Spy war in the Republic of China, peak undercover

The mountain wind blew through the Wild Wolf Valley, rolling up the dead leaves on the ground, whimpering like a ghost.

Lu Yang leaned against the damp rock wall. The wound on his left shoulder began to bleed again, and the pain twisted his brow into knots. He tore off a piece of cloth and tightened it again with gritted teeth, his forehead covered with cold sweat.

"Damn it, in this horrible weather, even the wounds can't heal properly." He cursed softly and spat out the grass roots in his mouth.

Lao Hei squatted beside the fire, stirring the flames with a branch. The firelight reflected his weather-beaten face, which was covered with wrinkles. "Lu Yang, you need to take good care of your injury. It's not a good idea to just hold on."

"Recover?" Lu Yang sneered, "Can the Japs give us time to recover?"

Monkey came in from outside, his face filled with anxiety. "Brother Lu, Brother Laohei, something's happening! The Japanese scouts are approaching, less than five miles from here!"

Lao Hei stood up suddenly and grabbed the rifle beside him. "How many people?"

"I can't see clearly, there are about seven or eight of them, acting sneakily." The monkey said breathlessly.

Lu Yang's eyes glared. "Seven or eight? They're not a large group, they're just scouting. Apparently, the Japs have learned their lesson after a setback." He stood up and stretched his right arm. "We can't let them figure out our details."

Lao Hei looked at him: "What do you mean?"

"Stop them." Lu Yang's tone was firm. "Catch them alive and ask the Japs what they plan to do next." He remembered the things in Sato's briefcase. The old code book and blank order paper might come in handy.

"Catch them alive?" Lao Hei frowned. "That's not going to be easy. The Japanese scouts are very smart, and most of them would rather die than surrender."

"Then we'll cripple them before we capture them." Lu Yang's eyes flashed with ruthlessness, "Monkey, lead the way, we'll go meet them."

Qinglan came over at some point, holding a roll of clean bandages. "Your wound isn't healed yet, you can't go." Her voice was soft, but filled with undeniable determination.

"Qinglan, now is not the time for sentimental things." Lu Yang looked at her and said in a softer tone, "Don't worry, I know what I'm doing."

Qinglan bit her lip and said nothing more. She just silently stuffed the bandage into Lu Yang's arms.

The mountain path was rugged, and the moonlight was fragmented by the dense foliage, casting a mottled shadow on the ground. Lu Yang, accompanied by Lao Hei, Monkey, and two other team members, quietly advanced in the darkness. The wound on his left shoulder ached, but he paid no attention, his entire focus focused on the road ahead.

The monkey suddenly stopped and lowered his voice: "In the valley ahead, they have made a fire."

Lu Yang made a gesture, and several people immediately dispersed, fanning out to surround them. He pulled out the captured Nanbu pistol from his pocket and quietly loaded it.

In the valley, a campfire crackled, and seven Japanese soldiers sat around it, talking in low voices, looking somewhat relaxed, their rifles leaning against the tree trunks nearby.

Lu Yang took a deep breath and gestured to Lao Hei.

Almost at the same time, five people rushed out from different directions.

"Who?!" The Japanese soldier reacted quickly and immediately grabbed his rifle.

But it's too late.

Lu Yang's rifle fired first, the bullet accurately hitting a Japanese soldier's wrist, causing the rifle to fall to the ground. Lao Hei's homemade rifle also opened fire, and another soldier was shot in the chest and fell beside the fire.

The monkey moved the fastest. He pounced on the soldier closest to him like a civet cat, and with a flash of cold light from the dagger in his hand, he cut the other's throat.

The remaining four Japanese soldiers panicked and tried to retreat while firing randomly.

Lu Yang rolled over, dodging several bullets, and fired bursts of shots with the Nambu pistol in his hand.

"Bang! Bang!" Two more soldiers fell.

The last soldier saw that the situation was not good and turned around and ran.

"Want to run?" Lu Yang snorted coldly, and chased after him in a flash, kicking him in the knee. The soldier screamed and fell to the ground.

Lu Yang stepped forward and put the muzzle of the gun to his head. "Tell me, what are you doing here?"

The soldier was so frightened that he trembled all over and stammered in Japanese: "We...we are here to scout...scout the terrain..."

"Scouting the terrain?" Lu Yang sneered. "I think you're here to get killed! Who's your commander? What's your plan for the next step?"

"I... I don't know..." The soldier shook his head in horror.

