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

Inside the Ten Thousand People Cave, everyone was eating and drinking, creating a lively atmosphere. However, Kato and his men were having a much harder time. By this time, these Japanese soldiers and traitors had searched the entire Huifeng Ridge area, but after finding nothing, they returned to the Huifeng Ridge area to rest, rubbing their sore and tired legs with furrowed brows.

After five days in the mountains, the trained Japanese soldiers fared relatively well, at most their clothes were torn and they looked rather disheveled. The puppet troops, however, were in much worse shape. Their backs ached, their legs cramped, and their steps were weak. They would often tumble down the mountain, suffering injuries and looking like defeated soldiers, utterly miserable!

"Baka! Didn't you say those lowly people were hiding along this line? Where are they?" Shan Teng, who had been searching the ravines for days without any results, had long lost his patience and was now staring at Wu Erdan, questioning him fiercely.

"I...I don't know either!...Maybe those lowly people have gone against the grain and hidden in one of the other two lines this time!..." Wu Erdan felt incredibly frustrated. Was it his fault that he couldn't find anyone? He had only found one line, okay?

"Baka!... What do we do next?" Kato was at his wit's end. Finding a village deep in the mountains was already this difficult, so finding a few people would be like looking for a needle in a haystack.

"..." Wu Erdan was even more speechless. If you don't know what to do, how am I supposed to know? Keep looking! What else can we do but turn back?

“Go back and look for the other two leads! The more dangerous the place, the safer it is. Maybe those lowly people are hiding in those dangerous places, barely surviving. If we don’t find them, this lead will be cut off!” Li Zisheng advised from the side.

Currently, Zhao Village is the only clue. If we give up, posting portraits all over the town would be like searching for a needle in a haystack. Not only would it be a waste of time, but it would also alert the other party, making it even more difficult to find the person!

"..." Shan Teng nodded helplessly, unsure of what to say. It seemed there was no better way than to continue searching through the mountains!

The group ate a few bites of dry rations and headed back along the mountain path. Having already searched the area, their return journey was much faster. By mid-afternoon, they were near Fangniupo, and the Wanren Cave they were looking for was not far to the south!

However, this mountain forest was covered with thorns, and the branches of the wild grass, yellow road bushes, and jujube trees grew very lushly. Without knowing the route, the location of the Ten Thousand People Cave could not be seen from the outside, so they missed it when they went there.

"Ouch! ~~~"

Just as the group was making their way through the jungle, Wu Erdan's arm was pricked by a jujube thorn. His legs gave way, and he lost his balance, tumbling down into the jungle! The terrain was very steep, and he slid a long way before finally coming to a stop against the roots of a jujube clump. His body was covered in cuts and bruises, and his back was bleeding profusely from the jujube thorns. The pain was truly excruciating!

"Quickly, save them!" shouted a puppet army soldier.

The platoon leader rolled down, and the soldiers naturally had to rescue him. Ignoring their own aches and pains, they drew their bayonets, cut off the thorny branches around them, and slowly moved closer to him.

"Baka!..." Yamato looked at the chaotic puppet army with a sense of helplessness. Seeing that he couldn't leave anytime soon, he simply sat down and quietly watched the show.

As for rescuing people, that's simply impossible. When would the mighty Imperial Japanese Army ever rescue puppet troops? It's already a favor that we're just sitting here and waiting for them!

Four or five puppet soldiers fought their way through the thorns and finally made their way to Wu Erdan. They helped him up and removed the thorns from his body, making him wince in pain!

"Hmm?... Platoon leader, look down there, isn't that a field of crops?" Just as Wu Erdan was gritting his teeth and enduring the soreness all over his body, a puppet soldier next to him pointed out the edge of the jungle.

"What's so special about farmland? This farmland deep in the mountains and forests!? Where is it?" At first, he didn't pay attention, but after repeating it again, he immediately realized that the farmland here was no ordinary farmland!

Who would travel so far from these remote mountains to cultivate land? Does the presence of crops here mean that this is the hiding place of Zhao Village that they are looking for?

"Outside!" the puppet army soldier said, pointing to the edge of the forest.

Through the dense forest, one can vaguely see a newly reclaimed wasteland where millet has just sprouted leaves, a lush green expanse that looks very promising!

"Found it! I knew it! These people could never live in Bianguashi. This is where people should live!" Wu Erdan cheered, ignoring the pain in his body, even happier than during the New Year!

"Baka! Hurry up and clear the way! What are you yelling about?" The mountain vines above were getting impatient. Seeing that this guy had gotten up but wasn't coming up, they jumped up and down, shouting and scolding him.

"Ah?... Mr. Yamato! We found it! We found Zhao Village! It's right down there, that's the farmland they just cleared!" Wu Erdan shouted, pointing out of the forest.

"Huh?...Where?" Shan Teng was stunned when he heard that they had found the farmland, but then he was overjoyed! Once they found Zhao Zhuang, they could force him to reveal the whereabouts of Hu Zi and the others, and washing away their shame would be just around the corner!

"It's right down there, hurry up and come down!" Wu Erdan urged anxiously when he saw Shan Teng still standing up there.

Yamato, Watanabe, and a few other Japanese soldiers got up and followed the newly cleared path into the jungle, arriving beside Wu Erdan and glancing into the distance. Confirming that there was only farmland outside, they became excited. Farmland meant nearby villages; even if it wasn't Zhao Village they were looking for, it would still be fun to go in and have some fun! After so many days of wandering, enduring wind and rain, what could be more enjoyable than entering a village and bullying the common people?

"Yoshi! Keep cutting branches to clear a path and search the surrounding area to find the village!" Shan Teng suddenly perked up, all the gloom of the past few days vanished, and he shouted as if he had been injected with chicken blood!

"Hey!" With a goal in mind, everyone became more enthusiastic about their work, drawing their bayonets and continuing to cut branches to explore the area.

Soon, this group of Japanese devils and traitors carved a mountain road out of the jungle and led directly to the farmland. Not far past the farmland, the stone wall at the entrance of the Ten Thousand People Cave came into view, and many people were busy going in and out!

"Yo-ho! So you were hiding here! Let's see where you run now! Rabbit here!" Shan Teng exclaimed, looking at the cave entrance. Judging from the rudimentary facilities, these were the Zhao Village villagers who had just escaped! The time to wash away the shame had come!

They're just ordinary villagers; there's no need to go back for reinforcements. It's better to ransack the entire cave, interrogate Tiger and his gang, and then notify Major Inoue!

The enemy destroyed one of their pillboxes, so destroying their village now is just collecting some interest. There's plenty of time to settle the score for the destroyed pillboxes!

"Hey!" The Japanese puppet soldiers beside him didn't take it seriously either. Slaughtering a village wasn't the first time! Those unarmed civilians were nothing to worry about. If they couldn't beat those thugs, they could at least beat ordinary civilians. Zhao Village, just wait to bear the wrath of the Imperial Army!