163: Chapter 163 The Hiding Dog

The ground was littered with the corpses of the Japanese Army, broken Arisaka rifles, and Type 92 heavy machine guns smashed into scrap metal, all scattered across the gullies. Concrete pillboxes, blown apart by explosions, stood crookedly on the slopes.

Countless carcasses of exotic beasts were piled in a jumbled heap at the front of the defensive line.

The bodies of the fallen exotic beasts were stiff and rigid, their scales shattered and fur charred black. Thick, dark-red blood soaked into the yellow earth, slowly trickling down the hillside.

Severely injured exotic beasts lay prone on the ground, panting heavily. Their chests heaved violently, and blood continued to ooze from their wounds. Even though they were completely exhausted, they still stared fixedly ahead, fangs bared, maintaining a vigilant and murderous posture, ready to rise and fight at any moment.

They had won! At the cost of more than half the exotic beasts killed and over half severely wounded or dying, they had completely crushed this main division of the Japanese Invaders that had entrenched itself in North China, building multi-layered fortifications and desperately guarding the vital thoroughfare.

Inside the trenches, the remaining Chinese soldiers, covered in blood and grime with tattered uniforms, all stood dazed before the sea of blood and mountain of corpses that rose above their ankles.

Some leaned on their rifles to steady themselves; others slumped against the trench walls, trembling all over. Everyone had a numb look in their eyes, staring at the mountain of Japanese corpses at their feet, and at the group of giant beasts beside them that had also suffered heavy casualties and stood in silence.

The entire trench was silent, with only the sound of heavy, stifled breathing rising and falling. Nothing remained but bone-chilling shock and a belated, burning sense of relief.

"We won... we really defeated the main division of the Japanese Army..." A new recruit, no older than eighteen with still-childish features, muttered to himself, staring at the Japanese corpses on the ground. His hands, gripping his rifle, trembled uncontrollably, and his eyes instantly turned red, his voice hoarse and choked with emotion.

Beside him, a veteran with half an ear missing and covered in bandages took a heavy, ragged breath. He wiped the blood and dust from his face, his Adam's apple bobbing hard. His tone was heavy and bitter: "We won, but the cost was too high. Too many of these giant beasts died. During the charge earlier, I saw a giant bear exotic beast with my own eyes, taking a whole row of explosive shells for us."

"Back when the Japanese Army was burning villages and slaughtering people, they were so arrogant. They killed everyone they saw, looted grain and supplies, and stopped at nothing," another veteran said, gritting his teeth and clenching his fists until his knuckles turned white, his eyes full of hatred as he looked toward the Japanese Invaders' command post. "Now that they've lost, they finally know what fear is."

"It's a good thing we had these giant beasts; otherwise, our defensive position would have been trampled flat by the Japanese Army long ago, and none of the people within ten miles would have survived."

The remaining soldiers talked in low voices, their tones filled with the relief of having survived a catastrophe, grief for their fallen comrades and the dead exotic beasts, and the long-suppressed hatred for the enemy weighing on their hearts. Everyone's eyes were red, gazing at the mountain of beast corpses with profound respect.

The smoke had not yet dissipated. The scent of blood, gunpowder, and the musky odor of the exotic beasts hung stagnant in the mountains and fields. When the wind blew, the pungent stench pierced their nostrils, making their stomachs churn.

Inside the damaged, temporary underground command post of the Japanese Army, the power lines were damaged, causing the lights to flicker on and off. The walls were covered in spiderweb-like cracks caused by artillery fire, and plaster debris constantly fell from the ceiling. The floor was littered with blood from wounded officers, shrapnel, and discarded military boots.

This division of the Japanese Invaders had fewer than three hundred soldiers left. Ninety percent of the high-ranking officers—the Divisional Colonel, Majors, and Lieutenants—were dead or wounded, and all field artillery, mortars, and heavy weaponry had been completely wiped out.

The perimeter of the command post was filled with exotic beasts lying in wait. As long as Mo Yufei gave the order, they could trample the underground fortifications in the next second, bringing total annihilation in an instant.

The Divisional Colonel's left arm had been blown off, the flesh turned inside out. The wound was crudely bandaged with dirty gauze, and dark red blood soaked through the layers of bandages, dripping continuously from his fingertips. His face was as pale as paper, his body shaking uncontrollably, and his back was already soaked with cold sweat.

He knew his current situation all too well: continued resistance meant certain death and total annihilation for everyone. Only by suing for peace could he save his remaining men, preserve the division's organization, and keep a glimmer of hope alive.

