Chapter 207: Xiao Zhuang Collapses From Exhaustion
“The moment you speak, I have to reply to you.
I was already exhausted, and now I’m even more tired.”
Lao Pao’s words nearly made Chang Ning stumble.
Fortunately, he steadied his mind and held firm.
Otherwise, he would have definitely fallen.
Who would have thought that thick-browed, big-eyed Lao Pao could also wield a knife so skillfully.
He had originally planned to distract the two behind him with conversation, so that the sense of physical fatigue could be reduced a bit, but instead it accelerated their stamina consumption.
It was his good intentions that led to bad results, due to lack of consideration.
Since Lao Pao had spoken, Chang Ning simply shut his mouth and focused on hurrying along the road.
The three gritted their teeth, held their breath, and took advantage of their remaining strength to finally persist through this not-too-large meadow.
They had no desire to rest in the meadow, keeping company with snakes and insects.
“Ouch, we can finally rest!”
Just after leaving the meadow, Xiao Zhuang collapsed like a boneless heap, slumping onto the uneven mountain land.
He panted heavily, his forehead covered in cold sweat.
Lao Pao wasn’t much better off; his solid military quality allowed him to maintain basic vigilance.
But looking at his utterly exhausted state, he was basically just for show now—he could withstand one round of attack from the Blue Team and that would be impressive.
Among the three, the only one with real combat power who could fight or flee when encountering the Blue Team was Chang Ning, the pervert with the system.
Although his stamina had been consumed quite a bit, it was still much stronger than Xiao Zhuang’s and Lao Pao’s.
At least his voice was still loud when he spoke, and the hand gripping the steel gun still had strength.
“Squad Leader, lend a hand. Let’s first help Xiao Zhuang up—this isn’t a place to rest.”
Lao Pao didn’t refuse Chang Ning’s suggestion. The supported Xiao Zhuang was already drowsy, his brain forced to stop thinking, unable to figure out why Chang Ning was doing this.
Resting near the meadow was extremely dangerous.
If there were Blue Team pursuers behind them, with the meadow as cover, the pursuers could approach silently and launch an attack.
With the Blue Team’s surprise assault plus the three’s exhausted stamina, they would be caught off guard even if they tried to resist, destined to be captured by the Blue Team.
Lao Pao’s lack of refusal clearly meant he had thought of this too.
“Let’s go.”
Chang Ning let Xiao Zhuang lean on him, then wrapped an arm around him to prevent slipping, while Lao Pao supported his side from the other.
In this way, the two flanked Xiao Zhuang left and right, stumbling forward, with most of Xiao Zhuang’s weight borne by Chang Ning alone.
Lao Pao only needed to assist from the side. The attentive one even cleared the obvious traces they had left; those less conspicuous ones, Lao Pao didn’t have the energy or time to cover.
It was pitch black at night, so he figured no one would notice anyway.
The three arduously advanced another kilometer of mountain road before deciding to rest in place.
The spot they chose for rest wasn’t particularly level, full of pits and depressions everywhere.
Some large pits were such that if Chang Ning lay in one, unless carefully searched, it would be impossible to spot a person lying there at a glance.
In terms of concealment, this was an excellent camp.
“Alright, we’re here. You can rest now.
I’ll take the first watch, Squad Leader the second, Xiao Zhuang the last.
No problem, right?”
Lao Pao shook his head to indicate no problem, selected a large pit, hugged his gun, and fell into a deep sleep.
Meanwhile, Xiao Zhuang, upon being set down by Chang Ning, barely heard the arrangement, nodded with difficulty to show agreement, then relaxed and fell asleep instantly.
If not for his decent eyesight, Chang Ning wouldn’t have even seen Xiao Zhuang nod—the motion was negligible.
“The numbers don’t match?”
Lei Keming was very surprised by the message from the pursuit team.
A six-person assault team actually dared to split up—weren’t they afraid of being picked off one by one?
These little guys were truly fearless calves not afraid of tigers!
The Lone Wolf Special Assault Team was Wolf Fang’s highest secret after all; even though he had once been part of Wolf Fang, He Da Dui wouldn’t tell him about Lone Wolf.
Lone Wolf A Group consisted mostly of Wolf Fang veterans, and Lei Keming was somewhat familiar with them; the two teams often exchanged, which was how he knew a bit of intelligence.
As for Lone Wolf B Group, this assault team established less than a year ago, Lei Keming had little intelligence on them.
So he didn’t know B Group had seven people; he only guessed Chang Ning might be in it, but he had no detailed information.
The pursuit team was also trained by Lei Keming, and he knew the military skills of its members well.
One member was particularly skilled in reconnaissance and counter-reconnaissance.
Since they analyzed that the numbers didn’t match, Lei Keming believed that special forces team they discovered had indeed chosen to split up.
“Send a radio to the pursuit team, tell them to heighten vigilance.
The enemy might be dispersing for breakout, planning to rendezvous later,” Lei Keming said.
“Yes.”
The communicator immediately sent the Captain’s order to the team ahead.
In the jungle, the pursuit team following the traces left by Chang Ning’s trio came to a halt.
“Team Leader, there’s a reply from the Captain.” The soldier handling the radio in the pursuit team reported to Li Hua Mao via radio.
“Read it.” Li Hua Mao responded.
The warrior doubling as communicator then shared Lei Keming’s analysis with everyone.
“Reply to the Captain: we understand, the mission will definitely be completed—please rest assured.”
The communicator quickly noted the Team Leader’s words and turned to send the radio to the Captain.
“Everyone, you heard the Captain’s analysis, right?
They’re bold, but we’re no paper tigers.
Heighten vigilance—don’t let us capsize.”
The communicator had reported the Captain’s radio message on the team’s public channel earlier.
Everyone could hear the message on the radio, so Li Hua Mao didn’t need to repeat it.
After instructing on precautions, he ordered the team to continue advancing.
This team was specially trained by Lei Keming for pursuing Wolf Fang, so it hadn’t been deployed before B Group appeared; with full stamina, they could pursue nonstop.
Time passed slowly; the distance between Chang Ning’s trio and this team kept closing, with only a meadow separating them now.
“They’ve entered the meadow—what do we do?” the pursuit team’s vanguard asked.
The grass in the meadow was half-person high, making it hard to spot a person or two hiding inside.
If the Wolf Fang people were ruthless and laid a few landmines in the meadow, it would be enough to make them suffer.
“In this weather, they won’t choose to rest in the meadow.
The snakes and insects inside alone would give them hell.”
Li Hua Mao didn’t expect their targets to apply insect-repellent agent—such things usually had a scent.
How amateur would you have to be to use something so easily detectable behind enemy lines?
“We’ll cross this meadow—everyone spread out as much as possible.
Report anything unusual, and support each other.”
