Ye Jian was equipped with all the essential equipment for marching through the night. Not only did she have night equipment, but she also had the equipment that covered the four major facets of solo operations.
Personal protection, survival safeguards, weapons and tools, and night vision equipment, all of those could be found on Ye Jian. Her kit was considered even more complete than the anti-drug squad she had encountered at 4:00 in the afternoon.
After fixing the night vision goggles to herself, Ye Jian shouldered her QBU assault rifle that was domestically made, 58mm caliber, and had an effective range of 1000 meters. As she swiftly made her way forwards, by estimates, she’ll arrive at her designated shelter at 9 p.m. tonight.
The current ‘road’ she was walking on was the road Xia Jinyuan and the others had carved during their extreme wilderness survival. Over the winter break, all of the training she had experienced was the training Xia Jinyuan had gone through without any changes done!
Her resting spot tonight was also the place he had rested in the past, a side cave that was artificially carved out by who knows when. It wasn’t wide, but it was enough to ensure her sleep tonight.
The four-hour trek was a difficult journey. It started raining heavily once more at around 7 p.m.; luckily, there were no thunderstorms during the winter season. Otherwise, she’ll also have to take precautions against being struck by lightning.
After walking for around another hour, from inside the green world, she spotted a cloth strip that had been torn off by a thorn bush. With her body moving like a sling, Ye Jian immediately hid behind a tree and slowly made her way towards the bush.
Picking up the cloth strip and taking a look, Ye Jian squinted her eyes slightly, a faint smell of blood still lingered on the cloth strip after being washed by the rain. Taking another look at the area around her, the shrubbery around were trampled in large areas. Based on the area that was crushed, no less than five people had stopped here.
Turning her gaze to a tree she couldn’t identify, Ye Jian saw newly made marks where the branches were chopped off.
Then examining the cloth strip that faintly reeked of blood, two sides of the cloth had hems. It didn’t look like it was torn off from a shirt; it looked more like cloth that was torn off from pants.
Picking up a couple of thin branches off the ground, there was also a small pile of fresh wood chips… there’s blood, pant-side cloth, recently cut off branches and fresh wood chips. Someone’s leg was injured, and they needed a splint to keep moving.
They left their tracks behind and didn’t erase it. Either they were in a hurry, or they didn’t have the awareness to erase their tracks.
She could rule out the border police she had encountered earlier; they wouldn’t have left behind obvious traces like this. Even if they made some stops, they’d still erase and cover their tracks when they left.
Injuries? Most likely, none. At least when she spotted that small squad, no one there was injured.
“No way, so lucky, I’ve encountered the people they were after?” Ye Jian quietly mumbled. She returned the cloth strip back where she picked it up, but she made a small change… she tied a slip knot.
After that, she scoured some crushed rocks from nearby and arranged them in hints that the border police would understand. After she was done, Ye Jian erased the tracks she had made, cloaked under her raincoat, and continued her march.
After around ten to fifteen minutes later, Dog barks could be heard from within the mountains. Moments later, a squad of anti-drug border police in a similar camouflage raincoat appeared at where Ye Jian had stopped.
“Captain Liu, here!” Border police that was in charge of reconnaissance pointed at the cloth strip tied onto the bush, then pointed at the crushed rocks laid on the ground. “A running knot, a number of people…our people have passed through here.”
A man who wasn’t burly, he was skinny even, walked over. Though his build wasn’t excellent, he oozes cold rigidness from his skinny body. His hands, with thick fingers, pulled on the slip knot, then taking a look at the crushed stones placed on a few broad leaves, he pondered for a few seconds before he said: “Not our men. Someone else discovered it and left a sign behind, a sign that guides us.”
