If it was simply moving towards her destination for fifteen days, that’s not a problem at all. Here’s the problem: in this area, leaving aside the presence of venomous snakes and mountain leeches, there’s also the possibility she’ll encounter drug trades in here! Principal Chen had said that there are frequent shoot outs in this area; sometimes, even the anti-drugs armed border police are deployed into this area.
She had yet to encounter the drug trades and anti-drugs armed border police, but she had already seen her fair share of venomous snakes and mountain leeches!
Especially mountain leeches. They appear most commonly during the rainy season, and no matter how much she covered herself up, her neck had already been bit twice. When the feeling of pain shoots through her nerves, it’s usually when they have already finished feasting on her blood. When she smacked them away, the black yet slippery body of theirs that was at least twice as large as water leeches were bloated round from their feast!
With her army knife, she sliced it from both ends. She could still see its separated body twisting squirming on the ground as red blood flowed out and was washed away by the rain.
After she settled the mountain leech, there were still large pythons. Usually, these types of snakes wouldn’t pose a problem as long as you avoid them, but when you really encounter them, being scared by them is inevitable. Staring at the python entangled with the vines, Ye Jian still needed to watch her surroundings while keeping an eye on it. After the rain was over, the python left the vines and slithered away into the forest’s deeper ends.
Inside the rainforest, even humans could become food for the snakes.
Raindrops were still dripping onto the ground. Putting away the rain tarp, Ye Jian erased all signs of her presence as she continued making haste with her compass in hand.
At around four in the afternoon, the sounds of dogs barking could be heard not far away. Without any hesitation, Ye Jian climbed up a tree with her hands and climbed up all the way with just her bare hands. She held her breath to prevent being discovered by the dogs.
Dogs have a very sensitive sense of smell. When Ye Jian noticed that the sound of dog barks was moving closer, her heart skipped a beat. She wasn’t afraid of the border patrols’ drug detection canines; she was afraid she’d encounter dogs used by the drug traders.
Dogs that were used to avoid border patrol in their drug trades!
She did not linger on her tree. Ye Jian very carefully stepped on the tree branch as she kept her balance, then very slowly leaped towards the tree in front of her. Even if the dog managed to catch her scent, there’s still enough time for her to escape.
In no time, a squad of people in camouflage walked into her line of sight. The illumination was too dim, having rained not long ago. There was also a heavy mist in the rainforest, so Ye Jian was unable to quickly determine whether the people down there in camouflage were the border police, or somebody else.
“Captain Liu, the scent’s gone,” someone said in a hushed tone. He then pulled out a piece of cloth and let the drug detection dog smell it. After a while, the man who had just spoken continued: “That’s not right, the scent isn’t right.”
Of course, it wasn’t right; the person they’re after wasn’t the same as the one here.
“Wrong target.”
“They went towards the South; this is North.”
Hiding her figure behind the rainforest leaves, Ye Jian could only hear them whisper a few more sentences to each other before the drug detection dog barked once more and started moving towards the North.
Avoiding canines that had undergone special training was also a skill that special forces soldiers needed to have. Ye Jian remained motionless on top of the tree for at least an hour, until she stopped hearing the dog barks, only then did she flick on her weak flashlight, and spread out her marching map.
She needed to locate her exact current location. After listening in on the border police’s conversation, they must be chasing after a target, and her appearance had led the dog astray, leading them to the wrong target.
After reorienting her location, Ye Jian then stored the map back into its waterproof pouch, and, with her radiant military dagger in her mouth, she swiftly descended from the treetop.
After 5 p.m., the sky over the rainforest had darkened, not even a shred of light was present in the sky. Ye Jian used her luminescent compass to point her towards the right direction as she continued marching forward. She still needed to march for another four hours before she could call it a day.
