Chapter 27: Escaping with One's Life

  Sitting on a tree stump by the lake, I stared at the shell in my hand. The number of bullet marks on it had already reached 59, and since I ambushed the medical station two days ago, a large group of pursuers had been following me closely. They stuck to me like glue, and I set up four traps, killing at least 12-15 people, but they still didn't give up. It's rare for them to search and track me so quickly without regard for casualties, as if I were some kind of important figure. At several advantageous locations, I conducted a few sniping attacks, killing 26 people, but they still followed closely. I accelerated my pace, but their distance remained around 900 meters, fortunately, in the dense forest, it was impossible to see anyone within 10 meters. Otherwise, I would have been finished long ago. Moreover, from today's observation, they had increased their forces and started a fan-shaped search, with their distance getting closer and closer, and they would catch up here after dark.

  I'm really curious now, what's the story behind that guy I shot, this must have something to do with him, otherwise it wouldn't be like this!

  *Sigh* I packed up the shell and finished more than half of my task in just three days. I should be happy, but thinking about my current situation, I couldn't smile. It seems that these people won't give up until they catch me, so I need to come up with a plan or I'll eventually get caught. Now, the direction I'm fleeing is towards where the rebels are, and they must think I'll keep escaping in this direction. On the other hand, it means their troops are all deployed in this direction, which means my way out is actually behind them. I need to come up with a plan to evade their search and sneak into their rear.

  Open the backpack, take out the last few pitiful dry rations, I swallowed them all into my belly, made up my mind, success or failure depends on this one move, let's give it a try!! Pick up the water that has been sedimented on the ground for half an hour and slowly pour it into the water bag in the jacket.

  I took a deep breath and walked along the lake shore towards the thicket on my left. I deliberately didn't completely cover up the footprints I left behind, and after entering the thicket about 300-400 meters, I took out the MP5K-PDW and fixed it to a tree. Then, I set up a tripwire between several trees and left signs of heading deeper into the woods. Next, I climbed a tree and returned to the lake shore from the treetop, then jumped into the water and walked towards the other side of the lake with higher shores, where there was a large area of river mud. As I approached the muddy area, I took out the condom that had been sent to me earlier and put it over the gun barrel. At first, when this thing was sent to me, I didn't know what it was for in battle, and I don't know how others use it, but it seems I'm using it quite "properly"! Although guns have undergone mud immersion testing, I still don't want to risk having a gun that won't fire at critical moments, so it's better to be safe than sorry.

  After everything was ready, I held the military knife in my mouth and slowly and carefully stepped into the mud with one foot deep and one foot shallow. There were many large trees on the lake shore, and their roots protruded from the shore and extended into the lake. After walking for a while, I felt a tree root and pulled it hard to get to the muddy swamp near the shore. Now, except for my head, my whole body was submerged in the mud, which had a high density that made me pant heavily, and I couldn't move forward with my feet anymore. I could only hold onto the tree root in front of me, slowly adjusting my body angle, lying on the mud and sliding slowly, and slowly approaching the shore. There were many clusters of tree roots there, and I slowly leaned against them, letting the muddy water overflow my chest, exposing only my face. I could feel that there were many things moving under the mud beneath me, probably loaches or something similar, hoping there weren't any snakes. I placed the sniper rifle horizontally across my chest in the mud, took out the pistol and installed a silencer on it, then put it under the mud. Now all preparations were done, just waiting for them to arrive!

  I don't know how long it took, but I started to feel a chill on my body, and began to shiver! From time to time, I would get the chills, the mud was full of rotting leaves and dead animals, from time to time bubbles would rise up, the stench was like needles piercing my nostrils, if it wasn't for the fact that my life was at stake, I probably would have vomited already.

  The sky had just darkened, and the sound of breaking branches and startled cries came from the jungle. Here they come! I held my breath and slowly sank into the mud, only exposing my nose and eyes. Staring in the direction of the sound, after a while, the bushes were split open, and a row of government soldiers walked out of the jungle. Good grief! There were over 300 people, more than I had discovered that morning, and this was just one part of them. How many search parties did they send? Do they have to hate me so much?

  A large crowd of people stood by the lake, with two men surrounding the tree stump where I had just sat. They slowly began to search around and one of them discovered the trail I had deliberately left behind. He said to the other: "He went this way!"

  "Hmm!" Another guy just responded with a grunt, still looking around, his gaze began to sweep across the lake, and several times swept past me, scaring me into a cold sweat.

  I didn't dare move a muscle, I didn't even dare breathe, for fear of being discovered. Before my eyes flashed the rows and rows of heads chopped off by the government army. If I was discovered, that would already be the best outcome for me!

