Chapter 59

Through the telescope, Dong Ku watched Shui Linglong safely enter Qitaihe, then waved his hand to order the team to return to Dahei Mountain.

On the way, Liu Zhong asked, "Why didn't you let Miss Shui stay? She has good skills, and I saw her leg techniques were quite solid."

Dong Ku said while walking, "Saving her was a matter of righteousness and convenience, but we don't know her well. Besides, we are a group of men, and bringing a woman along would be very inconvenient. Most importantly, no one outside of us should know about Heixizigou, except for Morigen and his group."

"Oh..."

The few people behind Dong Ku understood and didn't bring up the topic again. They silently traversed the forest, heading straight for Dahei Mountain. They didn't know the commotion they had caused in Jiamusi.

As dawn broke and the newspaper boys started their work, a wave of news swept through the cities within the pass, including Shanghai, Tianjin, and Nanjing. On the streets, newspaper boys ran and shouted, attracting countless buyers.

"Over ten thousand bow-legged people died! Great!!" A scholar with glasses looked at the newspaper, unable to contain his excitement.

"The little Japanese should be exterminated!!" Not far away, a government official eating a pancake was also very excited.

In Nanjing, an old general received the report as soon as he got up. He looked at the newspaper and cursed, "Damn! Want to put a pot on us? No way!"

Thus, whether in the newspapers or in the negotiations with the Japanese, a meaningless verbal battle ensued. In Beiping, He Yingqin received the Japanese official Doyashiro, playing a game of Tai Chi amidst the flying saliva.

Almost at the same time, the news reached other countries. However, most leaders categorized it as a Japanese frame-up and didn't take it seriously. After all, there were few foreign informants in Manchuria at the time, and even if there were, it would take some time for accurate information to come in. Moreover, they didn't believe the Nationalist government had the capability to develop special ammunition.

While the verbal battle was ongoing, a batch of elite Special Higher Police (Tokkeitai) entered Heilongjiang, stationed in the then puppet state's Sanjiang Province, Binjiang Province, and other areas, filling Jiamusi, Shuangyashan, Baoqing, Qitaihe, and Hulin with Tokkeitai agents.

As Dong Ku and his team traversed the forest, these Tokkeitai elites, who arrived by plane, had already started their work. Jiamusi also entered the phase of clearing residual toxins.

Teams of Chinese peasants were driven to carry buckets, and after receiving the prepared medicinal solution, they used scrub brushes to splash it in every corner of the settlement.

The Chinese workers, though frightened, noticed a strange phenomenon: the Japanese soldiers suddenly became kind. Last night, they were still stabbing people with bayonets, but in the morning, they just had the traitors announce the work, without any beating or scolding, and even gave them a steamed bun.

This was a white flour steamed bun, which, under the puppet state's policy, only the Japanese could eat. They had never seen it, let alone dared to eat it.

"Damn, why are the little devils giving us steamed buns? They won't do something after we finish the work, will they?"

A middle-aged woman nervously tucked the steamed bun into her chest and whispered to a familiar person nearby.

"I don't know what's going on. Last night, Old Liu was stabbed with a bayonet, but fortunately not in the stomach. Even so, he won't be able to get out of bed for a month." Another middle-aged woman whispered, sprinkling the liquid from the bucket around.

At the explosion site, a team of Japanese wearing masks carefully examined the area that had been doused with water. A tall, thin man looked at the deformed truck frame and asked, "This truck was made by our empire. Has any truck been reported missing?"

"Report to Lieutenant Colonel, we checked last night, and there is no record of a missing truck."

The tall, thin man didn't ask further, pointing to the truck frame and saying, "Collect the traces and find out what explosives were used."

"Hai!" A Japanese in a white coat obeyed, using a white cloth to wipe the frame and collect the dust for analysis.

By the river, a thick black smoke rose into the sky. Teams of Japanese wearing gas masks were moving bodies into a pile to burn them. They didn't use Chinese people because these were all Japanese, and Nanzhiro didn't want the Chinese to see and incite resistance.

As for the settlers who were covered in sores or had lost their sight, they were being treated in a military camp near Huachuan. However, out of the more than 20,000 injured, only a few thousand would survive.

Putting aside the various activities in Jiamusi, Dong Ku and his team, after a day of travel, arrived at Laoye Ridge, the border of Hulin, just before dusk. Just as Dong Ku was about to let everyone rest and enter Dahei Mountain at dawn, a burst of gunfire suddenly came from ahead.

"Trouble!" Dong Ku raised his hand, and everyone took their guns and crouched down.

The gunfire lasted for several seconds and then started to move, clearly indicating an encounter battle between unknown forces.

Dong Ku listened carefully to the gunfire and determined that it was an anti-Japanese armed group or bandits encountering the Japanese, as there were sounds of the Han Yang rifle, the Type 38 rifle, and the Mauser C96.

