As the battle progressed, the Japanese Army troops around the trucks were gradually eliminated. The intense gunfire slowly died down, and smoke drifted through the air. Leitao and the Military Statistics Special Action Team members maintained a high level of vigilance, moving back and forth across the battlefield to check for any remaining Japanese forces.
Meanwhile, the imprisoned prisoners of war were not idle. Their eyes were fixed tightly on the Japanese corpses lying on the ground, and a glimmer of hope ignited in their hearts. One clever prisoner cautiously inched his body closer to a Japanese soldier's corpse. His eyes held both tension and a desperate longing for freedom. At the soldier's waist, he spotted a set of keys.
With trembling hands, he quickly picked up the keys and turned to crawl toward the other prisoners. Seeing this, the surrounding prisoners' eyes lit up. He hurriedly tried the keys on the prisoners' handcuffs and leg irons. With a few crisp "clack, clack" sounds, the restraints popped open one by one. Regaining their freedom, the prisoners first stretched their numb wrists and ankles, their faces bearing the complex expressions of having survived a catastrophe and reclaimed their freedom.
Chapter 172