Chapter 54: Chapter 54 Second Mission (9)
As they were speaking, the sound of several helicopters rose one after another in the sky, and the three of them looked up to see five helicopters, emblazoned with the air force flag, flying in from all directions.
“Wow, the reinforcements must have arrived; those rapists and Cult Members wouldn’t have such a grand setup.”
“Mm-hmm, keep looking, keep looking.”
Ye Nai, with a face of disbelief and not a trace of excitement, ordered to loosen the hemostatic bandage and relax before diving back into the underbrush.
“How can she not believe it?”
The injured soldier was still puzzled when a comrade nudged him with an elbow.
...
“It might be stress.”
“What?”
“She’s a civilian, without any professional training. She was just on a delivery mission and ended up in such a thrilling situation. Isn’t being a bit paranoid the lightest form of stress response?”
“Oh, right, then we should remind her to get some psychological counseling when she gets back.”
As the loosened hemostatic bandage was being retightened, Ye Nai came back carrying a sacrificed warrior, placing him at a distance where they could see but not touch.
“There’s no time to move everyone together, but it’s time to loosen their hemostatic bandages. I’ll go make a round. If the arrivals aren’t reinforcements, I’ll just escape on my own.”
“Okay, you go.”
Guessing that Ye Nai might be under stress, the two soldiers nodded along with her words to avoid stirring her and watched her dive back into the underbrush like a nimble little monkey.
At that time, the company commander’s side was truly bustling.
The six helicopters brought medical soldiers; each aircraft also had a search and rescue dog, with even more helicopters and ground forces en route.
The medical soldiers arrived first because there were many wounded here. Upon landing, they split into two groups. A small contingent took care of the wounded near the company commander, while the rest split into groups of five, carrying stretchers, body bags, long scythes, and military dogs to search for others.
The company commander had also informed them about Ye Nai to prevent any misunderstandings.
One group, using the long scythes to clear the way and led by a military dog, ran into Ye Nai in the underbrush. Seeing her holding someone in her arms without a hemostatic bandage…
“Are you Ye Nai?”
“Yes, I am.”
“We are the reinforcements. Hand him over to us.”
Two medical soldiers squatted down, unfolding a body bag. With their experience, a single glance was enough to tell if the person was dead or alive, so there was no need to ask.
Ye Nai didn’t say anything but silently placed the warrior’s body inside when they opened the bag.
The group split up at this point, with two carrying the body bag back and the remaining three continuing the search.
“I’ll lead the way. I applied the hemostatic bandages to the wounded.”
“Alright.”
Ye Nai led the way, followed by the three medical soldiers—one leading a dog, one carrying a stretcher in one hand and a long scythe in the other, and another exerting full force, swinging the long scythe to cut through the thick brush that was as tall as a man.
The other two medical soldiers, one had to lead the dog, the other carried a stretcher in one hand and another long scythe in the other.
She actually wanted to help, mainly because she found it tempting to try, but she couldn’t even use an ordinary short scythe, let alone a long one that cut a whole swathe at a time.
As the undergrowth fell in swathes, they had yet to see any wounded when the search and rescue dog started rushing forward desperately.
“The wounded are up ahead.”
Another swath of weeds fell, revealing the wounded behind it, covered in blood, smoking a cigarette, and looking in good spirits.
“Hey, you made it.”
Soon, this wounded warrior was placed on a stretcher and taken away, leaving only the medic with the guide dog and Ye Nai at the site.
They continued forward and found another wounded, which Ye Nai carried back alone.
By then, the last of the five-person medical team leashed the dog and followed her directions to search ahead, signaling with a flare to call others to assist with whoever they found.
By this time, more reinforcements had arrived.
Armed helicopters in the sky circled in wave after wave without pause, most heading for the attacked frontline camp, with a few descending directly above her to fast-rope down. As soon as they landed, they helped move the wounded and carried away the bodies of fallen comrades.
With enough manpower, Ye Nai didn’t need to lead the way back and forth anymore and was sent back to rest by the platoon leader, returning her outdoor power source to her which the hoarse voice of the communications soldier had borrowed. She accepted the power source, handing him a drink in return.
Different from when she left earlier, the area’s weeds had been cleared, and medical tents were set up to examine the wounded.
Of the whole convoy, only Ye Nai and two warriors remained unscathed. The three of them were assigned a tent for rest, but now only two were present; the other hadn’t returned yet.
“How long before we can go?”
“We’ll withdraw once we’ve gathered everyone. First, we head to a nearby town to rest, fix the vehicles, and get in touch for extra vehicles to pick us up. We’ll need another convoy for so many wounded.”
“The vehicles are all in my Space. Those two from today look like they’re done for; their shells are slashed all over, even letting some light through.”
“Really? Then those three Gold Elements laid it on thick against us, huh?”
“Rapist or Cult Members?”
“The Cult’s more likely. They love to preach that the Otherworld invasion is Blue Star’s original sin, urging believers to repent before the Lord and willingly offer and sacrifice themselves for redemption in the next life, whereas rapists focus more on luring, corrupting, gathering intelligence, and sowing dissent. They’re too scared to sacrifice themselves, just thinking about selling out all of humanity on Blue Star to live the high life with the enemy.”
“Three Gold Elements and a mutant plant, all to take down our single convoy?”
“Maybe they didn’t come to sacrifice themselves intentionally. Perhaps they truly believed they could take down our convoy?” the communications soldier speculated doubtfully.
“Their combat strength was indeed not weak; they hit us pretty hard, but in the end, all of them died, and their attack failed to achieve its purpose,” Ye Nai shrugged and said with a mocking smile.
“Don’t be too careless; that mutant plant was a Bloodthirsty Vine. Although many of its vines were cut off, mutant plants are harder to deal with than mutant beasts. It quieted down behind us, perhaps thinking it couldn’t chew through us and urgently needing to replenish energy, so it temporarily moved elsewhere.”
“That’s true…”
Ye Nai merely nodded along with the communications soldier, fully aware that the Bloodthirsty Vine had already been devoured by the Fungus, leaving nothing but the vine’s outer shell.
As they chatted idly, the third warrior of their group lifted the tent flap and came in.
“Ah, everyone’s here.”
“We were just waiting for you. Have a seat, want a smoke?” Ye Nai offered a wet wipe with her left hand and a cigarette and matches with her right. “They said we’ll leave once we’ve found everyone, but the wounded need to be checked, so even if everyone’s back, we won’t leave that quickly.”
“That’s fine, we’ll wait,” the other person accepted the items, wiped their hands, took out a cigarette, and put it in their mouth. They patted themselves down, then stopped and lit the match to light the cigarette.
“Looking for something? Lost anything?”
“Thought I had energy bars on me, but they’re gone, don’t know where they dropped.”
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“Indeed, I didn’t notice until you mentioned it. Running back and forth, I’m hungry too.”