Chapter 28: The King of the Forest (Part 1)

  There was no triumphant laughter in the cockpit, Ma Ping and Cheng Xiaopeng were still paying attention to their own alert angles, although it was completely unnecessary. Xu Mingliang's hand was still on the machine gun control button, as if he had forgotten to let go. Chen Jianfeng and Long Fei tightly pursed their lips, driving their respective helicopters, following the guidance of the ground control tower, flying towards the military airport.

  The airport was in sight, and the ground crew guided two Apaches to land steadily. The fire trucks and ambulances that had been waiting on the ground flashed their lights and sounded their sirens, surrounding the helicopters. A team of military doctors and nurses held onto their caps and carried stretchers, braving the strong winds generated by the rotor blades, swarming onto the helicopter. Lin Jie and Lei Ming were lifted into the ambulance.

  Chen Jianfeng undid his seatbelt and was about to stand up when a pair of fair, delicate hands grasped him. He turned around to see that it was a beautiful nurse supporting him, saying in a clear and melodious voice: "Director, you're injured, please get on the stretcher."

  Chen Jianfeng waved his hand and got off the plane by himself. The female nurse followed closely behind him, trying several times to offer her arm for support, but was rejected each time.

  Outside the circle surrounded by fire trucks and ambulances, Deputy Captain Jiang Zhen and Luo Jie, who came to welcome them, raised their hands in salute. Xu Mingliang supported Chen Jianfeng as they walked over. Jiang Zhen rushed up and tightly hugged Chen Jianfeng: "Welcome back victorious!" He looked around behind Chen Jianfeng: "Where's the captain? Why can't I see him?"

  Chen Jianfeng glanced at his teammates covered in blood and only returned a salute. Long Fei, who was behind him, also had a gloomy face and didn't say a word.

  Victory? The most proud word for all soldiers in the two worlds is not suitable to use now. After paying the heavy price of two comrades killed and two comrades seriously injured, they can only be said to have completed their mission this time. The special forces known as the pride of the army actually killed a thousand enemies but lost eight hundred themselves, isn't this failure? Moreover, Jin Huan, the commander-in-chief of this mission, is still missing and his life or death is unknown!

  Chen Jianfeng briefly explained the reason why Jin Huan was left behind, Jiang Zhen and Luo Jie were stunned for a moment, and suddenly, as if they had agreed, they turned around and ran towards a WZ-10 helicopter parked on the other side. Xu Mingliang and Cheng Xiaopeng saw this and wiped away tears from their faces, following closely behind the two men.

  "Halt!" Chen Jianfeng shouted loudly behind them: "Where are you going?"

  "I'd stake my life on it, I'm going to bring the squad leader back!" Jiang Zhen's face turned bright red with rage as he shouted.

  "Yes, we're going to bring back our squad leader!" The several team members they brought with them were shouting loudly and excitedly, scaring the nurses and doctors who were standing by, ready to check the wounds of the lightly injured.

  "Nobody is allowed to go!" Chen Jianfeng shouted loudly: "We are soldiers! We can't rush into battle just because of impulse! Have you thought about it, your actions may provoke a conflict between the two countries, which would go against the original intention left by the team leader! You are all old soldiers, don't be like new recruits, impulsively like a loud and stubborn donkey!"

  Looking at the crowd with their heads hung low after being scolded, Chen Jianfeng softened his tone, "I want to go and rescue Jin Hua more than any of you, but I believe that with his combat skills, he will definitely return safely! Bring him back to the troops."

  Long Fei gently patted his shoulder and said in a low voice, "Get on the ambulance, you're almost bleeding to death."

  Chen Jianfeng took a deep breath and turned his head to gaze out at the endless expanse of primeval forest in the distance, "Jinhuang, Yulan, you must come back safely!"

  ……

  The sky was getting dark, and the dull valley again heard the roar of a helicopter. In no time, an AH-W appeared. It first hovered above the valley using its onboard high-power thermal imager to search for signs of life. Then, the cabin door opened, and in just six seconds, nine US special forces soldiers rappelled down from both sides of the cabin and the rear door. After landing, they immediately formed a columnar formation, with the first two quickly searching for something in the jungle.

