Chapter 11: The Divine Gun Creates a Legendary Myth

  The devils of the village arrived at the edge of the shed, saw the bodies of Matsumoto and Shōi, immediately reported to their major, who rushed to the body of Matsumoto's lieutenant colonel, squatted down to examine the cause of death, then ordered the communication soldier beside him to report to his superiors.

  County garrison commander Hatanaka Hisao received the news of Matsuda's death and was extremely enraged. He immediately ordered the telegraph room to inform Nomura, who was searching for Chen Shaoqin's trail near Xiaoyang Village, to rush to the mountain path not far from Gezhuang to investigate the true cause of Matsuda's death. He himself did not dare to delay and immediately followed the military police battalion to depart for the scene.

  At that time, the unfinished landscape oil painting gathered hundreds of little ghosts around it, and it seemed that all the little ghosts in the surrounding area had arrived here with that telegram.

  "Nomura, what's going on?" Hamada gripped his white glove tightly with one hand, slightly blocking the air entering his nostrils, probably because the smell of blood here was too strong and he couldn't take it.

  "Matsumoto-san was shot through the center of his eyebrows, a truly remarkable feat. It doesn't seem like the work of a trained sniper, but rather that of a professional assassin who has fled to China!" Nomura turned around and respectfully presented his findings to Hamada.

  "How did the other Imperial soldiers die?" Hamada couldn't imagine that everything here could happen so quietly. Considering this place is only three or four li away from the Goto base, if there were gunshots, with their rigorous training, they should be able to rush over and arrive here in one charge, as long as these dozen or so Imperial soldiers defended their position and waited for reinforcements, the crisis could have been completely overcome. But the current situation seems to have deviated from his speculation, as if it didn't develop according to his thinking.

  "Except for two who were shot from the side and killed, all others were shot in the center of their foreheads, just like Matsumoto's cause of death!" Nomura continued to speak, trying his best to reveal everything he knew.

  "How's the military doctor?" Hidetada turned around and asked the military doctor who was busy examining the corpses, inquiring about the detailed autopsy report of these dozen people.

  "Report, Major!" The military doctor gathered his things and jogged to the front of Hamada, saluting before continuing, "Matsuda-san and Sōma Lieutenant's foreheads were shot, with a strong smell of burning at the wound site, and severe damage. Under the impact of the force, there are slight scratches on the forehead bone, so I conclude that their cause of death was close-range shooting. As for the two Imperial soldiers who were shot from the side and died instantly, I examined the wounds and bullet holes, and found that they were caused by the same bullet passing through, in other words, they died from a single shot!"

  "No, that's impossible. There's no one in this world who can kill two people with a single shot!" Nomura immediately denied it upon hearing, clearly he wouldn't believe such a legendary sniping accuracy, such precise and magical marksmanship, not to mention among all the Japanese soldiers they led, even the Tokyo Army Medical School probably didn't have such talent, thus he was certain that this was just the military doctor's nonsense.

  "The two soldiers' positions where they fell, the shell casings left behind by the gunman, and the scars from their sideways gunshot wounds - I've thoroughly examined all of these. The results are unmistakable!" The military doctor didn't want to explain too much, he just tried his best to report the conclusions he had reached, in order to complete the task assigned to him by his superior as quickly as possible. After finishing speaking, he saluted again in front of Binata, then handed over the file and turned to leave.

  "Hakka...... It must be the work of a Chinese gunman!" Hamada took over the report given by the military doctor, clenching it tightly in his hand, almost crumpling those papers into a ball.

  "Colonel, are you referring to that Chinese gunman who returned from Germany and escaped our pursuit after the plane crash?" Nomura connected all the events in his mind along with Hamada's train of thought, seemingly arriving at the same conclusion.

  "It's not them, who else is it!" Hamada glared at Nomura with a gaze that seemed to be blaming him for the mishap. If Nomura hadn't let Chen Shaocan slip away from his grasp multiple times, none of this would have happened now. All of this was undoubtedly connected to Nomura's actions. "Matsuda-kun is the grandson of His Majesty the Emperor, the son of Princess Akiko, and he came to China this time to complete a painting for the Tokyo Annual Art Exhibition. Now that he has been killed in our jurisdiction, you and I will have to await the punishment of His Majesty the Emperor!"

  "War Eagle Sniper Team, I will tear you to pieces!" Nomura furiously roared to the sky, pulling out his Southern 14 from his waist and firing at the sky until all bullets were spent before tiredly lowering his arm. It was as if all the humiliation in this life was given by War Eagle Sniper Team, by Chen Shaobin, so at this moment, his heart was filled with resentment and anger, wanting to catch Chen Shaobin immediately and shoot him eight times.

  "Hmm..." Hamada didn't have time to reason with Nomura, he just hummed a sentence in anger and left with the military police, it seems that for Nomura, he was thoroughly disappointed.

  Chen Shaoqin had no idea that his shooting, which killed two Japanese soldiers with one bullet, created a myth in front of the little devils. At this moment, he and Xue Yumei have entered the range of Gezhuang, but because they have guns and ammunition on them, they dare not enter the town, so they choose to continue wandering in the forest.

  "Silly big guy, we've been walking like this for a long time, where are we going in the end?" Xue Yumei still didn't understand their destination, so she couldn't help but ask curiously. Although she didn't know where Chen Shaoqin was going now, she knew that they must be heading towards where there were more devils, because their mission was to fight against the little devils, and this would never change.

  "Go to Nanjing!" Chen Shaoqin did not intend to conceal, although Xue Yumei had not played a big role in the recent battle, but after all, they had gone through a life-and-death experience together and had this relationship. He felt that he should not keep secrets from her, so he answered without even thinking.

  "Nanjing?" Xue Yumei stopped in her tracks, turned around and stared at Chen Shaoqin with a look that demanded an explanation, "You're not joking, are you?"

  To know that this place is thousands of miles away from Nanjing, they have no means of transportation, and along the way, they can only rely on their feet to walk. What's worse is that they cannot take the main road, but can only turn in the forest, which inevitably slows down their actions. Moreover, there are many devils on this road, and checkpoints are countless. If they want to pass through like this, it's simply looking for death.

  "I'm not in the mood to joke with you, going to Nanjing is my mission, we must go!" Chen Shaoqin put on an unyielding expression. "I know you're worried about the devils along the way, but we are at war, and danger can arise anywhere, anytime. Are you saying that your previous bold words about fighting the devils were just empty talk?"