Chapter 124

What does Captain Ilya mean?

Jiang Wenxing blushed as he thought.

Night quietly descends, and a crescent moon hangs in the sky, its gentle light spilling across the earth.

On the high hillside, the sentries changed shifts, frost forming on the brim of the soldier's hat as he gazed into the distance.

The land was vast and unobstructed, and the sound of the wind flowed through the forest.

All around was quiet and desolate, with faint singing drifting in on the night breeze.

Who is singing?

It's not a melody of homesickness, nor a song sung for the deceased.

After changing shifts, the soldiers, in twos and threes, carrying their rifles, stopped to listen.

Kush hadn't heard a song like this in a long time, one that reminded them of a warm home, a campfire by the hearth, their father's pipe, and the beautiful veils on their mother's and sister's heads.

In those small Tanas villages, there is the sweet aroma of grapes and the smell of many sheep.

Those places are so far, so very far away.

The battle with the ant tribe was so dangerous; you never knew when you might be killed.

Fear and dread are human emotions, but the country needs them.

So they all stayed.

It's just a little sad that I can no longer have a sip of wine or a warm bowl of stew from home.

The severe cold froze those young faces red.

The atmosphere was quiet.

Awooo—

The deep wolf howl drew responses from all directions.

In the dense forest, a giant gray wolf basked in the moonlight, and a tall figure leaned against it.

The singing came from him.

It was blown away by the night.

Jiang Wenxing slept soundly. When he got up in the morning, he went to the mess hall. After finishing his work, the first thing he did was go to the storeroom to find materials.

On the way, we passed a medical clinic where there was a long queue.

Because of the previous out-of-body experience, the old guide led the younger guides to check on the sentries in Kush and sent all the off-duty sentries to the medical room.

"I'm not sick!"

When it came time to take off their clothes, some shy sentries refused to let the guide touch them, blushing bright red as they tried to pull away and turning away with a sullen face.

But when glared at by those calm and collected guides, they straightened their faces, muttered something, sat down, and did whatever they were told.

Zhu Ning was a little annoyed, so she stood outside in her white coat to get some fresh air.

Seeing Jiang Wenxing carrying a hoe, I was a little surprised. Seeing him wearing an apron, I turned my head away with disdain.

Jiang Wenxing had not received any notification from the old guide. He wanted to help, but he also knew that his connection with the spiritual entity was unstable, and that bringing it out rashly would cause problems.

Therefore, he ignored Zhu Ning.

We arrived at the warehouse.

After finally finding the wire and steel bars used to build the utility pole, Jiang Wenxing was worried about how to move them.

Suddenly sensing someone behind him, he turned around and saw a gray, one-eyed old wolf silently appear at the warehouse door.

Standing next to him was a tall sentry who had also lost an eye. He was somewhat thin and did not look young. There were fine lines at the corners of his eyes, but he did not look old. Instead, he had a sense of maturity that came from experiencing many hardships.

He was also a Thanas, with fair skin, amber eyes, and slightly deep-set eyes. His expressionless face asked, "What do you want?"

Jiang Wenxing guessed that he was Agust.

A sentry's physical strength is about 3 to 6 times that of an ordinary soldier, and in some cases as much as 8 times. Judging from how easily Aguz lifted a bundle of steel bars and iron rings, he must be a very strong sentry.

Jiang Wenxing chatted with him on the way, telling him that sentries should eat more vegetables.

Aguz remained silent until Jiang Wenxing pressed him for answers, at which point he frowned and proudly declared, "Wolves only eat meat; the weak eat grass."

Jiang Wenxing said, "That's why your mind left your body."

Agus: "..."

Jiang Wenxing: "I like to eat vegetables. Am I weak?"

Agus: "..."

Seeing that the honest man was blocked from entering the cassette tape, Jiang Wenxing did not bully him, but said: "This kind of thinking is too one-sided. In your case, you should eat more vegetables, which will be of great help to your mental health."

That's what they say, but the current sentinels have a deeply ingrained concept of eating meat, and a sentinel who eats vegetarian food will be ridiculed.

Aguz didn't seem to be persuaded at all, so Jiang Wenxing could only sigh inwardly.

When they arrived, Jiang Wenxing found that Squad Leader Xiong and Ilya were both there. Ilya was squatting on the ground with a shovel and a roll of toilet paper.

Jiang Wenxing expected that sentries would come to help, but he didn't know that Ilya would come in person. He walked over and said, "Squad leader, captain."

Ilya put away the measuring tape: "How do we set it up?"

Jiang Wenxing handed him the notebook: "I've already calculated all of this. Now we have the main beam, but we're still missing the framework. Are there any bamboo trees in the mountains around here?"