  One of them soon found the location where Jin Huang and Lin Ruolan had stayed, he bent down to pick up two trampled dry branches from the ground, and found a strand of soft short hair on a bush. He took off his tactical gloves and picked up the hair, gently twirling it between his fingers, with a thoughtful expression. After a while, he waved his hand, indicating for the team to follow him and continue moving forward.

  "What did you find, Dokushi?" came the inquiry from the comrade through the earpiece.

  "There are two people, one of them is a woman." He spoke in a low and hoarse voice.

  "Haha, with a woman in tow, he won't get far." His companion chuckled triumphantly.

  "Rattlesnake, you're underestimating him. That man, I've crossed hands with him three times, he's the king of the forest."

  The expression on the face of the rattlesnake was one of surprise, and to hear such an evaluation from a first-rate special forces operative like Venomous Fang was proof that at least one of the two fugitives had reached an extraordinary level of proficiency in jungle warfare.

  Du Cuo continued to walk ahead of the team, using his own eyes and nose, and quickly advanced along the trail left by Jin Huang, no matter how careful he was.

  The sky has darkened, and tonight there is moonlight. Lin Ruolan closely followed behind Jin Huang, not daring to fall a single step behind. Under the swaying shadows of the moon, everything in the forest became eerie and frightening, the tall trees seemed like evil spirits with sharp teeth and claws, and the wild grass that was as tall as a person seemed to be hiding terrifying ghosts.

  Jin Huang had already slowed down his pace, but she was still walking with great difficulty. The chirping of birds had long stopped, and there was no sound around, only the "huffing" sound coming from her mouth like a bellows.

  "Tired?" Jin Huan stopped and asked softly, his eyes still vigilantly scanning around.

  "It's okay... I can walk..." Lin Ruo Lan panted in response, she didn't want to add any more trouble for him at this time.

  The unfathomable black eyes swept across her face, Jin Huang's thin lips hooked up an imperceptible arc, and after a moment, he turned around to continue leading the way in front.

  Another two kilometers forward, suddenly heard the sound of gurgling water in her ears, Lin Ruo Lan licked her dry lips, only to realize that she hadn't had a sip of water for a whole day. "Must be too thirsty, having hallucinations." She muttered to herself, continuing to stumble along behind Jin Huang.

  However, after they passed by a large area of intertwined vines, a clear mountain spring really appeared before their eyes.

  "Great, I'm dying of thirst!" She exclaimed excitedly, forgetting her fatigue, and happily ran towards the mountain spring like a child.

  Before she could bring the water to her mouth, Jin Huan grabbed her arm: "Don't you value your life? Not using water purification tablets will cause diarrhea."

  "I'm thirsty." Lin Ruolan said in a low and wronged tone.

  "Why didn't you say so earlier if you were thirsty?" Jin Huan's heart tightened, knowing he wasn't very good at taking care of her yet. He thought she would be like him, not knowing when she was thirsty or tired. He looked around and put the heavy backpack by the spring water, pulling out a machete and saying, "Wait."

  Before long, he handed Lin Ruolan a freshly cut section of bamboo rich in water content, "Drink this to quench your thirst first, I'll go find something for you to eat."

  "After walking for so long without even seeing my own shadow, where did you go to find food?" Lin Ruolan sucked a mouthful of the juice that seeped out from the broken end of the rattan, and it tasted sweet. She sucked it up greedily."

  "In the vast forest, there is an endless supply of food. Once our special forces enter the forest, it's equivalent to having three regiments' worth of support and an endless logistics warehouse. Wait for a moment, I'll be right back." Jin Huan's eyes were filled with confidence and arrogance, as if he was the king of the forest itself.

  Lin Ruo Lan carefully washed her face in the spring water, washing away the dirt and dust on her face and hands. She sat down on a rock by the water's edge, waiting for Jin Huang to return.

