The Mysterious Soldier of the Anti-Japanese War

Chapter 431 Another Self in the Green Shadow: The Mystery of Memory Deep in the Mine

Lei Tao shouted, "It's too late! Weapons can be taken away, but if you lose your life, you lose everything!" He ripped open his collar, veins bulging on his neck. "Captain Zhang, Chief of Staff Zhou, I suggest we immediately organize our troops to alternate and cover our retreat!

Before he finished speaking, the muffled roar of engines echoed in the distance. Li Shuiyang suddenly pointed toward the sky: "Brother Lei! There's black smoke coming from the southwest. It's the Japanese tank regiment!" Everyone looked in the direction of the sound. Under the setting sun, the smoke and dust kicked up by the steel torrent was like the devil's tentacles, approaching at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Liu Hong pounded the wreckage of the armored vehicle, shaking off a few pieces of burning metal. "Give me five minutes!" Lei Tao was furious: "Why do you need that junk? I'll equip your team with American equipment later. Now, retreat!"

Meng Xiaoyu suddenly grabbed Lei Tao's arm, her fingertips cold: "Lei Tao, there's a reflection on the southeast ridge, it's a telescope!"

Lei Tao's pupils constricted, and he raised his binoculars. A hundred meters away, behind the bushes, Japanese observers were rapidly signaling with flags. "They're calibrating the bombardment coordinates!" Before he could finish his words, a sharp whistle suddenly echoed from the sky. "Get down!" Lei Tao threw Meng Xiaoyu to the ground. The shell exploded twenty meters away, the blast blowing away half an armor plate and glancing past Liu Hong's scalp.

Zhou Zhiyuan wiped the blood from his face and roared at the National Salvation Army: "Third Platoon, fire the smoke bomb! Create a blind spot for evacuation!" The moment the smoke bomb exploded, Lei Tao jumped up and pulled up Liu Hong, who was lying in the crater. "Don't worry about the weapons. I'll give you American-made weapons for the Railway Guerrillas later. Let's retreat quickly! It will be too late if we're late!"

Liu Hong's face was filled with reluctance, but after hearing Lei Tao's promise to replace their equipment, his eyes lit up and he nodded. At this time, the soldiers of the Eighth Route Army and the Youth National Salvation Army had already begun an orderly retreat according to the tactics of alternating cover. In the thick smoke, everyone hurriedly ran towards the abandoned mine passage.

Lei Tao, wielding a Scorpion submachine gun, watched his surroundings with vigilance, constantly urging his team to speed up. Just as they were about to enter the mine tunnel, the Japanese armored train had completely derailed, and heavy artillery began to frantically bombard them. Shells exploded all around them, sending dirt and rubble flying, and the entire ground shook.

"Hurry! Get in!" Lei Tao shouted. The soldiers in the team quickly entered the mine. Meng Xiaoyu followed closely beside Lei Tao, a hint of worry in his eyes: "Lei Tao, is this passage safe?"

Lei Tao didn't have time to think about it. While pushing Meng Xiaoyu into the mine, he said, "This is the only chance at the moment, believe me!" Just as he turned around and was about to enter the mine, he suddenly saw a soldier not far away being hit by shrapnel and falling to the ground.

"Not good!" Lei Tao rushed over without hesitation, lifted the soldier up, carried him on his shoulders, and quickly returned to the mine. The moment he stepped into the mine, a shell exploded not far from the cave entrance, and the huge impact knocked him to the ground.

When he regained consciousness, he noticed the mine was filled with a pungent smell of gunpowder. He put the wounded soldier down and examined his injuries, finding them only superficial. At this moment, Liu Hong, Zhou Zhiyuan, and Zhang Weiguo also arrived.

"Brother Lei, what should we do next?" Liu Hong asked anxiously.

Lei Tao stood up, dusted himself off, looked at everyone and said, "This mine tunnel should lead directly to the primeval forest. Let's follow the tunnel first to avoid the Japanese army's pursuit. Once we're out of the forest, we'll find a chance to reunite with the main force."

"But there may be dangers in this passage, so we have to be careful." Zhang Weiguo said with a frown.

