"It's just ahead," Tang Xiaotian pointed towards a murky little river that had appeared not far in front. In the distance, a few locals could be seen fishing by the riverbank with nets...
"Let's go take a look..."
At this moment, Wan Yunting and Li Yuxiu were still holding several medicinal herbs they had picked along the way. The closer they got to the riverbank, the more lush the grass grew, and the more herbs they discovered.
"Doctor Wan, you two, don't get too close. There are crocodiles in this river!" Tang Xiaoyue immediately warned. Wan Yunting and Li Yuxiu were startled. Pointing at the locals fishing downstream, Xiao Xiang said, "The locals are familiar with this river, so they aren't afraid of the crocodiles. We should still be careful."
"Mm, we won't go close to the river. We'll search outside." Wan Yunting nodded, naturally paying attention to the situation in the river. He led Li Yuxiu to the grass by the riverbank, where they found Bidens and reed roots, among other herbs. The two of them then squatted there, picking and studying the properties and medicinal effects of these herbs to see if they could be used in their new prescription...
"Reporting to base, everything is fine on our end." Nie Xiaoyue held a special phone, reporting their situation to the base periodically.
"Received, received. Please report any developments to base promptly," replied a communications officer at the base command post.
"Received." After speaking, Nie Xiaoyue hung up and tucked the phone back into the holster on her belt. She then said to another soldier, "You go over there and take a look. Pay close attention to the animals."
"Okay, Captain Nie..." The five peacekeepers who had followed were fully armed, holding Type 95 rifles, and kept guard around Wan Yunting and Li Yuxiu's location, preventing wild animals from approaching...
"Doctor Wan, Doctor Li, how is it?" Seeing that there were no immediate threats around, Nie Xiaoyue went over to check on Wan Yunting and Li Yuxiu.
"Mm, we've found many valuable herbs." Wan Yunting was excited, directly taking out a small sack to store the herbs. Regardless of whether these herbs were useful for their research into treating the Red Demon diarrhea virus, as practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine, they wanted to collect some wild Chinese medicinal herbs when they saw them in the wild. Because good medicinal materials were rarely seen in China, Wan Yunting was so happy.
"Mm, there's Plantago asiatica there..." At this moment, Li Yuxiu spotted several Plantago asiatica plants near the riverbank and got up to pick them...
"Careful!" Suddenly, Wan Yunting noticed something and his expression turned to one of extreme alarm. A giant African crocodile, which had been lurking in the water weeds by the riverbank, suddenly rushed out of the water weeds as the off-guard Li Yuxiu approached. It opened its massive jaws and lunged to bite...
Li Yuxiu's face turned pale with fright at the sudden appearance of the crocodile. She was so terrified that she froze, unable to even react or dodge. She simply stood there stunned...
Nie Xiaoyue and Tang Xiaotian were also greatly alarmed. They reacted immediately, but seeing that the crocodile's huge mouth was about to bite Li Yuxiu's leg, they knew it was too late. However, Wan Yunting reacted with lightning speed. He sprang up and, just as the crocodile's mouth was about to clamp down on Li Yuxiu's leg, he rushed forward, pulled Li Yuxiu behind him, and delivered a sweeping kick that forcefully struck the left side of the crocodile's mouth, sending the four-meter-long crocodile flying... With a splash, water erupted by the riverbank. The crocodile, sent flying by Wan Yunting's kick, plunged its head into the water in a panic and swam away without looking back.
"Quick, retreat...!" Nie Xiaoyue shouted urgently after regaining her senses. Wan Yunting, pulling the frightened Li Yuxiu behind him, quickly retreated away from the riverbank, lest another large crocodile should emerge...
"Phew, that was scary..." Xiao Xiang and the other soldiers were also startled.
"Sister Yuxiu, are you alright?" After retreating to a safe distance, Wan Yunting turned to look at the pale-faced Li Yuxiu. She slowly came back to her senses, her heart pounding from fright. She shook her head and said nervously, "I... I'm fine..."
"It's good that you're fine." Wan Yunting also breathed a sigh of relief. The two of them had been so happy to see so many wild herbs that they had forgotten to be vigilant.
"We can't go near the river anymore," Nie Xiaoyue warned sternly again. Wan Yunting and Li Yuxiu nodded, picked up the small sacks of herbs, and said, "Let's go look over there." Nie Xiaoyue nodded and then called out to Tang Xiaotian and Xiao Xiang to protect Wan Yunting and Li Yuxiu as they walked away from the small river and moved forward...
Li Yuxiu, her tension slightly calmed, turned her head. Her intelligent phoenix eyes looked at Wan Yunting beside her and she said softly, "Thank you just now." Wan Yunting turned his head and met Li Yuxiu's phoenix eyes. He smiled and said, "Sister Yuxiu, you're too kind."
