In the cave where the bonfire was still burning, Wei Ran sat up unsteadily. While waiting for the dizziness in his brain to disappear, he quietly looked at the lifeless Luke and looked at the bullets flowing out of his forehead and between his eyebrows.
dark red blood.
Whether it was the cold knowledge from the Hongqi Forest Farm or the murder and rescue experience accumulated on various battlefields, he knew extremely well that Luke's choice to commit suicide at this time was the best choice, no matter for himself.
, or for this team.
But for Wei Ran, shooting at one of his own people is definitely not a comfortable experience - even if the other person is a British person.
Even though he knew extremely well that this was the greatest and only help he could provide to the other party. Just like what he did, let the other party die unprepared and very simply.
"I killed people I shouldn't have killed, but the war gave me no choice."
Wei Ran leaned against the cold rock wall, staring at the tattoo at the tiger's mouth, and subconsciously recited the words he saw on the last page of the metal book when he first got it.
"Fortunately he is British"
After a long time, Wei Ran rubbed his face vigorously and tried his best to find an excuse to comfort himself. He walked to Luke's side and reached out to help him close his eyes, and then took out the engineer shovel from his backpack.
After tapping the rocky ground lightly, Wei Ran bent down and crawled out of the cave. On the edge of the banana forest on one side of the cave entrance, he dug a pit with spade one by one, big enough for Luke to lie down.
He barely wrapped Luke up in a raincoat and carried him into the grave. After a brief silence, Wei Ran waved his engineer shovel and buried him carefully, then turned around and chased him in the direction where Squad Leader Liang and others disappeared.
Along the way, Wei Ran relied on the marks left by Squad Leader Liang and others to catch up, while also trying out the newly learned language.
However, what made him dumbfounded was that this time he neither learned Burmese nor Japanese, which was of much use. After trying this time, he found that he had only mastered a London language that was less useful than Burmese.
Just a mouthful.
No wonder it was a secondary language task. Wei Ran muttered in disgust. He used a gun to get acquainted at the expense, but he only learned the "accent". This was really different from what he expected.
Regardless of whether he was satisfied with what he had newly learned, after running for more than half an hour, he finally saw Squad Leader Liang and others waiting for him in a valley.
This valley is far more spacious than the ones we passed through before. Not only can you see the long-lost complete sky when you look up, but there are also large and small gravels and pebbles scattered under your feet, and there is even a winding stream rushing forward in the middle.
Far away, he saw Squad Leader Liang sitting on the edge of a boulder and resting. However, as the distance got closer, he smelled the strong smell of corpses again!
He frowned and quickened his pace. When the distance between the two sides was less than a hundred meters, he also saw the craters one after another, as well as a large number of rotting and mutilated corpses around the craters.
Even on the edge of the stream, there were cooking stoves that were still standing, tents that collapsed and could not be cleaned up in time, and even corpses with most of their bodies submerged in the water.
Not only that, on the other side of the stream, he even saw an aerial bomb that did not explode after landing, lying quietly on the gravel beach!
Looking up at the setting sun that was about to be blocked by the mountains, Wei Ran sighed, walked around a broken corpse, and walked to the side of Squad Leader Liang amidst the flying flies, quietly looking at the sun in his hand.
On the helmet, there are extra blood-red letters that have not yet dried out.
"coming?"
Squad leader Liang said hello without raising his head, his tone full of sadness and exhaustion.
"coming"
Wei Ran responded softly, glanced at Zhou Guochang, who was sitting on the ground leaning against a boulder with his head buried in his arms. He paused and said proactively, "Mr. Luke did not suffer. I buried him on the right side of the cave.
It's at the edge of the banana forest, and I piled a few big rocks on it."
"Have a rest"
Monitor Liang waved his hand tiredly, "When the sun is completely covered, we will continue walking as far as we can."
Nodding silently, Wei Ran glanced at the little monk who was sitting cross-legged on a stone not far away chanting sutras, and then at Tan Shouzheng who was carrying a basket on his back and looking for something among the corpses. Finally,
He took off his backpack and walked over.
"What are you looking for?" When Wei Ran asked, he also hardened his heart and pressed the shutter on the corpse on the gravel beach and Qin Shouzheng who was looking down.
"acquaintance"
Qin Shouzheng replied without raising his head, "Let's see if there is anyone we know. If there is anyone, if you can go back alive, please send a message back. By the way, let's see if there is anything we can use."
"
At this point, Qin Shouzheng lowered his voice, "Mr. Luke, is it..."
"Dead." Wei Ran also lowered his head and replied, "I killed him."
