Tuwa was captured, O’Brien escaped by helicopter, and the top target of this operation, Kunsha, was still engaged in a final battle. Kunsha and his party was equipped with advanced gear and formidable firepower, so most of the soldiers involved in the action rushed to provide support.
In the depths of the jungle, intense gunfire erupted, and the explosions echoed through the sky.
However, all of this was already unrelated to Ruan Nianchu.
She was escorted by a tall and slender young soldier wearing a helmet, gloves, camouflage uniform, and bulletproof vest. His face was smeared with camouflage paint, making it nearly impossible to discern his original appearance.
The soldier led Ruan Nianchu onto a military green off-road vehicle.
Sitting in the car, she looked back through the window, witnessing the camp and everything around gradually receding. She saw the soldiers subduing the armed militants one by one, observed the young child soldiers huddled together, watching the sudden appearance of Chinese soldiers with alertness and fear, and witnessed Tori attempting to chase their car, only to be stopped by the soldiers…
It was over.
Ruan Nianchu didn’t watch for long. She withdrew her gaze and straightened her posture in the passenger seat.
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Jlpkel bla, vbl uswdt pszekla eashl obkzl nblnjkdt vbl xyr, nyalqwzzu yhskekdt yzz dlyacu xkdlqklzep.
Swyd Lkydnbw ypjle, “Ebyv es usw rzyd vs es okvb vbspl nbkze pszeklap?”
“Xb, vbspl jkep.” Mbl pszekla alprsdele nypwyzzu, pyukdt, “Mblu pbswze cl bydele shla vs vbl Uyxcsekyd tshladxldv.”
Fbl dseele, “Yspv sq vblx yal sarbydp, iwkvl rkvkqwz, yde qsa vbl xspv ryav, vblka dyvwal kpd’v cye. Usdpkelakdt vblka uswdt ytl, albyckzkvyvksd pbswze cl alzyvkhlzu lypu. Rv’p clpv dsv vs byax vblx.”
Mbl uswdt pszekla pxkzle, alhlyzkdt y plv sq obkvl vllvb kd nsdvaypv vs bkp eyaj pjkd. “Zsw’al alyzzu nsxryppksdyvl. Jwv xkpp, kq usw rzyd vs nsdvakcwvl vs nbyakvu vbaswtb vlynbkdt kd vbl qwvwal, usw pbswze nbsspl vbl aktbv rzynl. Uyxcseky kp dsv hlau rlynlqwz.”
Swyd Lkydnbw nwahle bla zkrp okvbswv pyukdt yduvbkdt.
Gp vbl fswadlu nsdvkdwle, vbl asye oyp cwxru. Ublnjkdt bla rbsdl, obknb bye clld vwadle sqq ywvsxyvknyzzu qsa ycswv voldvu eyup okvbswv nbyatkdt, pbl bye saktkdyzzu oydvle vs xyjl y pyql nyzz vs bla qyxkzu, cwv pbl bye vs tkhl wr.
Ebkzl pbl oyp rsdelakdt, vbl uswdt pszekla prsjl ytykd, “Ju vbl oyu, oblal kp uswa bsxlvsod?”
“Yuncheng.”
“Wow, that’s a good place, a first-tier city. My sister got married in Yuncheng.” The young soldier’s character was evidently lively, and once he started talking, the words just poured out. “Speaking of which, we can consider it a bit of fate, right?”
Ruan Nianchu was somewhat tired, smiled, and replied, “Sure.”
“Judging by your age, you haven’t graduated from college yet, right?”
“Starting my third year.”
The soldier chuckled, “Sunshine university student, how great. You guys are all high-quality talents for the country.”
Ruan Nianchu laughed at the compliment and gazed at a certain place outside the window. Speaking more to herself, she said, “I originally thought that people from special forces don’t like to talk much, very reserved. It seems like he’s the only one like that.”
The young soldier shifted his gaze to look at her, curious. “Who? Brother Li?”
Ruan Nianchu remained silent.
The soldier chuckled and then his expression turned serious. There was a mix of respect and emotion in his tone as he said, “If Brother Li weren’t like this, I’m afraid he wouldn’t have been able to stay in this environment for four years. But it’s all in the past now. Four years of patiently waiting and enduring hardships were not in vain.”
Ruan Nianchu asked, “For capturing Kunsha and Tuwa?”
