Chapter 76

Not long after Dongku and the others left the scene, Shin Yamayoshi ordered the encampment to surround the mountain forest where the two unresponsive squads were located.

Following Shin Yamayoshi's orders, the squads that appeared to be searching the mountain immediately sprang into action, quickly sealing off an area of about ten kilometers. The squads in the middle connected with each other, dividing the forest into several sections.

The Japanese soldiers who had entered the forest rushed to their designated positions, and for a moment, the forest was filled with their presence.

Nearly twenty thousand Japanese soldiers surrounded the forest, beginning a thorough search.

Soon, a squad of Japanese soldiers discovered the first attack site. The soldiers spread out, carefully examining the bodies on the ground. When they saw that their comrades had blood holes in their chests or heads and their necks were cut, they felt both anger and fear, as if the death of a rabbit made the foxes mourn.

"Clear all the bodies."

A second lieutenant gave the order.

As soon as his order was given, a loud explosion drowned out his voice. The shock wave from the explosion knocked him to the ground.

In the explosion, three or four figures were thrown into the air and landed not far away, covered in dirt and debris.

After the shock wave passed, he groggily got up, his ears ringing, and looked at the explosion site.

He saw a large crater where the explosion had occurred, and the surrounding area was in chaos.

"My leg!!"

A soldier who had been thrown by the explosion felt the pain after a brief numbness and screamed in terror.

Not far away, four or five figures were struggling on the ground, clearly injured by shrapnel.

"Damn it! Another shell!!"

The second lieutenant roared in anger.

Not long after the explosion, another attack site about a kilometer away was discovered.

The sergeant in charge heard the distant explosion and cautiously ordered the soldiers to advance, searching for and eliminating all traps.

About ten minutes later, the site was searched by dozens of soldiers. It seemed that the attackers had left in a hurry and had not left any traps.

"Carry the bodies!"

Relieved, the sergeant ordered the cleanup of the battlefield, having the soldiers' bodies transported to the road for cremation.

The soldiers shouldered their guns, working in pairs, and began to carry the bodies. As they lifted one body, a loud explosion occurred, and the body, along with the two soldiers carrying it, was thrown into the air. The body was torn into pieces and scattered with the dirt.

"Damn it!"

The sergeant spat out the dirt in his mouth, got up covered in dust, and, seeing that at least four or five more soldiers had been killed, he was both frustrated and angry. He could only order the soldiers to carefully search for any traps that might have been left on the bodies.

The search became meticulous after the two explosions, almost turning over every inch of the forest. The Japanese soldiers, divided into sections, used bayonets to flip through dead leaves, searching each suspicious spot twice to ensure there were no abnormalities before moving on.

A soldier poked a dead tree hole with his bayonet. The bayonet went in without resistance, but he was still uneasy. He pulled out a grenade, signaled the surrounding comrades to be careful, and threw it into the hole. The explosion split the dead tree in half.

If someone had been hiding inside, they would have been blown to pieces.

By the river, even a water vole hole, which was about half a meter underwater, was not overlooked. The Japanese soldiers dug with their entrenching tools until they reached the dry part of the hole, confirmed that no one was hiding inside, and still threw a grenade in.

Any rock that could be moved and used as a door was carefully lifted and searched by the Japanese soldiers before being released.

As for the grass and hazel bushes, they were searched so meticulously that it was almost as if every blade of grass had been pulled up to check.

At this time, Shin Yamayoshi left the encampment and, under the protection of over three hundred Japanese soldiers, headed straight for one of the incident sites, following the traces left by several traps to the final location where the squad was wiped out.

He carefully examined every trap and the traces along the way. In addition to confirming that some of the pits were dug with entrenching tools, he found traces of soil in the grass several meters away from the traps.

Seeing the soil scattered on the grass, Shin Yamayoshi's interest in this squad grew. This was the most cunning opponent he had encountered in his investigations. The opponent had even carefully handled the soil dug from the pits, scattering it in the surrounding grass. In another place, they had even flipped all the dead leaves in a few feet radius, dug the pit, spread the soil around the trap, and covered it with the dead leaves, leaving no trace, clearly showing their experience.

On the way to another incident site, the meticulous Shin Yamayoshi discovered two more traps, each less than three hundred meters apart, and found that they extended in the same direction as the previous traps.

Standing in front of the overturned trap, Shin Yamayoshi deduced from the direction of the traps that the opponent clearly knew their search direction. Otherwise, the traps would not be aligned east-west instead of north-south.

"Could the opponent have a radio to decrypt our messages?"

This thought crossed his mind but was quickly dismissed. At the first incident site, a soldier had waited to describe the scene in detail. The radio had not been taken, and the codebook on the radio operator's body was still there. The complex codebook could not have been memorized in a few minutes, so the opponent clearly did not intend to obtain their plans through the radio.

