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

He hastily dismissed his two subordinates, then moved to one end of the table, separated from Mancang by only an aisle.

"What have the Japanese been up to these past two days?" Man Cang asked in a voice that only the two of them could hear clearly.

"...A few days ago, a group of Japanese devils came. Among them, a father and daughter, who should be Han Chinese, were always carrying strange tools and riding around on motorcycles. I wonder what they were up to. Well...the old Japanese devils sent a team of soldiers to protect them. They even used machine guns. They seem to be someone important!" Wu Erdan muttered in a barely audible voice.

"Where did they all go?" Mancang's heart tightened. The father and daughter this guy was talking about must be Zaohua and her apprentice. What are the Japanese up to with all this commotion?

No matter what we do, we should figure it out first. The Japanese are taking this so seriously, they must be up to no good. If we get the chance to sabotage them, we definitely won't go wrong!

"I don't know, the Japanese are very strict, we puppet troops have no way to get in touch with them."

"Alright, you don't need to worry about this. How much do you know about Mafang Village? Besides that stronghold, what other important Japanese facilities are there nearby?"

"Hmm?... There shouldn't be anything else around here, right? I've been in the pillbox for over a year and haven't heard of any other Japanese soldiers..."

"Try to find out; there must be some important Japanese facilities there!"

"Okay! I'll do my best!"

"Do you know anyone among the puppet troops at Mafang Pass?"

"Yes, what do I need to do?"

"I'll probably be going to the county town more often lately..."

"That's easy. Just mention it to the puppet troops guarding me, and they shouldn't make things difficult for me."

"Okay! Investigate the situation in that area as soon as possible."

"Understood!"

"Boss, check out!"

After finishing his meal, Mancang paid the bill and left. A short while later, Wu Erdan also finished eating and left. The two of them never even glanced at each other throughout the entire meal.

That's right, Wu Erdan is the puppet army platoon leader who escaped during the attack on Wanrendong! The reason why those eleven prisoners were able to escape from Wanrendong was because Mancang secretly helped them, with the aim of planting a spy within the Japanese army!

It seems that this nail is still shallow in its roots and cannot access anything too confidential.

Mancang spent the night in town that night, and after strolling around the streets, he easily found out the origin of the jujube flower.

Zao Hua, whose real name is Zhang Yihan, is the daughter of Zhang Youcai, a wealthy man. Two years ago, she was admitted to Yenching University and is a well-known talented woman in the surrounding area. Many elderly people in the market have watched her grow up.

What puzzled people was that the young lady hadn't shown her face for two years, so why was she now being protected by the Japanese soldiers? Many people wouldn't believe that the young lady had become a traitor working for the Japanese. Everyone knew what kind of people Zhang Youcai's family were, so how could their children be traitors?

Some people say that the former young lady has betrayed the country and is willing to work for the Japanese. She has returned to harm the people and everyone should stay away from her.

Such a contradictory individual successfully caught Man Cang's attention. Why would a clean and innocent female student appear in the Japanese devils' den? Deep down, he could not accept such a female student becoming a traitor!

Because that would break his heart!

I decided to take advantage of the time while waiting for news to investigate this female student myself.

Early in the morning, Mancang was eating breakfast at his wonton stall as usual. After finishing two baskets of buns, he heard the roar of Japanese tricycles coming from deep in the street. Soon, three motorcycles passed by the stall, and Mancang saw that Zaohua was sitting on one of them.

The lead vehicle carried three Japanese soldiers, with a menacing-looking, dark, pointed machine gun mounted on the seat beside them. The middle vehicle carried two disguised Japanese soldiers and Zaohua, who was sitting in the sidecar. The last vehicle carried two Japanese soldiers and a middle-aged man in a long gown.

The middle-aged man with gray hair, wearing glasses and carrying a briefcase was clearly the teacher Zaohua had mentioned.

Each vehicle had various lengths of unidentifiable tools strapped to its back, clearly indicating they weren't out sightseeing. Seeing this, Mancang paid the bill and quietly followed, determined to see what the Japanese were up to!

The vehicle sped north through the crossroads and out of the market, with Mancang following closely behind, tracking the tracks. Luckily, he'd been eating well and exercising regularly lately; otherwise, this long run would have exhausted him!

Two hours later, the tire tracks entered the upper reaches of the Baiyue River beach. After driving for another ten minutes or so, we saw three motorcycles at the foot of Wangyue Mountain. However, the motorcycles were already empty, and we could vaguely see people moving around on the mountainside.

"They've gone into the mountains? That's great!" Mancang finally breathed a sigh of relief. Going into the mountains meant they were on their home turf, making tracking much easier.

Another half hour later, Mancang was watching the people busy on the cliff from a distance on a walnut tree. The voices of the people on the cliff reached Mancang's ears clearly.

"Professor Song, today is already the eleventh day. I hope you can hurry up! Running around in these remote mountain valleys all day must be taking a toll on your health, right? And this Miss Zhang, her hands and feet are covered in blisters these past few days!" The Japanese soldier in the stand-up collar disguise said stiffly, his tone full of threat.

"Hmph! Do you think finding mineral veins and identifying mining areas is so easy? Calculating the depth and estimating the direction of the vein requires a lot of data. Don't even think about accurately estimating the mineral reserves in less than a month! If you're in a hurry, you can start mining now. How much gold you can extract is up to fate!" Professor Song said firmly.

"Baka!..." Before the Japanese soldier with the collar could speak, another Japanese soldier next to him shouted.

The Japanese soldier with the standing collar raised his hand to stop the other party, and continued to look at Professor Song with an undiminished smile: "We have enough patience and time to wait for the professor's results, but it is hard to say whether your family and this classmate can be patient!"

"I advise you to hurry up, old man. We businessmen are patient, but those soldiers are very rude!"

"Hmph! It's not something that can be done overnight, from measurement and calculation to drawing up the optimal mining plan. If you want to maximize the extraction of this gold mine, you need to have enough patience and energy. The significance of the gold mine far outweighs the lives of these few of us!" Professor Song said calmly and unperturbed.

"Of course, you're an expert in this area. I'm just offering a friendly reminder!" The Japanese soldier with the raised collar softened his tone slightly, then turned and left, leaving the master and apprentice to continue their work.

The jujube blossom, on the other hand, kept her head down, writing something in her notebook the whole time. Her face was expressionless, but who could know the bitterness and helplessness in her heart...

Mancang, observing from the side, understood: this Professor Song was Zaohua's teacher. For some reason, the two of them, master and apprentice, had been coerced by the Japanese to come here to search for gold, and it seemed the gold reserves were quite abundant, making it a very important matter for the Japanese!

The gold mine may be located on this Wangyue Mountain, but a reasonable mining plan has not yet been formulated!