Chapter 7

After cleaning up the explosion site, Dongku hid the intact guns and ammunition under a large tree, covered them with snow, and cleared any traces of his passage. With an excited Huzi, he turned around and hurriedly chased after Mazi and the others who had already gone far.

Before he could catch up with Mazi and the others, the sound of gunfire came from a distance.

As soon as the gunfire sounded, Dongku stopped in his tracks, listened intently for a moment, and the intermittent shots led him to conclude that Liu Zhong and the others were fine. This wasn't a firefight, but rather sporadic shots.

"Dong Brother must be worried about Zhong Brother. Zhong Brother is quite capable. In the mountains, he won't have any problems. Even with all those guns, the Japanese won't be able to catch up to him."

Huzi stood next to Dongku, tilted his head to listen for a while, and said without a hint of worry, openly admiring Liu Zhong.

"Um."

Dongku patted Huzi's thin shoulder and said, "The sparse gunfire suggests they're just trying to scare Zhong Brother and the others. It's not a real battle. Let's go, we need to catch up with Shunzi and the others."

"Okay."

Huzi adjusted the gun on his shoulder, which was almost as tall as he was, and obediently responded, starting to run behind Dongku.

Mazi and the other three were sprinting ahead. The explosion and the sporadic gunfire behind them made them very worried, but they couldn't stop. They were supposed to buy time for the others to reach Heikoufeng. If they stopped, they would only cause more trouble for Liu Zhong and Dongku.

Although they couldn't stop, Shunzi was still alert, frequently looking back to avoid being caught by the Japanese without knowing it.

The sudden sound of gunfire from a distance made Shunzi frown, but he didn't say anything, continuing to run with Shanzi. Mazi and the other two also remained silent, silently praying for Liu Zhong and Dongku's safety.

While running hard in the snow, Shunzi looked back and saw two black dots in the distance.

"Someone is following us." He warned, taking down one of the guns on his shoulder, ready to face the Japanese at any moment.

Four guns were slung between Dogdan's chest and Mazi's shoulder. Hearing Shunzi's warning, Dogdan quickly took down one of the guns and turned to look back over Mazi's shoulder.

"There are two people. Could it be Huzi and that Dong Brother?" Seeing the number of people behind, Dogdan guessed.

"Just two?"

Shunzi couldn't see as clearly as Dogdan. He hadn't seen if there were others behind the two black dots, so he asked urgently.

"Um."

Dogdan confirmed.

"Go to that spot, Mazi."

Getting a definite answer, Shunzi was worried that Dongku and the other two might be chased by the Japanese, so he asked Mazi to go to a place where they could hide, to protect Dongku and the other two from possible pursuers.

They lay there for a couple of minutes and finally saw that it was indeed Dongku and Huzi. Seeing Huzi running with the gun on his shoulder, they were relieved. Mazi stood up, put away his gun, and shouted, "Dong Brother! We're here! Are you okay?!"

The two running men saw Mazi and heard his loud voice. They lowered their guard, waved, and ran over.

Upon meeting, Huzi exaggeratedly described the shocking scene he had witnessed and how Dongku had single-handedly eliminated about thirty Japanese. This made the four who had been worried breathe a sigh of relief and admire Dongku even more.

Shunzi knew that although there might not be pursuers behind them, Liu Zhong and the others still had a group of Japanese on their tail. The danger hadn't passed, so he interrupted Huzi's excited storytelling and asked, "Dong Brother, what do you think we should do now? Zhong Brother and the others are in the Dongdaoling direction. If we take a detour, it will take about two more hours."

"Let's go to Heikoufeng first." Dongku looked at the sweat-soaked Shunzi and Mazi, with no intention of stopping.

"Okay, Dong Brother." Shunzi picked up his gun, took the long gun from Dogdan, and agreed, preparing to help Dogdan get going.

"Wait for me."

Mazi suddenly shouted, taking large strides to the side.

"Huh?"

Dongku's gaze sharpened. Just as he was about to ask what Mazi was doing, Mazi shouted without turning back, "Shunzi, come quickly, there are dried grapes here!"

"Grapes?"

Shunzi looked in the direction, asking out of habit. Before he finished speaking, he saw the withered vines on the trees and the dark shadows on the vines, and said eagerly, "Dong Brother, wait for us." He then leaped up and chased after Mazi.

"These two really..."

Dongku saw the two men, at this critical moment, not focusing on escaping but thinking about wild fruit...

Before he could finish his thought, Huzi smoothly took the long gun and stuck it in the snow, saying, "Dong Brother, I'll go help you pick some dried grapes..." and then dashed off.

"How..."

When Huzi also dashed off, his eager look made Dongku's eyes widen. He didn't stop him but instead looked at Shanzi and Dogdan.

"Dong Brother, they... we..."

Shanzi explained the situation.

It turned out that they had been chased by Japanese with wolf dogs early yesterday morning. Although they had managed to kill two dogs with traps, they hadn't had time to take their luggage and food, and had been running for a day and a night without eating. If they hadn't found some dried meat in the Japanese backpacks, they wouldn't have been able to run at all, let alone walk in the deep snow.

