<h4>Chapter 25: Bomb Specialist II</h4>


    Trantor: Irene_ Editor: Perriemix


    I was nning to check those buried items out early next morning, but I was kept awake by loud booms that very night.


    Seventeen booms.


    No signs, no patterns.


    It was earth-shaking and the silent night had amplified the terrifying noise.


    I had no clue as to what the buried objects were.


    I also had no idea what their motive was.


    I only knew that the buried items weren’t simple and were definitely dangerous.


    By the time the sky turned slightly brighter, I could no longer suppress my curiosity.


    I came out of the hidden passage and left the house.


    After I confirmed that the coast was clear, I walked slowly toward the boundary of Beiping City.


    I looked at thend of buried items before surveying the surroundings.


    No one. Good time to move.


    I walked a few steps forward to look closely at the soil bulge.


    What caught my eyes, though, was a pool of blood not far away.


    Beside it was the corpse of a wolf. Dismembered wolf corpse to be precise.


    I couldn’t be sure how many pieces the wolf had exploded into. Partly because its head was stuck in the ground, but mostly because of the deep pit beside the pool of blood.


    The inside of the pit was charred.


    Upon closer inspection, I found many simr pits.


    There was also something reflective on the ground.


    It was a thin metal sheet, also covered with ayer of ck.


    It was probably the source and cause of the explosion.


    I sniffed it a little. There was a burnt smell.


    I matched it with the pit on the ground. Could this be the buried item?


    Squatting down, I carefully removed the uppermostyer of soil, and indeed, a metal outer shell was revealed.


    It was a small metal chunk and I knew I had to be gentle with it. I was a hundred percent sure that it had everything to do with the explosions.


    My hands trembled as I slowly shaved the surrounding soil off in order to remove thendmine.


    As I was about to turn around and leave and set one foot on the ground, I heard a ‘kacha’ .


    That crisp metal sound...


    Have I stepped on it?


    My body tensed up as I stood motionless on the spot, not knowing what to do.


    I slowly bent down and ced the metal chunk I’ve dug out to the ground.


    Then I gently brushed away the soil around my foot.


    I continued doing that until I saw the metal chunk underneath.


    I’ve really stepped on andmine.


    Bummer.


    I didn’t know what to do.


    I was sure that the minute I lose the pressure on the metal chunk, it would explode.


    Do I take a gamble? Take my foot off and run?


    Perhaps I could outrun the explosion?


    Just as I was about to remove my foot, I heard a foreign voice call from behind.


    “Dō shita no? ” a ghost’s cry sounded. (What’s the matter?)


    My heart tensed up.


    I turned my head around slowly.


    A ghost was standing right behind me, staring.


    This is it, I’m done for.


    I brought no weapon to fight him off with.


    If hees closer I’ll just blow his head off and we’ll die together.


    The ghost squatted down while mumbling. (Stepped on andmine? Didn’t bring your gun out, did you? Look at you, so nervous that you can’t even talk. I got this.)


    He lowered his head to assess the situation and I understood that he had taken me as his own people because of my uniform.


    The ghost raised his head shortly after, saying, “Mondainai.” (No problem)


    I kept quiet because I really did not understand a word he was saying.


    I shrugged my shoulders with a sheepish look on my face.


    The ghost gave me a thumbs up and unslung his gun.


    I started to fear. Was he going to kill me?


    The ghost unloaded the bay on his gun before my face. He then put his gun down and started working on the soil with his bay.


    The ghost spoke to me in Japanese. (You’re lucky I was patrolling this area. Others would definitely have handed their bay to you and have you do it yourself. I’m one of the few soldiers who had experience with removingndmines. With my help, you’ll be alright so don’t worry. Do you know? I’m going home to marry my sweetheart after this war. You? Are you too frightened to talk? Don’t be afraid, if this blows up, we’ll die together. I wonder if the emperor would issue a martyr medal to me. Pretty exciting to think about.)


    The ghost shaved a little soil off while grabbing onto my foot. He stuck his bay into the metal chunk before lifting my foot.


    No explosion.


    “Yokatta!” the ghost shouted happily. (Great!)


    The ghost picked up the bay that had a metal chunk attached to it.


    He went on mumbling. (Look, thisndmine’s useless now. What a close call. Be careful next time.)


    I was overjoyed.


    The ghost smiled too as he saw the grin on my face.


    He pointed at the slit and said something. (This slit is small. While we’ve been trained to remove it, but mistakes do happen. You have to be wary.)


    At that, he handed the metal chunk to me.


    I smiled. “Xiexie.” (Thanks.)


    “Nani? Chūgokujin?” the ghost panicked. (What? Chinese?)


    He looked down at the gun on the ground and reacted immediately, but I’ve already gotten hold of his hand.


    I pushed the bay in his hand into his throat.


    The ghost copsed but I held onto him.


    I slowly ced him on the ground, making sure that he did not touch any soil bulges.


    He’d saved my life but I had to kill him.


    How ironic.


    With the metal chunk in my hand, I ran home, ced it on the table, and lit three joss sticks.


    I made ten full kowtows on the floor.


    He was my savior and, a pity, an enemy as well.


    If not for the war, I would have hosted him with the finest wine.


    Although I understood nothing of what he had said, I knew he was a good man.


    After ten kowtows, I stood up and started analyzing the metal chunk.


    The bay had cut it openpletely and split it into two.


    The ck lump in the bottom half was the explosive.


    The top half was interesting. It was made from pieces of thin metal sheets.


    The sealed cylinder had been opened up and there was a firing pin inside of it.


    With a release of pressure, it would rebind and collide with a ck rock.


    I tried using the pin to hit against the rock. Sparks were produced.


    I figured that upon contact with the ck lump at the bottom, the sparks would cause an explosion.


    I dared not to test my theory, of course, because the explosion would definitely be loud and powerful.


    I ced the metal chunk aside.


    I started avoiding the soil bulges as much as I could.


    I was extremely careful when hunting. The ghosts seemed to have settled down nicely in Beiping City.


    Other than the soldiers guarding along the city walls, there were no more ghostsing out of the city to patrol.


    I wondered if the ghost teams had already conquered half of China by now.


    A monthter, as I was fast asleep at night, I heard footsteps.


    I woke up immediately, held my breath, and observed the situation.