[Is it that cave with red berries hanging from its entrance, half-buried in snow? My grandma said it's really deep inside, leading all the way down to the foot of the mountain!]

Are the red berries hanging at the cave entrance tasty?

[You glutton! I heard those red berries are poisonous and will cause diarrhea if you eat them. The food prepared by Xiaxia is much better!]

......

The chubby little birds started chatting and the conversation drifted off into other topics.

The falcon, which had been silently feeding nearby, paused, its sharp eyes flashing instantly.

Based on its understanding of these silly, chubby little birds, these foolish birds are no good at scouting or hunting, but their gossip is quite believable.

Then, as night deepened and the snow fell heavily.

The falcon glides silently from its roost like a gray lightning bolt.

It circled rapidly in the air several times, its sharp eyes scanning every shadow.

After confirming that there were no "tails" following it, it suddenly lowered its altitude and flew silently close to the treetops.

The falcon pinpointed the exact location described by the group of chubby, innocent little birds—

A few clusters of frozen red berries hang from the entrance of a cave, which is almost buried in snow.

It cautiously burrowed into the cave and flew down the deep, winding passage for a while, and sure enough, it felt a warm breeze carrying the scent of earth coming from the foot of the mountain!

[The passage is real!]

The falcon was overjoyed!

[Those gossipy little dumpling girls were right after all!]

[That two-legged creature that can talk to animals probably never dreamed that an elite like me would infiltrate her flock of birds!]

Without further hesitation, it rushed out of the cave at top speed and sprinted towards a sheltered rock crevice in the southeast direction.

In a crevice in the rocks, a man covered with a white camouflage cloth almost blended into the snow.

He unscrewed the kettle, tilted his head back, and drank the last few drops of water; his chapped lips showed that the supplies were almost exhausted.

His long period of hiding had caused a thin layer of frost to form on his eyebrows and eyelashes.

The falcon landed steadily on his calloused arm. The man's cloudy eyes immediately brightened, and he quickly lowered his voice to ask, "You're finally back! How did it go?"

"Is the military still searching in the mountains?"

The falcon hopped excitedly twice on her arm, then lowered its head and pecked the man's palm three times quickly and lightly with its beak.

This is their code word for "safety and actionability".

Then the falcon took flight and led the way at low altitude.

A glimmer of hope shone in the man's eyes. He quickly packed up all his equipment and carefully covered all traces of life with snow, his movements so practiced they were chilling.

He quickly caught up with the falcon, his voice hoarse with excitement: "Have you found a safe route down the mountain?"

The falcon nodded firmly in the air.

The man was overjoyed, feeling as if he had carved a path to survival from a desperate situation!

He was incredibly grateful that he possessed the niche skill of bird taming!

The man followed the falcon closely until he was led to the hidden entrance of the cave where red berries hung.

He plunged into the dark cave.

But after taking only a few steps inside, they discovered that the falcon leading the way and the flapping of its wings had abruptly disappeared.

"What happened?"

The man's heart tightened, and he subconsciously switched on the flashlight.

A beam of light pierced the darkness—

What was illuminated was not a deep cave, but a whole circle of dark gun muzzles and the soldiers' cold and handsome faces.

Xia Zhining stood inside the soldiers' protective circle, a warm and hospitable smile on her face: "Oh, you've arrived?"