Late at night, heavy rain without warning once again enveloped the tropical rainforest around the halfway point of the Kokoda Trail.

As the rivers swelled due to rainfall, the waterfalls that were originally pitter-pattering suddenly grew in size.

At the entrance of the waterfall, there were five or six more tents on the gravel beaches on both sides. There were even bunkers with machine guns dug out around the tents on both sides.

Around the trail under the waterfall, the originally erected tents were more scattered than before the attack. At the same time, the number of soldiers patrolling the trail was more than double that before.

At the bend of the river further upstream of the waterfall, in the dense forest on the bank, four pieces of tent cloth spliced ​​together with buttons have been propped up between several tropical trees.

Under the tent cloth, a bonfire had been lit among several moss-covered stones. On top of the bonfire were four Japanese kettles filled with water.

Beside the campfire, white soldier Neil and indigenous warrior Kaikai were lying on banana leaves, sleeping soundly under a captured blanket.

Separated from a bonfire, Wei Ran and Hugo each leaned on a stone. One was busy baking shoes and socks, and the other was carefully maintaining the various weapons of the four of them.

On the crown of a big tree less than ten meters away from the four of them, the indigenous soldier Valoro was riding on a thick branch with a Sten submachine gun in his arms, vigilantly observing the stream with the telescope he captured.

direction.

"Is it almost time?" Beside the campfire, Hugo asked as he handed the cleaned Ithaca 37 shotgun to Wei Ran.

"It's almost done," Wei Ran took the shotgun and responded while filling the magazine and chamber with bullets.

At this time, more than two hours had passed since they celebrated Halloween in advance with the captured grenade.

During these two hours, although the Japs were careful not to catch up, they occupied the gravel beaches on both sides of the waterfall entrance. Coupled with the sudden heavy rain, it was almost time for them to go to sleep at this time.

.

"Leave now?" Hugo said as he put the boiled rainwater in the devil's kettle into his own kettle.

"I can just go by myself"

Wei Ran also filled his kettle with boiling water and said without refusal, "And it's not worth it for us to go together just to wake them up."

Hearing this, Hugo hesitated for a moment and finally said, "Let Valoro follow you."

"Need not"

Wei Ran waved his hand unwillingly and put on the captured grenade carrying bag, but he didn't even put on the water bottle. He carried the shotgun in one hand and the canvas bag containing the grenade in the other and walked towards the stream alone.

Glancing at the big tree where Valoro was hiding, Wei Ran stretched out his hand and stretched out his carrying bag.

This carrying bag, which originally could hold 8 grenades, now has five grenades left, and the three empty pockets are filled with 12-gauge copper-cased shotguns and a large banana as a midnight snack.

.

He pulled out the banana, peeled it, ate it in two or two bites, and threw it into the grass behind him. Wei Ran untied his belt and peed into the stream. Then he pressed against the gravel beside the stream and braved the heavy rain to touch it.

He was covered in black, and he walked towards the entrance of the waterfall with one foot deep and one foot shallow.

The rain not only provided protection for the Japs at the mouth of the waterfall and under the waterfall, it also provided protection for Wei Ran. At least, he didn't have to worry about being targeted by Japs' snipers due to the high visibility.

After walking and stopping along the way, Wei Ran also stopped when a large tree lying on the stream appeared directly in front of him.

When escaping from the mouth of the waterfall upstream along the stream, he deliberately measured it with steps. From the mouth of the waterfall to the tree, most of its roots had been washed out, but the tree still lay with lush branches and leaves.

It's about 300 to 350 meters away.

Without continuing to walk forward, Wei Ran first put the shotgun on his shoulder, then took off the two grenades pinned to his belt, and placed them at a necessary place on the bank of the stream. Then he took out the grenades contained in the grenade.

The grenade tube in the canvas bag was pressed against a moss-covered stone, and a grenade produced by the Japanese was stuffed inside.

Guessing to keep the grenade at an elevation of 45 degrees and pointing it in the direction of the trail, he gently pulled the leather cord on the firing rod, and with a crisp "ding" sound, he fired the grenade at 400

location meters away.

Without waiting for the grenade to explode, he inserted the second grenade into the muzzle and pulled the firing lever again.

"boom!"

When the first explosion faintly reached his ears in the heavy rain, Wei Ran had already put away the grenade. He yawned and ran quickly amidst the vague sound of gunfire and the second explosion behind him.

Heading in the direction you came from.

Almost immediately, the sound of successive explosions and machine gun fire rang out from the direction of the waterfall behind me. Apparently, those Japs who had successfully been awakened were also firing grenades and even 37mm direct artillery towards possible locations around them.

He instigatedly poured out the ammunition that he had laboriously carried on his back.

Naturally, these tentative shellings failed to catch Wei Ran. When the sporadic shellings ended, he had already returned to the camp.

"You guys go to sleep," Neil said with a yawn, "I'll be here to watch you for the rest of the night."

Seeing that the indigenous soldier Valoro, who had been replaced by Kaikai, was already lying next to the campfire and covered with a blanket, Wei Ran also put the weapon aside with confidence and lay down on the banana leaves, indistinguishable from Hugo.

