Chapter 3

Dong Ku and the others ran for about ten minutes, just as they had climbed over a hill, the sound of gunfire like popping beans came from behind.

"Dong Brother, Brother Zhong and the others have started shooting," said Hu Zi, turning to look in the direction of the gunfire, his young face showing no sign of worry.

Dong Ku heard the gunfire gradually thin out, knowing that Liu Zhong and the others had already left the place where they had fired. He let out a sigh of relief and pointed to a spot halfway down the slope, saying, "Shunzi, head in that direction."

Shunzi knew that Dong Ku could have left on his own but chose not to, clearly out of a sense of righteousness to save Shanzi and the others. Therefore, he had no intention of objecting and ran down the slope towards the thick snow where Dong Ku had pointed...

Dong Ku's judgment was correct; the gunfire was indeed caused by Liu Zhong and the others. Liu Zhong had experience with the Hanyang-made rifles and was relatively familiar with the use of steel guns. The hunters used guns based on instinct; although they had never truly practiced shooting, the four of them still managed to take down three Japanese soldiers.

As soon as the gunfire started, the Japanese troops scattered, lying flat on the ground and firing wildly in the direction of Liu Zhong and the others. Although they couldn't see anyone, they were still firing in the general direction. The flying bullets caused the snow and frozen earth to fly, and the shrubs were broken one by one.

"Damn! So fierce!"

Sun Tao, who had already retreated from the ridge, was startled by the whistling bullets and shrank his neck, muttering softly.

Mengzi didn't fare much better; he was cut on the cheek by flying branches and fell to the ground, thinking he was dead.

Liu Zhong, hearing the whistling bullets overhead, was also secretly alarmed. If anyone stuck their head out, they would be riddled with bullets. He also understood why Dong Ku, whose name he had just learned, had not let them engage the Japanese head-on.

"Don't pretend to be dead! Move quickly, and get your gear ready," Liu Zhong said, pulling Mengzi up from the ground, crouching down carefully, fiddling for a while, and then rushing down the hill with his gun on his back...

Shankou Koji, looking through his binoculars, saw no one on the adjacent hill before he could set up his machine gun.

"Don't shoot! Charge up and capture them alive, I want to skin the Chinese pigs!!" Shankou Koji roared, waving his command knife.

The Japanese soldiers lying on the ground heard the order and got up, spreading out and charging up the hill with their guns.

But when they reached the top of the hill, they found only a mess, with no one in sight.

"Damn!"

Shankou Koji angrily slashed a hazel bush with his knife, still fuming as he looked at the tracks in the snow on the hilltop and scanned the area with his binoculars.

"Watanabe, take thirty men and follow the footprints down the hill. That should be the direction of Jingbian and the others."

"Hai!"

The sergeant named Watanabe stood at attention, accepted the order, and led his men down the hill.

After Watanabe left, Shankou Koji waved his command knife and roared, "Follow the footprints, catch the Chinese pigs, I want to light them up!!"

Since he had led his team into the mountains, he had never suffered such a significant loss, which made Shankou Koji extremely angry, but he didn't realize that the pursuers were regular troops.

The remaining hundred or so Japanese soldiers spread out in a skirmish line and followed the footprints towards the opposite ridge.

The Japanese soldiers, spread out over a hundred meters, advanced quickly through the dense forest, no one speaking, only the crunching of snow and the rustling of bushes echoing through the woods.

"Ah..."

The advancing column was suddenly thrown into chaos by a short, sharp cry. All the soldiers, as if facing a great enemy, quickly turned their guns towards the direction of the cry.

They saw a soldier who had been following the footprints swaying while holding a birch branch as thick as a hoe handle; his gun hung limply from his arm, clearly dead. The cry, however, had not come from him but from a companion nearby.

Shankou Koji, holding a turtle shell in one hand and a command knife in the other, ran a few steps to the scene.

"Hisss..."

Seeing the wooden wedge that had pierced the soldier's heart and pushed his coat up high, he couldn't help but draw a sharp breath.

"This is a trap. Stay away from the footprints, and you'll be fine," Shankou Koji said, calming the shaken soldiers and ordering them to lower the body from the branch.

After lowering the dead soldier and examining the ancient trap made from a bent birch branch and dogwood vine, he knew it must have been set by the hunters they were pursuing. With the target confirmed, Shankou Koji drew his command knife and pointed in the direction where the footprints disappeared, shouting, "Stay away from the footprints and follow the direction!"

A soldier gathered the valuables of the dead comrade, shouldered his gun, and carefully watched the snow under his feet, advancing cautiously with the team.

This incident made the Japanese soldiers less confident and they advanced more cautiously, searching a few meters to either side of the footprints, slowing down significantly.

But before the column had moved a few meters, a branch suddenly snapped in front of one of the soldiers, whizzing past the unprepared Japanese soldier.

"Watch out!"

"Be careful!"

The nearby soldiers, startled, each dove to the side.

