Ruan Ling's performance made Zhao Bankuo very puzzled. After thinking about it, he called Lao J up as a witness. Then he took Ruan Ling aside and the two of them gave their assurances. Ruan Ling finally said slowly:

"It's nothing to do with Xiao Daozi. I was in a panic just now. I saw you guys stopped to rest, so I left the team to relieve myself. Then I saw a big snake and screamed in fright. Xiaodaozi noticed that I was missing and came to look for me. I happened to see him.

At that scene, he pulled me up, tripped and fell together, so the 'bandits' misunderstood."

Zhao Bankuo nodded to show that he understood, and asked Lao J to accompany Ruan Ling, and then turned back to ask Xiao Daozi. The answers he got were similar, and he felt relieved. He also highlighted the situation and told everyone, this

The little episode is over.

As they continued to march, the team and the woods returned to their normal state. Only the "bandits" seemed to have a grudge against Xiao Daozi, and kept provoking Xiao Daozi to admit the "bad things" and details just now. Xiao Daozi had a cold face and was completely

I ignored him, and finally got annoyed, so I went to the front to explore the way, and then stopped.

Zhao Bankuo looked at the map twice. They had now deviated from the Japs' north-south defense line and entered the southernmost side of Savage Mountain. This was their marching strategy that was planned before they arrived. As soon as the war started, the Japs' defense line would begin to extend.

In the end, it was extended to the point where they could not cross, so they had to make a large circle from west to south in order to safely reach their destination, which was the crash site of the German plane.

The team members have always believed that Zhao Bankuo holds all the secrets of this mission. In fact, the real secrets are in the hands of the military, and he is only the person in charge of the specific operations. He does not know why the military asked them to return to the place where the plane crashed.

What is the meaning? The only thing that is clear is that after arriving there, the military headquarters will specify the next route and mission details through a telegram.

This method of secrecy puts him in a very embarrassing position. On the one hand, the team members think that he knows everything, but on the other hand, he has to act like he knows everything, so as to stabilize the morale of the army. In fact, who really knows something?

, it may be Old J, this foreigner, may be the key to the entire mission.

Of course, this is all Zhao Bankuo's guess. The team has just marched here, and there are still gaps between people. Maybe if we experience something in the future and everyone has more trust, Old J will say something to him. He

Already numb to the task, he felt that those who were really anxious should be the military and the Americans.

The sun rose and set, set and rose again, and the team stayed in the woods for another twenty-four hours. On the afternoon of the second day after Ruan Ling's disappearance, Zhao Bankuo suddenly heard warning birds.

Due to the route, they all walked smoothly along the way, so this was the first time that Xiao Dao Zi's warning bird call was emitted. Others immediately stopped and huddled in the grass, waiting for Zhao Bankuo's order.

Zhao Bankuo crouched behind a tree and listened. He was supposed to call out three times when encountering an enemy, but this time there were only two calls. It seemed that something was going on ahead.

On this issue of alert, Zhao Bankuo completely believed in Xiao Daozi. He waved his hand and said: "Be careful and go over and take a look." Immediately everyone entered the alert state, two in front, three in two, and slowly sang to the birds.

The position has moved over.

As they were moving forward, Zhao Bankuo suddenly knew something was wrong. As they got closer, many withered twigs appeared on the shrubs around them. The withered condition of these twigs was very different from ordinary ones.

, the side facing the direction of the birdsong was all dead, and there was still a little green on the back. Zhao Bankuo grabbed a handful, opened it and took a look, and found that the inside of the twigs had rotted. It felt like the tree had suddenly grown.

They died together with their roots.

After walking for a while, the yellowing became more and more serious, and finally turned completely gray, and all the leaves of the plants fell off.

What surprised Zhao Bankuo was that this

The strange forest turned out to be very big. After they got deeper, they could no longer see the green in front, back, left and right.

Xiaodaozi came over and said, "What a fucking evil person."

Wang Simao walked up to Zhao Bankuo and whispered into his ear: "Captain, these dead trees are hard to see at a glance. Did the Japanese put poison gas bombs or something in front of them?"

Zhao Bankuo nodded and took out his telescope to look. He felt that what he said was on the right track. The military doctor came over and said, "Xiucai, I know what is going on. I have seen it once before."

Zhao Bankuo became interested and asked, "Oh? Tell me about it."

The military doctor lowered his voice mysteriously and said: "There used to be a very heavy rain in our hometown. After the rain, all the trees on the mountain withered. My grandfather said that it was because the old demon from Montenegro was unhappy.

We had to move, but when we were digging over the mountains to plant trees, we found a lot of dead people’s bones.”

While talking, he took out a stack of yellow paper from somewhere, lit it on fire, squatted down and burned the paper while chanting: "Tathagata Buddha, Guanyin Bodhisattva, Jade Emperor, gods and Buddhas from all directions, bless us to have a good progress."

Go out well, don't touch dirty things, and protect us from any more deaths."

The "bandit" exploded in anger, kicked the fire away, grabbed the yellow form and threw it on the ground, pouted a few times, and said: "The old man cursed us to death!"

The military doctor jumped up and wanted to get into trouble with him. Lao Diao pulled the military doctor away from the side and advised: "If there is anything dirty, the tree will die. It's not a big deal. I'm here! Don't fix those useless things."

"

But the military doctor didn't take this trick and scolded: "You know nothing about 'bandit'! You will be the first to die when you come back!" After that, the two men started to fight.

