Chapter 46

Leaving Baoqing, Dong Ku and his four vehicles headed in the opposite direction of the Japanese troops that were surrounding them, driving straight to Hulin. After a three-hour journey covering over 130 kilometers, they arrived at the edge of Dahuishan before dawn. They drove the trucks into the mountains for about four to five kilometers along the hard ground by the foot of the mountain, through the shrubs, and then stopped.

Just as Dong Ku and his four vehicles entered the forest, Liu Zhong rushed to the Ewenki tribe to borrow horses. In the morning, the few girls who had almost been harmed found themselves unharmed and ran back to their homes in fear, trembling under the worried gazes of their parents and husbands. However, news of the development team quickly spread throughout Baoqing, causing the timid to flee their homes, fearing they would be killed by the enraged Japanese troops during house searches.

While hiding, people also found it strange that the Japanese military camp was eerily quiet, with no one in sight, and the checkpoints were unguarded, as if they had evacuated. Although they were suspicious, they did not dare to investigate, and they did not even dare to go to the development team's compound of over 400 people, fearing for their lives.

After a night of unsuccessful searches, the search party found only the bodies of the Japanese soldiers who had not returned to their units. Seeing the bodies with their abdomens cut open and hanging, everyone in the search party trembled with fear from the bottom of their hearts. Even in the large group, they would shoot at the slightest sound. The sound of gunfire caused chaos in the forest.

As noon approached, Lieutenant Yamaguchi, who was in charge of the search, left the puppet troops to guard the key points and returned to Baoqing with the bodies.

In the convoy, Yamaguchi found it strange that the area, which usually had few people, was now as desolate as a ghost town, with no one in sight.

When the convoy reached the checkpoint at the city exit, a sense of foreboding crept into his heart.

"Get out! Get out!!"

Yamaguchi waved his pistol and roared loudly.

The Japanese soldiers on the trucks jumped down, guns in hand, and rushed towards the checkpoint.

The checkpoint was empty. The watchtower, which usually had three puppet troops and one Japanese soldier, was now deserted.

"Bakana!"

The images of the disemboweled bodies flashed in Yamaguchi's mind, making his heart race.

"Target! The military camp!!"

Under Yamaguchi's orders, the trucks and motorcycles, equipped with machine guns, roared towards the military camp.

The advancing convoy soon arrived at the camp.

"Surround this place! Charge in!!!"

Seeing no one at the entrance of the camp, Yamaguchi screamed madly, leading the charge with his pistol.

"Hisss..."

Standing at the entrance of the camp, Yamaguchi drew a sharp breath, his scalp tingling, and his hair under his military cap felt like it was standing on end.

"Kill one civilian, pay ten times in return!"

The bloody words on the white sheet hanging between Nakamura Kōichi and his son made Yamaguchi's breathing rapid and his limbs cold.

"Nakamura-sama..."

Yamaguchi's lips trembled as he tried to help Nakamura Kōichi, whose intestines had been dried and skinned, but he did not know where to start. In his fear, he realized that Nakamura Kōichi had been cut open while still alive.

"Report!"

A soldier interrupted his terror.

Yamaguchi took a deep breath, turned to look at the soldier behind him, and shouted, "Speak!"

"Report! A total of thirty-one people in the left and right barracks were all killed, they were..."

The soldier could not continue.

"Bakana!!"

Yamaguchi, enraged, ordered, "Seal the city!"

Just as his order was given, a soldier ran over and reported, "Report! The ammunition depot's gate is wide open, and the guard has been killed..."

"The ammunition depot!!"

Yamaguchi knew the importance of the ammunition depot, which was a transit point along the Raohe line. If they lost the ammunition, his fate would be worse than the blame for Nakamura's death, and he would have to commit seppuku to atone to the Emperor.

"Go and check!!"

Losing his composure, Yamaguchi, without putting down Nakamura Kōichi's body, ran towards the ammunition depot.

The soldiers, though fearful, did not let the bloodshed overwhelm them and followed Yamaguchi to the ammunition depot.

When Yamaguchi reached the entrance, he saw the gate of the ammunition depot wide open, with two soldiers leaning against each other, guns in hand, though they were clearly dead.

"Move them and go in!"

Yamaguchi ordered.

"Hai!"

Four soldiers stepped forward, carefully checked the area around the two bodies, and then moved them to clear the way.

At that moment, a black object flew out from inside.

"Uh..."

A Japanese soldier instinctively reached out to catch the object. The coldness of the object startled him. When he realized it was an unexploded anti-tank mine, he was about to celebrate his luck, but the air suddenly tightened, and an irresistible force obliterated his consciousness.

Boom!

A deafening explosion echoed over Baoqing, causing the civilians who had fled into the woods to look at the explosion site in fear.

With the explosion, a cloud of black smoke and debris shot into the sky, raining down in all directions.