  That guy started looking in the direction of the mud pit, I narrowed my eyes, afraid that the reflection of my eyeballs would attract his attention. That guy looked for a long time and seemed not to have seen me, but still didn't feel at ease, walked around the lake shore and came over, I gradually heard the footsteps above my head slowly getting closer from afar, stopping on the arched tree root right above my head, I slowly aimed the muzzle of my pistol upwards, if he stuck his head out to look here, I would shoot him dead, a fair exchange! That guy bent down and pulled out a machete, stabbed it into the mud, two knives almost stabbed onto my body, if he stabbed again, he would definitely stab me, I slowly exposed the muzzle of the gun above the water surface, ready to fight to the death.

  Just then, the long-awaited gunshot finally rang out from the jungle. Someone had triggered the gun trap I set up, and the knife in front of me shook to a stop in mid-air before slowly retracting back. Then, the footsteps gradually faded away into the distance. Although they couldn't be seen, it could be felt that the soldiers by the lake were slowly moving towards the direction of the gunshot.

  After a while, when all the noise had stopped, I slowly let out a breath.

  Pulling on the tree roots, I slowly lifted myself out of the lake, making sure it was safe on shore before slowly crawling up. Then, along the shallow water area by the lake, I slowly made my way in the direction the soldiers had just come from in the woods. After confirming through night vision goggles that there were no dangers on shore, I quickly darted into the thicket and escaped in the opposite direction.

  I advanced about 500 meters without encountering the enemy, and slowly sat down under a tree, wiping off the mud on my face, and slowly putting back my pistol and knife. Only then did I finally put my mind at ease, it seemed that no one had discovered me, today was truly my lucky day. It wasn't until then that I smelled the foul odor on myself again. Although the mud had been washed away in the lake, the stench still clung to my body. However, I didn't have time to think about this, I had to take advantage of the night to run as far as I could.

  I spent the whole night fleeing in a panic, and by dawn I had already run nearly 8 kilometers. When day broke, I couldn't keep going and needed to rest - I hadn't slept for three days. At first, it was because of tension that I couldn't sleep, but later on, with soldiers chasing me, I didn't have time to think about sleeping. Now that I've shaken them off, I need a nap, but there's no one to keep watch for me - I need a safe place.

  I took a look around and picked up a section of tree trunk that had been hollowed out by termites, set up an alarm on the edge, put some insecticide inside, waited for a while, and then lay down in a hurry. However, after lying down, although my body was very tired, I just couldn't fall asleep no matter what. My eyelids were heavy like lead, but when I closed my eyes, I just couldn't relax and fall asleep. I felt extremely uncomfortable, like a high-energy core wrapped in a layer of cowhide leather!

  I tossed and turned, unable to sleep. I knew it was because of my overwrought nerves causing mental excitement, and if this continued, I would be unable to sleep all night and it would exhaust me. I had to think of a way to calm myself down. I tried recalling happy memories from childhood, but thinking about those things only made my emotions more agitated. Thinking about my hometown didn't work either, nor did thinking about my parents! In the end, when I drew out my military knife and was about to vent my frustrations, having it in hand gave me a sense of security that spread throughout my body, allowing my mind and body to relax a little. I grasped the knife tightly and placed it against my face, feeling the cold sensation instantly spreading throughout my body, like ice water quickly extinguishing the burning anxiety in my brain, giving me a unified body and mind feeling for the first time. This feeling brought an unprecedented sense of comfort. After finding the key, I knew how to solve the problem. I drew out my pistol and held it in my hand as well, the smell of gun oil from the barrel dispersing like wisps of smoke that dissolved my mental defenses, and hugging my rifle, I slowly drifted off to sleep!

  Although I had fallen asleep, it wasn't a deep sleep. In my slumber, I could still feel everything around me changing, even the feeling of air flowing through the empty tree branches, the rustling of leaves, and the calls of animals. It was like a dream unfolding in my mind, and I was like a security guard staring at an unreal image on a monitor.

  I don't know how long I maintained this shallow sleep, but suddenly, I heard the alarm in my arms vibrate violently. I was shocked awake from my sleep, and although I hadn't fully recovered my judgment, a very clear thought flashed through my mind: "Danger is approaching!" I immediately crawled out of the tree hole, opened my eyes to find it was already afternoon, and I had rested for about four or five hours. After adapting to the outside light, I slowly climbed to the top of the tree trunk, lifted my head to scan in the direction of the triggered alarm, but before I could see what it was, a black shadow darted towards me like an arrow.

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