The rain was getting heavier and the sky was getting darker. Zhao Qiang looked around. The trees here were even older, and it was often too big for three or four people to wrap their arms around a single tree. There was a hole in a big tree not far away. Zhao Qiang thought he should rest here for the night. He couldn't travel in the dark. Besides, he was disoriented and might get lost the further he went. He just needed to make sure that the people behind him didn't catch up.
The tree hollow was at least three meters above the ground, which avoided many of the dangers of camping on the ground. It was also relatively dry inside, with enough space for both of them to lie down comfortably. There was some mud and sand at the bottom of the tree hollow, so Zhao Qiang decided to build a fire inside to dry their clothes. Both of them were soaked, and they were prone to getting sick if they didn't dry off. There were several boxes of solid fuel in their backpacks, which produced a light smoke that would be difficult to detect even if there were search teams nearby.
Zhao Qiang opened his backpack, pulled out the solid fuel box, lit it with a lighter, and then started setting up the tent. Yang Shiqi watched Zhao Qiang work around the fire. She felt peaceful and serene. At this moment, she didn't want to be a man anymore. What was so good about being a man? It was nothing compared to being a woman and being cared for by a man.
Inside the tree hollow was a tent, with flickering flames burning at the entrance. Soon the temperature inside rose, and the wet clothes felt uncomfortable sticking to our bodies. Zhao Qiang said, "Take them off. There are puddles down there to wash and dry."
Yang Shiqi blushed and hummed in agreement, then began to undress in front of Zhao Qiang. She first unbuttoned her coat, revealing that her clothes underneath were all torn. Zhao Qiang was naturally embarrassed to look, so he closed his eyes and turned his head away, letting Yang Shiqi throw her clothes at him one by one. In the end, it was her underwear. Zhao Qiang was very embarrassed. This woman was indeed fierce; if she wanted to take her clothes off, she wouldn't leave a single piece of clothing behind.
"Thank you for your help," Yang Shiqi said as she crawled into the sleeping bag inside the tent, where everything was still dry because the tent was waterproof.
Yang Shiqi was naked at the moment, so of course she couldn't go down to wash clothes. Zhao Qiang jumped down from the tree and rubbed the clothes in a fairly clear puddle, including his own clothes. Then he jumped up into the tree hole, poured water into his running shoes, and put them by the fire to dry. He couldn't let the shoes break down again, that would be terrible. Although they could be repaired, who knew when they would break? If they broke during a fight, there would be no time to repair them.
He drilled several holes in the tree hollow wall with a screwdriver, then shaved some tree branches from the side and inserted them into the holes, creating a clothes rack next to the fire. He laid out Yang Shiqi's clothes one by one, followed by his own, and placed his belt, glasses, and other equipment nearby. It would be best to use the heat of the fire to dry them; if something went wrong, Zhao Qiang would go from being Superman in his underwear back to an ordinary person. Although the anti-gravity device could be repaired, the environment here was always so damp that it would break again even if repaired, so Zhao Qiang decided to leave it for now.
Zhao Qiang wasn't worried about taking the laptop bag out of his backpack. Xiao Wei's device was waterproof; otherwise, he wouldn't dare take her out in the wind and rain every day. He turned on the computer screen and placed it next to the fire. Xiao Wei was already carrying a small stool and preparing to warm herself by the fire. She loved joining in the fun; perhaps the world inside the computer made her feel lonely and bored.
Solid fuel couldn't generate much heat, so Zhao Qiang went down to find some dry firewood. However, the heavy rain had soaked all the trees, and the rain was still falling. Finding dry firewood was wishful thinking. Zhao Qiang gathered a few pieces that weren't completely soaked and tried to start a fire, but smoke immediately rose up, which startled him so much that he immediately put out the fire.
After thinking for a while, Zhao Qiang found a way to dry the branches: he would use the powerful energy in his body to shake the wet branches dry. This was a force even more powerful than an ion accelerator. Drying branches was no big deal for him, but using precious energy to dry branches was like feeding a cow with a peony. Only Zhao Qiang could do that.
