cicada

Chapter 1368 Jungle

In the dense forest near Kota Tinggi in Johor Bahru, Taman held a spear in his hand, looking extremely alert, and stopped from time to time to observe his surroundings.

As the best hunter in several surrounding villages, Taman has his own way of survival.

——No matter how familiar you are with the hunting grounds, you must never lose your awe of nature, otherwise disaster will befall you.

Relying on this sentence, he escaped from danger countless times and also harvested a lot of prey.

And those careless companions have already been buried in this vast forest, and even their bodies cannot be found.

Walking barefoot on the wet mud ground, Taman bent his body and listened attentively to the movements around him.

Rustle, that's the sound of the mountain wind blowing through the leaves.

Dongdong, that's the sound of the Kool-Aid (Red-necked Woodpecker)'s beak hitting the tree trunk.

Tap, tap, is the sound of raindrops from the top of the big tree dripping on the fallen leaves.

click

Tamman, who was concentrating on the sound, was startled. This was definitely not a sound made by an animal, but a sound of metal friction. He quickly fell in the opposite direction.

Taman had seen British and Japanese muskets and knew that the sound just now came from the weapons being loaded, but he was not too scared because the forest under his feet would provide him with shelter.

Entering the dense banana bushes, Taman raised his muscular arms, tightly gripped the spear, and a fierce look flashed across his dark face.

The laws of nature are cruel. In the forest, when hunters and prey meet, it is either you die or I die. The same is true in human society.

Just as Taman was about to throw his spear at the enemy, a strong arm emerged from the bushes and slowly reached towards his neck.

As his arm got closer and closer to his neck, Taman seemed to sense something, and the hair on his exposed skin instantly stood on end. This was a primitive instinct from an animal.

He tilted his body and tried to roll away from the danger area. Although doing so would easily cause him to be injured by the rocks and plants on the surface, he couldn't care less now.

In a short period of time, Taman not only thought of a way to escape, but even picked up the blowgun at his waist and tried to fight back. He is worthy of being called "Taman (meaning son of forest or nature in Malay)".

However, the mysterious enemy did not give Taman any chance. Just as he was about to move, the arm hit his neck heavily.

There are a large number of vagus nerves distributed on both sides of the human neck. If hit, it will cause a sudden drop in heart rate and fainting. Tamman only felt a pain in his neck and then lost consciousness.

The sudden fight scared the animals so much that they scattered everywhere. The originally bustling forest became silent. After a long time, someone whispered something in English.

"Damn it, I almost let this guy get away."

Gui Youguang came out of the bushes, spat at the unconscious target, and made a gesture to the young spy next to him.

The little spies rushed forward and tied up Taman tightly, and of course took away the spears and blowguns.

After cleaning up the traces at the scene and restoring the broken vegetation, Gui Youguang and his group quickly disappeared.

The uninvited guests left, and the frightened animals reappeared one by one. The silent forest came back to life, and the sounds of birds and insects rang out again.

As the sun sets and night falls, a bonfire is lit in a hidden cave.

Gui Youguang glanced at Taman lying on the ground, walked over and kicked him twice, then asked the translator to relay his words in English.

"Tell him to stop pretending to be unconscious. I can hear his heartbeat from Temasek."

The translator held back his laughter and immediately repeated it in Malay.

Taman knew that he was exposed, so he had to open his eyes and look at the spies. His eyes were full of wildness, like a wounded lone wolf.

Seeing this, Gui Youguang walked forward, kicked the man hard in the abdomen, and then winked at the translator.

"Ask him if anyone has gone missing in this area since the Japanese came, and where they went missing."

The translator nodded and said a long sentence in gibberish. Taman turned his head away, showing great resistance.

The spies have seen a lot of people like this. Even if they don't cooperate now, they will behave themselves after a beating.

"Teach this guy a lesson."

Gui Youguang waved his hand and let the little spy act freely. It was not his turn to take action personally on a target of this level.

When dealing with ordinary people, there is no need to use any torture methods, punching and kicking are enough.

The young spy surrounded him with a grim smile, and Taman soon let out a scream.

Unfortunately, this place is remote and there is no human habitation for several kilometers. No one can hear the cries except animals.

Half an hour later, Gui Youguang looked at his watch and raised his hand, and the little spy immediately stopped his actions.

Taman no longer looked like a human being, his lips moving constantly as he said something. The translator bent over and listened for a while, then reported to Gui Youguang.

"Captain, he said there is a very dangerous area and five or six hunters have gone missing there."

According to the translated description, the suspicious location is a small basin surrounded by several low mountains.

This place used to be very normal, with hunters often appearing there. But ever since the Japanese occupied Kota Tinggi, it became a man-eating den, and many people never returned.

Gui Youguang took out the map and ordered Taman to tell the name of the suspicious place and point out the location on the map, so that they would not have to track the "Rissin Maru" freighter.

As a result, Taman only replied "Bendram" and then shook his head in confusion. As an illiterate person who had not received any education, he could not even recognize the characters, let alone the complex military maps.

After listening to the translator's explanation, Gui Youguang slapped his head and quickly lay down on the map to look carefully.

