I used the Mo Dao (a type of long-handled sword) to fight the Japanese.

"Yes, yes, yes, don't go if there's danger! It's not worth the risk for someone who stutters!"

"You're right, we've already made a profit by eating so much good food these past few days! Don't go where it's dangerous!"

Since everyone was a laborer, they naturally wouldn't hold a grudge just because they hadn't gotten any food all night. After giving a few simple instructions and seeing that Zhao Mancang didn't say anything, they all went to sleep.

"You're still not giving up? Looks like you scared the Japanese last night. They couldn't stand the Japanese patrols being so tight. Go to sleep, we'll continue when the Japanese relax!" Tiger said, leaning over to persuade Zhao Mancang who was still sitting there.

"I know, you go to sleep first, I'll sit for a while longer," Zhao Mancang replied, continuing to ponder the current situation.

The two searchlights shining back and forth certainly made getting out more difficult, but even in such a large area, a round trip would take ten minutes. Getting out is possible, but it would require greater speed, quieter movements, and more caution.

Trying to continue pretending to be a ghost to scare the Japanese in the mine is no longer an option. With searchlights and patrols nearby, they would quickly be exposed if they heard the sound, and might even get themselves killed.

Pretending to be a ghost in the living area is even more troublesome. Not only is it easier to be discovered, but it could also lead to more laborers losing their lives, which is not worth it.

Damn it, if I had known it would turn out like this, I would have preferred not to do that last night. Scaring a Japanese soldier to death and then not being able to get any food is really not worth it!

However, we must find a way to persevere now, because once we start, there's no turning back! Stopping now would be like alerting the enemy, making it difficult to continue our underhanded tactics. We must keep pretending and scare the Japanese into submission; otherwise, it won't be a loss!

After considering the terrain of the entire mining area in my mind, I felt that the area behind this thatched hut could be used for some work. Behind the hut was a cliff two or three meters high, with a denser barbed wire fence. Beyond the fence, on the hilltop, grew a sparse grove of wild bamboo, and not far behind the grove was the mine pit. Reaching the grove and continuing my ghost act wouldn't be so difficult!

However, there are several difficulties to overcome on this route. First, climbing the cliff by hand is not easy, as the smooth cliff face offers no footholds. To prevent collapses that could damage houses, people have covered the cliff face with a layer of grass mixed with mud. There are no protruding rocks, making it very difficult to climb without external assistance.

Secondly, the dense barbed wire will likely take a long time to break, and even going through the bamboo forest won't get you to the bottom of the mine; after so much mining, it's already a bottomless abyss. In short, clearing this route will require a lot of effort!

Never mind, it's not worth giving up without even trying. I'll just go there first.

After making up my mind, I put my clothes back on and went out. Dodging the searchlights, I passed through several thatched huts and arrived at the bottom of the cliff. Looking at the bare cliff face, I felt like a tiger trying to eat the sky, but there was no way to get up there! Fortunately, not far away, there was a beam about the thickness of a bowl lying across a collapsed thatched hut. I dragged it over and leaned it against the cliff face, and it was easy to climb up.

The dense barbed wire fence took him a lot of effort, and it took him more than an hour to cut it all down and restore it to its original state. Entering the bamboo forest, he relaxed a little. Luckily, this was in a blind spot of the searchlights, so the Japanese patrols wouldn't come near; otherwise, even ten of him wouldn't be enough for the Japanese to mow down!

After resting for a while, he found a bamboo pole about the thickness of his arm in the bamboo grove and used a thinner bamboo to break through the gaps in the middle of the bamboo nodes to make a pipe. Fortunately, there were bamboos cut down when the house was being built in the bamboo grove, otherwise he might not have been able to cut a single bamboo even if he had been chopping with his knife until dawn.

After preparing the bamboo tube, there was only one last step. Dragging the bamboo tube to the other side of the bamboo grove, and seeing that no one was around, he stretched the bamboo tube to the top of the mine pit, held the bamboo tube in his hands, and screamed like a ghost.

"Give me back my life..."

"Give me back my life..."

"Give me back my life..."

It screamed three times in a row, each scream more terrifying and more miserable than the last! The mountain wind made the sound even more desolate and ethereal, even more terrifying than the zombies appearing in a horror movie!

Now it was the Japanese patrol's turn to get angry! One of the teams was patrolling around the mine. They thought the night would pass peacefully, but with dawn just over two hours away, that damned howling started again!

"Baka! Where did that sound come from?" The squad leader was startled and stood around the mine pit, holding a flashlight and searching around inside.

But when the flashlight beam shone, all that could be seen were stones—nothing special at all! Not even a fly!

"Give me back my life..."

"Give me back my life..."

The ghostly screams continued, and the patrol team was as anxious as ants on a hot pan, but they couldn't see anything. They couldn't help but feel a chill run down their spines! Their hair stood on end involuntarily, making their hats bulge out in a rather comical way!

"Captain, ... could it be that evil spirits are coming to claim our lives? ... That's a pile of rubble over there!" the Japanese soldier behind the squad leader said in terror.

"Baka! Those lowly Chinese are just logs! How could logs possibly become vengeful ghosts?" the squad leader shouted.

"Hey!...What are these sounds?..." The Japanese soldiers clearly didn't believe it; how could they pretend the terrifying sounds weren't there when they were right next to them?

"Baka! Find them! We must find out who's behind this! We're going down into the mine!" Although the squad leader said he didn't believe it, he was actually terrified. Even he was scared of such a terrifying voice! Especially since it wasn't the first time he'd heard it. One person died yesterday, and what if more people died today?

"Hey!" His shout eased the Japanese soldiers slightly, and they began to descend the narrow path into the mine. The squad leader led the way, his flashlight illuminating the steep cliff face as they made their way down. Some of the soldiers were already terrified, their legs trembling unsteadily; below lay a bottomless abyss. It might have been manageable during the day, but at night it was a truly difficult journey!

"Give me back my life..."

"Give me back my life..."

Just then, the terrifying scream rang out again, startling one of the Japanese soldiers so much that he accidentally knocked over a rock. By sheer coincidence, the fist-sized rock struck the head of the first squad leader!

"Ah~~~"

The squad leader was using his flashlight to find the source of the sound when a rock hit him on the head, startling him so much that his legs gave way and he plunged headfirst into a nearby mine pit, quickly disappearing from sight! The flashlight beam tumbled through the air before falling to the bottom of the pit and going out!