Chapter 74

The sky gradually brightened. The Japanese soldiers who had been patrolling the mountain forest with flashlights all night only changed shifts and rested after dawn. The Japanese soldiers who had been hiding in the unguarded areas also crawled out of the grass after dawn. At night, apart from the occasional sound of roe deer in the mountain forest, there was no other movement. If the Soviet-Russian squad, which was surrounded, couldn't escape before this, they would really be unable to fly away.

After eating breakfast, the Japanese soldiers began to search the mountains. Shinzan Yumi was very cunning; he ordered the search teams to be entirely composed of the troops from Jiamusi, while the Japanese soldiers who had formed the encirclement the previous day remained in place, neither compressing the space nor moving, just staying there.

He believed that if these hundred or so people couldn't escape yesterday, they would have no chance now.

After a night's rest, dozens of standard squads entered the mountains from both sides of the road. They entered in a disorderly manner, without conducting a thorough search. Shinzan Yumi was very clear that this squad had been operating in this mountain forest for a long time, and it would be difficult to find their traces on the first day. Therefore, he first made this squad busy with dodging, unable to rest amidst the numerous figures in the mountains. Once he found their approximate location, he would then conduct a thorough search, leaving this squad with no place to hide, and they would have to fight to the death.

Time slowly passed. The Japanese soldiers entering from the road had a roughly fixed direction, which was to cross to the opposite road, but they didn't walk in a straight line in the mountains.

More than an hour later, the search teams had entered the forest at least four to five kilometers, but the forest remained quiet, with no discoveries.

A group of Japanese soldiers, with their guns, rushed to the opposite mountain ridge, searching through the young three-angled grass that was just sprouting and couldn't yet cover their knees.

At this time, the three-angled grass hadn't grown tall, so it was very difficult to hide in the sparse, low grass.

During the advance, a Japanese soldier's foot was tripped by the entangled three-angled grass. Before he could steady himself, a loud explosion occurred, and three Japanese soldiers were blown into the air amidst a burst of flames.

Amidst the whizzing of flying shrapnel, four or five Japanese soldiers who hadn't had time to lie down were hit, groaning as they fell backward.

"Hand grenades!!"

A Japanese soldier shouted, clutching his bleeding shoulder.

The Japanese soldiers quickly lay down and quickly turned their gun barrels to find the direction from which the hand grenades came.

The surroundings were quiet, except for the smoke still rising from the explosion site; there was no other movement.

A trap?

The Japanese soldiers lying down seemed to understand. This area was flat, and within a hundred meters, there was no place to hide a person. It couldn't have been thrown by a person.

The squad leader, a Japanese corporal, waved his hand and slowly got up from the ground. The soldiers also stood up, alerting in all directions.

Only then did the injured Japanese soldiers feel the pain and groan.

"Attend to the wounded and search the surroundings!"

The corporal ordered.

As soon as he gave the order, a soldier carrying a radio ran over.

The corporal took the microphone, saluted, and reported: "Major, it was a trap, no enemy found."

"Search the surroundings carefully, maintain the original direction."

Putting down the radio, Shinzan Yumi sat in a simple tent, pondering. This was the first time a trap had been encountered since yesterday, indicating that the base of this squad was nearby. As for whether they had escaped, he believed that given their cunning, they wouldn't rush to escape, thinking they could easily avoid the pursuit.

"Hmph! I'll see how long you can hide!"

Shinzan Yumi sneered, confidently picking up his lunch box and drinking a sip of powdered milk.

While he was waiting for news in the camp in the mountains, a search team in the Baomi River direction was walking through the hazel bushes. As they were walking, a Japanese soldier's foot tripped, and before he lost balance, a gunshot rang out from about four to five meters away. With a burst of flames, the Japanese soldier who tripped was thrown backward, spraying blood, and fell into the grass about three to four meters away, motionless.

"Enemy attack!"

The reaction of the Japanese soldiers was very quick. They pointed their guns at the position where the flames burst, and gunfire immediately followed, sending soil and wood chips flying everywhere.

"Cease fire!"

After a round of shooting, the squad leader, a Japanese second lieutenant, ordered the firing to stop, sending people to check on the wounded while cautiously advancing to search.

When they saw the Type 38 rifle that had been destroyed on the ground, they realized that the shot was actually a trap, not a human attack.

At this moment, the soldier checking the wounded reported that the soldier hit by the trap's gun had died, with a fist-sized hole in his back, clearly not caused by the Type 38 rifle's bullet, known for its penetration.