The soldier who had narrowly avoided being hit by the branch was momentarily stunned. Realizing he was unharmed, he was about to laugh at the overreaction of his companions when he suddenly felt snow falling on his head. Before he could look up, a sharp shadow rapidly enlarged in his eyes, and with a "puff," it pierced his eye socket, sending him flying.

Shankou Koji, not far behind, saw the wooden stake swinging towards him but couldn't call out in time. He watched in horror as the soldier was hung on the stake and swung out for several meters, landing nearby with blood gushing from his mouth and eye socket, twitching uncontrollably.

"Damn!!"

He was furious! Five men had died without even seeing the enemy, a great humiliation!

The enraged Shankou Koji waved his pistol and fired several shots in all directions, emptying his magazine without relieving his anger.

"Yamada..."

A Japanese soldier, familiar with the dead man, trembled as he reached out to check for a pulse, his hand touching the warm, blood-soaked neck...

"Hehe..."

The four men who had crossed the ridge heard the gunfire and laughed as they ran.

Mengzi laughed and said, "Brother Zhong, I wonder if my 'ground dragon' trap will work. If it does, it will definitely change the Japanese soldiers' path."

Liu Zhong laughed and scolded, "Look at you, always thinking about the lower parts. Your trap won't work; it's too close to the footprints, and the Japanese won't trigger it."

Shankou Koji, after venting his anger, regained his composure. He looked at the footprints in the snow, pondered for a moment, and then ordered, "Stay at least ten meters away from the footprints, don't get close, and speed up the pursuit!"

Shankou Koji's order was quickly relayed, and the Japanese soldiers, no longer approaching the footprints, increased their speed.

Without the worry of the ground, their speed increased significantly. Except for the delay caused by the two incidents, they were not much slower than Liu Zhong and the others on the snow.

An hour later, Shankou Koji's main force, following the soft footprints in the snow, had crossed a ridge and a ravine, moving away from Dong Ku's direction and heading towards the right side of the Black Wind Pass.

An hour later, Dong Ku, through his binoculars, clearly saw the approaching Japanese soldiers. When he saw a group of thirty without heavy weapons, he looked back at the terrain and asked, "Hu Zi, have you used a steel gun before?"

"Brother Dong, I've only fired once, with the Hanyang-made rifle that Brother Zhong had before it malfunctioned. Brother Dong, are we going to fight the Japanese?"

"Thirty, and they dare to split their forces. We'll take them out."

Dong Ku, looking through his binoculars at the rapidly advancing Japanese, spoke calmly, showing no fear of the thirty armed men.

Influenced by Dong Ku's calmness, Hu Zi, remembering how Dong Ku had eliminated twenty Japanese soldiers, relaxed a bit and his hands were no longer as stiff.

"Let's go to the river fork and wait for the Japanese. Hu Zi, run ahead and catch up with Shunzi and the others. Tell them to keep heading towards the Black Wind Pass and not to stop no matter what happens behind them."

"Okay, Brother Dong." Hu Zi responded, crouching and retreating down the snow-covered ridge to catch up with Shunzi and the others.

Dong Ku ran to a pre-selected position, pulled the pin on an infantry hand grenade, carefully tied a thin wire to it, and placed it with five melon-shaped grenades, burying them in the snow and covering the wire with a hazel branch to hide the traces.

After setting the tripwire, he quickly ran forward to the river fork, about 400 meters away, and lay down on a high slope.

The wind continued to blow quietly, and the snow particles on the ground quickly filled in the less noticeable traces, leaving only the deeper footprints clearly visible.

Ten minutes later, Hu Zi ran back and, at Dong Ku's signal, lay down next to him, excitedly trying to extend his gun over the snow ridge.

"Hu Zi, do you see those rocks?" Dong Ku stopped Hu Zi and pointed to a few rocks about thirty meters away that were not covered by snow. "Go there, don't shoot until the Japanese are within a hundred meters. Use the gun like this..."

Hu Zi, unfamiliar with the bolt, fumbled a few times and then excitedly ran to the position Dong Ku had indicated, moving his body and burying himself in the snow, covering his head with a square white cloth to blend in with the snow.

"Good."

Seeing Hu Zi, despite his young age, knew how to use the environment to hide himself, Dong Ku praised him inwardly.

As he looked away, the figures of the Japanese appeared a kilometer away.

"Quickly! The Chinese mountain people are ahead!" Watanabe shouted, running and urging his men, his breath visible in the cold air.

Hu Zi, tense, slowly took off his gloves and placed his finger on the trigger.

Dong Ku, looking through the scope, saw the Japanese soldiers getting closer and closer, feeling neither fear nor joy, remaining unusually calm. Dealing with a few Japanese soldiers from World War II was a piece of cake for him. Even if they had heavy weapons, they wouldn't have the chance to set them up.

"They're here..."

In the scope, the hazel branch was swaying in the wind, about half a meter from the footprints. The lead Japanese soldier was already near the tripwire...