He gripped the encrypted telegram tightly, his knuckles turning white. Gritting his teeth to suppress the humiliation in his heart, he coldly ordered the signalman to send a message in clear text requesting peace talks.

The signalman's legs went weak with fear, his palms slick with cold sweat. His fingertips trembled so much he could barely hold the keys, and he tapped the old radio transmitter keys with a stuttering motion.

The radio waves pierced through the smoke-filled airspace, were intercepted by the Chief of Staff, decoded, and sent directly to Mo Yufei's personal communication terminal.

[The remnant command post of the Third Division in North China formally submits an application for a ceasefire and peace talks. We are willing to abandon all occupied strongholds in North China, surrender all ordnance and supplies, release all Chinese prisoners of war in our jurisdiction, and withdraw all personnel from North China territory. We implore Your Excellency to stop the exotic beasts' attack and spare the lives of the remaining Japanese Army officers and soldiers. We are willing to sign a permanent ceasefire agreement and never set foot on Chinese soil again.]

Mo Yufei, at the summit of the mountain of exotic beast corpses, felt his knuckles tighten slightly the moment the communication alert sounded, his joints turning a bone-chilling white.

His eyelashes fluttered slightly. The warmth that had just returned to his eyes after the battle vanished instantly. There was no rage, no excitement, only an extreme coldness that saw through the true nature of the invaders.

Benboba, whose wings were injured, flapped them twice. He tilted his head to glance at the glowing, floating communication screen in front of Mo Yufei and let out a scoff with his sharp beak, his voice shrill and mocking, blunt and mean.

"Yo, the little devils can't win, so they're admitting defeat and waving the white flag for peace? When they were entering villages to slaughter civilians, using living people for bayonet practice, and shelling towns, these bastards didn't think about leaving a way out for ordinary people. Now that it's their turn to die, they suddenly know how to beg for mercy and talk about rules? They're truly cowardly and shameless."

Mo Yufei lowered his eyes to the text of the peace request on the screen, his thin lips pressed into a cold, straight line. His tone in his throat was low and calm, devoid of emotion, yet carried an unshakable, murderous resolve that left no room for negotiation.

"Tell the remnants of the Japanese Invaders: On Chinese soil, there is never any qualification for invaders to sue for peace. All Japanese Invaders who set foot in China have only one path: death. Don't be little devils in your next life! No! Don't even be human!"

In just a short sentence, every word was ice-cold and bone-chilling. Sent via radio waves by the Commander, it was transmitted back to the Japanese Army's underground command post.

Beep, beep, beep—the moment the crisp sound of the radio receiving alert fell, the Japanese Army's underground command post went dead silent for a second. You could hear a pin drop, with only the faint sound of plaster falling from the ceiling.

The next second, the entire underground facility descended into madness and chaos. The one-armed Divisional Colonel's eyes turned blood-red instantly, and the veins in his neck bulged violently, crawling up his cheeks. He suddenly raised his foot and kicked over the radio desk in front of him. The old tin radio smashed apart, and internal copper wires and parts flew everywhere.

He roared in fury, the wound on his severed arm bursting open from the sudden exertion. Fresh blood dripped wildly onto the floor along the bandages, leaving spots of blood, and his hoarse, distorted roar exploded throughout the facility. "Rejected! He actually rejected it!! We have conceded to the end, given up our territory, surrendered our weapons, and released the prisoners, yet he still wants to wipe us all out! Wipe us all out!!"

The two hundred or so remaining low-ranking soldiers of the Japanese Army had long since had their courage shattered. From the moment the exotic beasts began slaughtering the main division forces on the perimeter, these soldiers had been cowering in the underground facility, trembling. Their ears were filled with the screams of their companions and the roar of gunfire, and they had watched with their own eyes as the soldiers who went out to seek reinforcements were all torn to shreds by the exotic beasts.

Several Japanese soldiers huddled in the corner, their faces pale, shivering and curled up together. They whispered in Japanese, their eyes filled with extreme terror. "It's over. The peace request was rejected; we're all going to die here." "The giant beasts outside are too terrifying; they're impossible to kill, and we can't hold them off at all." "We shouldn't have come to China in the first place; this is not a place we could ever occupy..."

The low-ranking Japanese soldiers lowered their heads and trembled, not daring to look up at the furious Colonel. In their hearts, there was only boundless despair. They feared the exotic beasts outside from the depths of their bones, and they feared the person at the top of the mountain who could decide life and death with a single word, that person who was like a Devil King. The remaining dozen or so Japanese officers completely broke down; some were crazily pounding against the cracked walls, their fists smashed into a bloody pulp.