jdhmnovel Chapter 443: Undercurrent: The Moment of a Kill with One Arrow
Chapter 443: Undercurrent: The Moment of a Kill with One Arrow
A locust rock whizzed past, glancing past the ear of Japanese machine gunner Kimura Sato before piercing the rock behind him. The sharp edge of the rock flew back, easily slicing off half of Sato's earlobe. Sato instinctively wiped the warm blood from his face, furiously ripping off his blood-soaked gas mask and roaring at the top of his lungs, "Baka! How dare you tease the Imperial Army!" He kicked aside the corpse of his comrade, and just as he grasped the handle of his Type 92 heavy machine gun, he felt a sudden numbness at the base of his tongue.
The words that were rising from Sato's throat stopped abruptly. He gripped the gun with his knuckles turning white, and tried to open his mouth to give an order, but saliva dripped uncontrollably from the corners of his mouth, mixing with blood to create a dark red stain on the butt of the gun. "Water... water..." He let out an indistinct roar from his throat, staggered back half a step, and knocked over the ammunition box behind him. At this moment, Gochi Ichiro's curse came from behind: "Idiot! Fire!" Sato was about to turn around to answer, but a stream of warm black blood suddenly gushed out of his nose, instantly blurring his vision. In an instant, he felt as if there was a red-hot charcoal stuck in his throat. The burning pain made his legs go weak and he fell heavily to his knees.
"What...what's going on..." Sato's voice became unclear, and he almost frantically dug his nails into his throat, trying to dig out the burning foreign object. The moment his nails cut through the flesh, the barbs stained with wolfsbane juice completely activated the toxicity. The corrosive venom spread rapidly along the wound, causing tearing pain wherever it went. In the end, Sato collapsed beside the machine gun, his limbs twitching violently and uncontrollably, and he kicked over the ammunition box beside him. His eyeballs were bloodshot, white foam and black blood kept flowing from the corners of his mouth, and he whimpered vaguely. But in a moment, black blood oozed from all seven orifices, and Sato was completely dead, his body still trembling slightly.
Gochi Ichiro looked at the suddenly dead Kimura Sato, his eyes instantly becoming sinister. He kicked Sato's body away, muttering "waste" under his breath, and then quickly lay down behind the heavy machine gun, adjusted his shooting stance, and fired wildly at the other side.
Bullets rained down like dense raindrops, striking the rocks on the opposite bank and sending up showers of sparks. Chen Feiyang and Lei Tao were hiding behind a rock on the opposite bank. Listening to the intense gunfire, Chen Feiyang frowned slightly and whispered, "This Jap is crazy. He's firing like this, wasting bullets and not afraid of exhausting himself to death." Lei Tao, with a serious expression, stared intently at Gochi Ichiro's figure, analyzing the situation: "He's venting his anger, and he's also trying to suppress us with firepower and force us to show our heads. We have to find a way to disrupt his rhythm."
With that, Lei Tao pulled two grenades from his backpack, quickly pulled the fuses, and hurled them forcefully toward Gochi Ichirō. "Boom! Boom!" Two deafening explosions echoed, and smoke and flames instantly erupted around Gochi Ichirō. Mud and gravel flew everywhere, and the heavy machine gun fire paused briefly due to the impact of the explosions.
Before the smoke had cleared, Goike Ichiro, his face covered in blood, climbed out of the crater. The Type 92 heavy machine gun's mounting had been blown off its side, and he frantically swung the barrel, firing blindly in the direction of the grenade. "Suppressive fire!" Goike Ichiro pulled the trigger, and hot shell casings rained down on Sato's body. Tracer bullets traced crimson trails against the clear sky, aiming precisely at the bushes on the opposite bank. Lei Tao and Chen Feiyang, taking cover from the rocks, retreated through the waist-deep stream.
"Brother Lei! There's a bamboo raft upstream!" Chen Feiyang pulled Lei Tao, pointing toward the shallows. Two bundled bamboos lay across the sun, casting long, narrow shadows. Goike Ichiro also noticed the movement. As he turned his gun, his ammunition belt became stuck in the scorching barrel. He tore open the belt box, and as his blood-stained fingers touched the metal, a burning red spot immediately spread across his skin.
"Baka!" Gochi Ichiro tore off his bloodstained shirt and wrapped it around his burned palm. Behind the rocks on the opposite shore, Lei Tao half-knelt on a ledge, holding a semi-automatic drum-type crossbow. As Gochi Ichiro leaned forward again, seven poisonous arrows flew out in a fan pattern—"Swish... swish, swish, swish..." The first arrow grazed Gochi Ichiro's helmet, blowing off his hair; then three pierced the chests of the soldiers in the back row, their arrowheads sinking with a teeth-grinding thud. The soldiers didn't even have time to scream before the neurotoxin rapidly spread through their bloodstream, oozing black blood from all their orifices.
"Scatter! Grenade thrower, blow that bastard out!" Goike Ichiro roared, rolling sideways behind a pine tree as thick as a bowl. Three crossbow bolts pierced the trunk almost simultaneously, sending sawdust flying onto his scorching helmet. Through the cracks in the bark, he glimpsed the machine gunner on his left, crouching and manipulating his Type 97 light machine gun, turning the muzzle toward the creek. "Fire!" Goike Ichiro kicked the shell casing at his feet, but before he could finish his words, the sound of piercing air suddenly intensified. A second round of arrows descended, accompanied by a shrieking sound. The machine gunner had just raised his head when a poisoned crossbow bolt pierced his open collar. A muffled gurgle emanated from his throat, his hands clutching his bleeding throat. He stumbled back two steps, his back slamming heavily against the ammunition box behind him. He tried to pull out the arrow with his uninjured hand, but the moment he touched the arrowhead, the venom madly attacked his nerves. His pupils dilated instantly, his eyeballs bulged, his legs softened and he fell to his knees, his hands scratching the ground unconsciously, his nails leaving deep grooves in the soil.
The grenade thrower next to him was so startled by the sudden scene that he trembled all over and subconsciously held the grenade thrower tightly with both hands. He turned back to look at Ichiro Goike in a panic and asked in a trembling voice, "Sir, what should we do now?"
Goike Ichiro gritted his teeth, a fierce look in his eyes. "Forget him. Follow the plan and blow up the enemy hiding in the shadows first!" The grenade thrower nodded and hurriedly adjusted the angle of the grenade thrower. However, due to excessive nervousness, his hands trembled slightly uncontrollably, and he failed to successfully place the shell accurately into the launch port twice.
At this moment, Lei Tao and Chen Feiyang quietly emerged from their hiding place, closely monitoring the Japanese army's movements. Upon noticing the grenade thrower's situation, Lei Tao's lips curled slightly, and he gestured to Chen Feiyang. Then, he raised his submachine gun, aimed above the grenade thrower, and repeatedly squeezed the trigger. "Da da da" gunshots rang out, and bullets splattered dust and gravel around the grenade thrower.
The grenade launcher was completely panicked by the sudden gunfire. He shuddered violently, and the grenade launcher in his hands shook slightly. He frantically tried to reload again, finally inserting the shell into the launch port. However, in his panic, he hurriedly pulled the trigger without adjusting the firing angle. With a loud bang, the shell whistled out, but missed the target and exploded in an open field not far from Gochi Ichiro. The huge blast overturned some nearby debris, but did not cause any substantial harm to Lei Tao and Chen Feiyang.
Ichiro Goike's ears were buzzing from the gust of wind. He angrily cursed at the grenade thrower: "Baka! You useless guy, you can't even operate a grenade thrower properly!" As he said that, he kicked the grenade thrower on the butt, kicking the frightened soldier to the ground.
Chen Feiyang seized this opportunity, emerged from behind the reef downstream, and fired accurately with his Scorpion submachine gun. Within three seconds, he killed five Japanese soldiers, including the grenade thrower.
Amidst the thick smoke, Lei Tao replaced his poison arrow magazine with a new one and adjusted his firing angle. On the other side, Gochi Ichiro's face twisted in rage: "Use the flamethrower! Burn them to death!"
A corporal beside him tremblingly reminded him: "Sir, have you forgotten that in the previous battle, the flamethrower was destroyed by the enemy and the flamethrower operator was killed?"
Goike Ichiro slapped the corporal in the face, his boots rolling over the shell casings on the ground. "Baka! Tell the signalman to call for air support immediately!" He kicked away the smoking heavy machine gun, pulled a pistol from his waist, and pointed it at the fleeing soldiers: "Anyone who dares to take a step back will be shot on the spot!"
The corporal clutched his swollen face, his voice trembling, "Sir, the radio's damaged in the explosion..." Before he could finish his words, a sudden piercing sound echoed through the air. He instinctively tilted his head to see three poisoned crossbow bolts barreling towards him in a triangular formation. The leftmost arrow grazed his ear, while the center one pierced his throat with pinpoint accuracy, spraying blood from his artery and instantly staining Gochi Ichiro's shiny boots red.
Gochi Ichiro's pupils constricted, and he tumbled sideways, crashing into a tree trunk. The bark crumbled beneath the impact of the poisoned arrow, sending sawdust and feathers scattering down. As he pulled himself back to his feet, he heard the screams of a soldier to his right—another machine gunner, pierced through the right eye by a poisoned arrow, twitching and collapsing onto the scorching machine gun.
"Take cover! Retreat immediately behind the rocks!" Goike Ichiro kicked the corpse aside at his feet and wiped his face with his bloody sleeve. "Deputy Captain, lead the third team to circumvent the left! The rest of you, provide suppressive fire!" He raised his Nambu pistol and repeatedly pulled the trigger, bullets sending sparks flying from the reef where Lei Tao was hiding. Japanese soldiers leaned against the rocks and opened fire on Lei Tao. Lei Tao quickly assessed the situation, realizing the Japanese's intention to suppress the fire, and immediately signaled to Chen Feiyang, "Retreat to the rocks on the right. Gain distance and cross cover!" Using the stream as cover, the two men moved quickly to the right, following the water's surface. The splashing water cleverly concealed their movements, and they successfully reached the right rock group. Lei Tao quickly took up a favorable shooting angle, and Chen Feiyang followed closely behind, keeping his back against the rocks to keep watch.
Japanese Vice Captain Yamamoto Heihachiro drew his command saber, the blade gleaming glaringly in the midday sun. He lowered his cap to block the glare from his lenses and bellowed to the soldiers behind him, "Three groups, spread out. One will follow me around the left side of the stream, and the second will flank from the cliffs on the right! We must form a siege within five minutes!"
Eight soldiers fanned out, their boots crunching against the dry leaves by the stream. Yamamoto tapped the nearest soldier's helmet with the flat of his knife and pointed down—fresh shoe prints crisscrossed the damp earth, still stained with wet water. "The Chinese army just left," he said, pulling open a map and quickly comparing the contour lines. "They're trying to use the valley as an ambush, but we're turning the tables!"
The team pressed against the scorching rock face, sweat dripping down their necks into their uniforms. As they reached the foot of the cliff, the scout suddenly grabbed Yamamoto's sleeve and pointed toward a bush thirty meters away—several broken branches still swayed, their broken surfaces a fresh bluish-white. Yamamoto was about to raise his hand to signal when the sound of falling gravel reached him.
"Scatter!" He instinctively threw himself to the ground. Several rounds from the Scorpion submachine gun grazed the edge of his helmet, then struck the tree beside him with a "puff, puff, puff" sound, sending bark shards raining down. The burning pain of the wood chips dug into the back of his neck was nothing compared to the chill that washed over him. This dense, unfamiliar sound of gunfire was definitely not from the Hanyang rifles commonly used by the Chinese army.
Yamamoto Heihachiro rolled and ducked into a rocky hollow. He looked up and saw the bushes swaying on the opposite bank. Sunlight filtered through the branches, faintly catching the glint of a gun muzzle. "A new weapon!" He gasped, ripping open his collar. Suddenly, he saw a soldier on his left kneeling, clutching his throat. The blood oozing from between his fingers was a strange, dark blue.
"Grenadier cover!" he yelled, turning, but only heard the faint sound of gunfire. Turning back, he saw half the grenadier's head had disappeared into a pool of blood, the broken section of his helmet still steaming. Screams echoed from the right-hand flanking group, mixed with the sound of metal clashing, clearly indicating a close encounter with the enemy.
Yamamoto fished for the Type 97 grenade from his waist, but froze the moment he pulled the safety pin. Twenty meters ahead, a dark figure approached with a submachine gun in hand. The sunlight outlined the man's grim profile, smoke still billowing from the muzzle. It was Chen Feiyang, the man who had caused them so much trouble on the other side of the stream.
"Everyone, take cover! Prepare for hand-to-hand combat!" Yamamoto ordered in a low voice. The soldiers quickly dispersed, quietly forming a battle formation, taking advantage of the shadows of rocks and cliffs. Yamamoto hid behind a huge rock, closely watching Chen Feiyang's every move through the cracks. He knew that this life-and-death struggle in the valley had just entered its white-hot stage...