Chapter 33

Dong Ku and his group successfully crossed Tiger Head Village and headed towards Shuangyazi Mountain.

At the same time, Kobayashi Kōichi also arrived at Dahu Town.

Seeing the ruins in the lamplight, Kobayashi Kōichi frowned. What kind of armed force could have done this? They had burned down the houses, clearly intending to completely destroy the transportation route here.

"Report, Lieutenant, we found someone still in the village."

A soldier ran up to report.

"Bring them over."

Kobayashi Kōichi said as he got out of the car.

"Sir, I am a good citizen, a friend of Lieutenant Oono..."

Yang Piguan twisted her fat buttocks, rubbing the softness against the arms of the soldier holding her.

"Baka!"

Kobayashi Kōichi raised his hand and slapped Yang Piguan, showing no mercy.

"Sir..."

Yang Piguan's head was dazed, her chubby face immediately swollen, and she dared not speak loudly.

Before Kobayashi Kōichi could ask again, a soldier ran over with cans of meat, fish, and rations.

"Lieutenant, we found these things in the house..."

Kobayashi Kōichi glanced at the items that only the Imperial Japanese Army had, his triangular eyes immediately flashing with a fierce light. He pulled out his command knife and pressed it against Yang Piguan's neck, asking sinisterly, "You, tell me, who attacked here?"

"Sir... Sir... I don't know who attacked here... they spoke Russian..."

Yang Piguan trembled like a sieve, a hot steam rising between her legs.

"You, speak!"

Kobayashi Kōichi's command knife pointed at the man who was about to collapse, shouting sternly.

The man's lips trembled, his eyes focused on the tip of the knife, trying to speak but unable to utter a word.

"Baka!"

Kobayashi Kōichi shouted, thrusting the command knife forward, piercing the man's mouth, the tip emerging from the back of his neck.

The man stopped trembling, his mouth, foaming with blood, mumbled, "It's... the Soviets... they... are..."

"Boss!!!"

Yang Piguan struggled, screaming in agony, her head tilting to one side as she fainted.

"Comrade?"

At the moment Yang Piguan fainted, Kobayashi Kōichi heard what the man had said. His eyes flashed, and he ordered, "Send a message. Dahu Town was attacked by a small Soviet force. The specific losses will be reported later."

"Hai!"

An officer took the order to send the message.

"Go to the military camp!"

Kobayashi Kōichi ordered.

The convoy, engines roaring, headed towards the military camp, followed by a group of Japanese soldiers...

"Baka!"

Seeing the military camp already destroyed, even the barbed wire at the entrance scattered, Kobayashi Kōichi angrily cursed and strode into the parade ground.

"Attacked..."

Seeing the large pits filled with frozen blood and flesh, Kobayashi Kōichi imagined a scene. Miyamoto Shichiro and his men were either assembling or eating when a group of Soviet soldiers ambushed the camp, and they had artillery...

But why did Oono Tarō, who answered the phone, say Miyamoto had already left? Was there a traitor here? Or was the person who answered the phone a Soviet spy?

"Report, Lieutenant, we found an intact truck behind the barracks."

A report interrupted Kobayashi Kōichi's thoughts. He looked at the shadow behind the ruins and ordered, "Be on alert, approach the truck!"

"Hai!"

The headlights of the trucks were all turned off, and the Japanese soldiers, guns in hand, cautiously watched their surroundings.

Kobayashi Kōichi led a group of Japanese soldiers carefully approaching the truck. After observing the surroundings and seeing no abnormalities, he ordered them to turn on their flashlights and search carefully.

Two Japanese soldiers, one holding a flashlight and the other a gun, slowly approached the truck. As they got closer, they found the truck's rear bumper blocking a door in a mound of earth.

"Ammunition depot!"

Kobayashi Kōichi's scalp tingled, and he loudly ordered, "Withdraw fifty meters, engineers, check it out!"

As the Japanese soldiers withdrew, two engineers quickly moved forward, each holding a flashlight, crouching on the ground, and carefully probing the ground with their bayonets. Soon, they reached the truck.

Under the flashlight, one engineer saw a rope tied to the truck's rear axle and slowly crawled over to investigate, carefully probing under the truck.

Clank!

A faint, dull metallic sound came from the tip of the bayonet. Upon hitting something hard, the other engineer shone his flashlight from beside the wheel. The first soldier put down his flashlight and carefully probed with his bayonet, gradually removing the frozen soil around it, revealing an anti-tank hand-pulled mine they had manufactured.

