Du Juan was already scantily clad, and in no time she was stripped naked. However, at that moment, Qingmu walked in, startling several Japan soldiers who had just taken off their pants. They grabbed their trousers and shouted, "Who goes there?"
The Crow, seeing their pants half-pulled up, exclaimed in surprise, "Wow! Japan! So short? It can only be Japan... Um... Let me count, five fingers... Oh no, too many, only three fingers... Um... It really is Japanese, Guagua!"
The Crow ' cries probably provoked the Japan soldiers, who rushed forward, cawing loudly. Then, somehow, they stumbled together and fell to the ground.
Hearing the commotion, a Japan soldier near a distant bonfire asked, "What's going on? Is it all over? Haha..."
Before the Japan soldiers lying on the ground could even stand up, Qingmu stepped over them one by one. The slippers made a crisp cracking sound as they stepped on the joints, followed by the Japan ' pig-like screams of agony.
The Japan soldiers on the other side finally realized something was wrong. They picked up their Type 38 rifles with bayonets fixed, stood up, skillfully spread out their ranks, and shouted towards the small cave, "What's going on?"
Qingmu tossed a few pieces of clothing, torn but still wearable by the Japan, to Du Juan, then walked out of the cave and greeted the people there in fluent Japanese: "Hello, Japan devils!"
"What?" The Japan seemed a little confused. "Are you Japan or Chinese?"
"I am China," Qingmu said.
"Chinese!" A Japan soldier, presumably a squad leader, drew his katana instead of raising his gun and commanded, "Fire!"
Seven or eight Japan soldiers fired at the same time, smoke billowing from the Type 38 rifles, bullets spinning as they hurtled toward Qingmu.
One of the bullets whizzed past the Crow's head, the shockwave making the Boss Coal's hair stand on end.
The Boss Coal shrank back, exclaiming, "Oh my god, that scared me to death!"
Then he jumped up and started cursing at the Japanese soldier. "You little devil! Do you know how valuable my hair is? If even one hair is missing... Guagua... If Laozi piss me off, I'll sink your four little islands... Guagua!"
The Japanese soldier just stood there, letting it curse him without saying a word, staring at Qingmu in disbelief.
Except for the one that flew over the Boss Coal's head, all the other bullets slowed down as they approached Qingmu, as if they had encountered an extremely elastic, invisible protective net. When they were less than half a meter away from Qingmu, all the bullets stopped in mid-air, their bodies still spinning rapidly.
"Wow!" The Crow tapped Qingmu's head with its claw. "Couldn't your protective area be a little bigger? I almost kicked the bucket just now!"
Qingmu said, "You're not a physical being, how could those bullets possibly hurt you?"
"That's true, but—" the Crow complained solemnly, "It's not a question of whether I live or die, it's a question of whether you care about me or not."
The gunfire attracted the attention of other Japan soldiers in the caves, and about a dozen Japan ran out from various directions. "Captain Guisun, what happened?"
The Guisun, brandishing his sword, suddenly snapped out of his shock and roared, "Chinese spy, shoot him! Kill him!"
Another burst of gunfire rang out, and dozens of bullets came hurtling towards him, but just like before, they all stopped in front of Qingmu, spinning wildly.
Qingmu said, "Here you go!"
The bullets seemed to be bounced back by an invisible protective net, flying back along their original trajectories as fast as they came.
In an instant, dozens of Japan soldiers were all shot and killed, leaving only Captain Guisun- son holding a samurai sword and a soldier next to him holding a gun, probably the one whose first shot went astray and the bullet flew over the Crow's head.
The cave, which had been noisy just moments before, suddenly fell silent; the sound of water dripping from the rock walls onto the ground could be heard.
Qingmu walked towards the Guisun leader, the clattering sound echoing in the cave, like many people wearing flip-flops walking around in various caverns.
The Guisun finally became frightened. "You... are you a human or a ghost?"
"I am God!" Qingmu said.
"No... impossible!"
Suddenly, Guisun violently raised his katana and slashed at Qingmu. But he felt the air turn into water, and his sword movements became slow and weak. His face contorted with rage, he exerted all his strength, but the air grew increasingly viscous, eventually becoming like paste, and he became a worm in the paste, unable to move and even struggling to breathe.
The samurai sword clattered to the ground, and the Guisun finally collapsed, his face swollen like a pig's liver, his eyes bulging out, like a dead fish.
"Oh, I thought it would be seppuku." The Boss Coal seemed dissatisfied with the outcome.
The young Japan soldier holding a gun witnessed everything. He threw down his gun, knelt down with a thud, and began to cry.
The Crow said, "Your terrible marksmanship saved your life. My master isn't one to kill indiscriminately; I bet he's going to ask you questions now, like what you're doing here... Caw caw caw..."
Qingmu asked, "What are you doing here?"
The young soldier, his voice trembling with tears, said, "We're responsible for guarding those cages."
What is the cage used for?
"Used to detain Chinese... oh no... detain China people."
How many people were imprisoned in total?
"There are 230 cages in total, and the people are rotated every seven days. If they don't go insane, they'll be killed."
Where did all the madmen go?
"I heard they formed a suicide squad and sent them to the Nu River."
"Suicide Squad?"
"That must be it." The soldier was a little scared. "We encountered fierce resistance at the Nu River. General Watanabe got angry and invited Kitano and Mr. *Tu*shu to set up these cages here, locking up the nearby... China men, turning them into mindless puppets, and forming them into suicide squads to charge."
Qingmu frowned upon hearing this. "How many people have already been sent?"
The soldier said, "We've been here for two months, with one rotation, making it a total of three and a half months. We've sent out about three thousand men."
Which unit do you belong to? What year is it today?
"We belong to the 2nd Infantry Regiment of the 1st Division of the Kwantung Army, and are now incorporated into the 56th Division, commanded by General Masao Watanabe." The young Japan soldier gave Qingmu a somewhat strange look. "This year is Showa 17."
"Who is this Kitano you're talking about? How was this place set up? Where is the map of the mechanisms?"
"We were only responsible for guarding; I really don't know anything else."
Qingmu knew that such a secret could never be revealed to a mere soldier, so he didn't ask any further questions.
Seeing that Qingmu remained silent and stopped asking questions, the young Japan soldier trembled and pleaded, "Don't kill me, please, don't kill me, I'm only 17 years old."
Qingmu didn't say anything, just shook his head and walked past him.
Looking at the corpses scattered on the ground, the Crow suddenly remembered something funny and turned to ask the soldier, "Caw! That guy on the ground, the one with the knife, what's his name again, Guisun?"
The soldier replied, "You mean the squad leader? His name is Kameson Kikutaji."