"This is harder than fighting the Japanese." Qin Shouzheng sighed, stopped and opened a remaining tent, which immediately aroused a swarm of flies.
Looking at the rotting corpse lying on the ground in the tent, Qin Shouzheng's face turned pale and he immediately lowered the canvas curtain.
Following him all the way down, among the hundreds of corpses, Tan Shouzheng didn't find anyone he knew or could recognize.
Finally, when the sun was completely blocked, the two of them returned to Squad Leader Liang, each put their backpacks on their backs, and started walking again.
Following the traces left by the people in front, everyone walked upstream along the stream. When the smell of corpses behind them completely disappeared, and stars gradually appeared above their heads, Wei Ran lit the kerosene lamp and faced Zhou Guochang.
Asked, "Guochang...you..."
"I'm fine"
Zhou Guochang wiped the corners of his eyes, "I'm fine, Brother Wei, I don't blame you."
"Sorry" Wei Ran said softly.
"In fact, Mr. Luke begged me to kill him the day after he broke his bone."
Zhou Guochang said after a moment of silence, "He is a devout Christian and he cannot commit suicide. But I...I can't do it."
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! "I know" Wei Ran responded vaguely, and wisely did not mention this topic again. This team that traveled all night also once again
fell into silence.
As we walked up this stream until midnight, cliffs straight up and down gradually appeared on both sides, as well as the strange sounds of various unknown wild animals.
However, if Squad Leader Liang, who was walking at the end, didn't shout to stop, everyone naturally wouldn't stop either. They could only walk while chewing the horse meat jerky or bear meat jerky they were given.
Fighting their exhaustion, they walked all the way until the sky was getting brighter, and the winding valley finally came to an end. However, what was waiting in front of them was not a new mountain top, but a spacious river and new cliffs on both sides of the river.
.
The creek that accompanied them all the way was one of the branches that branched off from this slow-moving river.
"Take a rest." Squad leader Liang, who had been silent all the way, finally gave the order to take a break in a hoarse voice.
Looking around, Qin Shou was pointing to the crack at the bottom of the cliff on one side, "Go there, at least you can make a fire and boil some water."
"Then go ahead" Squad Leader Liang waved his hand and gave the order absentmindedly.
Under the leadership of Qin Shouzheng, everyone dragged their weary steps to the entrance of the crack in the mountain. Then they saw that there were still ashes left by the bonfires inside. In some places, there were even ashes left.
The remaining firewood after burning and the banana leaves spread on the ground.
Without any instructions, everyone immediately took off the bamboo baskets tied to the donkey's back and the dry firewood they saw along the way, mixed with the remaining damp firewood in the mountain crevice, lit the bonfire, and put the only remaining iron pot and enamel pot holder
Go up and start boiling water.
By the way, everyone also took Wei Ran's strong suggestion and took some cold pills with the remaining water in the kettle as a preventive measure against malaria.
While little master Sehao was helping to boil water, Wei Ran and Squad Leader Liang each carried diabolo baskets on their backs and left the crack in the mountain to reach the river.
"I'm here to catch fish. Find out which direction the troops are going." Squad Leader Liang said hoarsely.
"give it to me"
Wei Ran nodded, took out his machete, sharpened the bamboo pole in his hand again, and carefully walked into the relatively clear river.
The width of this river is at least more than ten meters. Although the final direction of the river cannot be determined due to the twists and turns of the river, fortunately, the river is not very deep. It is only waist deep at most, and even only knee deep in most places.
.
Not only that, the river was quite clear, and it was not too fast to stay overnight. He bent down and touched the bottom of the water. Wei Ran picked up a stone and looked at it, then threw it back into the water and walked upstream against the cliff on the shore.
direction.
After walking two to three hundred meters against the slow water, Wei Ran finally stopped at a wild mango tree in a rock crevice on the edge of the cliff.
This mango tree grows on a small platform less than two meters above the water. Most of its roots are rooted in the rock crevices. The relatively dense crown is only five meters above the ground.
It is also covered with golden mangoes.
After looking up for a moment, Wei Ran easily climbed onto the stone platform, which was less than two or three square meters in size. He carefully observed the thick moss covering it, and then looked at the moss growing on the curved tree trunks.
and parasitic vines.
After thinking for a moment, Wei Ran climbed up the tree trunk, reached out and picked some mangoes and put them into his empty backpack.
He nimbly climbed down the mango tree, but instead of continuing forward or going back the way he came, he crossed the river to the other side with a long bamboo pole used as a walking stick.