Shortly after, Shinzan Yumi received a coded call, informing him that a soldier had been killed by a trap's gun, with no enemy found.

Shinzan Yumi put down the microphone and marked the second incident site on the map. He believed that the base of this squad would soon be located.

His pen had not yet been put down when a loud explosion was heard from two to three kilometers away. Soon, a report came to him that a hunting trap with grenades had been triggered, resulting in the loss of over ten soldiers. One trap had five grenades attached, killing fourteen soldiers in one explosion, including the second lieutenant, leaving the fifty-three-man squad severely weakened.

Shinzan Yumi did not get angry; he calmly marked the third point on the map.

The squads that had not encountered traps also heard the coded call. There were no secrets here, so they were not concerned. After all, casualties were normal.

The search continued. Knowing that the mountain forest was full of traps, the Japanese soldiers became cautious, using bayonets to probe any suspicious branches and vines along the way to avoid being caught in traps.

However, even with this caution, explosions and screams still occurred frequently. Those who were attacked were either blown up by grenades or killed by ancient traps with wooden stakes or poles, with few survivors.

Shinzan Yumi marked each incident, unperturbed by the casualties. He believed that with such a dense concentration of traps, this must be the base of the squad. Once the base was found, even if they couldn't capture the people, cutting off their supplies would make it impossible for them to survive in the mountains.

Continuous attacks made the Japanese soldiers searching the mountains proceed cautiously, slowing their pace.

A squad was advancing when suddenly, a rustling sound came from the bushes ahead. Without waiting for orders, dozens of guns fired blindly. Upon approaching, they found two roe deer convulsing in a pool of blood.

The Japanese soldiers were not angry; instead, they were elated, gutting the roe deer, discarding the intestines, and carrying them to continue the search, planning to stew them for lunch.

Not far away, another search squad, which had just lost a soldier to a trap set by a hunter, was proceeding very cautiously. When the guns went off nearby, they nervously turned their guns in that direction, fully alert. Only after the gunfire stopped and a report came through the radio did they cautiously continue.

A soldier, hesitant to step on the grass, noticed a face-sized stone protruding from the ground and confidently jumped onto it.

As soon as his foot touched the stone, it suddenly moved and sank. Before he could regain his balance, a massive explosion sent him into the air, and his body quickly disintegrated, being blown to pieces.

With the explosion, whizzing sounds filled the air, and shrapnel and rocks flew everywhere, breaking branches and knocking people down. In an instant, over a dozen figures fell.

The power of this explosion was not comparable to that of a grenade; it was more like an artillery strike.

Soon, this conclusion was confirmed. With ten dead and three severely injured, a soldier found a shell fragment embedded in a large tree, clearly from a mortar shell.

Shinzan Yumi put down the earphone, frowning. He stared at the map in front of him. In the morning, the search teams not only failed to reach the opposite side as planned but also encountered traps over twenty times, resulting in seventy-three deaths, twelve severe injuries, and over thirty minor injuries. The losses were not a concern, as they were expected, but the key was the map. The positions of the traps were chaotic, and some were even oriented north-south rather than east-west, as determined by the search teams who saw the guns and untangled the schisandra vines from the triggers, based on the direction of the gun barrels.

"Could the center of these traps be their base?"

But there was nothing to hide in that area except for a cliff that could be seen at a glance.

Shinzan Yumi rubbed his temples and gave up thinking. He decided to stick to the original plan, dividing the entire forest into sections for a thorough search. This way, he would eventually find some clues. Even with casualties, finding their base would be worth it. If he found the gas shells, this operation would be a complete success, and he wouldn't have to worry about anything else.

However, he still couldn't understand one thing: this squad of over a hundred people, even if their hiding place couldn't be found, their excrement should have been found. It was impossible for over a hundred people to clean up everything.

It was the two traps that had been disarmed that helped him understand why the Type 38 rifle's bullets could throw soldiers and leave fist-sized holes in their bodies. The bullets had been modified, with the tips flattened to form a flat surface, increasing their destructive power. Any hit on the body would result in a large hole or severe internal damage, making it difficult to treat the wounded.

Once all the traps are disarmed, I'll see where you can hide.

Shinzan Yumi played with the modified bullet, confidently muttering to himself.

Although he suspected that this squad might have escaped the night before, when the encirclement was not yet complete, finding the people was not as important as finding the gas shells.

However, he did not know that the squad of over a hundred people he was searching for was near his camp. For the entire morning, they had been watching the camp from a distance, or rather, waiting for him...

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