Chapter 1: The Fish Bone

  I wanted to engage in a one-man war, pouring out all my blood and tears, so "Mudskipper" was born.

  My codename is Mudskipper, "Fishbone" Special Ops Team 14th member. During an intel mission called "Catfish", the enemy shot down our armed helicopter, and all 14 special operatives except me were killed. After I parachuted into the tropical jungle of Southeast Asia, my nightmare began... Just like our team's codename - Fishbone, stuck in the throat, can't spit it out, can't swallow it...

  "Just as my feet touched the ground", a cold gun muzzle was pressed against the back of my head. In order to better perform our combat mission, we had specially studied the local language, so I could understand what the other person meant by what he said to me, and at the same time, I understood even more clearly that if I didn't do as he said, a scorching bullet would quickly pierce my head.

  I slowly crawled on the ground, and he stepped his foot wearing heavy military boots onto my head, my face was deeply pressed into the weeds. He quickly removed all my weapons and equipment, the whole process was smooth and efficient.

  Judging from his moves, he should be a seasoned Marine. "Must be a fatal blow..." I thought to myself.

  "Get up and turn around with your hands behind your head," he coldly commanded me. I slowly got up from the ground, supporting myself with my hands, while observing the surroundings. "Freeze" - just as I was about to turn around, the other side suddenly ordered me to stop moving.

  "Take off all your clothes." The other party's tone was still icy and stiff. I quickly stripped myself according to his words. "Okay, turn around," he commanded me again. After turning around, I finally saw the other party's appearance clearly. He was a typical Southeast Asian man, about 30 years old, not very tall but sturdy, with brown skin, faint makeup on his face, and two round eyes slightly bulging out, staring at me coldly.

  "Nationality?" he asked me bluntly. "Ch...ch...China..." I replied with a greedy and fearful look, pretending to be nervous. "Name? Unit code? Position? What mission are you on? How many people in your group..." He threw out a string of questions he wanted answers to.

  "Du Xiaoyu, 104th unit communication company, Lieutenant Colonel Wu's rank, was shot down by the enemy while executing a patrol mission in a helicopter. There were seven of us, and except for me, everyone else died." My answer had both truth and falsehood, virtual and real, I thought the other party wouldn't see through it quickly. The other party seemed to be satisfied with my attitude and answer, and said with pride: "How much of what you said is true, I don't know, but you look like a useless waste, so let's just let you live a bit longer, come with me." After saying that, he took out a dagger and drew a cross on my chest - "This represents that you are my spoils of war."

  The enemy's vigilance has slackened, I know the time is ripe, so I deliberately cast my eyes on his back. The other party found this change in me and hastily asked: "What are you looking at?" I didn't answer him, still staring straight at his back.

  My action aroused his suspicion and unease, he instinctively turned back to take a look, at the moment when the muzzle was slightly tilted to one side, I quickly grabbed a sharp-tipped branch that I had spotted earlier and rushed up.

  At this time, he realized my actions towards him, quickly retaliating by pulling the trigger of his rifle. However, it was too late. Although the bullet spun and pierced through my abdomen, as I had planned, it did not hit any vital organs. My numb nerves ignored the pain brought by the bullet, and with extreme agility, I thrust a branch into his throat. In an instant, blood gushed out, and in just a moment, he lost the ability to resist, lying on the ground gasping for air. To be sure, I pulled out the dagger from his body and thoroughly cut off his trachea.

  To prevent the enemy's companions from being alerted by the sound of gunfire and coming to harm me again, I quickly picked up the clothes and equipment on the ground and ran into the depths of the dense forest. As I left the battlefield, I turned sideways towards the enemy's corpse and said faintly: "What I answered just now was all false, only one thing is true - my name is indeed Du Xiaoyu..."

  Long-distance sprinting and stomach pain caused my physical function to decline rapidly, and I finally fainted in a bush. After an unknown period of time, I gradually felt short of breath and was suffocated awake. When I woke up, I found that a half-grown python had crawled onto my body at some point, and the python had already wrapped me tightly around it. It seemed that it was going to make me its dinner. With my last bit of strength, I pulled out a dagger from my military boots and stabbed the snake's head frantically.

  Soon, the python's head was riddled with holes by me, and I sat on a rock, panting heavily. It took more than half a day to recover slightly. I checked the gunshot wound on my abdomen, and it was fine, no signs of infection. There are many natural medicines in the tropical jungle, so I don't have to worry about dying from such a small injury. My stomach was growling with hunger at this time, and the enemy was searching for me somewhere unknown. It was absolutely impossible to start a fire and cook. Under helplessness, I used my dagger to cut open the python's abdomen, where there was a lot of half-digested food, which was very nourishing for my current physical condition. The food was smelly and hard to swallow, but in order to restore my body's health as soon as possible, I still swallowed it mouthful by mouthful.

  Soon, the food in the snake's belly was eaten clean, and his mood had also stabilized a lot. Unconsciously, he thought of the 13 special forces comrades who had sacrificed themselves, and as he thought about it, tears flowed uncontrollably. For two years, we fought side by side, like brothers, and since the war began, we have experienced dozens of battles big and small, each time returning with a complete victory, but unexpectedly this time, we capsized in a ditch, and were wiped out by a stray bullet from who-knows-where.

  It can't be that my plan was leaked so quickly. There must be a traitor among us who betrayed us and caused the destruction of our elite special forces unit. I will definitely find him out and bring him to trial by military court with the most severe punishment. I made a silent vow in my heart.

  At night, a light rain fell, the sultry weather made people feel annoyed and irritable. I lay in the dark cave, the pain in my abdomen made it difficult for me to fall asleep. I knew that the next battle would be one that I would face alone, now I couldn't contact headquarters, and even if I could, how could I tell if the traitor wasn't from headquarters? It was truly a dilemma... So, what I had to do now was to act according to circumstances, disappear for a short while, let both headquarters and the enemy think that I was already dead. Only then could I be like a fishbone stuck in the enemy's throat, making them unable to spit it out or swallow it, ultimately taking their lives.

  The next morning, I woke up with a start from my sleep, observed the surroundings and found nothing unusual, and my heartstrings relaxed slightly. The wound had recovered somewhat under the effect of herbal medicine and snake belly food. After moving around for a while, I found that my physical condition was still okay. I checked the supplies and equipment on me, two handguns, one dagger, one military canteen, one box of camouflage oil, and one compass needle, nothing else. The sudden battle left me with very few supplies, but for a special forces soldier like me, these were enough. In the tropical jungle where resources are abundant, there is endless food to be taken, and guns can be obtained from the enemy. More importantly, to take an enemy's life, even a toothpick can do it.

  The only thing to do now is to conquer myself. I took out the camouflage oil and carefully modified my face and other exposed skin. After a simple technical treatment of the traces in the cave, I walked out of the cave with big strides, re-entered the dense forest, and started my battle.

  (?Creative Guest Small Web) Follow me read WEN Wen XUE Academic LOU Building! Remember oh!