Chapter 45: Devil Training Camp Five

  In the pitch-black night, they marched like walking with their eyes closed. The three of them had only one night vision device and a pair of night vision binoculars. After discussion, Qi Yunfei wore the night vision device and walked in the front, the three of them formed a single file line, keeping an arm's distance between each other, advancing forward cautiously step by step.

  On his way to point C, Ziyun Fei discovered a footprint that didn't belong to any of the other students. The pattern was different.

  Chu Heng almost put his eyes on the footprint and examined it carefully, then said to Zhang Peng: "No. 15, this is a footprint left by jungle combat boots. It rained last night, but this footprint is not blurry, which means it was left not long ago."

  Zi Yunfeng quickly searched the surrounding area, but didn't find any other clues. He furrowed his brow and gently stroked the shoe print with his finger, "This footprint is pointing in the direction of the mountain below, which is our route."

  Zhan Peng carefully observed the road down the mountain with binoculars. Without systematic training in special combat methods, he could only think like a sniper. After observing for a long time, he suddenly said: "This road can't be taken anymore. There's a valley at the foot of the mountain, which is very suitable for an ambush."

  Chu Heng scratched his head and said: "Impossible, for a special forces soldier to leave such an obvious mark is a low-level mistake."

  "Damn, the Leopard Squad is too sneaky! They didn't even give a heads up beforehand. A simple signal would have been fine."

  Zhan Peng bowed his head in contemplation for a long time, before lowering his voice and saying: "Change the route of march, go straight over the mountain from here, then turn back. There's a small river on the other side of the mountain, we'll wade across it."

  Qī Yún flew up suddenly, looking far into the distance. However, in the pitch-black night, even with night vision goggles, it was really impossible to see too far. He looked at the two people who were about to change direction and shouted in a low voice: "Wait, wait a minute, walking this way will add tens of kilometers of mountain roads. If we continue like this, we may not be able to reach our destination within the specified time."

  Zhan Peng pulled him while running towards the mountain ridge, saying: "But this way is safer, the forest will provide them with the best cover, we have no idea where they will set up an ambush, can't risk taking the old road again."

  "No. 15 is right, whether it's physical strength or endurance, we can't beat them, and we can't get past them without being taken down, which means we'll be sent back to our old unit, I don't want to go back!" Chu Heng panted heavily as he ran, drenched in sweat.

  "You're satisfied now, aren't you? Despicable, cunning, ruthless!" Qi Yunfei shouted loudly at the foot of the mountain in a huff. He wanted to shout a few more sentences, but Xian Peng pulled him away and ran up the mountain without stopping, "What's the point of talking, only those who can reach the finish line are heroes!"

  Three people ran out of the mountain road for tens of kilometers, running with empty eyes and exhausted faces, falling countless times. After finally crossing the ridge, they confirmed that they had escaped the enemy's line of sight and sat on the ground, saying nothing and refusing to move again.

  Zi Yunpiao caught his breath, got up and observed the surroundings according to the map. Zhan Peng took out a compass to determine the direction, while Chu Heng looked at his watch, it was already 1 o'clock in the morning.

  Look carefully at your current position, Qi Yunfei cursed in a low voice: "Damn it, we've gone around in circles and now we're getting farther and farther away from point C."

  "In physics, the shortest distance between two points is a straight line, but in military terms, a straight line is the farthest." Chu Heng comforted Qi Yunfei, "Our company commander often says this sentence."

  "You guys are really gods!" Qi Yunfei couldn't help but mock them.

  Zhan Peng took out the compressed biscuits and divided them into four parts again, "What's the point of arguing among ourselves? Don't worry, there is a river next to C point. We will go down the mountain from here and wade through the small river at the foot of the mountain to reach C point."

  Three people shared the dry rations and sprinted down the mountain at a speed of 100 meters, running in a "Z" shape along the slope. However, they were already running out of control. Chu Heng was very worried that running like this would get them smashed to pieces, but seeing Qi Yunfei and Zhan Peng running for their lives without regard for safety, he could only grit his teeth and follow suit.

  Three people ran to the riverbank like a gust of wind, Qi Yun flew into the water and threw in a stone to test the depth of the water. "We have to find three dry logs to hug and drift with, the water is very deep." He turned around and searched along the riverbank.

  Zhan Peng suddenly rushed to his side, grabbed his arm and said, "Wait a minute, something's not right here." Due to the sniper's keen intuition, he felt that something was wrong in the vicinity. Looking at Qi Yunfei's puzzled eyes, he couldn't explain where this feeling of unease came from.

  Chu Heng hurried over to the two people and anxiously asked in a low voice: "What are you doing? Are you leaving or not?"

  Zhan Peng waved his hand, the rushing sound of the water made him unable to hear any faint sounds around him, he strained his eyes to look around, without any movement. "You wait here, don't follow me over," he said as he felt his way forward a few steps into the grass thicket.

