Chapter 18: The Devils Officially Fall into the Trap

  The little devils, under the command of the lieutenant, all held their Type 38 rifles and moved forward one after another towards the edge of the big tree. The entire squad of devils passed by without any incident, which finally put the lieutenant's hanging heart at ease, making him even more certain of his previous speculation.

  "Captain Takeda, the Chinese are cunning, trying to delay our time with this fake thing. Fortunately, Captain is wise and led us, the brave soldiers of the Empire, to reason every step of the way, which allowed us to enter this forest smoothly!" The lieutenant said in a flattering tone in front of Captain Takeda.

  "The cunning of the Chinese we have already experienced, but the Chinese do not have a strong industry as a backing, no continuous supply of ammunition, and can only rely on stealing and robbing from Imperial soldiers and warehouses. This is far from enough to meet the demands of the front lines, so I dare to conclude that these Chinese can only use deceitful tactics, intentionally delaying our pursuit speed, in order to thoroughly escape our pursuit. Unfortunately for them, they encountered me, encountered the most courageous and fearless Great Japanese Imperial Army!"

  "Captain Yingming!" The major immediately began to flatter Captain Ying, with a fawning expression that left no doubt as to his intentions.

  "Yo Xi! Keep going!" Takeda found this phrase extremely pleasant to his ears, but he didn't dare slacken the pursuit of the Chinese bandits because of it. At the moment when he was feeling proud, he suppressed his own consciousness and ordered the troops to continue the chase, looking determined to catch Liu and his gang no matter what.

  The ghost squad reformed their combat formation and continued to advance towards the forest in front of them. When they arrived at the second large tree, the same few words appeared again on top of it. The vanguard of the ghost squad took down the banner and immediately returned to report to Takada: "Report to Lieutenant, we found such a banner again ahead!"

  The vanguard said and handed over the letter in his hand to Takeda, then waited for Takeda's judgment and command on one side.

  Takeda took the calligraphy, examined it carefully, and found that the font and ink were almost identical to the previous one. It was clear that these characters were written by the same person. For a moment, he really didn't know what kind of trick his opponent was playing. To think that they had already come for the first calligraphy, but there was nothing unusual about it. When Liu and others came for the second calligraphy, they should have thought of this possibility. So, whether the second calligraphy was true or false, even Takeda, a veteran soldier who had fought many battles, couldn't tell at that moment.

  "Mr. Takeda, the purpose of that previous sign was to deceive us, and I believe this one is no exception. You've already deduced that they don't have as many bombs as we thought, and the fact that we were able to make it here to see this second sign proves that they knew we'd get past the first one. Following normal reasoning, we would assume that what's below this second sign is real, so in order to continue deceiving us, they've set up another fake sign here to waste our time and manpower on clearing mines, giving them time to escape!"

  "Alright!" Takeda seemed to agree with the captain's analysis, then turned around and ordered the vanguard, "Let the soldiers ignore the contents of the banner and continue advancing!"

  "Ha!" The vanguard responded, turning to run towards the front of the troops. After conveying Takeda's orders, all the little devils in the vanguard began to move again, holding their guns and continuing to chase after the big tree without daring to delay any further and affect their pursuit mission. However, things did not go as they had expected. Just as the vanguard was about to pass by the big tree, they triggered a tripwire connected to hand grenades, causing a series of continuous explosions. The devils were blown to smithereens, falling to the ground in droves, and the dense smoke instantly enveloped the surrounding woods, making it almost impossible to see anything around them.

  "Hmph!" Wada cursed lightly, spitting out the mud that had entered his mouth due to the explosion, and then gritted his teeth, saying in a huff. The nearby Daigensui and two soldiers didn't dare to be slow, immediately helping Wada up.

  "General Takeda, it seems we underestimated the intelligence of the Chinese people. They are playing a game of deception with us!" The general did not expect that his own speculation would have such a large margin of error, resulting in so many casualties, making him feel very guilty and unsure of what to do next.

  "Keep chasing me!" The anger in Takeda's chest was hard to quell, but the dead soldiers had become a fact and there was no way to save them. All he could do now was continue to lead his troops in pursuit, and only by catching up with Liu and his men could he regain his own face and that of the Imperial Japanese Army.

  All the little devils who could stand up heard the order, immediately picked up their guns and stood up, continuing to move forward, although the future was uncertain, but they had no other choice.

  All the way to pursue, Takeda led those defeated soldiers and generals to come under the big tree of the third class, and he saw the same banner as before, which also told him that there were treacherous thunderbolts ahead.

  "Mr. Takeda, the calligraphy in front of you..." The captain's eyes widened in surprise as he saw the calligraphy, and his throat couldn't help but utter a few words. To think that just earlier, his analysis had cost many people their lives, now encountering this calligraphy again, he clearly didn't dare to make any more analyses, fearing that if he made another mistake, it would lead to losses for the team.

  "Suzuki, you tell me if that strange lightning in front is real or fake?" Takeda was still dazed from the previous explosion and couldn't distinguish right from wrong, so he handed over the decision to Taigun, hoping he could share his worries.

  "Earlier, the Chinese had arranged a real mine that caused heavy losses for the Imperial Army. They must have thought we would be more cautious and conduct professional clearance on the third mine, so I still think this one is a fake mine to confuse us!" Suzuki touched his hat brim and made his own analysis. Although he was afraid of making a wrong analysis, his superior's order had come, and he could only help his superior share the worry, even if it meant being afraid, he had to follow his superior's instructions.

  "Alright, I'll trust your judgment again!" Takeda apparently trusted Suzuki's speculation once more and drew out the command knife in his hand, ordering the oni soldiers behind him, "Open a path!"

  As he ordered, all the devils once again moved forward in front of them, only this time they walked especially carefully. As soon as there was a slight sound of treading on branches, they immediately stopped all movements and went to check what was the reason. But with such caution, could they escape the fate of being calculated by Chen Shaobin? None of them had any idea in their hearts, and they could only continue moving forward.