The endless historical battlefield that began with World War I

Chapter 95 Cat and Mouse Game

That feeling of being separated by a layer enveloped his body again. Joseph felt his body temperature, breathing, and the vibrations of his steps all being contained within this layer.

He stood in the middle of the corridor, and to everyone else, he had become a shadow on the wooden wall, or even the air in the tunnel.

He walked toward the direction of the footsteps.

Before he even turned the corner, he had already locked onto those two silhouettes using his tactical intuition. Even through the wooden planks and the corner, those two red silhouettes, representing life, remained as vivid in his perception as candlelight in the darkness.

The one in front of him was about ten steps away, carrying a carbide lamp, and the smell of garlic wafted from ahead.

The one behind was about three paces away from the one in front, holding a rifle with the muzzle pointing forward. This is how an experienced person holds a gun: elbow slightly bent, buttstock against the ribs, ready to fire at any moment. This posture indicates that the other party is extremely vigilant, with fingers always resting on the edge of the handguard; the slightest movement will result in a bullet being fired instantly.

Two people, one carrying a lantern and the other a gun, walked in this direction. They were about to turn the corner after two more steps.

Joseph pressed himself against the wooden wall on the left at the corner, focusing all his senses on the two people.

The person in front has turned the corner.

The light swept across the corridor, across the wooden walls, across where Joseph was standing, without stopping. It continued to sweep forward, passing a person standing in front of him, but he saw nothing; concealment was at work.

But he suddenly stopped.

He sensed something, a kind of instinct that only arises when danger approaches. A strange chill crept up his spine, causing him to instinctively tighten his grip on the lamp handle.

He held up the lamp and shone it around the corner, but there was nothing there.

The other one followed in, carrying a gun, scanning the corridor.

Joseph moved the instant the light swept across him.

He took two steps and got close to the German soldier in front of him from the side and rear.

He used his left hand to grab the German soldier's right wrist, which was carrying a lantern, and twisted the wrist inward to snatch the lantern away. At the same time, he wrapped his right arm around the soldier's neck.

Unlike last time, when it was a simple chokehold, relying on brute force, this time he had a skill enhancement, making his attack more precise. He pressed two fingers precisely on the side of the neck, where the carotid sinus is located. Pressing correctly would trigger the vagus nerve, causing a sudden drop in blood pressure, and the person would lose consciousness within seconds.

The German soldier backed down.

Joseph held the lamp in his hand; he didn't let it fall. The lamp was still lit, its orange light dancing in his hand.

The German soldier behind saw it.

He saw his comrade in front of him suddenly collapse, and a person appeared behind him.

But that person didn't exist a second ago; he appeared out of thin air and stood right behind his comrade.

The concealment function automatically failed the moment Joseph launched his attack and locked the German soldier's carotid artery.

He appeared in the light without warning or transition. A man in British military uniform and wearing a gas mask suddenly appeared out of thin air, his round goggles reflecting the orange light of the carbide lamp.

The German soldier stared at the scene for a few seconds, stunned.

Those few seconds were filled with genuine fear, the kind that only arises when encountering something beyond one's comprehension. His brain seemed to freeze at that moment; all his training and reactions were frozen by this indescribable terror.

He raised his gun, but his hand was trembling; he wasn't sure if the person in front of him could be killed by the bullet.

Just a few seconds.

Joseph stepped forward, pushed the barrel of the rifle outward with his left hand, and used the force to deflect the German soldier's gun. He followed with his right hand, using the heel of his palm to press against the German soldier's right hand holding the rifle, bending it backward. Under the pressure, the German soldier's wrist began to lose control, and the rifle slipped from his hand. Joseph caught it with his right hand and flipped it over. He then swept the rifle butt horizontally, striking the German soldier's skull from the side.

The skull is the thinnest part of the human skull, and when it is subjected to a lateral impact, the nerve concussion is immediate.

The German soldier slid down the wooden plank wall, sat on the floor, and tilted his head to the side.

Joseph squatted down, pulled up the collar of his coat, gagged him with a strip of cloth, tied his hands, and secured him against the wooden wall along with the man in front of him.

The entire process, from the moment the first German soldier turned the corner to the moment both men were taken down, took only twenty seconds.

There were no gunshots or shouts in the corridor, only the flickering shadow of the lamp cast on the wooden wall when Joseph took it during the battle.

After subduing the two German soldiers, Joseph deactivated his skill. He immediately felt a surge of exhaustion in his temples, which throbbed as if a thin needle were stirring inside.

It seems that activating three skills at once does consume a lot of resources.

He pinched the bridge of his nose, took a deep breath, roused himself, picked up the lamp from the floor, and walked back.

*******************

When he returned to McDonald and Wilkins' side, McDonald was still banging on the wall.

Three long, two short, stop. Two long, three short, stop.

