Chapter 33: The King of the Forest Six

  Lin Ruo Lan remained still, lying under the tree with camouflage netting pulled over her head. She knew that the camouflage netting she wore had infrared shielding properties, and the combat uniform she wore also had infrared shielding properties. As long as she didn't move, she was certain that she wouldn't be discovered by the helicopter.

  The helicopter above her head was still roaring, she became a bit nervous, Jin Huan handed her the camouflage net, he himself only had combat uniform on, would they be discovered by the enemy?

  After about five or six minutes, the helicopter finally roared away and flew off into the distance.

  Lin Ruolan took a deep breath and was about to sit up when she heard Jin Huan whispering to her, "Don't move, wait for a while."

  In less than three minutes, the helicopter returned, roaring and hovering above the dense forest. Suddenly, an unguided rocket projectile dragged a long flame, exploding more than 100 meters in front of Jin Huan, and the felled trees crackled and burned.

  The helicopter circled back and forth twice, but the thermal imager didn't find anything, so it had to turn around and continue searching forward.

  It wasn't until it flew far away that Jin Huang ran over from his hiding spot, "This time it's really gone." Putting the camouflage net into his backpack, Jin Huang's eyebrows remained furrowed, the other party's lingering presence was annoying him.

  Lin Ruo Lan looked worriedly into the distance, "They killed and then turned back, will they suspect something here?"

  "For slightly denser jungles, they would use this method to search, anyway, tonight we'll head onto the highway." He shouldered his backpack, used GPS to locate himself, and found a relatively easier path to continue on.

  After crossing a not-too-high mountain slope, Jin Huan searched the route ahead with binoculars and found a piece of woodland that was different from the others. He handed the binoculars to Lin Ruolan, pointing at the woodland and saying: "Look there, that's the Miasma Forest."

  Lin Ruo Lan raised her binoculars to take a look, the other forests were all green, but this forest was black and seemed lifeless. "I've read in books that there's something called 'miasma' in tropical rainforests, what exactly is miasma?"

  "That is to say, there are toxic gases inside. The miasma forest generally appears on the back of a mountain slope because sunlight rarely shines here, and the leaves rot continuously, releasing methane and other toxins. It must be detected with instruments to know what kind of toxin is contained in this forest."

  Lin Ruo Lan returned the binoculars to Jin Huang and continued listening to his explanation: "Because there is toxic gas here, birds don't dare to forage here, so the mountain locusts in this forest are very numerous. They are a terrible thing. Normally, they make a living by sucking tree sap. If any creature passes by, they will jump onto their body like springs and suck their blood dry. Therefore, this forest is malnourished and the color is black."

  "How scary," Lin Ruolan felt a chill run down her spine, her whole body itching, she shrugged and asked: "This forest seems to be a must-pass place, what should we do?"

  "Going around, if we attract the mountain locusts, it'll be even more troublesome than that guy in the sky." Jin Huan chose a route and went around to the right side of the forest.

  At around four or five o'clock in the afternoon, the two of them had already circled around the poisonous tree forest. The sky was gathering thick dark clouds, Jin Huan looked up at the sky and said in a low voice: "We can't go on, we need to find a place to take shelter from the rain, the rain in the tropical rainforest comes suddenly." He pulled Lin Ruolan forward quickly for about half an hour, luckily they found a relatively small cave by a winding river. The terrain of the cave was very high and wouldn't be flooded with water.

  Just as I stepped into the cave, before I had a chance to search around inside, the forest outside turned dark and gloomy like nightfall. Streaks of lightning cut across the inky sky, and the dull rumble of thunder seemed to shake the earth. A torrential rain poured down.

  Jin Huang turned on the high-powered flashlight and swept it around the cave. The cave was not large, only able to hold five or six people sitting or lying down. Standing at the entrance, one could see all the way to the bottom of the cave. The four walls were bare and without any plants growing or clinging to them, and there was no barrier at the entrance that could block or hide anything.

  "We must start a fire at the entrance, otherwise in this weather, the beasts that come out to forage will attack us." He took out his raincoat from his backpack and put it on, then stood his backpack by the side of the entrance, "You wait here, I'll go chop some firewood back."

  Lin Ruo Lan grasped his arm tightly with both hands: "Don't go, in this kind of weather you'll get struck by lightning under the trees."

  "It's okay, I'll hurry up. Once the branches get wet, they won't catch fire." Jin Huan removed her hand and rushed out of the cave despite her urgent attempts to stop him.

  Lin Ruo Lan gazed out at the dark sky, which seemed to swallow everything in its path. The thunder and lightning had paused for a moment, but the heavy rain continued to pour down like a deluge. Her slender hands were clenched together tightly, her lips pursed, as she anxiously leaned against the entrance of the cave, peering out into the distance, unable to shake off her worries about Jin Huang.

  Strong winds mixed with rain threads came at her one after another, and her clothes were also soaked. Darkness surrounded her, making it hard for her to breathe, even opening her eyes wide, she couldn't see her fingers.

  Jin Hao chopped a large bundle of branches that could burn for one night at the fastest speed, and to prevent the branches from getting wet in the rain, he took off his own raincoat and wrapped it around the branches, carrying them back to the cave. From a distance, he saw Lin Ruolan standing at the entrance of the cave waiting for him, he hurried back, threw the branches into the cave, and with great strength, grasped her and pulled her into the dry cave. "Lan, what are you doing standing at the entrance, your clothes are all wet."