But after searching for a long time, I found that there was no place called "Bendram" on this map drawn by the British.

Gui Youguang asked again and the result he got almost made him kill Taman. It turned out that "Bendram" was an indigenous language and no one knew what its English name was.

The good news is that using the rivers and mountains mentioned by Taman as reference points, Gui Youguang found the area where the 9400 troops might be stationed.

The bad news is that the area of ​​the suspicious zone is as large as hundreds of square kilometers. It would probably take ten years to find the Japanese relying solely on manpower.

Gui Youguang always felt that Taman was not telling the truth. He glared at Taman and cursed loudly.

"Bendram is a place name you made up, you are lying to me, keep beating me!"

While translating, Gui Youguang carefully observed the target's facial expressions and demeanor.

Taman didn't understand what was going on and could only shout in vain that he was not lying. He was beaten for more than ten minutes until he was dying, and the little spy stopped.

"Can you tell the truth now? Where exactly is the suspicious location?" The translator said with a gloomy face.

"I didn't lie to you, please believe me." Taman gasped and cried bitterly.

The young spy leaned close to Gui Youguang's ear and whispered, "Captain, it seems to be true. Do you want me to take the brothers to look for it?"

Gui Youguang did not respond. He walked up to Taman, squatted down, grabbed the other's hair and snorted coldly.

"I know which village you are from. That little girl must be your sister. I'll give you one last chance. Tell the truth, or else..."

Taman knew that he was going to die today. Believing firmly in the laws of survival in the jungle, he simply stopped resisting and lay on the ground muttering to himself.

"I didn't lie, I didn't lie, please, let my family go."

Gui Youguang stood up and nodded to his men. Since they were no longer of any use to him, he might as well give them a quick death.

As for taking Taman to find the target location, this is unrealistic. Once they enter the jungle, Taman, as a local tyrant, has a hundred ways to escape.

Gui Youguang walked out of the cave and waited for a while. The little spies came out of the cave one after another, and the group moved towards the mouth of the Johor River in the dark.

On the way, Gui Youguang kept studying the map. He found that although the suspicious area was large, there were only four first-level tributaries of the Johor River flowing through it.

There are only two tributaries that are navigable and can allow the Nissin Maru to sail in. A plan formed in Gui Youguang's mind.

Having made up his mind, he pointed out two people to return to Johor Bahru and reported the situation there to Wu Chunyang. He then took the rest of the people to the suspicious area to "wait and see."

Along the way, the jungle was so densely woven with vines that you couldn't see your hand in front of you. Under the rotten vegetation were natural traps formed by tree pits and caves, and you would get hurt if you were not careful.

But the biggest difficulty in marching in the primeval forest is not avoiding traps, not identifying directions, and not ferocious beasts, but the animals and insects that are everywhere.

Gui Youguang led the team for several hours. One of the young agents felt itchy on his back, so he stopped and scratched it.

The accompanying military doctor lifted up the man's clothes and turned on the flashlight with a red lens. The onlookers came over to take a look and all gasped.

Several mountain leeches bit the little spy's skin tightly. The originally tiny leeches had swelled to the thickness of a thumb.

The military doctor remained calm, took out some salt powder and sprinkled it on the leech, waiting for it to fall off naturally, then opened the kettle and gave it a simple rinse.

The team continued to move forward. Some people got stuck in a pile of rotten leaves and couldn't move. Some people had poisonous insects crawling into their military boots. The situation was constantly changing.

After finally making it to dawn and about to reach the edge of the suspicious area, everyone saw a horrifying scene with the help of the first ray of sunlight.

Countless slender black shadows hung down from the Indian oak trees that were tens of meters high. Upon closer inspection, those black shadows were actually leeches.

They hang in mid-air and twist their bodies, waiting for a host with the right temperature to approach.

Gui Youguang cursed inwardly. Rather than walking in this hellish place all night, he would rather fight the Japanese on the battlefield. At least this way he wouldn't be drained of blood.

As the situation got worse, someone warned, "Captain, the miasma is coming."

In the distance, a white gas that was neither fog nor smoke was spreading rapidly. A faint smell of rotten eggs could be smelled from a long distance away. This was hydrogen sulfide.

The agents quickly put on their gas masks. As the mist drifted past, the filter canister made a heavy hissing sound and instantly entered an overloaded working state.

Everyone had to go around to the higher Indian oak trees to avoid the miasma. Every step they took would scare away swarms of mosquitoes, which caused a lot of cursing.

A young spy was walking with his head down when he suddenly bumped into someone. He was about to curse when he found that the other person looked very unfamiliar, and there were more than a dozen ragged "savages" following him.

In a flash, both sides realized that something was wrong and raised their weapons at the same time.

Although the weapons of these "savages" were in tatters, the spies did not dare to act rashly, and the situation was at a stalemate.

The leeches on the treetops seemed to have received some signal and moved one by one above the crowd.

Gui Youguang only heard a click, and there was a "guest" on his neck. Inside the stuffy gas mask, a drop of cold sweat slowly seeped out from his forehead.