He closed his eyes one after another.

Unfortunately, he didn't realize how long he slept before he was awakened by two consecutive explosions.

At this time, the dense canopy of trees overhead was already leaking out bits of sunlight, and the bonfire beside me had been extinguished at some point. However, there were still a few skewers of roasted slightly red snake meat beside the bonfire.

Looking around again, the white soldier Neil had stood up, and Hugo and the indigenous soldier Valolo also sat up with alert faces. A little further away, another indigenous soldier Valolo was running towards them.

This chapter is not over, please click on the next page to continue reading! "Two explosions just happened"

Neil said immediately when he saw that both Wei Ran and Hugo had woken up. Before he could finish his words, the indigenous soldier Kai Kai also ran to the campfire and chattered about his findings in native dialect.

"There are enemies coming along the waterfall." Kaikai only said a few words, and Hugo immediately stood up, "There seem to be a lot of people."

"You guys pack up camp"

Before Wei Ran finished speaking, he had already picked up the grenade at hand, stepped on his dry boots and ran towards the stream.

Taking a quick look at the lower reaches of the stream, Wei Ran immediately took out a grenade and stuffed it into the grenade. He turned the knurled knob to adjust the firing range to 200 meters - this was the same range between his place and the lower reaches of the stream.

The approximate distance of a corner.

From that corner to the big lying tree that was attacked for the second time last night, there is only less than a hundred meters away.

While he was waiting patiently, when a few figures vaguely appeared around the corner, Wei Ran, who had been prepared for a long time, immediately pulled the firing lever and fired the grenade he had been preparing for a long time.

However, before the grenade exploded, Wei Ran felt a sudden burst of air from his side. At the same time, a palm-sized piece of the trunk of the tree behind him exploded!

Before his brain could react, Wei Ran pounced on his side and hid in the jungle on the roadside with the grenade in hand.

"boom!"

Almost at the same time as his body touched the ground, the grenade he fired exploded thirty or forty meters away from the figures, causing a large amount of water splash and killing several fat swimming fish.

There was no time to counterattack, let alone check the results of the battle. Wei Ran got up and immediately ran towards the camp.

In just ten seconds, rounds of grenades were fired from the grenade, hitting the spot where Wei Ran had just made a sneak attack and the jungle where he was hiding.

"Quickly retreat!" Wei Ran greeted Hugo and others from a distance.

In fact, he didn't need to remind him at all. Hugo and others, who had already dismantled the tent, immediately picked up everyone's belongings and ran deep into the jungle under the leadership of the two indigenous warriors.

Taking the shotgun and long canvas bag from Neil's hand, Wei Ran said as he ran, "The other side has a very powerful sniper and several grenade groups. Hugo, let's go next

Where to go?”

"Find the enemy's tail"

Hugo said while running, "We also need to go around the Kokoda Airport to see if there are more troops stationed there. Then we will go around to the other side of the trail and send the information back as quickly as possible."

Wei Ran glanced worriedly in the direction behind him. Wei Ran didn't say anything more, but stopped suddenly and planted a companion thunder in the bush they just passed through.

After running wildly for a while, the group of five people slowed down slightly and stopped temporarily.

The wounds of the three wounded people, including myself, were checked and bandaged again. Everyone helped each other clean up a few locusts hanging on their bodies and each took a piece of Adipin to prevent malaria.

Then he continued to set off, going around in circles to hide his traces in a stream, and finally detoured into the dense forest near the Kokoda Trail.

Even without the help of binoculars, they could clearly see that at the end of the team recruiting nuclear soldiers, there were several donkeys pulling several 37mm direct-fire artillery and several Type 92 guns during the whipping.

Infantry artillery.

In that team, there were dozens of indigenous people wearing skirts, their hands were tied, each carrying two or three rounds of cannonballs, and they were escorted towards the head of the team.

Not only that, they also saw some wounded people walking in the opposite direction here. These wounded people were either being carried on stretchers, or they were moving slowly on their own with wooden sticks.

"How far is it from the airport?" Wei Ran asked in a low voice.

“Not far away”

After a while of exchange with Valoro, Hugo switched to English and replied, "We only need to walk in the jungle for one more day and we can arrive near the airport before dark."

As he spoke, he took out the palm-sized notepad from his bag and used the pencil inside to record the enemy weapons and equipment he observed.

"How many enemies do you think there can be?" Hugo asked without raising his head.

"Two thousand people?" Neil asked uncertainly.

"At least three to four thousand people"

Wei Ran whispered in an extremely positive tone, "I guess this is a fully formed regiment, and they are also supported by mountain artillery."

Hearing this, Hugo wrote a few strokes on the notepad, tore it off, folded it in half, and handed it to Kaikai, who was holding a submachine gun in his hand.

Just like last time, he stuffed this piece of information into the glass medicine bottle hanging around his neck and tightened the lid. Kaikai said something in native dialect.

"Hugo, remind him."

Wei Ran said before Hugo could speak, "There is probably a pursuer behind us. Let him go as far away as possible."
To be continued...