Before long, Zhao Qiang rushed into the tree hollow carrying a large bundle of firewood. He was quite pleased with himself, humming a song as he started a fire. At first, a little smoke appeared, but in the night, it didn't matter much. Then the flames grew stronger and stronger, and no more smoke appeared. The temperature inside the tree hollow suddenly rose a lot, and the clothes began to dry, steaming.
Zhao Qiang found a pot, scooped some water from under a tree, washed the rice in it, and used a few wet sticks to hang the pot up to steam the rice. Yang Shiqi watched him work from the tent entrance, her heart overflowing with happiness, satisfaction, and gratitude. A girl might not be interested in a man because she hasn't met one who interests her. Once she does, she'll be unstoppable. Now, Yang Shiqi hates her past. She believes her past must have left Zhao Qiang with psychological trauma. She wants her hair to grow long in an instant, and then stand in front of him wearing the dress that girls love most.
Zhao Qiang felt Yang Shiqi's gaze fixed on him and looked up, saying, "What are you looking at? Am I that handsome?"
Yang Shiqi nodded: "Yes, otherwise Xu Xiaoya and Hu Qian would like you so much."
Zhao Qiang joked, "You haven't fallen for me too, have you?"
Yang Shiqi said very solemnly, "Yes, you made me feel that I am still a woman. You restored my confidence in being a woman. I like you and I am grateful to you. Anyway, you will never get rid of me in this lifetime."
Zhao Qiang said, "No way, I have a girlfriend."
Yang Shiqi said, "What does that have to do with me? She is her, and I am me."
Zhao Qiang was speechless; a tough person naturally has a tough mind.
Yang Shiqi said very seriously, "I think using a romantic relationship to maintain our cooperation will be more solid. What do you think, Zhao Qiang?"
Zhao Qiang didn't even look up: "I don't know." Actually, he was thinking about it himself. If it were his own wife, would he doubt her? Just like Xu Xiaoya, he trusted her completely no matter what she did because she loved him, so she would never do anything harmful to him. Hu Qian was the same. Although Luo Xiaowei didn't say anything, who or what power could make her do something to hurt herself? Of course, he didn't deny that there were couples who weren't of one mind; this kind of thing happened all the time in real society.
Yang Shiqi reached out and grabbed the white cloth strips from the clothes rack. Although they were torn into several pieces, they could be tied together. She then wrapped them around her chest and tied a bow, like a bralette. Her underwear was almost dry, so Yang Shiqi put them on inside the tent, then crawled out and sat next to Zhao Qiang. She started rambling on about her childhood stories, making Zhao Qiang laugh non-stop. Soon the rice was cooked, and the two of them dismantled a tree branch to use as chopsticks and ate a hearty meal with a box of luncheon meat.
Worried that the firelight at the entrance of the cave would be spotted by people in the distance, Zhao Qiang broke off some branches and arranged them around the cave, covering the entrance like an iron barrel. Unless looking down from above, the firelight would be invisible. Only then did the two feel at ease enough to prepare to sleep. At that time, there was only one tent in their load, and only one tent could be pitched in the cave. They also only had one sleeping bag. Yang Shiqi crawled inside and then waved to Zhao Qiang, "Aren't you coming in?"
Zhao Qiang said, "You go to sleep, I'll just take a nap by the fire."
Yang Shiqi wasn't a good-tempered person to begin with, and seeing Zhao Qiang so timid and hesitant, she angrily yelled, "Are you even a man?!"
Zhao Qiang straightened his back and said, "Of course, a real man."
Yang Shiqi said, "If you're a man, come in!"
Volume 2 [321] Ambush
Zhao Qiang said, "But you are a woman!"
Yang Shiqi said, "Am I so ugly that it frightens you?"
Zhao Qiang looked Yang Shiqi up and down carefully: "Actually, you're not ugly. You're just as pretty as them. It's just that I always thought of you as a man before. Now that you've suddenly become a woman, I feel a little uncomfortable."
Yang Shiqi reached out and pulled Zhao Qiang into the tent. "I have a way to help you get used to it. Come in."