"Yoshi..."

The engineer wiped the sweat from his forehead, carefully cut the pull wire, and slowly moved the mine out of the pit, crawling backward out from under the truck.

The other soldier carefully probed the scattered military uniforms at the back of the truck with his bayonet before retreating.

At the same time, the first soldier put down the mine, carefully inspected the truck, confirmed there were no traps, opened the door, and checked inside. He then opened the hood and saw the frozen engine, understanding that the engine had cracked due to the cold.

"Report, Lieutenant, the mine has been cleared. The truck's engine is cracked and has broken down here."

"Sōka..."

Kobayashi Kōichi understood that the Soviets had been transporting supplies from the ammunition depot, but the truck had stopped and couldn't move, so they left it and the supplies they couldn't take.

"Push the truck away from the entrance, and enter carefully."

Having figured it out, Kobayashi Kōichi ordered. However, he remained at the camp entrance, not moving forward.

"You, follow me!"

A group of about ten men followed a corporal toward the truck...

With the help of about ten men, the truck slowly started moving...

Just as the truck moved, a military uniform under the rear wheel was suddenly pulled into the ammunition depot.

"Nani?"

The Japanese soldier was stunned. Could the uniform move on its own?

Before he could think, a powerful force came from behind, making him release the truck and fall backward. Before he could react, a violent explosion tore through his body, turning his consciousness into molecules, mixing with the violent force.

At the camp entrance, Kobayashi Kōichi felt the ground shake, and an irresistible force knocked him to the ground. At the same time, a deafening explosion echoed in his ears.

The soldiers around him reacted similarly, being blown away by the violent shockwave, rolling down the road.

Boom!

A deafening explosion shattered the darkness before dawn, the shockwave and smoke rolling over the mountains.

"Didn't we clear it?"

Kobayashi Kōichi, ears ringing and head spinning, struggled to lift his head, trying to see through the smoke to the exploded ammunition depot, ignoring the debris falling on him.

At that moment, he suddenly felt difficulty breathing, a suffocating sensation that was not from the shockwave but a real, choking, burning sensation in his throat.

"Poison... gas..."

Kobayashi Kōichi, wearing white gloves, tightly gripped his neck, trying to relieve the suffocating feeling or prevent the gas from entering his lungs.

Unfortunately, it was all in vain. His pupils quickly turned red and dilated, and yellow blisters appeared on his exposed skin. His breathing stopped, and he fell to the ground in a half-kneeling position, his eyes bloodshot and staring at the direction of the ammunition depot.

In the dust, all the Japanese soldiers reacted similarly, their exposed skin quickly covered in yellow blisters, and they fell dead without even a scream.

After the shockwave, the smoke rolled over the entire village, covering Dahu Town and spreading to the surrounding mountains.

As the wind picked up with the first light of dawn, the dust and smoke slowly drifted eastward into the mountains, leaving behind a scene of deathly silence.

"Cough... cough..."

Yang Piguan, who had fainted and was now awakened by the explosion, struggled to push the bodies off her, coughing and slowly standing up. Her cotton shoes had fallen off during the dragging, but she didn't notice the cold ground, walking barefoot on the icy ground, aimlessly moving forward.

Her face was covered in blisters, yellow fluid streaming down her cheeks, and her loosened cotton pants slowly fell to her knees, revealing her floral underpants and white thighs.

Yang Piguan, disheveled, walked straight toward the forest on the east side of the village, as if something was attracting or calling her in that direction...

As Yang Piguan's figure disappeared into the bushes, Dahu Town fell silent, an absolute silence, even the rats in the holes stopped breathing.

At the same time the explosion in Dahu Town sounded, several figures crouched and slowly approached the hill where Dong Ku and his group had left.

Less than five miles from this hill, Doi Kōji also led his team to find the traces left by Fujita, heading straight for the location of the explosion.

At that location, amidst the suppressed groans, dozens of survivors, mostly hit by flying shrapnel, shivered in the darkness before dawn. They were dazed for a few minutes after the explosion, then a corporal organized the uninjured or lightly injured Japanese soldiers to search the area, confirming there were no more mines before starting to rescue the wounded.

Meanwhile, Dong Ku and his group had already entered the forest, moving through the dense trees toward their target, completely unaware that the traps they left behind had almost completely destroyed an elite squad...