  Zi Yunfei saw that he was moving too slowly, and time was passing by the minute and second, so he became anxious and shouted: "What are you dawdling for? Hurry up and find the withered wood, we have to go!" He strode forward, but Zhan Peng couldn't hold him back, and he had already stepped into a thicket of knee-high grass. Suddenly, he felt his foot move, and he cried out in alarm: "Oh no, it's a trap!"

  Zhan Peng suddenly jumped up, using all his strength to pull him back, and the two of them fell backwards together. In Chu Heng's muffled cry of surprise, a large net descended from the sky and landed on the spot where Qi Yunfei was about to land, barely missing the chance to trap both of them in the net.

  "Run, there's an ambush!" Zhan Peng shouted in a low voice, dragging Qi Yunfei who was stunned and holding onto Chu Heng as they ran backwards. The three of them all understood that the trap had been triggered and someone would come to check on it soon, so they had to hurry up and cross the river.

  No time to find a raft, the three of them recklessly "plop" "plop" jumped into the turbulent river water, drifting downstream, and suddenly the speed became very fast, in the blink of an eye they had drifted out 10 kilometers.

  Two instructors who set traps on the riverbank rushed to the river, but three students had already drifted far away, leaving them empty-handed.

  Xu Mingliang stood by the monitor, staring at them and burst out laughing: "Good! Clever enough! Promising!"

  The point is already in sight, Chu Heng, who was swimming at the forefront, resisted the impact of the rushing current and swam towards the shore with all his might. After much difficulty, he reached the shallow water area and crawled up to the shore using his hands and feet. He sat down on a rock at the water's edge, took out a rope from his backpack, and threw it out with force. Xian Peng and Qi Yunfei, who were also struggling to swim towards the shore, grabbed hold of the rope and were slowly pulled up onto the shore by Chu Heng.

  Three people didn't have time to rest, took off the water-soaked backpacks from their bodies, shook out the accumulated water from the contents, and reorganized them. The backpacks on their backs increased in weight again, they helped each other up, swaying back and forth as they moved forward towards point C.

  They cautiously approached point C, crouching and advancing step by step. The dark forest in the night seemed even more mysterious and terrifying, as if it were a group of ferocious beasts with bared teeth. The three people, already on high alert, nervously paid attention to every movement around them, immediately rolling into the grass thicket to hide at the slightest rustling of leaves, gripping their bayonets tightly and preparing to fight. However, there was no ambush at point C.

  After getting the coordinates of point D, calibrating the direction, it was already 4:40 in the morning. The three people ate the last bit of compressed dry food and drank the last bit of water at point C, then continued to move forward without daring to stay.

  There are still 25 kilometers of mountain roads between point C and point D, which is not a long distance for the three people, but the constant tossing from 5 o'clock yesterday morning, plus the weight of 50 kilograms on their bodies, has already exhausted them to the end.

  After advancing about three kilometers, Chu Heng sat on the ground with a groan, "Let's take a break and walk again later, I really can't move anymore."

  Zhan Peng also felt that he was about to collapse, and he looked at Qi Yunfei who was standing and dozing off, nodded, "I don't know if there are any more ambushes ahead, we can only rest for half an hour."

  Three men leaned against each other, their hands clutching rifles, and dozed off under a tree. Zhang Peng was originally trying to stay vigilant on sentry duty, but as he sat there, he started to nod off. At first, he could still order himself to wake up, slapping himself hard on the ear to stay awake, but within two minutes, his head would droop again and he'd start snoring softly.

  Zhan Peng had a dream, in which his mother was standing under the eaves of their home, calling out to him: "Peng, Peng, come home for dinner." He seemed to have returned to his happy childhood days, wearing a red scarf and jumping up and down as he bid farewell to his playmates before returning to their dining room. On the table, his mother had prepared a big spread of his favorite dishes, smiling as she waited for him. He plopped himself down at the edge of the table, picked up his chopsticks, and began to dig in.

  He suddenly stood up, "ah" woke up from his sleep, and after a moment of daze, he suddenly remembered to look at the watch. When he looked, he was frightened into a cold sweat, 5:20 in the early morning!

  "Get up! Get up!" He patted Qiyunfei and Chuheng's shoulders, exerting great effort to shake them awake from their deep sleep.

  Zi Yunfeng rubbed his eyes, looking at him in confusion, and it took a long time to remember how he ended up sleeping here. He suddenly jumped up from the ground, and also grabbed Chu Heng, who was still not in a state of mind, and shouted: "Get up quickly, we're going to be late!"

  Three people quickly adjusted their backpacks and prepared to set off towards point D. It was already 5:25 in the morning.

  "We have to finish the remaining 22 kilometers of mountain road in one hour and thirty-five minutes, or we will be eliminated." Zhan Peng said anxiously while walking, and the three people abandoned the 500-meter military march and rushed forward frantically.

  They gritted their teeth and ran 10 kilometers in one breath, suddenly feeling short of breath, chest tightness, dizziness, and blurred vision. Chu Heng stopped his footsteps and leaned against a big tree beside him, panting heavily, "I... I can't run anymore!"

  At this time, among the mountains and hills, one after another figure wearing a training uniform had faintly appeared, all the students were moving towards the same goal.