The slanting moon in the west is about to set, the stars in the sky are becoming sparse, and the sky in the east is getting brighter, which makes people feel that the surroundings are even darker.
A village sits quietly in the darkness before dawn, without a trace of light, without a sound, and vaguely hidden in the haze of overnight.
A vigilant figure gradually emerged from the darkness in the west, took steady steps, and walked quietly into the village.
The sharp bayonet under the muzzle of the gun pointed obliquely at the ground, swaying rhythmically with the steady steps. A pair of narrow eyes slowly scanned the route of travel, from left to right, and then from right to left. The curled gray hat brim seemed to be a slowed-down pendulum, rotating back and forth regularly.
After a while, five figures, four big and one small, appeared in the darkness, slowly followed behind and walked into the village. They walked quietly like this, from west to east, slowly passing through the haze and the village.
It was not until he reached the road east of the village that Hu Yi finally stopped, turned around, and quietly looked at the village that was still silent in the haze.
"Brother, from what we can see, there is nothing unusual in this village." Ma Liang walked up to Hu Yi, stopped, and said in a low voice.
Hu Yiwei frowned and said nothing. The dead man said he was a security guard, which was definitely a lie. The middle of the night was the time when security guards should be working, and which master would let him run out and talk nonsense? He said he came from the village in the east, and he did come from the east before he was caught. At least the direction should be correct. If he was not a security guard, then his starting point might not be this village. As for his purpose of going to the county town, the most likely reason was to report a message or deliver a news.
It seemed that if they wanted to understand the situation, they had to continue to go east, but everything was based on their own guesses. They didn't know the exact location, the situation, or how far they were. Day was about to dawn, and even if this matter was really related to the shipment, there was no need for Team Nine to take any more risks.
Hu Yi made up his mind not to bother with this matter anymore. Just as he was about to give the order to retreat, he was suddenly pushed on the leg by Xiao Hongying. Then he saw her pointing to the east and whispering, "Fox, someone seems to be coming!"
Hu Yi didn't even turn his head, and whispered: "Hide!"...
In the dim light, a frightened woman stood by the roadside with her head bowed. She trembled as she took out a small notebook from her bag and said, "My dear bosses, I am a good citizen!"
Hu Yi looked at the certificate of good conduct that the other party handed over tremblingly, but did not reach out to take it. The light was not good. Did they strike a match on the spot? Once the match was lit, it would not be the boss, but the Eighth Route Army! Besides, he was not here for this, so there was no point in looking at it. She was dressed like an ordinary woman, with a bun behind her head. Her face was not clear and seemed dirty. She felt that she was not young, probably in her forties or fifties; however, she was very tall, almost the same height as Hu Yi. Hu Yi was of average height, about 1.75 meters, but the other party was a woman, so it was rare to see such a height.
"Are you coming from the east?" Hu Yi didn't intend to waste time and went straight to the point.
The woman nodded timidly.
"I want to ask you, did anything happen on the way here?"
"I, I don't know." The woman answered hesitantly in a low voice.
"Then tell me what it is that you don't know?" Hu Yi deliberately raised his voice.
"There seemed to be gunshots in the grove."
Finally they matched, Hu Yi immediately asked: "Which grove? How far is it from here?"
"Not far. There's a small forest to the east."
Hu Yi waved his hand behind him and said, "Let's go!" and headed straight towards the eastern path.
Ma Liang looked back at the tall woman who hurried away, and ran a few steps to catch up with Hu Yi in front of him, asking as he ran: "Brother, I feel that this man is suspicious no matter how I look at him. Not only is his accent wrong, but he is also hunched over at his age. How many country people are like him? And he is so tall, maybe he is just a man pretending to be a man. Why don't you question him carefully and just let him go?"
"This is an enemy-occupied area, where plainclothes detectives run rampant. If he's suspicious, it means he has nothing to do with the Japanese. Whether he's a thief or a bandit, it has nothing to do with us. It doesn't matter!"