The fire at the tree hollow grew weaker and weaker. At first, Yang Shiqi's soft laughter could be heard from inside the tent, but later only slight snoring could be heard. The last match went out, and the light of the charcoal fire gradually dimmed. Suddenly, a stick was thrown in, and the fire suddenly blazed. Then more sticks were placed on the charcoal fire, and the weak flames began to rise, gradually growing stronger and stronger. A piece of firewood with a flame was picked up, and a damp cigarette was lit by a dried cigarette.
The cigarette was taken by a small hand that reached out from the tent after she had only taken two puffs. The hand then took two more puffs in her mouth before handing it back. "I haven't felt that cigarettes can be so refreshing in a long time."
"Aren't you going to sleep?" Zhao Qiang turned around and looked at the time on his digital watch; it was only a little past two in the morning.
Yang Shiqi climbed out of her sleeping bag and sat in Zhao Qiang's lap. "I can't sleep without you. Come with me to see Grandpa this time. There are some things I want to tell him. For so many years, both I and my family have treated me like a boy. I think I should tell them that I am a woman, not the so-called 'hope' in their eyes."
“Okay,” Zhao Qiang always said; he rarely objected to what girls said.
“I couldn’t understand what Hu Qian used to say to me, and I even laughed at her, but now I understand,” Yang Shiqi took the cigarette from Zhao Qiang and took a deep drag. “She said she wanted to push you to a position where you could control both the Hu and Yang families. I thought she was just being misled by you, but now I believe you are our hope.”
Zhao Qiang was a little annoyed to see Yang Shiqi smoking. He thought to himself, "Now that's great, both the drinker and the smoker are here. If my parents saw this, they'd definitely chase me all over the village with a stick. But for a spoiled brat like Yang Shiqi, smoking and drinking are nothing."
Zhao Qiang thought for a moment and replied, "I am not anyone's hope. I just want to do what I want to do and realize my dreams. If we are like-minded, we can come together."
Yang Shiqi raised her hand and wrapped it around Zhao Qiang's neck: "I will go with you, but if you abandon me halfway, I will die in front of you, and I will die naked. I want the whole world to know that I, Yang Shiqi, am a woman, and that you abandoned me."
Bang! A gunshot shattered the solemn atmosphere that Yang Shiqi had painstakingly created. Zhao Qiang's first action was to grab the monstrous screwdriver stuck in the tree hole, which immediately transformed into a large shovel to shovel all the charcoal embers out of the tree hole. He then threw it directly into the puddle below to extinguish it. He casually tossed down a few branches to cover the floating traces of charcoal on the water's surface. Then he dressed and put on his equipment. Yang Shiqi, of course, didn't dare to linger either. The strip of cloth around her chest was still wrapped around her. Her tattered short-sleeved cotton shirt was no longer acceptable, so she put on a bulletproof jacket, and then her pants.
Footsteps could be heard in the distance. "Damn it, where is this? We've been wandering around all day and still haven't found the way. I'm so angry I'll burn the whole forest down."
The rain outside had subsided considerably, but after raining all night, the ground was covered with puddles, some of which were a meter or two deep. This group of people were truly fearless in traveling in the dark.
Seeing that the group had stopped more than 300 meters away from the big tree where they were sheltering, Zhao Qiang whispered, "You stay here, I'll go out and take a look."
Yang Shiqi nodded, gripping the compression gun. As long as she guarded the entrance, no one could get in.
Hongtashan threw away his waterproof flashlight, sat on a tree trunk, and took off his shoes; his boots were full of water. Changmao collapsed onto the grass and immediately fell asleep, snoring loudly. Da Huzi, being relatively alert, looked around, but it was all dark and he couldn't see anything. Nevertheless, he cautiously waved his gun around.
"Get up, get up, this isn't a good place to camp, let's keep going," the bearded man urged.
Hongtashan put on his shoes and said, "I'm not going anywhere. If I keep running around like this, I'll eventually die of exhaustion in the primeval forest."
The other team members also complained. Helpless, Big Beard said, "Alright, let's rest here until dawn. We have to find that kid surnamed Yang, otherwise all our efforts will be in vain."
Hongtashan said, "The Taiping rebels retreated and then rushed over again while the border post was negligent, but they didn't encounter the young man surnamed Yang and the porters."
