on this section of the road, which seemed to reassure the little devil who had entered the forest. Suzuki stopped his advancing footsteps and let a ghost hurry back to report the situation to Nomura, then let Nomura lead the team to continue the pursuit.

  Nomura received the message from Suzuki and immediately ordered the little devils around him to form a battle array, running neatly into the forest, planning to advance westward.

  At this time, another loud noise came out, almost shaking the surrounding mountains. The intense explosion once again blew up the little devils who had entered the forest, and the team became scattered...