Li Yuxiu looked at this man sincerely with her phoenix eyes and said, "This is the second time you've saved me." The first time referred to an incident where they were attacked by a mysterious group. Now, being rescued from the jaws of a crocodile by Wan Yunting, Li Yuxiu felt deeply grateful to this man. Her attitude towards him, which had been cold and disgusted when they first met, had been constantly changing as she came to understand Wan Yunting better.
"It's what I should do." Wan Yunting glanced at her and smiled, "If you really want to thank me, after we go back, will you continue to work for free at my clinic for another month?"
Li Yuxiu's pretty face froze. She had been feeling very grateful and touched, but then this guy said something like that. Her intelligent phoenix eyes couldn't help but roll, and she said, "Then you saved me twice, so do I have to work for you for free for another two months?"
"That would be excellent." Wan Yunting chuckled shamelessly. Li Yuxiu immediately started laughing too, glancing at him with her phoenix eyes, she nodded and smiled, "Okay, let alone two months, even a year is fine."
"Haha, don't take it seriously. I was just joking," Wan Yunting laughed. However, he looked at Li Yuxiu and saw that she was smiling, and her smile was quite different. He said, "I didn't expect Sister Yuxiu to be able to smile. I always thought you were a very serious person."
Li Yuxiu smiled, "It depends on who it is." Wan Yunting's expression froze, and he immediately smiled and nodded, "Alright..."
However, five hundred meters away from Wan Yunting, Nie Xiaoyue, and their group, several modified off-road vehicles appeared in the forest. They carried a total of twenty-five people, all heavily armed, with camouflage painted on their faces and holding various foreign weapons. One of them, a tall and burly man, stood on an open-top off-road vehicle. A subordinate next to him was operating a drone, and the screen displayed images of Wan Yunting and Li Yuxiu, as well as Nie Xiaoyue and their group. The subordinate reported, "Confirmed, only six Chinese peacekeeping soldiers!" The burly man, named Torres, immediately took out a satellite phone and made a call. Upon connection, he reported, "Boss, it's confirmed that only six Chinese peacekeeping soldiers are accompanying that Chinese person!"
At this moment, in a secret base, Morton was sitting in an office within the underground base, smoking a cigar. His brown eyes widened slightly as he said, "This time, we must kill that Chinese person!"
"Understood." Torres hung up the phone and said to the subordinate operating the drone, "Proceed with the action."
"Yes..." The others immediately began checking their weapons. Another subordinate directly activated a piece of high-tech equipment that jammed all signals within a kilometer radius!
At this moment, Wan Yunting and Li Yuxiu on the other side found several more Chinese medicinal herbs, Bai Hua Cao, and were squatting in the grass, studying their medicinal properties... Nie Xiaoyue and Tang Xiaotian, the six of them, guarded nearby, constantly alert to their surroundings, fearing that another animal might rush out. Simultaneously, Nie Xiaoyue took out her phone to call the base, but this time it directly showed no signal, and the call wouldn't go through. This made Nie Xiaoyue frown, and she said to Tang Xiaotian, "See if your phone has a signal." Tang Xiaotian immediately took out his phone and checked, saying, "No."
"Mine doesn't either..." Xiao Xiang and the others also took out their communication devices, all showing no signal. Nie Xiaoyue's brow furrowed, and her heart suddenly sank, a bad premonition gripping her.
"What's wrong?" Wan Yunting and Li Yuxiu asked after finishing picking the Bai Hua Cao herbs.
Nie Xiaoyue said, "Our communication devices suddenly lost signal!" Wan Yunting's expression froze. He handed the small sack of herbs to Li Yuxiu and took out his own phone. It also showed no signal, which inexplicably gave him a bad feeling.
"Hmm, what's that sound?" Suddenly, Wan Yunting heard a buzzing sound from the sky. His keen hearing immediately picked it up, and he looked up in the direction of the sound... He saw a small drone hovering in the treetops in the three o'clock direction. Wan Yunting's eyes widened slightly, and he pointed, saying to Nie Xiaoyue and the others, "Is that our drone?" Nie Xiaoyue and Tang Xiaotian looked and exclaimed in shock, "No, we're not using a drone..."
*Puff!* In the next second, Xiao Xiang, who was standing a meter away from Wan Yunting, had his head blown off. Blood splattered, his helmet flew off, and his entire head was gone. His torso stood there rigidly before falling down...
"Enemy attack, there's a sniper, three o'clock direction! Everyone take cover...!" Nie Xiaoyue was the first to react. Disregarding the headless Xiao Xiang, she immediately rushed over, grabbed Wan Yunting and Li Yuxiu, and they dodged behind a large rock to avoid the sniper's lock. Li Yuxiu, held by Wan Yunting's large hand behind the rock, looked at the soldier lying in the grass with his head blown off. Blood was still gushing from his neck, splashing onto the grass blades, mixing with brain matter. This scene, which Li Yuxiu had never witnessed before, had a profound psychological impact on her, leaving her almost stunned.
"Ah!" A soldier screamed as his body flew through the air, collapsing onto the grass and convulsing violently. A gaping hole appeared in his chest, having been shot by an enemy sniper.