Everyone took the flashlights and turned them on, the dim light flickering in the mine. Though dim, it brought a sense of peace of mind. Li Shuiyang gripped the flashlight tightly, a hint of nervousness in his eyes: "Brother Lei, this mine is pitch black, are there any monsters?"

Lei Tao patted his shoulder and said softly, "Don't scare yourself, we are here." Having said that, he was still a little unsure. This mine had been abandoned for a long time, and no one knew what dangers were hidden inside.

The team continued to move forward, the road beneath their feet was bumpy and full of gravel. Suddenly, Li Zheng, who was walking in front, stopped. He shone his flashlight ahead and frowned. "There seems to be a fork in the road ahead. Which way should we go?"

Everyone gathered around, looking at the two dark passages, hesitant for a moment. Meng Xiaoyu squatted down and carefully observed the ground. After a while, she pointed to the passage on the left and said, "Look, there are some footprints on this road. Although they are a bit blurry, they must have been left not long ago. Maybe someone has walked here. If we follow the footprints, we may find the exit."

Lei Tao thought for a moment and nodded: "Xiaoyu makes sense. Let's take the left path. Everyone, be alert and be ready to deal with emergencies at any time."

Just as everyone was about to continue forward, they suddenly heard a strange sound coming from the right passage. It sounded like the dragging of chains, a sound that seemed particularly eerie and terrifying in the silent mine. Everyone's nerves instantly tensed, and they tightened their grip on their weapons, aiming their flashlights at the right passage.

Lei Tao said to Battalion Commander Zhang of the Eighth Route Army, "Captain Zhang, I'm going to take someone to investigate the situation. You and Chief of Staff Zhou should remind everyone to be on the lookout for the Japanese."

Then he turned and shouted towards Liu Zishan, "Where is Liu Zishan? Where did he go? Come here quickly."

At this moment, Liu Zishan came running over from the back of the team, panting, with a hint of panic on his face: "Brother Lei, I was checking behind to see if there were any Japanese soldiers chasing us. I just heard you shouting and rushed over."

Lei Tao glanced at him and said quickly: "Okay, come with me and take a look at the situation in the right passage. Everyone stay alert and be ready to support us at any time." After that, he and Liu Zishan walked cautiously towards the right passage.

The two men crouched, their flashlights sweeping back and forth across the tunnel. The strange sound of the chains grew clearer, echoing through the silent mine with a chilling effect. Suddenly, Liu Zishan's foot struck something hard, making a crisp "dang" sound. Startled, the two men stopped and aimed their flashlights at the object.

It turned out to be a rusty iron ring with a broken chain attached. Lei Tao frowned and whispered, "It looks like people or animals were once imprisoned here. Be careful." The two continued forward, the passage becoming narrower and narrower, and some faint words began to appear on the wall, as if someone had carved them into stone.

At this moment, the shadow of a pair of green eyes suddenly appeared in the darkness ahead. Liu Zishan almost cried out. Lei Tao quickly covered his mouth and whispered, "Don't make a sound, it's not real." Lei Tao took out a compass and saw that the compass was spinning very fast... It turned out that there was a large capacity of magnetite in this mine... Suddenly, the shadow of a Japanese biochemical experiment was reflected.

In the shadowy shadows, several Japanese military doctors in white coats busied themselves around an operating table. A bound man lay on it, a look of agony on his face. A variety of bottles and jars filled with unknown liquids lay spread out on a nearby laboratory table. Suddenly, one of the doctors picked up a syringe and injected the liquid into the man. The man convulsed violently, uttering a painful roar before falling silent.

Liu Zishan's scalp tingled as he whispered, "Brother Lei, this... this is too bizarre." Lei Tao's face was solemn, and he gripped the gun tightly. He said, "This must be the magnetite interfering with the surrounding magnetic field, causing the scene that happened to be recorded like a video, and now it is being replayed. Forget about it for now, we have to get out of here quickly."

The two turned to head back, only to discover that the path they had taken had been blocked by a rock wall. Lei Tao shone his flashlight around, a sense of foreboding rising in his heart. "It looks like we're trapped. We need to find another way out."