The black cloud could be seen clearly from over ten miles away, causing the civilians hiding in the forest to panic, speculating whether the Japanese were starting their retaliation.

Before the black smoke could dissipate, another explosion followed. A ball of fire rose into the sky, and large fireballs scattered like fireworks. The sky was soon filled with flames and the sound of explosions.

"Such a disaster! This is going to destroy our homes..."

An old man, supported by his grandson, shed tears from his dim eyes.

"Brother, what should we do? The people from the development team were all hung on the door frames, their intestines spilling out..."

A boy of eight or nine years old, holding his brother's hand, looked anxiously at the flames rising from their home.

"Biaozi, do you think it's the King of Hell sending ghosts to deal with these beasts? I heard from Yingzi's mother that all the people in the development team were killed by ghosts..."

In the discussion, everyone came to a realization: this was the heavens helping the people, and the King of Hell was taking lives. With this infinite imagination, they carried their meager food supplies and headed into the mountains, hoping the King of Hell would eliminate these ruthless killers and allow them to return home.

The military camp, in the midst of the intense explosions, was reduced to rubble. The entire semi-underground ammunition depot was blown up, leaving a crater over a hundred meters in diameter. The steel bars stood out in the smoke, adding to the tragic scene.

Several hundred meters away, the burning oil depot was a sea of fire, with a dozen trucks twisting and changing shape in the flames.

Yamaguchi, with the intense explosion, was sent skyward, leaving no intact pieces of flesh, sparing him the pain of seppuku. Only a dozen Japanese soldiers at the entrance of the camp survived the explosion.

They were standing on the side of the truck when the explosion occurred, luckily avoiding the violent shockwave. However, their ears were now useless, with blood trickling down from their ear canals.

The intense explosion was heard over several dozen miles away, causing Li Bennan, the commander of the Third Battalion of the Fourth Regiment of the former Ma Zhanshan's forces, to speculate whether the Japanese were engaging with the armed group.

Li Bennan's eyes rolled a few times, and he ordered, "Go and see what's happening. Report back immediately if there's any situation."

Putting aside Li Bennan's thoughts about whether to return and support the Japanese for credit, Baoqing was now empty. The civilians who had initially hoped to stay were now fleeing their homes, heading into the mountains, with only a few pro-Japanese individuals remaining.

On the mountain road, several bicycles were racing towards Dongtai Village, forty kilometers away. There, they could find a telephone. These cyclists, armed with box guns, were members of the maintenance committee.

They had learned of the massacre at the development team shortly after the civilians fled. All the people there had been killed, their bodies hung on the door frames of their houses, and their abdomens cut open.

In a state of extreme fear, they stumbled to the military camp to report, only to find it empty. Inside the open barracks, they saw the same scene as at the development team, making their scalps tingle and feeling as if the sky was falling. After failing to make a phone call, they briefly discussed and decided to ride their bicycles to the nearest Dongtai Village, where a dozen Japanese soldiers were stationed and had a telephone.

As they were about to reach Dongtai Village, a corporal there was on the phone.

"Hai!"

The corporal stood at attention, put down the phone, and walked out of the room, ordering, "You few take the telephone line and check along the way to Baoqing. You few come with me!" He then got on the motorcycle at the door...

The maintenance committee members, who were frantically pedaling on the mountain road, suddenly heard the sound of a motorcycle approaching and moved to the side of the road, waiting for the motorcycle, which only the Japanese had, to pass...

"What? Baoqing was attacked by a mysterious armed group? All the people in the development team were killed?!"

The murderer at the Shuangyashan coal mine had no leads, and Kawanishi Shōsuke, who was in charge of the case, was already frustrated. The call from Dongtai Village made him even more alarmed.

Soon, in the headquarters of the Kwantung Army in Jiamusi, Nanzan received the news of the incident in Baoqing.

"Bakana!!"

Nanzan, upon hearing that over 400 people, young and old, in the Baoqing development team had been killed and disemboweled, flew into a rage and smashed his favorite jade teacup.

"Killing my excellent Yamato people!" Nanzan growled through clenched teeth, "Reinforce Baoqing, and dig up every inch of land to find this armed group!!"

"Hai!"

The communications officer carefully accepted the order and left the headquarters to relay the command.

"Kill one civilian, pay ten times in return?"

Nanzan squeezed out these words through his teeth, his eyes blazing with fury. He then turned and ordered, "Kawabe Koshirō, listen to my command!"

Kawabe Koshirō stood at attention.

"You are in charge of the Baoqing incident."

"Hai!"

Kawabe Koshirō, a colonel from the 24th class of the Army Staff College, stood at attention and loudly accepted the order.

PS: Bowing in gratitude to old reader gh-1 for the repeated support, and to readers Kuang Qin and Yi Yi for their support. Thank you to all the readers who voted and those who voted without commenting. Thank you, thank you!!!