Chapter 23: Female Agent Matsubara Kioka (Part 1)

  Dong Li Maohun's whole body was drenched in sweat, his breathing was rapid and labored, he was utterly exhausted. He looked up at the top of the forest and saw that through the gaps between the leaves, a faint light shone down.

  "It's almost dawn, everyone be extra careful, we should be close to the enemy." Dong Li Mao whispered to remind others.

  Zhu Yongsheng walked forward, pulled Dong Li Mao's sleeve and whispered in his ear: "Commander Lian, why not let the brothers take a short rest and wait until dawn to act?"

  Dong Li Mao's heart was clear, everyone was almost exhausted, sweating so much without a sip of water, he himself couldn't bear it, others would also need to recover their strength like him, but he said: "We can't rest now, we must enter the ambush range before dawn, tell our brothers, no matter how tired, just grit your teeth and hold on for a while, after clearing out the enemy, I'll let them sleep comfortably."

  As soon as the words were spoken, a man's loud shout like killing pigs echoed through the mountains and forests. Dong Li Mao gestured for everyone to crouch down and identify the direction of the shouting voice. Then, another woman's hoarse cry echoed out.

  "Jiacheng, in front of you on the left." Li Yuanyuan identified the location where the shouting came from: "It's Japanese, a man is yelling 'I'm going to kill you...' A woman is yelling: 'Nakamura-kun...' I guess something terrible has happened."

  Something cruel and terrifying has indeed happened.

  Just as Keiko and Nakamura were indulging in the joy of love, three men emerged from the cave, quietly approaching the two by the tree trunk. One of them, who seemed to be the leader, had a sly smile on his face, gave a wave of his hand to the other two, and the three pounced at the same time. Two men pinned Nakamura's hands behind his back, while the apparent leader lunged at Keiko.

  Kei was almost at the peak, with a nearly frantic and infatuated humming, when she suddenly felt her filled body empty. Before she could even turn around, a man grabbed her from behind, and from his sly laugh, Kei knew it was Yamamoto, so she tried to struggle free from his grasp.

  Nakamura was pinned down to the ground by two men at the base of a tree, and saw Yamamoto hugging Kikyo. Summoning strength from somewhere, he broke free from the two men holding him down and rushed towards Yamamoto, shouting "I'll kill you..."

  Yamamoto heard Nakamura's shout behind him, and with a push, he opened his arms and let Kikyo go. At the same time, he turned around and drew out a long, thin, shining machete from his waist. This kind of machete was usually carried by Dai men when they went up the mountain to defend themselves, and it was extremely sharp. Yamamoto grasped the handle with both hands, raised it above his head, and swung it down just as Nakamura pounced on him from less than a meter away. A flash of blood appeared, and Nakamura's face and abdomen split open from top to bottom. He didn't fall over but stood there, hanging his head down to look at the gaping wound in his belly, which was slowly expanding as blood and intestines flowed out together.

  Kei saw Yamamoto's sword slash down, splitting Nakamura's chest in two, and let out a shocked cry: "Nakamura-kun..." before fainting.

  Nakamura didn't fall until he heard Kyoko's scream, then with a thud he fell to the ground, convulsed his limbs several times, and died.

  Nakamura was suddenly killed by Yamamoto, and the other two men were frightened stiff.

  Yamamoto, covered in blood, pointed at the dead Nakamura with the knife in his hand and said: "Nakamura attempted to escape, I was ordered by the Emperor to execute him on the spot." After finishing speaking, he turned around to look at Kikyo who had fainted, a sly smile appearing on his face again: "What are you two still standing there for? Hurry up and carry Miss Kikyo into the cave!"

  Two men who were scared out of their wits had no choice but to walk forward, one in front and the other behind, lifting up Keiko who was still unconscious, and carrying her into the mountain cave. Yamamoto wiped the knife stained with fresh blood on Nakamura's back a few times before following them into the cave.

  Dong Li Mao and his thirteen men crept up to the cave entrance when they heard San Ben's sly laughter coming from inside.

  Li Yuyuan saw Nakamura's corpse under the tree root and felt nauseous almost vomiting.

  Dong Li Mao, holding an assault rifle, was the first to rush into the cave. With the dim light from the entrance, he saw a man busily using his hands and mouth on the naked body of a woman lying on her back. Next to him were two men dressed in Dai ethnic minority clothing kneeling down watching. Upon hearing footsteps, they lifted their heads and met Dong Li Mao's angry eyes. They seemed to have thought of something, and simultaneously muttered a sentence, then quickly stood up. Dong Li Mao's gun fired, shooting the two men with a burst of anger.

  Yamamoto heard the conversation between the two people next to him, turned pale with fright, and at the same time Dong Li Mao fired his gun, he jumped up from the woman's body, rushed towards the knife placed beside him, but he was one step too late. Zhang Dali, who followed Dong Li Mao into the mountain cave, took a step forward and cut off Yamamoto's head with his samurai sword.

  Ji Xiangchi's body lay on a pile of leaves and straw, motionless like a dead person.

  Dong Li Mao walked forward and picked up a piece of clothing that had fallen on the ground from the side and covered her with it.

  After Zhang Dali killed Yamamoto, he searched deep into the cave. Zhu Yongsheng and his men, except for two who were left outside to guard the entrance, all entered the cave and saw that two of the three dead men were wearing Dai ethnic costumes, which made him somewhat surprised.

  "Sister, take a look and see if this woman is still alive." Dong Li Mao said to Li Yuanyuan, but he walked over to a telegraph machine and squatted down.

  Li Yuanyuan squatted beside Ji Xiang, reached out and touched her left neck, saying: "She's still alive." Then she used her thumb to press Ji Xiang's Renzhong acupoint. After a while, Ji Xiang slowly opened her eyes, saw the people around her, hurriedly sat up, stretched out her hand to grab the clothes that Dong Li Mao had covered her with to cover her shame.

  "Don't be afraid, we are Chinese soldiers." Li Yuanyuan said in Japanese.

  Ji Xiang's eyes widened in terror as she scanned the men standing around her, before fixing her gaze on Li Yuanyuan, seemingly thinking that a woman wouldn't harm another woman, and her eyes shone with a pleading light.

  "What's your name?" Li Yuanyuan asked again.

  Ji Xiang glanced at others again, didn't answer, shivered and retreated backwards.

  "Maybe she's a local and can't understand your Japanese," said Wang Jia Gui, his eyes fixed on the white skin exposed by Keiko's clothing.

  "Sister, come and take a look." Dong Li Mao called out to Li Yuanyuan.

  Li Yuanyuan stood up and walked over to the telegraph machine, squatting down beside it.

  Dong Li Mao handed her a note: "Take a look at what's written on it?"

  Because the light was too dim, Li Yuanyuan couldn't see clearly even after taking it over. She had no choice but to stand up and walk towards the entrance of the cave, with Dong Limao following behind her.

  "This is a telegram." Li Yuanyuan arrived at the cave entrance, and it was already daylight. She looked at the text above and said: "It says that during the ambush on the transport convoy at dawn, they encountered resistance from the Japanese escort troops, and all members of the special operations team were killed in action."

  "So that's what they are, Japanese spies. The woman who's still alive must know something..." Before he could finish speaking, a woman's shrill cry echoed from within the cave. Dong Li Mao and Li Yuanyuan exchanged a glance, then turned and rushed into the cave.

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