Ilya looked at the notebook for a while, frowned, and then unfolded it again: "You want to bend it into this shape? As long as the material is sturdy, it's fine? Then just use the claws of the ant tribe."

Jiang Wenxing leaned closer: "Which one?"

Jiang Wenxing didn't react. Ilya was a little awkward at first, coughed twice, and said with a serious face, "I understand the drawing. Just watch us do it. We'll talk about it if there are any problems."

The sentries took off their coats and started working. They were slim-waisted, long-legged, and muscular, bending steel bars with their bare hands and twisting wires into small loops.

Jiang Wenxing was dumbfounded. He thought that keeping these sentries in the factory and tightening screws would definitely make the business bigger and stronger.

He wanted to help, but when he smelled a familiar scent of lilacs, Jiang Wenxing knew he should leave. He told Ilya that he wanted to go for a walk on the hillside. Ilya paused for a moment and summoned the giant wolf from his mental image.

As soon as the giant wolf came out, it ran to Jiang Wenxing's side and looked for his good friend.

Jiang Wenxing shushed him.

Aguz's one-eyed old wolf was also itching to make a move, but compared to the giant wolf that always licked its master's boots and annoyed him, the one-eyed gray wolf was more obedient. Aguz didn't say anything, and it just stood there without moving.

Jiang Wenxing smiled gently and asked Agus, "Can I take it with me?"

Aguz stared at Jiang Wenxing in surprise. After a long while, he nodded stiffly and gestured with his chin toward the one-eyed gray wolf.

The one-eyed gray wolf's ears perked up immediately, but unlike the giant wolf that circled around Jiang Wenxing, it chose to follow Jiang Wenxing at a distance that was neither too close nor too far.

Sentinels protecting guides typically disable their sensory input to avoid being affected.

After walking a distance, Jiang Wenxing closed his eyes and patiently called out. A circle of transparent mental ripples appeared, and the little mouse flew onto the giant wolf's head with a thud.

Before the wolf could catch up with the mouse, it disappeared again. Jiang Wenxing seemed to be deep in thought. He closed his eyes, and the mouse reappeared. He opened his eyes, and the mouse disappeared again.

This left the giant wolf utterly bewildered, its face blank. It growled twice at the one-eyed gray wolf, while the old wolf scoffed and lazily licked its paws.

When Jiang Wenxing summoned his spiritual form again, the little mouse didn't run onto the wolf. Instead, it appeared on Jiang Wenxing's shoulder, hopping around and squeaking incessantly, clearly very angry.

Jiang Wenxing said, "You were the one who ignored me first."

The little mouse stood with its hands on its hips, squeaking, squeaking, squeaking!

Jiang Wenxing said confidently, "I am you, and you are me. You are angry with me and ignoring me. You are being unreasonable."

The little mouse looked like the sky had fallen, its little paws angrily grabbing Jiang Wenxing's collar, and kicking him with its left leg.

Jiang Wenxing picked up the little mouse and rubbed it in his palm: "Then you still took the bullet for me, so you still love me."

The little mouse chose to lie in Jiang Wenxing's palm and pretend to be dead. Jiang Wenxing stroked its little head and rubbed its little belly, acting very domineeringly and shamelessly: "Don't ignore me. You are my friend, my family, and my comrade-in-arms."

The sentinel and the guide's spiritual entities are each other in the world. They may have different personalities, but they are each other's most trusted beings.

The little mouse covered its eyes and squeaked.

Jiang Wenxing said, "I'm not lying to you."

After a while, the little mouse finally put down its paws, its eyes wet. It looked at Jiang Wenxing, who smiled at it. The little mouse squeaked, sniffed, and carefully hugged Jiang Wenxing's thumb, rubbing it gently.

No matter what you've done to me.

I will forgive you.

If you can't even accept the mistakes you've made, can't love yourself, and can't forgive yourself, then no one in the world can save you.

Jiang Wenxing patted the little mouse's head, and the little mouse squeaked twice, jumped onto the giant wolf, and squeaked with the wolf's ears.

The giant wolf nodded, glancing at Jiang Wenxing every now and then.

Jiang Wenxing: "..."

He came here hoping to find some wild vegetables. Most wild vegetables in autumn are not as fresh and tender as those in spring and autumn, and there are fewer varieties. However, Jiang Wenxing remembered a type of bitter fern that had been widely recommended in the military before greenhouses became common.

However, the taste is really hard to swallow. Ordinary people find it unpalatable, and even sentinels with keen senses feel like they've lost their parents after eating it. There are even news reports of sentinels being hospitalized in an attempt to avoid eating bitter ferns.