Zhao Bankuo originally thought it was not appropriate to burn paper, but when he saw that they were getting more and more noisy, Lao J on the side looked at him with his arms folded, looking disapproving. A burst of anger suddenly rushed up, and he shouted: "Stop it."

!What kind of internal strife is going on! Wear a gas mask and exit."

The "bandit" snorted, and the few people quickly retreated. They walked back to the edge of the woods before sweeping out a clearing, lined up their sleeping bags, and rested on the spot.

The reason why Zhao Bankuo made such a decision was because he thought of the poisonous forest. At that time, Liao Guoren did not withdraw, so that the entire army was almost annihilated. He did not want to make the same mistake.

After they were completely settled, Zhao Bankuo spread out the map to calculate the direction and found that they still had not bypassed the Japanese defense line. This forest was at the southernmost part of Savage Mountain. The path they took when they first entered the mountain had been completely traced.

Not there. Originally, you could see a cliff after passing the poisonous forest, but now looking at the map, the cliff is dozens of miles away, and they have bypassed it.

Although the route they are taking now is different from the previous route, no matter how they detour, they will eventually return to the dandelion field, which is the turning point of their mission.

Zhao Bankuo now has several options: First, immediately change the route of action and avoid this forest. This is the safest, but very time-consuming. Second, send two people to explore the road tomorrow, but this method is not possible here.

It is very suitable, because the front is unclear and there are not many of them. If the explorers encounter an accident and fail to report the situation in time, they will be more passive. In addition, other methods also have various problems.

This gave him a very headache. Any decision he made was related to the life or death of all team members. It seemed simple, but when it came to making a decision, it was not an easy task.

When I was a player under Liao Guoren, I felt that it was not difficult to be the captain. Now it seems that all the choices Liao Guoren made have put him under tremendous psychological pressure.

While I was thinking, a voice sounded from behind: "Zhao, we don't have time."

Zhao Bankuo replied

Turning his head, he saw Old J squatting down and continued: "What are your plans?"

Zhao Bankuo sighed in his heart and said, "I'm still thinking."

Old J asked: "Then do you have any concerns?"

Zhao Bankuo told Old J everything that happened in the poisonous forest and some of his concerns. Old J later said: "You Chinese have a saying, you can't catch the tiger's cubs if you don't enter the tiger's den. I believe you."

.”

Zhao Bankuo smiled bitterly in his heart. If it was really a tiger's den, it would be easier to deal with. They would just sweep a few shuttles and be done with it. However, when 50,000 people entered Savage Mountain with muskets and cannons, only a few thousand people came out later. This place is not that simple.

.

However, several of the choices he faced had risks. It made no difference which one he chose. As soon as his mind changed, he called Wang Sixao over and ordered: "Let everyone take a good rest and set off at dawn tomorrow. Take precautions."

Take measures to pass through the forest as quickly as possible."

There was nothing to say that night. The next morning, as soon as Zhao Bankuo got up, he saw the military doctor saying something excitedly. Lao Diao and the "bandit" were standing beside him. The others were still nestled in sleeping bags. The "bandit" looked at him.

He got up, snapped his fingers at him, and said, "There's something wrong here."

Zhao Bankuo was a little confused. He walked over and saw the military doctor pointing at a patch of grass and shouting to Lao Diao: "If you don't believe it, I'll make a bet. Damn it, sleep again today and see if this thing will die tomorrow."

"

The military doctor's words made Zhao Bankuo even more confused. When asked what was going on, the military doctor pointed to the ground and said: "When I slept here yesterday, the grass was still good, but it was a little yellow. This morning it was all withered."

Lao Diao made a joke and said as if to smooth things over: "Captain, the old idiot is old and has too much farts to kill the grass."

The military doctor grabbed Zhao Bankuo's arm and shook it: "Don't listen to him. There is definitely something wrong with this forest. Let's go around it."

After making a gesture, Zhao Bankuo squatted down and took a look at the grass under the military doctor's sleeping bag. Yesterday, they arrived at the edge. The plants were still alive, but some were wilted. Unexpectedly, most of them died overnight.

.

Zhao Bankuo felt chills in his heart as he looked at it. If there was still time, he would never choose to enter the forest. But they had already wasted a lot of time because of the detour. If they took another detour, it would be delayed for five or six days, but it would be too late.

.

The expeditionary force's offensive is fierce, and under the influence of the war, the plane crash site can easily be exposed or even destroyed. The original purpose of their mission is to take advantage of the Japanese being delayed by the war and find every opportunity to get back there, so time is

Everything. Although the journey has gone smoothly these days, it has deviated far away from the route of the first mission. At that time, it took nearly a month to go back and forth. This time, it cannot exceed this time. This is why he made the decision yesterday.

.

And the words of the military doctor cannot be ignored. After all, the strange withering is right in front of him. Thinking about it, he comforted the military doctor first. They have gas masks. At least there is no need to worry about things like poisonous gas. Be careful and move quickly. It should not happen.

There are too many problems.

Old J also came over to check and comforted the military doctor. His military rank was too high, so the military doctor said nothing.

Zhao Bankuo began to measure the direction with a compass, and then found their location on the map. He asked the team members to put on gas masks and cover the parts of their arms and necks that were easily exposed.

Help people enter cautiously.

Because the trees were withered, Xiao Daozi did not continue to explore the road ahead, but walked. Zhao Bankuo was afraid that something might happen to him if he was too far away, so he asked him to proceed twenty or thirty meters in front of him.
Chapter completed!