  In less than ten minutes, Jin Huan brought over a large pile of various foods. He handed them to Lin Ruolan one by one: the tender leaves of the Nepa palm tree tasted like cabbage; the fruit of the three-branched tree was sweet and delicious; the sour fruit was big and particularly sour, so sour that Lin Ruolan jumped up from the ground with her eyes closed, constantly wiping away tears, but successfully quenching her body's thirst for water. Finally, Jin Huan handed her a string of wild figs: "Have some dessert after dinner."

  Lin Ruo-lan ate her fill and was very satisfied, "It's much better than compressed biscuits."

  Jin Hao took off his backpack-style water bag and water bottle, filled them with water from the mountain spring, and threw in two water purification tablets. He handed her a compressed energy bar, "Those wild fruits can only provide you with necessary vitamins, but they can't provide the energy you need for marching. Eat this."

  "I don't want it, can I eat when I'm hungry?" She almost pestered and avoided the food handed over by Jin Huang.

  Jin Hao hooked up his thin lips, smiled slightly, and looked at her deep eyes. "I'll bring back some game tonight to supplement your nutrition." His tone was calm, but his eyes were scorching hot. His strong hands wrapped tightly around her slender waist, pulling her into his arms. "Take a rest, you're too tired."

  "Wild game? You can't start a fire in the forest, how are you going to eat it after catching it?" Lin Ruolan looked at him strangely, wondering if he was craving for food.

  "Peel and eat it raw!" Jin Huang glanced at her nonchalantly, intentionally scaring her.

  "Ugh..." Lin Ruo Lan jumped to one side, covering her mouth with a look of disgust and shaking her head vigorously, "I won't eat it, it's disgusting!"

  A void in his arms, Jin Huan felt somewhat displeased. His powerful arm reached out and easily pulled her back into his embrace. "If you don't eat, can you survive? Are you going to eat or not?"

  "You... have you eaten those things?" Lin Ruolan asked cautiously.

  "I've eaten, many times." Jin Huan furrowed his brow, his tone flat. "I remember one time being wrapped up by a 10-meter-long python that wanted to eat me. I placed the blade of my machete facing outwards in front of my body, and it wrapped itself tighter and tighter until it cut itself into two pieces, so it became my dinner."

  "Why didn't anyone help you? Don't you have any companions? Why do you live alone in the forest?" She listened with growing astonishment, her clear eyes blinking rapidly as she grasped his arm with both hands.

  "When you are thrown into the primitive forest and swamp alone for a year, with no one to care about your life or death, and constantly attacked by nature or humans, you can learn to grow stronger, survive tenaciously, and capture everything that can be your food. This is not a survival skill, but an instinct deeply rooted in the bone marrow."

  His tone didn't fluctuate in the slightest, as if he was talking about something insignificant. Lin Ruo Lan's chest felt like it had been stabbed with a knife, and she couldn't breathe from the heartache. What kind of hardships and torments must one endure to have to survive in such a way? It wasn't until now that she could understand how the man in front of her had cultivated his strength and overbearing nature in such an environment.

  "When was that?" she asked softly.

  Jin Hua looked at Lin Ruo Lan who was staring blankly at him, pursed his lips, somewhat regretting what he had said earlier, but still decided to tell her everything: "At the age of 20, I was in Israel for a two-year special forces training."

  She relaxed her body, leaned into his arms, and snuggled up close to him, listening to the rhythmic beat of his heart, savoring his scent. "Jin Huang..." she softly called out his name, sniffed slightly, but didn't say what was on her mind.

  "Silly girl, that's all in the past." A warm large hand gently stroked her back, and in the darkness, those dull eyes flashed with unclear emotions. Her slow breathing brushed against his neck, warmly, making his cold and quiet heart also warm up.

  Lin Ruo Lan suddenly thought, the person in front of her was Jin Huang, that Jin Huang who didn't need her to spell things out too clearly, yet could still understand everything. How did he develop such a skill, being able to see through people's hearts? Jin Huang tightened his arms around her, making her feel like a strong shield was protecting her, keeping all danger and fear at bay.