Chapter 38: The Heavily Defended 322 Area
The babbling stream flowed slowly, and the cold moonlight reflected on the stream water.
The sparkling brook, with the rustling sound of spring wind blowing through the mountain forest, created the night scene of the early spring wilderness.
Gao Zhong Dui shone his flashlight closely on the dead branches and rotten leaves by the stream.
This was exactly the place where Chang Ning had dealt with the footprints. Even the most careful plan has a flaw; Chang Ning was still thinking about Xiao Zhuang and Chen Guotao in the dirt pit. He was afraid that if he wasn’t there and the two were discovered by the Blue Team’s search team, there would be big trouble.
Therefore, he destroyed the footprints and carefully covered them with a layer of dead branches and rotten leaves before hurriedly leaving.
Actually, at night, if no one knew there were footprints by the stream, probably no one would come here specifically to check. The problem was that Chang Ning overdid it by covering them with branches and leaves.
As soon as Gao Zhong Dui led people and stepped on them, he noticed something wrong. Which dead branches and rotten leaves by the stream were dry? Stepping on them made a “crack” sound.
It was obvious that someone had deliberately scattered them to cover something up.
Afraid something might go wrong, even if he found a booby trap, Gao Zhong Dui wouldn’t think it strange.
Therefore, Gao Zhong Dui told the team members to stay farther away, and he carefully pushed aside the dead branches and leaves on top.
A deliberately scratched-up ground appeared before his eyes. The flashlight beam shone on it, and the careful Gao Zhong Dui noticed patterns on the edge.
Those were clearly from the soles of military boots. The exercise divided everyone into Red and Blue Teams, but the equipment was the same. Gao Zhong Dui was very familiar with this pattern.
“They’re in the vicinity, chase!”
The special forces team was like a pack of wolves hunting in the wild. They had clear division of labor: some tracked ahead using the traces left by Chang Ning, while others were vigilant, always watching for changes in the surrounding environment.
The well-trained special forces soldiers didn’t slow the team’s advance speed due to maintaining the search formation; instead, they were extremely agile.
Chang Ning, who had deliberately taken a long detour, returned to their camp before midnight. Midnight was when Chen Guotao was on sentry duty; Chang Ning didn’t want to worry him.
“Who!”
Chen Guotao, already awake, quickly got up from the sentry post and aimed his gun muzzle at Chang Ning.
After waking up and finding Chang Ning missing, he had specifically searched the vicinity but found no one. He thought something had happened.
He had almost prepared to fire the signal flare to withdraw from the exercise.
This mountain forest was well protected, with wild beasts roaming inside. It was said there were wolf packs too.
Chen Guotao thought that if Chang Ning didn’t return in half an hour, he would actively withdraw from the exercise and ask for help to search.
“Platoon Leader, it’s me!”
Hearing Chang Ning’s familiar voice, Chen Guotao’s heart finally settled.
“Damn, where did you run off to, kid? Do you know how worried I was? I was afraid you’d be eaten by wolves.”
He grabbed Chang Ning over and, lowering his voice, unleashed a torrent of words at him, spittle flying everywhere.
“Platoon Leader, I went to deal with the traces we left. I didn’t say anything because I was afraid you’d worry.”
Chang Ning carefully dodged the flying spittle while explaining to Chen Guotao.
Although Chang Ning didn’t act like a 19-year-old boy in some aspects due to his previous life’s influence, his social experience from that life was also pitifully little, so he sometimes lacked consideration in his actions.
Just like this time—if Chang Ning had told Chen Guotao beforehand, the effect would have been much better. At least someone could have stood watch for him, and he would have had plenty of time to clean up the traces.
“Next time before an operation, remember to tell me first.”
Chen Guotao knew Chang Ning meant well, so he didn’t hold it against him.
“Platoon Leader, I have a bad feeling that we can’t stay here anymore.”
“You sure?”
Sometimes intuition is quite reliable; the intuition of veteran soldiers who have been through a lot of actual combat is terrifyingly sharp.
They can always sense something wrong in an environment that seems fine, but if asked to explain specifically, they can’t say why.
Later checks at that spot would reveal some kind of danger indeed existed.
Chen Guotao wasn’t stubborn or arrogant; as long as the soldiers’ opinions made sense, he would generally follow them after consideration.
“Certain.”
After careful thought, Chang Ning decided to follow his intuition.
Caution is the parent of safety. Although running around like this prevented everyone from resting well, it was better than being eliminated.
“But you haven’t rested yet. Can your body handle it?”
Chen Guotao was worried Chang Ning was too fatigued; he opposed doing this. Insufficient rest would make it hard to concentrate and reduce efficiency.
“It’s fine. I rested before meeting you and Xiao Zhuang.”
After carefully assessing his physical condition, Chang Ning felt he could hold on, so he said affirmatively to Chen Guotao.
“Alright, go wake Xiao Zhuang. We’ll head to 322 Heights overnight.” Chen Guotao said.
Chang Ning’s strength and meticulous thinking made Chen Guotao value his opinion highly. Since Chang Ning’s body could still hold up, what reason did he have to refuse a reasonable suggestion.
It was just being a bit cautious—what was there to not accept.
After waking the groggy Xiao Zhuang, Chang Ning simply told him they needed to move early. The three packed their gear, did their best to restore the surrounding environment to its original state, then advanced toward the 322 area. Darkness swallowed their hurriedly marching figures.
……
“Captain, why do I feel like we’re going farther and farther?”
A member of the special forces team asked.
“Something’s indeed off. The person who handled the traces was clearly a greenhorn and left some clues anyway.
Everyone, speed up. We’re about to catch them.”
Gao Zhong Dui picked up a broken branch from the ground and rarely smiled. No one he targeted had ever escaped.
The special forces team quickly ran toward Chang Ning’s previous camp. But when they arrived at the dirt pit, besides the living traces left on the ground, there was nothing—clearly they were one step late again.
“They rested here, which means our tracking direction is correct.
Everyone, keep chasing. Hold on.”
Although the special forces team led by Gao Zhong Dui wasn’t as strong as Lone Wolf, they were veteran soldiers who had seen actual combat. They naturally knew what to do.
Silence was their true color; they never went soft on enemies and aimed to exterminate them completely—that was their style.
Chang Ning’s intuition had saved him once again, though he didn’t know it. He just attributed it to his own caution.
The three did a forced march all the way, covering ten kilometers to reach the 322 area just as dawn was breaking.
“The 322 area isn’t simple. How many anti-personnel landmines have we encountered since entering here?”
Xiao Zhuang, head down, carefully stepped over the camouflaged landmine and sighed.
Along the way, they had encountered all kinds of landmines—pull-release types, pressure-release types, round ones, flat ones. They’d seen plenty.
This place could totally serve as a training ground for engineers.
“Something unusual must have a demon. Looks like the 322 area is hiding something remarkable.”
Chang Ning smacked his lips, pondering if he could catch a big fish here.