But it's often these kinds of things that work better.

Jiang Wenxing plans to first use one or two examples to simultaneously promote the dietary concepts of greenhouse workers and sentries.

Once inside the forest, the giant wolf stood guard beside Jiang Wenxing, its gaze calm yet wary.

The little mouse sat on the giant wolf's head, looking around. When it saw the gray wolf following behind, it squeaked twice and jumped over.

Make new friends.

The giant wolf felt a lightness on its head and turned around with a howl.

The one-eyed gray wolf sat stiffly in place. The little mouse, perched on his face, kicked its short legs and laboriously crawled to the wolf's ear, tugging at it and squeaking.

The giant wolf's expression instantly turned fierce—

"Wolf."

The giant wolf hesitated, caught between a rock and a hard place, before finally letting out two unhappy howls and running towards the guide.

Jiang Wenxing had no tools and couldn't dig up the roots of the bitter fern with his bare hands, so he had to help the giant wolf that was following him. The giant wolf's claws were very sharp, and it dug up the soil as easily as cutting tofu.

As Jiang Wenxing searched, the giant wolf followed behind him. After circling the entire hillside and finding almost everything, he led the giant wolf, which was covered in grass clippings and mud, out of the weeds.

Ahead was Kush's outpost, with wildflowers blooming on a small patch of lush green grass.

A one-eyed gray wolf lay lazily on the grass, and a butterfly fluttered down and landed on its nose.

It didn't move either.

The little mouse sat on the wolf's tail and stuffed many wildflowers into the wolf's fur. Now the one-eyed wolf is a proud and elegant flowery wolf, and he is also good friends with the guide's spirit.

The giant wolf howled and charged forward, rolling around and getting covered in grass clippings, trying to hide itself among the wildflowers in the meadow and establish the fact that it was the most beautiful animal friend.

Jiang Wenxing: "..."

Back at the camp, the tent had already been set up. Aguz, Ilya, and Sergeant Bear had all worked up a sweat and were sitting on the ground drinking water.

Jiang Wenxing returned with a grumpy wolf and a seemingly happy wolf, while the little mouse was taken back into the mental image.

Ilya was puzzled when he first saw the lush green grass in Jiang Wenxing's hand. The guide had spent more than three hours searching the mountains and only found this much pig feed? The key point was that there wasn't even enough grass to feed the pigs.

Ilya asked him, "What do you need this for?"

Jiang Wenxing was struggling to find test subjects when he saw the three sentries in front of him. His eyes lit up and he decided to help the kind-hearted comrades first. He was very enthusiastic and sincere, his fair face flushed with excitement: "Thank you all for your hard work. I'll treat you to something good tonight!"

Sergeant Xiong put down his water bottle and shook his head vigorously: "What is this? I don't want it."

Jiang Wenxing looked longingly at Ilya.

Ilya smiled, guessing that Jiang Wenxing probably had some purpose, but it would be troublesome to explain or not easy to convince people. He patted his two friends on the shoulder: "Let's go together."

Since the captain had spoken, Agus and Sergeant Bear didn't say anything more. They thought to themselves, it couldn't be some kind of chocolate or Western-style bar, they didn't want that. They had only helped a little bit, how could they be worth such good things?

It was evening by then.

Ilya's inspection tour was to Jiang Wenxing's dormitory last.

When he arrived, Sergeant Xiong was not there. Inside the room sat Aguz and Jiang Wenxing, and on the table were three large bowls, two of which were already empty.

Ilya took off her gloves: "Where's Xiong Zheng?"

Just as Jiang Wenxing was about to speak, Aguz interrupted him: "This was made by Comrade Jiang himself. We've been waiting for you, but we ate it first because we were afraid of the cold. This one is yours, Captain."

Ilya nodded, his gaze indifferent, and sat down with an air of grandeur, picking up the enamel bowl.

His eyelashes, glistening with night dew, trembled slightly. His expression was serious and solemn. He slurped up a large mouthful with his chopsticks, chewed it, and one cheek bulged out.

Two seconds later

Ilya sat frozen in place.

He closed his eyes, wanting to speak, but he couldn't swallow his words. He closed his eyes again, then opened them again: "Where's Xiong Zheng?"

Jiang Wenxing said softly, "Go throw up after you finish eating."

After witnessing Ilya's mask of agony, Aguz felt half better: "I ate half a bowl and threw up half a bowl."

Ilya looked at Jiang Wenxing: "..."

Jiang Wenxing's face flushed red, then turned pale, then flushed again, before she finally said seriously, "It's good for one's mental state."

After saying that, fearing it wasn't enough, he served Ilya some green bracken soup.

Author's Note: