Chapter 958: The Story of Ling and Heng (221)
Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
XI Base.
Feng Ling returned to the base that night. Without letting anyone know, she just packed her stuff and walked away with her suitcase. No one at the base knew that she had come back and then left.
Li Nanheng’s car was waiting for her outside. Feng Ling stood outside the car and looked at him, saying, “Boss, I’m going to the airport myself. You don’t need to send me there.”
Li Nanheng’s arm rested casually outside the car window. He just glanced at her, withdrew his gaze, and said coldly, “OK, keep safe. I wish you a safe journey.”
Since she decided to go to Cambodia, Li Nanheng didn’t say anything to retain her.
Obviously, he knew she would not change her mind no matter what he said.
Feng Ling nodded. Without a word, she turned to the parking lot of the base on the other side and drove an off-road vehicle away.
It was a starless night. A car was parked outside XI Base and the other quickly drove out.
——
Four days later.
Siem Reap, Cambodia.
This was the third day that Feng Ling stayed in Cambodia. Although she had the topographic maps and regional structural maps of the Snake Valley provided by the US military, these maps were very old and many places weren’t clearly marked on them. She spent three days familiarizing herself with this area. While on the plane, she hurriedly learned some simple Cambodian Khmer with her cell phone. She also learned more about the situation here from the people in the nearby villages.
Although the minefields had been there for many years, it had not exploded because no one had dared to walk there and the mines buried below were very dense and dangerous.
But what was more dangerous was the Snake Valley, which was home to various kinds of snakes and was very scary.
In order to avoid the snakes, the villagers habitually applied various realgar powders and snake powders since they were born. Otherwise, they might be bitten by a venomous snake crawling from nowhere when they were farming nearby.
As time went by, the snakes gradually gathered in the Snake Valley. No one was willing to go there. It was said that the Snake Valley was under a high mountain in front.
After getting some information from the villagers, Feng Ling picked up the maps and looked at them. The place the military wanted was the high mountain in front, which was secluded and suitable for being a temporary small military base.
Sure enough, this mission was very dangerous.
According to the descriptions of these villagers, it seemed that as long as she climbed the mountain, she would certainly die there.
Leaving the village, Feng Ling prepared everything and went up the mountain.
The members of XI Base had all been trained in demining, so before every step she took, she detected them with special demining devices and moved very slowly and carefully.
It took her a day and a night to clear the area close to the jungle on the top of the mountain. Making sure there was no more mine within 100 meters, Feng Ling went down the mountain, took her tent up and was stationed directly on the mountainside. There were a lot of snake powders that villagers gave her in her suitcase. She spread some around the tent and went into the tent to sleep.
Cambodia was so hot all year round. She only wore a thin T-shirt under the summer uniform, but it was still very hot to lie in the tent. Occasionally, she heard all kinds of slight noises from the jungle.
Others might not know what the sounds were, but she could tell.
The sounds were made by some small beasts walking in the jungle at night. They came out to forage.
There were also snakes crawling around, making very, very small hissing sounds.
Feng Ling closed her eyes and felt as if she had suddenly returned to her childhood and she was still that panicked, ignorant little girl who hid in the cave every day, but from time to time, ran out of the cave and climbed one tree after another to pick fruits to eat because she did not want to eat the raw meat the she-wolf brought back.
After a night, she continued with the task of demining.
Demining on such a big mountain alone, she had been prepared to live here alone for at least four or five months or even longer.
She was wearing a pair of black military leather boots. Every step forward, she could feel a snake in the bushes crawling away as if being disturbed by her.
Feng Ling continued to demine calmly, ignoring the various “little animals” around her.
——
Day after day, she lived on the mountain and saw no one. Feng Ling didn’t want to contact anyone at the base now, so she didn’t even charge her cell phone but just put it in her pocket.
However, there was a fully-charged power bank in her suitcase. If she had to use her cell phone one day, she could immediately plug in the power bank.
But now she just wanted to do her job quietly here to take her punishment.
She was not particularly interested in modern communication and entertainment devices such as TV and phone, because she lived in the jungle when she was a child, so she didn’t feel bored.
She occasionally went down the mountain to buy a few bottles of water, supplies, or food.
If it weren’t because most of the snakes in the Snake Valley were poisonous, she might have grilled snake meat.
——
On the fifteenth day in Cambodia.
She was required to keep in touch with the base and call the base at least once every half a month to report the demining situation to the base.
So after eating something at night, Feng Ling got into the tent, lay down, plugged the phone into the power bank, and then checked the nearby network. The communication network embedded in the phone worked. Although the signals were not as strong as in the city, she could send and receive messages.
As soon as she turned on her cell phone, many reminders of missed calls and messages popped up, and it took a long time for the phone to quiet down. She read the messages one by one. Many people who were mostly her friends at the base called and sent messages to her. They asked her why she went to Cambodia and showed concern for her.
Not expecting that there were so many people caring about her, Feng Ling smiled. But there were too many messages, so she didn’t reply to them.
Among these messages, she suddenly saw a message sent by Li Nanheng just two days ago. “Turn your phone on.”