After listening to Hu Yi's explanation, Ma Liang was finally relieved. He said nothing more and quickened his pace towards the east.
Finally, a hint of dawn appeared in the east, and the surrounding scenery began to take shape. A small forest was located on one side of the path. It was called a forest, but it was not dense. It was just a few scattered small trees and shrubs, with more than a dozen corpses scattered among them.
Behind a bush, two people with pistols were hiding and whispering.
"All four comrades died."
"Ahem, ahem... How many people do you think they have?"
"I don't know. There must be only a few left, eight or nine at most. They are outside the woods and dare not come in."
"Well, it will be dawn soon. You still have a chance. Hurry up and rush out."
"I'll carry you out."
"I can't take it anymore. If you keep talking nonsense, you'll force me to kill myself! Cough cough cough..."
“…” The squatting figure looked at the injured person lying on the ground, was silent for a while, and nodded heavily.
Bang Bang Bang... Gunshots rang out... "A guy ran out over here!"... "Why panic! Three of us will deal with him! The rest of you will return to your positions, be careful to attack from the east and west, don't fall into his trap again!"... Bang Bang Bang... The intermittent exchange of gunfire, mixed with the shouts of the plainclothes team, came from the periphery. ... Bang Bang Bang... "I hit him! I hit him!"... Bang Bang Bang... "Stop shooting, you useless guy! You have to live!"... Bang—"Captain, I didn't shoot him, he shot himself."...
The wounded man lying behind the bushes sighed helplessly, raised the revolver in his hand and put it to his head.
Ta-da-da, ta-da-da…
Suddenly, the sound of machine gun fire, accompanied by panicked shouts, abruptly broke the pre-dawn silence and echoed in the small woods.
Hu Yi led the 9th squad to the vicinity of the grove, but the situation was unclear and they did not dare to approach rashly, so they had to monitor quietly. Then they saw a figure rushing out and exchanging fire with the outsiders. Finally, they grasped the position of several people outside, and after a simple deployment, they launched a small surprise attack.
After a while, the gunfire stopped again, and Ma Liang and Liu Jianqiang hurried back from the horizontal direction. "Brother, the four over there have all run away, faster than rabbits, there is no way to catch them."
Hu Yi threw the machine gun to Luo Fugui behind him, grabbed the rifle and stood up: "Ma Liang will be on guard to the south, Runny Nose will be on guard to the east, and the rest of you will clean up the battlefield." After giving the order, he raised his bayonet and walked towards the woods.
“Ahem… who are you?” The wounded man on the ground lowered the gun that was pointing at his temple with difficulty and asked weakly.
Hu Yi looked expressionlessly at the only person still alive in the woods. Just from the location of the bullet hole in his chest, he knew that this person couldn't hold on for much longer, so he quickly got to the point: "Are you a deliveryman?"
The injured man looked at Hu Yi's military uniform and said, "I am."
"I'm here to pick up the goods! Where are they?"
"Ahem... Hiding."
"Where is it hidden?"
"Password. Ahem..."
Hu Yi was stunned: "What's the password?"
"Cough, I'm asking for the password to receive the goods! Cough cough cough..." The injured man's expression suddenly became serious. The increase in his voice made him weaker. He couldn't help but start coughing continuously, and blood began to flow from the corners of his mouth.
Hu Yi was speechless. He didn't expect there was a password for receiving the goods. How could he know this? It was estimated that Officer Yang must know. He had to solemnly say to the injured on the ground: "The delivery time should be last night, at the fork in the road. You failed to arrive on time, so the mission is cancelled. The person with the password has withdrawn."
“Ahem… without… the command… ahem… I can’t… ahem… deliver…”
Hu Yi wanted to kick him right now. He just couldn't understand why all of you who work in intelligence are the same, just like Su Qing, all stubborn.
Hu Yi took a deep breath and regained his composure: "Are you really determined to let the goods disappear with you?"
The answer I got was a violent cough, followed by complete silence...