Holding the original shares, they fought all the way to the Korean War!

The group walked along the mountain path for less than an hour.

The sun has fully risen.

Zhou Tianyang walked in the middle of the group, his pace neither too fast nor too slow.

He carried a cloth bag on his back, containing a few changes of clothes and dry food, making him look like an ordinary traveling merchant.

The M1C Garand sniper rifle had long been stored in the system space.

Take it out when you need it.

Ma Yong walked at the front of the group, his steps light and alert.

His eyes occasionally swept across the farmland on both sides and the distant mountain ridges.

The team maintained a distance of more than 30 meters.

They dispersed in twos and threes, looking like several groups of strangers.

Zhou Tianyang was accompanied by Liu Ping.

The newly appointed secretary of the Shanghai Special Committee changed his outfit.

Last night in Lijia Yu, Wang Xiuying found him a slightly worn long gown, which suited his frail scholarly appearance perfectly.

He was carrying a small wicker box.

He does indeed look somewhat like a schoolteacher who is going to visit relatives in another city.

Liu Ping didn't walk very fast.

After all, he had been working in the rear for several years, unlike Zhou Tianyang and the others who spent their days traveling on mountain roads.

But he didn't complain of being tired, and although his pace was slower, his rhythm remained steady.

"Commander Zhou."

Liu Ping turned his head to the side, his voice very low.

"Should we go through that town ahead or go around it?"

Zhou Tianyang followed his gaze and looked ahead.

About two miles away.

At the entrance of the town, a wooden archway can be vaguely seen, and there seem to be several figures standing next to it, but they are not very clear from this distance.

"Going around would take too much time."

Zhou Tianyang withdrew his gaze and spoke calmly.

"It's not wartime now. It's safer for us to wear civilian clothes and walk on the main roads than to sneak around taking side streets."

The more you hide, the more suspicious you seem.

Liu Ping nodded and said nothing more.

The group quickly reached the entrance to the town.

The archway is inscribed with the three characters "Yongning Town," written in a vigorous and powerful style, clearly indicating its age.

Three people were squatting on the road below the archway, with short guns tucked into their waistbands.

puppet army.

Zhou Tianyang glanced at them, but his pace remained unchanged as he continued walking forward at the same speed.

The soldiers behind him maintained the same rhythm, spreading out in twos and threes.

No one quickened their pace, and no one slowed down.

Ma Yong, who was at the very front, had already reached the bottom of the archway.

The two puppet soldiers looked up at him, their gazes lingered on him for a moment, and then looked away.

Ma Yong was wearing a coarse cloth short jacket, with the trouser legs rolled up to his calves, and straw sandals on his feet.

He walked without stopping and crossed the town entrance.

Two soldiers followed, one in front of the other.

The two puppet soldiers glanced at them, then looked away.

Then it was Zhou Tianyang and Liu Ping's turn.

The two men were dressed much more presentably than the soldiers in front of them.

Zhou Tianyang seemed like someone who was seriously running a business.

When we got to the bottom of the archway.

The puppet soldier sitting on the far side suddenly looked up at Liu Ping, then at the rattan box in his hand.

Then he stood up, took two steps forward, and spoke with a nonchalant and lazy tone.

"Hey, you in the long robe, stop for a second."

Liu Ping stopped in his tracks.

He stopped and turned slightly to the side.

With an expression that was somewhere between polite and nervous, he cautiously looked at the puppet soldier.

"Boss, you called me?"

The puppet soldier walked up to him, glanced at him, and then patted the rattan box.

"What's inside?"

Liu Ping quickly put the box on the ground, bent down to open the lid, and kept saying:

"Boss, it's just some changes of clothes and a few books, nothing valuable."

"I'm from Wuxiang. I have relatives in Shanghai, and I'd like to go there to stay with them..."

He spoke at a moderate pace, with a slight local accent.

The tone carried just the right amount of humility and eagerness.

He neither comes across as trying too hard to please nor as being too composed.

The puppet soldier glanced down at the contents of the box. Sure enough, it contained several long gowns and a few old books.

He reached down and rummaged around again, making sure there was nothing else hidden underneath, before straightening up and waving his hand.

"Alright, let's go."

"Don't wander off up ahead, the Japanese are checking things very carefully these days."

"Yes, yes, thank you, boss, thank you, boss."

Liu Ping closed the suitcase, bowed slightly, and continued walking forward with the suitcase in his hand.

Zhou Tianyang followed behind him, his steps steady and his expression normal, just like an ordinary shop assistant following his boss.

The two walked past the archway and across the dirt road at the entrance of the town, without looking back the whole way.

I could hear the conversation between the puppet soldiers behind me.

It's about losing money playing cards in town last night.

Those sounds quickly faded into the distance.

The two walked for the time it takes for an incense stick to burn after leaving the town.

Liu Ping turned his head slightly, his tone tinged with emotion.

"Commander Zhou, your soldiers are truly exceptional."

"What's different?"

"When those people walked past, the puppet troops didn't even glance at them."

"The way they walked was like they were strolling around the entrance of their own village, without any deliberate attempt to conceal their behavior."

"That's the most natural disguise."

Zhou Tianyang did not respond.

The composure that Ma Yong and his men possessed was forged through years of war.

The more you try to act like an ordinary person, the easier it is for others to see through your act.

The best disguise is to believe that you are an ordinary person, and to walk, look at people, and speak in the way that ordinary people do.

The group continued moving forward.

Around noon.

The group passed through a town that was slightly larger than Yongning Town.

I found a restaurant that looked fairly clean and sat down on a long bench at the entrance.

The restaurant owner was a woman in her forties. She was surprised to see so many people come in all at once.

He was taken aback for a moment, but quickly greeted her with a smile.

"What would you like to eat?"

"One bowl of noodles per person, and any pickled vegetables you like are fine."

Ma Yong sat on the outermost side and took out a few copper coins from his waist and placed them on the table.

The proprietress took the coins, counted them, smiled, and turned to go into the kitchen.

In less than fifteen minutes, several bowls of steaming hot noodles were served.

A few scallion pieces and a few drops of oil floated on the soup noodles.

"Eat it while it's hot."

Ma Yong picked up the bowl and started slurping his food.

His posture was like that of a farmer who had been traveling all morning; he didn't look like a soldier at all.

The other soldiers were also scattered around several tables.

Some people were eating their noodles with their heads down, while others were looking at the people coming and going on the street.

Zhou Tianyang sat in a seat near the back, holding his bowl, and ate slowly.

Liu Ping sat next to him, his movements a little clumsy as he picked up the noodles with his chopsticks.

It's as if they've gotten used to eating in a different way and haven't fully adapted to this kind of everyday life.

But he quickly recovered.

He kept his head down and ate bite by bite, without revealing any further clues.

There were still two tables of customers in the restaurant.

A peddler carrying a load on a shoulder pole was sitting at a table, chatting with the person next to him.

At another table sat several men dressed in shorts.

Several bowls of wine were placed on the table.

It seems he's already had quite a bit to drink, as his voice is getting louder and louder.