Chapter Thirty-Four: Is Swallow Male or Female?

  The eagle was indeed a bandit who had been operating in the mountains for half his life, and he was more familiar with the terrain than the guerrilla team that had only been established for a few years. After determining the direction of the guerrilla team's retreat several times, the old eagle sent his subordinates to rush ahead on small roads. If it weren't for the fact that the bandits were used to risking their lives every day, and usually spent their days eating, drinking, and having fun in the mountain stronghold, they would have been much weaker than the guerrilla team, which was accustomed to dealing with the devils every day. The guerrilla team really ran the risk of being surrounded by the bandits again.

  The guerrilla troops rushed to the front and had several battles with the bandits. Each time, it was when the bandits were not yet stable, the guerrilla troops arrived and launched a charge. The special warfare team led by Huo Yuanjia specifically targeted the leader of the bandits. The bandits without a leader immediately became scattered sand. The guerrilla troops retreated in disorder before the pursuing soldiers arrived.

  The bandit leaders under the Eagle's command saw more and more of their comrades being killed. They soon understood the guerrillas' intentions and were worried that they would be the next to be killed. The bandit leaders unconsciously slowed down their pursuit of the guerrilla forces.

  After a night of retreat, the guerrilla troops finally shook off the bandits. Now that they had reached a forest convenient for withdrawal, Liu Tao decided to let the guerrilla fighters eat some dry rations in the forest and rest for a while to replenish their strength.

  Gunpowder, Liu Tao, Old Li and others gathered together. Old Li ate dry food while anxiously saying: "In these one day and two nights, we've run at least over a hundred li of road and fought over ten battles. I see those new comrades who just joined the guerrilla troops are almost unable to hold on."

  Liu Tao looked at the guerrilla fighters who were holding dry rations, had already brought them to their mouths, but had fallen fast asleep. He smiled bitterly and said: "I'm afraid the enemy won't give us a chance to rest."

  "Gunpowder smiled and said: 'The bandits have been scared off by us, they shouldn't be chasing after us that quickly. I think we can let our comrades rest for two hours.'"

  Liu Tao thought for a moment and then nodded, "Alright, let's do it this way. You all go rest for a while. I'll keep watch and we'll evacuate from here in two hours."

  Old Li hastily said: "You are the head of the guerrilla team, if you don't rest well, how can you lead everyone to fight. You all go and rest, I'll bring a few people to keep watch."

  Liu Tao and Old Li were still arguing. Huo Yao hastily chimed in with a smile: "You two, stop arguing. I'll take the special forces team to keep watch instead. This one day and night of fighting is child's play to us. You know we've done three days and nights of wilderness survival training before, and everyone's still full of energy now. Let's just consider this another endurance ambush training exercise for them."

  Gunpowder didn't wait for Liu Tao to respond, and assembled the members of the special warfare group. After explaining the situation to everyone, the special warfare group members surrounded the resting guerrilla fighters, each finding a vantage point with an open view to stand guard.

  They recalled that they had indeed undergone three days and nights of sleepless confrontation training with gunpowder. Liu Tao and Old Li didn't say much anymore, and they all went to rest at ease.

  Actually, Huoyao disliked this kind of stealth training the most. In order to reduce the risk of being discovered by the enemy, the hidden personnel had to minimize their physical activity as much as possible. They could only use their eyes and ears to observe the surrounding situation. This would easily make people unconsciously want to fall asleep. Fortunately, Huoyao didn't require the special forces team members to do endurance stealth training earlier. Before long, Huoyao stood up and threw two punches with a "heh heh" to drive away the thick sleepiness that had already formed.

  Gunpowder hid his body again, keeping watch for the guerrillas. Swallow quietly came to Gunpowder's side and handed him a bamboo water bottle. Gunpowder was feeling thirsty, so he took the bamboo tube and gulped down the water in big mouthfuls.

  The firework drank the cool water and felt much better. When returning the bamboo tube to Swallow, Firework saw Swallow staring at his face with a smile. When their eyes met, Swallow blushed and quickly turned her head away. Firework touched his cheek awkwardly and laughed, asking: "Is there something dirty on my face?"

  The swallow took over the bamboo tube and still turned his head to one side, answering softly: "No."

  "What are you looking at?"

  The swallow with a smaller voice said: "I didn't see anything."

  "Still saying you didn't see anything, I saw you laughing at me."

  The swallow did not respond, but instead hid its body behind the gunpowder and did not leave.

  Huoyao suddenly had a strange idea in his heart, he leaned closer to Yanzi and asked in a mischievous low voice: "Yanzi, are you a girl? Do you like me?"

  The swallow's body trembled slightly and hastily moved its hidden body further away from the gunpowder. It said in a tense tone, "Brother, what...what are you saying?"

  Huoyao used to think that Yanzi was neither male nor female. Ever since the last time at the guerrilla camp behind Longdong, where he rested his head on Yanzi's thigh and fell asleep, he smelled the unique body fragrance of a young girl on Yanzi's body. Later, Huoyao carefully observed Yanzi and thought that Yanzi might be a girl disguised as a boy. Both in appearance and figure, she could be said to be of the highest quality. The only drawback was that there was no chest. This also made Huoyao dare not confirm whether Yanzi was a girl or not, for what girl has such a flat chest? He wanted to ask people like Daniu, who grew up with Yanzi, but he was afraid that he would make a mistake and become the laughing stock of everyone.

  Since the day Swallow and Gunpowder fought together in the village, Swallow has been by Gunpowder's side. No matter when or where, whether after opening his eyes or before closing them, Gunpowder can always see Swallow's figure. Sometimes it makes Gunpowder feel that Swallow is already an indispensable part of his life.

  While Gunpowder was daydreaming, Swallow suddenly whispered, "Brother, look quickly, there are little devils coming over to our side."

  Huo Yao quickly came to his senses and indeed saw a large group of little devils advancing towards them from the foot of the distant mountain. Huo Yao hastily went with Yan Zi to inform Liu Tao and others. Liu Tao knew the situation was critical, so he immediately assembled all personnel. After a brief moment of thought, they retreated in one direction to an even more distant place.

  On the retreat, Liu Tao and Old Li thought anxiously. Now there are little devils advancing from the east, the bandits of Lao Ying Village pursuing from the north, the Little Devils' lair of Laonan County Town to the south, and the west is also a treacherous terrain with several large and small bandit dens. The guerrilla team is now heading west. Liu Tao and his men can only hope that the bandits in those dens will not intervene, otherwise the guerrilla team will be surrounded again.

  Brothers and sisters, let's support our brother!