  "I, I... I'm worried about you!" Too many worries had accumulated in her heart, and Lin Ruo Lan almost couldn't stand up anymore.

  A flash of light flickered in Jin Huan's eyes, but his thin lips were tightly pursed. He efficiently used the fire tongs to ignite a bonfire. Under the warm glow of the flames, Jin Huan gazed at her pale face and sighed, "Silly girl, what's there to worry about? This is just a normal occurrence."

  Lin Ruo Lan rushed into his arms, not caring that his clothes were already soaked through with rainwater and still dripping with water droplets, tightly grasping his clothes and refusing to let go.

  Overjoyed emotions surged, yet mixed with a strong heartache. He stretched out his arms and hugged her slender and delicate body with all his might. "It's okay, it's okay, I'm back now."

  She lifted her head from his chest, intending to reproach him for his irresponsibility towards herself, but as soon as she did, her slightly parted red lips were blocked, and those scorching thin lips accurately found hers, covering her tender lips. The numbness and tingling sensation fiercely surged into her limbs. He kissed her, not letting her continue speaking or crying, all emotions were vented in this kiss.

  "Your clothes are all wet, come and dry them by the fire." After finally ending that passionate kiss, he pulled out a sleeping bag from his backpack and handed it to her, "Put this over you, take off your top and I'll dry it for you." As he said that, he pulled her down to sit with him by the fire.

  Looking at his wet shirt, Lin Ruolan wrapped the sleeping bag around her body and reached out to unbutton him without thinking. Jin Huan's eyebrows rose, and he asked in a low voice, "What are you doing?" His dark eyes stared at her, as if ignited, shining brightly, and the scorching gaze made her heart skip a beat.

  Lin Ruo Lan glared at him and scolded: "Don't think wildly, I just want you to take off your clothes and dry them too!"

  Jin Hao let out a soft laugh, using the extra branches to build a frame by the fire and hung his shirt on it to dry. He sat back beside her, stretching out his sturdy arm to pull her back into his embrace.

  A male physique that has been tempered by the most severe training, perfect and robust, with a deep brown skin tone, there are more than a dozen large and small dark red old scars scattered on his chest and back.

  Lin Ruo Lan looked at him with some surprise, and couldn't help but reach out to gently stroke his old wounds. She carefully stroked each of his scars, as if trying to soothe the past pains through this gentle touch.

  His chest seemed to be filled with something, and the feeling of being pitied by others was actually such happiness. For so many years, he had been galloping on the battlefield, and he had never enjoyed such care before. He thought he didn't need to be pitied because he had enough coldness and strength, but at this moment, her pitying eyes, her gentle caress, gave him a feeling that he had never had before. It turned out that he was just an ordinary person, a person who needed to be cared for, a person who needed to be loved.

  "Silly girl, these are all old wounds, they don't hurt anymore." Jin Huan held her tightly and gently comforted her by lightly kissing her forehead.

  Lin Ruo Lan closed her eyes and leaned quietly on his chest, after a while, suddenly asked: "We have fire here, will it attract that helicopter?"

  "Don't worry, they won't dare to fly in this weather. When the rain is about to stop, we can put out the fire and leave." Jin Huan looked at her with a tired gaze, and said softly, "We can't go now, if you want to sleep, just take a nap, I'll wake you up when the rain stops."

  The heavy rain was still pouring down non-stop, and the clothes had long been scorched dry.

  Jin Hao glanced at his watch, it was almost 21:00. The sky was as black as ink and he estimated that the rain would continue until the second half of the night. He took a sip of water and continued to study the map, but in fact, this map had already been etched into his mind long ago, there was no need to look at it again. This was a habit he had developed during his many years as a special forces soldier, carefully memorizing maps over and over again during rest periods to calm his mind and pass the time.

  Lin Ruo Lan was sleeping soundly on his leg, and she slightly moved her body. He lowered his head to look at her, and his dark fingers gently stroked her eyebrows, lingering and lightly touching them before sliding onto her long and curled eyelashes. His fingers had thick calluses that made her feel a bit itchy, and in her dream, she let out a soft hum, turning her head on his leg to avoid the sensation. Jin Huan didn't want to wake her up, so he moved his hand to her back to gently pat her, coaxing her to continue sleeping.

  Watching her fall asleep sweetly in his arms, a deep sense of satisfaction rose from the bottom of his heart. As long as he could hold her like this and watch her sleep sweetly in his arms, he would also feel an inexplicable sense of satisfaction, which would even calm his own heart to be as tranquil as hers.

  He remembered that when he was chopping firewood, he had been to a vacant lot where wild taro grew, which is the favorite food of wild boars. From the traces of being turned over on the ground, there was a group of wild boars foraging there every day. Jin Huan decided to go and hunt a wild boar to solve the food problem for the two of them in the next two or three days.

  Gently picked up Lin Ruolan and placed her a short distance away from the fire, covering the corner of her sleeping bag. She hummed uncomfortably in her sleep, protesting the loss of his body heat.

  He threw a few branches into the fire, Jin Huan sprinkled sulfur powder around the entrance of the cave, put on his raincoat and carried a sniper rifle to run towards the wild taro field.