Chapter 23

  The primeval forests of northeastern Estonia are among the worst in the world in terms of climate. Now these special forces have to conduct an 88-hour, 200-kilometer long-range raid here.

  As mentioned earlier, the equipment of Chinese special forces is the heaviest, with a total weight of over 40 kilograms. Moreover, they have to cross marshes, dead lakes and primitive forests. In the end, only 50 people withdrew from the competition.

  This is a real war, whose cruelty has exceeded that of ordinary conventional wars. Death can strike them at any time.

  At first, everyone was running with all their might, but the Chinese special forces were carrying more than double the load of other countries, so they fell behind. Seeing the disdainful eyes of others, everyone wanted to 'grow' wings. Especially Li Nan, he could easily outrun those well-equipped foreign special forces. But considering his fellow soldiers, he held back and gritted his teeth. When he couldn't bear it anymore, he sprinted forward to catch up with those foreigners, then waited for them again.

  On land it's okay, but later on it's a test of endurance. It wasn't until we reached the Dead Lake that the distance really opened up. Carrying over 40 kilograms of equipment was like carrying a person across the lake. Every meter forward required enormous physical exertion. Yang Zhongliang was kicked in the chest by that black guy during yesterday's competition, and his physical expenditure was clearly greater than the others. Li Nan saw that he couldn't go on, took out a rope and tied it around his own waist, then waited for him to tie it around Yang Zhongliang's body, but Yang Zhongliang firmly refused. Li Nan became anxious and said:

  "Monitor, we are a whole, our victory is China's victory. I'm physically strong, it doesn't matter, you were injured and just recovered, so you should take a break."

  "No way, the game has just begun and it will get even tougher later. Now you have to conserve your strength well, otherwise none of us can make it out." Yang Zhongliang said in opposition.

  Yuan Shuai and the others listened to their conversation, without saying a word, called Wang Yuanshen and Jin Feng to hold down Yang Zhongliang, then tied everyone together with ropes. With a firm tone, he said: "Squad leader, now we are China, Chinese people will not abandon any comrade. This is what you taught us, we are an entity, this time we all want to take the 'Karev Brave Warrior' award back. We also want to let those who look down on Chinese people know that we have arrived, with fiery enthusiasm, and when we leave, we will bring glory and dreams."

  Yang Zhongliang fell silent, he knew these principles, but he didn't want to drag down these young people. He knew that the 8-hour long-distance raid was an unprecedented subject that had never been trained before. There was no food, no support, no weapons, only a military map and a compass. The difficulty level was unprecedented, and it became more and more difficult as time went on. What would they do after exhausting their physical strength? Now he could only use all his might to move forward, soaking in the icy lake water, dragging his extremely tired body. Relying solely on his infinite loyalty to the motherland and the people.

  After swimming to the opposite bank, except for the red lips, other places have been frozen and turned purple. Looking at the footprints left by special forces from other countries. They didn't rest for half a second, dragging their lead-filled legs to continue chasing.

  Hailstones as big as eggs fell from the sky, and foreign special forces took shelter under a large tree with tents. But our special forces knew that their equipment was not as good as that of the foreign special forces, so they had to pay more to have a chance to win this game.

  Hail pounded on their helmets with a "boom" sound. Every hail that hit their bodies left a bruise, but they thought to themselves that they had already surpassed many foreign athletes and could endure any more pain.

  They arrived at another swamp, over 5 meters wide. This time it was a compulsory subject and they had to cross the swamp or else they would be considered as giving up. They no longer had any other choice because they knew that even if they waited for foreign team members to lend them their equipment, they still wouldn't be able to outrun them with such heavy loads. It could be said that the hail was heaven helping them, and they only had a chance of winning when special forces from other countries were resting, as long as they worked harder than them.

  Yuan Shuai didn't think much, threw his backpack into the center of the swamp and jumped onto it. Ignoring his slowly sinking body, he turned around and loudly shouted at them: "Step on my shoulders to get across." His expression was firm, leaving no room for any questioning.

  I never understood what made them willing to sacrifice their lives to defend the country's honor. Is it fame, applause? I came to realize that it is honor, a soldier's honor, and national honor is a soldier's honor.

  Everyone stepped on his shoulder one by one with tears in their eyes and jumped to the opposite bank. There was no hesitation, because hesitating for a second would add a second of danger to Yuan Shuai.

  Li Nan made the final jump, throwing the rope to Yuan Shuai as he stepped on his shoulder. He shouted out loud but Yuan Shuai only had a pair of hands left 'exposed' outside, and it was already impossible for him to hear Li Nan's words.

  "General Yuan, General Yuan..." Everyone was shouting hoarsely. But except for the bubbles rising beside him, there was no response at all.

  "Hurry up and send a signal for the rescue team to come over." Jin Feng shouted loudly.

  "It's too late now, they won't arrive for at least another ten minutes, by then Yuan Shuai will definitely be gone." Yang Zhongliang said with a sob.

  "What's going on, what's going on......"

  "I have a way." Li Nan said, throwing the backpack to Yuan Shuai's side, then holding one end of the rope and jumping onto the backpack. Quickly tying the rope around Yuan Shuai's hands, he shouted loudly: "Pull!"

  Everyone pulled hard upwards, Yuan Shuai slowly 'exposed' his head and body, but he seemed to have stopped breathing already.

  Li Nan's body began to sink, but because of the short time, everyone pulled up Yuan Shuai and then threw the rope back to Li Nan, pulling him up. However, Yuan Shuai had stopped breathing, his hands still clenched into fists, like a kind of strength, also like a kind of anger. A kind of anger that was despised by others.

  Everyone used the water in the thermos to rinse off the mud on his face. They loosened his collar, doing chest compressions while giving him artificial respiration. After Yuan Shuai coughed up a mouthful of mud, he slowly opened his eyes. Everyone saw that Yuan Shuai had come to and burst out laughing loudly.

  Jinfeng punched Yuan Shuai and said: "If you don't open your eyes, I'll drag you back to the King of Hell."

  Yuan Shuai also stretched out his right hand and punched him, saying: "If I don't bring back the 'Karev Warrior' award, even King Yan won't dare to take me in." As he spoke, his right thumb kept dripping blood. It wasn't until then that he saw that the right sleeve of his combat uniform was torn. Inside, it was a bloody mess. He quickly took off his outer jacket, unscrewed the cap from the hilt of his dagger, and pulled out a fishhook and fishing line. He rinsed the wound with water from his canteen, then gritted his teeth and slowly sewed himself up with the fishhook. Ten stitches, not a sound. Only sweat like flowing water.

  Everyone surrounded him, so that the hail wouldn't hit his body until he had 10 stitches. Yuan Shuai saw everyone surrounding him and looked at the mud "flowers" falling from the hail on the marsh, and suddenly understood everything.

  Pack up and continue on the journey.