The soldier fell silent, not saying a word.
She tilted her head back, leaning against the back of the seat. After a moment, she furrowed her brows, unable to figure out one thing. “The camp is closed, and Tuwa is so suspicious. How did he usually contact you during the four years he spent here?“
The soldier drove the car, minding his own business and still not speaking.
Ruan Nianchu understood, “Can’t say?”
The soldier looked a bit awkward, hesitated for a few seconds, and said, “We have informants here. There are also specialized channels for transmitting information.”
She was stunned. After a moment of contemplation, she looked up and a guess popped into her mind. “Is it Aunt Xin? She washes everyone’s dirty clothes by the river every day… Do you contact through those occasionally misplaced clothes? Is there intelligence on the clothes?” Forgive her for watching too many movies.
After she finished speaking, the young soldier felt quite awkward and cleared his throat several times, saying, “First of all, this is just your own guess. I haven’t told you anything.”
Having roughly understood the ins and outs of the matter, Ruan Nianchu stopped asking more questions. The conversation came to an end.
For the rest of the journey, the young soldier and she maintained a silent understanding.
The jungle was dense, with towering trees. Ruan Nianchu sat in the car and even saw some snakes outside the car window, spitting venom, displaying their vibrant colors. She recalled how she had wandered alone in this area before, feeling a shiver down her spine.
That day, if it weren’t for Li Teng’s timely intervention, even if she didn’t enter the minefield, she might have died in this jungle.
The off-road vehicle maneuvered through twists and turns for a long time before arriving at an open area. In front of them, several helicopters were parked on the open ground, with other paratroopers standing by.
Ruan Nianchu got out of the car, followed closely by the young soldier.
Several soldiers near the helicopter were taken aback when they saw them, showing surprise. “He Hu, why are you alone…?” Their gaze shifted to Ruan Nianchu, even more suspicious, “And who is this?”
He Hu said, “She’s a fellow countryman we rescued. Don’t ask more. Take her away from here and go directly to the embassy.”
“Whose orders?”
“Deputy Captain Li.”
After hearing this, the soldiers exchanged glances. He Hu continued, “Stop looking at each other. It’s you, Shitou. You’ll escort this comrade for the transfer.”
Ruan Nianchu subconsciously glanced at him. The soldier named Shitou was even younger than He Hu, and he looked around the same age as her. He grumbled, unwilling, “Why me… This is my first mission, and I’m still waiting to be ready for backup at any time.”
He Hu frowned, “Enough with the nonsense. Just escort her.”
Shitou was speechless and reluctantly grunted after a while.
He Hu laughed a few times, then turned to Ruan Nianchu and said, “Alright, young lady, I’ll leave you here. Don’t worry, Little Shitou will safely transfer you out and take you to the embassy. You’ll be back home soon.”
Ruan Nianchu nodded. Shitou quickly climbed onto a helicopter and waved, “Come up, follow me.”
She followed.
With a “bang,” the cabin door closed. He Hu checked, made a hand gesture to Stone in the c*ckpit, indicating they could take off. The rotor blades began to spin, the speed increasing, creating a deafening noise.
In the lingering sunset, the helicopter slowly ascended.
He Hu was saying something loudly outside, but she couldn’t hear. She could only deduce a few silent admonitions from the soldier’s lip movements: “Please keep what happened here strictly confidential.”
She nodded.
At the same time, a series of explosions came from a distance, deafening.
Ruan Nianchu tightened her fingers against the transparent glass window, her gaze flickering. In her field of vision, a large dark cloud rose a few kilometers away from the camp, the faint glow of flames visible, growing more distant…
Ruan Nianchu closed her eyes.
She felt that what that person said was right. Consider everything here as a nightmare. She was in her youth, with a bright future ahead, and she couldn’t let this leave too deep a shadow.
Forget everything about those events and people.
~
The process of pursuing Kunsha was a tough battle.
This man was notorious, cunning, ruthless, and half of his subordinates were well-paid European mercenaries with formidable firepower. Faced with the encirclement of paratroopers, he did not give up and instead resisted fiercely with his group.
The gunfight continued from dusk until nightfall.
At 9:10 pm, Li Teng sniped three close bodyguards of Kunsha and injured his right arm while he was in chaos. The top target, Kunsha, was captured.
At this moment, the four-and-a-half-year-long top-secret operation “Hidden Dragon” of the Falcon Special Forces of the Chinese Air Force finally came to an end.
