Chapter 35: The Art of Hoarding in a Small Base

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Li Yi had an aggressively rough, rugged face, but when it came to decision-making, he seemed to be the cautious type.

Yang Yuning had objected to taking the South Route, but this time Li Yi did not defer to him and insisted on going south.

The complaints in the squad channel grew even more heated.

After they passed the fork and turned south, however, everyone gradually fell silent.

For one thing, they had been driving for more than seven hours over an unbelievably rough road, and everyone was exhausted. For another, the South Route was indeed unusually quiet. Villages were few and far between, and they had not encountered a single fallen insect.

“Could Big Nostrils actually have been right? Is this road really better?” Zhuang Xiao said weakly at last.

He had given Li Yi the nickname Big Nostrils, because the man made him feel as though he were looking down at him through his nostrils.

In a certain sense, it was rather fitting. But Qi An thought that when it came to looking down on people through one’s nostrils, Qin Tianshuo of North Two was in a league of his own.

When the three groups had joined up, Qin Tianshuo had merely shaken Yu Shuang’s hand. As for Qi An, a purifier—perhaps because she was too short—he had given her nothing more than a dismissive snort.

After eight hours on the road, it was nearly five in the afternoon. The sky was overcast, and visibility was poor.

They were traveling across a vast plain. The ground was level, but the farmland of former times had been swallowed by dense weeds and secondary forest, reducing the old highway to a line that was almost impossible to find.

Their convoy moved forward as though cleaving a path through a tender green carpet.

Zhao Bohan was driving the lead vehicle. Yang Yunan was operating the drone, while Qi An had driven for two hours herself and was now taking the opportunity to doze in the back seat.

Half asleep, she heard Zhao Bohan ask over the radio, “The vegetation ahead is too dense. Can we stop to rest, scout the route, and then continue?”

There was a pause before someone answered on the public channel. It was not Li Yi, but Qin Tianshuo’s blustering voice.

“This is twenty kilometers from White Reed Marsh. Afraid the water will seep all the way here?”

Zhao Bohan’s face darkened, but he did not reply. A little later, Qi An vaguely felt the swaying vehicle come to a stop.

She opened her eyes and confirmed that they had indeed stopped. Dense green grass surrounded the vehicle, and the ground beneath it was soft.

Far too soft!

Zhao Bohan shifted into reverse. The vehicle backed up a short distance, then stopped again.

The wheels spun wildly under the accelerator, kicking up nothing but grass clippings and mud!

The annoying interrogation continued over the radio.

“Hey, why has the lead vehicle stopped? Get past this stretch, then find somewhere suitable for camping before you stop again!”

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Zhao Bohan’s anger flared. Yang Yuning’s expression grew even grimmer as he snatched up the radio and shouted, “We’re stuck! There’s a swamp ahead! Vehicles behind us, reverse now if you don’t want to die!”

The public channel fell silent at once. The lead vehicle behind them slammed on its brakes, and the rest of the convoy followed suit.

The heavy trucks, loaded with liquid grease, were in an entirely different weight class from the military off-road vehicles. Even though they had stopped three hundred meters behind the lead vehicle, they soon began to feel the softness of the ground.

There was a swamp ahead, while the roadbed behind them had long since been eroded by marsh water and had become soft and collapsed.

The panicked voice of a heavy-truck driver rang over the public channel.

“Reverse! The vehicles behind us, reverse! We can’t get stuck here!”

The convoy retreated like a flock of startled ground chickens, their trembling feet clawing frantically backward.

They withdrew in time. None of the trucks became trapped, and they continued backing up until they reached solid ground.

But the lead vehicle could neither advance nor retreat. Its front tires had already sunk a quarter of the way into the ground.

The public channel fell quiet after the truck driver’s panic, but the Chengfeng Two squad channel erupted!

“Damn it, we never should have taken this route!” Yu Shuang had Su Qingran take the wheel while she jumped out and ran over.

Tang Long climbed out as well. “Get out first! Everyone out first!” he shouted repeatedly as he came charging over.

Zhao Bohan had completely abandoned the idea of freeing the vehicle using its own power. Instead, he opened the roof hatch.

“Little Qi, you go first!”

Without a word, Qi An grabbed the essential equipment, climbed over the rear seats onto the roof, and used the roof for leverage to leap forward.

A shallow layer of water was flowing across the surface into the depression where the vehicle had sunk. The ground on all sides was collapsing into even softer, more rotten mud. When Qi An landed, half her lower leg sank straight into it. Yu Shuang and Tang Long hauled her out like a turnip.

Yang Yuning still had not removed his headset. He was controlling the drone as it flew back. Zhao Bohan was the second person out.

But then something even more alarming happened. A quiet yet urgent report came over the public channel.

“Approximately in the eleven o’clock direction ahead, there appear to be traces of fallen insects!”

It was Zhou Zi of Morning Star Team One. He was operating one of his team’s reconnaissance drones.

Everyone’s heart lurched. Qi An had sensed nothing. She immediately asked, “How far away? How many?”

“Four kilometers. The vegetation in that direction is even denser, and the drone’s view is blurry. I can’t estimate their numbers! But there seems to be a marching trail. There won’t be just a few insects!”

“Zhou Zi, continue scouting. Convoy, withdraw and change routes. Everyone prepare for battle!” Li Yi ordered in a low voice.

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“What about our vehicle?” Yu Shuang asked in a deep voice.

“Put personnel safety first. If the vehicle can’t be pulled out, leave it there! The fallen insects are approaching. Are we supposed to make the entire team wait for one vehicle?”

Li Yi’s voice carried a sharp reprimand.

With a crack, Yu Shuang nearly crushed one of her own knuckles as she clenched her fist. Fury surged through her.

But anger had never clouded her judgment. She knew that, in a certain sense, Li Yi was right. If a large number of fallen insects were approaching, they should not risk a battle in dangerous terrain just to save one vehicle.

It was simply that they had not been given the right to decide which route to take, while the vehicle stuck in the mud belonged to them!

The regiment commander Wu Zirui’s sarcastic remark still rang in her ears: “The equipment issued to you is all top-of-the-line, so have you forgotten how much a vehicle costs?”

“Five more minutes. After five minutes, the convoy will move out. That is an order!” Li Yi’s voice was cold and heavy.

Yu Shuang’s face was expressionless as she caught the spy drone and ammunition box that Zhao Bohan had salvaged from the trunk.

The trunk was packed with supplies. They could not unload everything in five minutes. Nor could anyone stand in the mud for too long. If they sank in so deeply that they could not be pulled out, it would all be over.

“That’s enough. Old Zhao, get back to solid ground! Old Yang, get out too! Stop wasting time!” Yu Shuang urged them, suppressing her anger.

But then Qi An said, “We still have plenty of time. We should be able to try to save the vehicle.”

Yu Shuang froze and looked at her.

Qi An was putting the soft cap of the spy drone’s control unit onto her head. She activated the drone, no larger than a quail egg, and sent it flying at top speed toward the eleven o’clock direction.

“Five minutes are up! Chengfeng Team Two, return to your remaining vehicles. Comrade Yang Yuning, you may come to the lead vehicle. The convoy is departing. No exceptions for latecomers!”

The hard, icy voice over the public channel made everyone feel as though their hearts had been squeezed tight. Yang Yuning and Yu Shuang, both standing on the roof of the vehicle, turned toward Qi An almost simultaneously.

The drone had already reached the location Qi An had sensed. From above, it revealed a concealed, winding line amid the dense wetland grass.

“I’m certain we still have time. If you have a way to save the vehicle, you can try.”

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