Chapter 29: The Shocking Ambush (Part 2)

  A violent explosion shook the house he was in, causing the delicate tea set on the small table to clatter loudly. Kobayashi hastily put away an old painting that his friend had given him as a war trophy, although he knew it was looted, but after all, it was now in his possession, and he thought that only someone as refined as himself was worthy of appreciating such elegant art. He forgot who created this elegant art.

  The guard was his wife's brother, Lin Muhua Xiu, also the only person he trusted. Lin Muhua Xiu rushed in, "Report, we encountered an enemy ambush during our search of the troops, with heavy casualties."

  Kobayashi, dressed neatly, accompanied by Hayami and other squad leaders who had rushed to the scene. The gruesome sight made Kobayashi feel nauseous, although he had also created such scenes before. When the same thing happened to oneself, it was always hard to accept. The black earth blown up by the explosion, stained with dark red blood, half-buried the broken branches and bodies, the internal organs flowing out of the broken body, the severed limbs, made all the squad leaders look at Kobayashi with extremely complex expressions.

  The wind is still so gentle, and the leaves floating in the air occasionally turn over and fall. But where will the soul in the air return to?

  Kobayashi looked up at the forest, where soldiers were tracking down enemy footprints. Hatred was burning in their hearts, and pain made fear hide. "Tanaka-san, Watanabe-san," two platoon leaders came over and bowed to Kobayashi. "Let the departed souls rest in peace, we leave it to you."

  Tanaka Kameju is a veteran of the Great War with a wild fighting spirit; Watanabe Tashiro-mura is a merchant who often views problems from a businessman's perspective and also discovers his dream treasure in war. The two men have their own intentions, bow to Kobayashi, and lead the army to follow up on the search.

  Kobayakawa led a small contingent in person and was the last to leave the field of battle.

  The enemy's search party was hot on their heels, and although they had already shot down the enemy's military dog, some of the old soldiers among the enemy, relying on their superhuman experience, still discovered clues. It didn't matter whether it was the power of hatred or a soldier's instinct; what mattered was to catch up with them and kill them.

  Li Baoguo walked at the end, relying on his keen sense of direction to judge the general direction of the devils. At first, some devils couldn't keep up, after all, this was in the midst of a dense forest, and the special forces were walking through extremely steep terrain. For the special forces, this was just a test of their training subjects, and many of them were mountain people who hunted, gathered herbs, and climbed mountains as a matter of course.

  When the clock hand was seen pointing to nine o'clock under the dim starlight, Li Baoguo sat on the ground with a thud. "Damn it, we've been chasing for three hours and it's still not over. The tiger is not showing its might, what's wrong with me being a sick cat? Xu De, call up a few brothers to deal with these devils."

  "Yes!" Xu De had been holding back for a long time and waved his hand, "Bring a few over."

  "Hey, don't make too much noise. If we go with a few less, there won't be more than twenty devils, is it worth it for so many people?" Li Baoguo took a look and saw that except for those responsible for contacting the scouts in front, all the other soldiers had eagerly rushed over.

  But no one came back, thirty or forty people, soon disappeared into the forest. There was no moonlight, in the big mountain's forest, it was so dark that you could only rely on feeling. But the special forces' sense of direction was trained in this kind of environment. When Xu De and the others returned, Li Baoguo was just about to go forward.

  "Li Dui, Nan Dui is asking you to go over."

  Xu De and the others followed Li Bao Guo to Nan Wei Ren's place, only to find out that Nan's team had gotten lost. In the big mountains, in the dense forest, they were lost, and it was nighttime, with the enemy's pursuit still ongoing. Xu De still didn't notice Li's tension.

  "Troops stay where you are and rest, don't light a fire, huddle together, eat something." Li Baoguo said, "Old Nan, let's go look again."

  Li Baoguo, Nan Weiren, Xu De and Liu Jian quietly climbed up a mountain ridge. Li Baoguo took over the night vision scope from Nan Weiren's hand, which was a treasure that no one except Yang Jie could move.

  "Lao Nan, look over there, is that a mountain village?"

  In the dense forest, there are several households hidden from view. If you don't look carefully, it's easy to mistake the low mountain houses for large stones on a dark night. "Let's take a closer look!" It's more like a forest guard's residence than a village. The low stone wall is roughly surrounded by stones, and a few wooden sticks are haphazardly tied together to form a wooden fence, which is slanted and blocked at the gap in the stone wall. Probably due to the long passage of time, a thin layer of mud has accumulated in the gaps between the stones, and several unknown wild grasses are swaying gently in the autumn night's cold wind, like a sleepy person lazily stretching their waist.

  A low, stone house emitted intermittent coughing sounds, indicating that the people inside were not sleeping soundly either. Xu De slipped into the courtyard, and a slender-waisted, long-legged black dog silently pounced out from the dark shadows beside the stone house, jumping high and biting towards Xu De's neck. This was a genuine hunting dog, one that knew how to launch sneak attacks and had caught prey at least once before. But even in the darkness, even with Xu De completely defenseless, even if his opponent were a wolf, Xu De, who prided himself on being like Li Baoguo, could still defeat his enemy with a single move. The black shadow flashed, and Xu De's hand struck out immediately, accurately, concisely, and ruthlessly. As soon as Xu De's hand touched the dog's neck, he instinctively used both hands to toss the black dog silently into the corner of the courtyard.

  The door wasn't locked, and Xu De walked in. Immediately, the sound of rustling clothes and low conversation came from inside, accompanied by occasional laughter. Li Baoguo let out a long sigh. Indeed, a man around fifty years old with a hunched back and his hands clasped behind him followed Xu De out. Upon seeing Li Baoguo and Nan Zhen, he smiled humbly and then headed towards the village exit. After passing through a dense thicket of trees and turning north, he pointed to a narrow path and said, "From here, go over a ridge, cross a river - it's very shallow - and you'll be on the main road from Zhangjiakou to Xuanhua via Yanghe River." Everyone looked in the direction he was pointing, but no one noticed the sly smile on his face.

  With the team, when they crossed a mountain ridge, Xu De understood why Shan Nong was so happy when he heard that his team was fighting against the devils. Because at the foot of the mountain ridge, at the end of the road, it wasn't a river, but...

  But a simple military camp of the ghost son.

  The military camp occupied the entire valley, with lights shining brightly. Li Baoguo and Nan Weiren were hiding behind a rock, observing for a long time. This place was very close to the enemy's military camp, and with the night wind, they could hear the sound of the enemy's cars rumbling. "I think this is the enemy's temporary arsenal, what do you think? It looks like the little devils are going to take big action tonight! Look at that truck, coming and going, isn't it loaded with ammunition?" Li Baoguo whispered to Nan Weiren.

  "Liu Jian, Xu De, take a few people to get close and reconnoiter. Call Zhang Qiankui over." Nan Weiren didn't say another word, took out his night vision scope, leaned forward and carefully observed the Japanese army's temporary camp. Obviously, setting up in such a remote place and defending so tightly, there must be something big going on.

  Zhang Qiui, originally an elementary school art teacher in Beiping, killed three Japanese devils on a dark night to save a woman who was being bullied by the Japanese army and escaped from Beiping. In the special warfare team, his cultural level is relatively high, and he has a foundation in art. Yang wanted to keep him working at the headquarters, but he refused. Perhaps due to his artistic background, his powers of observation and sensitivity are very strong, especially his ability to quickly draw out the enemy's defensive layout and identify firepower points.