There is also a cliff dozens of meters high here, but from the top of the cliff, vines hang down one after another.
Wei Ran used a bamboo pole to pick up a vine from a distance and inspected the complete leaves on it. Wei Ran turned around and walked back.
When he returned to the fork of the creek flowing into the valley, Squad Leader Liang was still repeating the action of casting the net over and over again. From time to time, he would fish out a few fish from the net and throw them into the canvas behind him.
In the barrel.
Without stopping, Wei Ran continued to wade in the downstream direction. Soon, he discovered that all the bamboo growing on a small island in the middle of the river had been cut down, leaving only the sharp ones.
of bamboo roots.
He reached out and touched the sharp stubble, as well as a piece of rotten and smelly snake skin hanging on it. The health station straightened up and looked downstream. There was no doubt that the large force should be heading downstream.
gone.
After thinking for a moment, he turned back again and met up with Squad Leader Liang who was still casting his net.
"How was the harvest?"
While Wei Ran was talking, he also looked into the bucket. To his surprise, there were several large fish that were more than 20 centimeters long in the canvas bucket.
“Good harvest”
Squad leader Liang collected the last net, picked two fish from it and threw it into the bucket. While balling up the fishing net, he asked, "Have you found the direction?"
"found it"
Wei Ran raised his hand and pointed in the direction downstream, "There was an island in the middle of the river, and all the bamboo on it was chopped down."
After saying that, he took off his backpack and showed off the mangoes he had picked. He pointed to the upstream direction and continued, "There is a mango tree over there. No one has touched it at all. I guess they must have gone downstream."
"
"Let's continue setting off after dinner."
Squad leader Liang collected the fishing net, picked up a fish, and while skillfully scraping the scales and removing the internal organs with the kitchen knife he brought, he said, "We must leave this valley as soon as possible. This place is unobstructed. Once discovered by a Japanese plane, we will not be able to run away."
We can't run away. And we have to hurry up, send the medicine up quickly, and send the information up quickly."
yawenba.
Wei Ran nodded silently, picked up a fish as well, and used the cover of his pocket to take out the Mauser bayonet from the metal book, and helped them start working together.
The two of them cleaned up the fish they caught as quickly as possible. When they returned to the crevice in the mountain, Qin Shouzheng and others had already boiled the water and were filling the kettle.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! "This fish is really big!" Tan Shouzheng couldn't help but admire.
"You make fish soup"
As Squad Leader Liang spoke, he took out two prepared fish and handed them to Qin Shouzheng, "Let each of us grill and eat the remaining fish. After we finish eating, we will continue walking."
Although everyone present was tired, no one refuted Squad Leader Liang's decision. Even the taciturn young monk Sehao nodded quietly in agreement after listening to Zhou Guochang's translation.
Banana leaves were cut from outside, and everyone wrapped their own fish, sprinkled it with coarse salt and some crushed dried chili peppers, and then buried it in a bonfire.
Before the fish was cooked, Wei Ran habitually found his camera and took a photo, then he took the time to squint his eyes and fall asleep.
When he was shaken awake by Tan Shouzheng, the British lunch box in front of him was filled with a bowl of pale white fish soup with a little oil floating in it. There was even a large piece of fish in the fish soup. And in
The other half of the matching lunch box contains already grilled fish.
Looking at the little monk and Zhou Guochang who were also woken up by Tan Shouzheng, and squad leader Liang who was smoking his pipe, Wei Ran silently picked up the kuaizi and ate his own food bite by bite.
"After we have eaten, we will go along the river."
Squad Leader Liang said, "We don't know how long this river is, nor how long it will take to get to the shore, but we can't waste any more time. Guochang, let the little master put on your shoes later, just in case.
He injured his foot in the river, and we can't carry him on our backs."
"I'll tell him right now"
After Zhou Guochang finished speaking, he changed into Burmese and gave a reminder. At the same time, Qin Shouzheng also handed the straw sandals he had prepared in advance to the young monk Sehao.
"Logically speaking, we have to take a break and get some sleep." Squad Leader Liang continued.
"No need," Qin Shouzheng said while sipping the fish soup, "I'm not sleepy or tired."
"I'm not sleepy either," Zhou Guochang continued.
"I just took a nap," Wei Ran responded, having already eaten half of the fish.
"Then work hard." Squad Leader Liang picked up a piece of fish and put it in his mouth. "When we get out, we will find a place to rest."
The topic ended here. Everyone devoured their own food and carefully checked the food and important supplies they were carrying. Then they led the two awakened donkeys into the river and waded through the water with bamboo poles.