At that moment, the shadowy image of the biochemical experiment suddenly vanished, replaced by the shadowy figures of a group of Japanese soldiers, guns drawn, with sinister grins on their faces, firing at a young man. The young man, facing the muzzle, nimbly dodged the incoming bullet by dodging it. Then, he swiftly advanced. With lightning speed, he grabbed a Japanese soldier's wrist by the gun and twisted it outward. Simultaneously, his left hand struck the soldier in the face, sending blood gushing outward and instantly incapacitated. Before the other Japanese soldiers could react, the young man pounced on another like a cheetah, kicking him squarely in the abdomen and sending him flying backward, slamming him hard against the wall. He seized the opportunity to snatch a soldier's knife from his hand. With a flash of cold light, he slashed at a fleeing Japanese soldier. The blade sliced ​​through the air with a sharp whistling sound, and landed precisely on the soldier's shoulder, instantly staining his clothes red with blood. The remaining Japanese soldiers were terrified and wanted to raise their guns to fight back. However, the young man did not flinch, and nimbly moved through the hail of bullets. He either cleverly used the surrounding environment to dodge, or used his excellent skills to directly seize the guns from the enemy. In every step he moved and every move he made, there was a sense of calmness and courage. In the end, with his excellent fighting skills and amazing courage, he slaughtered all the Japanese soldiers with his backhand. After seeing the facial features of the young man in the shadow clearly,

Liu Zishan's face instantly turned pale as paper. He turned stiffly, his voice trembling as he asked, "Brother Lei, is that you?" Lei Tao stared at the shadowy figure, a face that looked just like his own, his temples throbbing. Those familiar fighting moves... Suddenly, the shadowy figure, a ghostly figure, leaped toward them from the gloom of the mine. He instinctively took a half step back, his back hitting the damp rock wall, and cold sweat streamed down his spine. "Don't... don't talk nonsense!" Lei Tao's voice was as dry as sandpaper.

Suddenly, a memory that didn't belong to him flashed through Lei Tao's mind—the stainless steel edge of the operating table reflected a cold blue light. He saw his naked back, chained to the cold surface. Disinfectant mixed with the smell of blood rushed into his nostrils. A syringe filled with amber liquid was held in the hands of a military doctor, the tip of the needle slicing a tiny wound on the skin wiped with sterile cotton. "Subject 23, temperature 38.6 degrees Celsius, pulse 132 beats per minute." The cuffs of the white lab coat were stained with dark red, and the doctor's reading glasses cast an eerie halo in the light. Lei Tao heard a low, animalistic growl in his throat, and his arms suddenly erupted with inhuman strength. The metallic grinding of the chain echoed through the laboratory. He saw himself snatching the scalpel from the military doctor's hand and stabbing it into his collarbone with his backhand. Bright red blood splattered on a body he had never seen before... Lei Tao's head jerked suddenly, and he finally came to his senses.

He gripped the gun tightly in his hand and whispered, "There's something weird here. Be careful. Don't be fooled by these shadows. Finding the exit is important." The two men moved slowly along the wall of the cave. The beam of the flashlight swept across the damp rock wall. Suddenly, Liu Zishan stopped in his tracks - a half-closed iron door suddenly appeared on the rock wall, and the Japanese sign "Laboratory No. 7" could be vaguely seen on the rusty doorplate.

"It's the biochemical lab!" Lei Tao's pupils constricted. He pried open the iron door with the butt of his rifle, and the pungent smell of decay and formaldehyde hit him. Broken petri dishes were scattered throughout the room, and animal skeletons remained in an iron cage in the corner. The experimental log on the wall was torn to pieces, but the words "Virus live experiment" and "Vaccine ineffective" were still shocking.

Liu Zishan suddenly pointed to the ventilation duct in the corner: "Brother Lei, there is wind coming in through that duct and it is strong enough, maybe it can get out!"

The two men crawled into the ventilation duct, the metal walls scorching from the magnetite. As they crawled, Lei Tao felt an arrow engraved in a depression on the duct wall. Following the markings, they turned two bends and saw a faint light ahead. When they broke through the rusted exit grille, they found themselves at the edge of a primeval forest on the mountainside, more than three kilometers behind the mine.

Lei Tao took a deep breath of cold air, turned around and said to Liu Zishan: "Zishan, you go and report the news first, I will investigate the situation nearby." Liu Zishan nodded, turned around and ran into the mine with a flashlight...