Chapter 303 He's still alive!

When Su Yue saw the blurry fax photo, a startling light suddenly burst forth in her eyes, which had been lifeless for three days!

In the first aid kit, besides the usual medicines and bandages, there was also a slightly wilted herb carefully wrapped in oil paper.

Upon seeing that herb, Su Yue's breath caught in her throat.

This is a herb that she casually taught Gu Beichen while walking on the beach. Because of the unique spots on its leaves, she jokingly called it "Seven Star Grass." It has extremely strong hemostatic and anti-inflammatory effects.

This herb grows only on a specific mudflat near the Hainan Island Military Region; it is found nowhere else.

Most importantly, the deserted island where it was discovered was not on the patrol boat's planned route at all!

what does that mean?

This means that Gu Beichen and his group did not sit idly by after being attacked.

He deliberately deviated from the course and, with the wounded, landed on this deserted island!

He's still alive!

This realization acted like a shot of adrenaline, instantly injecting into Su Yue's depleted body.

She picked up the phone, ready to immediately report her assessment and request that the search and rescue forces focus their search on the deserted island and the surrounding waters.

Just then, a confidential clerk with a solemn expression knocked on the door and entered, handing her a telegram that had just been sent from Beijing and was marked "top secret".

It was Qin Zheng's reply.

Su Yue opened the telegram and her gaze fell on it.

Those few lines of printed text instantly extinguished the flame of hope that had just been ignited within her, leaving her feeling as if she had fallen into an ice cave.

"An investigation revealed that on the day the submarine went missing, there was indeed a trail of an unidentified Seawolf-class attack submarine in the target waters."

"Furthermore, according to intercepted overseas intelligence, the remaining overseas forces of Baicaotang have issued a dark web bounty of one million US dollars. The target—the head of Gu Beichen, a regimental commander in the Chinese People's Liberation Army!"

submarine.

Bounty offered.

A human head on the neck.

Every single character on Qin Zheng's telegram was like a red-hot branding iron, burning fiercely onto Su Yue's retina.

The excruciating pain that felt like it was tearing her apart vanished inexplicably at the moment it reached its peak.

Instead, there is a chill that penetrates to the bone.

There were no tears.

The extreme grief evaporated all her fragile emotions, solidifying within her body into the hardest hatred.

She carefully folded the thin telegram into a tiny square, bit by bit, and put it into her inner pocket.

After doing all this, she turned around and opened the study door.

The living room was in complete chaos.

Overwhelmed with grief, Zhang Huilan, the mother-in-law, fainted again and collapsed onto the sofa.

Grandma Chen clutched her chest, tears streaming down her face, barely able to breathe.

Gu Beixiao and Chu Jingya stood helplessly by, one trying to pinch the philtrum and the other trying to pour water, but they both tripped over each other in their panic.

"Bei Xiao".

Su Yue spoke, her voice not loud, even a little hoarse, yet it was like a sharp ice blade, instantly slicing through the crying and panic filling the room.

Everyone stopped and looked at her.

"Go find Dr. Liu at the health station and tell him to bring an oxygen tank and a first-aid kit and come over immediately."

"Jingya, go to the kitchen and boil a pot of strong sugar water, then get a hot towel to wipe Mom's face."

"Grandpa, please help Grandma back to her room to rest. I'll take care of things here."

Her instructions were clear, concise, and devoid of any superfluous emotion, yet they carried an undeniable power.

The flustered Gu Beixiao and Chu Jingya seemed to have found their pillar of support, immediately wiped away their tears, and split up to take action.

In that moment of silence, the heart-wrenching cries of the twins in the bedroom sounded all the more jarring.

Su Yue walked into the bedroom, where her maternal grandmother's distant relative was holding two children, sweating profusely with worry. The two little ones just kept crying and wailing, their faces flushed red.

She walked over and hugged both children into her arms.

"Wow--!"

The familiar embrace did not bring comfort; instead, it made the two little ones cry even more bitterly.

Especially her daughter, Gu Ningjing, whose little hands were clutching Su Yue's clothes tightly, crying so hard she could barely breathe, her small body trembling violently from sobbing.

Su Yue's heart felt as if it were being repeatedly kneaded by an invisible hand, causing her pain to tingle.

She held the child, sitting stiffly on the edge of the bed, her gaze vacantly fixed on the wall.

There, a huge military map of the South China Sea was hanging.

It was Gu Beichen who hung it up before he left.

He said that when she misses him, she looks at the map and sees him somewhere in that blue area, watching over her and the child.

Looking at that expanse of blue, Su Yue's breath hitched.

Just then, Gu Ningjing, who was in his arms, suddenly stopped crying.

She struggled, poking her small body out of Su Yue's arms, her chubby little hand stretching out straight towards the huge map on the wall.

From her small mouth came a few indistinct yet urgent syllables.

"The ship... is damaged..."

"The boat...I'm afraid..."

Su Yue shuddered and abruptly looked down at her daughter in her arms.

Gu Ningjing's little finger did not point to the sea area marked in red where Gu Beichen went missing.

It also did not point to the isolated island where the patrol boat wreckage was found.

Instead, it points southeast of the lost coordinates to an archipelago consisting of dozens of islands and reefs of varying sizes, with extremely complex terrain.

That archipelago is marked as "Bewitching Reef" on the map.

A single thought, like a bolt of lightning, instantly cleaved through Su Yue's chaotic mind!

She held her daughter, stood up abruptly, and strode quickly to the map.

Her gaze was fixed on the direction her daughter was pointing, her brain racing at an unprecedented speed.

That "Seven Star Grass"!

The herb found in the military first-aid kit only grows on a specific mudflat near the Qiongzhou Military Region, and she personally taught Gu Beichen how to use it.

The isolated island where the wreckage was found is thousands of kilometers away from Qiong Island. How could there possibly be "Seven Star Grass" there?

unless……

Unless Gu Beichen deliberately put that herb there!

He knew that only she could recognize the origin of this herb!

This is a signal!

A distress signal that belonged only to the two of them!

The deserted island where the wreckage was found was a smokescreen! It was deliberately left behind as bait to mislead the enemy and the search and rescue forces!

His real hiding place is this "bewitching reef" that his daughter points to!

The area is dotted with islands and reefs, and riddled with caves, making it a natural hiding place, but also an absolute blind spot for search and rescue.

He hid there with the wounded!

He's still alive!

This deduction, like a thunderclap, instantly unleashed a tremendous force within Su Yue's stiff body.

She handed the child to Chu Jingya, who had rushed over, and turned to rush to the phone. Her fingers trembled slightly with excitement, but she dialed the encrypted line of the military region headquarters with exceptional precision.

"Supreme Commander! I have a critical and urgent military intelligence report to report!"

The call was quickly transferred, and a steady male voice came through the receiver—it was the military region commander. "Comrade Su Yue, we understand your feelings. Please accept our condolences..."

"Commander!" Su Yue interrupted him directly, "My husband, Gu Beichen, is still alive!"