The flare shot up into the sky, lit up, then dimd again, lasting only 25-35 seconds, but to Ling Chengyan, it felt as though several years had passed.
She forgot to blink, staring intently at the movents of the small snake, counting down the flare’s duration in her mind: one, two, three, four...
Finally—
When she counted to 28 seconds, the flare’s light began to dim, and Ling Chengyan stared at the snake that had almost entirely slithered into Geng Wei’s clothes, holding her nerve for another two seconds. Then, in the mont it went completely dark, her hand moved.
At this mont, throwing a stone was already too late. She lunged forward half a ter close to the ground, her hand reaching out at the sa ti, accurately pinching the snake’s head through Geng Wei’s clothes.
Bang, bang, two sounds, and the flares shot up again.
Ling Chengyan’s fingers remained in place, gripping the snake tightly.
Geng Wei silently exhaled, his tense body relaxing, lying limp on the ground, unable to care about the sharpness of the grass and branches or the buzzing mosquitoes. His whole body felt cold and covered in cold sweat.
After several groups of flares, the enemy finally stopped, and the surroundings fell into darkness once more.
Without an order, everyone lay still among the branches and grass, unmoving.
Another two minutes passed to ensure the enemy would not fire more flares, then Ling Chengyan gave the command: "Move."
The group lay on the ground unmoving, but upon getting up, their limbs were sowhat stiff. Yet no one dared to make a sound, and no one made any large movents. Still half-crouched, they silently advanced toward the target.
Ling Chengyan stepped forward and patted Geng Wei, inquiring about his condition and whether he had been bitten. Geng Wei shook his head, allowing Ling Chengyan to breathe a sigh of relief.
The small snake, which she had casually flung into the bushes, needed no confirmation—as Geng Wei was aware, its head must have been crushed by Ling Chengyan with blood running down onto him.
Reaching this point, every step forward felt like dancing on the edge of a knife, with the threat of encountering the enemy at any mont.
The team’s pace was not slow, and half an hour later, they finally reached the outskirts of the village.
At this point, Ling Chengyan no longer held back, instructing others to hide in place while she and Zheng Qianjin stealthily approached, preparing to take out any sentries.
However, what puzzled Ling Chengyan was that the village, not being large at about twenty-sothing houses, would typically have at least one group of sentries in each direction, yet they scoured half the village and found none.
Strangely, during their search, they encountered two sets of tripwire mines, each consisting of a suite of five or six mines.
If triggered or not cleared properly, it would cause more than just one or two casualties.
Zheng Qianjin wanted to continue searching but was abruptly pulled back by Ling Chengyan, who used hand gestures to decisively command, "Withdraw!"
Zheng Qianjin hesitated montarily but executed the company commander’s order resolutely, retracing their steps with Ling Chengyan.
After regrouping with others and retreating behind friendly lines, Zheng Qianjin inquired, "Commander, why did we withdraw?"
Having spent almost four hours reaching their target, withdrawing like this left them feeling sowhat reluctant.
Ling Chengyan found a concealed wooded area for everyone to rest briefly, then explained, "Sothing’s off. If there were supplies or a forward command post, how could there be no sentry at all?"
They encountered several mines along the way, but adding the ones they found previously, none were as concealed or dangerous as the two sets of tripwires laid outside the village today.
Ling Chengyan had observed carefully; those two sets of tripwire mines were genuinely ant for killing the enemy, with no identification marks—if it were a command post or warehouse, wouldn’t enemy personnel risk triggering them with frequent movent?
Putting it all together, the conclusion was that the village was unoccupied, neither a forward command post nor a supply depot.
It was a trap designed to lure our soldiers in and then use mines to kill.
"...Surely, they’ve set up a large number of mines inside, and likely most are booby traps. We couldn’t trigger an explosion or make any noise while groping in the dark, making it impossible to clear the mines silently. An explosion would undoubtedly result in casualties and possibly attract enemy artillery."
With mines and artillery fire combined, how could any of their twenty-one make it back?
After explaining, Ling Chengyan instructed everyone to continue back to camp, and the always silent Geng Wei stood up as ordered but collapsed as soon as he got up.
Li Ming, beside him, reached out to catch Geng Wei: "Captain Geng, what’s wrong?"
Hearing Geng Wei’s na, Ling Chengyan’s heart sank, and she quickly instructed soone to shine a flashlight while she ripped open the back of Geng Wei’s shirt with a tearing sound. Under the light, Geng Wei’s back was already bruised, the skin swollen, with nurous blister-like marks appearing.
Ling Chengyan cursed inwardly: Not good!
She quickly ordered him to be laid flat, face down, then took out her Snake dicine for internal and external application on Geng Wei.
While she did this, others cut down two bamboo poles and removed several uniforms to make an improvised stretcher, carrying Geng Wei back at full speed.
Due to the extre danger, they hadn’t even carried flasks or antitoxic serum with them, only a box of Snake dicine because it was compact and convenient—not like snake serum and injection kits requiring glass ampoules and syringes, which were cumberso to carry.
It had taken them over an hour to get there, but they returned in just over forty minutes.
Geng Wei was rushed into the ergency room, and Ling Chengyan sat dejectedly at its entrance.
Zheng Qianjin hesitated before finally speaking, "Commander, don’t worry too much. Old Geng is tough—he’ll be fine."
Ling Chengyan removed her cap, raking her fingers through her hair as she sighed, "I was careless."
After catching the snake, she should have checked for injuries.
Zheng Qianjin replied, "Commander, don’t bla yourself. In that situation, we couldn’t use lights or make noise, so Old Geng had to endure it silently... don’t bla him."
Ling Chengyan shook her head, "How could I bla him?"
They waited outside the ergency room for over two hours before the military doctor erged. Ling Chengyan and Zheng Qianjin imdiately rose to ask about Geng Wei’s condition.
The doctor, looking weary, showed no sign of a smile, "The treatnt has been administered, and antitoxic serum injected. He’s stabilized for now."
Zheng Qianjin and others were visibly relieved, but Ling Chengyan remained composed, asking, "What’s the prognosis?"
The doctor looked at her, "Tonight and tomorrow will be critical. If he gets through it, he’ll be all right."
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