As for the open call, it contained no information, only the coordinates and situation of the affected squad, which was not a way to leak secrets.

Could the opponent really have judged so accurately? Did they predict that a longitudinal search would be used again today based on yesterday's search?

Shin Yamayoshi took a deep breath, gave up on thinking, and headed straight for another incident site a few hundred meters away.

After more than three hours of searching, the forest was almost turned upside down, with traces of wild boars everywhere. Every soil pit under the dead leaves and every badger hole behind the rocks had been searched.

But the mysterious Soviet squad had vanished without a trace. No matter how meticulous the Japanese search was, they could not find any sign of them.

By late afternoon, the artillerymen, mechanics, and cavalry from the division had also arrived on foot, armed, and joined the second round of the search.

Shin Yamayoshi could not believe that from the incident to his order to seal off the area, it had been less than an hour. Even if the squad moved quickly, they could not have escaped ten kilometers in that time, especially while avoiding the loosely organized search squads.

But where had the squad gone? Could they have mixed into the search teams?

This sudden realization made Shin Yamayoshi's back tighten. He called over the radio operator, picked up the handset, and made an open call to all the search squads, ordering them to report their positions and the adjacent search squads.

In the forest, the search squads, looking at each other, reported their positions and sent soldiers to contact nearby teams to confirm the number of soldiers and the commanders.

After about ten minutes, after汇总了所有搜索小队的情况并确认无误后，Shin Yamayoshi was puzzled.

The squad that had just carried out the ambush had vanished without a trace.

Where had they hidden?

This was not just Shin Yamayoshi's question; all the Japanese soldiers involved in the search felt that something was amiss. It was impossible for the squad to have escaped the ten-kilometer cordon in half an hour and then hide in the two kilometers between the second cordon.

Even the banks of the Baomi River, which had been searched thoroughly, including the water vole holes, had been checked. In larger backwaters, the Japanese soldiers had even gone in to search, and there was no way anyone could have hidden there. Even if they had hidden underwater using a tube to breathe, the icy cold water would not have allowed them to stay for long, especially since it was not summer.

But by evening, not even a trace of the squad had been found, let alone any sign of them. The thorough search had only cost the lives of a dozen soldiers and injured another dozen or so.

Shin Yamayoshi stood on a hill, watching the sunset. Several possibilities ran through his mind, but he dismissed each one. It was clearly impossible for the squad to have mixed into the search teams, as the soldiers monitored each other, and no unfamiliar faces could have slipped in. Apart from that, Shin Yamayoshi could not imagine any way the squad could have evaded the thorough search.

"Fine! We'll see who has more patience!"

Shin Yamayoshi coldly snorted and ordered the radio operator to send a message, instructing all the Japanese soldiers searching the mountain to camp on the spot.

He intended to starve the squad out, making them reveal themselves through their need for food, water, and waste.

According to the order, the Japanese soldiers, with one soldier every few meters, averaging three hundred soldiers per kilometer, surrounded the divided sections of the forest, making it airtight. They ate the mixed grains and leftover roasted meat they had brought with them, taking turns on duty.

As night fell, bright flashlight beams crisscrossed the forest. Each flashlight had six batteries, enough to last until morning.

Under the vigilant watch, the sky gradually brightened.

At dawn, the Japanese soldiers, who had not even eaten breakfast, began a new round of the thorough search.

They searched with tension and meticulousness, while Dongku and the others slept soundly.

Except for Shunzi, who was on duty, even Dongku had stripped down to his shorts and lay on a bed of dry grass covered with oilcloth, sleeping comfortably.

Shunzi's duty was not to watch for the enemy but to monitor the sleeping men, preventing their snoring from revealing their location.

Fortunately, he did not have to use his wooden stick to wake anyone. The sleeping men knew that in such a dangerous environment, they had to be cautious, and none of them entered a deep sleep.

Another day passed in the tense search.

The ten-kilometer area was searched again, but by nightfall, the search had still yielded no results.

After two days of searching and a night of vigilance, even Shin Yamayoshi's confidence was shaken. He began to doubt whether the squad had escaped the second cordon. The ambush was just a signal to them, telling them that the area was under the squad's control, and they could come and go as they pleased.

Seeing the sunset again, Shin Yamayoshi calmly ordered, "Maintain yesterday's positions and continue to camp on the spot!"

PS: A bow of thanks to Feijian Feishen and Fei Yue for their generous donations. Thank you, thank you. I wrote and uploaded a chapter at the internet cafe yesterday and will catch up tomorrow. Updates will resume at the regular time tomorrow.

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