"Food..."

Hearing about the lack of food, Dongku suddenly remembered the oiled paper he had seen on the snow when he returned from the mountain top to check the enemy situation. He guessed that was when they had eaten something.

His mind flashed, and he quickly put down his tactical backpack and started searching.

But after a thorough search, he found only a pack of space-packaged gum that he hadn't thrown away. In the situation where he hadn't planned to survive, he had thrown away all the food.

"I should have searched those Japanese backpacks just now. I even buried them..."

Dongku felt a bit guilty, zipped up his backpack, stood up, and looked at the three people busily picking dried grapes not far away. After a moment's thought, he decided not to go back to search for food. It would take at least an hour to go and return, which was too unsafe.

While he was thinking, Huzi returned with a pile of dried grapes, came close, and said, "Dong Brother, these dried grapes are really good. Try some."

"Okay!" Dongku didn't refuse, took two bunches, and put them in his mouth. Without savoring the long-lost sweet and sour taste, he chewed and said, "Eat quickly. We need to keep moving. We can't let Zhong Brother and the others get ahead of us again."

"No need to stand here to eat... we can eat while walking..."

Shunzi chewed the sweet and sour dried grapes, handed a bunch to Shanzi, and said.

"Um. We won't waste time eating on the way... this bunch of dried grapes will last a while..."

Mazi, speaking indistinctly while chewing, also handed a bunch of dried grapes to Dogdan.

"Okay. Let's go."

Dongku picked up the long gun Huzi had stuck in the ground, placed it on his backpack, and urged everyone to move.

Mazi squatted down, picked up Dogdan, and ran forward while chewing. Shunzi helped Shanzi follow behind, and Dongku and Huzi brought up the rear. The group started running in the snow again.

While running, Shanzi chewed the dried grapes and occasionally handed a bunch to Shunzi. Dogdan, on the other hand, squeezed the dried grapes between his back and Mazi's, continuously passing them forward.

"Dogdan, you eat too, don't just give them to me!"

Mazi, noticing that Dogdan was feeding him with both hands, said.

"Mazi, you're so big and carrying me. You need to eat more. Don't worry about me, I'm eating. You eat quickly."

Dogdan, speaking, symbolically put a small bunch in his mouth, chewed, and urged Mazi to eat quickly.

Seeing this, Dongku felt a warm feeling in his heart, feeling even more guilty for not searching the Japanese backpacks earlier.

"Dong Brother, here..."

Huzi, running beside him, handed him a bunch of dried grapes.

Dongku looked at the few bunches left in Huzi's arms, shook his head, and said, "Huzi, you eat. They're too sour for my teeth."

"Afraid of sour? Dong Brother, you have fire teeth..." Huzi hesitated, put the dried grapes in his coat pocket, and said, "I'll save them for Zhong Brother and the others. They probably don't have time to pick them."

"Liu Zhong!"

Huzi's words made Dongku realize that Liu Zhong and the others also had no food and no time to pick grapes. Their physical strength might not be enough to outrun the Japanese. Even if they weren't caught, carrying four or five guns would make it hard to outpace the Japanese.

This wouldn't do. The Japanese had food. Even if there were no pursuers on their side, there were still over a hundred Japanese with heavy weapons on the other side. In the summer forest, these numbers wouldn't be enough to worry about, but in the snow, it was hard to cover their tracks. If they were caught, it would be hard to escape.

While running, Dongku was thinking.

Dongku's guess was right. Although Liu Zhong had found a few pieces of dried meat in the Japanese backpacks in the morning, they were divided among nine people, and each only got a small piece, far from enough to satisfy their hunger. After more than two hours of running in the snow, Liu Zhong and the others were severely exhausted. If it weren't for their years of hunting and training in the mountains, they would have been caught by now.

Liu Zhong, panting heavily, looked back at the Japanese not far behind, gritted his teeth, and took off one of the guns, throwing it into the snow with a forceful toss.

"Zhong Brother..."

Mengzi, panting, asked in confusion.

"Throw away two guns. Otherwise, we won't be able to shake off the tail."

Liu Zhong, catching his breath, said.

"Too bad... better than... your Hanyang-made..."

Sun Tao, while running, took off one of the guns, reluctantly saying, but still threw it into the snow.

"Damn... we'll come back... to find... them..."

Liu Hai, speaking, threw the gun he had just taken off into the snow with a fierce toss.

"I won't throw... too... precious..."

Mengzi, seeing everyone throw, reluctantly muttered.

"Nonsense! These things are only useful if we're alive. Throw them quickly!"

Liu Zhong, red-faced and angry, shouted.

Seeing Liu Zhong's anger, Mengzi quickly threw the gun in his hand, muttering while running, "Really a pity..."

After throwing away two guns, they felt lighter, but their speed didn't increase much. They were still not much faster than the Japanese who were chasing them relentlessly.

"I wonder how Shunzi and the others are doing..."

Liu Zhong, looking back at the Japanese who couldn't be shaken off, wondered in his heart.