Chapter 188 I Went Mad During the Republic of China (4)
As if his wish had come true, Zhou Jue followed the direction from which the voice came and plunged into the deeper forest without saying a word.
The mountain path was rugged, especially in the pitch-black night. Underfoot were tangled tree roots and sharp rocks, and thorny brambles brushed past him. But Zhou Jue seemed oblivious, his figure moving as fast as a shadow gliding along the ground.
My inner thoughts are becoming clearer and clearer.
Water...I'm so thirsty...
I can't...sleep...
The voice carried a dying despair, and a stubborn refusal to let go, as if someone was clenching their teeth.
Zhou Jue stopped at the bottom of a steep slope. The sound came from below. By the faint starlight, she looked down and saw something in a bush about waist-high. She lightly leaped down and landed silently. Pushing aside the thorny branches, a strong smell of blood hit her.
A person covered in blood is curled up at the base of a bush.
Half of his body was soaked in blood, his black coarse cloth clothes turned dark brown and clung stickily to his body. One leg was twisted at an odd angle, clearly broken. The most fatal wound was in his abdomen, a bloody hole the size of a bowl. Although it was haphazardly wrapped with strips of cloth, blood was still seeping out, staining the soil beneath him dark red. He also had several gunshot wounds on his body.
The man's face was completely bloodless, his lips were dry and cracked, and his eyes were sunken. If it weren't for the faint rise and fall of his chest, he would have looked no different from a dead person.
Zhou Jue squatted down and reached out his finger to check his carotid artery; the pulse was so weak that it was almost imperceptible.
This injury, let alone in this era of scarce medical resources, even in modern times, would be beyond saving even by a miracle if the patient wasn't immediately admitted to the ICU.
Zhou Jue dared not delay. He took out a bottle of spiritual spring water from the Starry Secret Box, carefully pried open the man's mouth, and poured a few mouthfuls down his throat. He had to save the man's life first! As soon as the spiritual spring water entered his mouth, the man's chapped lips seemed to receive some moisture, and his Adam's apple bobbed with difficulty.
Immediately afterwards, Zhou Jue took out a first aid kit. She cut open the man's clothes on his abdomen, and the wound was shocking. The edges had begun to turn black and fester, and the smell was truly unpleasant.
She first cleaned his multiple wounds as quickly as possible, sprinkled hemostatic powder and anti-inflammatory medicine on them, and then injected him with antibiotics and nutrients.
After doing all this, she finally breathed a sigh of relief. The spiritual spring water could keep him alive, and these medicines could control the infection. As long as he had time, he should be able to recover.
Just then, Zhou Jue's ears twitched slightly.
Several new voices, growing stronger, indicate that someone is approaching!
The target is nearby; the smell of blood is strong, he can't have gone far.
[Major Kuroki's orders are: he must be found alive or dead; he must not be allowed to bring anything into Beiping.]
[This guy can really run. He was shot three times and lost a leg, yet he's managed to hold on until now.]
[A swift and decisive victory is needed; this must be resolved before dawn.]
They're Japanese devils!
Zhou Jue's eyes sharpened. She glanced at the man on the ground who had just stabilized his injuries, and quickly moved him to a more secluded depression behind a boulder. She then gathered some branches and dry grass and quickly made him a simple camouflage.
"Don't make a sound or move," she whispered in the man's ear.
I don’t know if he heard me or not, but I saw his eyelids seem to twitch.
Zhou Jue ignored him and disappeared into the darkness in a flash. She concealed all her aura and took the initiative to meet the approaching "hunters".
There were twelve people in total, dressed in black, close-fitting outfits suitable for movement in the mountains. They moved silently and with perfect coordination, clearly seasoned veterans. They weren't carrying Type 38 rifles, but pistols.
Zhou Jue hid in the canopy of a large tree, watching them search in a fan shape.
"Strange, where did they go?"
"Could they be hiding? Let's split up and search!"
Just as they were about to scatter, Zhou Jue moved, holding a silenced pistol in each hand, and fired without saying a word!
Before the group could react, all twelve men were killed, and their twelve bodies lay scattered haphazardly in the woods.
Zhou Jue jumped down from the tree, collected their weapons and ammunition, and after thinking for a moment, he followed Er Niu's example and took off all his clothes and shoes and threw them into his spatial storage before turning around and walking back behind the boulder.
The man behind the stone has woken up.
He leaned against a rock, half-sitting up, clutching a dagger tightly in his hand—his only weapon now, as his gun had long since run out of bullets.
His eyes shone brightly in the darkness. Seeing that it was Zhou Jue approaching, he lowered his guard slightly, clearly having just heard Zhou Jue's voice.
Zhou Jue ignored his tense body. She squatted down and checked his wound, finding that the hemostatic powder had worked and the bleeding had basically stopped.
"Who... are you?" the man finally spoke, his voice hoarse.
Before Zhou Jue could answer, he continued, "Why did you save me? And why did you kill those Japanese devils?"
Zhou Jue stopped what he was doing, looked up, and met his scrutinizing gaze. Instead of answering, he asked, "And you? Who are you? Carrying such important things, being chased by the Japanese like this, you still want to run to Beiping?"
The man's pupils contracted, and his grip on the dagger tightened.
Zhou Jue didn't have time to beat around the bush with him. She stood up, dusted herself off, and said directly, "I don't have time to waste with you. I came to Jibei to find someone whose code name is 'Old K'."
The moment the word "Old K" was uttered, the man froze. His wary eyes flashed with shock. This was an internal secret. How could this woman of unknown origin know it?
Zhou Jue didn't give him time to think. She took something out of her pocket and handed it to the man.
It was a badge, very ordinary in design, just a silver five-pointed star, but in the very center of the star was engraved a small, burning flame.
The man stared intently at the badge, his breathing becoming rapid. This was… this was a special communication token personally granted by the highest leader only at the Yan'an headquarters! Every holder of it represented a special and independent identity, reporting directly to the highest level!
"You..." The man's voice trembled, "Are you part of the organization?"
“It seems you know quite a bit.” Zhou Jue retracted his badge. “Hello, I am ‘Spark.’ Now, can you tell me your identity? Also, what is the intelligence you risked your life to send out?”
The man's bloodshot eyes stared at Zhou Jue, and his tense body slowly relaxed.
He didn't believe her completely, but he had no other choice. In his current state, it was uncertain whether he could even survive until dawn, let alone deliver the intelligence to Beiping. The woman in front of him was his only hope.
He gave a bitter laugh: "My code name is 'Steel Nail'."
He took a breath and continued, "You arrived...just in time. Any later and you'd only be collecting my corpse."
Zhou Jue watched him quietly, waiting for him to continue.
Steel Nail pointed to his unbroken leg: "The intelligence is in my leg."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com