"It seems that we need to use some tricks." Lu Yang said, pulling out a dagger from his waist and waving it in front of the soldier.

"I say! I say!" The soldier completely collapsed. "Our commander is... the newly transferred Colonel Yamashita... He... he ordered us... to find out the situation in Wild Wolf Valley... to prepare... to prepare to launch a general attack tomorrow morning..."

"Colonel Yamashita? General attack?" Lu Yang's mind raced. It seemed the Japanese retaliation was even faster than he'd anticipated. He glanced at the bodies on the ground, then at the captured soldiers, and a bold plan quickly formed in his mind.

"Old Black," Lu Yang said, turning around, "Tie this guy up and take him back. Monkey, take off their clothes! Quick!"

Although Lao Hei and Monkey didn't understand what Lu Yang was going to do, they did it immediately.

A few minutes later, Lu Yang changed into a Japanese sergeant's uniform, smeared some soot on his face, and deliberately messed up his hair.

"Boss, what are you doing..." Lao Hei looked at Lu Yang's outfit with a confused look on his face.

Lu Yang curled his lips into a cold smile: "I want to send a piece of 'false information' to Colonel Yamashita."

The mountain wind blew harder, like a slap from a stepmother, cold and painful. Lu Yang wrapped himself tightly in his ill-fitting Japanese sergeant's uniform. The rough fabric rubbed his skin raw, and it carried a stench of death and a faint smell of blood. He hunched his back, trying his best to imitate the gait of the unfortunate sergeant in his memory—a slightly pigeon-toed gait, his shoulders hunched, looking like he was asking for a beating.

The wound on his left shoulder was still bleeding, sticking to his clothes and causing excruciating pain with every step. He gritted his teeth and swallowed the pain. This little pain was nothing compared to Lao Wang, compared to those brothers who died at the hands of the Japanese, it was nothing!

In the distance, the lights of the Japanese camp flickered like will-o'-the-wisp fires in the dark valley. The air wafted with the unpleasant smell of food, mixed with horse manure and disinfectant.

"Damn it, the Japs really know how to find a place." Lu Yang cursed softly and quickened his pace. He had to deliver the "false intelligence" to Colonel Yamashita before dawn.

The closer we got to the camp, the more patrolling sentries appeared. They held their Type 38 rifles with fixed bayonets and surveyed the surroundings warily, their searchlight beams occasionally sweeping across like the eyes of the King of Hell, making one feel uneasy.

Lu Yang's heart was pounding like a rabbit in his chest. He knew that if he made a wrong move, it would be a disaster. He took a deep breath, a fearful and anxious expression on his face, and moved towards the checkpoint at the camp entrance.

"Command!" A black muzzle of a gun was pointed at him, accompanied by a stiff shout in Japanese.

Lu Yang's heart tightened, and he quickly answered in tearful Japanese: "Amaterasu... Amaterasu... our team was attacked... and... I was the only one who ran back..." He deliberately stuttered and spoke with a local accent, which he got from the prisoner.

The sentry was stunned for a moment, seemingly unprepared for this situation. He raised his gun and looked Lu Yang up and down, his eyes filled with suspicion. "Attacked? Where? Which team?"

"It's... it's in the valley ahead... We are... we are from the reconnaissance team..." Lu Yang pointed in the direction behind him, a look of fear on his face, "There are so many... so many Chinese... they... they have an ambush..."

The sentry seemed to believe it somewhat, but he still didn't dare to be careless. "Wait, I'll report to the captain!"

Lu Yang cursed inwardly, but he didn't dare show any impatience on his face. He could only nod and respond: "Yes... yes... thank you for your help..."

The sentry turned and ran into the nearby tent. Lu Yang stood there, his palms sweating. He knew the real test was coming.

After a while, a Japanese squad leader wearing glasses and looking quite gentle came out with the sentry. He walked up to Lu Yang and looked at him carefully, his eyes as sharp as a knife.

"You said you were from the reconnaissance team? Which team? Who is the captain?" The team leader asked a series of questions in a cold tone.

Lu Yang's heart skipped a beat. He had no idea what a reconnaissance team was, let alone who the captain was. His mind raced, and he suddenly remembered a name the prisoner had mentioned before.

"Report... Report to the commander... We are... Lieutenant Tanaka's team..." Lu Yang said with a stiff face.

"Second Lieutenant Tanaka?" The squad leader frowned. "Why haven't I heard of this name?"

"He... he is newly transferred..." Lu Yang quickly added.

The team leader looked at Lu Yang suspiciously, seemingly still unconvinced. He held out his hand: "Where's your ID?"

Lu Yang cursed inwardly, "Damn it, I forgot about that!" He only had one set of clothes on him, so where did he get his ID? His eyes rolled, and he immediately bent over, clutching his stomach, groaning in pain: "Ouch... Ouch... My stomach... hurts... Just now... Just now, I was hit by a Chinese rock..."

The team leader looked at Lu Yang's painful expression, frowned, and seemed a little hesitant.

Just then, a burst of hurried horse hooves sounded in the distance, and a messenger came galloping over on horseback.

"Report! Urgent military information! Colonel Yamashita orders all troops to assemble immediately and prepare to launch a general attack!" The messenger dismounted and shouted loudly.

The team leader's attention was immediately drawn to him. He ignored Lu Yang and turned to the sentry, saying, "Let them pass quickly! Don't delay military intelligence!"

"Yes!" The sentry responded and waved his hand to signal Lu Yang to go in.

Lu Yang was secretly delighted. God was really helping me! He endured the pain in his body, bowed and nodded to the team leader to thank him, and then limped into the Japanese camp.

The camp was bustling with activity. Soldiers were moving back and forth, carrying weapons and ammunition, their faces filled with nervous excitement. It seemed that Colonel Yamashita was truly about to launch a general attack.

Lu Yang didn't dare to stay. He lowered his head, tried to avoid the crowd, and moved towards the command tent of Colonel Yamashita in his memory.

He must deliver the "false information" to Colonel Yamashita as soon as possible to disrupt their deployment and buy time for Lao Hei and the others.

He knew that this was another big gamble. If he won, he could temporarily alleviate the crisis at Eagle's Beak Cliff; if he lost, he would have to lose his life here.

The Japanese camp was like a hornet's nest, with soldiers running around like headless flies. The beams of searchlights swept randomly across the dark valley, making the shadows of the trees look like ghosts.

Lu Yang was hunched over, his face smeared with black ash and a speck of dried blood. His ill-fitting sergeant's uniform was wrinkled and reeked of sweat and a faint odor of gunpowder. He lowered his head, trying not to attract attention among the soldiers busy carrying ammunition boxes.

The wound on his left shoulder still ached, as if a needle were pricking it, but he didn't show it. This little pain was nothing compared to the pain of his dead brother.

He had to find Colonel Yamashita's command tent as soon as possible and give him the "enhanced" map. Time was running out, and the general offensive could begin at any time. Whether Lao Hei and his men could hold out in Wolf Valley depended on how well he played this move.

At the entrance of the largest tent in the center of the camp, two armed guards stood, their eyes like hawks, scanning the crowds. Atop the tent, a tall antenna buzzed, a buzzing sound. It must be the Japanese kennel down the mountain.

Lu Yang thought to himself that he couldn't just force his way in, he had to find an excuse.

He deliberately slowed down his pace and walked over to a sergeant who was counting weapons. He lowered his voice and said in an anxious and fearful tone, "Sergeant, I have urgent military information to report to the Colonel! It's about the movements of the Chinese army!"

The sergeant frowned and looked him up and down. "Emergency military information? Which unit are you from?"

"Reconnaissance team! Lieutenant Tanaka's team!" Lu Yang answered quickly, using the same trick he used to fool the sentry before, "We...we were ambushed in the valley ahead...and...I ran back alone..." He gasped as he spoke, a look of horror on his face, and pointed to the blood on his arm (it was his own blood).

The sergeant's expression changed. The reconnaissance team being attacked was no small matter. "Wait!" he said, turning and walking quickly towards the command tent.

Lu Yang cursed inwardly, "Damn it! I have to wait again." He stood there, his palms sweating, his eyes vigilantly observing his surroundings. Not far away, he saw several soldiers setting up a heavy machine gun, its black muzzle pointed directly at the camp entrance. It seemed that the old devils down the mountain were quite well-prepared.

After a while, the sergeant came back, followed by a staff officer wearing glasses.

"Are you the surviving scout?" The staff officer walked up to Lu Yang, pushed his glasses, and spoke with a scrutinizing tone.

"Hi!" Lu Yang quickly stood at attention and saluted, "Sir! I am..."

"Alright," the staff officer interrupted him, "Come with me. The Colonel wants to question you personally."