"Go!"

After a few gestures, Dong Ku led the way toward the gunfire.

As Dong Ku advanced quickly, the gunfire became sparse but didn't stop, with the sound of pistols mixed in.

When Dong Ku reached the foot of a hill, several bodies came into view.

Are they from the Anti-Japanese United Army? Why are there some in Russian uniforms?

Looking at the bodies, Dong Ku quickly issued an attack order.

Liu Zhong and the others, understanding their positions, quickly entered the forest and moved toward the gunfire.

Dong Ku and Hu Zi ran quickly, the M4A1 already loaded. He didn't know how many Japanese there were, but he wouldn't stand by when encountering anti-Japanese forces.

Running at full speed, in just a couple of minutes, he saw the figures ahead. At that moment, Dong Ku put away the M4A1, pulled out the Mauser C96, and gave Hu Zi a gesture to move to the side. Hu Zi followed closely behind, trying to stay behind trees to avoid stray bullets.

The pursuers were not all Japanese; there were only about twenty with long guns, the rest with Mauser C96s, clearly belonging to the puppet army or Korean collaborators.

In the shadows, Dong Ku saw Liu Zhong and Shunzi, and he waved his hand to issue the attack order.

Rattling...

Mengzi and Mazi's machine guns started firing.

As their machine guns sounded the charge, Liu Zhong and the others also opened fire.

Bang bang bang!

In the dense gunfire, figures fell to the ground. The Japanese and puppet army, who were pursuing with ease, were stunned by the sudden gunfire and fell before they could even crouch, with over twenty down.

"Damn! We've been ambushed! Hold your position and wait for reinforcements!"

A Japanese corporal lay in the grass, shouting loudly.

But neither the Japanese nor the puppet army could find the source of the gunfire. The machine guns fired for a while and then fell silent.

The dense gunfire that suddenly erupted behind the thirty or forty running men made them pause. One of the men shouted, "There's reinforcements! Go back and support!"

"It's impossible! Old Zhang, there are no Anti-Japanese United Army comrades here, how can it be reinforcements?" A man in Soviet uniform panted, "We should hurry, we only have three long guns left, we'll be at a disadvantage if we stay."

In the gunfire, the man coldly glanced at the speaker, thought for a moment, and ordered, "Zhang Yang, take the cadres and go first, I'll take two men to support!" He then ran back with his Mauser C96.

"Old Zhang! This is a violation of discipline!" The man stomped his foot, angrily shouted, and ordered, "Let's go!"

As the man shouted, two men with Han Yang rifles followed the previous man and ran back.

They quickly ran back forty to fifty meters and hid in the grass to find a target.

The gunfire had stopped before they arrived, and the surroundings were eerily quiet, even the insects seemed to be scared by the gunfire and lay motionless on the leaves.

Suddenly, the man saw a figure. He quickly raised his Mauser C96, but couldn't tell if it was friend or foe and didn't dare to fire.

At that moment, a scream suddenly rang out, and the forest fell silent again.

The scream caused the nearby bushes to rustle. Before he could raise his gun to look, a gunshot rang out, and a Japanese soldier's hand flew up, his gun falling into the bushes, and his body appeared in the bushes.

Two more people fell in quick succession, but the man couldn't see where the shots came from. It seemed as if no one was around.

"Don't fire randomly, make sure you see the target before firing." The man instructed without turning his head. But as he spoke, no one responded. He quickly turned around, and before he could see anything, a voice suddenly said, "Don't move!"

"Huh?"

His eyes narrowed, and a black gun barrel was pointed at his forehead. In his peripheral vision, the other two companions were also being held at gunpoint.

The man in front of him was half-kneeling on the grass, a Type 38 rifle in his hand, his face painted with grease, making it impossible to see his features. He was not wearing any military uniform but strange-colored rags.

He didn't move, choosing to look for an opportunity in the unknown situation.

At that moment, two more gunshots rang out from behind, followed by the sound of blades slicing into flesh. In the heavy smell of blood, the branches nearby rustled, and several figures appeared in his line of sight. One of them held two Mauser C96s, and on his back was a gun in a cloth cover.

The man glanced at him and waved his hand, quickly gesturing and then stood still.

Following his gestures, the guns pointing at the three men were instantly put away, and the branches rustled as the people disappeared, leaving the surroundings quiet again.

"Who are you?"

The man with the painted face and dressed in rags asked.

"Zhang Guanyi." The man put away his gun, looked back, and seeing no one behind him, stood up and bowed, speaking in a Henan accent.

"Zhang Guanyi?"

Dong Ku's heart suddenly beat faster. This name was very familiar to him; it was one of the people he most admired.

"Are you Commander Yang Jingyu?"

Dong Ku's words had just fallen, and the man's eyes narrowed, asking in surprise, "Who are you? How do you know Yang Jingyu?"