In the early morning, the suburban area of Phnom Penh was chilly with the night wind. The surroundings were exceptionally quiet, with only occasional dog barks from nearby villages.
Inside an abandoned factory building.
The dim light overhead revealed Li Teng, shirtless, sitting on a wooden stool. His face was pale, and a thin layer of cold sweat covered his robust muscles. On the table were a bottle of white liquor, gauze, an alcohol lamp, and a military knife.
A bullet was embedded in the biceps of his left arm, and over time, the flesh around it had taken on a dull color.
A few soldiers nearby furrowed their brows. “Brother Li, do you need any help?”
“No need.”
Li Teng’s tone was indifferent. He bit open the bottle of white liquor with his mouth and poured it down. The strong liquor flowed along the tense arm muscles. He lowered his gaze to the wound, took the military knife, and heated it over the flame. With a “chi” sound, the sharp blade pierced through the flesh and aimed at the bullet.
It happened in just a few seconds.
His expression was emotionless, lips tightly pursed. Gripping the handle of the knife, he fiercely picked at it. A “ding” sound echoed as the bullet fell to the ground.
Seeing this, He Hu quickly applied the prepared topical medicine and began to bandage and tie it with gauze, skillfully and efficiently.
Li Teng lowered his gaze, took out a cigarette from the pack, and lit it.
At this moment, footsteps approached, and a tall man walked in from outside. The soldiers immediately stood at attention, “Captain Yang!”
Yang Zhengfeng nodded, looking at Li Teng. “How’s the injury?”
“Just a minor injury, I won’t die.” He put on a T-shirt. “How is it on your end?”
“…Yang Zhengfeng’s expression became more serious. He picked up a glass of cold water on the table, drank it all, sat down, then suddenly clenched his fist and slammed it on the table. ‘Couldn’t find the battery, nor the technical data for the battery. That guy is cunning; he didn’t carry those things with him at all.’
‘Did they search his helicopter?’
‘We searched everywhere, nothing.’ Yang Zhengfeng frowned. ‘We’ll have to bring him back to the country and interrogate him slowly.’
Li Teng remained silent. After a moment, he took out a parachute knife from his waist and placed it on the table.
Everyone was puzzled. ‘What is this?’
‘Their knives,’ Li Teng said calmly. ‘Five years ago, after Kunsha and Tuwa killed Dr. Qi, Old Gao, and Old Xia, they took their knives. This one belonged to Old Gao. I suppose Kunsha had Old Xia’s on him.’
As soon as he finished speaking, the entire room fell into dead silence. The soldiers, who were tough young men on the battlefield, all had red eyes.
After a while, Yang Zhengfeng gritted his teeth, clenched his fist so hard it made a grinding sound. ‘I’ll go get them back from him now.’ He said and walked out.
Li Teng remained with a stern face.
Not long after, finishing his third cigarette, he extinguished the cigarette and stood up. Just as he was about to leave, he noticed something on the windowsill from the corner of his eye. Squinting, he saw what it was.
Li Teng’s voice was extremely low. ‘Who brought this back?’
‘Huh?’ Shitou rushed over and, realizing what it was, smacked his forehead. ‘Oh my, I almost forgot about this. Brother, this is the girl’s gift. She picked it before leaving, for you.’
A sheaf of rice flowers. Golden spikes of flowers swayed in the night breeze.
Li Teng looked down for a moment, extended his hand, and the fingertips covered with old calluses touched the flower spikes. He remembered the girl from Yuncheng, her fair face, bright eyes, and the feeling of her long hair sliding through his fingers. Cool, soft, and a little slippery.
Meanwhile, Shitou was still puzzled. ‘You’re a grown man; why is she giving you flowers?’
‘Returning the favor.’
Li Teng smiled faintly. Then he paid no more attention to the bunch of rice plants, turned around, and walked out.
Consider it a fleeting spring dream1an erotic dream.
Goodbye, stranger.”
Sansukini: Awww… Both of them bade “Goodbye, Stranger.”
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That can’t be the end of it, right?? 🥺
Of course not. Lol. This novel has 2 timelines. First one is in Cambodia, then 6 years later in China. We just finished the Cambodia arc. I should add the tag “Time Skip.” The romance part will come after the time skip, 6 years later, which is coming up in the next chapter.