The bearded man said, "That's why I believe they must still be wandering in this great forest. For our future happiness, we must find them!"
Hongtashan asked the last remaining guide, "Do you recognize this place or not?"
The guide shook his head: "It's so dark, surrounded by trees, and it's raining. You try to find it yourself."
The guide was a burly man in his thirties. He shook his head wildly, and suddenly, with a "poof," his head exploded. His swaying neck sent splattered white brain matter all over Hongtashan and the bearded man! The bearded man shouted, "Ambush!" and began firing wildly with his rifle. In an instant, tree branches fell down with a whoosh.
Zhao Qiang, hiding in the distance, saw everything clearly. He hadn't killed the guide himself; in fact, he wanted to use the guide's help to visit Mengta Valley. After all, Zhao Qiang was also interested in the person who was interested in him. If he didn't give this person a 'warning,' he feared there would be endless trouble in the future.
The person who ambushed the bearded man was a foreign man who had arrived after half a night. Fortunately, Zhao Qiang and Yang Shiqi were hiding in a tree hole and were not discovered by them, otherwise they would have been the ones attacked first.
The bearded man's men were few in number and weak in combat, so they were quickly overwhelmed. They tried to break out under the cover of the trees, but the foreigners were very cunning and relentlessly pursued the bearded man. Within minutes, two more of his companions were killed.
Zhao Qiang pondered from a treetop outside the battlefield: the bearded man was Chinese, and they were among the first to attack him, so following them was the only way to continue deeper and find the bigger head. If they all died here, the trail would be cut off, so he had to help them.
Zhao Qiang raised the electromagnetic gun. This weapon was best suited for sniping. In the current battle, the enemy was in the open while Zhao Qiang was hidden in the shadows. Although there were tree branches to cover him, with the X-ray vision glasses and the powerful penetrating force of the electromagnetic gun, even if you were wearing a bulletproof vest, you would be killed without a burial place.
Zhao Qiang began looking for suitable targets. The foreign man was clever; he hid behind a large rock, making it impossible for Zhao Qiang to shoot him. So, he decided to target his men instead. Two foreign mercenaries were hiding behind the same tree trunk. Zhao Qiang selected them and completed his aim in just a second. Then, he pulled the trigger of the electromagnetic gun. Bang! With a soft sound, Zhao Qiang immediately sprang to a nearby tree and changed his position with a few leaps.
The electromagnetically accelerated bullet whistled through the tree trunk that two men could barely encircle, then pierced the head of the first mercenary, penetrated the second man's head, and then disappeared into the bushes.
In the heat of battle, no one even noticed the two dead men! Zhao Qiang sneered and continued firing, changing his position after each shot to ensure his location wasn't revealed by the direction of the bullets. Five bullets killed six men, and the next four were one-shot kills. The foreign mercenary team's fighting power immediately plummeted. The leader was puzzled; the bearded man's team was clearly in retreat, so why were his men dying one after another?
Zhao Qiang took out bullets from the screwdriver sheath in his belt, loaded them, and then began to aim at the next target. Bang! The target was standing not far from the foreign man. The mercenary leader, who was puzzled, finally found the reason. He was shocked. Someone had shot him from behind and killed several of his team members without him noticing!
"Retreat! Retreat!" the team leader ordered in a panic. Continuing the attack on the bearded man under these circumstances, with no clear enemy, would be too dangerous. Although he also had a sniper, his sniper had already been exposed and engaged in combat after the battle began, completely unaware of the hidden expert.
Big Beard's team thought they were doomed. The casualties among his team members were increasing and there was no hope of breaking through. But in this situation, the enemy suddenly did not pursue their victory and actually retreated. At first, Big Beard thought it was a conspiracy, but after waiting for a long time without any movement, Long Hair searched the surrounding area and came back and said, "Brother, they have retreated. They have retreated at least three miles away."
The bearded man looked surprised: "Why is that?"
At this moment, Hongtashan searched the battlefield and returned carrying several corpses. "Brother, look, these people didn't die from our bullets. Every shot was a headshot. They were really powerful."
The bearded man guessed, "If it wasn't one of our people, then it must be an internal conflict among them?"