McDonald glanced back at him and saw that Joseph had an extra German carbide lamp and a rifle in his hand. He then looked in the direction Joseph had come from, but there was nothing there; no one had followed him back.

McDonald didn't ask what had happened, shifted his gaze back to the earthen wall on the right, and continued knocking.

The earthen wall on the right side remained silent.

Ten minutes passed, and with each passing second, the air grew increasingly heavy.

Further north, more footsteps echoed. This time it wasn't just two people, but several, their boots clattering loudly on the wooden planks.

It seems those two soldiers are gone and haven't returned, alerting even more people. Joseph extended his senses in that direction, but could no longer pinpoint the exact number; there were about four or five people moving in this direction.

The light began to appear from behind the corner of the north corridor. The light source was still far away, but it was moving, making the corridor over there brighter and brighter.

They've reached the previous corner; once they turn the next corner, they'll see this corridor.

Just then, the earthen wall on the right responded.

A series of rhythmic taps came from the right, indicating that a signal had been received.

The British engineers heard it.

McDonald looked up at Joseph, who immediately gestured to McDonald to give a new set of signals, meaning "If you need help, act now."

The earthen wall on the right remained silent for a few seconds.

Then an even louder vibration came from the other side of the earthen wall. They were digging on the other side, each strike heavier and faster than the last. Chunks of soil began to fall and land on the wooden planks with a thud.

The lights on the north side have reached the last corner.

Joseph helped Wilkins up and leaned him against the wooden wall on the right.

McDonald had replaced his entrenching hammer with a folding shovel. He inserted the shovel head into the gap between the wooden plank wall and the earthen wall on the right, and with a forceful pry, the plank made a low cracking sound. Small cracks began to appear on the earthen wall, and light shone through the cracks.

Those were the sapper's lamps, emitting a white light, brighter than the orange glow of a carbide lamp, squeezing in from the cracks in the earthen wall.

Before Joseph could speak, McDonald grabbed an entrenching tool and started hammering at the crack.

The pickaxe on the opposite side was also working hard, striking from both sides at the same time. Large chunks of dirt began to fall down, and the gap widened, from a crack to a hole the size of a fist, and then to an opening big enough to fit half an arm.

Joseph turned off the light and shut off the gas valve of the German carbide lamp, plunging the corridor back into darkness. Only the white light filtering through the gap illuminated the silhouettes of the group. The cool light cast several figures in the tunnel, and the air was filled with the damp smell of freshly turned earth.

To the north, the lights rounded the last corner.

Orange light swept into the corridor, hitting the southern section, the floor, and the supporting frame.

If you walk a few more steps forward, the light will shine on where they are standing.

McDonald handed the hammer to Joseph, took out the coil of detonating wire from his coat pocket, connected it to the two directional charges hanging on his belt, and unwound the wire in his hand.

He placed the two explosives against the left wooden wall, pulled the detonator along the floor southward to where they were standing, and handed the end of the wire to Joseph, glancing back at him.

Joseph took the thread and nodded to indicate that he understood.

The gap in the earthen wall was large enough for a person to crawl through.

A hand reached in from the gap, groping in the darkness. It was the hand of a British engineer, wearing thick gloves and covered in mud. He grabbed a handful of mud from the edge of the gap and pried it aside.

Joseph held the detonator in his hand, stepped aside, and gestured to Wilkins.

Wilkins braced himself on one leg, holding onto the edge of the gap, and pushed himself in.

The soil at the breach was loose, and soil was falling from the edges, causing him to slip. McDonald caught him from behind, and a hand reached in from the other side, grabbed his wrist, and pulled him forcefully inside. Wilkins then disappeared into the opening.

Footsteps came from the north into the corridor, and the light shone on the floor and onto the tips of Joseph's boots.

McDonald bent down and squeezed into the gap with swift movements. He pressed his hands against the top edge of the gap, pushed off with his feet, and shrunk inside.

Joseph was the last one.

He straightened the detonator, broke open the copper connector at the end of the wire, and wound the two copper cores together to close the circuit.

This is a mechanical friction detonation, a simple detonation device used by the German army. He had seen this principle before; when the copper wires come into contact, the tiny sparks generated are enough to ignite the detonator.

When the light from the north shone on his back, he bent down and squeezed into the gap.

He was stuck in the soil for a second. He turned to the side, pushed his shoulder against the edge and squeezed in. Someone on the other side grabbed his hand and pulled hard, and then the explosion happened.

The explosives ignited and detonated within the sealed earthen layer. The sound was absorbed by the surrounding soil and wooden planks, transforming into a massive, deep rumble. The tunnel's framework began to collapse, the supporting timbers cracking under pressure, followed by the sound of earth cascading down, filling the entire northern section of the corridor. The surging dust and splintered wood instantly engulfed all the pursuers. The once continuous corridor was now reduced to a desolate earthen wall.

The sound of pursuing footsteps disappeared.

It vanished completely amidst that deafening roar.