Longhair said, "Who cares? We're safe for now anyway, let's get rid of them quickly."
Suddenly, a movement occurred in the bushes, and the bearded man immediately fired a burst of bullets. "Who's there!"
Someone cried out tremblingly, "It's me, the porter, don't shoot!"
Hongtashan cautiously approached with his gun, with Big Beard and Long Hair acting as lookouts for him. He successfully pulled a porter out of the bushes. Everyone recognized this man, because he was the one who had abducted the boy surnamed Yang!
"Damn it, it's you!" Long-haired man kicked the porter, who fell to the ground. Bearded man stopped Long-haired man from continuing to teach the porter a lesson and hurriedly asked, "Where is that kid surnamed Yang?" That was the priceless treasure. He had sacrificed years of his business for him.
"It's...it's in the tree ahead," the porter said fearfully.
The bearded man chuckled, "We've searched high and low without finding it, and now it's right here! Heaven hasn't forsaken us! Let's go, go and arrest him. If he gets away this time, you'll all pay with your lives!"
Volume 2 [322] Brother, Spare Me!
Zhao Qiang stood fifty meters away from the tree and shouted, "Hey, you've been spotted! Stop resisting and come down!" Zhao Qiang didn't dare to climb the tree, fearing that Yang Shiqi would shoot him down and he would die an unexplained death.
The bearded man and his gang pointed their guns at the tree hole. If Zhao Qiang hadn't warned them not to try and discover the secret, Yang Shiqi would have finally pushed aside the branches and climbed down the vines. She glared at Zhao Qiang and said, "What are you doing?" Her words were full of resentment. She had a deep affection for that tree hole and wanted to stay there for a couple more days.
Zhao Qiang chuckled foolishly: "If we've been discovered, we should just go with them. It's safer with more people around."
The bearded man pointed his gun at Yang Shiqi's head: "Good, you'd better come with us, otherwise you won't be safe."
Yang Shiqi was a little annoyed, but Zhao Qiang pulled her back to the group, so everyone was reunited. Hongtashan asked the bearded man, "Boss, how do we get there this time? The last guide is dead, and the other one is missing. There's no one to guide us."
The bearded man rubbed his head and randomly pointed in a direction opposite to where the withdrawing foreign mercenaries were: "Go wherever you want, the farther away from those people the better. We don't even know where they come from."
Hongtashan lit a cigarette, pointed at Yang Shiqi, and said, "Could it be because of him?"
The bearded man nodded: "I don't think there's any other reason. Keep a close eye on them; we can't let them get lost again this time."
The group trudged along in the darkness, their steps uneven. By dawn, Yang Shiqi was too exhausted to walk any further. Her feet ached so much that she had to sit down by the roadside. Zhao Qiang rolled up her trouser leg and discovered that the spot where she had been injured the night before was swollen. It had been just a small wound, but it had probably been infected by rainwater and bacteria from the tree trunk. Now it was swollen like a bun. Zhao Qiang felt a pang of sympathy and gently massaged it for Yang Shiqi. Yang Shiqi felt much better psychologically from Zhao Qiang's massage.
"How about we leave?" Zhao Qiang meant that he didn't want to hang out with the bearded man anymore, and the two of them would try to return to China.
Yang Shiqi endured the pain and said, "No, we've come this far, it's not worth giving up now."
The long-haired man in front turned around and shouted, "What are you doing? Stop dawdling and hurry up!"
Yang Shiqi showed her feet and said, "They're so swollen, you won't even let me rest?"
When Hongtashan came over and saw that it was indeed not an act, he had a headache: "Hang in there, it will be fine once we get out of the forest. We lost all the medicine we were carrying when we fled the border post. Just bear with it."
Zhao Qiang carried Yang Shiqi on his back, and Changmao chuckled lewdly: "This young couple has a good relationship. It's really unexpected that such a talented scientist would like men. Interesting, interesting. Everyone has their own ambitions."
Yang Shiqi lay on Zhao Qiang's back and whispered in his ear, "What does he know? I'm going to kill him with my own hands!"
Zhao Qiang said in a low voice, "No way, you hate him that much?"
Yang Shiqi said, "He openly let me win, do you think he should be killed?"